what may separate vs from our selues rather imbrace we what will conuey vs to Christ Death is deomed to vs all and why feare we what we cannot eschew Our willingnese to dye is the onely way to preuent the necessity of death Chrys in Mat. 10. Offeramus Deopro munere quod debito teneamur reddere Let vs therefore offer God our liues as a free gift which hee will otherwise require as a due debt Deaths comming is vncertaine and shall any vncertaine thing cause in vs a certaine feare Incertum est Sen. ep 26. quo te loco mors expectet itaque tu illam omni loco expecta Rather seeing it is vncertaine at what time or in what place death will ouertake vs let vs therefore bee sure to expect death at all times and in euery place Death is equall and impartiall to all this also should make vs lesse afraid of death Sen ep 30. Quis queri potest in ea conditione se esse in qua nemo non est Who can complaine when himselfe is but in such a case or condition in which none are not Who lookes that shee should spare any that knowes her indifferent to all When the like ruine is threatned to an whole world who expects that himselfe should escape alone Some comfort against the cruelty of death is her equality There are diuers wayes of dying and should that make vs afraid of death No matter how we dye seeing the most is but to be dead Non multum curandum est eis Aug. lib. 1. Ciu. Dei qui necessario merituri sunt quid accidet vt moriantur sed moriendo quo ire cogantur Since wee must dye it skilleth not how we dye but whether we must goe after death Lastly death is a thing fearefull to flesh and bloud yet should not all this make vs afraid of death For it is not death but the feare of death that is so fearefull This feare fulnesse is rather from our owne ignorance then according to the nature of the thing Chrys ad pop hom 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did we but know death wee would not so feare death The feare of death is the punishment of our ignorance and negligence which make vs apprehend things as new and strange things which otherwise are neither strange nor new The onely way then to make death not so fearefull to vs is by a daily meditation thereof to make it more familiar to acquaint our selues withall before the comming that we may lesse feare it when it comes And thus first learning not to feare death at last come wee to dare death O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.26 Death is not yet destroyed for the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death but death is already disarmed O death where is thy sting The Text is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Captaines song of victory as also the Souldiers song of deliuery The words are of a mighty Conquerour brauely insulting ouer a base and wretched enemy And who is this conquerour of death but Christ Iesus the Lord of life It was hee spake in the Prophets words O death Hos 13.14 I will bee thy death and in his power speakes the Apostle here O death where is thy sting Greg. hom 22. Quia in electis funditus occidit mortem mors mortis extitit Christ did once subdue death for vs O death I will be thy death and we may now deride death in Christ O death where is thy sting Olim morti nostrae Leo serm 8. passion mortis suae potentiam minabatur Christ once threatned his death to our death O death I will be thy death wherefore wee now may glory in the vertue of his death against the malice of our owne O death where is thy sting Christ ouercame death by dying nay through death destroyed be not death onely but him also that had the power of death the Deuill Heb. 7.14 Our Captaine both beate our enemy at her owne weapon and caught the Hunter in his owne snare Hee but yeelded to death to take aduantage against her yea therefore dyed the life that death might no longer liue Chrys in Math. 12. Wherefore Non Christum mortuum in morte credimus sed mortem mortuam in Christo Wee doe not thinke that Christ is dead in death but beleeue that death is dead in Christ Death that greedy Whale durst deuoure Christ our Ionas who was therefore cast forth into the sea of the world that so the stormes and tempests of the deuill and sinne might cease but hee was preserued aliue in the Fishes belly the belly of hell the iawes of death to preach repentance to the Niniue of the Church This same Whale swallowed the baite of Christs humanity but the hook of his diuinity intangled her and made her vomit vp her bowels Hieron lib. 1. ep ad Heliodor together with the baite Deuorasti deuorata es Death thought to haue swallowed Christ downe in obscurity and so death her selfe was swallowed vp in victory Death that Serpent was bold to sting Christ but he made her lose her sting for her labour His humanity could but receiue her sting of which his Diety did depriue her So that wee may well aske her in him O death 1 Cor. 15.56 Ioh. 1.29 where is thy sting The sting of death is sinne Christ the Lamb of God hath taken away the sins of the world In Christ Iesus therefore may we securely say O death where is thy sting Iob askt of man Man dyeth and where is he Iob 14.10 but wee may aske as much of death Man dyeth and where is death yea wee may aske concerning the worst of death deaths sting O death where is thy sting Iacob thus bewailed the death of Ioseph Ioseph is dead Ioseph is not Gen. 