followeth that all the rest might bee cast vpon him as when Salomon desired wisdome before honour God gaue him wisdome and honour too because he sought the best first There was a poole in Iurie where the sicke and Leprous laye for at one time of the daye the Angell came and stirred the water and then he which stept in first was healed of his disease hee which stept in first was healed saith Iohn none but hee which stept in first so he which taketh time is sure but he which foresloweth time oftener faileth then speedeth For when golden opportunitie is past no time will fit for her If Elias would bee serued before the widdow when shee had but a little cruse of Oyle which was not enough to serue her selfe will God be serued after Elias will God bee serued after thee Nay after the flesh and after the diuell Thou maist reade in the 19. of Leuit. and the 13. that GOD would not haue the labourers hire staie in thy hands all night but would haue thee pay him before thou sleepe If God would not haue the labourers due stay in thy hands one night how darest thou keepe his due from him day and night so many dayes and nights and weekes and moneths and yeares together where is the morning sacrifice which God requireth nay where is the euening sacrifice which God requireth the glomy morning hath ouercast the whole day doest thou thinke it enough if thou do not sit in the chaire of scorners or if thou do not staÌ„d in the waie of sinners hee which standeth stayeth not he which sitteth taketh his ease but he which walketh goeth his way Yet he which walketh in the way of sinners though hee neither sit nor stand is not of the blessed number But hee which neither sitteth nor standeth nor walketh is blessed saith Dauid Psalm 1. ver 1. Alas then why doe we sit if they which stande are accurssed and they which walke are not blessed Christ saieth First seeke the kingdome of God and wee say first let mee burie my father first let me bid my friendes farewell and so many things first So long in burying our Father and bidding our friends farewell that is the riches and honours and pleasures of this worlde that there is no time left to seeke the kingdome but followe mee is turned to followe vs Christ must followe our sinnes and come after our pleasures or else he shall not be serued at al. When we were Children we deferred tyll we were men when we are men we deferre tyll wee bee olde men when wee are olde men wee deferre tyll death in all our lyfe wee finde no leasure to liue well but flit from sinne to sin from wicked thoughts to wicked speeches from wicked speeches to wicked deedes as the flie skippeth from scab to scab vntill wee bee cast so farre behinde that we haue no courage to goe forward or else straied so far out of our way that wee care not to seeke it againe Therefore I cannot say to you as Christ saide First seeke the kingdome of heauen for then you should haue sought it long agoe but now I must say with the Apostle Redeeme the time and at last Seeke the kingdome of heauen For it is to be feared that as little flies when many came together plagued and destroyed the Egyptians so short houres but many in sinne and securitie will steale away our whole life and deceiue our repentance while wee liue like beasts longer then Nabuchadnezzar There be not many Lots but many linger like Lot loth to depart vntill they see the fire burne If the Angell had not snatched him awaie Lot had perished with Sodome for his delaye There be not fiue foolish Virgins and fiue wise but fiue for one knock when the doore is shut There bee not many Simeons but many as old as Simeon which neuer yet imbraced Christ in their hearts They thought to repent before they were so olde yet now they doate for age they are not olde enough to repent yet Naye I answere many Masters of Israell Maiors Aldermen Sheriffes Iustices Baâ—liffes Constables Gentlemen know no more what it is to be borne againe than Nicodemus which came by night line after line sermon after sermon and the Black more like himselfe All their tearms are vacations all their religion promises and all their promises hypocrises In stead of catechising their children as Salomon teacheth them they catechise them to hunt hawke to ride and vaute to ruffle sweare to game and daunce as they were catechised themselues least the childe should prooue better than his father and then he is qualified like a Gentleman Is this to seeke the kingdome of heauen first or last or not at all Woe to the securitie woe to the stubbornnesse woe to the drousinesse of this age The theefe commeth at midnight and we sleep till the dawning of the day we let in sathan before wee bid him auoyd we sell our birthright before it come to our hands we seek for oyle when our lampes should burne this daye passeth like yesterday and to morrowe we will spend like this day So hee which should haue the first fruites can get no fruites because we mar the ground before we sowe it Consider this ye which might haue known a thousand things more than yee doo if yee had begun when Salomon taught you God will not alway knocke at the doore Christ will not alway clocke like an Henne Iohn will not alway crie in the wildernesse but mercy is in the foreward and iudgement in the rereward They which can saye now We haue a prophet shall say We had a prophet but wee entertained him like the Gergesites so God sent him awaie from vs like Ionah to the Niniuites when the Israelites despised him Yet Wisedome cryeth in the streetes Let euerie Ioseph store vp before the famine come for he which promiseth thee pardon when thou doost returne dooth not promise that to morrowe thou shalt returne Repentance is a gift and a gift must be taken when it is offered The time past is gone and thou canst not recall that to repent in the time to com is vncertaine thou canst not assure that to repent in the present time is onely thine and thou maiest repent in that but anone that will be gone too Therefore as Samuell began to serue God in his minoritie as Timothie read the Scriptures in his childhood and Iohn grewe in spirit as hee rypened in yeares so whether thou be olde or yong thy repentance caÌ„not come too soone because thy sinne is gone before If thou lackest a spurre to make thee runne see how euerie day runneth awaye with thy life youth commeth vpon childhood age commeth vpon youth death commeth vpon age with such a swift saile that if all our minutes were spent in mortifying our selues yet our glasse would bee runne out before wee had purged halfe our corruptions All these examples sentences and Prouerbs and reasons do cry with Salomon Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth This is the Kings commendation or greeting to the Colledge of youth But how should young men
rib out of Adams side thereof built the woman He is not said to make man a wife but to builde him a wife signifiing that man and wife make as it were one house together that the building was not perfect vntill the woman was made as well as the man therefore if the building bee not perfect now it must be destroyed againe Before God made the woman it is sayd that he cast the man into a sleepe and in his sleepe he tooke a rib out of his side and as he made man of earth so hee made the woman of bone while Adam was a sleepe This doth teach vs two things as the first Adam was a figure of the second Adam so the first Adams sleepe was a figure of the second Adams sleepe and the first Adams spouse was a figure of the second Adams spouse That is as in the sleepe of Adam Eue was borne so in the sleep of Christ the church was borne as a bone came out of the first Adams side so blood came out of the second Adams side As Adams spouse receiued life in his sleepe so Christs spouse receiued life in his sleepe that is the death of Christ is the life of the Chruch for the Apostle calleth death a sleepe but Christ which died is called life shewing that in his death we liue Secondly this sleep which the man was cast into while his wife was created doth teach vs that our affections our lustes and our concupiscences should sleepe while we goe about this action As the man slept while his wife was making so our flesh should sleepe while our wife is choosing least as the loue of venison wanne Isaack to blesse one for another so the loue of gentrie or riches or beautie make vs take one for another To honour mariage more yet or rather to teach the married how to honour one another it is said that the wife was made of the husbands rib not of his head for Paul calleth the husband the wiues head nor of the foote for hee must not set her at his foote the seruant is appointed to serue and the wife to helpe If shee must not matche with the head not stoupe at the foote where shall he set her then Hee must set her at his hart and therefore she which should lie in his bosome was made in his bosome and should be as close to him as his rib of which she was fashioned Lastlie in all Nations the day of mariage was reputed the ioyfullest day in all their life and is reputed still of all as though the sunne of happinesse began that day to shine vppon vs when a good wife is brought vnto vs. Therefore one saith that mariage doth signifie merrie-age because a play-fellow is come to make our age merrie as Isaac and Rebecca sported together Salomon considering all these excellencies as though we were more indebted vnto God for this then other temporall gifts saith House and riches are the inheritance of the fathers but a prudent wife commeth of the Lord. House and riches are giuen of God and all things else and yet hee saith house and riches are giuen of parents but a good wife is giuen of God as though a good wife were such a gift as we should account from God alone and accept it as if he should send vs a present from heauen with this name written on it The gift of God Beastes are ordeined for food and cloathes for warmth and flowers for pleasure but the wife is ordeined for man like litle Zoar a Citie of refuge to flie to in all his troubles and there is no peace comparable vnto her but the peace of conscience Now it must needes bee that Mariage which was ordeined of such an excellent author and in such a happie place and of such an auncient time and after such a notable order must likewise haue speciall causes for the ordinance of it Therefore the holy Ghost doth shew vs three causes of this vnion One is the propagation of children signified in that when Moses saith He created them male and female not both male nor both female but one male and the other female as if he created them fit to propagate other And therefore when he had created them so to shewe that propagation of children is one ende of mariage he sayd vnto them Encrease and multiplie That is Bring forth children as other creatures bring forth their kinde For this cause Mariage is called Matrimonie which signifieth mothers because it maketh them mothers which were virgins before and in the seminarie of the world without which all things should be in vaine for want of men to vse them for God reserueth the great Citie to himselfe and this Suburbes he hath set out to vs which are Regents by sea and by land If children be such a chiefe ende of mariage then it seemes that where there can be no hope of children for age and other causes there mariage is not so lawfull because it is maimed of one of his endes and seemes rather to be sought for wealth or for lust then for this blessing of children It is not good grafting of an olde head vpon young shoulders for they will neuer beare it willingly but grudgingly Twise the wife is called The wife of thy youth as though when men are olde the time of marying were past Therefore God makes such vnequall matches so ridiculous euerie where that they please none but the parties themselues The second cause is to auoyd fornication this Paul signifieth when he saith For the auoyding of fornication let euerie man haue his owne wife He saith not for auoiding of adulterie but for auoiding of fornication shewing that fornication is vnlawfull too which the Papists make lawful in maintaining their stewes as a stage for fornicators to play vpon and a sanctuarie to defend them like to Absaloms tent which was spread vpon the top of the house that all Israel might see how he defiled his fathers concubines For this cause Malachie saith that God did create but one woman for the man hee had power to create moe but to shew that he would haue him stick to one therfore he created of one ribbe but one wife for one husband And in the Arke there were no mo women then men but foure wiues for foure husbands although it was in the beginning of the world when many wiues might seeme necessarie to multiplie mankinde If any might haue a dispensation herein it seemes that Kinges might bee priuiledged before any other because of their succession to the Crowne if his wife should happen to be barren and yet the King is forbidden to take many wiues in Deut. 17. 17. as well as the minister in 1. Tim. 3. 2. shewing that the danger of the state doth not counteruaile the danger of fornication For this
and no man spie thee Whether thou wouldst refuse a bribe like Elisha if thou didst meet with one which were as willing and able to giue it as Naaman Whether thou wouldst not deceiue if thou were in such an office as the false Steward whose master referred all vnto him knew not when he kept any thing backe Whether thou wouldst not fulfill thy lust as Dauid did if thou haddest his oportunitie and allurement and mightest doe it without danger of law like a king as Dauid might Whether thou wouldst not tell a lie as Abraham did if it stood vpon thy life which made him twice dissemble that his wife was his sister least he should die for her beautie Finally if it should be said vnto thee as the diuell said to Christ All these will I giue thee if thou will fall downe and worship me that is no more but if thou wilt sinne whether thou wouldest yeeld or no If thou hast sinned thus and thus before I will not say therefore the Lord wil not heare thee but Dauid sayth If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare me that is if for any cause a man purpose and carie a minde to sinne when he is tempted the Lord is so farre from helping him that he wil stand like Baal as though hee did not heare him for he hath a traytors mind as deepe as any which thinkes for a Dukedome I would betray my prince though he neuer playe the traitor in his life Thus you haue heard how to trie spirits and how to discerne a Christian from an hypocrite how to appose your hearts that ye may be sure to iudge rightlie what ye are Now wee come to that examination which is the Epitome or abridgement of all these for memorie is short and all are not of one strength but some runne and some goe and some creepe and all do well so long as they striue to perfection The matters wherof principallie the mind should be examined before the sacrament are these First whether thou haue faith not only to beleeue that Christ died but that he died for thee for as the scripture called him a redeemer so Iob calleth him his Redeemer The second article is whether thou bee in charitie not whether thou loue thē which loue thee but whether thou loue them which hate thee for Christ commandeth vs To loue our enemies The third article is whether thou repent not for thy open grosse sinnes but for thy secret sinnes and pettie sinnes because Christ saith That we must giue account for euerie idle word The fourth article is whether thou resolue not to sinne againe for anie cause but to amend thy euill life not when age commeth or for a spurt but to begin now and last till death for Christ is Alpha and Omega both the beginning and the end as well in our liuing as in our being which hath made no promise to them which begin but to them which perseuere The last article is whether thou canst finde in thy heart to die for Christ as Christ died for thee for we are bid not only to followe him but to beare his Crosse and therefore we are called seruaunts to shew how we should obey and we are called souldiers to shew how we should suffer These are the receiuers articles whereof his conscience must be examined before hee receiue this Sacrament happie is hee which can say All these haue I kept for the Doue was not so welcome to Noah as this man is to Christ But if thou find not these affections within but a neast of vices leaue thine offering at the Altar and returne to thine examination againe for thou art not a fit guest to sup with the Lord vntill thou haue on this Wedding garment How is it then that some regard their other garments more then this Paul sayth Examine your selues and they examine their apparell if they haue new cloathes in the countrie then they are readie to receiue I haue knowne manie kept from the Sacrament a whole yeare together by their maisters for nothing but for want of a new sute to set thē foorth with their fellowes Others respect whether it be a faire daye that they may walke after seruice making that day vpō which they receiue like a scholers Thursdaie which hee loues better then all the daies in the weeke onely because it is his play-day Thus like the Iewes They sitte downe to eate and rise vp to plaie that as Christ calleth the Pharisies praier Babling Matth. 6. 7. so their receiuing may bee called dallying When they haue the Sacrament in their bellie they thinke that all is well as Micah when hee had a Leuite in his house thought that God loued him but as the Leuit did not profit him because he receiued nothing but the Leuit so the bread and wine dooth them no good because they receiue nothing but bread and wine for want of faith Maruell not then if you haue not felt that comfort after the Sacrament which you looked for for it is comfortable to none but to them which prepare their hearts and examine themselues before because it is not the mouth but the heart which receiueth comfort Now it may be that the most which are here haue brought a mouth and not a heart these go away from the Sacrament to despight Christ as Iudas went from the sacrament to betraie him The other goe awaie like one which hath receiued a chearefull countenaunce of the Prince all his thoughts are ioy and the countenance of the Prince is still in his eye As he which hath eaten sweete meate hath a sweete breath so they which haue eaten Christ all their sayings and doings are sweete like a perfume to men and incense to God their peace of conscience and ioy of heart and desire to doe good will tell them whether they haue receiued the bare signes or the thing signified Euerie one which receiueth this Sacrament shall feele himselfe better after it lyke the Apostles or else hee shall finde himselfe worse after it like Iudas Heereby ye shall knowe whether ye haue receiued like the Apostles or like Iudas Thus we haue ended the doctrine of the Lordes Supper Now if you cannot remember all that I haue sayd yet remember the Text that is Examine your selues before you receiue this Sacrament hereafter FINIS THE EXAMINATION OF VSVRIE IN TWO SERMONS To the Reader HEre thou hast the Sermōs which haue bene often desired because of the matter fit for this Citie One saith that he would neuer speake to Vsurers and Bribe-mongers but when they be vpon their death-beds for hee which liueth by sin resolueth to sinne that he may liue But when he goeth to hanging Iudas himselfe will say I haue sinned If I speake not to Vsurers vpon their death-bed yet I speake to Vsurers
