expecting that hee was come to the mark of his life was suddenly snatcht away by a contrary sicknesse before his death one of his friends gave him a Visit and found the good old man falne into a sleepe When hee wakened hee asked him how hee did find himself to whom Gorgâ—as replyed this sleep begins to deliver mee up to his brother meaning death Whosoever is a good Christian will never permit sleepe to passe upon him before he hath convented his own conscience and haâ—h washed away his offences by a godly sorrow many have begun to sleepe and to die at once and have ended their lives with their sleep and therefore we are to look well to sleep which is deaths brother and as strictly as we can not to go to it warily onely but also chastly Hee which sleeps not in chastity shall not rise in chastity § 19. The Fore-runners of Death DEath is the fore-runner of Eternity dolours and diseases are the most knowne Harbingers of deaâ—h If wee will credit Pliny one manifest signe of death is in the height of sicknesse to laugh in some diseases an unequall and prickling striking of the veins and the eyes and the nose afford to us certain signes of death according to Plinies experience these are Indexes of approaching death when the sick party discourseth of journeys when hee will not abide in his bed when he folds the coverlid or when he puls haires out of it There are beside these many other signes of death not counted vain or false Augustus the Emperour a little before he died complained that he was taken away by forty young men That was rather a presage as Suetonius reports of death then of a distracted mind for when he was dead hee was brought forth by forty Pretorian Souldiers When Alexander the Great was about to saile to Babylon there was a great winde which took away the ornament of his head and the Dia em bound to it the tire fell into the water and the Diadem hung unto a Fen-cane one of the Saylors went to fetch this and because he would not have it wet put it upon his head and so brought it to Alexander the Saylor had a Talent given him for a reward but presently after by the advice of the Chaldees his head was struck off nor did Alexander long escape death which the Diadem taken from his head portended In the yeer of Christ 1185 when that great and last overthrow was neer to Andronicus Cominaeus the Emperour the Image of S. Paul placed by the Emperour in a Temple in Constantinople wept abundantly nor were those teares false presages for presently after the Emperours bloud was shed Moreover Princes and great men have had strange presages of their deaths as the howlings of Dogs unusuall the roaring of Lions the strangnesse of the striking of Clocks Nightly noyses in Towers and many other infallible signes of ensuing deatâ— How innumerable are the signes of death saiâ—h Pliny and certain but not one of security or health What do al they teach us but this one thing let us remeÌ„ber that we are but men Thinke on Eternitie whi her thou art poasting thou must be gone shortly thou art but a guest Enquire the way Looke thou beest ready fit hy selfe for to appeare before the Lords Tribunall How thou hast lived so even so shalt thou be judged § 20. What we must answer to Deaths Messenger BLessed Sainâ— Ambrose having received the Embassadour of death when as his friends wept and sorrowed and desired him to pray to God to spare him a longer life he answered them I have not so liv'd as that it shames mee to live longer nor do I feare to die because wee have such a Good Lord. Saint Augustine did much regard this wise saying and commended them to his Schollers as pure and savoury words And S. Augustine himselfe was nothing troubled at the hearing of death but said what great man can conceit any proud or great thing when as men do die well as trees do fall and other creatures That golden-mouthed Father Saint Chrysostome a little before his death when he was in banishment writ thus to Innocentius this now is the third yeere that wee have endured banishment being exposed to pâ—stilence famine war to continuall incursions to unspeakable solitarinesse to daily death to the Heathens swords and being about to die hee fairely pronounced these words Glory be to thee ô Lord for all things Saint Cyprian being condemned to death for Christian Religion with a noble spirit said thus Thanks be given to God who vouchsafeth to take me out of the bonds of this boâ—y Let the dying man imitate these holy Fathers let him often say this God be thanked Glory be to God for all things I have watch'd long enough amongst thorns I have fought enough with beasts I have toild enough in tempests Now because I see an end of my watâ—hings of my fightings and of my labour God be thanked Glory be to God for all things For certain Death is an advantage to the wise and a gain to them whose lives are irksome § 21. A sweet death but the worst death of all GEorge Duke of Clarence was by his brother Edward the fourth King of England for suspition of aâ—eâ—ting the Crown commanded to die yet he had liberty given to choose his owne death and hee chose a most sweet death for hee caused a Butt of Malmsey to be filled and so placed himselfe in it and others softly and leasurely let him bloud and hee all the while â—ucking in leasurely the sweet liquour So hee left this life being at last drowned in this sweâ—t but fatall ba h. If wee look but upon the manners of men alas how many by ingurgitating themselves with pleasures intemperately by drinking and gluttony do even drown themselves but while they so doe sucke in with eagernesse while they give their whole souls to draw in these vaine short filthy irksome delights alas wretches as they are they doe by little and little drinke downe their own destruction making themselves slaves to their bellies and filthy lusts and by how much the more greedily they doe swallow downe these sugred baits the sooner goe they to the land of darknesse aâ— Iob hath it They spend their days in mirth and in a moment goe down to Hell Most elegantly S. Augustine all things saith he are utterly uncertain but death a child is coÌ„ceived perhaps it is born perhaps not but perisheth an abortive if it be borne perchance it groweth perchance not it may be old perhaps not it may be rich it may be poore it may be honoured it may be an abject It may marry perhaps not it may have children perchance none it may bee sicke it may be devoured by beasts it may escape But amongst all these perhaps and perchances â—in we truly say perhaps or perchance it shall die It is recorded in the Machabees of Alexander 1 Mac. 1 6. and his fate is
