thou maist be too when thou endest And thus for this once J bid thee farewell in Christ. Thine in the Lord. W.P. A DIRECTION TO DEATH TEACHING MAN the way to dye well that he may liue euer Made in the forme of a Dialogue in which the speakers are QVIRINVS and REGVLVS Quirinus ALL haile to your person good Master Regulus and heere you are well met Regulus The same to you my olde friend Quirinus for you are as well met I am a glad man to see you aliue For it was tolde me that you were in great perill of death yea some said you would neuer goe abroade againe Q. I thought not otherwise my selfe but you may see the doings of God are contrarie to the iudgements of men I that was ere while verie like to dye am now something like to liue R. Thankes be to God therefore Q. Euen so say I for that is my part for as it was hee that brought mee almost to my graue so it was none but hee that hath againe set me vpon my feete the Physicians they all forsooke mee my friends all they tooke their leaue of me my worldlie goods and substance would nothing at all comforte me in my selfe I found little that might encourage me to hope any thing eyther of holding life in me or of putting death from me R. What gather you of this the Lords dealings with you Q. That eyther the time of my departing hence was not come or else that I was not then readie R. Whatsoeuer may be said of the second I am sure what you haue said is sure of the first for had your time been come you must haue gone for the power of death no man can withstand Q. That I thinke if he be fit therefore R. Death standes not vpon the fitnes or vnfitnes of any When it comes be he fit or vnfit it taketh him Q. In asmuch then as I was not fit when it did seeme to come God enable me to be fit against the time it will come R. It is good to wish so that if it may be you may in the end haue it to be so for as Paul saith Philip. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both the will and the deede euen of his good pleasure Q. That made me to say as I did R. It must moue you also to do more then you had said Q. I doe not deny that for it must moue me to be both humble and thankefull R. Somuch in deede that of Paul must moue you to but the vnfitnes to dye that you say was in your selfe must moue you to more Q. What 's that R. To make your selfe fit to dye For as a man prepares himselfe to worke ere he works to heare ere he heares to pray ere he prayes to receiue ere he receiues so must he prepare himselfe to dye ere he dyes Better comes death to him that is prepared to dye then to him that is nothing at all made readie to dye The vnlooked for perill is euer most perillous Q. We both agree that it is meete for a man to prepare himselfe to dye R. It is very right that so wee should For why should not a man prepare himselfe to dye aswell as he doth to sinne A man is no lesse to prepare himselfe to the wages for his worke than to his worke but sayth Paul The wages of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 As a man therefore in times past hath prepared himselfe to sinne so now must he learne to prepare himselfe to dye For as he hath sinned so must he dye if sinne goeth before death of necessitie must follow after the cause being put the effect must also be giuen As Paul the seruant therefore sayth Rom. 5.12 By sinne death entred into the world so Christ the Master sayth Luk. 12.40 Be ye therefore also prepared Q. But why should a man prepare himselfe to dye R. It is but vaine to aske why the reasons thereof be so many Q. Many how many R. Fiue at the least Q. What may they be R. 1. The communitie of death 2. The proximitie of death 3. The vncertaintie of death 4. The extremitie of death 5. The authoritie of Christ and his Apostles Q. Except you explaine your meaning I shall not bee much wiser then I was For why your wordes to me seeme darke and obscure R. In playner termes then I will expresse my mind 1. Cor. 14.19 for as Paul saith I had rather speake fiue words with vnderstanding than ten thousand in an vnknowne tongue Q. In so doing you shall both pleasure me and profit others R. First then therefore a man is to prepare himselfe to dye Heb. 9.27 because it is appointed vnto him once to die for as Dauid saith What man liueth Psal 89.48 and shall not see death shall he deliuer his soule from the hand of the graue As though none should hee askes the question and as if none might both Elihu in Iob Iob. 34.15 and Salomon in Ecclesiastes do giue answer For Elihu saith Eccle. 12.7 All flesh shall perish together and man shall returne to dust And Salomon saith Dust returne to the earth as it was After the same maner do others giue forth their verdicts saith an old Poet. Est commune mori mors nulli parcit honori Debilis fortis veniunt ad limina mortis It is a verie common thing to dye Death spareth none be he neuer so high The weake together with the strong Comes streaming to death all along Saith Augustine Now dyes one King now another now one Duke now another one Earle one Baron one poore man one rich man death spareth no man because with an euen law it smiteth all things Saith Petrus Blesensis vpon these wordes in the booke of Iob Iob. 42.17 So Iob dyed being olde and full of dayes Death concludeth all the felicity of men for when thou hast published the fayth of Abraham the pietie of Ioseph the charitie of Moses the valour of Sampson the vertue of Dauid the miracles of Elizeus the wisedome and riches of Salomon the conclusion is one and hee dyed After this manner therefore should euery man conclude of necessitie I must dye of duetie therefore I must prepare my selfe to dye for duelie must a man prepare himselfe to that which necessarilie he must doe Duelie a man prepares himselfe to eate because necessarilie he must eate he that daylie eates not long time liues not duelie a man prepares himselfe to worke because necessarilie he must worke 2. Thes 3.10 he that will not worke should not eate euen so duelie should a man prepare himselfe to dye because necessarilie he must dye he that prepares not himselfe to dye dyes ill fauouredlie But this is enough for this first reason why a man that must dye is to prepare himselfe to dye Q. Somewhat then of the second for the second is next after the first as the first is next before the
mans words were these Psal 39.4 Lord let me know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is let me know how long I haue to liue The second these 90.12 Teach vs so to number our dayes that wee may apply our heartes vnto wisedome The third these Tob. 3.6 Deale with me as seemeth best vnto thee and commaund my spirit to bee taken from me that I may be dissolued and become earth for it is better for mee to dye than to liue For this therefore should we both labour and pray a worke of nature it is not to bee prepared for death but a worke of grace must proceed from God not from man That which proceedeth from God must by prayer be asked of God That man therefore may meditate of his death he must craue grace of God to enable him to frame himselfe to death that so he may not altogether be vnprouided for death and thus you see by what a man may be induced to thinke of his death which is the first thing that he is to regarde in his life that he be not taken vnawares by death Q. I doe so and I remayne your debt our therfore But now hauing seene what was there well worthie to bee seene I will craue that we may passe to the second that there I may also see what meete is to be seene R. Your will be done Q What therefore may be the sting of death which you sayd he was daily to take from death which was desirous in life to prepare for death R. Nothing else but sinne For as the Apostle Paul saith 1. Cor. 15.56 The sting of death is sin Q. But why is sinne compared to a sting R. For the likenes that sinne hath with a sting For as those things which haue stings do wound by their stings so doth death by sinne For death entred into the world by sinne Rom. 5.12 Had not sinne been death could neuer haue done hurt Againe as those things which haue stings can do no hurt if their stings be out for a man may cary a snake in his bosome the sting being out so no more can death if her sting be out sinne being gone death hath no more dominion Q. But how shall a man get this sting out R. By two meanes 1. by humbling himselfe in the time present for all his sinnes past partly confessing them against himselfe with the prodigall child Luk. 15.21 and partly crauing pardon of them at Gods hands with the poore Publican 2. 18.13 by turning of himselfe vnto God for the time to come euer carying as in him lies a purpose resolution and endeuour in all things to reforme both heart and life affection and action will and worke according to the direction of Gods most blessed word Q. Are you sure of what you sa yt R. I were else to blame so to say For it is written Deut. 27.18 Cursed be he that maketh the blinde goe out of his way And he maketh the blinde goe out of the way that teacheth the ignorant contrary to the right way Q. Can you make it to me to appeare R. I verily if you will see when it doth appeare Q. I pray you do it then for I will see it if you doe it R. And I will do it that you may see it For the first therefore thus saith Salomon He that hideth his sinnes shall not prosper Pro. 28.13 but he that confesseth them and forsaketh them shall haue mercie Psal 32.5 Thus also saith Dauid I acknowledged my sinne vnto thee O God neither hid I mine iniquitie For I thought I will confesse against my selfe my wickednes vnto the Lord and thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne Selah Therefore shall euery one that is godly make his prayer vnto thee in a time when thou maiest be found surely in the floud of great waters they shall not come neere him Rom. 10.13 Selah Thus also Paul Whosoeuer shall call vpon the name of the Lord shall be saued And I thinke by the vndoubted testimonie of these three that very thing doth appeare which I would haue to appeare for where two are enough three will well serue But to proceede because I must not dwell where I am Ezek. 18.21 for the second Ezekiel sayth thus If the wicked will returne from all his sinnes that hee hath committed and keepe all my statutes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely liue and not dye all his transgressions that he hath committed shall not be mentioned vnto him but in his righteousnes that he hath done he shall liue Haue I any desire that the wicked should dye saith the Lord God or shall he not liue if he returne from his wayes Againe When the wicked turneth a way from his wickednes that he hath committed and doth that which is lawfull and right he shall saue his soule aliue because he considereth turneth away from all his transgressions that hee hath committed he shall surely liue and shall not dye And Daniel counselling Nebuchadnezar the king how to escape the wrath which he feared and saw threatned saith thus Dan. 4.24 Breake off thy sins by righteousnes and thine iniquities by mercie toward the poore loe let there be an healing of thine errour Besides by these meanes the Prodigall sonne tooke away the sting of his death the Publican the sting of his death and Zacheus the Tribute-taker the sting of his daeth the one had no sooner said Luk. 15.21 Father I haue sinned against heauen before thee am no more worthy to be called thy sonne but his father saith to his seruants bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feete and bring the fat calfe and kill him and let vs eate and be mery For this my sonne was dead and is aliue againe and he was lost but he is found againe The other had no sooner sayd 18.13 O God be mercifull to me a sinner but it was said of him this man departed to his house iustified The third had no sooner said 19.8 beholde Lord the halfe of my goods I giue to the poore If I haue taken from any man by forged cauillation I restore him fourefolde but Iesus againe said vnto him this day is saluation come into thine house for asmuch as thou also art become the sonne of Abraham By the same meanes also some others did the like By their doings others also may learne For what was effectuall in them will not be vnfrutefull in others so others be as faithfull as they For as the Apostle saith Rom. 15.4 Whatsoeuer things are written afore time are written for our learning that wee through patience and comfort of the scriptures might haue hope But it may be I haue spoken enough of this matter and you haue a good minde to heare somewhat of some other Q. You are to vse