one holdeth one way and another another way some leaue all and will be of no Religion vntill both parties agree as if a patient should pine himselfe and eate no meate at all because one Phisition sayth that this meate will hurt him and another sayth that meate will hurt him These are the three enemies which make vs and our labours despised Now what shall we answere to our despisers Reioyce not against mee O mine enemie saith the Church for I shall be raised so Despise not the Prophets O ye Ismaelites for they shall be honored Peter saith to Ananias and Saphira You haue not lyed vnto men but vnto God so you haue not despised man but God for Christ saith He which despiseth you despiseth mee VVhen Sathan slew Iobs seruants his malice was agaiust Iob so when you despise Gods seruants your presumption is against God for That which you doo vnto them saith Christ you do vnto me Why then if they despise Christ Christ wil despise them for he told Saul that he spurned against the pricke that is he spurned against that which would spurne against him Therefore if you giue vnto Christ when you giue vnto the poore and if you honour Christ when you honour his Prophetes as you giue vnto the poore for Christs sake so despise not the prophets for Christs sake If for all this we must be despised stil then this is our remedie Paul saith Whatsoeuer wee are to you yet wee are a sweet sauour to God both in them which are saued and them which perish that is though we bring him word that you will not come to the banquet yet we shalbe welcome without you And so much of that After Despise not Prophecying followeth Trie all things as if he should say Despise not prophecying but for all that try prophecying lest you beleeue errour for truth for as among Rulers there bee bad Rulers so among Prophets therebe false Prophets This made Christ warne his Disciples to beware of the leauen of the Pharisies that is of their false doctrine This made Iohn say Trie the Spirites And therefore wee reade in the seauenteenth Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the eleuenth verse how the men of Beroea would not receiue Paules doctrine before they had tried it and how did they trie it It is sayd that they searched the Scripture This is the way which Paule woulde teach you to trie other whereby he was tryed him selfe whereby you may see that if you vse to reade the Scripture you shal be able to trie all doctrines for the word of God is the touchstone of euery thing like the light which God made to behold all his creatures so is the Scripture to decide all questions euerie doubt must come to the Word and all cōtrouersies must be ended at this Tribunall the Scripture must speake which is right and which is wrong which is truth and which is errour and all tongues must keepe silence to heare it so God hath appointed that the Iudge of our controuersies which he saith in the twelfth chapter of Iohn and the eight and fortieth verse shall iudge vs in the last daye Here a man may aske If it be so that God would haue vs to trie all our Religion by the Scripture and not by Fathers nor by Doctors nor by Councels nor by Angell nor by Pope how then do the Papists say we must beleeue as the Church beleeueth and neuer looke into the Scripture whether our teachers say as God saith but take it vpon their credit as a blind man eateth his meate A man trieth his horse which must beare him and shall hee not trie his faith which must saue him Paule saith Let euerie one be able to giue a reason of his faith Is this a reason of our faith to say I beleeue so because Rome beleeueth so or rather because that the word doth teach me so It will not answer for them which die in heresie to say the Priests taught vs so no more than it would excuse Eue to say the Serpent taught her so for God saith Be not deceiued neither by serpent nor by Prophet nor by Angell Therefore I conclude with Paule Despise not Prophecying lest the Gospell be taken from you and yet trie prophecying lest you receiue error for truth As we are to trie doctrines so Paul would haue vs to trie our thoughts and our speeches and our actions therefore he saith Trie all things He doth not bid vs take a tast of all sinnes and vanities as Salomon did to trie them for they are tried alreadie but that we should set the word of God alway before vs like a rule beleeue nothing but that which it teacheth loue nothing but that which it prescribeth hate nothing but that which it forbiddeth doo nothing but that which it commaundeth and then we trie all things by the word As the Eunuch sayd How should I vnderstand without an Interpreter so thou mayest say Howe should I trie without the word which is the touchstone of good and euill Now when wee haue tried by the word which is truth and which is error what shuld we doo then Keep that which is best that is stay at the truth as the wise men stayed when they came to Christ We must keep and hold the truth as a man gripeth a thing with both his handes that is defend it with thy tongue maintain it with thy purse further it with thy labour in danger and trouble and losse and displeasure come life come death thinke as Christ did seale the truth with his blood so thou must seale it with thy blood or else thou doost not keepe it but let it goe Well dooth Paul put Trie before Choose for he which trieth may chuse the best but he which chuseth before he trie takes the worst sooner than the best and therefore the Popes priests because the people should take superstition before religion will neuer let them haue the Touchstone but keep them from the Scripture and locke it vp in an vnknowen tongue which they cannot skill of least they should try their doctrines like the men of Boerea making religion a craft as men call their trades Therefore as Iosiah reioyced that the booke of God was found againe so we may reioyce that the booke of God is found againe for when the people might not reade it it was all one as if they had lost it After Trie all things and keepe the best foloweth Abstaine from all appearance of euill As if hee should saie That is like to be best which is so farre from euill that it hath not the appearance of euill and that is like to be the truth which is so farre from errour that it hath not the shewe of errour whereby hee sheweth that nothing should be brought into the Church or added to our Religion but that which is an vndoubted truth without suspition of errour It is not inough
wordes wanton gestures and daintie fare with manie other pleasures doe becken vnto sinne and if there bee no wine why hanges the bushes and if there be no wantonnesse why is there anie wanton or vnseemely or vngodly attyre Let vs not walke in gluttonie and drunkennesse neither in chambering and wantonnesses nor in strife and enuying It is hard to say which of these sins is most in the world happily some will say I haue bene no glutton no drunkard no whoremonger no murtherer no false image worshipper c. but who can come forth and saie hee is free from strife for strife hath compassed the whole worlde strife in Countrey strife in Citie strife in the Court strife in the Common-weale strife in the Church who can say that he is free frō strife or that he hath not iniured his brother surely that man shall stand alone for it wil light vpon none but Christ I can but exhort you with the Apostle that you would not walke in strife and enuying therefore put away these among the rest for he that hath not put off these hath not put on Christ and if he hath not put on Christ hee is then no Christian Enuie is a sinne and it punisheth it self like gluttonie for it fretteth the heart shortneth the life and eateth the flesh as a fire consumeth the wood it is the mother of strife and a great worker in the Court this is it which brought labour and sicknesse and death into the worlde euen the enuie of the serpent and the diuell and it will condemne thee in thy conscience if thou bee an enuious man Nothing resembleth God more than loue for GOD is loue so if thou hast loue thou resemblest God But if thou hast enuie and art an aduersarie thou resemblest the diuell for thou canst not come neerer the diuell any way than to bee enuious As the dust commeth with the winde so the diuell commeth with enuie and hee that is possessed with enuie is possessed with the diuell Why doth the Apostle say in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Colossians Aboue all things put on loue Because loue is best of all Why doth he call loue the band of perfection Because it bindeth all vertues together If loue be the band of perfection to bind al vertues together then enuie is the band of impietie to binde all sinnes together therefore if we must cast off all but loue wee must cast off enuie Thou canst not come to the kingdome of peace without loue The kingdome of Satan is at peace and shall not Gods kingdome be at peace Shall we be at peace with the flesh the world and the diuell and bee at variance with God and at strife one with another Fire is cruell wrath is raging but who can stand before enuie Prouerbs 27. And if none can stand before enuie how can enuy stand before God If thou canst not forgiue him that dooth offend thee thou prayest against thy selfe and askest vengeance vpon thee therefore the Apostle exhorteth thee not to let the Sunne go downe vpon thy wrath Ephes 5. 26. Charitie enuieth not saith Paul therefore see thou haue charitie lest thou bee counted an enuious person The beastes of the field are armed with hornes with hoofes with tuskes and such like to take reuenge but nature hath left nothing for man to put him in mind of reuenge and yet man aboue al other creatures is most desirous of reuengment for he hateth his owne life therefore it is against nature to enuie Iohn sayth he that hateth his brother is a manslaier and loueth not God neither knoweth God if an enuious man sayth he say he loueth God he is a lyar because he hateth his image if he say he knoweth God he is a lyar how canst thou loue God and hate good men how canst thou loue learning when thou hatest the learned so doth the enuious man all both good and bad therefore this is the worst sinne because it commeth neerest the sinne against the holy Ghost Consider therefore whom thou hatest euen thy image The diuell was appoynted to hate man and not man to hate man and if thou hatest a good man thou hatest God if thou hatest an euil man thou hatest one like thy selfe and if thou hatest one like thy selfe thou hatest thine owne soule therefore as S. Paul sayth Haue peace with all men Canst thou not hate the sinne and loue the person as the Phisition hateth the disease and yet loueth the diseased As a great manie of Bees can lodge together in a hiue so a legion of diuels can nestle together in one man but many although they cannot liue asunder yet they cannot liue together Wherefore now consider the pedigree of peace God is the God of peace the holy Ghost is the Spirit of peace the Angels are the messengers of peace the ministers are the preachers of peace and the Magistrate is the defender of peace shall wee then that haue the God of peace the Spirit of peace the messengers of peace the preachers of peace the magistrates of peace as I may say the Queene of peace bee at enuie and warre one with another Meruaile not though I am so long vpon this sinne for there is none of you that heare me this day but you can giue mee sufficient matter to speake hereof Then can I want words when ye bring matter Shal I not wrastle and seeke to ouerthrowe this giant which challengeth euery man As no man finding a Serpent leaueth him before hee bee dead so let vs slaughter this monster while he is vnder the axe that he neuer rise anie more Consider of the wrong thou doest to thy self when thou enuiest another for the stroake of enuie redounds vnto thee It were better thou didst gratulate them with good things as good men haue done and doe daylie but in stead of imitating their vertues or commending their gifts wee enuie them and maligne them and so their ioye is our sorrow But the enuious man doth pay for his spite for it requoyles vpon himselfe and enuie is punished with enuie and hatred also with hatred for hee which hateth all shall bee hated of all Thus hee is tormented for another as Herode tormented himselfe for Christ the Iewes troubled themselues for Paul for enuie is as gall to the heart as prickes to the stomack and as a canker in the mouth and euer vexeth thee as the euill spirit of Saul vexed him Loue is so contrary to enuie as that it hath more ioy of others welfare then enuie hath of his owne Therefore an enuious man may bee compared to Cain who when hee killed his brother Abel was so troubled that hee said Whosoeuer findeth me shall kill me The couetous man though hee will not communicate his owne goods yet he would haue others to communicate their goods the proud man although hee bee proud himselfe yet he would haue others to be humble but the enuious man careth not who
which challenged Nabuchadnezzar for twelue moneths since he was warned may challenge vs of twelue yeeres since we were warned yet we looke not for so great punishment as fell vpon Nabuchadnezzar for twelue moneths Daniel names there twelue moneths as though hee would speake of a great matter and shewes how worthie Nabuchadnezzar was to be punished because he might haue reformed his life since he was warned for there were 12. moneths betweene his dreames and his punishment But that yeere wherein he had so many warnings teachings was as vaine as the rest and vainer then the yeres before for now he should haue been a mourner like the King of Niniuie when Ionas threatned destruction vnto them But like a victor of a countrie returned from battell to solemnize his triuÌ„ph first he decked his pallace as braue as himselfe and then he walkes his stations in it and when he hath set al things before him which might make him forget God and like a serpent that would burst vnles he discharged some of his poyson he breaketh out and sayde Is not this great Babel which I haue built by the might of my power for the honour of my maiestie wherein obserue first what a glorious opinion this vaine King had of his vaine buildings Secondly how that he names himselfe the founder of them as though hee had done all without an helpe Thirdly that in all his works he sought nothing but vain-glorie as hee witnesseth against himselfe saying which I haue built for the honour of my maiestie not for the honour of Gods maiestie but for the honour of my maiestie So first that which he should haue contemned as Christ did the beautie of the Temple he admired it nothing seemed so glorious to him as that which made him shamefull to God Secondly that citie which was built by Semiramis he arrogateth to himselfe and neuer ioyned the chiefe workmaster with him but saith which I haue built by the might of my power when he should haue said by the might of Gods power for vnles God build the house the builder saith Dauid buildeth but in vaine Lastly that which hee should haue built for the honour of GOD as the man built a chamber for the Prophet hee builded for his honour as our Nabuchadnezzars doe Therefore when all his pleasures were prepared like a feast and he came to sit downe at the bâ—ket it hapned to him as to the churle in the Gospell after he had filled his barnes when hee came to sing in his heart Be merrie my soule that night his soule was takeÌ„ from him and the diuels made merrie with it in hell so he had fethered his neast and began to crow vpon his roost Is not this great Babel c. As if he shuld say Now Nabuchadnezzar make thee merie that houre his honor was taken from him for a voyce came downe from heauen like the terrible hand which wrote vpon the wall when Baltasar sate at his banquet dasht his pride vpon such a rocke that within an houre all his pomp and pleasures and treasures suffered such a shipwracke that his fall was more admired of all than his glorie and buildings were admired of himselfe Thus all the ioy and pleasures and glory of pride are spoken with a breath and stopt with another You haue heard what the voice spake from earth now ye shal heare what the voice souÌ„ds from heauen These three verses following declare this Kings fall when and howe and from whom it was While the words were yet c. there is the time A voice c. there is the Iudge O king c. there is the arraignement Thy kingdom c. there is the iudgement He was driuen from men liued with beasts in che wildernes till his haires were grown like Eagles fethers There is the execution and maner of his punishment First of the time while c. As Daniel obserued the time when Nabuchadnezzar sinned so he obserueth the time when Nabuchadnezzar is punished as if God had lien in waite to catche him in his words and take him at the trippe euen as he watched Lots wife when shee looked backe and transformed her into a piller of os salte so soone as she looked behind her So now the Lord lay as it were in the scout to watch wheÌ„ Nabuchadnezzar spake treason and to apprehend him vpon it O Nabuchadnezzar thou hast vanted these twelue moneths since I warned thee and I made as though I heard not but suffered thee to doe and speake thy pleasure and vauntest thou still Surely thou shalt escape me no longer I will not heare a word more against mine honour So hee cut him off while the wordes were in his mouth and propoundeth the wordes of iudgement against him If you marke the time when the voice spake from heauen you may see three wisedomes of God First God takes him in his fault that he might see his fault as Ieroboam was striken when he stroke the Prophet that he might know why he was striken Then he takes him sodainly because hee contemneth his warning as the fire came vpon Sodome while they contemned Lots warning Thirdly God takes him where he is pleasantest and lustiest and safest in his pallace which was like a Castle as he took Herod when his gard stood by him that he might see that nothing can garde him from God but God must gard him from danger or else Princes bee no safer than subiects so though a man sin often and steale his sins as it were without punishment yet at the last he is tooke napping while the wickednesse is in his hand as the Iewes were while the quailes were in their mouthes and his day is set when hee shall pay for all whether it bee after 12. moneths or 12. yeeres whensoeuer it commeth it wil seem too soon Vengeance doth stay till sin be ripe watch the time when they are most occupied then iudgement steps forth like the Angel to stop Balaam in his way because the punishment is more grieuous terrible wheÌ„ they look not for it for the worst that is wish like Balaam to die the death of the righteous therefore God will crosse them in that though they prosper alwayes before yet their ends shall be a kinde of iudgement vpon all their life a prophesie of torment for all men to see what become of the wicked after death that they may feare to be like vnto them As when we see some fall down vnder the table while they sit swilling at the Wine some striken dumbe in the pulpit while they preach vntruths eueÌ„ as the Philistines were slain while they feasted and as Herod was shamed while he vanted and as Ieroboam was striken while he stroke What doth this teach vs but that our sinnes depart from vs so soon as they are done vnto the Iudge there they accuse vs as Cains murther cried out against