42. And Rachel wept for her children and would not bee comforted because they were not Math. 2. Because death was there they thought their children to bee no where But now death does but conuey vs where we should be and death it selfe is no where O death where is thy sting Death is quite vndone since the Crosse of Christ When death entred first into the world Exod. 15. it was like the waters of Marah exceeding bitter but since the Tree of the Crosse of Christ was cast therein it is now seasoned and sweetned vnto vs. Wee might once cry out with the children of the Prophets 2 King 4. death is in the pot death is in the pot But since Christ hath said This Cup is the new Testament in my bloud we may now say with the Saints of God The Cup of Saluation Saluation is in the Cup. There is now no more death since the Lord of life Vita cius instruxit nostram mors destruxit nostram His life hath instructed our life his death destroyed our death his life quickened ours his death sweetned ours his
life tooke away death from our life his death gaue life to our death The Text askes not this question O death what is thy sting yet doe the words following make answere to such a question The sting of death is sinne Death belike is not the sting of sinne but sinne the sting of death peccato enim morimur Anselm in lâ— non morte peccamus Sith we dâ—e indeed by sinning but sinne not by dying And as the words following answere to a question they aske not So my Text askes a question to which it answeres not O death where is thy sting It does not tell you where it is to tell you it is no where Death hath now no sting I am non est stimulus sed sibilus immo iubilus Reioyce all and be glad This Serpent may hisse at vs this Bee may buzze about vs but now can neither pricke nor sting The sting of death is gone there remaines but the name of death nay not the name of death to them that are in Christ Iesus Mors piorum non mors dicenda c. The death of the godly is not to bee called a death but a sleepe a resting from their labours a deliuery from their prison a laying downe their loade a flitting to their home Death hath lost her sting Death is now no punishment but a passage not so much an end of this present life as an entrance to a better not a destruction now but a dissolution separating body and soule for a time that so both may be conioyned with Christ to eternity Thus haue I askt this one thing of death O death where is thy sting Now let me aske this one thing of you why are you so desperately and forlornely afraid of death hauing heard and knowne how death hath lost her sting Oh saithlesse man and faint hearted Why tremblest thou now to incounter with thy last enemy since her weapon is taken from her Shrinkest thou so at the coldnesse of the Serpent when thou knowest her poyson and sting are both away Oh faithlesse and faint-hearted to be so afraid of a shadow Ah wretches why feare wee death so desperately that are not lost but sent before whom death vtterly destroyes not but eternity once receiues It is for them to feare death so desperately that passe from one death to another namely from a death of the body once on earth to the death of body and soule in hell for euer It is for them so forlornely to feare a temporall death that are either ignorant or desperate of eternall life It is for them so to feare their flittings that goe from their prison to the place of their execution But as for vs that are in Christ Iesus wee passe from a Prison to a Palace from a Dunghill to a Throne from a crazy and wretched Tabernacle to a certaine and blessed home Cypr. de mortal Eius est mortem timere qui non vult ad Christumire It is for them to feare to be dissolued that hope not to be with Christ A forlorne feare of death is but a despaire of life after death Men had rather suffer a great deale of paine and liue then dye but with a little paine the which betokens that it is something after death that is so fearefull and not death it selfe Let them then desire to linger in the miseries of this present life that so but delay awhile the torments of the life to come But as for vs that are in Christ Iesus after many our stormes and shipwracks why feare wee to arriue at our Hauen Hauing fought a good fight and finished our course why doubt we to goe and haue our crowne hauing runne our race why are we so loath to obtaine our price Why should we feare the threatnings of a temporall death that may reioyce in the promises of eternall life Rom. 14.8 Whether we liue wee liue vnto the Lord whether we dye we dye vnto the Lord therefore whether wee liue or dye we are the Lords Neither let vs bee so dissolute and prophane of life as therefore ashamed to liue nor so ignorant and negligent of death as therefore afraid to dye But at the instant of our seuerall flittings say euery one as a dying Saint Egredere quid times Hieron in vita Hilarion egredere anima mea c. Goe forth my soule why fearest thou goe forth Learne each soule to say at the last passage of his pilgrimage what though I dye I know my Redeemer liueth though I be dissolued from my selfe yet shall I bee conioyned with Christ Lye then downe my body and returne vnto thy dust mount thou aloft my soule and meet thy Sauiour in the ayre my body may be but wormes-meate for a while my soule I am assured shall be an Angels fellow for euer I