vppon the place and saw the number and the neede of the people together with their hunger and applause meeting with the circumstances of Gods strange conueyance of this offer to mee I saw that was but as the fowlers feather to make mee stoope and contemning that respect of my selfe I sincerely acknowledged hyer motiues of my yeelding and resolued I might not resist You are deare to mee as a Charge to a Pastor If my paines to you haue not proued it suspect mee Yet I leaue you God calls mee to a greater worke I must followe him It were more ease to mee to liue secretly hidden in that quiet obscuritie as Saul amongst the stuffe then to bee drawen out to the eye of the world to act so hye a part before a thousand witnesses In this point if I seem to neglect you blame me not I must neglecte and forget my selfe I can but labour wheresoeuer I am GOD knowes how willingly I do that whether there or here I shall dig and delve plant in what ground soeuer my Maister sets mee If hee take mee to a larger fielde complaine you not of losse while the Church may gaine But you are my owne charge No wise father neglectes his owne in compassion of the greater neede of others yet consider that euen carefull Parentes when the Prince commaundes leaue their families and go to warfare What if God had called mee to heauen would you haue grudged my departure Imagine that I am there where I shall bee altho the case bee not to you altogether so hopelesse for now I may heare of you visit you renue my holy counsels and bee mutually comforted from you there none of these Hee that will once transpose mee from earth to heauen hath now chosen to transpose mee from one peece of earth to another what is heere worthy of your sorrow worthy of complaint That should bee for my owne good this shall bee for the good of many If your experience haue taught you that my labours doe promise profit obtaine of your selfe to deny your selfe so much as to reioyce that the losse of a fewe should bee the aduantage of many soules Tho why do I speake of losse I speak that as your feare not my owne and your affection causes that feare rather then the occasion The God of the haruest shal send you a Laborer more able as carefull That is my prayer and hope and shall bee my ioy I dare not leaue but in this expectation this assuraÌ„ce What-euer become of me it shall be my greatest comfort to hear you coÌ„mend your change and to see your happy progress in those wayes I haue both shewed you and beaten So shal wee meete in the ende and neuer part Written to Mr. I. B. and Dedicated to my father Mr. I. HALL EP. 10. Against the feare of Death YOu complaine that you feare Deathe Hee is no man that doth not Besides the paine Nature shrinkes at the thought of parting If you would learne the remedie knowe the cause For that shee is ignorant faithlesse She would not be cowardly if shee were nor foolish Our feare is from doubt and our doubt from vnbeliefe and whence is our vnbeleefe but chiefly from ignorance Shee knowes not what good is else-where shee beleeues not her part in it Get once true knowledge and true faith your feare shall vanish alone Assurance of heauenly things makes vs willing to part with earthly He cannot contemne this life that knowes not the other If you would despise earth therefore thinke of heauen If you would haue death easie thinke of that glorious life that followes it Certainely if we can indure paine for health much more shall we abide a fewe pangs for glorie Thinke how fondly wee feare a vanquisht enemy Lo Christ hath triumpht ouer Death hee bleedeth and gaspeth vnder vs and yet we tremble It is enough to vs that Christ died Neither would he haue died but that we might die with safetie and pleasure Thinke that death is necessarily annexed to nature Wee are for a time on condition that wee shall not be wee receiue life but vppon the tearmes of redeliucrie Necessitie makes somethings easie as it vsually makes easie things difficult It is a fond iniustice to embrace the couenant and shrinke at the condition Thinke there is but one common rode to all flesh There are no by-paths of any fairer or neerer way no not for Princes Euen companie abateth miseries and the commonnesse of an euill makes it lesse fearefull What worlds of men are gone before vs yea how many thousaÌ„ds out of one field How many crownes and scepters ly piled vp at the gates of death which their owners haue left there as spoyles to the Conqueror Haue wee beene at so many graues so oft seene our selues die in our friends and do wee shrinke when our course commeth Imagine you alone were exempted from the common law of mankinde or were condemned to Methusalahs age assure your selfe death is not now so fearefull as your life would then bee wearisome Thinke not so much what Death is as from whom hee comes and for what Wee receiue euen homely messengers from great persons not without respect to their maisters