our sinnes are washed with Christes bloud when our bodies are washed they are taken out of the water againe to signifie how we shall be raised from death to life by the resurrection of Christ and how we should rise from sinne to righteousnesse thus we begin our life with a solemne promise to God before the Church to serue him with our bodies and soules till death vs depart Now let vs remember how we haue kept this promise with the Lord or rather how we haue broken promise with him then we gaue our selues to GOD but since we haue giuen our selues to sinne then wee promised to renounce the world but euer since we haue embraced the world therefore now let vs begin to pay that which we ought so long and pray the Lord which hath instituted this Sacrament as a seale of his mercie to receiue this child into his fauour as we receiue it into his Church to baptize it with his spirit as wee baptize it with water and powre vpon it his grace as we giue it the signe of grace FINIS THE PILGRIMS WISH PHILIP 1. 23. I desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ. HEere is Pauls desire to be dissolued and the cause that he might be with Christ wherein first you shal see the difference betweene the faithfull and the wicked how one loatheth this life and the other longeth after it Secondly because the Apostle seemes to desire death you shall see whether any man may wish to die Thirdly because after his dissolution hee hopes to bee with Christ you shall see the diuersitie of iudgements betweene Paul and the Papists which think when they are dead that they shall goe on to Purgatorie Lastlie because the soules which are with Christ cannot walke as they did when they liued vpon the earth you shall heare a little of walking spirits which haue beene so much talked of in the time of poperie and were taken for the soules of them which were dead after wee will speake a little of the Sacrament which yee come to receiue and so commit you to God I desire to be dissolued Before Christes comming when the Kings or Patriarches died it is said that they went to their fathers as we read of Dauid and Salomon c. but after Christs comming when the faithfull die they are said to go to Christ as we read of the penitent thief Luke 23. 43. Not because the Patriarches went not to Christ as well as they but because yet Christ was not ascended to heauen therefore they are not to go to Christ although if they went to heauen they must needes go to Christ because Christ touching his Godhead was alwaies in heauen I desire to be dissolued As the wordly long for Christ to come to them so the faithful long to go to Christ for vnlesse we ascend to him as he descended to vs his descending is in vaine because he came downe that we might go vp he descended to take our flesh we ascende to take his kingdom he descended to be crucified we ascende to be glorified he descended to hell we ascend to heauen that is to ioy to glory to blisse to our father to our Sauiour to our comforter to Angels to Saints to eternall life therefore good cause had Paul to desire to be with Christ that he might be at rest for no doubt it was the sweetest voice that euer the theefe heard in this life when Christ said vnto him This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise Luke 23. chapt vers 45. Besides as Paul persecuâ—ed before so he was after persecuted himselfe as he tels the Corinthians 2. Cor. 11. 24. I was thrise beaten with rods I was once stoned I suffered thrise shipwrake c. Therefore good cause had Paul to desire to be with Christ that he might be out of trouble Yet he wil not dissolue himself but desireth to be dissolued that is that he which brought him into this world would take him out of the world neither doth he wish or pray or make any petitioÌ„ to God to take away his life but tels him his desire desiring to be dissolued to desire is not to pray but shewes what we approue neither doth he desire so to be dissolued as though he were weary of his labors would suffer no more for Christ but he is content to liue as he saith in the 24. vers Neuertheles for me to abide in the flesh were better for you as if he should say to do you good I am content to suffer euil and stay still from Christ whom I long to be with Seeing then that he wil not dissolue himself nor pray to be dissolued but is content to liue stil why doth he say I desire to be dissolued Onelie to shew what he preferreth in his desire if hee might choose life or death for his owne respect he could be content to leaue friends and riches and pleasures and life and all onely to bee with Christ This seemes to be a good lesson for sickemen when they can liue no longer then to be with Christ were better then to be with the glutton which neuer thought of heauen til he was in hell but Paul was not sicke nor sore when he desired to be dissolued therefore this is not onely for the sicke but for the whole If he had wished to liue stay still in the world no man need to be taught to say after him for yong old desire not to be dissolued but few are content to bee dissolued To a naturall man in this life nothing is so sweete as life it selfe and he which is in loue with this world seldome dyeth quietly vpon his bed but to a minde which misliketh this worlde nothing can come so welcome as death because it takes him out of the world This it is which Paul would haue vs learne that nothing in this world is so pretious or pleasant that for it we should desire to liue or stay from God one hower though all may not wish to die yet all must subscribe to this that death is better then life because it leads to Christ which when Paul had throughlie tasted he was satisfied for all things else and desired to liue no longer that he might bee with Christ heerein appeareth the end of mans life which when he hath obtayned he desireth to liue no longer how great riches and honours and friends soeuer he leaue behind him From the time he knoweth Christ crucified and begins like Enoch to walke with God he cryeth euer after with the Apostle I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne death weare to me aduantage Euen as Simeon reioiced that Christ came to him so the faithfull reioice that they shall go to Christ The necessitie of sinne is so irksome to him which knoweth the vilenesse of sinne that the faithfull man but to doe good would not liue
out of heauen no not one hower This made the Martyres so willing to abide any kinde of death that tyrannie could deuise to be rid of their sinfull bands and this corruptible burthen which presseth downe the soule that looks after Christ like his disciples when he ascended to heauen All is trouble and wearines and vanitie to the godly mind whether he eate or drinke or sleepe he counteth it a seruitude vnto the flesh and wisheth with Dauid to be rid from these necessities so the knowledge and loue of God maketh a man forget his owne flesh maketh him despice the whole world taketh away the difference from life and death changeth his nature which hee could neuer ouercome and teacheth him to renounce his deere selfe and say though he should die Not my will but thy will bee done All this appeareth in this example what operation is in the knowledge and loue of Christ it made the world irksome vnto Paul which all men naturally desire it made death pleasant vnto him which all men naturally abhorre although they bee wearie of their life and haue no pleasure from morning to night yet it will not please them to change which they needes must they neuer loath but loue their miseries I will not dye one houre to liue for euer Doe not the wicked themselues prophecie by their feare of death a worse condition of some dreadfull iudgement after this life prepared for sinners and all that contemne GOD when none but they stande in such feare of death Why dooth one wish for it and another tremble to heare of it If it were but a sleepe no man would feare it at all for who feareth to take his rest when the night approacheth If it did take away sence and feeling and make men trees or stones no man would feare it at all for who would feare strokes if hee could feele no more then a stone or who would care for any thing if he had no sence of anything would any man tremble so to bee as the dead creatures which haue no sence of euill They must needes be in better case than the happiest man in this life which is not without the sence of euill Therefore this feare of death which you see in all but the faithfull dooth presage some strange torment some heauie change and sharpe punishment to those men which they begin to tast alreadie before they dye like the spirite which persecuted Saul before his end They desire not to be dissolued but they feare to bee dissolued they goe not to Christ but their departure is an euerlasting departure from Christ to the damned to the diuels to hell without either end or ease or patience to endure it Thus you see that no man is willing to die before his conscience bee quieted towarde God and that he can catch some hope of a better life after this life He which knowes that he shall go to Christ it is impossible that he should die vnwillingly but he which can not hope for a better world must needs leaue this world grudginglie and feare death more then all the terrors of life He had rather to be sicke and cold and hungry and want and beg then go with death because he knoweth what he suffereth here but hee knoweth not what he shall suffer hereafter Therefore he which is not willing to be dissolued hath not â—earned Christ yet as Paul did for no man esteeme this life when he begins to taste of the next but then the loue of the world doth fall from him like the mantle of Elias when he was rapt into heauen The Apostle had seene many good things in his daies and was neuer satisfied willing to be dissolued but thirsted still and no water could quench his thirst vntill hee dranke of the water of life and then hee thirsted no more so nothing can fill the soule which was made for God but God alone Riches and honors pleasures did not make Simeon willing to die but the sight of Christ happie are the eyes which see him for they are as willing to die as Simeon was So soone as Iohn Baptist did see our Sauiour and knew that it was hee hee debased himselfe as if hee had beene nobodie and would not bee accounted of but sought to loose the opinion of the people that Christ might haue all although he was a Prophet and more than a Prophet and not a greater amongst the sonnes of women So when Paul had seene his Sauiour hee forgot all that he loued all that hee desired and all that hee possessed no ioye no glorie no life now but to die All thinges must yeelde to the Sonne and bee content with Iohn that hee increase and wee decrease This is our glorie and life that hee liueth in glorie It is enough saith Iacob for me that Ioseph my sonne liueth it is enough for vs that Iesus our Sauiour reigneth If the head be crowned all the bodie is more honoured therefore let vs glorie that Christ is glorified and reioyce as much that hee is ascended as our fathers reioyced that he descended for where the head is there the body must needes be I desire to be dissolued he calleth his death not a destruction but a dissolution for three causes First he departeth from this life and hath no more societie with them that liue vpon the earth Secondly his soule departeth from the bodie vntill the day of resurrection then she findeth her owne bodie agayne and they reioyce like friends which are met together Thirdly he departeth from this vale of miserie into the paradise of ioy and all felicitie to liue and reigne with God for euer in assurance whereof he saith that he shall bee with Christ so that death is the way to Christ As the Doue found no rest vntill she came to the Arke so the faithfull find no rest till they come to Christ they goe through the wildernesse like other men Vntill the Iewes arriued at Canaan all their life was spent in sinfull Egypt or in the dreadfull desert during the time of their iourney they had no setled rest or continuing pleasure Peace beginneth when the battell endeth there is the prerogatiue of the dead least death should bee too fearefull to vs. The best of Gods blessings are behind that is euerlasting life and the way to it is death thou art going to ioye therefore looke not for it vntill thou come to thy iourneys ende If Canaan the land of peace the land of plentie the land of pleasure bee in the wildernesse stay heere march no further whither doe you goe like the Pilgrims of Israel if Canaan be in the wildernesse But Paul lookes for the crowne at the gole he is not with Christ but trusts to bee with Christ he is not in heauen but he hopes to come to heauen and this hope led him through the wildernesse that he murmured not like the Israelities but only longed for
that day when Christ shall say vnto him as he said to the penitent theefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Thus you haue heard the difference betweene the faithfull and the wicked how the one lotheth this life and the other longeth after it Now wee come to our questions Simeon said Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace so Paul saith I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ they doubted not as the Papists doe what should become of them after death for one saith that he goes to Christ the other saith that he goes to peace therefore it seemes that Purgatorie was not yet found when the iust men went to peace This is one of the fruits of a godly life it hath hope saith Salomon in the end in death it warranteth a man of life when the flesh saith feare and the serpent despaire it makes the flesh crouch and the serpent flye the soule reioyce while death is opening the prison doore that she may flie to her countrey from whence she came Therefore what shall I say to Purgatorie if Paul go to Christ Simeon goe to peace Some say that it is in the ayre some say that it is in the earth some vnder the earth some a little aboue hell Thus Nabuchadnezzar cannot assoile his owne dreame You must vnderstand that Purgatorie is like your paynted Sepulchers which are framed more for the liuing then for the dead for you know that the locusts of Rome liue by Trentals and Dirges and Masses for the dead as the Siluersmiths in Ephesus liued by Images and therefore as they were loth that Images should goe downe so they are loth that their Purgatorie should bee quenched for it is the gainfullest lye in all Poperie for out of this lake issue their Masses and Dirges and Trentals for the dead They are sayd for the dead but they make for the liuing For the dead haue no portion of al that is done vnder the sun doe what you will say what you can Masses Dirges or Trentals they haue no portion in it for they haue receiued their reward alreadie and the tree lieth where it fell yet these foolish virgins hope for oyle of the wise virgins and thinke they shall be paied for other mens labours and almes and trentals pilgrimages and Masses as though they neuer read that the iust shall liue by his owne faith that he which beleeueth shal not go to iudgement but passe from death to life that they that die in the Lord rest from their labours how doe they goe presently into Paradise if they stay at Purgatorie and fire torments Hath Christ satisfied for vs must wee now make satisfaction for our selues Whither the glutton and the beggar are gone thither must we all that is to Abrahams bosome or hell fire there are but two kindes of men and therefore but two waies and where then is Purgatorie which the best of the fathers confesseth that he could neuer finde in Scripture Therefore take heed of hell for Purgatorie is but a scarre babe Furthermore when Paul sayth that he shall goe to Christ this seemes to resolue the old question often debated among the simple people once deluded whether the soules of men departed walke after death and appeare vnto men exhorting them to this or that as Gregorie or some counterfeit reporteth in his Dialogues The Apostles before their full groweth might seeme to bee incumbred with this errour because when they saw Christ walking vpon the waters they sayd It is a spirite and when Peter knocked at the doore in the night they sayd to Rhode a Damsell It is his Angel Act. 12. 15. Which errour was drawen from the elusion of Sathan and vulgar opinion receiued from Pythagoras which taught that the soules of men departed did returne into the bodies of other men after death either for correction or for reward if they were good soules then they were preferred to better men if they had been badde soules then they were cast into worse bodies then they had before a fine Philosophicall dreame This deluded Herod when hee heard of Christ he supposed that Iohn Baptist was risen againe whom he had beheaded and the better sort of the people as we reade in Mat. 16. 14. dreamed that Christ was Elias or Iohn Baptist or Ieremie or some of the Prophets risen againe But touching the soule once departed from the body that it returnes not nor can returne into the world many examples and testimonies and reasons the order of our resurrection declareth The soules of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord no man or diuell can take them out of his hands the soules of the wicked are in the hands of the diuell and God will not take them out of his hands and therefore Abraham sayth He which is here cannot come from hence and they which be there cannot come frō thence for then the paines of hell were not euerlasting paynes not the ioyes of heauen euerlasting ioyes but temporal like the paynes and ioyes of this world Therefore it is no soule which walks about How then What is this which I see in the night like such a man and such a man The Diuell which chaungeth himselfe into an Angell of light to deceiue can change himself into the likenes of a man much more that is it which thou seest as Saul sawe Samuel 1. Sam. 28. 8. not Samuel himselfe For could the Witch raise Samuel out of the graue which could not keepe her selfe out of the graue or could the diuell disturbe the Prophet after death Then he should neuer be quiet if the diuell could disturbe him because hee disquieteth the godlie so much while they liue If this apparation bee called Samuel how doth he call it Samuell if it be not Samuel As the Bookes of Caluine are called Caluine as the picture of Beza is called Beza as he which playeth the King vpon a stage is called a King as the golden Myce and Hemerodes which the Philistines layd in the Arke were called Myce and Hemerodes although they were but meere shapes and figures of them so this likenesse of Samuel is called Samuell though it was not Samuel in deede but a counterfeit shape of Samuel For GOD would not answere Saul before by Oracle nor by Priest nor by Prophet and would hee aunswere him by the dead which dooth forbid to aske counsell of the dead No sayth Abraham they haue Moses and the Prophets Luke 16. As if hee should say let them learne of the bookes of the dead for the dead shall not returne vnto them Againe if it had been Samuel himselfe which had taught Saul to worship GOD woulde that holie Prophet haue receiued worship himselfe as this spirit did Againe If it had been Samuel Sauls Schoolemaster which taught him alwayes to repent while hee liued hee would rather haue exhorted him to repentance now