haue done with my Text as concerning you before whom it hath beene vttered I am now onely to apply it to this honourable party for whom it was intended This honourable party your doletull spectacle and my Texts vntimely occasion This honourable party our Master Father Brother this honourable party whose honour for his person now lyes in the dust for his succession Lord let it long and much both continue and increase The blessed Saints of God learne many good lessons in their liues which they both teach and vse at their death Concerning this Saint now departed wee that heard can witnesse how well he had learnt to adapt the prayers and sayings of the faithfull and former Saints to his owne and instant necessities Luk. 2. He sang with Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace Hee prayed with Saint Paul desiring to be dissolued Phil. 1. and to be with Christ Yea said hee with both the lingring and longing Saints How long Lord how long Euen so come Lord Iesus Reu. 6. Reu. 22. come quickly One of these sweet sayings of his owne application had giuen me my Text to treat of saue that I considered this Text that I haue chosen did as much as intimate them all For to pray to depart to desire to be dissolued to call for the hasâ—ening and to complaine of the deferring What other is all this but as in my Text earnestly to summon death O death and stouâ—y to daredeath where is thy sting Hee mentioned the departing hee expected the dissoluing but he neuer feared the stinging Hee knew hee should not be lost he should but depart therefore sayes he Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart c. He knew well death could but dissolue him it could not destroy him he therefore said I desire to be dissolued c. And this is no more then as if hee had demanded of death here in defiance O death where is thy sting As hee had thus said O death thou art death indeede and thou mayest dissolue mee but where is thy sting Sting hast thou none and therefore thou canst not destroy me It hath beene
A DEFIANCE TO DEATH Being The Funebrious Commemoration of the Right Honourable Baptist Lord Hickes Viscount Camden late deceased Preached at Camden in Gloucester-shire Nouember 8. 1629. By IOHN GAVLE LONDON Printed by Thomas Harper for Robert Allot and are to be sold at his Shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Blacke Beare 1630. To the truely Honourable and religious Ladies Iulian Viscountesse Camden and Mary Lady Cooper Daughters to the late right Honourable Baptist Lord Hickes Viscount Camden the blessings of both this and the life to come Most Noble and vertuous Ladies TO whom should I dedicate the memoriall of your deceased Father but to you in whom he liues Who mee thinkes but his Monuments may challenge his commemoration Besides the life hee was personally possessed of you are his deriued life and he yet liues and long may he though not in himselfe yet in his Successions Yet alas how much rather had you I know to haue still enioyed then thus supplyed his life But you are not ignorant how nature abides not alwayes but succeedes how God but lends not bindes your friends to your inioyment He was giuen you to be taken from you yours hee was to vse rather then possesse yours in his life name vertues graces to inherit and not yours in an earthly being to ingrosse Therefore had you him to lose him and must therefore be contented with his losse yea ought indeed to reioyce rather that once yee had him then sorrow that now ye haue him not Grant it cannot bee but a griefe to misse him so neither but a ioy to remember him It was an happinesse more delighting when you might reioyce in his presence but is an happinesse more lasting that you may yet reioyce in his remembrance You both beyond the common lot and hap were much and long happy in a double Parent the losse of one now admonishes yea applaudes you to esteeme another Parent and feare anothers losse But I spare from further repetitions of your losse lest while I would striue to consolate and appease them I rather prooue but to renew your sorrow prouoke your feare For mine owne part who reckon my selfe not the least in his losse I count it euen as enuy to bewayle the happy and but folly forlornely to sorrow for him that certainly reioyces for himselfe Neuerthelesse for losse of friends forbid I no man to mourne but murmure and despaire Such our sorrowes are but the late tokens of our loue and must as wel be moderate as vnfaigned Neither should our hearts in this case be flinty nor effeminate nor our eyes alwayes dropping nor altogether dry For me I like neither to bee niggardly nor prodigall of my teares neither to be desperate nor ambitious of my complaints I say no more of this sorrow and losse because I would not packe them vp or decke them vp in words onely Thus much haue I written because I would not that a priuate houre should extinguish or ingrosse them What I haue herein presumed besides the comfort I trust you shall receiue by it this also shall comfort mee that you daigne to receiue it Your good Ladiships in all humble obseruance IOHN GAVLE A DEFIANCE TO DEATH 1 COR. 15.55 Oh death where is thy sting VPright Adam was made immortall but sinfull Adam begat all his Sonnes mortall like as hee had made himselfe Adam then is dead and so all Adams Sonnes but liue to dye The sentence of