feare death For what should a man feare that which doth good and not hurte brings profit and not disprofite is beneficial and commodious not vnprofitable and noxious Q. Nothing at all in my minde But what is death so R. Why else say I so Q. Because it pleaseth you to say so R. What must I speake what pleaseth mee Q. You should not R. Neither will I so neere as I can but that will I speake which may please God and pleasure man Q. Because you say then Death doth good and not hurt brings profite and not disprofite is commodious and not noxious to whome is it commodious R. To whom not It is commodious to him that suffers it and it is commodious to him that sees it suffered Q. But not to euerie one of those that suffer it or see it suffered R. Neither did I yet say so It is commodious to euerie one that suffers it either in faith or for faith or both It is commodious also to euerie one that sees it suffered so hee makes right vse of the seeing it suffered For the first these sayings of Scripture make som what 2. Cor. 4.12 Tob. 3.6 Ro◠8.28 Syr. 41.2 Rom. 8.38 Death worketh in vs. It t s better for ◠to dye then to liue to them that loue God a thinges worke together for the best O Dear how acceptable is thy Iudgement vnto the need full and vnto him whose strength fayleth and that is now in the last age and is vexed with a◠things Gregor super Mat. 10. in testimo illis For the other this of Gregory makes much The Death of the righteous to the good is an helpe to the euill a testimonie that thence the wicked may perish without excuse whence the godlie doe take example that they may liue Q. What good brings Death to him that suffers it as you haue sayd R. The goods thereof they are vnspeakeable for multitude they exceede number for greatnes they passe vnderstanding for goodnes they excell all that men heere enioy or may enioy Q. I would I might heare somwhat of thē that so both I others might be benefited by them R. Sith so you will I say so you shall First Death killes his familiar enemie Gal. 5. 1. P◠12.11 Rom. 6.7 to witte his bodie or fleshe with all her lustes fighting against the soule For be that is dead is freed from sinne And what a benefite this is that saying of a learned writer sheweth which thus soundeth Seneca There is no pestilence more forceable to doe an hurt then a familiar enemie A familiar enemie betrayeth Christ into the hands of sinners Secondly Death opens a doore to his poore prisoner out of a filthie prison in which he was held bound and captiue that is Death giues libertie to his Soule to depart from the bodie in which it was deteyned from the presence of God as in a prison For many haue thought the body of man to be as a prison to the Soule of man Pythagoras seeing one of his schollers verie busie about trimming vp of his bodie said this man ceases not to make vnto himself a more troublesome prison What a benefite this is it may appeare by Dauids praier Psal 142.7 and our experience Dauids praier Psal 142.1 Bring my soule out of prison that I may praise thy name Our experience is that prisoners hate little more then lockes and boltes because they must stay them from going out Thirdlie Death deliuers him from the carryage of a coffin full of filthines and vncleannes that is his bodie Plato in Cratylo sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Corpus a bodye Plato in Cratylo dicitur quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is said to be ac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. Sepulchrum A graue Sepulchro quid faedius and what more vncleane then a graue Mat. 23.27 Whited tombes sayeth Christ appeare beautifull outward but are within full of dead mens bones of all filthines such like are the fine and faire bodies of men A corruptible bodie sayth Salomon is heauie vnto the soule Sap. 9 1◠the earthlie mansion keepeth downe the mind that is full of cares And what a benefite this is it may appeare not onelie by Paules speach in one place but also by his great outcry in another For thus he saith in one place Whiles we are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord 2. Cor. 5.6 And thus he crieth out in another O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death And a miserable thing it is to be absent from the Lord Rom. 7.4 and to be troubled with the bodie of Death When Paul sayth the Ephesians were without God in the world he reckened vp one of the euils the Ephesians were infected with Ephe. 2.12 ere euer the bright light of the glorious Gospell of Christ Iesus did shine vnto them and vpon them but when he said If God be with vs who can be against vs he spake of one of the greatest blessings that is Rom. 8.31 writing therefore to the Philippians he not onelie desireth to bee with Christ but also sayth that so to be is best of all I am greatlie in doubt on both sides desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all This therfore was Dauids complaint As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of waters Psal 42.1 so panteth my Soule after thee ô God my Soule thirsteth for God euen for the liuing God Psal 42.2 when shall I come and appere before the presence of God And this otherwhere the saying of the Psalmist It is good for me to drawe neere vnto God 73.28 What shoulde be others thereupon I leaue it to others to discerne My meaning is to proceed to another cōmodity that death brings with it to whom it comes and that is this It puts an end to the painefull Pilgrimage he was going on in this world For what is this mortall life but a way Basil hom 1. in psal 1. and that for the hast that euerie thing generate makes to the end What a commoditie this is may many waies appeare but especiallie by that of Salomon Eccl. 7.3 The day of Death is better then the day that one is borne And that of Syrach Death is better then a bitter life If it were requisite Syr. 30. 17. that eyther of these were better proued proofe might soone be produced For the first there is one that sayeth For two causes the day of death is better to the seruants of God then the day of byrth Perald tom 1. pag. 134. One is because Death is the egresse from miserie whereas the birth is the ingresse to miserie sayeth a wise man though Death be not good yet is it the end of all euils Seneca saith Death is the remedy of all euils The second is because Death is the gate
of glorie to the seruants of God It is the beginning of a blessed life For the other there is another that saieth Syr. 40. 25. 41. 2. It is better to dye then to begge O death how acceptable is thy Iudgement vnto the needefull and vnto him whose strength fayleth and that is nowe in the last age and is vexed with all things and to him that despayreth and hath lost patience To like purpose saide olde Tobit in the anguish of his Soule Tob. 3.6 It is better for me to dye then to liue because I haue heard false reproches and am verie sorowful For the maine point we driue at there is one that saieth Philip. 1.2 Cor. 5 he which dieth is freed from the miseries of the world he goeth to the Lord from whom he went on pilgrimage so long as he abode in the bodye Also in Death he leaueth sinne labour affliction the slime of the earth the matter of continuall conflict against the spirit of God And that bodie made of the dust of the grounde which he leaues in Death he shall receiue againe in the day of the restoring of all things in farre better case then euer it was in this worlde For then it shal be made like the glorious bodie of Christ Whether therefore you respect the Soule of him that dies or you regarde the bodie yet euer is that sure which I saie that death is commodious to him that dies If you respect the Soule It is freed from the bandes of the bodie to be with Christ It is translated to immortalitie It is conducted to the heauenlie countrey from which it was a stranger If you regarde the bodie it is freed from all miserie It is committed to a most safe and sweete sleepe it is prepared to the glorie of the resurrection the flesh resteth in hope whatsoeuer you respect or regarde yet this at length you must come to Raban lib. 9. in eccl cap. 2. The iudgement of present death is good to those that worship Christ because by it they passe to eternall life Sanctus Idiota By a good death a man chaunges his feare into securitie his labour into tranquilitie his want into sacietie his sorrow into iocunditie by a good death he escapeth all daunger of loosing the grace of God his estate comes to be better then euer it was before While he liued Lazarus was contemned Luk. 26.21 neither Master nor Man would regarde him more compassion was had of him by dogges then by men The dogges came licked his sores but no man gaue him the crummes which fell from the rich mans table but when he was dead Lazarus was esteemed the Angels came and carried him into Abrahams bosome of Christ himselfe Myconius saieth While Christ liued Myconi in euang Mar expos he might see nothing but humilitie and many things horrible and dreadfull but being dead see how honorable his burial was great good men burie him there is a magnificent preparation a new Sepulchre in the gardein in which yet neuer man lay As it fared with these so often fareth it with others by these then may others see what commodities drawes towards them when death comes vpon them some I haue shewed mo at pleasure may be conceiued so good so pleasant so profitable there are as Bassus an olde man once said Ser. 30. episto If there be any discommoditie in death it is the fault of those that die and not the fault of death it selfe In his book of the contempt of death saith Seneca Seneca lib. de contem mortis for the paine that is in death It is light if I can beare it It is but short if I cannot endure it for the commodities that are therein they are many I shal leaue of all possibility then to be sick any more I shall leaue of all possibility to be bouÌ„d any more I shall leaue of all possibilitie to dye any more Sickenes shall haue no more to do with me bondage shall haue no more to doe with me Death shall haue no more to doe with me the power of the one the other and all of them shall be taken from them what in this point Seneca thought was to betide him is surely to betyde others As Seneca therefore contemned death because of the commodities of Death so may they for the same cause stand in lesse feare of Death then otherwise for therefore is it said that there are many commodities in Death that those which are to dye should be well armed against the immoderate feare of Death For it is but follie to feare that which will come and vpon all come and vpon many verie profitably come when it doth come Manie makes a vertue of necessitie and most wonderouslie loue that which brings commoditie saieth Seneca again Seneca lib. de senectu In death there is no greater solace against Death then mortalitie it selfe I see not therefore howe any shoulde ouer foolishlie feare Death it bringing commodities as it doth not only to them that suffer it but also to those that see it by others suffered Q. No more doe I neither should I if there were asmuch prooued as was erewhile propounded R. Why do you make an if what is there wanting Q. The latter part of your saying R. What is that Q. Doe not you know R. Whether I do or do not I would know of you Q. And that I can tell you R. Doe it then Q. So I meane but I doe but quicken your wit a little with this being by other things fully resolued of your will R. I can but commend your wit for so doing But I would heare what is wanting to be prooued of that which was propounded Q. That you shall that death brings commoditie to those that see it suffered is the thing which I speake of R. And that 's the thing you need not much speake of or at the least not so as you haue spoken For that thing is not now vnprooued Remember you not that out of that auncient and learned doctour Gregory I tolde you that The death of the righteous was an helpe to the good thâ—â— saw it and a testimonie to the euill Q. Yes indeede doe I. R. Be not so hastie then heereafter to accuse before you haue iust cause For that saying of Gregorie is proofe sufficient for that in controuersie Q. It is so I can it not deny but I would haue had more R. Why more than enough is too much and the prouerb is enough is as good as a feast Though more should be said yet would it all come to this issue For euer the death of the righteous is either an helpe to the good or a testimonie to the bad or both to either Q. But how the one to the one and the other to the other R. The one to the one by making them to remember their owne ends to wish the like ends and to prepare against their ends The other to
Israelites a dying looked vpon the brasen Serpent which was erected by the appointment of God that so they might bee healed from the stinging of fiery Serpents so others a dying must with the eye of a true and liuelie faith looke vpon Christ exalted and crucified on the Crosse that so they may bee saued from their sinnes and the wrath of God due vnto them for the same For the brasen Serpent was a figure of Christ Ioh. 3.14 and Christ as Paul saith is to the godlie both in life and death aduantage Philip. 1.21 In either whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not perish but haue eternall life Ioh. 3.15 For God so loued the world that he hath giuen his onely begotten Sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life for God sent not his Sonne into the world that he should condemne the world but that the world through him might be saued Q. Is it not inough that in times past the sicke man hath beleeued though in the agonie of death he doth not beleeue R. No marrie First by the Euangelist the Lord saith Be thou faithfull vnto the death Apoc. 2.10 I will giue thee the Crowne of life Secondly by his Sonne hee saith Mat. 10.22 He that endureth to the end hee shal be saued by neither he saith be faithfull a while and it is well but be faithfull to the death and endure to the end arguing by both that it is not inough to beginne well and then giue ouer but that hauing begun they must neuer bee wearie but continue to the end In vaine is good done Greg 1. moral if it be left before the life be ended because he runs in vaine which giues ouer before he comes at the mark There is no ioy of a ship that perisheth in the hauen neither yet of a man that beleeueth not in death Blessed are they saith the Spirit which dye in the Lord Apoc. 14.13 they therefore which would be blessed after their death must labour to die in the Lord at their death now they die in the Lord which are ingraffed in Christ by faith and rest and stay onely on him and reioice to be with him they therefore which wil die in the Lord must till their death continue in faith for the Lord faithes time is this liues time so that faith doth want of her time if she hath not all of this lifes time when this life is once past the time of faith is ouerpast faith exceedes not this life neither should she faile during this life As in the agonie of death the diuel is most busie to bring vnto death so thē should faith most striue to helpe vnto life for thus well it is written The iust man shall liue by his faith Abac. 2.4 1. the iust in this life shall liue after this life by his faith in God and his Christ had and held during the terme of this life for except he beleeues in this life during the time of this life he shall not liue with God after this life by this you may easily tell whether it bee inough yea or no to haue beleeued in God and his Christ before death though he doth not beleeue at all in death Q. I may so but yet I cannot tell how any shall shew that then he doth beleeue R. Neither neede you to seeke that it is inough for you to know how hee that doth beleeue shall shew that he doth beleeue Q. To come to that knowing asketh great cunning for euerie one that saith hee doth beleeue doth not shew indeede that hee doth beleeue R. But euery one that doth indeed beleeue may shew that he doth beleeue Q. I denie not that if he be in health but I aske how he that is sicke and in the agonie of death shall then shew that he doth beleeue R. And that I answere hee may diuerse waies doe first by praying vnto God secondlie by speaking well either of him or of his religion Q. Why but may a man pray when he is a dying R. I thinke not but oft times he may so I am sure Iaakob the Patriarke did so Christ our Sauiour did so also Steuen the Protomartir did Gen. 47.31 when death had seised vpon the body of Iaakob he raised vp himselfe and turning his face towards the beds head he leaned on the toppe of his staffe by reason of his feeblenes and then he praied vnto God and this his praier is counted a