then before seeing the daye of his death was so neere But you will say Whatsoeuer it was it seemes that he could prophecie of things to come for hee foretold Sauls death Can the diuell prophecie This was an easie matter for the diuell to prophecie because he knew that Dauid was annoynted before and therefore Saul must be remooued that he might reigne as he was annoynted Secondly he knew that Samuel had prophecied his confusion and therefore hee must bee degraded that the Prophecie might bee fulfilled Thirdly hee did see the Philistins comming against him and therefore no meruaile if he did aime that his death was neere at hand seeing a man might prophecie the same If any man bee not satisfied with this to beleeue that the soules of the dead doe not walke after their dissolution let mee reason with him thus Is it a soule which thou seest Why a soule is a spirit and cannot bee scene no more then a voyce or an Eccho diddest thou euer see thine own soule though it hath been euer with thee since thou was borne Doest thou thinke it is a bodie Why a bodie cannot walke without a soule for the soule is the life which mooueth the bodie If thou say it is a bodie and soule too then why doth Paul call death a dissolution It is a separation of the soule from the bodie if the bodie and soule bee not dissolued then the man is not dead but liuing still If thou say the soule is come to the bodie and the bodie is risen to the soule for that time then I can say no more to thee but beleeue thine owne eyes If thou thinkest that it is such a mans bodie which thou seest looke in the graue and open the ground and there thou shalt see the bodie where it was laide euen while this vizard walkes in thy sight therefore apparitions are no other then that which appeared to Saul Thus the Diuel hath many wayes to deceiue and this is one a dangerous one to draw vs from the word of God to visions dreames and apparitions vpon which many of the doctrines of the Papists are grounded They had neuer heard of Purgatorie but for these spirites which walked in the night and tolde them they were the soules of such and such which suffered in fire till their masses and almes and pilgrimages did raunsome them out So these night spirits begate Purgatorie and Purgatorie begate trentalles as one Serpent hatcheth another Yet a third question riseth out of these wordes and that is this Whether a Christian may wish for death As Paul desired so may wee desire if wee haue Pauls spirit As Christ told his Disciples when they asked him whether they should pray for fire from heauen as Elias did Christ answered that they knewe not of what spirit they were as if he should say If you were of Elias spirit and did praye with the same mind and to the same end that he did then you might pray as he prayed The wicked wish to die because they would bee rid of the crosse and suffer no more for God as Cain so soone as he was cursed and knew that his life should be a torment he sought to dye to preuent the iust iudgement of God spight him as it were which shuld punish sinnes So doe the people oftentimes which haue not to satisfie hunger the sicke which saint of an incurable disease and the wearie captiues in prison galleis and bonds As for the faithfull if they at any time wish to die they pray for death as the last remedy against sinne and Sathan euen as they pray in the Reuelation for the hastening of Christs comming to iudgement Come Lord Iesus come quickly for the shortening of the daies of sinne least all flesh should perish But they which wish for death in this sorte would dye as the will of God hath ordained and mortifie their flesh to abide these troubles and still by fayth suppresse the doloruos griefe of sin by frequent meditation of inward ioy receiued by grace in Christ and therein reuiue themselues as with the earnest pennie of their inheritance which they shall receiue at the fit time when it shall comfort them much to haue suffered so long Much therefore haue they to answere which are not contented to die in peace and stay till they bee dissolued but as though themselues were the authors of life death from cruell heart giue wrongfull commission to the bloodie hand to cut asunder that which God hath ioyned the louing soule and their body as Iudas Achitophel Saul and Pilate did not one of these was good in life or death Yet the Author of the Macchabees commendeth Raz is most of all for that which was the greatest sinne that euer he did for killing himselfe Man was not borne of his owne pleasure neither must hee die at his owne lust or else it had been good for Iob which suffered more than any Saint except Christ to make away himselfe as Iudas did But why is it commanded then thou shall nor kill If thou maist not kill another much lesse maist thou kill thy selfe As for the example of Sampson Iud. 16. 30. which may seeme to oppose against this in that he killed himselfe when as he pulled the house vpon his owne head and all that were with him vnderstand that hee was a figure of Christ which vanquished moe in his death than in all his life and it appeareth that he had warrant from God in that his strength being taken from him was for the acte in a moment restored to him vpon his prayer And the Epistle to the Hebr. 11. 13. to cleere that fact saith that he did it of faith that is knowing that he had deserued to die and that by these meanes the enemies of God should bee destroyed he submitted himselfe to the good will of GGD like a good Captaine which ventured his life to kill his enemies therefore we must not looke to particultr examples but to the generall law Wherfore let no man doe this euill that any good may come of it but rather follow the aduise of the holy Apostle as it becommeth vs with patience let vs runne out the race which is set before vs. Here I might shew you that they are guiltie of their owne death that kill themselues with surfetting intemperance drunkennesse c. although they loue their life too deare yet they take all meanes to hasten their deaths Thus much of Purgatorie night spirits and praying for death Nowe it remaneth that as the Leuites sanctified their brethren before they did eate the Passeouer so I would prepare you before yee eate this holy Sacrament of which the passeouer was but a signe The Iewes were taught of God before they did eate the Passeouer to put away leauen out of their houses the daie before Exod. 12. 15. Hath God care of leauen No this is it which the Apostle teacheth 1. Corinth 5.
before ye come to the Lords Supper Purge the olde leauen of maliciousnes and wickednesse out of your hearts that is the leauen which you should purge out of your houses Therefore marke what the Apostle writeth to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 11. I beleeue it is a matter which you did neuer consider For this cause many are weake and sicke among you and many sleepe or die For what cause Because they receiued this holy Sacrament vnworthily and vnreuerently before they were prepared with faith and hope and repentance for this cause many are weak and sicke among you and many die Who did euer thinke that his sicknes or his wants or his infirmities did grow for that he receiued the Lords supper vnworthilie Many causes haue bin supposed but this cause was neuer thoght of Haue any of you said in distresses of bodie or minde This is come vnto me because I did receiue the blessed Sacrament of Christ vnworthilie because I came not prepared with that minde as they which beleeue and know God Yet the Apostle which by his diuine spirit knewe the cause of these calamities among the Corinthians dooth depute their strange diseases sodain death to none other cause but to their vnworthie and vnreuerent receiuing of this holy Sacrament Nay hee saith further That hee which eateth and drinketh this Sacrament vnworthilie eateth and drinketh his owne damnation that is he taketh possession of death hell and damnation euen while he eates as the diuell entred into Iudas while he receiued Nowe if your Phisitian should warne you of such a thing that you take it in season in measure or els it is poison wil kil you I suppose you wold obserue the season and measure and take it in such order as he prescribeth as neere as you could if you beleeue him so if yee beleeue the Apostle that you receiue the Sacrament to your damnation if you receiue it vnworthilie I am sure you will not take it vnreuerently or rashly for all the world If I had the words of motion to speak that which might be spoken of this matter it would fright Iudas himselfe that no man would come to this holy banquet without his wedding garment Consider but this how you would come into the presence of God how would you prepare your selues to come before the maker of heauen and earth which searcheth the reynes knoweth euery corner of the heart If euer ye did approach vnto God if euer yee came neere vnto the Lord you neuer came so neere as now when you come to receiue his bodie and blood and are vnited vnto him in one spirituall body and yet peraduenture many come not so prepared so clensed so dressed so trimmed into the presence of God as Hester did into the presence of Assuerus What doe you thinke of these elements what doe you imagine of this bread and wine They are seales What seales Seales of his word seales of Gods promise seales of your adoption If euer you were instructed or comforted out of this book that instruction comfort is confirmed and ratified vnto you now by Christs seale Christ hath not ordained Sacraments in his church for a fashion or dumb shew that you should feele or see or tast but as the woman which had a bloodie flix when she touched the hem of Christs garment hee said that vertue was gone out of him that is all the graces which these signes represent that is all the blessings that Christ Iesus hath purchased vnto man by his death Now because if you receiue this Sacrament rightly you are vnited vnto Christ as the members with the head if euer you did beleeue or loue or repent before this requireth you to beleeue and loue and repent more because now you are Christs body which shewes that ye must obey Christ the head like members of the bodie for the bodie is ruled by the head What haue you now to receiue al these blessings If ye haue not faith how can you lay hold of any promises or merits of Christ to say this is mine If you had a hand to take and a fayth to apprehend now you might eat of that bread which is better then Manna which he that tasteth doth not hunger again after any pleasure in the worlde Heere is enough for Abraham and Abrahams seede Come vnto it all that thirst and it will refresh you Happiâ—r is that man nowe that hath his wedding garment than the rich glutton that fareth deliciously and goeth in purple euerie day Now you are the Lords guests and the Lord himselfe is your feast and this feaste is before you the holiest meat that euer you did eate and the comfortablest meate that euer ye did eate and yet the dangeroust meate that euer you did eate you stand vpon life or death you eate to saluation or damnation there is nothing in this world which you can receiue with greater benefite or with greater perill Adam did not eate the forbidden fruite with greater danger Adam could not tast the tree of life with greater fruite than you may taste and receiue this Sacrament The Arke was a signe of mercie yet Vzziah was slaine for touching the Arke vnreuerentlie Circumcision was a good thing yet Circumcision did not profite the Sichemites but was away to make their enemies slaie them because they were not circumcised for Religion but for lucre so if ye receiue for custome and not for deuotion this Sacrament shall bee to you as Circumcision was to them Therefore take heede how you receiue as they receiued least you meere with a curse when you looke for a blessing If thou remembrest any sin against God or against thy neighbour leaue thine offering at the Altar and be reconciled before thou come into his presence for if stubble come to fire there is no waie but burne now beloued let faith and loue and repentance haue their perfect worke that you may receiue this Sacrament as Christ would haue you rceiue it God grant you as much profit by it as is offered in it so much comfort of it as it hath brought to any whosoeuer haue receiued it faithfully reuerently and worthily before you FINIS THE GODLIE MANS REQVEST PSALM 90. 12. Teach vs O Lord to number our daies that wee may applie our hearts to wisedome THis Psalme was compyled by Moses as ye may see by the title at what time the Spies returned from the land of Canaan and God for the murmuring of the people pronounced that al which were aboue twentie yeares old should die in the wildernes except Caleb and Iosua that encouraged their brethren to goe to Canaan Now when Moses heard the sentence of death pronounced against himselfe and all the Iewes which came out of Egypt except only two Caleb and Iosua that all should die before they came to the land which they sought he prayeth thus for himselfe and the rest Teach vs O Lord to number our daies