wee carry about us is not our dwelling but our June it must be left when once the Master is weary of our company Therefore ô my good Christian hasten to live holily and thinke every day an entrance into a new life Who so fits himselfe this way shall meet death with comfort That man never died ill who lived well § 35. That Procrastination is the greatest damage and blemish to our lives WE put off any thing but wickednesse that not onely takes up the present day but is likewise promised the morrow In sin wee are prompt actors in other things usuall promisers and fair-speakers then wee use to say to morrow it shall be done or next week or next yeere without delay so doe dayes moneths and yeeres slide away while we onely delay and promise but performe not Seneca speaks admirably in this point Lib. de Brev. vit c. 4. Many shall yoâ— heare saith hee who say at fifty 〈◊〉 will take mine ease the sixtieth yeerâ— shall discharge me from all encumbranâ—ces and what surety else desirest thoâ— of a longer life but who will suffeâ— things to goe at thy disposing Blushest not thou to reserve the refuse and the dregs of thy rotten yeeres to God and to destinate onely that time for his service which thou art not able to manage in any other manner It is too late then to begin to live when it is time to leave off work What senslesnesse is it to refuse to follow good counsell till a man comes to fifty or sixty yeeres of age and to resolve there to begin to live where most leave off Sigismund the second King of Poland for his delayings and slothfulnesse in matters of weighty consequence was called Rex Crastinus the delaying King such sure are we though wee know not that wee shall be to morrow yet we hazard the mainer work upon such uncertaine probabilities Wee put off all most willingly would weeâ— if wee could put off death too But death's businesse admits of no delay nor putting off when Death knocks the bars must speedily open Therefore as the Proverbe saith The onely way to be long an old man is to be such an one betimes The King of Macedon obtained such glorious Conquests by being speedy upon his actions Wee lose the best nay all by deferring and delaying Chrysologus said well Most men put off to do well Ser. 125. Med. untill death debar them of time Wee come to death by degrees as men who sleep walking The first day wee put off good duties the second day wee doe them slightly the third day wee forget them on the fourth we are not able to performe them O Mortals to morrows life is too late learn to live to day give earnest to day grieve to day for your sins For who except your owne conceits hath promised you the morrow that which may bee ought to bee done to day why should it be procrastinated to thaâ— which yet is not may perhaps not be time or if it be perhaps not thine to deferre good actions hath always prov'd dangerous Deferrings are obnoxious to our lives Iumb vet You seldome see the slothfull man that thrives Let us make hast therefore and let us but seriously thinke how speedily wee would foot it if wee were sure there was a destroying Enemy behind us Wee would strive to be formost that we might be furthermost from our pursuers It is so we are followed close to hasten is to escape so shall wee enter into eternall rest It is the greatest comfort against deaths approach to have done all our worke before he comes to call for us To the Sick A Winter 's at hand leaves fall Death 'gins to snatch His Ax and spies thy Glasse spent Sick man watch B What th' Presse to Grapes that Sicknes is to thee If thou be ripe as Grapes in Autumne be C The stouping Hern oft gores her towring Foe So outward grief oft frees from inward woe D Sicknes lays men along as hail doth corn Better fall well then stand with shame anâ— scorn E Just now 't was cloudy now Sol shew his face Now clouds again This is the Sick man case F To scape the Scorpions sting and th' Archers dart Sicknes and Death I know no meanes 〈◊〉 art G A Sick man 's like an Horse plunging iâ— sturdy waves Who knows if th' one shall scape the floodâ— the other the grave § 36. Deaths haunt WIlliam the third Duke of Bavaria a Patron of the poore and Protector of all religious and godly men being dead though all men should have held their peace yet the cryes and teares of the poore lamenting his losse would have been sufficient Trumpets to have blazon'd his Princely worth this prayse-worthy Prince I say when he He returned from the Councell of Basil where he in the place of the Emperour sate chiefe returning to Munchen dreamed such a dreame as this following Hee seem'd to see a lusty great Stag which carried upon one horne little bels and upon the other divers wax Tapers and Torches lighted there was a nimble Huntsman and a pack of hounds who withall swiftnesse and eagernesse had this Stag in chase at the last the Stag having no other way leapt into the Churchyard in which there was a Grave made for a Mans buriall which was open into which the Stag fell and there was taken and killed at the sight of this the Prince wakened and was wondrous desirous to know what this Dreame should mean on the next day he told it to his Lords and this Dreame was variously interpreted which when Duke William had heard presently replyed I am said he this great Stag which Death so eagerly hunts and will shortly and speedily take me and end my days and I will be buried in that Church All things were ordered accordingly and these presages had their events answerable For in short space after this worthy Prince did yield to Death and commended his soule to God piously and was there interâ—'d where hee desired A good Death is the introduction to a blessed Eternity § 37. Why though wee daily are Spectators of Burials yet we doe not meditate on Death THe Devill being skilful in the perspective art useth this cunning policy that those things which are furthest off hee makes them seem neer unto us and those which are neer unto us he makes seem a great way distant from us Thus he represents Death to us that though it be so neere us that it is ready to lay hold on us yet it appeares a great way off hence in a vaine security wee promise to our selves many yeares and put the evill day far from us to our great disadvantage Hence is it that wee looke upon other mens Burials as though ours were not to be this long time and though we are decaying daily yet for all that we fancy an eternity to our own souls Sir Thomas Moore our Countriman lest any age should promise him a long life and
ready where is hee not working whom doth not he meet and strike with his fatall dart How many sorts of deaths are there and all to ruine one poore wretch'd man so that it may be said truly why are so many sorts of deaths assailing Lib. dâ— honest vitae Idem in medit cap. 3. de dignitat animae When all our lives are bubbles quickly failing Heare but Saint Bernard let the daily meditation of death be thy chiefe wisdome for there are divers kinds of death always pinching thee What ever happens to other men saith he may also happen to thee because thou art a man thou art made and composed of earth and art but dust of dust thou takest thy descent and pedigree from earth thou livest of earth and shalt at one time or other bee reduc'd to earth when that last and terrible day shall come which shall come suddenly and perhaps to morrow or this day It is â—ertain that thou shalt dy but when or how or where is altogether uncertaine Seneca saith It is uncertaine in what place Death looks for thee therefore doe thou expect it in every place §. 