fruit of his faith Heb. 11.22 When Christ was in his agonie in the garden he praied Heb. 11.22 Mat. 26.39.27.48 Luk. 23.34.46 Mat. 26.37 and vpon the crosse againe he praied thrice vpon the one and thrice within the other In the garden once he said ô my Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me neuerthelesse not as I wil but as thou wilt Another time he said O my Father if this cup cannot passe away from me but that I must drinke it thy will be done Againe he praied the third time saying the same words Vpon the crosse the first time he said Mat. 27.46 Eli Eli Lamasabachtani that is my God my God why hast thou forsaken me the second time he said Luk. 23.34 Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe the third time he said Father into thine hands I commend my Spirit When Steuen was a stoning hee called vpon the Lord and that twice once for himselfe and once for his enemies for himselfe he said Act. 7.69 Lord Iesus receiue my spirit for his enimies hee said Lord lay not this sinne to their charge And this his calling vpon the Lord there is attributed to his being full of the holy Ghost by all this I gather that the sicke man beleeuing when he is dying may also pray when he is dying It is well knowne what the good thiefe vpon the crosse did euen when death was seising vpon him and life leauing him and by that as by the former it may bee collected what by a sicke man dying may be practised for his crucifying death might be as hard a death as some sicke mans death if not harder the thiefe then praied Lord remember mee when thou comest into thy kingdome and so also the sicke man may nay ought asmuch as euer he ought for saith God call vpon mee in the time of tribulation and anguish and that 's a time of both and saith Iames Iam. 5.13 Is any man sicke let him pray And then I thinke a man is sicke if euer he be sicke no sicknes or affliction to the agonie of death Q. Alas Alas when sence failes tongue falters and death nippes how would you haue a man to pray R. With heart if not with tongue in affection if not in action for praier stands not in the enuntiation of words but in the affection of hearts when Moses spake neuer a word vnto God God said vnto Moses
to be a liuing man for so Christ feared it when he sweat water and blood in the garden herevpon said My soule is heauie vnto death Mat. 26.38 Secondly as it is an hurt to the church or common wealth for often by death the church and commonwealth are depriued of those which either were then indeed or might haue been in time a great help stay and comfort to either Q. Otherwise than thus would you not haue him to feare it R. No. Q. And why R. For many causes First because it is vnto him an abolishing of sinne For he that is dead Rom. 6.7 is freed from sinne he then ceaseth to offend God any more as hee hath done Secondly because it is a bettring of his bodies condition for whereas before it was sensible and so perplexed with many miseries it is by death made insensible and therefore freed from all calamities whereas before in life it was both an actiue and passiue instrument for sinne it is then after death neither of both Thirdlie because it is the way for his soule to come to rest life and glorie For they that die in the Lord rest from their labours enioy life and remaine in glory Rest from their labors Apoc. 14.13 Enioy life Mat. 22.32 remaine in glorie Rom. 2.7.10 Dan. 12.3 And they that come to these things must die ere they come at them As one saith There is no other way to come to heauen by but death Q. And what conclude you thereupon R. That which I should viz. that hee which hath faith in Christ should not so feare death as therefore he should be vnwilling to leaue this life Cyprian in serm de mortalitate For as Cyprian saith It is his part to feare death which hath no will to goe to Christ It is his to haue no will to goe to Christ which beleeueth not he shall beginne to raigne with Christ God saith he hath promised to thee departing out of this world immortalitie and eternitie and doest thou doubt this is not to haue known God at al this is with the sinne of incredulitie to offend Christ the maister of all beleeuers this is being set in the Church not to haue faith in the house of faith Let him bee afraide to die who not being borne anew by water and the spirit is mancipated to the fire of hell let him be afraide to die which is not marked with the crosse and passion of Christ let him bee afraide to die which from this death must passe to the second death let him be afraide to die whom the eternall flame shall torment with euerlasting paine so soone as hee departes this world let him be afraide to die vpon whom this by his long stay heere is bestowed that during his abode heere his punishment is deferred but let him neuer bee afraide to die that knowes himselfe to be heere a Pilgrime and stranger that beleeues the resurrection of the bodie and the life euerlasting that loues the Lord with all his heart As the forenamed writer saith What stranger is he that hastens not to returne into his countrey Wee make account that Paradise is our countrey now we haue begun to haue the Patriarkes our Parents Why do we not make hast and runne that wee may both see our countrey and salute our parents A great number of our deare friendes doth there expect vs a mightie traine and troupe of parēts brethren and children now sure of their owne immortalitie and yet carefull for our safety doth wish vs to come vnto their sight and companie what ioy is it in common both to them and to vs What pleasure there without feare of dying and with certaintie of liuing How great and perpetuall felicitie Againe who would be afraide to dye that beleeues the resurrection of the dead For as one saith The most sure trust of christians is the promised resurrection of the dead from aboue And no meruaile when Christ himselfe saith This is the will of him that sent me Ioh. 6.40 that euery man which seeth the Sonne and beleeueth in him should haue euerlasting life and I will raise him vp at the last day And againe I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeueth in me although he were dead yet shall he liue and whosoeuer liueth and beleeueth in me shall neuer dye Lastly who would be afraide to dye that loues God sincerely For it is the propertie of him that loues to adioyne himselfe to the thing he loues and to wish that he might enioy it and to grieue at that which doth hinder his enioying of it It is a token therefore that he loues not God as he should that is either afraide or vnwilling to dye for other way to come to God to heauen to immortalitie than by death there is none he that dyeth not commeth to neither And who if hee might would not come to all Except the wheat corne fall into the ground and dye it bideth alone so except a man fall into the earth and dye he bideth alone Eccl. 4.10 and woe saith Salomon to him that is alone but if the wheate corne die it bringeth forth much fruite so if a faithful man dye he attaineth to much fruite He commeth as I said to God to heauen to immortalitie And who would not if he might come to all these None surely that is wise that is godly that is faithfull and beleeuing for to come to God is to come to the fountaine of liuing waters which who so commeth to shall neuer more thirst to come to heauen is to come to the hauen of euerlasting happines which who so commeth to shall neuer more faint to come to immortalitie is to come to eternall life which who so commeth to shall neuer more dye none therefore that is wise that is godly that is faithful that is beleeuing should be afraide and vnwilling to dye for dye any when he wil that is so qualified death shall not hurt him death shall haue no power ouer him death shal be game not losse vnto him Q. I but whensoeuer he shal dye death will be painefull vnto him R. And what then Let him be neuer the more vnwilling to die for that for why the Apostle saith Act. 14.20 By many tribulations we must enter into the kingdome of God By many and therefore he must be willing to haue the paines of death some we must enter into the kingdome of God and therefore neuer be vnwilling to die for the paines of death for as the same Apostle saith Rom. 8.18 All the afflictions of this life are not worthie of the glorie which shal be shewed vnto vs and therefore the few afflictions in death are vnworthie thereof The paines that are suffered are but temporal but the ioyes which are to bee enioyed are eternall and who wil not be content to suffer a short paine for a long pleasure He is not worthie of any sweete which came away with
alwaies vncertaine and vnknowne to thee That thou mayst feare be feruent liue well and flye euill As though there were foure causes which moued God to make death vncertaine 1. Feare 2. Loue. 3. Life 4. Euill Feare of him loue to his word preseruation of life in man and declining of euill Touching the. 1. Gregorie sayth in an homelie of his Our Lord would therefore haue our last houre to bee vnknowne that alwaies it might be suspected Gregorie in hom that whilst we cannot fore see it without intermission wee might make hast vnto it And hence is it that he said Watch therefore Mat. 15. cap. 13. for ye know neither the day nor the houre when the sonne of man wil ceme Touching the 2. another saith The houre of death is vncertaine that thou mightest worke the more feruentlie Were it not so thou wouldest grow slouthfull and desist from manie things which are good for others And hence it is that an Angell sayd once to a Bishop Greg. in Dialoâ— Doe what thou doest worke what thou workest Touching the 3. saith the same author last spoken of Therefore is the day of thy death vnknowne that thou mayest liue the more purely and warilie For as Cyprian saith What kinde of one the Lord findes thee when hee doth call such kinde of one he doth iudge thee when thou art gone But it is a foolish thing for a man to liue in that estate in which he would not dye Touching the 4. saith the foresaid writer Therefore is the day of thy death vnknowne that thou maiest eschew many euilles which of the certaintie of death would ensue For did men know they should liue long they would committe many euils purposing afterwards to repent but did they know they should dye soone they would liue so much the more vnhumanelie determining to haue some pleasure ere they were for the preuenting of these mischiefes the Lord hath made both death vncertayne and the time thereof vnknowne Thus now you see how the ignorance of death both in regard of time place and manner ought to make a man prepare himselfe to death Q. I doe so I thanke you But I pray you is there yet any thing more that may doe the like R. If you remembred but what ere while I said this question might haue been spared for I tolde you that for fiue causes a man was to prepare himselfe to die ere euer he came to die and yet wee haue spoken but of three of them Q. In deede you did so Speake therefore of the two last I praye you as you haue done of the three first R. So I meane God willing In the fourth place therefore a man is to prepare himselfe to die ere euer hee comes to die because the greatest worke a man hath to finish in this worlde is to die As after death there is no worke so greater then death there is no work hee which hath ouercome death hath ouercome all things Aristotle Of all terrible and fearefull things death is the last Q. And why should this moue a man euer the more to prepare himselfe to die R. Because as the wise man saith Syr. 5. 16. He should not doe rashly either in small things or in great Q. Why but is it a doing rashly to dye without preparation thereto R. What else For what is it not a doing rashly to set vpon any thing without aduisement Q. Yes surelie R. The like it is to die without preparation Q. As a man then prepares himselfe to the doing of any great worke so is hee to the vndergoing of death R. Right so Q. But why so R. Because death is not the least of a mans workes in this world Brandmil Con. fun though it bee the last For to die is the greatest worke a man hath to finish vpon earth Q. May you not thereto adde the greiuousest too R. If I die the matter were not great for there are more paines in death Vincent then in any worke vnder the sunne As one sayth for then so diuerse kindes of diseases are wonte to meete and so to molest euery member that sometimes there are moe diseases than members In a sicknes that was not mortall but grieuous Dauid sayd there was not one whole parte in his bodie how much more might another so say in a sickenesse that is mortall and therefore exceeding grieuous For no sickenes so grieuous as a mortall sickenes In the separation of a man from his wife there is much greefe and sorrow in the separation of the soule from the bodie there must needes be much more The coniunction of the two last is greater and of greater continuance than the coniunction of the two first and where there hath beene the longer continuance in affection there must needes be the greater grieuances vpon separation in experience we see that so much the greater the sorrow is at the parting of friends by how much the longer the continuance together hath been from the meeting of friends and by that we may gesse how great the griefe is in the parting of soule and body For soule and bodie are as two friends but what prosecute I this poynt so farre Now haue I little leysure and lesse occasion so to doe and it may be I shall haue more of both hereafter Q. I would you might and I wish you may For it will not be more yrkesome to me then to heare of these things than it is now And now by seeing my silence you may iudge of my delight But to let this passe seeing you would so faine passe what other reason haue you for the first and last place by which a man should bee moued to a preparing of himselfe to death ere euer he comes to yeeld himselfe thereto R. The fundrie preceptes of Christ and his Apostles and prophets tending to that purpose Q. Why haue either the one or the other of these giuen any precepts touching this matter R. Haue they what a question is that thus sayd I say the Prophet to Hezekiah the king Put thine house in order Esa 38.2 for thou shalt dye and not liue And what is that but to prepare to die because thou must die Thus said Christ our Sauiour to Peter and Andrew and other his Apostles and disciples Wake therefore Mat. 24.42.43 for ye know not what houre your master will come Of this be sure that if the good man of the house knew at what watch the theefe would come he would surely watch and not suffer his house to be digged through Therefore be ye also readie for in the houre that ye thinke not will the sonne of man come And what is this but to prepare to dye because you must dye for Luke the Euangelist recording the same historie saith Be yee also prepared therefore Luk. 12.40 For the sonne of man will come at an houre when yee thinke not 1. Pet. 1.1 And thus said Peter the Apostle to the