death past vpon vs in him wee are but borne to the execution thereof in our selues Euen as Adam himselfe for the necessity of dying Gen. 2.17 dyed the same day that hee sinned though for the euent and issue of death hee liued an hundred and thirty yeares after that day Gen. 5.5 So in him wee vnderwent the same necessity though it be for thousands of yeares after that wee are brought out to such an euent As a Malefactor is a dead man according to the law at that instant the sentence is pronounced vpon him though for some few dayes after the execution be deferred So according to Gods law and decree we are all dead in Adams doome though God bee yet pleased to prolong those things of ours wherein we must liue to dye accordingly as hee hath doomed vs. A malefactor is not executed sometimes of one two three foure fiue or sixe dayes after his iudgement Euen so were we all adiudged to dye before wee were but God with whom a thousand yeeres is but as one day hath appoynted the first second third fourth fifth or sixt thousand yeare of the world to be the day of our execution There is a more necessity vpon our death then our life No such need that hee that is not should be as that he that now liues should once dye The former may be supposed but this other is expressed It is appoynted for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 There is alwaies a more necessity of the End then Meanes Not onely in execution but intention is death the end of life Mortinati sumus wee are borne to dye and dye from the time that we are borne Our birthday what is it but the beginning of our death-day our death-day what but the end of our birth day our birth-day precedes or happens before our death-day but our death-day is preferred before our birth-day The day of death is better then the day that one is borne Eccles 7.3 Did wee so consider it our birth-day is indeed a punishment and our death-day in comparison a reward Vt suppliciam non sit nascâ— mors efficit Death is as the remedy against the miseries of life and to dye is but to rest from those labours and cease from those sorrowes whereunto wee were borne What a plague and punishment were our birth-day into a sinfull and miserable world did not our death-day giue an end to all such euils both of sinne and paine I said our birth-day is the beginning of our death-day and our death-day but the end of our birth-day We are deceiued to call the day of our departure onely the day of our death On our last day indeed we cease to liue but from our first day wee beginne to dye Consummat hora mortem extrema non facit Our last day doth not cause death but consummate it doth rather finish then beginne it It is not the extream and vtmost minute of our life that brings death vpon vs it rather but manifests that death was alwayes with vs. As spake the Prophet of persecutions Wee are killed all the day long Psal 44.22 1 Cor. 15.31 and the Apostle Paul concerning his owne sufferings I dye daily So though no violence come against vs euen through natures owne frailty wee dye daily and by fatall mortality we are killed all the day long We dye daily from the time we first beginne to liue On our first day our life is the longest euery day after takes one day from our liues and
the longer wee haue liued the lesse we haue to liue Quotidie morimur Senec. lib. 3. epist 24. quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit We dye daily euery day passes away a part of our life and while wee are yet waxing does our life decrease Ibid. Hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte diuidimus This very day that we now liue doe we diuide with death Hieron ad Heliodor in Epitaph Nesoliani Hoc ipsum quod dicto quod scribitur quod relego qnod emendo de vita mea tollitur As by the times of eating sleeping working playing so by the instants of speaking reading writing our liues are lessened Yea brethren this houre these moments of my preaching and your hearing are taken away from both our liues We dye daily our times dye daily our actions dye daily our persons dye daily Our times dye daily the time past is dead to the time present the time present is dying to the time to come yesterday is dead to To-day and To-day is dying to To-morrow Our actions dye daily what is done and past is dead to what is now doing and what is now doing is dying to what hereafter must bee done We neither remember what we haue done nor conceiue what wee haue done nor delight in what wee haue done so daily dye our actions to our memories to our vnderstandings to our affections Our persons dye daily our infancy dyes into childhood our childhood into youth our youth into manhood our manhood into old age and our old age dyes into death A man is in a continuall consumption of himselfe His dayes spend him also as hee spends his dayes Euery day one part or piece oâ— him languisheth or perisheth corrupteth and is cast away Seneca vt supra Non repente in mortem incidimus sed minutatim procedimus We dye by piece-meale and not all at once There is no day in which our spirits vanish not our bloud cooles not our moysture dryes not our stomack fayles not our liuer corrupts not our lungs consume not our bowels yearn not our heart faints not our head akes not euery day either some veine stops some sinew shrinkes or some bone breakes either is some skinne withered