17. Every mans House is Death's home WE sport and put Death farre too far away And yet it secretly in us doth lurke Yet from our first breath doe our lives decay And Death begins even then ' gainst us to work Each hour doth strive to cut our threds in twain Each moment Death doth somthing from us gain Wee always dye and in one moment passe Vnto Deaths darkest Cels as lights put out Death cuts off time in which our hopes we place Frustrates our hopes with time which wheels about So short oft times are both our hopes and time That oft Death takes them both even in their prime In the Northern Ocean towards Moscovy there is a certaine fish whose name is Death this great devourer of fishes is mightily arm'd with teeth Hie. Cardan l. 10. de subtilitate pag. 336. and as Cardanus reports it sword-hilts are made usually of his teeth Oh mortals our owne bodies are ponds in which this great Devourer Death is nourished wee need not therefore go farre to find it when it is bred in our own bowels In each 〈◊〉 Home Death keeps a Roome §. 18. That Death is inexorable not to be intreated THough Rocks be deafe and Tigres fell And boystrous Seas doe rage and swell Sometimes these are calme quiet pleas'd And all their furies are appeas'd But death nor threats or friendship doth regard But is than Seas Tygres or Rocks more hard Antiquity feignes the three Ladies of destinies to be all inexorable to whom all the power of life and death is only entrusted to whose distaff spinning thread sheares the Gods have transferd humane actions as it is said When Fates in order come Then every one must run Without delay to his home Those Fates are said not to defer the determined time but keepe it exactly Death by Painters is delineated with a Dart in his hand impartially striking Kings Scepters as they that grinde at mill without eares because hee is not mov'd with mortals cryes hee wants eyes so that hee looks not upon mens miseries hee wants a forehead and cheeks so that hee cannot blush hee wants a tongue lips lest he might afford to men some little comfortable syllable Hee wants flesh all over to shew that hee cannot be touched with any sence of humanity onely you shall see him with nerves limbs muscles bones with his arrows and darts ready to strike downe wretched men suddenly and if at any time above all the rest Death showed his cruelty and inexorablenesse it was then when without all pity or compassion hee struck the Prince and Authour of life Iesus Christ with his deadly dart though at this attempt of his the stones rent the earth shooke the stars hid their beauties the Sun was darkned nay the very Angels seem'd to mourne as not willing to behold Life it selfe brought to death Whosoever thou art thou shalt find death inexorable therefore live always mindful of it the time flies as a Post and what I say may instantly come to passe Pers Sat. 5. Settle every day as it may be thy last or first leading to Eternity § 19. As nothing is more certain so nothing more uncertain than Death De Conviv ad Clericos c. 14. SAint Bernard learnedly crys out What is more certaine in all humane affaires than death and yet what can be found more uncertain than the time of it It shews it self in old men it layes ambushments in yongmen therefore wisely said King Salomon Prov. 27.1 Boast not thy selfe of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth so sings that Horace Who knows if Fates will spare us our next breath or aire Hor. l. 4. Od. 7. Saint Iames the Apostle speaks most truly Iam. 4.13.14 Behold you which say to day or to morrow we will goe into such a citie for a yeere and there wee will buy and sell and get gaines when as you know not what may be on the morrow foâ— what is your life but a vâ—â—our which now is and suddâ—nly passeth away whereas you shâ—uld rather say if the Lord will or if wee live we will doe this or that Wee all all of us must passe to the grave for it is said Wee all die 2 Kings 14.14 and are like water spilt on the earth which cannot be gathered up againe Neither can any man plead ignorance of the Law which faith Thou must returne the spirit to him whâ—ch gave it and as no man can die which never did live so no man that ever lived but did die onely the time and date is uncertain Therefore Christ hath stâ—rr'd us up by a wise admonition Watch and pray saith hee for you know not the day and houre and so repeating the words againe Mark 13 33 35 36 37. Watch yee therefore for yee know not when the Lord of the house will come whether at the dawning or at midnight or at the third watch or in the morning lest when he comâ—s he finde you slâ—eping therefore what bee saith Hee saith unto all men VVatch. § 20. Death comes suddenly to many unlooked for almost to all WHo will not watch against the assaults of death who is ready at all houres for execution who never acquaints us with the time hee intends to invade us who sometimes comes creeping sometimes flying sometimes furiously in the twinkling of an eye hastily arrests us unprovided without the least giving us notice without cause without caution in sicknes in health in danger in securitie so that there is nothing free or priviledged from his talons or destroying assaults Was not Tarquinius healthy and merry Pâ—â— l. 7. Nâ—â— Hist c. 7. and suddenly choaked with the bone of a little fish Fabius likewise waâ— well and lusty when presently a small haire which he drunk with his milke
dispatched him Was not the byting of a Weasell the end of Aristides life Did not the Father of Caesar arise well from his bed and dyed putting on his shooes Did not another Caesar breath out his soule going over the threshold into his Palace That Ambassador who intended to have spoken with great admiration the Rhodians affaires in a great Assembly dyed he not in the entrance into the Court If wee will believe Lucian Anacreon the Poet and Sophocles were both killed with the stone of a Grape One little prick of a Needle kild Lucia the daughter of Marcus Aurelius Cneus Bebius Pamphilus the Praetor having desired that Dignity from a youth dyed the first houre hee enjoyed it A sudden and violent laughter hath kild some so wee read of Chilo the Lacedemonian and Rhodias Diagoras who when they heard their sonnes were Conquerours in the Olympick Games in one and the same time both suddenly departed Death hath many passages and entrances by which he comes into us and ruines us sometimes he comes in at the windows sometimes enters into the Sellars not seldome by the supporters and pillars and often by the tiles and covering of the house if hee fails by these betrayers to overthrow the house such I call all the ill Humours Diseases Cathars Plurisies and other Causes which death useth to effect his designes upon us then he will burst open the dores with powder with fire water pestilence poysons beasts and men with all violence and fury that can bee invented Mephihosheth the son of King Saul as he was upon his bed at noone was slaine by hired murtherers Pulâ—o King of Ierusalem as he hunted a Hare falling from his horse and being trodden upon presently wâ—s slain Iosias of all the Kings of Iuda David onely excepted the most renowned for piety sanctity and other Princely endowments when he met the Army of Pharaoh Necho King of Egypt being suddenly wounded with an arrow died in the battaile Egillus King of the Goths an excellent Prince was gored and kild by a mad Bull which was let loose by naughty lawlesse people Malcolme the first King of the Scots after many examples of justice on a night as he narrowly viewed his Kingdom was strangled many as they have gone to sleepe have slept their last it is necessary at all occasions to be in battaile aray against this politique enemy Vzzah a great man in Davids Court who laid hands upon the Arke when it shaked as it