strangers that dwelt heere and there throughout Pontus Pet. 4.7 Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia now the ende of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watching in prayer And what is this but to prepare to dye because yee must dye For a man cannot prepare himselfe aright but he must be sober and watching in prayer Q. Is this reason thinke you as forcible as the former R. If it be not it should be For this I am sure is Christs saying Ioh. 15.14 Iohn the fifteene Ye are my frends if ye do whatsoeuer I commaund you And this as I haue shewed is his commaundement as well therefore because he hath commaunded it as also for other reasons which alreadie I haue expressed preparation to death should be vsed Q. God graunt it may so be R. Amen I wish For in asmuch as we haue all sinned wee must all dye For as there is a time to bee borne in sinne so there is a time to dye for sinne And to that that must be done it is better that we prepare our selues then not That comes daungerously that comes vnlooked for Eighteene were slaine when the Tower in Siloam fell but moe perished in the gaynesaying of Corah Iude. 11. Num. 16.32 1. Pet. 3.20 and the deluge spared none but eighte Now death is like a theefe A theefe comes vnawares and so doth death A theefe comes when he is not looked for and so doth death A theefe comes suddenly Barnard and so doth death As nothing is more certaine than death so nothing is more vncertayne then the houre of death A Thunder cracke commeth on the suddaine euen so doth death As one saith our life is like a ruinous house alwaies readie to fall like a thin thred alwaies readie to rot like a running cloude alwaies readie to droppe This cloude sometime melteth in the cradle sometime in the chayre death is like the sunne whensoeuer it shineth it melteth our cloudie life be the cloude thereof neuer so thinne or thicke in yeares Our life then being as vncertayne as the weathercocke which turneth at euery blast or like the waue which mounteth at euery storme or like the reede which boweth at euery winde ours it is to prepare our selues to leaue it to forgoe it to lay it downe to entertayne that which doth dissolue it Q. You say true ours it is to doe so but our blindenes is such and our senselesnes so much as we thinke wee haue heere a continuing citie and therefore we little prouide for that which is to come we thinke we shall liue long and therefore we prepare not to death which shortly and vncertainlie will ensue we put death farre from vs oh I may liue twentie yeares yet c. and therefore wee neglect what wee should regarde and despise what wee ought to embrace R. In regarde of nature this is our dealing but in respect of grace it should not be so and sure I am that they whome God hath indued with grace haue not done so As they haue thought of death so haue they prouided for death Hence is it that some of them bought burying places in their liues there to be buryed when they were dead Hence is it that some of them fitted their toombes eare they dyed in which they were intoombed when they were dead Hence is it that some of them both appointed what sheetes they would be wounde in when they were dead and what they would haue giuen to the poore that then should be liuing Abraham bought him the caue of Machpelah both to burie and to be buried in Ioseph in his life prouided himselfe of a tombe against his death So haue many others done and so now amongst vs many doe By the one and the other it is easie to learne what euery one should do What is one mans duetie in this regarde is euery mans As no man layes himselfe to sleepe without preparation so no man shuld yeeld himselfe to death without preparation as one saith Death sleepe are brethren Diogenes awaking out of sleep being asked by his physitian as he lay vpon his death bed how he did answered I do well man Stob. serm 115. For brother embraceth brother To like effect did Gorgias Leontius answer his friends whē they asked him what he did as he lay drawing on sleeping For he said Now sleep begins to deliuer me to his brother As Moses therefore once said euen so now say I Oh that men were wise Deut. 32.29 and would vnderstand their latter ende Oh that we would remember the certaintie of our death the vncertaintie of our life the ieopardie we are in if death take vs vnawares then no doubt but as Ioseph layd vp in the seuen plentifull yeares what might minister reliefe in the seuen deare yeares so we in the time of this our vncertaine life would store vp what might comfort our yearning soules in the bitter agonie of our most certaine death For wondrous comfortable it is to be prepared for death before death As Gregorie saith Greg. in hom sint lumbi v. 1. Seneca in extrema parte epist epist 20. Maximus serm 36. So death it selfe when it commeth is conquered if before it commeth it euer be feared No man well welcometh death when it cometh but hee which long time before hath disposed himselfe thereto Hence is it that Musonius being once asked who it was that could finish his last daye best answered Hee that euer propounded to himselfe that the last day of his life was present and at hand And hence is it that man should prepare for his end before his end that so he might assuredly speede well at his end Q. Oh would to God that man eyther could or would what man should As his mighte is weake so his minde is wicked And through the weakenes of the one and the wickednes of the other oft is that neglected which much should be regarded R. So it seemes when preparation to death is neglected As death is the last thing in this world a man shall vndergoe so preparation thereto is the first thing hee ought to ouergoe Q. It is not now the duetie wee stand vpon but the time The first is confessed the second is suspected that man should doe this you speake of it is not denyed but when he should doe it it is somewhat controuerted R. More without cause than with cause For there is no cause the time should be doubted when the truth cannot be denied Q. You speake as if there were as much truth for the time as there is in the thing R. I speake then but as I ought for the truth is as much for the one as it is in the other Q. When is it then that a man should prepare to dye sith that prepare he must R. When when not there is no time which thereto and for is not a tyme because we all are euer vncertayne of our time Hee which now liueth may
by and by be dead Sodayne death wee know seiseth vpon many Q. I many in regarde of themselues but not many in regarde of others for moe dye deliberately vpon their beds than sodainly at their boards R. The greater is the mercie of God towardes vs that it is not so Lam. 3.22 Dan. 9.7 For his mercie it is that we all dye not suddenly we haue deserued worse and therefore that Q. I denie not that R. Presume not then vpon the other Q. Neither will I for the workes of God are merueilous and his iudgements past finding out Rom. 11.33 But I will enquire when a man is to prepare himselfe to death Whether in sickenes or in health or in both R. And I will answere in both and neither in health alone nor in sickenes alone Q. And why that R. Because there is a twofould preparing to dye a preparing in health and a preparing in sickenes a preparing in health because then we are verie vnsure to liue For the healthiest man in the world cannot promise himselfe one howre of life Much lesse can he saie To day or to morrow I will goe into such a citie Iam. 4.13 and continue there a yeare and buy and sell and get gaine A preparing in sickenes because then wee are all like to die There is but a step between the sicke man and death As one sayth of men and young men so say I of sickemen and sound men Bern. de Conuers Cler. c. 14. To sicke men death is at the gate to sound mē death is lying in wayte Both in health therefore and also in sickenes he that knowes he must dye must prepare himselfe to dye Q. What needes he prepare in health will it not serue well enough in sickenes R. Truelie no. For first the time of sickenes is not the fittest for such a purpose First because all the sences are then occupied about the paines of the disease And Augustine saith Scarcelie will hee come to true satisfaction Aug. ser 36. whome sickenes doth vrge and paine terrifie especially when the children whome he vnlawfully loued are present and his wife and the worlde do call him vnto them Secondly because then the diuell is most busie to draw a man from all goodnes as knowing that if then he hold him he shall for euer keepe him Olympiodorus in the 9. chapter of Ecclesiastes For as Olimpiodorus saith Such as the day of death doth leaue him such shall and will the day of iudgement finde him And you know it was said to the serpent which was more subtill than any beast of the fielde touching himselfe and the womans seede Gen. 3.15 He shal breake thine head and thou shalt bruise his heele Which as one saith is as much as thou shalt lye in waite against the latter part of his life And well may it be so for that auncient writer Gregorie saith Greg. lib. 6. moral The auncient enemie of mankinde in the time of death is mad through the violence of crueltie to snatch vp the soules of sinners and whome he deceiued while they liued by his flatteries them he tormenteth when they dye by his crueltie Secondly in the time of health it is verie needfull because as in sommer the lillie hath a worme in the roote that doth consume it so in health man hath a worme that doth dissolue him Wheresoeuer he goes hee carries death with him As the lillie that flourishes in the morning is not sure to stand till the euening so man that triumphes in the health of his youth is not sure to liue to the infirmitie of his age Absolon dyes in his health aswell as Dauid in his sickenes And the prouerbe is When health is highest death is nighest Many euen now as it were are aliue and merrie yet in a moment they are dead and gone Sometime death warnes ere she strikes and sometimes againe she strikes ere euer she warnes As therefore it is euill to delay till sickenes so it is good to prepare in health The wise man saith Syr. 18. 20. Humble thy selfe before thou bee sicke and whilest thou mayest yet sinne shew thy conuersion In health the wit of man is greater and the feare of death lesser than in sickenes In health therfore also to prepare for death the time is somewhat fitter Q. Why but it is neuer to late to repent For a man may repent when he will R. The proposition is true if a man doth truely repent But the prouerbe is It is scarse true which is not due It is sicke like him that vseth it As you hearde before out of Augustine August serm 36. He whome sickenes constraineth and punishment affrighteth hardlie to true repentance atteyneth Q. But are you of that minde R. Of what other minde should I be Q. If so you are and other you cannot be of what reason haue you for being of that R. Reason enough and forcible enough to content any man reasonable First repentance should be voluntarie as all other obedience to God should bee But repentance in sickenes is vsually constrayned The feare of death hell and iudgement doth enforce it Zeale loue and religion doe not then alwaies effect it And there is a learned writer that saith Enforced seruices are not pleasing vnto God Greg. Secondly in true and sound repentance men that repent Ambros do forsake their sinnes For as Ambrose sayth True repentance it is to sease from sinne Hugo lib. 3. de Mist ecle And as Hugo saith Repentance is called as it were a punishment because the man himselfe that repenteth doth by his repenting punish in himselfe what wickedly he hath committed For the three things which are in the smiting of the breast to wit the breast the hand and the sound doe signifie that repentance is of those things which we haue offended in by heart voice and worke But in this repentance both raysed by sickenes and neuer vsed but in sickenes the sinnes forsake the men for therefore then many forsake their sinnes because their sinnes forsake them and not because they forsake their sinnes For why their minde is toward them asmuch as euer though their might serues not to follow them so well as euer The historie of Andronicus and the lion of both which it is written This lion is this mans hoste and this man is this lions physitian or chirurgian doth argue that in sickenes the lion the Prince of Beastes doth leaue his crueltie and experience doth testifie that in sickenes man the Lord of lions and other creatures doth lay downe his iniquitie but as the one did leaue his crueltie to the ende he might be cured of his maladie so doth the other lay downe his iniquitie to the ende he may bee freed from his miserie The truth of what I saie is apparant in Antiochus the proud 2. Machab. 2.11 2. Machab. 9.5 For before that a paine of the bowels that was remediles came vpon
