THE LIFE AND DEATH OF Monsieur Claude The famous Minister of CHARENTON in FRANCE Done out of French by G. P. Imprimatur Sept. 13th 1687. Guil. Needham LONDON Printed for Thomas Dring at the corner of Chancery-Lane in Fleetstreet 1688. THE PREFACE A DISCOURSE OF DEATH IT is no little advantage we receive from our Religion that it is so mightily effectual to free us from all troublesome and disquieting thoughts and to produce in us a settledness and firmness of mind not apt to be easily shaken or moved nay it inspirits men with courage and an ingenuous confidence raising us above those fears and cares that follow false Opinions and like Ghosts are wont to torment otâ—…serable This is a great kindness that the Faith of Christ doth to those wâ—â—…eâ— live according to it that it puts them into such a state that they need fear nothing but displeasing or offending God especially our Christianity is the most proper remedy against the unreasonable fear of death for that must necessarily distract the mind and interrupt its peace by continual vexation and perplexity in all those who are under the power of it and therefore most fitly call'd by the Apostle here a state of Bondage And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to Bondage I shall not dispute here whether by death is meant onely that which is temporal or that which is eternal since it is the apprehension or fear of eternal death chiefly that makes the other so tirrible and affrighting It would be an easie thing to conquer the fear of death one might soon be able to think of it with the greatest indifference and unconcernedness if we could but once thoroughly persuade our selves that it would put an utter end to us It is the Judgement to come the never dying worm the everlasting flames and immortality that are to follow that make men so loth to think of dying so unwilling to hear of it so surprised at any sign or symptome of it Were there no other state after this the generality of men would be so far from fearing death that they would fly to it as the onely certain cure for the evils of this life any little disease pain and burthen that they could not easily get rid of they would seek a remedy for in death Were there not I say in all men a natural dread of the ill Consequences of death I cannot but imagine that mens own hands would send more daily to the cold Grave than all the diseases and casualties that our bodies are liable to and it would be so far from an instance of courage and bravery to despise death that the greatest Cowards would most desire it and soonest fly to it But let them doe what they can they cannot wholly free their minds at least from all suspicion of another world and that makes them most commonly so fearfull of dying So that it comes to the same whether by death be meant here of the body onely or a future state for that which makes us fear death is because it leads us into another life Therefore I shall now explain to you I. How men by the fear of death are subjected to Bondage II. Inquire what this fear of Death is that Christ delivers us from III. How Religion doth free us from it I. How men by the fear of death are subjected to Bondage For this is the natural effect of any fear whatsoever that it makes men slaves it cowardizes them and renders them mean and abject particularly the fear of death so enslaves those that are possessed of it that they can neither think freely nor act freely and so consequently can neither be truely good nor really happy in this life This fear doth hinder men from thinking freely And therefore we read of those that have commanded that none should name this word death in their hearing Such persons who are afraid to die dare not give themselves free liberty to exercise their minds and are fain to take all occasions of diverting themselves and find any entertainment rather than be put in mind of their continual danger They use all arts to stifle and smother such thoughts as soon as they rise Their hearts are ready to sink within them when they hear of any dismal calamity that hath happen'd unto a Neighbour or Friend lest the same should betide them and their own turn shortly come And this is generally true that he can neither fully enjoy himself nor take pleasure in himself who hath not mastered this fear of death It hinders men from acting freely He is a slave to every man that hath power enough to doe him a mischief who is afraid of death Whatever Religion or Profession he is now of you may soon threaten or scare him out of it and make him whatever you please Such a one cannot promise to-himself that he shall continue one day longer in that mind that faith that he now holds There is no sin so vile or heinous but what he may be brought to commit Put but his life in danger fright him thoroughly and he will renounce all the Articles of his Creed and break all the Commandments his Religion lays upon him for every one that doth but wear a sword And is not this a truely slavish condition when we can neither command our own thoughts nor be master of our own actions And this is certainly the case of all those that do not love God better than their lives or that fear death more than sin Such a one can neither be good nor happy not good longer than while he finds it safe and free from all danger and how can he be happy who stands in such a continual dread that a thousand accidents may this hour happen to him and that death must certainly befall