Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A04368
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The picture of patience. Or, a direction to perfection Most needfull and vsefull in these dangerous daies of sinne, and publike feares.
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Jeffray, William.
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1629
(1629)
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STC 14483; ESTC S100758
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29,169
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97
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See here a Christian like a laborious Bee sucking hony from the sharpest thistle and marke the difference betwixt a carnall and a spirituall eye the one sees a waue of sorrow comming and distrusts with Peter the other viewes it and reioyceth with Stephen in the middest of calamity Is this the end of Gods striking that hee may wound vs here and heale vs hereafter that sinne may now bee punished in vs and that hereafter wee be not punished for sinne Who will not then patiently kisse the rod of so louingly-gratious a father who changeth eternall damnation into a temporall punishment For doe wee not know Ro. 6.23 that The reward of sinne is death doc wee not know that daily nay hourely wee haue deserued this reward May wee not see Hells mouth wide opened as ready to deuour vs if mercy did not relieue vs Why then should not Gods stripes be vnto vs stripes of comfort hauing deserued ten thousand times more Let this consideration mooue vs to Patience and let patience haue her perfect worke c. Againe such is the nature of man that of all lessons it is the hardest for him to learne to know himselfe and the easiest to forget that knowledge Act. 6. For as the Eunuch stood in need of a helper to make him know what hee read so wee stand in need of a helper to make vs know what wee are As Christ then made lumps of clay to cure the eyes of the blinde Ioh. 9.6 so hee must cure our blinde eyes before we can know our selues to be but lumps of clay and this the Lord performeth by tribulation An instance we haue in Manasseh 2 Cro. 33.12.13 who whilest he happily sayled in the Bay of humane blisse forgat his God and defiled the holy citie with blood but when the wind of affliction began to change this calme of comfort into a tempest of trouble when the libertie of a King was turned into the bondage of a captiue and his stately palace turned into a lothsome prison then in his affliction he besought the Lord and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his Fathers then Manasses knew the Lord was God Thus when the staffe of sustentation could not the rod of correction brought this wandring sheepe to Gods heauen-gayning fold The like we read of Antiochus 2. Mac. 9. ver 4.19 Thus when mans pride begins to swell God lanceth the tumour with the razor of affliction to make him learne to know himselfe And as this is the most difficult lesson to learne so it is the easiest lost for man can easily bee content to remember to forget himselfe for as Saint Ia. speakes to another end as hee that lookes his face in a glasse forgets immediatly what manner of man he was Iam. 1. so when in the glasse of verity wee haue learned to discover our vanity we are such naturall Dunces as immediatly wee forget to remember what vaine things wee are yea euen aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus fearefull securitie like a fawning flattering Dalilah luls too often asleepe euen the best of Gods Saints vpon the couch of prosperity Vigilancie the euer-waking Sentinell of the soule of man growes oftentimes drowsie with too much ease The Apostles eyes were heauy with sleepe when Christs soule was heauy vnto the death and certainly their death is imminent where there is such eminent drowsinesse But our gracious father preuents this mischiefe in his adopted sons by sending a blustering tempest to awake the sleeping Ionah which Dauid found by experience Ps 119. for before hee was troubled he went wrong but tribulation sets him in the right way againe So when prosperity hath locked vp the eare of the heart then aduersity is the best key to open it for the schoole of tribulation is the schoole of illumination so that as the Angell struck Peter to rowse him from the sleepy feare of aduersitie so God strikes vs by tribulation to raise vs from the fearefull sleepe of securitie Is this then the end of Gods corrections to correct vs for so good an end and shall not wee endure his correction Know we not what became of the secure rich-man and shall wee still loue securitie Nay rather let vs reioyce