that we may apply our hearts to wisdome that is seeing we must needes die teach vs to thinke of our death that wee may die in thy feare to liue againe shewing vs how the consideration of our mortalitie will make vs applie our hearts to godlines He which is tottering himselfe had need to leane vnto a stable thing therefore a wauering man is commended here to constant wisedome Man is mortall wisdome is immortall yet by wisdome man becomes immortall too therefore Moses thinking of his death runneth to wisdome as a remedie against death I haue chosen a text fit for the time which warneth vs how our yeres passe that when we think of the old yere how soone it is gone yee may see vpon what a whirling wheele we are set which putteth vs in minde euery day of that last day which is comming for vs when we shall giue account how euerie day was spent before it So many yeares as are past so many yeares we are neerer to the last and though the old yeare be gone and a new yeare come yet whether another shall come after this as this came after the former no man I thinke hath any promise of him â—hat made time for euen these two dayes since the old yeare went out manie haue gon â—he way which we all shall follow Now why â—re daies or weeks or yeeres but for vs But for man there should be no winter nosummer no spring no autumne that wee seeing how the seasons are renued at last with them wee may learne to renue our selues for to celebrate new yeares with old sinnes is to let euery thing goe before our selues and suffer the time to condemne vs which was giuen to saue vs God hath shewed vs new yeares but he would haue vs shew him new men This is Gods new yeares gift not sheepe nor doues nor fruites which the Iewes offered neither myrth frankincense gold which the Gentiles offered Mat. 2. but a new creature Gal. 6. 15. Therefore wee must come to some schoolemaster which teacheth vs like Iohn Baptist what wee should doo that we may growe in knowledge as we growe in yeares Teach mee to number my dayes saith Moses that I may apply my heart to wisdome Whereby Moses telleth vs that this was one of his helps which made him profite in the knowledge of God to number his daies as a man that hath a set time for his taske listens to the clock and countes his houres so we haue a set time to serue God Worke while it is daye saith Christ What hee dooth meane by this day The Apostle sheweth you This is the daye of saluation that is this life is the daye wherein you should worke What worke haue you to doo The Apostle tels you Woorke out your saluation This is a long taske therefore we had neede to number our dayes and not loose a minute least wee be benighted before our worke be done Teach mee O Lord to number my daies Hee which in the Lande of Midian learned to number sheep now he is come into the wildernes lerneth to number his daies Teach vs O Lord to number our daies Not teach vs the number of our daies for we shall forget it againe and the knowledge of times is Gods knowledge but Teach vs to number our daies that is that wee may bee still numbring and counting our daies houres and minuts to see how fast we die that euery day and houre we may learn some thing As God hath numbred our daies so we must learne to number our daies or else it seemes that wee cannot apply our harts to wisdome that is vnles we think vpon death we cannot fashion our selues to a godly life though we were as well instructed as Moses This we find daily in our selues that the forgetfulnes of death makes vs to apply our harts vnto folly pleasure all voluptuousnes that contrarie to his aduice Work your saluation we work our damnation We are so far from numbring our daies that wee doe not number our weekes nor our monethes nor our yeares but as the Apostle saith A thousand yeares with God are as one day so one day with vs is a thousand yeares that is our time seemes so long that we think we shall neuer die but he which made this praier is now dead the number of his daies is ended nothing is left but his holy books which bring this praier vnto vs that we may learne to pray so too Now I must pray Teach me O Lord to number my daies and thou must pray Teach me O Lord to number my daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome that is so to pray fast and watch and heare do as becommeth him which shall shortly giue account of his Stewardship This is the fruite which comes to a man by nuÌ„bring his daies God teacheth a man to applie his hart to wisdom and this is his lesson which he giues for that purpose number thy daies that is thinke that wisdome is a long studie and that thou hast but ashort time to get it this wil make thee get ground of vertue for there is no such enemie to repentance as to thinke that wee haue time inough to repent hereafter which makes a man say when any good motion coÌ„meth nay I may stay yet yet I may stay like the sluggard which turnes vpon his bed like a doore vpon the hinges and saith yet a little more a little more sleepe a little more slumber I may lie stil a while this is not to number our daies but to stretch our daies make them seeme more then they are and they that do so neuer applie their harts vnto Wisdom so you see what a preseruatiue Moses vsed against sin and pleasure he kept a calendar as it were of his daies which called vpon him Be diligent for thou hast but a short time Fiue things I note in these words first that death is the hauen of euerie man whether hee sit in the throne or keepe in a cottage at last he must knock at deaths doore as all his fathers haue done before him Secondly that mans time is set and his bounds appointed which he cannot passe no more then the Egyptians could passe the sea and therfore Moses saith Teach vs to number our daies as though there were a number of our daies Thirdly that our daies are few as though we were sent into this world but to see it and therfore Moses speaking of our life speaks of daies not of yeeres nor of moneths nor of weekes but teach vs to number our daies shewing that it is an easie thing euer for a man to number his daies they be so few Fourthly the aptnes of man to forget death rather then any thing els and therfore Moses praieth the Lord to teach him to number his daies as though they were still slipping out of his minde Lastly that to remember how short a time we
haue to liue wil make vs applie our harts to that which is good The first point is that as euery one had a day to come into this world so he shal haue a day to goe out of this world When Moses had spoken of some which liued 700. yeeres and other which liued 800. yeeres and other which liued 900. yeeres shewing that some had a longer time and some a shortet yet he speakes this of all mortuus est at last comes in mortuus est that is he died which is the Epitaph of euery man We are not lodged in a castell but in an Inne where wee are but guests and therefore Peter cals vs strangers We are not Citizens of the earth but Citizens of Heauen and therefore the Apostle saith we haue here no abiding City but we look for one to come As Christ saith my kingdom is not of this world so we may say My dwelling is not in this world but the soule soareth vpward whence she came the body stoopeth downward whence it came as the tabernacles of the Iews were made to remoue so our tabernacles are made to remoue Euery man is a tenant at wil ther is nothing sure in life but deth as he which wrote this is gone so I which preach it you which heare it one comming in one going out is to all Although this is daily seene yet it had need be prooued nay euery man had need to die to make him beleeue that he shall die When Adam Eue became subiect to death because of their sin to teach them to think on death so soon as they were thrust out of paradise God clothed them with the skins of dead beastes which shewed them that now they were cloathed with death and that as the beastes were dead whose skins they wore so they should die also therefore Dauid saith Man being in honour became like the beasts which perish when he saith that hee did become like the beasts which perish he implieth that man should not perish like the beasts but when he did like a beast hee died like a beast From that day euery man might say with Iob Corruption was my father and the worme was my mother For the rich glutton is lockt in his graue as fast as poore Lazarus Therfore God speaking of kings saith I said ye are Gods but ye shal die like men If kings must die like men then the expectation of men is death therefore when this king was readie to die he said to Salomon that he should go the way of all the earth calling death the way of all the earth to which Esay be ares witnesse crying all flesh is grasse that is it falleth and is cut downe like grasse In paradise we might liue or die in the world we liue must die in heauen she shall liue and not die Before sinne nothing could change vs now euery thing doth change vs. For when winter comes wee are cold when age comes wee are withered when sicknesse comes we are weak to shew that when death comes we shal die The clothes which were vpon our backs the sun which sets ouer our heads the graues which lie vnder our feete the meate which goes into our mouthes câ—ie vnto vs that we shall we are and sade and die like the fishes and foules and beasts which euen now were liuing in their elements and now are dead in our dishes Euery thing euerie day suffers some eclipse and nothing stands at a stay but one creature calles to another let vs leaue this world Our fathers summoned vs and we shall summon our children to the graue first wee wax olde then wee wax drie then wee wax weake then wee wax sicke so wee melt away by drops at last as we caried other so other cary vs vnto the graue this is the last bed which euery man shal sleep in we must returne to our mothers wombe Therefore Iacob called his life but a pilgrimage therfore Paul called his life but a race therfore Dauid calleth him selfe but a worme a pilgrimage hath an end a race hath a stop a worme is but troden vnder foote and dead straight so in a houre we are and are not heere we are now and anon we are separated to morrow one sickneth and the next day another sickneth and all that be here neuer meet againe we may well be called earthen vessels for we are soone broken a spider is able to choake vs a pin is able to kill vs all of vs are borne one way and die a hundred waies As Eliah stood in the doore of the caâ—e when God passed by so wee stand in the passages of this world readie to go out whensoeuer God shall cal We loose first our infancie then our childhood then our youth at last as we came in the roomes of other so other come into our roomes If all our daies were as long as the day of Iosua when the sun stood still in the midst of heauen yet it will be night at last our sun shal set like other It is not long that we grow but when we begin to fall we are like the ice which thaweth sooner then it froze so these little worlds are destroied first and at last the great world shal be destroied too for all which was made for vs shall perish with vs. What do you learne when you thinke of this but that which Moses saith to applie your hearts to wisdome death commeth after life and yet it guides the whole life like the sterne of a ship but for death there would be no rule but euery mans lust should be his law he is like a King which frighteth a far oft though he defer his sessions and stay the execution yet the verie feare that he will come makes the proudest peacock lay downe his feathers and is like a dampe which puts out all the lights of pleasure The second note is that the time of man is set his bounds appointed which he cannot passe therfore Moses praieth the Lord that he would teach him to number his daies as though there were a number of our daies Therefore God is called Palmoni which signifieth a secret number because he knoweth the number of our daies which is secret to vs. As it was said to Balthasar God hath numbred thy kingdome so it may be said to all God hath numbred thy life To this Job beareth witnes saying Are not his daies determined thou hast appoynted his bounds which he cannot passe Again Ieremie saith they could not stand because the day of their destruction was come As there is a day of destruction and a day of death so there is a day of birth a day of marriage a day of honour a day of deliuerance according to that the determinatioÌ„ is made that is God hath determined all things As God appointed a time when
his Sonne should come into the world he came at the same time as the Prophets and the Euangelists accord so he hath appointed a time when all his blessings shall come vnto vs they come at the same time As we reade of Ioseph when his appointed time came shewing that God appointed a time when to exalt him and before that time came hee could not bee exalted therefore Christ saith so often My time is not yet come shewing that he knew the time of his baptizing the time of his preaching the time of his working the time of his rising and the time of his ascending As for that which is obiected of Ezechias because Esaie shewed him that hee should die and after tolde him that fifteene yeres were added to his life it is like the preaching of Ionas to the Niniuits Fortie daies and Niniue shall be destroyed and yet Niniuie was not destroied because they repented so Ezechias was not abridged because he repented Therefore you must vnderstand the phrase of God as when we say that wee will iourney to morrow we vnderstand If God will so when God saith I will destroie he vnderstands if we persist As al the promises of God are coÌ„ditional to take place if we repent so all the threatnings of God are conditionall to take place if we repent not and therefore some time this woord if is put in as where there is no blessing nor cursing without an if I may answere againe that God is a iudge and spake like a iudge to Ezechias a iudge dooth not condemne all whom he saith he will condemne nor a Schoolemaster beate euerie one whom he saith he will beat to make him learne yet the iudge and schoolemaster doe not dissemble but menace this is not lying but threatning But you will say if any time be set thus long I shal liue and I cannot pasâ—e then I will take no phisicke You may as well say I will take no meat God hath not ordained the end without meanes but the meanes as well as the end If he haue appointed one to die in his youth he hath appointed some meanes to shorten his life as he did Absolons if he haue appointed one to liue long he hath appointed also some meanes to preserue his life as Ioseph cherished Iacob in his age Therefore though God had promised Paul that his company should not be drowned yet he told the marriners that vnlesse they kept in the ship they should bee drowned as if their safety should not bee without meanes but a good minde dooth neuer quarrell about these things The third point is that our life is but a short life as many little skuls are in Golgaâ—ha as great skuls for one apple that falleth from the tree ten are pulled before they bee ripe and the parents mourne for the death of their children as often as the children for the decease of their parents This is our Aprill and May wherein we florish our Iune and Iuly are next when wee shall bee cut downe What a change is this that within fourescore yeares not one of this assemblie shall bee left aliue but another preacher and other hearers shall fill these roomes and tread vpon vs where our feete tread now The Rauen and the Phoenix and the Elephant and the Lyon and the Hart fulfill their hundreds but man dieth when he thinks yet his sunne riseth before his eye bee satisfied with seeing or his eare with hearing or his heart with lusting death knockes at his doore and will not giue him leaue to meditate an excuse before hee come to iudgement To shew the shortnesse of mans life Moses vsed the shortest diuision in nature to expresse it by he might haue said Teach me O Lord to number my moneths or my yeares but he speakes of dayes so the Scripture is woont to number our life by dayes and houres and minutes to shewe vs that wee shall giue account for houres as well as for daies for daies as well as for weekes for weekes as well as for moneths for moneths as well as for yeares which warneth vs to make vse of all our time and euerie daie to thinke vpon the last This was the Arithmeticke of holie men in former times to reckon their dayes so that their time might seeme short to make them applie their hearts to wisdome The Hebrewes did number their dayes thus first they did deduct the time of sleepe so that if our yeeres bee threescore and tenne as the Prophet saith fiue and thirtie of these yeares are striken off at one blow because wee spend halfe our time in sleepe then they did deduct the time of youth which Salomon calleth vanity as though it were not worthy to be called life but vanitie Then they did deduct the daies of sorrow because in sorrow a man had rather dye then liue so when the houres of sleepe the houres of youth and the houres of sorrowe are taken away what an Epitomie is mans life come to The Fathers vsed an other account First they did deduct all the time which is past for the time which is past is nothing then they did deduct the time to come because the time to come is vncertain and no man can say that he shall liue Now when the time past and the time to come is set aside there is nothing left but the time present that is a moment which is not so much in respect of eternitie as a little mote to the whole earth Dauid numbered his daies by a measure My life saith he is like a span long Psal 39. 5. when he measured his life he took not a pole nor an ell nor a yard to measure it by but a short measure his short span My life is like a span long Thus you haue learned to number your daies or rather the houres of your daies as some came into the Vineyard in the morning and some at noone and some at night so some goe out of this Vineyard in the morning some at noone some at night some mans life hath nothing but a morning some haue a morning and noone he which liueth longest liueth all the day and therefore the yongest of all pray but for this day if he liue till to morrow then he prayeth for that day saying still Giue vs this day our daylie bread So that a pleasant life may bee compared but to a glorious day and a sorrowfull life to a clowdie day and a long life to a summers day and a short life to a winters day How comes it to passe that when a man dies all his yeares seeme but so many dayes and before hee dyes all his daies seeme so many yeares Iob speaketh of all a like Man which is borne of a womaÌ„ hath but a short time to liue Iacob was 130. yeares old and yet when hee came before Pharaoh he sayd Fewe and euill haue my daies been Though Pharaoh did not