him and that it is onely God's infinite patience that it doth not presently And without any more words I know you will all grant this a miserable state But now I do not say this is the effect of all kind of fear of death I must therefore more particularly shew what kind of fear it is that makes men so unhappy Most men have great reason to be afraid of dying as much as a guilty Prisoner hath to be afraid of coming to his Tryal and brought to his Sentence The more some men fear death the more troublesome thoughts and apprehensions it occasions in them the more capable are they to be wrought upon by it Nay indeed it is impossible for a guilty person not to fear death although perhaps sometimes out of a brave indifferency in the heat of bloud and passion he may despise it valiantly rush into the midst of danger and with a bold and daring spirit voluntarily expose himself to it out of a sense of pretended honour and gallantry yet let him think coolly and soberly of such a thing let him consider of it with himself and the consequences thereof and I am sure
this fear is more or less according to mens tempers Some are much more timorous than others To some the circumstances that attend death are much more terrible than death it self Some fear diseases and pain more than death Some are loth to die for fear of their Posterity Friends Relations to whom they are usefull and for whom they are mightily concerned Some are unwilling to go out of the world because they are in a capacity of doing more good in it which was the case of St. Paul. On the other hand some are willing to die onely through weariness of life out of peevishness discontent and impatience because they are dissatisfied with their present condition or cannot bear those afflictions which God's Providence hath exercised them withall which cannot be reckoned any vertue unless in them who in their sober minds and thoughts can willingly submit to death whenever it pleases God to call them to it And yet such upon a sudden fright or surprise when their lives are unawares brought into danger may not be able to conquer their fear but may shew a great disquiet They may earnestly desire to tarry a little longer that they may be yet fitter for death that they may search and try themselves yet more exactly and curiously that they may be farther satisfied with the sincerity and honesty of their hearts and intentions Many more instances I might give But now that which our Saviour frees us from is a troublesome tormenting fear of death which thing alone disturbs us and fills us with confusion and perplexity of spirit when ever we chance to think of it As when we are unreasonably jealous and suspicious of what Trials God's ordinary Providence may put us upon when we are unmeasurably solicitous about the preserving our health or securing our selves from danger when we are concern'd as if we had no hope and are as unwilling to submit to the stroke of death as a sullen Malefactour is to go to execution Now such a fear of death is worse than death it self I now proceed to shew how Religion does free men from this troublesome and anxious fear of death And the 1. Means our Religion affords us to deliver us from this fear is the consideration of God's wise and gratious Providence over us Not an hair of our heads shall fall to the ground without his leave Our lives are in his hands who hitherto hath taken care of us and whatever he calls us to is with the highest reason and the most excellent ends and can we wish any thing better to our selves than this would be to be under the protection of the Almighty Would we live longer than infinite Wisedom sees fit for us Can we doubt of his care who is goodness it self Would we have the disposal of our own selves Alas how soon should we repent us of our choice and run into all the several casualties and dismal dangers that can fall upon us If we had nothing to depend on or trust unto but our own counsels prudence or carefulness we might then have just reason to distrust every man and to expect death in every place we could not be too scrupulous or solicitous Could I in the least doubt of God's Providence over us then indeed I should neither eat nor sleep safely nor live one day in quiet I should not be able to doe any thing without anxiety and disturbance if I once could persuade my self that all the effects that happen were wholly casual and not governed by an infinite understanding that superintends all affairs and disposes of them as he sees good Nor is there any thing that can well settle mens minds in the midst of so many secret and open dangers as we are every minute liable unto in any tolerable patience rest quiet and assurance but this one consideration that nothing can befall us without the leave and ordering of the best and wisest of Beings Indeed the Turkish opinion of Fate which hath strangely prevail'd among Christians ought in reason to satisfie them against the greatest dangers that the number of the days of every man living is so determin'd by an unalterable decree that it is impossible he should die before or out live the time appointed him by God before all the world This made the Followers of Mahomet who so studiously taught this Doctrine to despise death and danger not to fear it when they were in the extremest hazard of it freely to visit their Neighbours when sick of the Plague which we dare not do to one another in any ordinary disease or to run upon