was bringing to Ierusalem to stay it from falling was smitten and died The Prophet that eat meate contrary to the Lords command was torne in pieces by a Lion Ananias and Saphyra in the Apostles time at the very word of Saint Peter both died suddenly whose act may serve as a faire warning to all men not to transgresse in the like manner but I omit these ancient times and come to our dayes Iacob Gord. in Chron. in hunc annum In the yeare 1559. Henry the second King of France was kild in the midst of his Sports and Triumphs in a great confluence of Spectators for as hee celebrated in great state with justs and tournaments the Marriage of his Daughter in Paris was run into his eye and so through the head with a shiver of a Lance that hee died forthwith In the yeare 1491 Alphonsus the sonne of John the second King of Portugall being 16 yeeres old and a Prince of an excellent wit and great hopes married Isabel the daughter of Ferdinand King of Spain whose dowrie was the Inheritance of the large Territories of her Fathers Kingdomes The marriage was celebrated with the preparation and furniture of six hundred severall sorts of Triumphs every where were Playes and Tiltings and Justs and Banquets there was such excesse and superfluitie that even Pages and Kitchen-boyes shone in their cloth of Gold and silkes and velvets were accounted of no value but oh the griefe what a strange Catastrophe presently followed scarce were seven moneths passed when as this young Prince sporting himselfe with his horse by the banks of the River Tagus was strucke off from the banks to the earth with his head all bruised fatally and so was carried into a poore fishers Cottage which could scarce hold him and two of his servants and in that poore plight in that dejected state upon a Mattresse of straw he ended his life The King and the Queene his Mother came thither and saw that deplorable spectacle and all their pompe and magnificence was suddenly turn'd into mourning and the wedding ended in a funerall and all their large hopes of the prosperous successefull government of their sons state were extinguished and cut off as greene flowers by the cold blasts of a Northern wind so all this Princes glory was laid in a little quantity of earth Oh the strange and sudden whirle-windes of humane glory Oh the unexpected precipices and downfals of the strongest of mortals Shall I speak of more Basilius the Emperour as he was hunting a Stag was wounded with his horne Hippol. Guar. l. 6. de abominandis gentis hum 1.20 and in short time after of that wound died An ancient Monument in Ambrose neer Oenipont records that a yong unexpert gentleman more rash than wise put his horse with his spurs to take a ditch of twenty feet over Vide Iusta Hen. 4. regis Gall. a Ludovico Richâ—omo scripta he forc'd the horse to it but both he and his horse perished alike the Knights clothes and the horses skin kept in that place speake this true to posterity But this sudden death happens alike to good and bad unlesse as in some examples the divine stroke of Justice hath wiped out some out of the Land of the living for some notorious offence in the very act and perpetration so Dathan and Abiram for their rebellion were swallowed up of the earth quick with their consorts Such was the death of Absolon for his rebellion against his Father Such was the death of those fifty that were sent to Elijah whom fire from heaven suddenly devoured Such was the death likewise of Zimri and Cozhi for their transgression being both run through by Phinees Whose action in lust brought them to dust So many Pores as are in the body so many little doores are there for death to enter though death doth not seeme alwayes to be neere yet hee is certainly at hand always ready Why should that seeme strange to be done at this time which may be done at any time The tearm of our life is fixed Senet Epist 101. Med. and alters not but none of us all knows how neere it wee are Let us so order our selves therefore alwayes as if we were come to the mark Let us not defer There was a certain man dream't hee was killed by the mouth of a Lion He rose and neglecting his dreame went to the Church with other company and by the doore as they entred he spied a Lion cut in stone
1 Reg. 13.1 In the sacred Writ it is recorded of King Saul that he began to reigne when hee was one yeere old and hee reigned two yeeres over Israel Saul when hee began to reigne was as pure from sin as an Infant of a yeere old and he kept this his uprightnesse and integrity but one compleat yeere although in all hee ruled twenty yeeres Many get to old age before they be so Many never see the flourishing of that worke but in their old and decrepid age they too often reteine the sinnes of youth holy Iob doth speak it His bones are filled with the sins of his youth Sen. Epist 49. ad finem et l. de tranquill c. 3. A life is not counted good for the duration of it but the use it may be so and hath come to passe that hee who hath lived a long time may be said to have lived but a short moment there is nothing more grosse than an old man that hath no other argument to prove himselfe old by than his age and multitude of yeeres Saint Ambrose spake elegantly of Agnes a Virgin Serm. 90. qui est de S. Agnes In yeeres shee was a child but in gravity and sobriety of minde shee was an ancient Matron the sacred Scriptures proclaim that old age is reverend and the hoary head when they are furnished with wisdome Wisd 4 8 9. It is therefore that old men are reverenced not for their antiquity and multiplicity of days but for their holinesse of life and abundance of wisdome Whosoever therefore is ancient in wisedome though yong in yeers is as a Daniel and deserves respect an upright life is the best seniority Hee hath liv'd long enough who hath liv'd wel He hath fought enough who hath got the victorie §. 24. A Paradox That any man that will may live long TVlly saith that a short time is long enough to live well Lib. 1. Tusâ— qâ— Hee never dies too early that if hee had liv'd longer would not have liv'd better That youngling hath lived yeeres enough who hath liv'd to get Vertue to get Eternity Hath not he spoke well that perswades his Auditours by one short sentence or beckning Hath not he run well who hath gain'd the prize Hath not he sail'd far enough that is come happily to his desired Haven Onely have a care that death prevents not our meditations and then the swifter our course the happier it is Curt. lib. 9 c. 12. Mod. Truly I say as the King of Macedon said in Cuâ—tius Hee which numbers not my yeeres but my victorious Conquests computes my husbandâ—y of Fortunes gifts exactly will finde I lived long time but much more trulier Hc who hath consecrated his whole life to God and hath onely studied to please and serve him may say with confidence and comfort if my yeers be not numbred but my manifold desires of pleasing God and Gods great and infinite mercies bestowed upâ—n mee in that time I have lived long §. 