speake of daies but asked him how old he was yet he answered of daies to shew that not only his yeares but his daies were fewe Our fathers marueiling to see how sodainlie men are and are not compared life to a dreame in the night to a bubble in the water to a ship in the sea to an arrow which neuer resteth till it fall to a player which speaketh his part vpon the stage and straight he giueth place to another to a man which commeth to the market to buy one thing and sell another and then is gone home againe so the figure of this world passeth away This is our life while we enioy it we loose it as Iacob sayd that his daies had been fewe so wee may say that our daies shall be few Now why hath GOD appoynted such a short time to man in this world Surely least he should deferre to doe good as his manner is for though his life is so short yet he thinks it too long to repent The Prophet saith that our yeares are but threescore and ten as though this were but a little time to liue But why should we liue so long for if our life were but a yeare yet a yeare is more then we vse al the rest is lost for wee deferre till that weeke which we thinke will be last It is sayd of the diuell that he is busie because his time is short but the time of man is shorter and therefore Christ saith In this thy day as though no day could bee called thy daye but this daye and therefore all that thou hast to doe thou must doe this day Consider this all which trauell toward heauen had wee not neede to make hast which must goe such a long iourney in such a short time How can he choose but run which remembreth that euery day runneth away with his life The fourth poynt is our aptnesse to forget death rather then any thing els and therefore Moses praieth the Lord to teach him to number his daies as though they were still slipping out of his minde He which hath numbred our daies must teach vs to number our daies for when Moses prayeth the Lorde to teach him to number his daies he signifieth that he would very faine remember them but still his minde did turne from them and that he could not thinke vpon them longer then he thought on the Lord which taught him to number them such is the rebellion of our nature wee cannot remember that which wee should because we remēber so many things which we should forget How often doth the Scripture cal death to our minds Yet we read how they put the day of death from them would not remember it Salomon bids vs remember that we shal come to iudgement yet we reade how they pleade against the day of iudgement and syllogize to their sinnes That all things shall continue as they be because there hath been no chaunge yet euen so it is with vs as the foole saith in his hart there is no God so we say in our hearts there is no death or at least death will not come before we bee old Of al numbers we cannot skill to number our daies we can number our sheepe our oxen our coyn but we think that our daies are infinite therfore we neuer go about to number thē We can number other mēs daies and yeres think they wil die ere it be long if we see them sick or sore or old but we can not nūber our own When two ships meet on the sea they which are in one ship thinke that the other ship doth saile exceeding fast but that their ship goeth faire and softly or rather stādeth stil although in truth one ship saileth as fast as the other so euery man thinkes that other post and run and flye to the graue but that himselfe standeth stocke still although indeede a yeare with him is no longer then it is with other beside that we are giuen to forget death wee striue to forget it like them which say we may not remember Teach me to number my daies nay teach me to multiplie my daies teach me to remember death nay teach me to prolong death or if I cannot prolong death teach me to forget death that I may sinne without feare for the remembrāce of death maketh a man to sinne fearefully takes away the pleasure of sinne Therefore if ye mark there is a kind of men which cannot abide to heare of death they are sick with the name of it the reason is Achab cannot abide Michaiah because hee neuer prophecied good vnto him but euill so death neuer prophecied good to the wicked but euill for which they cannot abide it Therefore as Pharaoh bad Moses goe out of his sight so they bid death goe out of their sight and say when he comes as Achab said to Eliah Art thou here my enemie whē they should say welcome my frend For as the diuels thought Christ was come to tormēt them so the vngodly think that death comes to tormēt them Is it peace when they see death they doubt it is not peace because they neuer loued the God of peace O that I could bring you into their hearts that yee might see more then tongue can expresse for I doe not thinke that any Epicure or worldling or Nonresident haue any ioy to thinke of death or desire to be dissolued but rather that hee might neuer bee dissolued because death coms to the wicked like a iayler which comes alwaies to hale vnto prison therefore their care is not to remember death that they might apply their hearts to wisedome but to forget death lest they should apply their harts to wisedome and loose their pleasures before the time for he which is not purposed yet to leaue his sinnes would not be troubled with any thought that might make him take his pleasure fearefully least he should leaue sinne before sinne leaue him Therefore the diuell doth neuer teach a man to number his daies because he gains by the forgetfulnes of death but the Lord which would haue a man to applie his heart to wisedome it is he which teacheth vs to number our daies and therfore Moses praieth vnto him because we pray not vnto him as he did to teach vs to number our daies therefore we die like wormes before we be aware So farre we are from that which he shooteth at to apply his heart to wisedome that we are not in the way vnto it that is to remēber that wee shall die The last poynt is the cause why Moses would learne to number his daies that he might apply his heart to wisedome as if he should say vntill men think vpon death they neuer applie their hearts to wisedom but busie themselues with worldly matters as though they were fethering a nest that should neuer be pulled down Wisedom hath alwaies carried that shew of excellencie that the
doe as they doe if they did but thinke that these speeches and deeds should come to iudgement As the bird guideth her flight with her traine so the life of man is best directed by a continuall recourse vnto his end The thoght of death hath made many sinnes auoid like the diuel when Christ alleaged Scripture it is like a strainer all the thoughts and speeches and actions which come through it are clensed and purified like a cloth which commeth out of the water Seeing then that so much fruit growes of one stalk which is the numbring of our daies let vs consider what an haruest we haue lost which happily before this day neuer prayed with Moses that the Lord wold teach vs to number our dayes What if we had died in the dayes of our ignoraunce like Iudas which hanged himselfe before he could see the Passion or Resurrection or ascension of Christ But God hath cared for vs more then we haue cared for our selues We should haue numbred our dayes and sinnes too but alas howe many dayes haue wee spent and yet neuer thought why any day was giuen vs But as the olde yeere went and a newe yeere came so we thought that a new would follow that and so we think that another will come after this and so they thought which are dead already This is not to number our dayes but to prouoke GOD to shorten our daies there are few here which haue not seen twentie years now if we had but euery yeare learned one vertue since we were borne we might by this time haue been like Saints among men but the time is yet to come when we must applie our hearts to wisdome To riches pleasures we haue applyed our harts and our eyes and our eares and our handes too but to wisdome we haue not applyed our hearts There may be many causes but there shuld be no cause if wee had numbred our dayes For surely if a man could perswade himselfe that this is his last day as it may be he would not deferre his repentance vntill to morrow If he could think that this is his last meale that euer he shall eate hee would not surfet if he could beleeue that the words which he doth speake to day should be the last that euer he should speake he would not offend with his tongue if hee could be perswaded that this sermon should be the last sermon that euer he should heare he would heare it better then euer he heard any yet Yet breath is in the bodie and the heart may applie it selfe and the eye may applie it selfe and the eare may applie it selfe and the hand may applie it selfe Worke while it is light I can but teach you with words as Iohn Baptized with water As Moses prayed the Lord to teach him to number his dayes so you must pray the Lord to teach you to number your dayes And now I lead you to number your dayes It may bee that thou hast but twenty years to serue God wilt thou not liue twenty yeares like a Christian that thou maiest liue a thousand yeares like an Angel It may bee that thou hast but tenne yeeres to serue him wilt thou not serue tenne yeares for heauen which wouldst serue twenty yeares for a farme It may be that thou hast but fiue yeares to serue God wilt thou spend fiue yeares wel to redeeme all thy yeares for fiue Yet GOD doth knowe whether many here haue so long to repent for all the yeares which they haue spent in sinne If thou were borne but to day thy iourney is not an hundred yeares If thou be a man halfe thy time is spent already if thou be an olde man then thou art drawing to thy Inne and thy race is but a breath therfore as Christ said vnto his Disciples when he found them sleeping Could ye not watch one houre So I say to my selfe and to you can we not pray can we not suffer a little while He which is tyred can crawle a little way a little farther one steppe more for a kingdome For this cause God wold not haue men know whē they shall die because they should make readie at all times hauing no more certaintie of one houre than another Therefore our Sauiour saith watch because you know not when the Lord will come to take you or to iudge you Happy are they which hear the word and keepe it Thus you see that death is the last vpon earth that the time of man is set that his race is short that he thinkes not of it that if he did remember it it would make him applie his minde to good as he doth to euill and nowe I ende as I began The Lord teach vs to number our dayes that wee may applie our hearts to wisedome Amen FINIS A LOOKING-GLASSE for Drunkards Gen. 9. 20. 21. 20 Noah also began to be an husbandman and planted a vineyard 21 And he drunke of the Wine and was drunken and was vncouered in the midst of his Tent. FIrst we are to speake of Noah then of Cham his wicked sonne after of Shem and Iapheth his good sons In Noah first of that which he did wel thē of his sin In Cham first of his sinne and then of his curse In his brethren first of their reuerence and then of their blessing Nowe wee will speake of the Father and after of his Children Then sayth Moses Noah began to bee an husbandman This is the first name which is giuen to Noah after the flood hee is called an Husband-man and the first worke which is mentioned was the planting of a Vineyard One would thinke when all men were drowned with the flood and none left aliue to possesse the earth but Noah and his sonnes that he should haue found him selfe something els to doe than to plant Vineyards and that the holy Ghost should haue intituled him king of the world and not an husband-man of the earth seeing there bee no such men as Noah was which had more in his hand than any king hath in the world or shall haue to the worlds end but hereby the holy Ghost would shew that God doth not respect kings for their titles nor men for their riches as we doe and therefore he nameth Noah after the worke which he did not after the possessions which he had an husbandman It seemeth that there was great diuersitie between their age and ours For if we should see nowe a King goe to plough a Noble man driue the teame a Gentleman keepe sheepe he should be scorned for his labour more than Noah was for his drunkennes yet when we reade how this Monarch of the world thought no scorne to play the husband-man wee consider nor his Princely calling nor his auncient yeares nor his large possessions to commend his industrie or modestie or lowlie minde therein which may teach vs humilitie though we learne to disdaine husbandrie of whom will we learne to be humble if Kings
tables too another smackes of eloquence and hee gapes for a phrase that when he commeth to his ordinarie he may haue one figure more to grace and worship his tale another is male-content and he neuer pricketh vp his eares till the Preacher come to gird agaynst some whom he spiteth and when the Sermon is done hee remembreth nothing which was sayd to him but that which was spoken agaynst other another commeth to gaze about the Church he hath an euill eye which is still looking vpon that from which Iob did auert his eye another commeth to muze so soone as hee is set hee falleth into a browne studie sometimes his minde runnes on his market sometimes of his iourney sometimes of his suite sometimes of his dinner sometimes of his sport after dinner and the Sermon is done before the man thinke where he is another commeth to heare but so soone as the Preacher hath sayd his prayer he falles fast a sleepe as though he had been brought in for a corps the Preacher should preach at his funerall This is the generation of hearers is not the saying of Christ fulfilled now Hearing you heare not because wee heare and heare not like a couetous churle which goeth by a begger when he cryeth in Christes name for reliefe and heareth him crye but will not heare him because he craueth that which he will not part with May we not say againe with Christ What went ye out to see rather then What went ye out to heare seeing ye remember that which ye see and forget all which ye heare So you depart from our sermons like a slidethrifts purse which will hold no money and as you goe home one saith he doth not edifie another saith I cannot profit by him another saith he keeps not to his text another saith he speaks not to the heart as if the ground should cōplaine of the seede which will not receiue the seede Is not this the cause why your Preachers about the Citie care not how they preach because their flockes haue no care to heare Is not this the cause why God doth not heare vs because we wil not heare him Is not this the cause why ye are such Doctors in the world and such Infants in the Church Yee learned your trade in seauen yeares but you haue not learned religion in all your yeares Can you giue any reason for it but this you marked when your master taught you your trade because you should liue by it but you marked not when the Preacher taught you religion because you do not liue by it Come now to the daunger by hearing amisse Christ saith Take heed how you heare In Deut. 4. it is said Take heede how ye forget that which yee heare This Take heede awaies goeth before some daunger therefore as Paul saith that men receiue the Sacrament to their saluation or to their damnation 1. Cor. 11. so Christ saith that men heare the Word to their saluation or to their damnation The word which I haue spoken shall iudge you in the latter day Ioh. 12. It is called the sauour of life because it saueth and it is called the sauour of death because it condemneth An euill eye ingendreth lust an euil tongue ingendreth strife but an euil eare makes an heretike and a scismatike and an Idolater This carelesse hearing made GOD take away his worde from the Iewes therefore you may heare the word so as it may bee taken from you as the talent was from him that hid it for GOD will not leaue his pearles with swine but as he saith What hast thou to doe to take my words in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to bee reformed So he will say what hast thou to doe to take my word in thy eare seeing thou hatest to be reformed If any of you goe away no better then you came you are not like hearers but like cyphers which supplie a place but signifie nothing so you take a roume but learne nothing and they which are cyphers in the house of GOD shall bee cyphers in the kingdome of GOD. Therefore if thou haue an euill eye and an euill tongue and an euill hand and an euill foote yet haue not an euill eare too for then all is euill because the eare must teach all If the eare hearken to euill then the heart must learne euill Therefore an euill eare is compared vnto a bad Porter which lets in euery one in a gay coat though hee bee neuer so bad and keepes out him that goes bare though he be neuer so good so an euil eare lets al that is euil enter into the hair but al that is good shuts the dore against it lest it should set the spirit the flesh at variance Oh if the Adder had not stopped his eare how lōg since had he bin charmed But the shortest time in Gods seruice is the lōgest time in al the day The beast came to the Arke to saue thēselues men wil not come to the Church to saue thēselues It is too far saith Ieroboā but it were not too far if Ieroboā were not vnwilling One thing is necessary and all vnnecessaries are preferred before it The gretest treasure in the world is most despised the Star which should lead vs to Christ the Laddder which shuld moūt vs to heauē the Water that shuld clense our leprosie the Māna that should refresh our hūger the booke that we should meditate on day night lieth in our windows no mā readeth it no man regardeth it the loue of God the loue of knowledge the loue of saluation is so cold that we will not reade ouer one book for it for al we spēd so many idle times while we liue If Samuel had thought that God had spoken to him he would not haue slept but because he thought it was not God but Eli therefore he slept so because you remēber not y t it is God which speaks therefore you mark not but if you remēbred Christs saying He which heareth you heareth me he which despiseth you despiseth me you would heare the voyce of y t Preacher as you would heare the voyce of God Surely beloued we know no other way to saue you nor our selues if we did how wretched were we to keepe it frō you which haue no other calling but to shew you the way of saluatiō If this be the way no other if this be shewē you no other yet you will not take it but chuse another then are you not condēned by any other but you condemne your selues He which wil not heare is worse then Herod for as bad as he was yet it is said of him that he heard Iohn Nay euen those whō our Sauiour Christ in the Parable before this text compareth to the barren the stonie and the thornie ground were al hearers therfore he which wil not heare is worse thē any groūd It is said of Saul that though he were