And what matters it who hee bee so hee bring vs good newes what newes can bee better then this That God sends for you to take possession of a kingdome Let them feare death which knowe him but as a pursuiuant sent from hell whome their conscience accuses of a life wilfully filthy and bindes-ouer secretly to condemnation Wee knowe whither wee are going and whom wee haue beleeued Let vs passe on cheerefully through these blacke gates vnto our glory Lastly knowe that our improuidence only addes terrour vnto death Thinke of death and you shall not feare it Do you not see that euen Beares and Tigres seeme not terrible to those that liue with them Howe haue wee seene their keepers sport with them when the beholders durst scarce trust their chaine Bee acquainted with Death though hee looke grimme vppon you at the first you shall finde him yea you shall make him a good companion Familiaritie cannot stand with feare These are receites enow Too much store doth rather ouerwhelme then satisfie Take but these and I dare promise you securitie FINIS The second Decade of Epistles To Sr. ROBERT DARCY EP. 1. The estate of a true but weake Christian IF you aske how I fare Sometimes no man better and if the fault were not my owne Alwayes Not that I can commaund health bid the world smile when I liâ—t How possible is it for a man to bee happie without these yea in spight of them These thinges canne neither augment nor empaire those comforts that come from aboue What vse what sight is ther of the starres when the sunneshines Then onely can I finde my self happy when ouer-looking these earthly things I can fetch my ioy from heauen I tell him that knowes it the contentments that earth
no prisoner at all then to be a cheerfull prisoner vpon necessitie If the doores bee open my perswasion shall not hold you in Rather our prayers shall open those doores and fetch you foorth into this common libertie of men Which also hath not a little tho an inferiour contentment For how pleasant is it to these senses by which wee men are wont to be led to see be seene to speake to our friends and heare them speake to vs to touch and kisse the deare hands of our Parents and with them at last to haue our eyes closed Either this shall befall you or what hopes what paines I adde no more hath this your careful friend lost and we what wishes what consultations It shall bee I dare hope yea beleeue it Only thou our good God giue such ende as thou hast done entrance into this businesse and so dispose of these likely indeuours that whom we loue and honour absent we may at last in presence see and embrace To my father in law Mr. GEORGE WENYFFE EP. 8. Exciting to Christian cheerefulnesse YOu complaine of dulnesse a common disease and incident to the best mindes and such as can most contemne vanities For the true Worldling hunts after nothing but mirth neither cares how lawlesse his sport be so it be pleasant hee faines to himselfe false delights whē he wants and if he can passe the time and chase away Melancholy hee thinkes his day spent happily And thus it must needs bee while the world is his God his deuotion can bee but his pleasure whereas the mortified soule hath learned to scorne these friuolous and sinfull ioyes and affects either solid delights or none and had rather be dull for want of mirth then transported with wanton pleasures When the world like an importunate Minstrel thrusts it selfe into his chamber and offers him Musicke vnsought if hee vouch-safe it the hearing it is the highest fauour he dare or can yield Hee rewards it not hee commends it not Yea hee secretlie loathes those harsh and iarring notes and reiects them For hee findes a better consort within betwixt GOD and himselfe when hee hath a little tuned his heart with meditation To speake fully the World is like an ill foole in a play the Christian is a iudicious spectator which thinkes those iestes too grosse to bee laught at and therefore entertaines that with scorne which others with applause Yet in truth wee sinne if wee reioyce not There is not more errour in false mirth then in vniust heauinesse If Worldlings offende that they laugh when they should mourne wee shall offende no lesse if wee droupe in cause of cheerefulnesse Shall wee enuie or scorne to see one ioy in redde and white drosse another in a vaine title one in a daintie dish another in a ieste one in a booke another in a friend one in a Kite another in a Dogge vvhiles vvee enioy the God of heauen and are sorrowfull What dull metall is this we are made of We haue the fountaine of ioy and yet complaine of heauinesse Is there any ioy without God Certainly if ioy be good and all goodnesse be frō him whence should ioy arise but from him And if hee be the Author of ioy how are we Christians and reioyce not What doe wee freeze in the fire and starue at a feast Haue we a good conscience and yet pine and hang down the head When GOD hath made vs happy