their Enemies swords or Cannons For what can be strange with those that are neither concern'd to prolong their lives nor to avoid death But this is no part of the Christian Faith. We are told indeed the days of our years are Threescore years and Ten and if by reason of strength they be Fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we fly away Behold saith David Thou hast made my days as an hands breadth And Job tells us a man's days are determined the number of his months are with God he hath appointed his bounds that he cannot pass and in another place that all men have their appointed time All which signifies no more than this that God in the general hath set bounds to a man's life beyond which he will not ordinarily extend it he hath set the term of our lives beyond which we shall not ordinarily extend them which is about Threescore and Ten years notwithstanding which some die much sooner and some few live longer But the Scripture no where teacheth us that the length of a man's life is so fixed by God that he shall not die before such a time nor live at all beyond it Nay the contrary is plainly intimated to us In all those places of Scripture where long life is promised for the reward of obedience in any particular duty which must imply if it signifie any thing that we shall live longer than otherwise we should have done Thus Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Now this promise can never reasonably oblige any man to the performance of duty to his Parents if it be absolutely determined how long he shall live Thus in the 23. Exod. And ye shall serve the Lord your God and he shall bless thy bread and thy water and take away sickness from thee the number of thy days will he fulfill Not that he promiseth that if they were obedient to his Laws they should live out the full age of men and that he would preserve them from sickness and distempers No for this were to no purpose and they could expect no otherwise if they harkened not unto or disobeyed God's words So farther in the 4. Deut. God promises not any should live out their days but that they should live longer than otherwise
they should Thou shalt keep therefore his Statutes and his Commandments which I command thee this day that it may go well with thee and with thy Children after thee and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever To wicked men God often threatens sudden and untimely death that they should die sooner than otherwise they should have done The fear of the Lord prolongeth or as we have it in the Margin addeth days but the years of the wicked shall be shortned That is they shall not live so long as otherwise they might have done Thus many men shall not live out half their days not half the ordinary time of a man's life Most observable is the instance of King Hezekiah in the 38. Isa to whom the Prophet positively declares Thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live and yet upon his humble Prayer Fifteen years more were added unto his days which otherwise he should not have had From which it plainly appears that by sin and disobedience men may shorten their days and cut off from their lives and by Piety and Vertue men may procure to themselves a longer life and encrease of days Now the length or shortness of our lives depends often upon our own voluntary actions upon our pleasing or displeasing God which cannot agree with that Doctrine of Fate I before mentioned Nor do we need any such opinion against the fear of death because we allow that our life depends upon God's good will and pleasure that no instruments of death no ill practices can prevail against us without his appointment And this is a sufficient foundation of assurance and confidence notwithstanding the frailty and uncertainty of our condition here that the Watchman of Israel neither slumbereth nor sleepeth that his eye is always upon us for Good that we shall live as long and as well as is really best for us and then who would not be willing to die But Another means our Religion affords us to free us from the fear of death is a deadness to this present world and all the trifling pleasures of it For it is an over fond love and doating upon the things of this world and sensual enjoyments that makes persons so unwilling to die The more our appetites and desires are mortified and subdued the readier we shall be to bid an eternal farewell to all these things below It is no wonder that those who know no other happiness but what is to be found in these lower Regions are loth to be torn from their dear possessions and to venture into a strange Countrey which they have so little knowledge of But by this contempt of the world which our Religion teaches us we forsake it in the love of it even whilst we are living and so our business is better than half done before hand and we are freed from those worldly cloggs and encumbrances that too often hang on our vertue and most raised affections Farther the Consideration of Christ's conquering death for us gives a mighty encouragement against the inordinate fear of death For our blessed Saviour hath tasted death for every man and hath taken away its sting hath quell'd its force and overcome its power insomuch that he is said to have abolished it He hath made a way through death and the grave to his Father's Glory and shall we be afraid like Saint Peter to profess and fellow him wheresoever he goes Our Prince and Redeemer hath voluntarily