some flesh bruised or some member decayed Euery day more then other either the eyes grow dimme of seeing the eares dull of hearing or else the palate vnsauory of tasting Thus dye the parts by little and little and thus is the whole dead at last The Candle still consumes from the time it first beginnes to burne so wade the oyle and marrow of a mans life from the time that he begins to liue Man is a Candle that either consumes himselfe vpon the candlesticke of the world or else sweales away vnder the bushell of his Mothers wombe The houre-glasse runnes continually from the time it is turned Man is an houre-glasse but a running sand or mouing dust And as the sand in the houre-glasse fals corne by corne or mite by mite till the heape bee runne out so a man drops away by little and little till the whole lumpe be done A Traueller goes many dayes onward to his iourneyes end Man is this Traueller this life the way and death the iourneyes end And is it a strange thing to dye when our whole life is but the way to death Sen. ep 78. Tu non putabas te aliquando peruenturum ad id ad quod semper ibas Can we thinke not once to come to what wee alwayes goe to There is no way on earth without an end the intricatest labyrinth hath a way out at last Wee goe towards death continually how should we but meet withall at last Wee dye daily how should wee but once be dead Bern. ser Miser homo quare te omni hora non disponis cogita te iam mortuum quem scis necessitate moriturum Wretched man then who euer thou art seeing thou dyest daily why dost thou not daily dispose thy selfe for death thinke thy selfe now dead whom thou knowest needes must dye Woe to vs wretches all that so many of vs are so neare death and yet put it so farre from vs so neere it in the euent and yet put it so farre from vs in the consideration Death is ready to take vs by the hand in the naturall execution ere wee are willing to take death to heart by a christian meditation Wee goe toward the graue with our faces backward our feet are at poynt to fall into it ere our eyes once looke vpon it We many feele Death before we know Death are brought wofully to hazard or experience it ere we are drawne wisely to consider and conceiue it though we see it dayly in others yet can we not be led to consider it in our selues hereof haue we daily warning Eucher epist Paraen yet will we make it vnawares Nihil ita quotidie homines vt mortem vident nihil ita obliuiscuntur vt mortem Men daily behould nothing more then Death and yet then Death they forget they neglect nothing more But to bring you beloued to the knowledge the consideration remembrance of Death I haue taken this text O Death where is thy sting both to instruct you concerning it as also to incourage you against it Where note first an Appellation secondly an Interrogation an Appellation or Death summoned O Death an Interogation or Death dared Where is thy sting Where I haue 1. Something to say to Death for your instruction O Death 2. One thing to aske of Death for your incouragement Where is thy sting I. The Appellation or Death summoned where I am to say something to Death for your instruction O Death O Death what art thou a Chimaera a Fable a Buggebeare a Dreame a Shadow a nothing O Death thou art a strange thing consider Thou art none of Gods Creature Wisedom 1.13 God made not Death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the liuing God is the God of our being he delights not in our destruction Death was intended not for vs but for our Sinne therefore are we mortall that sinne might not bee immortall Wee must therefore dye once that it might not alwayes liue O Death what dost thou thou dissoluest the rarest compact of Heauen and Earth thou distinguishest betwixt our Spirit and our Clay Body and Soule thou separatest sharper art thou then any two edged sword and entrest to the diuiding a sunder of the Soule and Spirit thou euen diuidest betwixt the marrow and the bone Thou makest our Dust returne to the Earth whence it was taken and our Spirit to God that gaue it Oh Death thou makest our Spirit vanish our Breath stop our blood coole our colour change our Beauty fade our Strength fall Eccles 12. Thou makest the keepers of the house our hands to tremble and the strong men our feet to bow themselues Thou makest the
grinders our Teeth to cease and them that looke out of the windowes our Eyes to waxe darke Thou shuttest the Doores of our lippes and stoppest our windpipes the Daughters of our singing Thou cuttest short the siluer cord of Marrow and breakest the golden Ewer of our Brainpanne Thou breakest the Pitcher of our veines at the Well of our Liuer at the Cesterne of our Heart there breakest thou the wheele of our Head O Death Heb. 9.27 thou art doomed to vs all It is appointed for all men once to dye We all walke this one way all tread this one path we must all sleepe our last sleepe and that darke night of Death will once ouertake vs all Patres nostri praeterierunt nos abimus posteri sequuntur Eucher Paraen Our Fathers are dead our Friends are dead and our selues also must dye Some are gone before vs some accompany vs and some come after vs like waue after waue are we dasht against the hard and cold stone Death Serius aut citius metam proper ammad vnaus And thus soone or late we dye all at last We are borne with condition to dye We therefore put on the Garment of our Body to put it off and at first take vp the load of Nature to lay it dowen at last Death is Natures Law and to dye is but to pay Natures Tribute It is as naturall for vs to liue and dye as for to wake and sleepe O Death Thou art certainely comming yet vncertaine is it when thou wilt come Nil certius morte at hora mortis incertius nihil Nothing more certaine then Death but then the houre of Death nothing more vncertaine Matth. 