scripture you reade of no more that were accepted which so repented Q. But that moe are accepted may thereof be collected R. But that all shall can no waies be concluded There is reason more why hee was than there is that others shall As Christ that was crucified was crucified that man might be saued so while he suffered he would needs shew the vertue of his suffring that all which saw the one with their eyes might acknowledge the other in their heartes And therefore the theefe was then called which in former times did seeme to haue been despised There is no such reason now For why Christ hath suffred and the vertue of his suffering is perceiued Q. I inferre not that all shall but I enforce that some may And herein doe I amisse for may not a man finde grace at the last if hee repent R. Neither say I that herein you doe amisse for I deny not but a man may finde grace at last I auouch not that he shall He may for Chrysostome saith Châ—yâ—â—st 〈◊〉 7. sup â—â—n The theefe on the Crosse needed not so much as one day to repent himselfe what speake I of one day no hee needed not one houre so great is the mercie of God toward vs. And againe Iâ—â—◠〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 â—â—pâ— that theefe that hung vpon the crosse needed not any length and prolixitie of time that hee might winne entrance into paradise so much time serued his turne as he might be dispatched in whilest he might vtter one speech so that within one moment of time being freed from the offences of his whole life he gatte fauour to goe before the Apostles into paradise Cyprian also saith Câ—â—â—â—◠〈…〉 Although thou dost at thy verie departing out of this world and going downe of this temporall life pray vnto God for thy sinnes who is the true and onely God calling vpon him with a faythfull confession and an acknowledging both of thine offences and of his trueth thus confessing and beleeuing thou hast free pardon and forgiuenes giuen and graunted vnto thee of the meer goodnes and mercy of God And in the verie death assoone as thou hast giuen vp the ghost Ibid. thou passest vnto immortalitie And againe no man is letted either by sinnes or by yeares to come to the obtayning of saluation as long as a man is yet abiding or remayning in this world no repentance is too late the gate is open vnto pardon and forgiuenes and they that seeke the truth shal haue an easie accesse vnto it c. As before In another place Idem in ser de cena dom Heb. 12.17 Gen. 25.33 In that very moment of time euen when the soule is readie to depart from the bodie and is euen at the lippes of the party to yeeld vp the spirite the goodnes of our most mercifull God refuseth not repentance And whatsoeuer is truly done is neuer too late done But all this notwithstanding I say not that he shall for he that will not when he may when hee would sayth reason shall haue nay Yee knowe sayth the Apostle to the Hebrewes How that afterwards to witte when Esau had sold his birth right for a messe of pottage when Esau would haue inherited the blessing August serm 36. he was reiected For hee found no place to repentance though he sought the blessing with teares Augustine of this very matter in hand saith thus If any man set in the extreame necessitie of his sickenes would take repentance and doth take it and is by and by reconciled and so departeth hence Whether he went well hence or no I know not repentance we may graunt him but securitie we cannot giue him I say not truely that he shall be condemned neither doe I yet say that he shal be saued Wilt thou therefore be freed from the doubt hold that which is certaine let goe that which is vncertaine Worke thou repentaÌ„ce whiles thou art whole and sound If thou doest so I say vnto thee that thou art safe because in that time thou repentedst in which thou mightst haue sinned If thou wilt then repent when thou canst sin no more thy sinnes haue then forsaken thee and not thou thy sins And by this is made manifest what I desired to manifest But if I must further manifest it Ibid. Augustine againe saith He whome sickenes and paine scarreth rarely to true repentance commeth for latewarde repentance vseth to deceiue many Experience also testifieth that there was one theefe reiected aswell as one receiued one damned aswell as one saued one punished aswell as one pardoned Q. Presently then it seemes you would haue a man to prepare for death R. I would so and in so willing I hope I would nothing but what I may well will and should willingly wish For the scripture in many places both willeth and wisheth To day sayth Dauid if ye will heare his voyce harden not your hearts Psal 95.7.8 Eccles 9.10 All that thine hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power In the morning sow thy seed and in the euening let not thine hand rest for thou knowest not whether shall prosper this or that or whether both shall bee alike good Eccles 12.1 And againe Remember now thy creatour in the dayes of thy youth whiles the euill dayes come not nor the yeares approach wherein thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them Syr. 5. 7. Make no tarying sayth Syrach to turne vnto the Lord and put not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lorde breake forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and thou shalt perish in the time of vengeance And againe 18.20 Humble thy selfe before thou bee sicke and whilest thou maiest yet sinne shew thy conuersion Quae fecisse voles hoc tempore quo morieris Haec facias quando corpore sanus eris Saith an olde Poet What thou would'st haue done at such time as thou shalt dye Those things doe in such time as thy health shall be hye Q. But if I may aske why doe you and the scripture will thus much R. The reasons thereof and for are many If I shall recount some of them vnto you I will Q. Doe so I beseech you For this talke is more wholesome than yrkesome R. The scripture therefore doth perswade a man in the present time to prepare himselfe to death and not to delaye till the future first because the present time is certaine and ours the future is vncertaine and none of ours For who can assure himselfe of one day to liue that hath alreadie many dayes liued surely no man As Seneca saith Seneca Young men haue death behinde their backes olde men before their faces This therefore is the saying of Christ our sauiour Be ye therefore prepared Wherefore because the sonne of man will come in an houre when ye thinke not Luk. 12.40 This also is the saying of Seneca whom I mentioned euen now
The generall is that by which a man doth prepare himselfe to dye through the whole course of his life in this world But the particular is that by which a man doth prepare himselfe to dye in the time of his sickenes onely Q. To beginne with the first then what course should a man take in his life that hee might euer be prepared for his death R. That course that is fitting for that purpose Q. What is that R. This first let him meditate vpon death in the prosperous time of his life Secondly let him daylie endeuour to take from his owne death the power and strength of death Thirdly let him striue by all meanes he may to enter into the first degree of eternall life Fourthly after he hath once gotten entrance thereinto let him inure himselfe by little and little to dye before euer hee comes indeede to dye Fiftly and lastly let him doe presently whatsoeuer his hand shall finde to doe and not with the crow procrastinate from this day till to morow Q. That I may now question with you touching each of these why is he to meditate vpon his death in the prosperous time of his life R. Because the whole life of a Christian ought to be nothing else but the meditation of death because also in the best time of his life he is vncertaine of his death For man knoweth not his ende Mar. 15.43 the one and the other of these reasons made Ioseph of Aramathea an honorable counsellour which also looked for the kingdome of God to make his tombe in his life time in the middest of his garden And this did he to put himselfe in minde of death in the middest of his delights and pleasures and also to teach others by his example what they should doe For what is the duty of one this way is the duety of euery one For once it is appointed for euery man to dye as it is for any man As therefore Paul saith of all men It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 Syr. 38. 21. so Syrach saith to euery man Remember thy last ende forget it not Q. And what will this minding of death in the time of life worke any good in him that liues R. It either will or should Q. I speake not of the dutie but of the vertue R. If so it doth for first it humbles him that thinkes thereof vnder the mightie hand of God remembring himselfe thereby to be but dust and ashes Thus therefore said Abraham vnto God Gen. 18.27 Behold now I haue begunne to speake vnto my Lord and I am but dust and ashes Thus did he humble himselfe vnto God by remembring what he was Thus no doubt will others doe that thinke as he did For what should dust and ashes be proude Syr. 10. 9. As it is one of the lowest things vpon earth so it is one of the lightest It is troad vnder the foote of euery thing and blowne away with a small blast What should it exalte it selfe against God the clay is not to rise against the potter neither is man to huffe against his maker as the clay is in the handes of the potter so is he in the hands of his creatour As the clay therefore submits it selfe to the potter so must he himselfe to his maker The clay because it is clay and he because he is dust Gen. 2.7 Eccl. 12.7 Dust of dust Gen. 2.7 and dust to dust Eccl. 12.7 Secondly it furthereth him to repentance For hee would be loath to be taken in his sinnes Ionah had no sooner cryed to Niniueh fourtie dayes Ionah 3.4 and Niniueh shall be destroyed but Niniueh repented As the remembrance of Niniuehs destruction wrought Niniuehs conuersion so the remembrance of mans dissolution workes mans saluation For he cannot do wickedly that thinks to dye presently August lib. exhortat Nothing doth so much recall from sinne as the often thinking of death the wages of sinne For what Rom. 6.23 Luk. 18.11 1. sa 25.14 2. Sa. 13.1 Num. 11.29 can the Pharisie be proude if hee remember hee is but dust can Naball be couetous if he remember he must goe naked can Ammon be voluptous if he remember hee shall bee wormes meate can Iehoshua be enuious if he remember he shal be without life 1. Sa. 22.9 and despised of these whome he most enuied in life can Doeg be sclaunderous if he remember he shall be tongles and most talked of by those himselfe talked most against finally can any man be vitious that remembers hee shall bee infamous and lapped in the bosome of his inglorious mother earth surely no. For Syrach saith Syr. 7. 27 He that remembers his latter ende shall seldome or neuer offend Esai 38.2 Hezekiah the king no sooner heard by I say the Prophet Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye but streight way he turned his face to the wall and wept and prayed and said I beseech thee Lord remember now how I haue walked before thee in truth and with a perfite hearte and haue done that which is good in thy sight c. Thirdly it stirres him to contentment in euery estate and condition of life that doth befall him For he cannot be discontente with any thing Hierom. that remembreth hee must goe from euery thing As Hierome saith He doth easily despise all things which alwaies thinketh hee must dye As another saith If any man remembreth the last things of his life easily refuseth all things which are vpon the earth For Seneca saith Seneca Nothing will so much profite thee for the moderation of things as the often cogitation of death In the midst of all his afflictions which were both many and mightie righteous Iob comforted himselfe with this Naked I came out of my mothers wombe Iob. 1.21 and naked shal I returne againe The Lorde hath giuen and the Lorde hath taken away euen as it pleased the Lorde so are thongs come to passe blessed therefore be the name of the Lord. As Iob did so may we What was his comfort will also be ours If there be any fault it will be in the applying and that because it is either not applyed at all or else because it is not applyed aright If it bee applyed and rightly applyed good is euer thereby effected Greg. lib. 12. moral He which considereth what kinde of one hee shall be in death will alwaies be fearefull in his worke and therevpon liue euer in the eye of his maker he desires nothing that passeth all the desirs of life present he contradicteth and he considers himselfe almost dead because hee knoweth certainly he must dye For a perfect life is the meditation of death which while the iust diligently buzie themselues about they escape the snares of sinne For as another saith To remember that this our life must bee ended destroyeth pride extinguisheth enuie driues away lechery auoydes vanitie erecteth discipline and perfecteth
prayer Hence an holy man in his contemplations of death saith O most mercifull Lord Iesus Christ Idiota in suis contemplationibus de morte the continuall remembrance of death profiteth much to the humiliation of a man Whereupon our forfathers willing to humble themselues did put ashes vpon their heades in remembrance of death and that they were to returne to ashes according to that which is written Remember man that thou art ashes Syr. 10. 12. and shalt returne to ashes And other where Earth and ashes why art thou proud O Lord Iesus Christ it profiteth also to the dryuing away of sinnes for nothing doth so recall from sinne as the often meditation of death 7.36 According as it is written Whatsoeuer thou takest in hand remember thy ende and thou shalt neuer doe amisse And saith another By right doth hee abhor sin which thinks of death because hee knowes that it was brought in for sin Hence a certaine abbot saith Be thou alwaies mindfull of thine end and there shall neuer be sinne in thy soule Furthermore O Lorde Iesus Christ it profiteth to the depressing of carnall desires and to the driuing away of diuers tentations which separate the soule from thee For nothing doth so much auaile to the taming of lustes as to thinke what kinde of thing death it selfe wil be Also O Lord Iesus Christ it profiteth to the giuing of almes for Lord those are not the goods of a man which he cannot carrie with him for onely mercie is the companion of the deceased But O most louing Lord Iesus to what doth it furthermore profit to the prouoking and inducing of a sinner to repentance Effrem For as Effrem saith It is impossible that hee should not repent which did euer see death to be present When Hezekiah had heard that he must dye hee wept bitterly and then thou Lord proroguedst the sentence of death against him and gauest many yeares of life vnto him Thus now you see the profite that comes to a man by meditating vpon death Q. I do so and I am nothing sory for it but how I pray you shall a man be induced to meditate of his owne death that so much the sooner he may come to receyue profit by his meditating thereon R. How by well regarding of two things Q. What are those R. These 1. that he cannot heere continue long but that shortly he must go hence 2. that often hee is to make his prayer vnto almighty God that euery day and alwayes hee may be enabled to resolue himselfe to dye Q. But how shall he be induced to either of these R. Well enough To the first two wayes 1. by expresse scripture 2. by manifest experience For. 1. the scripture goeth thus Iob. 14.1 Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue his dayes are as the dayes of an hireling yea a winde and nothing So saith Iob. Iob the fourtenth and the first verse and Iob the seuenth and the first Againe All flesh is grasse Esai 40.6 and all the glorie of man as the flower of grasse Psa 103.15 assoone as the winde goeth ouer it it is gone and the place thereof knoweth it no more So saith I saie I saie 40.6 so saith Dauid Psal 103.15.16 Our life is euen a vapour that appeareth for a little time and there vanisheth away So saith Iames Iames. 