25. That wee must all die AVgustus the Emperour having taken the City of Perouse in Hetruria observed many Snâ—â—on in Aug. c. 15 how they beg d their pardons or desired to excuse themselves hee answered them all in this short sentence Dio saith 400. We must all die Thereupon hee forthwith commanded three hundâ—ed of them to be sacrificed upon the Altar built to Iulius Caesar Iust Maâ— in Trip. â—ren l. 5. cont Harâ—seâ— Iustinus Martyr and Ireneus famous writers amongst the Primitive times have wittily observ'd that after the sentence pronounc'd of death against our first parents there was never any mortall man according to Gods sacred account that did ever live out one whole day compleat For the Prophets and Apostles beare record Ps 90.4 2 Pet. 3.8 That a thousand yeeres in Gods fight are but as one day and one day as a thousand yeeres But yet never vvas that man found whose life attaind to such a large extent as to a thousand yeeres therefore according to Gods reckoning never did any live a day outright Thou must dy though thy life goes beyond the compasse of 900. yeeres All those registred in the word of God of whom some lived so many hundred and others so many hundred yeeres yet the finall clause of all of them is this and He dyed This will appeare to be most certain by the sacred oracles by reason and experience Gods word hath in the old and new Testament mentioned this 600. times Moriendum We must die Reason convinceth the same by most evident demonstrations because man is compos'd of contraries and obnoxious to ruine and so of consequence at one time or other Moriendum est He must die Experience the Schoolemistris of wise unwise points as it were with her finger at the immeÌ„se heaps of dead corpses and shews by daily examples that yet there was never man that deluded or shifted off deaths wound it is as manifest as the sunne at noon day Moriendum est that man must goe to his long home This word Death sounds in the eares of all as loud as thunder no man can in this thing bee either blind or deafe will we nil we this voice will peirce our ears Deaths thunder will bee Moriendum est we must all die Even divine Justice and divine mercy herein agree in one all men must die Aeschilus said of old Nat. 99. l. 6. in fine Death only refuseth to be bribed by the very deities The Goddesses with their guifts could not asswage Death It admits not the sweetest and fairest hopes and therefore Seneca said wisely let us have that always fixed in our minds let us always apply this to our souls Moriendum est we must die when thou shalt never know better than presently Death is the Law of Nature and thou must pay this â—ribute when death by law requires it wherefore laying aside all other things meditate seriously this one lest when death comes thou shouldest feare his approach Make death by a frequent meditation thy familiar that when it shall so fall out that death shall call thou mayest willingly and readily salute it with cheerfulnesse § 26. The remembrance of Death is divers ways to hee renewed 1. IT is reported that a dead mans scul dryed in an oven and beaten to powder in a morter and so mixt with oile doth speedely heale the Gangrene and Canker To bruise the braine pan and other the bones of dead men by an holy Meditation and Contemplation doth perfectly cure the Gangrene of the Soule 2 Plato is said to out-strip the sages in this respect S. Hiero. hu ut meminit in C. 10. Maâ— in that with vivacity and courage he did contemplate upon death and read lectures to his Schollers of it Therefore he gave this as a law to his Schollers that being entred on their journey they should never stand still or stop their couâ—s he wisely intimated by this that there departure out
of this life should bee daily considered and some progresse to he made every day more than other 3 Nicolaus Christopherus Radzivilius a Prince of Poland affirmes that in Aegypt those which did excell others in age and wisdome did daily carry about them dead mens bones set in ebony or some other thing and did use to shew them to men and by these they did daily exhort men to remember their ends the Aegyptians also use at their banquets to bring in a deaths head and end their merry meetings with this sad Embleme to have presented before them the shoulder-blade of a dead man with this heavie motto Remember you must die 4 The Great Cham of Tartarie in the City of Bagdad upon a Festivall day which they call Ramadam shewing himselfe to the people riding upon a Mule being richly apparelled investments of gold and silver cloth his Turbant being all set with precious jewels yet all his head and ornaments are hid under a blacke veile by which custome and ceremony hee shews that the greatest glory and highest magnificence will be shaded and obscured with death Baron Tom. 7. An. 567. 5 There was laid over Iustinian the Emperour being dead a large Carpet in which in Phrygian work there were woven the lively Effigies of all the Cities that hee had conquered and all the barbarous Kings he had subdued and in the midst of all those great Battails Trophies and Conquests there was the Image of Death For for certain Death doth sport it self in Kingdomes as he said Pallida mors aeque pulsat pede c. Death onely strikes not poore men dead and clowns But lofty Turrets and Imperiall Crowns Martine the fifth Pope of Rome Aulea Otho Column a dictus had this in a Badge or Symbol In a great fire ready kindled in which were throwne a Bishops Mitre a Cardinals Hat an Emperours Diadem the Crownes of Kings a Dukes Cap of Maintenance and Sword with this adnexed Motto So passeth all worldly glory 6 A man asked a Mariner upon a time where his Father died De remed utriusque fortunae l. 1. dial 121. Fran. Petrarch Cujus opera hic saepius utendum the Mariner replyed in the Sea the other asked him where his grandfather and his great grandfather died the Sailer answered again at Sea and quoth the other art not thou then afraid to goe to Sea The Sailor wittily replyed and Sir I pray you tell me where your Father died He answered in his bed but where died your grandfather and all other your Ancestours in their beds replyed the other then are not you afraid to go into your bed seeing all your forefathers died there no said the other why said the Sailor by your owne relation the bed is the more dangerous in this respect for there many more dies in their beds than there doe at sea and you may die there as soon as I may at sea A witty answer and well applyed Let our daily Meditations be as Lipsius said when hee went sick to bed ad Lectum ad Lethum to the Bed and so to the Grave for many have died in their sleep Death being but the elder sister of sleep 7 Iohn Patriarch of Alexandria Leâ—â—â— â—ypâ—or Episc c. 18. in vita Ioanâ—â—s which took his name from hiâ— Almesdeeds in his health he commanded his sepulchre to be built but it was not fully finished in so much that upon a great solemnâ— feast day in the presence of all the Clergie when hee had ended his sacred Charge One said to him My Lord your sepulchre is not yet built up nor perfected command I pray you that it may be made speedily up For your honour knows not how soone the Thiefe may overtake you 8 It was not lawfull for any one to speake to the Easterne Emperour being newly created Idem ibid. before that a Mason had shewed him som sorts of Marble of several colours and had asked which of those he liked best to have his Sepulcher made of What was this else but to say Be not high minded o Emperour Thou art a man and shalt die as the meanest begger Xiphili in Domit. who in this banquet did not seeke to remember death but sport and vanity