when this Cock rayseth vs with Peter from the dreadfull sleepe of security that we may patiently watch for our hopes happy consummation and let Patience haue her perfect worke c. And lastly since wee fight the Lords battailes wherein the further we proceed wee proceed the further into danger and imminent danger is wont to make euen Gods eminent souldiers somtimes prooue recreant therefore the Lord tryes them sometime by crosses and troubles to embolden them the better in his seruice thereafter 1 Sam. 17.48 when Dauid had encountred with the Lion and the Beare and returned Victor hee grew resolute to cope with Goliah so when wee haue ouercome by Gods ouer-gracious assistance some one or two troubles wee shall grow couragious to cope with all like a couragious Souldier who comming from the field though wounded doth yet from his wounds suck settled Resolution so we though wounded by troubles yet not vanquished gaine hence more courage against the next assault and like expert Mariners sayling in the tempestious Ocean of this world learne from a gust of calamity how to withstand the greatest tempest of Misery as excellently and most diuinely Virgil speakes Aeneas the patterne of noble Cheiftaines My deare companions whose remembrance knowes Our hard escape from Sea from want from blowes Those we escap'd which most could vs offend And shall not God to these too grant an end Nor disagreeing also to this purpose is the consolatory counsell of Ovid to Livia Therefore the Thunder lightly did thee smite To make thee valiant in a sharper fight So doth Gods wrath-denouncing Thunder sometimes lightly touch his Saints not to harme them but to arme them for a further triall farre bee then so great a pollution from the seruant of Christ that Patience prepared for infinite should be dashed with finite troubles Nay rather let each victory be the Basis of a succeeding conquest and euery deliuerance an entrance to a further triall Ier. 12.5 for if wee be out-runne by footemen how shall wee match horses Paul was a man subiect to the same infirmities we are and yet he proffers a rare challenge hauing once felt the supportation of Gods soule-sauing grace Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword as if these or what else the Deuill or his instruments could raise vp against him were of no force against the armour of proofe of his vndanted Resolution Danger could no more appall him then a hammer the point of a Diamond Let vs then imitate his suffering and goe on from triall to triall from danger to danger Till Patience haue her perfect worke and then wee shall
thee neerâ—r to thee practise of this Excellent vertue What should I speake of Ioseph Psa 105.18 Whose Feete were hurt in the stocks the Iron entred into his Soule what of Iob whose sorrow-conquering Patience Gods holy spirit hath vouchsafed to Register what of Ieremie What of all the Prophets Heb. 11.37 whereof some were stoned some were sawen asunder were slaine with the sword wandred about in sheepe-skinns and Goates-skins being destitute afflicted and tormented of whom the world was not worthy because they were worthy of a better world What should I speake of the Apostles of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ How reioyced they when they were accounted worthy to be Scourged for his Name This made S. Andrew go securely to the Crosse and account that pain a pleasure for his Masters sake How constantly did S. Bartholomew indure Excoriation and S. Peter and Saint Paul lay downe their liues Nay tell me which of all that holy fellowship did not in some measure tast of the bitter Cup of Martyrdome What should I speak of al the heauenly Army of Martyrs in the primitiue Church whereof some as Ignatius besought their friend not to be their hinderance in that happy race How did that holy Saint long to haue his body and bones ground with the teeth of Beasts that it might be made fine Manchet for his Masters Table Others conquered their Tormentors with Patience and blunted their swords with suffering and in the middst of Tyranny were more then conquerours Rom. 8. For when Dacianus saw the admirable Patience of Vincentius he cryed out Victi sumus So happily did his vndaunted Patience conquer the Tyrants implacable malice Did not S. Lawrence vpon the Gredyron by patient suffering conquer the malicious enuie of that raging Tyrant Not to speake more of the neuer too much to be commended patience of Romanus which because it is admirably layd downe by Prudentius I doe therefore thither referre thee In a word to conclude without further ripping vp of that Tragicall story of that sacred Troope who longing for the water of life