passed through it and shall it grieve us to follow his steps and to come to him through that passage by which he himself entred into his Kingdom Lastly The hope of salvation is another great means that our Christianity administers to us against this base fear of dying I have read it is an ordinary saying among the Turks that if Christians had a right opinion concerning Heaven they could not be so afraid of death which is the onely way to life And it was reasonably asked by the Philosopher of him that promised that all that were of his Sect should be immediately happy as soon as they were dead why then he did not presently die Do we really believe a future Glory and are we afraid to enter into our Master's joy What are we Christians and yet would we live always here Have we already attain'd all the happiness which we aspire after Can we be contented to know no more of God to enjoy no more of his Glory and to love him no more than we can doe in this imperfect State Are we unwilling to receive that reward which we daily pray for Thou knowest not what thou art capable of what perfection what happiness thy soul shall enjoy freed from this troublesome Tabernacle this luggage of flesh and art thou afraid of being translated into the celestial Kingdom One glimpse of that Glory which our Saviour hath promised to us would make as all long to be with Christ No wonder Saint Paul was so ready to die when he had before hand been rapt up into the third Heaven and had seen and heard things not utterable Did we live in the hopes of the future happiness we shall enjoy we should not value any of the pleasures here below nor fear to undergo any thing that stood in his way between us and those blessed Mansions of happy Souls where dwelleth God and perpetual peace and satisfaction free from all care and disturbance from all fear and anxiety from all pain and danger where onely is to be found perfect contentment eternal joy and immortal happiness If Christians perfectly knew the felicity of the other life they would be impatient of the present they would be hardly able to brook or endure living or any thing that detain'd them from such unspeakable enjoyments Wo unto us therefore that yet dwell in Meshech and are forced to abide in the Tents of Kedar Blessed yea thrice blessed are are all those that have passed this miserable world and are received into the heavenly Mansions for one day there is better than a thousand elsewhere One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I still seek after that I may live for ever with him and behold his Glory When shall we arrive at that eternal and celestial happiness where we shall have no more of these storms and dangers When shall we pass all fears and cares and grief and troublesome passions Even so saith the Church all true Christians and sincere Believers come Lord Jesus come quickly and deliver us from these crazy bodies and put on us that house that is eternal and in the heavens Is it so pleasant to us to wander to and fro in this wilderness and be tossed up and down upon these troublesome waves And can it be grievous to us to think of arriving at our journey's end How soon would all the grief and pain and uneasiness that accompanies sickness and the very
pangs of death pass away when once we have received our Crown We shall be so taken up with those surpassing joys that we shall have no leisure to think of what we have undergone all the troublesome passage will soon vanish I confess that for men who have no well grounded hopes of eternal life it is reasonable for them to fear death as the day of their execution when they shall receive the just reward of their evil doings But to you I now speak who profess to have an hope of this blessed immortality for you it is a shame to be afraid of death It is for them onely to fear death as one of the Ancients said who would go to Christ This is the onely thing that makes men take death so heavily they do not really believe those great things our Saviour hath promised if they did they would look upon death as the greatest happiness that can befall them Why art thou then thus cast down O my soul Why art thou disquieted within me We contradict at least we disparage our faith by our fear of death since it is the Gate that leads into the heavenly City into the new Jerusalem We ought rather to entertain the thoughts of it with a smile and bid it heartily welcome as the end of all my labour and torment all my sorrows and cares as that that would give me a sight of him that dyed for me and convey me into his armes and embraces who shed his bloud for my soul and carry me into a Kingdom of peace and Righteousness and eternal joy and would bring me into the company of all the famous Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessours and all holy men and women which will again restore to me the Society of those Friends Relations dear Children and Parents whose loss I have so sadly bemoan'd and restore them again refined from all dross infinitely more lovely and amiable than ever they were before Oh! how shall we please our selves when once our souls are disentangled from this lower world Thou art afraid to go to a strange place where thou never wert before and from whence no Friend that is gone thither before hath ever returned to tell thee what it is but is it not sufficient to know it is our Father's house our Saviour's Kingdom a place of uninterrupted joy and happiness All the afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be reveal'd Let us fix in our selves these considerations and we shall see nothing terrible in death or think strange of being born into the invisible world which though it may be attended with some pain and hardship yet the joy that we are delivered from this miserable life will soon make us infinite amends Nay indeed were there no other advantage but onely the putting an end to those disquieting fears of death death it self should be less dreadfull to us In the other life there is no more fear of dying no diseases can overtake us we shall be above all the solicitudes and troublesome concerns of nature Inure therefore your minds to this till it hath reconciled to you the thoughts of death this is the most happy and perfect state that we can arrive to here to have as the usual expression is Vitam in patientia mortem in desiderio to be content to live and yet desirous to die and to enter into the possession of those great things which God hath laid up for those that fear him Such may find it as hard to be willing to live as to be desirous of death Persons affected with a due sense of immortal happiness may doubt which is hardest to bear life or to suffer death Thus hath our Saviour delivered us from this slavish fear of death by bringing life and immortality to light through the Gospel And it is all the peace and comfort of our lives to be raised above the fear of death THE LIFE OF Monsieur Claude PART I. FRANCIS CLAVDE was a Pastour of great Piety performing his Office with much Honour in the Churches of Montbaziliac and Cours near Bergerac in lower Guienne where he died in his seventy fourth year He had a Son called John Claude a famous Minister of the Gospel whose Life I now undertake to write for the bestowing upon his memory an instance of the Esteem and Affection I had for him and the gratifying the desire of such as onely knowing him by his Writings will as is very natural be curious to be informed of the principal Circumstances of the Life and Death of his great Man. Monsieur Claude was born at Salvetat in the year 1618. His Father being a Lover of Polite Learning took care of his education during his youth after which he went to finish his Studies in the Academy of Montauban There did Monsieur Claude study Philosophy his Wit beginning then to find matter to exercise upon made him quickly distinguish'd from all the other Students in Philosophy and though he was no harder Student than his Companions yet the flame of his imagination carried him so far that he made greater progress in that Science in six months than his fellow Students in a year After he had accomplish'd his course in Philosophy he began to study Divinity under Messieurs Garrisoles and Charles Professours in that Academy he more particularly applied himself to Monsieur Charles whose memory he honour'd all his life long I know not whether the Conformity of these two great Genius's might not from that time contract this Union of Hearts for as Monsieur Claude had an Admiration for his Master we may also affirm that the Master relish'd the Character of his Disciple that he lov'd him tenderly and spake of him as of a young-man of most hopefull expectation His Father being desirous to see him in the Sanctuary did a little hasten the time of his reception into the Ministery for he was not full twenty five years old when he was admitted as Minister he lost thereby the opportunity of travelling of seeing other Universities that of Saumur especially where were Professours of such vast Learning and where was to be found that Politeness of Language and Manners as very rarely passes beyond the Loire and which nevertheless was so much his Province He was admitted Minister in the Synod of upper Guienne and upper Languedoc in the year 1645. he was assigned Minister to the Church at La Treyne his Father was nominated by the Synod to ordain him and he had this Comfort which is the greatest a man of his Character can receive Monsieur Claude served this Church but one year The Synod of upper Languedoc benefic'd him with the Church of Saint Afrique in Rovergue and this to supply the Place of Monsieur Martel this Church was not considerable for a numerous Congregation but had had the good fortune of being serv'd by Ministers of Extraordinary merit Monsieur Gaches who died Pastour at Paris and Monsieur Martel Professour of Divinity had there
he will be very misgiving and suspicious and struggle mightily with himself at the thoughts of it I speak not to lessen the fears of those who live in any known sin if God be true they have great reason to be afraid Now here it may be asked supposing a man brought into extreme danger of his life for the sake of his Religion in a time of Persecution one that hath long professed the true Religion but hath lived very unanswerably to it and is guilty of many grievous crimes unrepented of which he is accused by his own conscience for of a sudden he is commanded to renounce his Faith which in his mind he is verily persuaded is true and to turn to Idolatry and to deny and blaspheme his Saviour or else immediately to suffer death what must such a one doe now in this cases If he complies with the command he sins grievously against the light of his mind and his own conscience and yet by such a complyance he gains time of repentance to make his peace with God and to beg his pardon for his crime and also for all his other sins which he hath so long lived in If he chuses death it is that which he is wholly unprepar'd for he is utterly unfit to appear before God and he can expect nothing but to suffer God's vengeance for the sins of an ill-spent life Now what is to be done in such sad circumstances as these It is a case that may happen and therefore to resolve the doubt I shall propound briefly these things to you viz. 1. In point of duty what this man is bound to doe This is most certain that no sin ought to be committed upon any consideration whatever Their damnation is just saith the Apostle that doe evil that good may come Rom. 3. 