ground before he sow his seede lest his seed should be lost so we should prepare our hearts before we heare lest Gods seede be lost In the â—0 of Iohn he sends vs to the sheep as they know the voice of their shepheard and will not heare a stranger so we shuld know the voice of Christ froÌ„ the voice of Popes or Doctors or Counsels or Traditions lest we goe like Samuel from God to Eli. When you haue bin in the sheep-folds go to the woods learne of the birdes for they will so listen to him which teacheth them to sing that they learne to sing the same note after him so we should learne to sing the tune of the spirite for they which heare the word aright learne to speake euen as the Worde speaketh Beside these schoolemasters we haue other Teachers too all the titles which are giuen to the Word doe teach vs how we should heare the Word The Apostles call their writings Epstles The Epistle to the Romanes The Epistle to the Corinthians c. shewing that the Word is like an Epistle sent from God to man wherein he writes his mind familiarly vnto vs and therefore we should read it heare it marke it and scanne it as we would scanne a Letter which comes from some of our familiar and deare friends In Mark 14. the Gospel of Christ is called his Testament or Will shewing that our Legacies are written in it and that wee shoulde heare it and marke it and plie it till wee bee as cunning in Gods will as we are in our Fathers will In the first Epistle of Saint Paul to Timothie the sixt chapter the Word is called a charge and in the second to Timothie the fourth chapter GOD is called a Iudge shewing that we shuld hear the word of God as we hearken to a Iudge when hee giues a charge or pronounceth a sentence for euery sentence in this booke is a charge to the King or the Counseller or the Lawyer or the Preacher or one or other let euery one heare his charge In the fift Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrues ver 14. the Word is called meat shewing that we should desire and hunger to hear it And as the stomacke sends the strength of the meat into euery member of the body so we should send to the eye that which is spoken to the eye and to the eare that which is spoken to the eare and to the tongue that which is spoken to the tongue and to the hande that which is spoken to the hande If thou heare comfort apply that to thy feare If thou heare a promise apply that to thy distrust If thou heare a threatning applie that to thy presumption and fill vp the gap still where the diuell entreth In the parable before my texte the word is coÌ„pared to seede the preachers to sowers the hearers to the grounde shewing that ye come hither to be watered and dressed and manured therefore if Gods seede be sowne and the diuels fruits come vp you are like the Iewes which brought Christ vineger when he thirsted for wine As the little birds perke vp their heads when their damme comes with meate and prepare their beakes to take it striuing who shall catch most now this lookes to be serued and now that lookes for a bit and euery mouth is open vntill it bee filled so you are here like birds and we the damme and the worde the foode therefore you must prepare a mouth to take it They which are hungry wil striue for the bread which is cast amongst them think this is spoken to me this is spoken to me I haue neede of this and I haue neede of this comfort goe thou to my feare promise goe thou to my distrust theatning goe thou to my securitie and the Word shall be like a perfume which hath odour for euery one These are good remembrances for all hearers to thinke that the Word is an Epstle froÌ„ God vnto them that it is the Will wherein their Legacies are written that it is a charge from the Iudge of life and death that it is the meate whereby they liue that it is the seede which if it growe they are fruitfull if it growe not they haue no fruite but these are generall matters my desire is to teach you a compendious way of hearing which you haue not heard before that as the Word is called a briefe worde so you may learne it briefly for it is not gainfull vnto vs as it is to Lawyers Phisitians and Surgeons to keepe you long in hand but to heale you and dispatch you quickly as Christ healed the Leapers This Age hath deuised diuers Methods to learne many things in shorter time than they were learned of old A man may spend seauen yeares in learning to write and he may meet with a Scribe which will teach him as much in a moneth A Prentice may spende nine yeares in learning a trade and some maister if hee were disposed would teach him as much in a twelue moneth A man may fetch such a compasse that he may be a whole moneth in going to Barwicke and another which knoweth the way will goe it in lesse than a week so to euery thing there is a farther way and a neerer way and so there is to knowledge You do not remember the hundreth part of that which you haue heard to morrowe you will not remember the tenth note which you heare this day It may be that some wil remember more and why not thou as well as hee because one vseth a helpe for his memorie which the other vseth not If you will vse his policie you shall remember as wel as he for let him neglect his help and the best memorie here shall not carrie away halfe which he marketh now vntill it be night When the woman of Samaria heard Christ speake of a water of which he that drinketh shall thirst no more Oh saith she giue me of that water so now you heare of such a way you would faine know it but will you vse it I wish that I were such a messenger that I could compell you vnto it for truely vntill you vse it you shall neuer learne faster then you doe Now I thinke you haue a desire to heare it I will shew it vnto you First in mine opinion two things out of euery Sermon are specially to bee noted that which thou didst not know before and that which speaketh to thine owne sinne for so thou shalt encrease thy knowledge and lessen thy vices Now if thou wouldest remember both these a yeare hence as fresh as now this is the best policie that euer thou shalt learne to put them presently in practise that is to sende them abroad to all the parts of thy soule and members of thy bodie and reforme thy selfe semblably to them and thou shalt neuer forget them for thy practise remembreth them but before this you must vse another helpe that is record euery
Shall the Gods die too Hee giues them their title but he telles them their lot Though their power though their wealth though their honour though their titles though their train though their friends though their case though their pleasures though their diet though their cloathing be not like other yet their ende shall be like other nay their endes are like to bee more fearefull than other For GOD makes him examples of great men as he did of Pharaoh and therefore wee see so many strange and sodaine deathes of Princes more than of other Therefore hee spake heere with the least when hee saide Yee shall die like other for verie fewe of them escape the Swoorde or knife or poyson which other neuer or very seldome feare But if all your subiectes were your friendes yet yee shall dye like them for are yee not colde when Winter comes are yee not withered when ages comes are yee not weake when sickenesse comes and shall yee not goe aswell as the meanest when death comes Therefore bee not proud of thine honour as though it would last alwaies for thou shalt dye and then all thine honour shall forsake thee and another shall rise in thy place as great as thou and when his glasse is run another shall follow him and so another till death haue all Bee not cruell in thine authoritie as though it woulde laste alwaies for thou shalt dye and then thy Authoritie shall dye with thee and they which remayne aliue will sende infinite curses after thee because thy life was as a scourge vnto them Be not secure for thy wealth as though it would last alwaies for thou shalt die and then another shall take thy riches and thou shalt goe to giue account how thou commest by them How many things dooth hee implie when he saith yee shall die This is a Barre in their armes which makes the proudest peacocke laye downe his feathers when hee thinkes vpon it though he pricke them vp againe whereby the holy ghoste woulde haue them learne that nothing will make them liue and rule and deale so well in their thrones as to remember that they shall die and shortlie giue account for all signifying that prosperitie makes vs forgetfull of our endes and that these mortall Gods liue as though they were immortall A hard thing for Princes to remember death they haue no leasure to thinke of it but chop into the earth before they beware like a man which walketh ouer a field couered with snow and sees not his way but when hee thinketh to runne on sodainly falles into a pit euen so they which haue all things at will and swim in pleasure which as a snowe couereth their waie and dazeleth their sight while they thinke to liue on and reioyce still sodainely rush vpon death and make shipwrack in the calme sea Therefore as it is good for them to heare they are Gods so it is meete to knowe they shall die Wherefore ye shall die saith he in the next wordes as if hee would preuent some conceit that they would take of the wordes which hee cast out before hee cooles them quicklie before they swell and deferres not to another time but where he calles them Gods there hee calles them wormes meate lest they should crow betweene the praise and the checke I haue said ye are Gods but ye shall die c. but for this die manie would liue a merrie life and feast and sport and let the world slide but the remembrance of death is like a dampe which puts out all the lightes of pleasure and makes him rub and frounce and whine which thinkes vpon it as if a moate were in his eie O how heauie tidings is this to heare thou shalt die from him which hath life and death in his owne handes when the message is sent to them which raigne like Gods as if he should say Euen you which glister like Angels whom all the world admires and sues and bowes to which are called honourable mightie and gracious Lords I will tell you to what your honour shall come First ye shall wax olde like others then ye shall fall sicke like other then ye shall die like other then ye shall be buried like other then ye shall bee consumd like other then ye shall bee iudged like other euen like the Beggers which crie at your gates one sickens the other sickens one dies the other dies one rots the other rots looke in the graue and shewe me which was Diues and which was Lazarus This is some comfort to the poore that once he shall be like the rich one day he shall bee as wealthie as mightie and as glorious as a King one hower of death will make all alike they which crowed-ouer other and looked downe vpon them like Oakes other shall walke vpon them like worms and they shall be gone as if they hadde neuer beene Where is Alexander that conquered all the worlde and after sought for an other because one woulde not satisfie him Where is Xerxes which coulde not number his Armie for multitude Where is Nemrod which built his nest in the clowdes Where is Sampson which slewe an armie with the iawe of an Asse Where is Constantine Nero Caligula Titus Vespasian Domitian thunderbolts in their times One hundred Princes of Englande are dead and but one aliue the rest are gone to giue account how they ruled here when they sustained the person of God Who would haue thought saith Ieremie that the enemie shoulde haue entred into Ierusalem and spoyled that faire Citie Yet he brake into it and Ierusalem was ransackt like other Who woulde haue thought that Herod which was honoured like a GOD should haue beene deuoured with wormes and sauoured that none could abide him Yet while hee was in his pompe like an Idol sodainelie hee was stroken and all his glorie like the snuffe of a Candell which all men looked vppon euen nowe when it shined and now it so sauors that they tread it vnder foote Who woulde haue thought Iezabel that beautifull temptation shoulde haue beene gnawed with dogs Yet shee was cast vnto dogs not an eare left to season the graue What woulde he thinke that had seene Salomon in his Roialty after seen him in the clay O world vnworthie to be beloued who hath made this proud slaughter Age Sickenes and Death the three sumners which haue no respect of persons made them paie the ransome themselues and bowe to the earth from whence they came there lie the men that were called Gods How soone the flower of this world is faded yesterdaie the tallest Cedar in Libanus to daie like a broken sticke troden vnder foote yesterday the state lieth vppon earth to daie shrouded in earth forsaken forgotten that the poorest wretch would not bee like vnto him which yesterdaie crouched and bowed to his knees Then woe to them which had the names of God and sinnes of men for the mightie shall be mightilie
sheweth the reason of these repetitions when hee telles Pharaoh why his dreame was doubled because the matter was important and certaine Therefore when Salomon repeates this saying so often he calles for audience as though hee had some waightie and great matter to vtter Such a point of wisedome it is for euerie man to knowe that All is vanitie if we direct not things to their right end as when the Holy Ghost would signifie that God is all holie he repeated thrice holie holie holie So when hee shoulde shewe that man is al vaine thrice he repeateth vanitie to shew how hardlie man beleeues that he is vaine therefore he brings in three assertions as it were three witnesses to prooue it All agree vppon the same words but that the last is more plaine and saieth that All is vanitie that is that man is not onely changed and become vaine but for the vanitie of man as the Apostle saieth The creatures are subiect to vanitie and haue not the glory and libertie which they should haue for the sinne of man A spirituall eie doth see some vanitie or other in euery thing as appeareth betwixt Christ and his Disciples at Ierusalem They gazed vpon the building of the Temple as a braue thing and would haue Christ to behold it with them but he did see that it was but vanitie and therfore saide Are these the things that yee looke vpon as if he should say How vaine are you to gaze vppon this If Christ thought the beauty of his Temple a vaine thing not worth the sight which yet was beautified and built by his owne prescription how should Salomon expresse all the vanitie of the world to which all men haue added more and more since the beginning Therefore as if he wanted wordes to expresse it as hee did see it hee breakes foorth into an exclamation and repeates the same often Vanitie of vanities as if hee should say I cānot speak how vain the world is but vaine it is and very vaine and nought but vaine speaking as if hee had the feeling and sense of it as though the worlde stoode naked before him and it grieued him to see he cuts his words in chiding maner makes short riddance as if it irked him to speake all that he knewe therefore that which hee speakes he speakes roundly that if they read no more but sleepe all the Sermon after yet the first sentence shall strike a sting into their heartes and leaue a sounde behinde to waken them when they are gone as manie you know remember this sentence which remember no sentence in all his booke beside Who hath not heard Vanitie of vanities c. Though fewe haue conceiued it This is the phrase of Scripture when the holy Ghost would commende the song of Salomon aboue all other songs hee calles it the song of songes so called in the Hebrewe and mentioned 1. King 4. 32. When he woulde exalt the heauenly king aboue all hee calles him the King of kings so when he woulde note a greate vanitie and yet a greater and a greater than that which is the greatest of all he calles it Vanitie of vanities as when we would note a great foole we will say a foole of fooles a sin of sins a seruant of seruantes These are scornefull names to the worlde and homelie titles to giue our pleasures to call them Vanitie of vanities and againe Vanitie of vanities and yet againe Vanitie as though wee woulde prouoke them to fall out with vs like a man which sharpens his enemie with taunts when he woulde egge him to fight Hee might haue mollified his tearmes before hee condemned the worlde thrise but the worlde is no changling that Salomon shoulde change his iudgement but vaine it was vaine it is and vaine it will bee and therefore a thrise vaine worlde hee may call it First Vanity straight Vanity of vanities and sodainelie All is vanitie What a transcendent is this as though it increased while he spake so fast groweth this weede to worse and worse like the Image which appeared to Nabuchadnezzar the first part was of Golde the second of Siluer the third of Brasse the fourth of Iron the fifth of clay so by many changes the world growes worse and worse and all they which folow it When a man begins to like of pleasure opens the doore to one vanitie which hee loues straight as many vanities floch to him as Salomon had Concubines till the Temple of God be like a den of theeues Therefore when Salomon beheld such apluralitie and Totquot of Vanities like Surges comming one vppon another in pleates and in foldes he spake as though he would shewe vs Vanity hatching vanities Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity The first saying dooth passe without let but the last rubs and sinks not into the heartes of men so easilie as it is spoken Me thinkes I heare some dispute for Baal and bid Salomon stay before he come to All is Vanity It may bee that sinne is vanity and pleasure is vanitie but shall we condemne all for sinne and pleasure What say you to Beautie which is natures dowrie and cheareth the eie as sweete meate doeth the taste Beautie is like a faire picture take awaye the colour and there is nothing left Beautie in deede is but a colour and a temptation the colour fadeth and the temptation snareth But what saie you to Riches which make men Lordes ouer the rest and allow them to goe braue and lie soft fare daintilie and haue what they list Riches are like painted grapes which looke as though they would satisfie a man but doo not slake his hunger nor quench his thirst Riches in deede to make a man couet more and get enuie and keepe the minde in care But what say you to Honour which sets a man a loft and makes the knee bowe the tongue sooth and the heade stand bare as though they were other kinde of creatures aboue them Honour is like a King in a play when his part is done his ornamentes are taken from him and hee which helde the bason to him is as good as hee Honour in deed may commaund all but life hee makes a faire shewe now but when death comes all is one But what say you to profound Knowledge in deepe mysteries which makes men sought vnto and called deepe Clarkes and great Doctours Knowledge is like the Letters which Vriah carried against himselfe so Knowledge draweth a greater iudgement and oftentimes condemnes the bearer Knowledge without Vertue leaues a man without excuse and is a witnes against him because hee vnderstandes what is good and will not doe it Yet there is another darling of account behinde what say you to Long life which causeth a man to see his childrens children and makes him reuerent before the people Long life is like a long night when a man cannot sleepe so age is wearisome with sicknes and striues