do we make our selues miserable When I aske my heart Dauids question I knowe not whether I bee more angry or ashamed at the answer Why art thou sad my soule My body my purse my fame my friends or perhaps none of these only I am sad because I am And what if all these what if more when I come to my better wits Haue I a father an aduocate a comforter a mansion in heauen if both earth and hell conspired to afflict me my sorrow cannot counteruaile the causes of my ioy Now I can chalenge all aduersaries and either defie all miseries or bid all crosses yea death it selfe welcome Yet GOD doth not abbridge vs of these earthly solaces which dare weigh with our discontentments sometimes depress the balance His greater light doth not extinguish the lesse If God had not thought them blessings hee had not bestowed them and how are they blessings if they delight vs not Bookes friends wine oyle health reputation competency may giue occasions but not bounds to our reioycings We may not make them Gods riualls but his spokes-men In themselues they are nothing but in God worth our ioy These may be vsed yet so as they may be absent without distraction Let these goe so God alone be present with vs it is enough He were not God if he were not All-sufficient Wee haue him I speake boldly Wee haue him in feeling in faith in pledges and earnest yea in possession Why doe wee not enioy him Why doe we not shake-off that senselesse drowsinesse which makes our liues vnpleasant and leaue-ouer all heauiness to those that want God to those that either knowe him not or knowe him displeased To Mr. W. R. Dedic to Mr. THOMAS BVRLZ EP. 9. Consolations of immoderate Griefe for the death of friends WHile the streame of sorrow runnes full I knowe how vaine it is to oppose counsell Passions must haue leasure to digest Wisedome doth not more moderate them then time At first it was best to mourne with you and to mitigate your sorrow by bearing part wherein would GOD my burden could be your ease Euery thing else is less when it is diuided And then is best after teares to giue counsell yet in these thoughts I am not a little straited Before you haue digested grief aduise coms too early too late when you haue digested it Before it was vnseasonable after would be superfluous Before it could not benefit you after it may hurt you by rubbing-vp a skinned sore afresh It is as hard to choose the season for counsell as to giue it and that season is after the first digestion of sorrow before the last If my Letters then meet with the best opportunity they shall please me and profit you If not yet I deserue pardon that I wished so You had but two Iewels which you held precious a Wife and a Sonne One was your self diuided the other your selfe multiplied You haue lost both and well-neere at once The losse of one caused the other both of them your iust griefe Such losses when they come single afflict vs but when double astonish vs and tho they giue aduātage of respite would almost ouerwhelme the best patient Lo now is the trial of your manhood yea of your Christianity You are now in the lists set-vpon by two of Gods fierce afflictions showe now what patience you haue what fortitude Wherefore haue you gathered and layd-vp all this time but for this brunt Now bring forth all your holy store to light and to vse and approue to vs in
this difficulty that you haue all this while beene a Christian in earnest I knowe these euents haue not surprised you on a suddain you haue suspected they might com you haue put-cases if they should come Thinges that are hazardous may be doubted but certaine things are and must bee expected Prouidence abates griefe and discountenances a crosse Or if your aâ—â—â—ction were so strong that you 〈◊〉 not fore-thinke your losse take it equally but as it falls A wise man and a Christian knowes death so fatall to Nature so ordinary in euent so gainfull in the issue that I wonder hee can for this either feare or grieue Doth GOD onely lend vs one another and doe wee grudge when hee calls for his owne So I haue seene ill debters that borrow with prayers keepe with thankes repay with enmitie Wee mistake our tenure Wee take that for gift which GOD intendes for loane Wee are Tenants at will and thinke our selues owners Your wife and childe are dead Well they haue done that for which they came If they could not haue died it had beene worthy of wonder not at all that they are dead If this condition were proper onely to our families and friends or yet to our climate alone how vnhappy should we seeme to our neighbours to our selues Now it is common let vs mourne that wee are men Lo all Princes and Monarchs daunce with vs in the same ring yea what speake I of earth The God of Nature the Sauiour of meÌ„ hath trod the same steps of death And doe wee thinke much to follow him How many seruants haue wee knowen that haue thrust themselues betwixt their Maister death which haue died