Looke therefore so to the government of thy Kingdome which thou shalt lose as that thou losest not the Kingdome which is everlasting 9 Domitianus the Romane Emperour made a banquet to the chiefe of his Senators and great Knights after this manner Hee had all the roomes covered with black cloaths also the roofes of the Chambers the walls and the pavement the seats all black promising mourning In the chief place was a funeral bed the guests were brought in by night without any attendants by every one there was placed a Coffin with every mans name upon it there were laÌ„ps added set up as use to be at funerals the waiters at the table they carried the colours of the night in their habits and countenances and compassed the guests with notes and gestures of Death all this while supper was celebrated in great silence and Domitians discours was only of burialls and Death at the table to the astonishment and affrightment of his guests who feared what would be the issue of this his action What followed think you after all this mournfull carriage and deportment onely Domitianus had provided a wholsome document for himselfe and his Senators but never made use of it so that it was rather judged folly than wisedome The Egyptians doe better who alwayes temper their feasts with some seasonable lessons of Mortality § 27. A discourse of New shifts made by Assan Bashaw in Grand Cayro for erecting of a Temple IN Grand-Cayro in Egypt there is a Turkish Temple which they call a Mosque which was builded by this meanes Radâ— Epist 3. Itineris in palastin pag. 176. Assan the Bashaw for the Grand-Seigneur of Turky a man of a cunning head and a covetous Heart being desirous his fame should be spread abroad through the world by some eminent structure but willing to save his owne purse went this way to worke He commanded it to be proclaimed in all places what a mighty Temple he was intended to build to God And that this Temple mighâ— proceed with all happy successe he published what large wages all they that would come and worke should have paid them withall what an huge offering should there be offered thereupon the time and place was appointed This call'd an innumerable company of people out of all Egypt and not onely from thence but a world of people came from all other parts to Grand-Cayro Against this great confluence of peoples comming Assan the Bashaw had prepared a mighty number of new shirts and coats now those which came to the offering as also they which came to receive wages were all coÌ„manded to passe through severall little dores out of one great spacious court into another and at each dore as
soule so enlarge thy thoughts why doest thou possesse so much why gapest thou still after more whom so many Provinces and Kingdomes could not hold this little Cabinet must include and why thinke you he desired to have lime and chalke for his nostrils mouth and eares behold the costly Odours and Unguents in which he would be laid downe Oh Maximilian great once thou wert and thy actions and these very things at thy death speake the same Baron Tom. 3. An. 326. â— 96. What shall I speake of the Coffin of Ablavius which was a Praefect and a great Prince amongst other of Constantine the Great his Courtiers an insatiable devourer of gold who meditated more of gold than his grave or heaven Constantine on a time taking him by the hand spake thus unto him How long how long said he shall we heape together wealth of this kind And as hee had spoke the words with a Speare which hee held in his hand he drew the description of a Coffin on the ground Hadst thou said hee a world full of such treasure yet after thy death thou shalt not have a greater place than this perhaps lesse then this forme which I have drawne out Constantine in this prov'd a Prophet for this Ablavius was cut in small peeces so that there was nothing left of him to put into a Sepulchre Charles the fift Emperour of Germany did imitate Maximilian whoÌ„ I named ere-while long before his death he sequestred himself from administring the affaires of the Empire and having transferr'd the government and management of it to his Sonne who was able for his yeares and of judgement sufficient hee himselfe went into Spaine with 12. followers onely into the Monastery of St. Justus to give himselfe wholly to Gods service and forbade any to call him by any other name or title then Charles onely putting farre off the title of Caesar Augustus with the Imployment and contemned all honours whatsoever And moreover it is registred of him that before he relinquish'd the Empire he commanded his Tombe to be made with all furniture belonging to his buriall and had it carried with him whithersoever he went but privately Hee had this funebrious accoutrements five yeares with him wheresoever he was I even when he went to Millaine against the French and had it diligently every night placed in his bed-chamber Some that were about his Person thought that therein hee kept his treasure others judged that in it he kept some rare books containing some ancient Historys Others thought there was some great matter in it but he himselfe knowing for what purpose he carried it would smiling say He carried it about for the use of something which was deare unto him So did this Charles daily meditate of death that at every night he should say Vixi I have lived and so every morning rise with profit and comfort Many others have piously imitated this Emperour Zach. Lippol tom 3. in vit S. Re. 1. Octob. that for long time together have carried their Coffins the monuments of their death with them for contemplation Genebaldus for seven whole yeares together had his bed made like a Coffine in which for that space he lived austerely and exercised himselfe in Mortification There was one Ida Idem tom 3. in vita S. Idae 4 Sept. Hier. Epist 103. a woman famous for holinesse which had likewise her Coffin made long before her death which she filled twice a day with food and nourishment and so often distributed it to the poore liberally The study of piety is the preparatory for death No death pollutes a vertuous soule he will easily despise all earthly things who hath his thoughts fixed upon his dissolution § 30. What our life is IT is as a flower as smoake as a shadow and as the shadow of a shadow It is a Bubble Dust froth It is as deaw as a drop as brittle ice As the Raine-bow a blazing Taper a bag full of holes A ruinous house deceitfull ashes a spring-day a constant Aprill as a dash in musick a broken vessell As a bucket for a Wel a Spiders web As a drop to the Ocean weake stubble A Summers herbe a short Fable a flying sparkle A darke cloud a bladder full of wind as a little Dove a taking her slight a brittle Glasse a fading Leafe a fine weake thred a Sodemes Apple c. And if a shadow bee nothing tell me what is the dreame of a shadow wee may make sixe hundred thousand of such similitudes of frailty and inconstancy and all like to mans life Me thinkes of all others he spake wittily that calls it a very short dreame of a shadow in briefe let us see what life is it is as one hath described it in this distich Somnus umbra vitrum glacies flos fabula foenum Vmbra cinis punctum vox sonus aura nihil i. e. Life 's like a dreame a bubble ice or glasse Like fading flowers vaine fables with'ring grasse It is a shadow