24.36 Of that day and houre knoweth no man That is of the day of Iudgement the houre of Death Death comes as a Thiefe in the night both suddenly and violently it takes vs one vpon the house top another in the Field one working in the Vine-yard another grinding at the Mill one vpon the house top of honours another in the field of Pleasures one abouring in the Vineyard of a Christian Calling another grinding at the Mill of worldly affaires Eccles 9.12 A man knoweth not his time that is the time of his death God will not tell vs the time when Death shal come vpon vs because hee would haue vs thinke it neuer but neere vs He will not let vs know our last day because he would haue vs suspect and expect euery day to be our last Latet vltimus dies vt obseruentur omnes dies Aug de discipl Christiana This one houre the houre of Death is hidden from vs that all the houres of our life might the rather be obserued by vs. O Death thou art impartiall and indifferent to all Pauperam tabernas regumque turres thou knockest equally at the Pallace as the Cottage doore thou likenest a Kings scull to a Beggers and makest no difference betweene their dust Neither hast thou pitty vpon the Poore nor respect vnto the Rich neither scornest thou the foolish nor dost thou reuerence the wise Eccles 2.16 How dyeth the wiseman as doth the Foole. The oldman thou long threatnest the yong man thou soone betrayest Neither sparest thou for Age Sexe Degrees nor Gifts No Power of ours can forbid thee no Diligence auoyd thee no teares moue thee Price hire thee no art or Eloquence perswade thee O Death thou art manifold thou commest to vs in sundry hues and shapes Thou approachest pale and leane to the old man bloody boysterous to the yong man blacke as hell to the bad man and but vgly vnto euery man Thou comest to vs sometimes in Mens hands sometimes in Beastes mouthes sometimes in a flame of fire sometimes in a waue of water sometimes in a blast of wind sometimes in the slipping of a foote somtimes in the faling of a stone Thou comest to vs sometimes in our cloaths and sometimes in our Meate and Drinke We dye diuersly Some by warre some in Peace some by Sea some by land some in the Field some on our Beds some by our own violence or Intemperance some by a sudden wound and some by a languishing disease Mille modis lethi miseres mors vnafatigat And thus by a thousand wayes of dying one Death destroyes vs all O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee Ecclus 41.1.2 to a man that liue that rest in his possessions c. O Death how acceptable is thy iudgement vnto the needfull c. O Death thou art a shadow indeed thou fleest those that follow thee and followest those that flee thee Mors optata recedit at cum tristis erit praecipi tata venit Thou hastnest then when we wish to eschue thee then delayest thou when we seeke to imbrace thee Death is the rich mans Feare and the poore mans Desire Often called vpon in Aduersity neuer thought vpon in prosperity In prosperity we complaine and cry with Hezekiah Isa 38. to haue it further added into our dayes But in aduersity we can be content euery one to wish with Elijah It is enough now O Lord 1 King 19.4 take away my Soule for I am no better then my Fathers O Death How fearefull a thing art thou to flesh and blood How abhor we to haue the graue forour house to make our bed in darkenesse to say to Corruption thou art my Father and to the Worme thou art my Sister and my Mother How doe we hate to inherit serpents and wormes to be separated from our selues to be returned to our dust how does Death terrifie vs not onely in our owne experience but others example In others Example so oft as we see or heare another is dead it troubles vs to thinke that wee also must dye For our owne experience how are we then agast not knowing either what we must be or whither we must goe Wee are afraid to dye euen we who haue good hope after Death Euen we that looke for an house not made with hands are notwithstanding loath to leaue this house of clay we that haue the promise of a Kingdome are but vnwilling to forgoe our Prison There is a Feare in vs to be dissolued notwithstanding our Desire to be with Christ and we many irke to vndergoe the Passage that euen reioyce to approach to the Home 2 An interrogation or death dared where I am to aske this one thing of death for your incouragement where is thy sting Not onely this I am now to aske of death but that I haue already said to death truely considered serues to incourage vs against death Death is a shadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys ad pop hom 5. but a very Bug-beare and are we like children afraid of Hobgoblings onely death is a nothing and are wee afraid of we know not what Death separates betwixt soule and body why feare wee so it should dissolue vs when wee ought to reioyce rather that it cannot destroy vs Feare wee