that their master might not dy and shall we repiâ—e to die with ours How truly may we say of this our Dauid Thou art worth ten thousand of vs yea worth a world of Angels yet he died and died for vs. Who would liue that knowes his Sauiour died who can be a Christian and would not be like him Who can bee like him that would not die after him Thinke of this and iudge whether all the world can hire vs not to die I need not aske you whether you loued those whoÌ„ you haue lost Could you loue them and not wish they might bee happy Could they be happy and not die In truth Nature knowes not what shee would haue Wee can neither abide our friends miserable in their stay nor happy in their departure Wee loue our selues so well that we cannot be content they should gaine by our losse The excuse of your sorrow is that you mourn for your selfe True but compare these two and see whether your losse or their gain be greater For if their aduantage exceede your losse take heed least while you bewray your loue in mourning for them it appeare that you loue but your selfe in them They are gone to their preferment and you lament your loue is iniurious If they were vanished to nothing I could not blame you tho you tooke vp Rachels lamentation But now you knowe they are in surer handes then your owne you knowe that he hath taken them which hath vndertaken to keep them to bring them againe You knowe it is but a sleepe which is miscalled Death and that they shall they must awake as sure as they lie down and wake more fresh more glorious then when you shut their eyes What do we with Christianitie if we beleeue not this and if wee doe beleeue it why doe wee mourne as the hopeless But the matter perhaps is not so heauie as the circumstance Your crosses came sudden and thicke You could not breathe from your first losse ere you felt a worse As if hee knew not this that sent both As if he did it not on purpose His proceedings seeme harsh are most wise most iust It is our fault that they seeme otherwise then they are Doe we thinke wee could carue better for our selues O the mad insolence of Nature that dares controll where she should wonder Presumptuous clay that wil be checking the Potter Is his wisedome himselfe Is he in himselfe infinite is his Decree out of his wisedom and doe wee murmur Doe wee foolish wormes turne againe when he treads vpon vs What doe you repine at that which was good for you yea best That is best for vs which God seeth best and that he sees best which he doth This is Gods doing Kisse his rod in silence and giue glory to the hand that rules it His will is the rule of his actions and his goodness of his will Thinges are good to vs because he wills them He wills them because they are good to himselfe It is your glory that he intends in your so great affliction It is no praise to wade ouer a shallow Ford but to cut the swelling waues of the Deepe commendes both our strength and skill It is no victorie to conquer an easie and weake crosse These maine euils haue crownes answerable to their difficulty Wrestle now and goe away with a blessing Bee patient in this losse and you shall once triumph in your gaine Let God haue them with cheerefulnesse and you shall enioy God with them in glory To Mr. I. A. Merchant EP. 10. Against Sorrowe for worldly losses IT is fitter for mee to begin with chiding then with aduice what means this weake distrust Go on and I shall doubt whether I write to a Christian You haue lost your heart together with your wealth How can I but feare least this Mammon was your God Hence was Gods iealousie in remoouing it and hence your immoderate teares for losing it If thus God had not loued you if he had not made you poore To some it is an aduantage to leese you could not haue beene at once thus rich and good Now heauen is open to you which was shut before could neuer haue giuen you entraÌ„ce with that lode of iniquitie If you be wise in menaging your affliction you haue changed the world for GOD a little drosse for heaueÌ„ Let me euer lose thus and smart when I coÌ„plain But you might haue at once retained both The stomach that is purged must bee content to part with some good nourishment that it may deliuer it selfe of more euill humors God saw that knowes it you could not hold him so strongly while one of your hands was so fastened vpon the world You see many make them selues wilfully poore why cannot you be content God should impouerish you If God had willed their pouerty he would haue coÌ„manded it If he had not willed yours he would not haue effected it It is a shame for a ChristiaÌ„ to see an Heathen philosopher laugh at his owne shipwracke while himselfe houles out as if all his felicity were imbarked with his substaÌ„ce How should we scorn to think that an heathen man should laugh either at our ignorance or impotence ignoraÌ„ce if we thought too highly of earthly things impoteÌ„ce if we ouer-loued them The feare of