dust a point a voice a sound It 's empty ayre well look'd too Nothing found Ah wretches how seeme we to heape up wealth to get honours to follow and hunt after pleasures when all these are as soone vanished as our selves Any of these all of them are but as a dreame and how short and vaine is that Psal 76.5 true is that saying of the Psalmist the proud are robbed they have slept their sleepe and all the men whose hands are mighty have found nothing they dreamt that they were mighty and rich but what have they retain'd or kept of all they gaped after or hoped for these are but meere dreames and fancies indeed and wakening they shall find their losse and grieve in their punishment What therefore is life I will declare it compendiously the time and length of our life is a point our nature is inconstancy our senses are obscurity Our whole body is but a rotting Concretion our mind vagrant Honours are but smoke Riches are thornes Pleasures are poysonâ— And that I may summe up all in word All things belonging to the body are but a passing streame all the minds endowments are emptinesse our life is a warre the loâ—ging of a traveller in a strange City the shop of all miseries and our fame after death is but oblivion Ausonius delivevers this well unto us Mieremur periisse homines Epigr. 3. momenta fatiscunt Mors etiam saxis nominibusque venit i. e. Men being as moments no wonder though they 're gone Death makes our names to faile and Marble-stone It 's a vertue to consummate our life before death knocks at our doores §. 31. That our life is a play OUr life is a Comedy we the stage-players one acts a King another a Beggar a third a Prince another a Physitian another a Clowne What part is imposed upon us we must performe we get no Plaudite unlesse we act well Well said Epictetus Euch. c. 23 Thou art called upon
so worke security in him exercised the thoughts of Death in himselfe by this fit similitude As man saith he who is led from prison to the place of execution though hee be led about and seems to go slowly yet he feares Death and is as sure of it as he that goes a neerer way and though his legs be strong his eyes quick-sighted his heart lusty though his stomacke be able for digestion yet this one thought turns all into bitternesse that hee is in the way to a certaine execution And what man is not a prisoner in this kind we are all going on towards our long home we are all in the way and parted but by small distances those which are dead have not so much left us onely they are gone before us but perhaps thou mayst say I am healthy and lusty and finde not nor feele any the least sence of sicknesse nor apprehension of Death well flatter thy selfe if thou wilt for certain thou art in the way and wee all are in the way with thee But thou mayst say thou art not yet thirty years old what then thou wast in the way at twenty at ten at five at three nay even at the first yeare and in the first houre goe on perhaps thou mayst a little further but thou wilt shortly come to thy end but yet thou wilt say thy sleepe is sound thy meat and drinke doe excellently well relish and digest Oh fond man Death regards not such things Wee are in the way looke to thy selfe presently thou wilt perceive the place of execution thou art led on there 's but a little time for thee to breath in shortly shall all thy pompe luxury and strength expire as well as thy selfe all our life is but the pathway to death That Death may happy be to live learn I That life may hâ—ppy be I 'le learne to die § 38. To day for mee to morrow for thee Delrii adag Tom. 2. p. 576. FRancis the first King of Francâ— being taken by Charles the fifth comming to Madrid upon a wall he read the Motto of Charles which was Plus ultra Still further and writ under it Hodie mihi cras tibi Mine to day yours to morrow The Conquerour was not offâ—nded nor angry but gave notice that hee understood the meaning for hee writ this in answer to it I am but a Man and know my selfe subject to mortalitie Elegantly spoke Greg Nazianzen My head saith he begins to be an Almond tree flourishing and therefore my Summer of Age is neer the Sickle is made sharp for work all my feare is lest that terrible Mower should crop me off and cut me downe while I sleepe securely and am not ready for his stroke But thou mayst say Old men indeed may feare but I am yong and green be not thou deceived Death is not limited to any certaine age The same Bier to day may carry an old carcasse to morrow a yong one to day a strong aâ—â—e â—n an to morrow a yong Virgin or 〈◊〉 Child Seneca speaks to the purpose Death saith he stands at the door of a yong man as well as at the threshold of an aged man for all men are registred and inrolled in Deaths Records all must pay their tributes when Death cals forth all must goe out no exemption from his Edict This is the last warning and admonishment that dying men groan forth To day for me too morrow for thee and this is the Graves sentence I fell yesterday thou mayst this day Remember Death Oh remember Eternitie which thou mayst either to day or to morrow begin but never End §. 28. If to morrow why not to day THere is a Chaine and that a weâ—ghty one that holds us bound fast to wit the Love of this Life which as it is not to be utterly cast off yet it is daily to be weakned and the vigour of it abated that when it shall be required at our hands to surrender nothing may withhold us but that we be ready presently to doe that which at one time or other must be performed Saint Augustine the Bishop of Hippo went on a time to visit another great Prelate and Father of the Church lying very sick and at the point of Death who had been formerly his familiar friend at Saint Augustines comming the sick man lift up his hand and said that he was departing this world and going into Heaven Possidonius in vita Aug. c. 27 Saint Augustine replyed that the Church would stand in great want of him and prayed that God would lend him a longer life The sicke mâ—n answered again if he never could be well spared but if at any time he should depart why not now The Death of all men is even and alike but the wayes by which it comes are divers one dyes at supper another in his sleepe a third in the commission of some sin One dyes by the sword another is drowned a third is burned some are poysoned and stung to death by Serpents others are kild by some fall and some Consumptions rid away some are cut off in the flower and beauty of their age some are destroyed in their swathling clothes and some in their decrepit years Others onely salute the World and are gone One mans end is commendable anothers dishonorable but let Death come never so gently or favourably yet it never comâ—s without some horrour and affrightment But that which most of all estrangeth us from liking Death is that wee know the things present and delights in them but whither wee are passing by Death and what things wee shall behold in the bowels of the grave wee know not and wee usually tremble at the report of strange sights therefore are our mindes to bee hardned with the daily exercise and meditation of eternity Eternity I say is to be thought upon night and day as he that will learn to endure hunger must attaine to it by fasting by degrees so the mind must be transferd from transitory things that ever will be expert in the study of Eternity Let him every moment salute and imbrace the threshold of Eternity let this one be the onely square of all his actions I read I write I meditate I watch I speak I worke always to Eternity Hee that ever intends to triumph eternally let his meditation be alwayes fixed and setled upon it § 40. Death is suddain yet comely AS Palladius the Bishop of Helenople testifies Cheremon died sitting as hee was at work Hist c. 92. and well Hee was found sitting with his worke in his hand onely hee was dead Any kind of Death is credited by a vertuous life Philemon an ancient Writer of Comedies as hee rehearsed his Comedies with Menander on the Stage Mad. Philos in Florid p 579 and strove with him for the Bays he was not in any thing reputed inferiour to him He acted a part of a play which he lately had made and being come to the second Scene