desired to passe to it through the straight gate of bitter death who by their blood sealed the profession of Iesus Let one mans Testimonie speake for the whole in generall euen Tertullian in his Apologie who thus discourseth concerning the neuer-sufficiently admired patience of the Christians in his time Euery Malefactor saith he is subiect either to shame or sorrow Murmuring at those torments which they iustly haue deserned Christianis vero quid simile c. What is there in Christians like to these Malefactours They are not ashamed nor euer doe repent them of their profession If a Christian his name be taken he boasteth if accused he defends not himselfe if demanded vpon Interrogatories of his owne accord he confesseth if condemned hee giueth thankes Thus their accusation is the ground of their ioy and their punishment the foundation of their eternall Felicity Thus patiently did those Martyrs demeane themselues with Cygneane songs like Cyprian singing the Dirge to their owne Deaths making Diem fatalem diem natalem their Death's day more ioyous then their Birth day for they knew that vltima dies is prima quies their last day is theri best-day yea their blest day which prefixeth a Period to Miserie and sets open the gate to Immortalitie I but you will say they suffered for Christ so do not we I but say I they suffered in Christ and so doe we Our reward shall be no lesse then theirs if our Patience be as much as theirs Let then our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our sufferings our instructions let our Nocumenta be our Documenta let our Harmes be our Armes to make vs ready euen to dye with Paul for Iesus Christ his sake Heb. 10.36 And let Patience haue her perfect worke knowing that we haue neede of Patience Luk. 18.15 For as by warmeth of Cloathes our Bodies so by patience our Soules are preserued from the frostes of afflictions Through patience wee bring forth frutie Luk. 21.28 the want wherof makes vs like the fruitlesse Figtree liable to the curse of Christ yea In patience we possesse our soules as if wee were not proper owners of our Soules vnlesse Season and Possession thereof be deliuered vnto vs by Patience Thus with Patience through Patience and in Patience we attaine vnto Perfection and Insyrenesse For all vertues though of neuer so great lustre in themselues are but barren widdowes if not married vnto Patience Let vs then striue to imitate the happy Example of our blessed Sauiour or if wee thinke that too difficult for our weake power which is but a powerlesse weakenesse yet let vs follow the stepps of his Saints it may be we haue deserued more then they yet haue not indured halfe so much as they Perseuere then to indure whatsoeuer it shal please the Lord to inflict that by patience you may obtaine the Laurell of Immortality which Vincenti dabitur shall be giuen onely vnto those of S. Vincents order namely to those that continew to the end and let these Motiues be digested in thee by meditation That Patience may haue her perfect worke c. I come now vnto the third last but not the least Reason vsed by the Apostle to inforce vs to let Patience haue her perfect worke which in induced from the want of Want Wee shall want nothing nothing here nothing hereafter nothing in this life nothing in the life to come and this is the Argument of Arguments for who will not be content to go to Heauen euen by the Gates of Hell and thus by Gods gracious assistance we perceiue how man passeth through the floods of affliction as Israel through Iordaine and happily at last ariueth in Canaan the Land of promise I meane at perfection intirenes and the want of Want here promised as the Guerdon of perfect patience And now wee see that though Misery goes before yet mercy followes for no sooner hath the bitter Tempest of Calamitie spent her vtmost breath but immediatlie all is quiet and we sayle in the harbour of Perfection Thus as Salomon hewed his stones in the Rocke 2. King 6.7 that there might bee no noyse in the Temple Euen so our prince of Salem Christ Iesus polisheth his liuely stones here that they may grow without the noyse of weeping into a Heauenly Temple hereafter Thus blessedly after the clamorous Noyse of Thunder Rev. 14.2 is heard the Harmonious voyce of Harpinge For when troubles cease ioy begins according to that of the Psalmist Sorrow may indure for a night but ioy cometh in the Morninge Psa 30.5 Great were the troubles which S. Paul indured but his Crowne of Righteousnesse made amends for all No better meanes to make vs patiently to drinke the bitter waters of Marah and thinke them sweete then by meditation to remember and by remembrance to meditate on the Milke