4.14 Iam. 4.14 Our dayes on the earth also are but as a shadow and there is none abiding they are like a bubble on the water like a weauers shittle like a smoke they are like a thought soone conceiued and soone ended So saith Dauid so saith Syrach so say others Experience also saith no lesse For with our eye we daily see that by some storme or other the greene Apple falleth before the mellowed fruite the lambe is brought to the slaughter house aswell as the sheepe the chicken is killed for the broth aswell as the cocke and sooner too young men passe away aswell as olde So short is our life so swift are our dayes Luc. 12. there was one that perswaded himselfe he had a long time to liue and because his goods encreased exceedingly he therefore saith Luk. 12.17 I will pull downe my barnes and builde greater and therein will I gather all my fruits and my goods and I will say to my soule Soule thou hast much goods laide vp in store far many yeares liue at ease eate drinke and take thy pastime but God said vnto him O foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee and then whose shall these things be which thou hast prouided arguing thereby they are but fooles that thinke they may liue long and not soone possesse the graue There are too many such fooles but I wil leaue them to their folly if neither Scripture nor experience may weane them therefro for whome these two will not perswade that long they cannot tarie heere and that soone they may departe hence nothing will perswade And what should a man spend time with those whome he cannot perswade though he doth perswade Speake not in the eares of a foole Pro. 23.9 Syr. 32. 4. saith Salomon Powre not out wordes where there is no audience saith Syrach And giue not that which is holy vnto dogs Matt. 7.6 saith Christ Hearing the one marking the other obeying the third I cease For by that which I haue said it may easily be perceiued how to the first of the twaine that mooues a man to meditate of death a man may be induced And now I must to the second to which by two meanes againe a man may be induced First by the necessitie of death 2. by the practase of the godly For first necessarily a man must dy and therefore dutifully he is to thinke of his death For by so much he shall dye the better by how much he resolues himselfe to dye The sooner the expected death is the more blessed death He seldome dyes happily that dyes vnpreparedly 2. dutifully the godly haue prayed that they might be resolued to dy and therefore carelessely he is not to passe ouer his life without some serious meditatiō of death For what was not vnseemely for thē is not vnsightly for him For death is more fitting any of vs now than it was any of them then For we liue to encrease our sin and to do no good they liued to diminish their sinne and to do muh good The glory of God the benefit of his Church was the chiefe of their studie the offence of God and the hindrance of his church is not the least of our practise If therefore they laboured to be enabled to resolue themselues to dye much more should we but for this they much laboured for for this they much prayed Dauids prayer is to be seene Psal 39.4 Moses his prayer is to be seene Psal 90. and 12. Tobits prayer is to bee seene Tob. 3. and 6. The first
should I produce more examples when these are sufficient to explaine what I propound whome these will not content little or nothing for this point will content Q. I thinke so too You shall not neede therefore about this further to trouble your selfe I nothing doubt of the truth of what you say But one thing by the way when the sicke man is come to this point that hee is resolued that for his sinnes hee is visited what by him is to bee performed that so to death hee may the better bee prepared R. Many things moe than one Q. How many R. Foure and all concerning his sinnes Q. What be they R. These which heere follow First he must make a new examination of his life and conuersation according as the Israelites did when in their affliction they said Lam. 3.40 Let vs search and try our wayes and turne againe vnto the Lord. Secondly he must make a new confession vnto God of his new and particular sinnes Iam. 5.16 as God sendes new corrections and chasticements so did Dauid when he had the hand of God very heauie vpon him for his sinnes Psal 32.5 so as his very bones and moysture consumed within him and therupon obteyned he his pardon and was healed Thirdly he must make new prayer and more earnest than euer before with sighes and groanes of the spirit for pardon of the same sinnes and for reconciliation with God in Christ thus did king Dauid in his sickenes For he made certaine psalmes either when he was sicke or else after he had been sicke As namely the sixt the two and thirtie the thirtie eight the thirtie nine all which are psalmes of repentance psalmes wherein vpon distresse of body and mind he renued his faith and repentance bewayling his sinnes and intreating the Lord for pardon of them Thus also did Hezekiah in his sickenes Esa 38. For when he lay sicke as he thought and as the Prophet told him vpon his Deathbed he wept as for some other causes so also for his sinnes and withall he prayed vnto God to cast them behinde his backe Thus also in his sickenes should he doe that is sicke for as Iames asked the question is any man afflicted so if there be Iam. 5.13 he aunswereth shewing him his dutie let him pray and in prayer what shall he aske but the free pardon and full remission of all his sinnes therefore saith Dauid wherefore Psal 32.6 for the remission of his sinnes shall euery one that is godly make his prayer vnto thee in a time when thou mayest be found that is in the time of tribulation For the Lord is nigh vnto those that are of a broken heart and a troubled spirit Yea the Lord is with them that are in tribulation and makes all their bed in their sickenes In that forme of prayer which Christ hath deliuered vnto vs one of the maynest petitions is forgiue vs our trespasses as though the heart of our prayers should be the forgiuenes of our sinnes For that petition is placed euen in the hearte of that our prayer to signifie what petition should euerly vpon our hearts As therefore he that is sicke must pray in seeking to be reconciled vnto God so in praying he must aske the pardon and forgiuenes of his sinnes For in the remission of his sins consisteth the saluation of his soule Psal 32 1. Blessed is he saith Dauid whose wickednes is forgiuen and whose sinne is couered Blessed is the man vnto whome the Lord imputeth not iniquitie And thus much for the third thing the sicke man must performe touching his sinnes Now for the fourth in the fourth place he must by all meanes auoyde all those sinnes which incense his God to wrath Psal 34.14 Esa 1.16.17 and torment himselfe with griefe For when Christ had cured him that had been diseased eighte and thirty yeares this was his saying vnto him Behold thou art made whole sinne no more least a worse thing happen vnto thee Ioh. 5.14 The same saying must the sicke take as spoken to himselfe To the sicke it was spoken when he was healed by the sicke it must be practised ere euer he will be healed If man will not care to eschew sinne the cause of sickenes there is no reason that God should care to remoue sickenes the fruite of sinne As commonly the effect followes if the cause be giuen so most what the effect ceases not till the cause be gone This is a matter so well knowne as it needes not much proofe If you of your selfe will not yeelde me it I will labour further to confirme it Q. You shall not neede to prooue it I willingly yeelde it R. Neither will I then It is good sparing of time and labour Q. Yea in things needeles as is this Psal 34.12.14 For as Dauid saith He that desireth life and loueth long dayes for to see good must eschew euill and doe good seeke peace and follow after it But you shall spare neuer the more of either for that For if you haue done with the sicke mans duety that concerneth God I will desire you to passe to that his duty which concerneth himselfe and therein to spend some time and labour R. I shall be contented with that if you haue done touching the other Q. I haue done but that one thing comes now to my minde which I thinke meet to demaunde of you ere wholly for this I dismisse you R. What is that Q. Whether the sicke doing as you say shall come to be reconciled to God as you wished R. Yes feare you not For that point the scriptures are plentifull Q. Produce some part of their store R. What may be profitable to you shall not be displeasing to me For this matter therefore thus they goe Ezek. 18. Act. 16.31 1. Cor. 11.11 Iosh 1.19 Mat. 7.7 Ezek. 18.30 Eph. 5.14 Ezek. 33.5.18.27 Ioh. 6.35.3.15.16.37 Esa 28.19 Returne and liue Beleeue and be saued Iudge your selues and ye shall not be Iudged Giue glory to the Lord and make confession vnto him Aske and it shall be giuen Seeke and ye shall finde knocke and it shall be opened vnto you Departe from your wicked waies and iniquitie shal not be your destruction Awake thou that sleepest stand vp from the dead and Christ shall giue thee life He that receiueth warning shall saue his life When the wicked turneth away from his wickednes which he hath committed and doth that which is lawfull and right he shall saue his soule aliue He that beleeueth in Christ he shall neuer hunger nor thirst nor perish but haue eternall life Whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not be ashamed Act. 10.43 1. Cor. 11.31 To him giue all the Prophets witnes that through his name all that beleeue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes If we would iudge our selues we should not be iudged Let euery man prooue his owne worke and then shall he haue reioycing in himselfe onely
Satan departed from the presence of the Lord and smote Iob with sore boiles from the sole of his foot vnto his crowne Iob. 2.7 Is all my bodie pained yet is not my case like Dauids when being distressed in soule Psa 55.4 he cryed Mine heart trembleth within me and the terrours of death are fallen vpon me Am I distressed in soule yet is my case vnlike theirs which are in hell 2.49.14 Luk. 16.24 Death gnaweth vpon them and they cannot get so much as one droppe of water to coole their tongue What therefore though one of my members suffer yet is not that to trouble me for God could make all my members suffer as that one and with that one What though my heart paines me yet is not that to disturbe me For God could enlarge my heart and therewithal increase my paine What though my soule bee disquieted within me yet is not that to dismay me God could giue me ouer to desperation the height of all sinne What though I be afflicted both in body and foule yet is not that to astonish me For God could cast both body and soule into hellfire and what should then become of me but see how mercifully the Lord dealeth with me Where he could doe much he doth but little where he could torment me a thousand thousand waies he troubles me but one where he could afflict me in euery part and so leaue me sound in no part he spares me in all the rest due and punisheth me but in one Psal 42.5 c. O my soule then be not thou cast downe nor much disquieted within me Wayte on God for I will yet giue him thankes for the helpe of his presence If I did suffer more than I doe yet would not that be halfe so much as I haue deserued to suffer no more than that which I doe suffer is For what suffer I the aking of my head the pinching of my heart the stopping of my lungs the stuffing of my breast the weaknes of my stomacke the griping of my bowels the torments of my bellie or what else the shaking of my ioynts the quaking of my bones the dimnes of mine eies the dulnes of mine eares the streightnes of my pipes the losse of my taste the want of my legges c. Though I suffer some of these many of these most of these yea all these Rom. 6.23 yet all is nothing to that which I haue deserued to suffer death For death is the wages of sinne and that that death which is the curse of God the fire of hell the confusion both of body and soule which farre exceedeth the other more than either tongue is able to expresse or heart sufficient to conceiue For why it is infinit it is vnspeakable Oh what a happy change is this to change eternall death into a temporall sicknes great oddes betweene a temporall sicknes and eternall death There is no comparison betweene thē too too much to blame were I if I would not take patiently what the Lord doth lay vpon me wisely and louingly As Dauid saith by this I know that thou louest me because mine enemie doth not triumph ouer me so may I by this I know that thou ô God dost loue me because thus and thus thou now dost punish me Heb. 12.6 For the Lord chasteneth whome he loueth Which of all the Saintes of God whome he neuerthelesse loued well hath not in his life time been subiected to the like paines sicknes and diseases that I now am Gen. 48.1 verily none Iacob the patriarch was greatly beloued of God yea so well as God himselfe said of him Iacob haue I loued yet was he visited with sicknes as I am Iob the patient was an vpright man one that feared God and eschewed euill yet so well as Iames the apostle propoundes him as a patterne of patience to the whole church Iob. 1.1 yet was he smitten with sore boiles from the sole of the foot to the crowne of the head Elizeus was an holy Prophet of God 2. Kin. 13.14 one vpon whome the spirit of Eliah was doubled yet that notwithstanding he both fell sicke and also died Lazarus was a good man 20.1 so his name signfies for it is asmuch as the helpe of God and one whome Christ loued well behold how he loued him Ioh. 11.1 Yet all this neuerthelesse he sickened and died What should I then once looke to bee free by this my comfort is greater then my crosse my consolation better than my affliction Vpon this I may better say my portion is among the Saints of God then looke how I am hated and abhorred of God For after this sort were they tormented and afflicted and yet all their torments affliction notwithstanding highly were they esteemed and singularly well beloued of God And so may I for all my sickenes paine and griefe August Iohn That which the Lord permitts me to suffer is a whip of him that correcteth not a punishment of him that condemneth by it I am trayned vp to an eternall inheritance shall I then disdaine to be whipped Nothing is that which I suffer to that which I expect It is but sorrow which I suffer it is ioy which I expect the sorrow which I suffer is but temporall the ioy which I expect is eternall Of all temporall paines the Apostle saith Rom. 1.10 The afflictions of this present time are not worthie of the glory which shall be shewed But of eternall ioyes the same Apostle saith The things which eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard neither come into mans hearte are which God hath prepared for them that loue him 1. Cor. 2.9 Why therefore should I not possesse my soule in patience what will not a man do or abide for a kingdome yea for a kingdome earthly and transitorie for that a man will goe ride runne sue serue and spend What therefore should not I suffer for a kingdome that this heauenly eternall and euerlasting alas what not if well I weigh and consider what weigh and consider well I should Aswell may I now say as once one said Heere burne heere cut that for euer thou maiest spare One that was alwaies as deare to thee as I now am or may be suffered once as many and as great things as I now suffer and moe and greater too ere euer he entred into glory August in lib. de 8. virtu charita as Augustine saith The sonne of God is lead to the crosse he is vnpalmed which is the true palme of victory hee is crowned with thornes which came to breake the thornes of sinners he is bound which looseneth those that are bound he is hanged vpon a tree which lifteth vp those that were throwne down the fountaine of life had his thirst quenched with viniger discipline is beaten saluation is wounded life is killed death for a time slew life Bern. in quodam sermon that death for euer might