the way for other that they may fall too Therefore Let him that thinketh he standeth take heede lest he fall So earnestly must we call vpon our soules that we be not wearie of well doing for happier are the children that neuer began then Iudas whose ende was worse then his beginning Wisedome and Righteousnesse are angrie with him that leaueth his goodnesse to become worse if thy spouse had committed fornication thou mightest haue diuorsed her but he which leaueth his righteousnes to liue in wickednes forsakes his spouse to commit fornication and is diuorsed from Christ himselfe If thou wert like the Vine or the Oliue or the Figge tree they would not leaue their grapes or their fatnesse or their sweetnesse to get a kingdome but the Bramble did If thou be like the Bramble what wilt thou doe when the fire comes As this is a memorandum to all so especially let him that ruleth and him that teacheth take heede lest he fal for if the Pillers shrinke the Temple shakes as when a great Tree is hewen downe which is a shadowe to the beasts and a nest to the birdes many leaues and bowes and twiggs fall with it so many stande and fall with them whose lampes giue light to others Euen as Ieroboams sinne made Israel to sinne therefore Paul hath giuen you a watchword which euery one should write vpon his table vpon his bed vpon his nayles lest he forget in one houre for he which standes now may fall before night Sinne is not long in comming nor quickly gone vnles God stop vs as he mette Balaam in his way stay vs as he staied the womans sonne when he was a bearing to his graue we runne ouer Reason and tread vpon Conscience and fling by Counsel and goe by the Word and poast to Death as though we ran for a kingdome like a Larke that falles to the ground sooner then she mounted vp at first she retires as it were by steps but when she commeth neerer the ground she falles downe with a iumpe so wee decline at first and wauer lower and lower till we be almost at the worst and then we runne headlong as though wee were sent poast to hell from hot to luke-warme from luke-warme to key cold from key cold to starke dead so the languishing soule bleedes to death and seeth not his life goe till he be at the very last gaspe Woe bee vnto him that is guilty of this murther if the bloud of Abel cried for vengeance against his brother Caine which slew his bodie shall not GOD bee reuenged for the death of the Soule where is thy brother saith God Nay where is thy soule hast thou slaine it which was my spouse my temple mine owne Image If the seruāt which hid his Talent was cast into darknesse what shall be done vnto thee which hast lost thy Talent For he which falles from his righteousnesse dooth not hide his Talent but more he doth lose it Thus if you neuer knewe what good to make of euill this you may learne in the sinners Schoole let them which thinke they stand take heed lest they fall and let them which are downe care to rise and the Lord so direct our steppes that wee may rise againe FINIS THREE PRAYERS ONE FOR THE MORNING ANother for the Euening the third for a sicke man Whereunto is annexed a godly Letter to a sicke friend and a comfortable speech of a Preacher vpon his death bed Anno. 1591. A Morning Prayer O Lord prepare our hearts to praye ETernall God giuer to them which want Comforter to them wich suffer and forgiuer to them which repent we haue nothing to render thee but thine owne If we could giue thee our bodies and soules they should be saued by it but thou wert neuer the richer for them Al is our duetie al of vs cannot performe it therefore thy son died thy spirite descended and thy Angels guide and thy Ministers teach to helpe the weakenes of men All things cal vpon vs to cal vpon thee and we are prostrate before thee before wee know how to worship thee euē since we rose we haue tasted many of thy blessings thou hast begun to serue vs before wee begin to serue thee Why shouldst thou bestow thy health and wealth and rest and libertie vpon vs more then other we can giue no reason for it but that thou art mercifull And if thou shouldst drawe all backe againe we haue nothing to say but that thou art iust Our sinnes are so grieuous and infinite that we are faine to say with Iudas I haue sinned and there stop because we cannot reckon them All things serue thee as they did at first onely men are the sinners in this world Our heart is a roote of corruption our eies are the eyes of vanitie our eares are the eares of follie our mouthes are the mouthes of deceipt our hands are the hands of iniquitie and euery part doth dishonour thee which would be glorified of thee The vnderstanding which was giuen vs to learne vertue is apt now to apprehend nothing but sinne the will which was giuen vs to affect righteousnes is apt now to loue nothing but wickednes The memorie which was giuen vs to remember good things is apt now to keep nothing but euill things There is no difference betweene vs and the wicked we haue doone more against thee this weeke then we haue doone for thee since we were borne and yet we haue not resolued to amende but this is the course of our whole life first we sinne and then we pray thee to forgiue it and then to our sinnes againe as though we came to thee for leaue to offend thee And that which should get pardon at thy hands for all the rest that is our prayer is so full of toyes and fancies for want of faith and reuerence that when we haue praied we had need to praie againe that thou wouldest forgiue our prayers because wee thinke least of thee when wee pray vnto thee what Father but thou could suffer this contempt and bee contemned still Yet when we thinke vpon thy sonne all our feare is turned into ioye because his righteousnesse for vs is more then our wickednesse against our selues Settle our faith in thy beloued and it sufficeth for all our iniquities necessities and infirmities Now Lord we goe foorth to fight against the world the flesh and the diuell and the weakest of our enemies is stronger than wee therefore wee come vnto thee for thy holy spirite to take our part that is to change our mindes and wils and affections which wee haue corrupted to remooue all the hindrances which lets vs to serue thee and to direct all our thaughts speeches and actions to thy glorie as thou hast directed thy glorie vnto our saluation Although we be sinners O Lord yet we are thine and therefore we beseech thee to separate our sins from vs which would separate vs from thee that we may be ready
to euery good as we are to euill Teach vs to remember our sinnes that thou maiest forget them and let our sorrowe here preuent the sorrowe to come Wee were made like thee let not flesh and bloud turne the image of God to the image of Satan our foes are thy foes let not thine enemies preuaile against thee to take vs from thee but make thy word vnto vs like the starre which led vnto Christ make thy benefites like the pillar which brought to the land of promise make thy crosse like the messenger which compelled guests vnto the banquet that wee may walke before men like examples and alway looke vpon thy sonne how he would speake and doe before we speake or do any thing Keepe vs in that feare of thy Maiestie that we may make conscience of all that we doe and that wee may count no sinne small but leaue our lying and swearing and surfetting and coueting and boasting and flanting and inordinate gaming and wanton sporting because they drawe vs to other sinnes and are forbidden as straightly as other Let not our hearts at any time be so dazled but that in all temptations we may discerne between good and euill between right and wrong between trueth and errour and that we may iudge of all things as they are and not as they seeme to bee let our mindes bee alwaies so occupied that wee may learne some thing of euerie thing and vse all those creatures as meanes and helpes prepared for vs to serue thee Let our affections growe so towarde one another that wee may loue thee asmuch for the prosperitie of other as if it were our owne let our faith and loue and prayer be alway so readie to goe vnto thee for our helpe that in sicknes we may finde patience in prison wee may finde ioy in pouertie wee may find contentment and in all troubles we may finde hope Turne all our ioyes to the ioye of the holy Ghost and all our peace to the peace of conscience and all our feares to the feare of sin that we may loue righteousnesse with as great good will as euer we loued wickednes and goe before other in thankfulnes towards thee as farre as thou goest in mercie towards vs before them taking all that thou sendest as a gift and leauing our pleasures before they leaue vs that our time to come may be a repentance of the time past thinking alway of the ioyes of heauen the paines of hell our owne death and the death of thy sonne for vs. Yet Lord let vs speake once again like Abraham one thing more we will beg at thy hands our resolutions are variable we can not performe our promises to thee therefore settle vs in a constant forme of obedience that we may serue thee from this houre with those dueties which the world the diuell and the flesh woulde haue vs deferre vntill the point of death Lord we are vnworthie to aske any thing for our selues yet thy fauor hath preferred vs to be petitioners for other Therefore wee beseech thee to heare vs for them and them for vs and thy sonne for all Blesse the vniuersall Church with truth with peace and thy holie Discipline Strengthen all them which suffer for thy cause and let them see the spirite of comfort comming towardes them as thy Angels came to thy sonne when he was hungrie Be mercifull vnto all those which lie in anguish of conscience for remorse of their sinnes as thou hast made them examples so teach vs to take example by them that wee may looke vpon thy Gospel to keepe vs from despaire and vpon thy lawe to keep vs from presumption Prosper the armies which fight thy battailes and shew a difference betweene thy seruantes and thy enemies as thou didst betweene the Israelits and the Aegyptians that they which serue thee not may come to thy seruice seeing that no God dooth blesse besides thee Make vs thankefull for our peace whome thou hast set at libertie while thou hast laid our dangers vpon others which mightest haue laide their dangers vpon vs And teach vs to build thy Church in our rest as Salomon builte thy temple in his peace Haue mercie vpon this sinfull Lande which is sicke of long prosperitie Let not thy blessings rise vp against vs but indue vs with grace as thou hast with riches that wee may goe before other nations in religion as wee goe before them in plentie giue vs such harts as thy seruants should haue that thy will may be our will that thy Law may be our Lawe and that we may seeke our kingdome in thy kingdome Giue vnto our Prince a Princely heart vnto our counsellers the spirit of counsel vnto our Iudges the spirite of Iudgement vnto our Ministers the spirite of doctrine vnto our people the spirite of obedience that wee may all retaine that communion here that we may enioy the communion of Saints hereafter Blesse this familie with thy grace and peace that the Rulers thereof may gouerne according to thy word that the seruants obey like the seruants of God and that wee may all be loued of thee Now Lorde wee haue commenced our suite our vnderstanding is weake and our memorie short and wee vnworthie to pray vnto thee more vnworthie to receiue the things which we praye for Therefore we commend our prayers and our selues vnto thy mercie in the name of thy beloued son our louing Sauiour whose righteousnesse pleadeth for our vnrighteousnes Our father which art in heauen c. ruption as though wee were made to sinne indeede or in worde or in thought wee haue broken all thy Commandements that wee might see what good is in euill which hath lefte nothing but guilt and shame and expectation of iudgement while we might haue had peace of conscience ioye of heart and all the graces which come with the holie spirite Some haue been wonne by the word but we would not suffer it to change vs some haue been reformed by thy crosse but wee woulde not suffer it to purge vs some haue been mooued by thy benefites but wee would not suffer them to perswade vs nay we haue giuen consent to the Diuell that wee will abuse all thy gifts so fast as they come and therefore thy blessings make vs proude thy riches couetous thy peace wanton thy meates intemperate thy mercie secure and all thy benefites are weapons to rebell against thee that if thou looke into our hearts thou maist saye our Religion is hypocrisie our zeale enuie our wisedome pollicie our peace securitie our life rebellion our deuotion ends with our prayers and wee liue as though wee had no soules to saue What shall wee answer for that which our conscience condemnes Wee are one daye neerer to death since we rose when we shall giue account how euery day hath been spent and how we haue got those things which other will consume when we are gone And if thou shouldest aske vs now what lust asswaged what affection qualified
what passion expelled what sin repented what good performed since we began to receiue thy benefites this day wee must confesse against our selues that all our works words thoughts haue been the seruice of the world the flesh and the diuell we haue offended thee and contemned thee all the day and at night wee pray vnto thee Father forgiue vs all our sins which haue dishonored thee while thou diddest serue vs run from thee while thou didst call vs and forgotten thee whilest thou didst feede vs so thou sparest vs so we sleepe and to morrow we sinne againe this is the course of al our pilgrimage to leaue that which thou commandest and doe that which thou forbiddest Therefore thou mightest iustly forsake vs as we forsake thee and condemne vs whose conscience condemnes our selues but who can measure thy goodnesse which giuest all and forgiuest all Though we are sinfull yet thou louest vs though wee knocke not yet thou openest though we aske not yet thou giuest what should wee haue if wee did serue thee which hast done all these things for thine enemies Therefore thou which hast giuen vs al things for thy seruice O Lord giue vs a heart to serue thee let this be the houre of our conuersion let not euill ouercome good let not thine enemie haue his will but giue vs strength to resist patience to endure and constancie to perseuere vnto the end Instruct vs by thy word guide vs by thy spirite mollifie vs by thy grace humble vs by thy corrections winne vs by thy benefites reconcile our nature to thy will and teach vs to make profite of euery thing that wee may see thee in all things and all things in thee because O most mercifull father we walk between thy mercie and iustice through many temptations gouerne our steps with such discretion that the hope of mercie may preuent dispaire the feare of iustice may keepe vs from presumption that in mirth wee bee not vaine in knowledge we be not proude in zeale we bee not bitter but as the tree bringeth foorth first leaues then blossomes and then fruit so first wee may bring foorth good thoughts then good speeches and after a good life to the honor of thy name the good of thy children the saluation of our soules remembring the time when we shall sleepe in the graue and the day when wee shall awake to iudgement Now the time is come O Lord which thou hast appointed for rest and without thee wee can neither wake nor sleepe which hast made the day and night and rulest both therefore into thy hands we commend our soules and bodies that thou hast bought that they may serue thee restore them O Lorde to their first Image and keepe them to thy seruice and resigne vs not to our selues againe but finish thy work that we may euery day come neerer and neerer to thy kingdome till we hate the way to hell as much as hell it selfe and euery cogitation and speech and action be so many steps to heauen For thy names sake for thy promise sake for thy sonnes sake O Lord wee lift vp our hearts hands voyce vnto thee in his name which suffered for sinne and sinned not Our Father c. A Prayer for a sicke man ALmightie God and all mercifull Father which art the Phisition of our bodies and soules in thy hands are life and death thou bringest to the graue and pullest backe againe we came into this world vpon condition to forsake it whensoeuer thou wouldest call vs and now the Somners are come thy â—etters hold me and none can loose me but he which bound me I am sicke in bodie and soule but he hath stroken me which in iudgment sheweth mercie I deserued to dye so soone as I came to life but thou hast preserued me till now and shall this mercie bee in vaine as though wee were preserued for nothing Who can praise thee in the graue I haue done thee no seruice since I was borne but my goodnesse is to come and shall I dye before I begin to liue but Lord thou knowest what is best of all and if thou conuert me I shall be conuerted in an houre and as thou acceptedst the will of Dauid as well as the act of Salomon so thou wilt accept my desire to serue thee as well as if I did liue to glorifie thee The spirit is willing but the flesh is fraile and as I did liue sinfullie whensoeuer thy spirite was from mee so I shall dye vnwillingly vnlesse thy spirite prepare mee therefore deare father giue mee that minde which a sicke man should haue and increase my patience with my payne and call vnto my remembrance all which I haue heard or read or felt or meditated to strengthen mee in this houre of my triall that I which neuer taught any good while I liued maye nowe teach other how to dye and to beare theyr sicknes patiently apply vnto me all the mercies and merites of thy beloued sonne as if he had dyed for me alone Be not from me when the enemie comes but when the tempter is busiest let thy spirite bee busiest too and if it please thee to loose me out of this prison wheÌ„ I shal leaue my earth to earth let thine Angel carrie vp my soule to heauen as they did Lazarus and place me in one of those mansions which thy sonne is gone to prepare for me This is my mediator which hath reconciled me and thee when thou didst abhorre mee for my sinnes and thou didst send him from heauen to vs to shew that thou art bound to heare him for vs. Therfore in him I come vnto thee in him I call vpon thee O my redeemer my preseruer and my sauiour to thee be all prayse with thy father and the holy spirite for euer Amen What shall stay me from my Father my brother and my Comforter A comfortable speech taken from a godly Preacher lying vpon his death-bed written for the sicke I Owe to God a death as his Sonne died for me Euer since I was borne I haue been sailing to this hauen and gathering patience to comfort this houre therefore shal I be one of those guestes nowe that would not come to the banquet wheÌ„ they were inuited what hurt is in going to Paradise I shal loose nothing but the sence of euil and anon I shall haue greater ioyes then I feele paines For my head is in heauen already to assure mee that my soule and body shall follow after O death where is thy sting why should I feare that which I would not escape because my chiefest happinesse is behinde and I cannot haue it vnles I go vnto it I would go through hell to heauen and therefore If I martch but through death I suffer lesse then I would suffer for God My paines doe not dismay mee because I trauaile to bring forth eternall life my sinnes doe not fright me because I haue Christ my redeemer the iudge doth not