8. It is in no case either justifiable or prudent to save our lives by any sin It is every one's duty nay it is best even for the greatest of sinners to loose his life a thousand times rather than to deny God or his Truth And as for gaining time for repentance it is to be considered that when we are in such a strait as that we cannot live any longer without sinning directly and grievously against our consciences it is God's will that we should then die the time of our repentance is now over and God by this Providence doth call us out of the world Now when we will not submit to this call but will not stick to doe the greatest villany how can we expect that God should bestow any farther grace upon us or that his Spirit after such an Apostasie should strive any longer with us Commonly the effect of such things is a judicial hardness to be given up to a perverse mind and a reprobate state After any one hath in so gross a manner violated his Conscience there is very little hope that ever he should be again renewed in the spirit of his mind For persons to have obeyed the truth and yet in time of persecution fall away and for fear of death renounce it the ancient Church that is to say a great part would never again receive them into their Communion till their death and a great division there was among them concerning the restoring those that had once lapsed into Idolatry What then shall we say to those who after a wicked life add to their other sins that of Hypocrisie They may for a while lengthen out their wretched lives but it is to be fear'd that they have shut themselves out from all hopes of the means of Grace It is a very improper and unlikely way in order to attain the pardon of past sins to commit the greatest we can be guilty of to renounce our Saviour 2. In such a case therefore the Sinner is bound to adore the justice of God's Judgment that by his own gross neglect and carelesness he is brought into such misery for that he ought to have been always prepared for such a time Yet however though he hath highly provoked God and displeased him to the utmost yet he will not deny or blaspheme his name he will not renounce his Saviour nor disown his profession he will leave himself to God's infinite mercy and will die rather than offend him and such a resolute resignation of himself such a generous and noble profession of his Faith how far it may be acceptable with God and prevail with him is unknown In such extraordinary instances God may use extraordinary means in reference to us and may dispence even with the Rules he hath laid down in the Scripture Indeed I cannot prove or produce any promise for it but the example of the Thief on the Cross who for an extraordinary instance of Faith and Charity obtain'd more than common grace I think and favour And considering the infinite goodness of God's nature I should have far more hopes of such a person that after a wicked life ends his daies bravely and couragiously rather than against his Judgement and Conscience than of a profane covetous worldly unclean Professor who bewails his sins on a sick-bed while he is wrestling with a wasting disease and hopes by his prayers and good wishes and pious resolutions to obtain his pardon And this was the sense of the Primitive Church that an Heathen being converted to Christianity and suffering for it among other Christians before he could make a publick Profession of it or be baptized into it that he should inherit the reward of Christians this baptism in his own bloud supplying all other defects and expiating all former sins I say it was the common Opinion of the ancient Fathers they thought his death carried with it the remission of all past sins I shall not take upon me to determine this but thus much I think may be said in the case proposed that to die for his Religion is the best means such a person can use to obtain his pardon and does express his repentance to be sure far better than adding the sin of Apostasie to all his others But to make sure the best way is to hasten our repentance and to reform presently before the floods come and the winds blow and the storms rise by a new life to arm our selves against all the powers and rage of men and then though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death yet we need fear no evil This therefore is as I told you a great reason to fear death For death being in truth the greatest of all natural evils that can befall us there is in all men a natural fear of it which cannot be wholly rooted out by Religion nor is it necessary that it should be If death had not been a natural evil it had never been threatned nor inflicted on mankind as a punishment for sin There is in all men a natural dread of it and we hardly count them worthy the name of men that are not affected with a due sense of it And