be slayne of life And as Barnard saith The head that the Angelicall spirits tremble at was pricked with thornes the face fayrer than the sonnes of men was defiled with the spittle of the Iewes the eyes which are brighter than the sinne were dimmed in death the eares which heare the Angelicall songs did heare the speaking against of sinners the mouth which teacheth the Angels was filled with viniger and gall the feete whose footestoole is adored were fastned to the crosse with a naile the hands which made the heauens were stretcht vpon the crosse and thereto fastned with nayles the body was beaten with roddes the side was thrust through with a speare and what more there remained nothing but the tongue in him that he might therewith pray for sinners and commend his mother to the disciple whom he loued What now shall I looke to goe hence in peace no no the man must not looke to speed better than the master Mat. 10.24 Saith the master himselfe The desciple is not aboue his master nor the seruant aboue his Lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master and the seruant as his Lord. Now for himselfe thus said the master of himselfe hauing spoken much out of the scriptures to his disciples of his passion and resurrection Luk. 24.26 Ought not Christ to haue suffered these things and to enter into his glory For all others said a seruant of his 2. Tim. 3.12 All that will liue godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution How much more some other light affliction such as is sorrow sickenes and paine all which and many moe are nothing comparable to persecution persecution is farre more grieuous than the paine which I feele or the sicknes which I abide Hauing therfore a desire to liue godly in Christ Iesus shall I not beare quietly and suffer patiently the paines of this my sicknes and disease The Apostle saith that Act. 14.22 Wee must through many tribulations enter into the kingdome of God This my sickenes is but one A weake souldiour is he that cannot beare one blow A weake christian were I if I would be daunted with one crosse though it be grieuous as no chasting for the present seemeth to be ioyous but grieuous yet is it neither tedious nor discommodious not tedious for it is but momentany Psal 30.5 As Dauid saith Heauines may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning Heb. 12.11 Not discommodious for it bringeth the quiet fruite of righteousnes vnto them which are thereby exercised Yea saith Paul Our light affliction which is but for a moment 2. Cor. 4.17 causeth vnto vs a farre more excellent and an eternall weight of glory And what should I either grudge or grieue at that which neither comes for my hurt when it comes neither yet will tary long after it is come A welcome guest is hee that comes but for a night and yet much enriches his host ere the morning Such a guest should sickenes be for so it deales with the host to whome it comes As Heli therefore said when hee heard hee should be punished 1. Sam. 3.18 It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good So say I now I am punished It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good I am not too good to be smitten of him Where my betters haue not escaped his hands there is no reason that I should wish I might I daily say if daily I pray as daily and duely I should thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Now in heauen it is done willingly readily and faithfully If therefore I will any thing doe as I say I must willingly readily and faithfully beare this burthen which the Lord hath imposed vpon me To comfort and encourage me in the bearing thereof I now haue Christ my captaine being in glory to looke vpon me and behold me for as the Apostle saith Heb. 4.15 We haue not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all things tempted in like sorte And therefore I neede not either feare or faint vnder my burthen For why he which redeemed me seeing mine affliction and misery wil no doubt both comfort me in measure sufficient and release me at time conuenient Exod. 2.25 In the second of Exodus it is said God looked vpon the children of Israel and God had respect vnto them And in the third of Exodus the Lord saith I haue surely seene the trouble of my people which are in Egypt and haue heard their cry because of their taskemasters for I know their sorrowes Therefore I am come downe to deliuer them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good land and a large into a land that floweth with milke and hony euen into the place of the Cananites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hiuites and the Tebusites And therefore he saith vnto Moses Come now and I will send thee vnto Pharaoh that thou maist bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt After the manner that he dealt with them will he also in mercy deale with me For he is euer one and the same Gal. 3.20 Malac. 3.6 Iob. 13.15 God he is and is not chaunged As ob therefore said in his affliction so say in this my visitation Loe though he slay me yet will I trust in him and I will reprooue my waies in his sight He shall be my saluation also for the hypocrite shall not come before him it is not this paine that shall part him and me it is not this sickenes that shall separate vs it is not this disease that shal daunt or dismay me Nay to say at once Rom. 8.38 Neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Thus now you see by what meanes he that is sicke may munite his soule against the paines of his sickenes Q. I doe so I cannot deny it But what if his sickenes be mortall R. Though it be yet there these will be effectuall For they are of force not onely against the paines of some one sickenes but also against the paines of euery sickenes yea the mortall and deadly sickenes Q. I but to the paines of sickenes there may come an immoderate feare of death which will not very soone be vanquished because Death is the last enemie that shall be destroyed 1. Cor. 15.26 R. Though there so do as it is very like there will for death is the most tetrible of all things to wit in this life yet may the soule be armed as well against that as against the other Q. It may so and it is good to haue it so But how
to sleepe hee that dyes knowes not when he beginnes to dye Man knowes not his end He that sleepes rests from al the care and labour he had while he waked he that dyes resteth from all the care and trouble he had while he liued Apoc. 14.13 He that sleeps liues while he sleepes Mat. 22.32 he that dyes when he is dead For the soule is immortall And God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Yet when Abraham and Isaac and Iacob were dead God said I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac Exod. 3 6. and the God of Iacob He that sleepes dreames either of things pleasant or things pestilent he that dyes and is dead Luk. 16.22.23 enioyes either things ioyfull as the ioyes of heauen or things painefull as the paines of hell he that sleepes Iob. 19.25 sleepes in hope to awake againe he that dies dies in hope to rise againe And therefore the Iewes call the churchyarde the house of the liuing because they which there sleepe shall thence in the last daies rise He that sleepes is stronger when he awakes than before he that dies is better when he rises againe than euer he was before He rises in incorruption he rises in power 1. Cor. 15.42 43. Mat. 19.26 1. Cor. 15.25 He that sleepes may easily be waked he that dies may easily be raised The trumpet shal blow and the dead shall be raised vp incorruptible To come to some point now what should a man feare either the laying downe of a burthen or the taking vp of a sleepe being weary hee desires both the one and the other Being wearied with the cares and crosses of this life what should he then feare death no man feares to be cast into a sleepe neither should a sicke man feare much to die As Seneca saith Senec. in prouer Epist It is a foolish thing to be delighted with sleepe and yet to abhor death when as a continuall sleepe is the imitation of death againe Through the feare of death we make vnto our selues an vnquiet life and so great is the madnes of men that some are driuen to die by the feare of death We are to be strengthened least we too well loue our life too much hate our death And we must be perswaded when reason thereto perswades to ende our life but not to feare death A valiant and couragious man ought not to flie but to goe out of his life For himselfe and of himselfe he saith otherwhere It repenteth me not to haue liued because I haue not so liued Senec. lib. de senectyte that I should thinke my selfe borne in vaine And so depart I out of this life as if I departed out of an Inne not as if I departed out of an house for nature hath giuen vs an Inne to stay in but not an house to dwell in Thus by his example he shewed what he himselfe did and by his reason what others after his example should doe if either his example be worth the following or his reason worthie the beleeuing for his reasons sake and after his example he that is sicke and therefore not farre from death should neither immoderatly feare death nor negligently expect death How fearefull soeuer death is if it be looked vpon in the glasse of the law yet is it not so being looked on in the glasse of the Gospell In the one it hath a sting and that a sharpe one in the other it wants a sting and therefore it is no wondrous fearefull one Saith Gregory What is this mortall life but away and consider my brethren what a thing is it in the way to be wearied and to nill that the way should be ended He that trauailes desires to be at his iourneies ende what should he that liues be afraide to die death is the ende of his â—ourney Euery thing reioyces in the ende What should the sicke man feare death death vnder the Gospell to him that beleeues â—s The passage to life not to destruction For be which beleeueth in Christ dieth not Ioh. 5.24 death hath no power ouer him but he passeth from death to life The death of those that beleeue hath another Epitheton than hath the death of those that beleeue not Pretious in the sight of the Lord saith Dauid is the death of his Saints Psal 116.15 Sap. 3.19 Bern. in quadam epâ—â—co but horrible saith Salomon is the end of the wicked generation Pretious is the death of the Saints pretious truely as the end of their labours as the finishing of their victorie as the gate of life and the entrance to perfect securitie And againe in the same place saith he The death of the righteous is good for the rest that followes it better for the newenes of that rest best of all for the securitie that is in that rest that both followes it and is new For as the same Bernard otherwhere saith Bern. ser 25. paru serm Three things there are which makes the death of the Saints pretious 1. Rest from labour 2. Ioy of the newenes of that rest 3. Securitie of the eternitie of the same rest But on the contrary part the death of the wicked is most vile It is euill truely in the loosing of the world for without griefe they cannot be seuered from that which they loue it is worse in the seuering of the flesh For their soules are puld from their bodies by wicked spirits it is worst of all in the double suffering of the wormes and the fire For the worme euer stingeth and the fire alwaies burneth neither euer cease to torment Much what to the like effect doth Chrysostome write of the death of the one and the other Although they die at home Chrysost hom 66. in Genes de morte peccator both wife and children being present familiars and acquaintance standing by if yet they want vertue their death is but euill So although he be in a strange countrey though he lies vpon the pauement and what say I though he be in a straunge countrey although he falles into the hands of theeues although he be deuoured of beasts yet if he be indued with vertue his death shall be pretious As Anselmus writeth Anselm It hurts not those which are good whether they be murthered or taken away by sodaine death For they neuer die sodeinly which euer thought they were to die Whether therefore they be slaine with the sword or torne in peeces of beastes or burned with fire or drowned by water or hanged on a tree or haue their legges broken or die by some other misfortune yet euer is the death of his Saints pretious in the sight of the Lord according as it is At what time soeuer the righteous dieth his righteousnes shall not be taken from him And so death hurteth not but profiteth much If therefore he that is sicke or any other doth beleeue he needes not ouermuch to