entertained with an undaunted spirit Whither it sets upon us violently or easily A vertuous life never thought ill of death and that man loses nothing who gets all things § 13. How the Saints of God may desire yet feare Death LEt us behold Saint Paul saiâ—h Saint Gregory how hee loves that which hee avoyds and how hee avoids that which hee loves Behold hee desires to die and feares to put off the tabernacle of flesh Why so Because although the victory makes his heart to rejoyce yet the paine doth trouble him for the present As a valiant man who is to fight a Combate though he be armed yet he pants and trembles and by his palenes discovers feare yet hee is mainly prick'd forward by valour and courage So a godly and holy man being neer to his death and passion is struck with the infirmity of his nature yet is he strengthened with the firmnesse of his hope and doth rejoyce that by dying hee shall live for ever For he cannot enter into that Kingdom but by the interposition of death yet hee doubts and hopes and rejoycing feares and fearing is glad because hee knows hee cannot attain to the prize unlesse he passeth this midway obstacle Hence it is that even the holiest men have in some measure feared deaths encounter King Hezekiah in the increase of his sicknes doth yet in teares lament Esay 38.10 That in the midst of his days he shall go to the gates of Hell What did not the feare of death cause David to utter that speech Psal 102 25. Take mee not away in the midst of mine age What shall we say of Abraham Iacob Elias Who as we are instructed by holy Writt did something feare death Elias flying from death 3. Reg. 19. yet did entreat for it under the Juniper tree Arsenius a man of an hundred twenty yeers old never assaulted with any disease having served God fifty five yeers in a most austere life being now at his dâ—parting began to feare and weâ—p Those that were present wondring at it said And doe you ô Father lâ—kewise fear death to whom he answered ever since I entred into the state of Religion I have always fâ—ared Seneca spoke excellently often is it seen that even the stoutest man though armed yet at the first entrance into the Combat feares so the resolutest Souldier at the signall of Battle his knees and joynts tremble so it is with the greaâ—est Commander as also wiâ—h the famousest Orator at the composing himself to speake This was observed in Charles the fifth Emperour who though hee was couragious in all warlike Expeditions though hee was not overcome with the greatest dangers nor frighted with the furiousnesse of warlike Chariots nor ever shrunke his head out of the maynest hazards yet for all that at the putting on of his Armour hee would something quake and shiver and shew signes of some feare but when once his head piece was on his sword girded to his thigh his Coat of Maile upon him hee was as a Lyon and like a mighty man of valour would set upon the Enemy Even so the best of men do desire and feare death they would be gone out but they tremble at it But it is better to die with Cato then to live with Anthony Hee is Deaths conquerour who quietly gives up his Spirit when he is câ—ld from hence §. 14. An ill death follows an ill life EVen as a tree falls that way when it is cut downe as it leaned when it stood so for the most part as we have livâ—d and bent our courses so doe we depart As we begun to goe so wee continue a commendable death seldome shuts up a dishonest life What things were pleasurable to us in the course of our lives ee seldome dislike at the time of our deaths A great Courtier of King Cenreds who studied more to please his Sovereigne then his Saviour being at point to die he did not onely seeme to neglect the care of his soule but also to put off the time of his death but hee saw before him a great many wicked Spirits expressing the Catalogue of all his hainous sins before him at which sight in horrour for them in despaire he dyed While wicked Chrysaorius called out for a space even for time but till the next morning he departed Herod Agrippa as his life was full of all impieties so his death was miserable So Herodias aâ— History reports who by dancing g t off Iohn Baptists head had her owne head cut off by the ice So Iezabel and Athaliah Queenes so â—ing Benhadad Balihazar and Antiochus with 600 more as their lives were naught and wicked so were their ends w etched and odious The death of wise men is to be lamented but much more the lives of the foolish Psal 34.22 the death of sinners is the worst It being an irrevocable ingresse of a most wofull eternity of torments Foolishly doth he feare death who neglects life He who lives to luxury and rio is dead while alive § 15. A good death follows a good life MOst truly said Saint Augustine That cannot be reputed for a bad death when as a good life hath always preceded For nothing but the sequell of death proves it ill A good crop of Corn doth seldome or never faile a plentifull sowing A good life is the Kings high way to a good Death That is the beginning middle and end I may compare life and death to a Syllogisme The conclusion is the end of the Syllogisme so death of life but the conclusion is either true or false according to the nature of the Antecedents So is Death always either good or bad according to the quality of our precedent lives So Saint Paul doth most severely pronounce it Whose end saith he shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 1. â— 15. It is reported of a certain man of a most devout life who was found dead in his study with his body so seated that his finger was upon the holy Bible and upon that place where it is said if the just man shall be taken away by Death hee shall be in his refreshing Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints whither it be slow or sudden The mellifluous Saint Bernard being now neere to his dissolution Thus spoke to his Schollers because quoth he I leave you no great examples of Religion yet three things I doe seriously commend to you which I have specially at all times observed 1 To trust my own sences lesse then others 2 That being hurt or injured by any I never fought after revenge 3 I never did willingly offend any man whatsoever fell out cross and thwart I pacified as I could Now being nere Death He wâ—it a Letâ—er to Arnaldus of Good-dale to this effect The spirit is ready but the flâ—sh is we k. Pâ—ay you to our Lord Jesus not to defer my exit but keep me when I shall go have