the other by making them more obstinate in their sinnes more peruerse in their actions more loose and licentious in their liues and conuersations For when a good man sees another die he then bethinks himselfe that he also must die he wishes that such a death he may die Let me die the death of the righteous Num. 23.17 and let my last ende be like his He prepares what he may to come to such an end But whē an euill man sees a good man die he then is either raised from his sinne to righteousnes or hardened in his sinne against all godlines Raised it may be he is if he see him die a good death i. A death in his estimation good but hardened if he see him die an hard death i. A violent death an vnnaturall or a troublesome death For he thereupon presently reasons this mans life was not so good as hee himselfe thought it and some other iudged it For then should he not haue had so hard an ende For such as the life is such the death is And as Augustine saith He cannot die ill Ang. de doctrina christian which liued well and hardly he dies well which liues ill For mine owne part therefore what course I haue taken that will I hold what waies I haue walked them will I walke what things I haue done them will I still do They that haue done as I doe haue died a better death than he this that would in no wise doe as I haue done Q. But is this his reasoning good and laudable R. How thinke you Q. I aske you R. And I you Q. I thinke it not good R. No more doe I. Q. But why doe neither of vs both thinke it so R. Because there is no reason either of vs both should thinke it so For a good man may haue an harde ende In outward shew the death of our Sauiour Christ was but an hard death he died the death of the crosse and we know what was said in the law Deut. 21.23 Gal. 3 13. Cursed is euery one that hangeth on a tree Yet I hope wee may not say that therefore Christ died a bad death Q. God forbid we should For by his death we are deliuered from death and I hope that was no bad death to him which was so good a death for vs R. In worse sorte we are not to iudge of the death of any good man For he cannot die badly Aug. lac sup citat Aug. de ciuit-dei lib. how hardly soeuer he dies that hath liued godlily For as the same father saith That is not to bee thought an euill death before which there went a good life For there is nothing makes an ill death but that which followeth death Q. Leauing the wicked then in and to their wickednes let vs returne For I see that that which is of it selfe good they will make bad R. Tit. 1.15 That is right so For vnto the pure are all things pure but vnto them that are defiled and vnbeleeuing is nothing pure but euen their mindes and consciences are defiled But because you speake of returning whither would you we should returne or to what Q. Either to that wee were in hand withall or to that which is to follow R. Vnlesse you will wee haue done with that wee were in hand withall For I haue shewed you how death was commodious both to him that suffered it and also to him that saw it suffered Q. You haue so and no little comfort haue I gotten thereby For thereby I haue learned against the daies of necessitie how to fence my soule against the inordinate feare of death R. Right vse in so doing haue you made thereof For thereto and for haue I said thereof what I haue said Q. I know so much and therefore I acknowledge it But as I remember you said that by meditations aswell as by practises he that is sicke and that mortally may arme himselfe against all excessiue and immoderate feare of death R. I did so and in so doing I did not amisse For by the one as by the other is that to bee done which I said was thereby to be done Q. As you haue shewed then how it might be done by the one so I would you would shew how it may be done by the other R. In this point I will what you will As then by practises foure waies the sicke man might munite his soule against the immoderate feare of death so may he by meditations also fower waies doe the same Q. But how R. First by meditating that his death aswell as the death of any other man and the death of euerie man is not onely foreseene but also foreappointed of God Secondly by thinking that death following after and ioyned with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioyned vnto it Thirdly by thinking that he which dieth beleeuing in Christ dieth not forth of Christ but in Christ hauing both his body soule really coupled to Christ according to the tenour of the couenant of grace Fourthly by considering that God hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence vnto his seruants in all their needes and necessities Q. But touching these matters there may be a double doubte One touching the truth of them another touching the effect of them R. I deny not but there may be but I auouch that there neede not be For the truth in them is as I haue pronounced of them and the effect of them is like the truth to be found in them Q. Is it true then that the death of euery man is not onely forescene but also foreappointed of God R. Why else say I so vse I my tongue to lie and my mouth to deceiue you neede neuer make question thereof if either you consider the saying of Iob touching this point or the historie of Christ his death Q. Why what saieth Iob touching this point R. That 's to bee seene in the seauenth of his booke where he makes this question Is there not an appointed time to man vpon earth Iob. 7.1 are not his daies as the daies of an hireling in the 14. where he giues this aunswere 14,5 The daies of man are determined and the number of his moneths are with thee O God Q. And what is the historie of Christ his Death R. That part which I speake off that which is thus recorded in the Actes of the Apostles Act. 4.27.28 Doubtles against thine holie Sonne Iesus whom thou haddest annointed both Herode and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel gathered themselues together to doe whatsoeuer thine hand and thy Counsell had determined before to be done Q. What gather you thence R. That which the Text doth giue to wit that in the Death of Christ there came nothing to passe but that which the foreknowledge and eternal Counsell of God had appointed Q. But what 's that to the death of another man or to the death
thou wilt not direct thy will after Gods will but wilt bend Gods will to thy will that is right but thou crookest it thy wil is to be corrected by that but that is not to be buckled to thine and thou shalt haue an vpright heart Without the conforming of mans will to Gods will mans will is but a peruerse will Q. That 's sure but what may moue him to reforme that which is peruerse and to conforme it to that from which it is auerse R. The first and last meditations I haue yet spoken of Q. I pray God that all you are to speake off may effect what you and I do affect R. So pray I also there is no fault in them if they do not they are all as fruitfull as faithfull so they be faithfull that are to vse them Q. Manifest both in all as you haue done in one R. So will I in time Q Out of time you cannot doe it R. That 's so because nothing is done which is not done in time but yet there is a difference of time there is a due time and an vndue time Q. And this is now a due time for the second to succeed the first and each one to followe another R. You say well if you thinke your selfe satisfied for the first Q. I did amisse else to mooue you to the second for I am vnwilling to remaine vnsatisfied in any thing whereof I may be satisfied by you Being therfore satisfied touching the first what say you to the truth of the second hath it a promise of blessing annexed vnto it R. Hath it If I haue said it you need not to make any doubt of it I woulde not say what I cannot iustifie neither often vse I to doe it but to put you out of all doubt touching that whereof you seeme to bee in doubt consider what is written in the Reuelation of the Euangelist Iohn and then I thinke not but soone you will cause to doubt Q. Why what is it that is there writtten R. Apoc. 14.13 That Blessed are they which dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Q. And doth it thereupon followe that Death ioyned with and following after a reformed life hath the promise of blessednes annexed vnto it R. What else for first there is none die in the Lord but they which haue liued in the Lord for liuing sometime in the Lord must goe before dying any time in the Lord for as Augustine saith He hardly dies wel which alwaies liued ill SecoÌ„dly they which so dy are said to be blessed blessed are they which dy in the Lord. Thirdly that blessing then beginneth when as this life endeth For it is said therefore they are blessed which die in the Lord because they rest from their labours their workes follow them In which words there is both an expressing of the time wherein they are blessed and also of the cause wherefore they are blessed The time is the time of their death for it is said blessed are they which die in the Lord. The cause is their resting from their labour For blessed are they which die in the Lord for they rest from their labours c. In both the Euangelist speakes in the present tense hauing an eie in the last to the preterperfect For first he saith they are blessed he saith not that either they were blessed in the time past or they shall be blessed in the time to come but they are blessed in the time present as though they were in blisse euen in their death Secondly he saith they doe rest he saith not that they haue rested or that they shall rest but that they doe rest as though their death were a rest and not a distresse Thirdly he saith from their labours as though death present were a rest from labours past Q. Though the Euangelist saith so yet it followeth not but that they which dy in the Lord both were blessed and did rest before their death and shall be blessed and rest better after their death R. Neither did I yet say that any such thing will thereupon follow For the most of those that at their death are blessed in their life also were in some sorte blessed and all those that are blessed in their death shall for euer after be blessed after death Eternall life is heere in this life begunne and that sometime long before death and sometime in death but it is neuer finished or perfected till the life to come and after death There is perfection heere is but incoation there life is perfected heere it is but incepted He which heere hath it not at any time there enioyes it not On the contrarie part he which heere is entred into it shall there fully be possessed of it To conclude therfore they which are blessed in their death were also blessed in their life and shall be blessed after death with life lasting euer and enduring world without end Q. This being as you say no meruaile though the meditation of that promise be a shield of succour against deaths terrour For of my selfe I can heere collect that too much death is not to bee feared hauing so sweete a promise of rest thereto annexed R. In so doing you doe what euery christian ought to do For what should he ouer much feare death that hath herein a promise made to him of life what should he ouer much feare that which frees him from labour and brings him to rest who would not leaue an house of clay for a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens life rest and a building giuen of God are three things which mitigates in any the immoderat dread of death For the loue of these death should rather be loued than loathed wished than shunned craued than feared Q. You say well if euery death had the promise of these things made vnto it R. Neuer if at the matter for there is no good death which hath them not all promised vnto it Q. There is much difference betweene a good death and any death R. I denie not that But I spake not of any death but only of a good death Neither could I for that place of scripture which I produced for proofe of what I propounded saith not that all are blessed which die but that they onely are blessed which die in the Lord. Q. That a man might come to that what should he doe R. Liue well so neere as he can For as the prouerbe is Such as the life is such will the death be And as Augustine saith as you heard ere while He cannot die ill which hath liued well and hardly doth he die well which hath liued ill Q. August de doctrina chrâ—stiana That should not seeme to be very necessarie First because there are but few that regards it For how euer euery man desires to die well yet not many desire to liue well Balaam
these times R. Much. The one was a good time the other was a bad time That was a good time wherein the one theefe reprooued the other but that was a bad time wherein they both reuiled and rayled on the sonne of God Q. It seemes all was at one time For it was all at their and Christs death R. One generall time if you will but not one particular Mat 27.45 For there was three howres distance betweene Christ his crucifying and his dying Lu. 23.44 At the sixt houre he was crucified at the ninth he died And in three houres space many things happened Q. But what happened in these three houres R. The rayling of both the theeues on Christ Iesus and the repenting of one of them In the beginning of the three hoth might raile as Mathew seemes to speake before the ending of the three the one did repent as Luke assuredly doth recorde Q. Be it so what inferre you thereupon R. That which before I defended and you denied Q. Why that R. Because he which you say died in the Lord did sometime also ere he died liue to the Lord. Q. How doth that appeare R. Aswell as any thing may appeare For the same scripture which speaketh of his dying in the Lord speaketh also of his liuing to the Lord. Q. Why what saith the scripture thereof R. More than that which you haue heard yet somewhat you haue heard Q. Haue I heard any thing that makes for this purpose R. I that I hope you haue Q. What was that R. That when one of the euil doers which were hanged rayled on Christ Iesus saying If thou be the Christ saue thy selfe and vs. Luk. 23.39 The other answered and rebuked him saying fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation we are indeede righteously heere for we receiue things worthie of that we haue done but this man hath done nothing amisse Q. And what is there more which I haue not heard but may heare R. That which followeth what you haue heard And he the same that before reprooued his fellow said vnto Iesus Lord Luk. 23.42 remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome Q. And what doe these things prooue that the same theefe which once died in the Lord did some time ere he died liue to the Lord R. What more manifest for what is it to liue to the Lord but to liue according to the will of the Lord and he that thus liued ere he died as you haue heard how did he not liue according to the will of the Lord in three things doth the will of the Lord consist 1. In this that a man turnes from his wicked waies to him For as by his prophet Ezekiel he saith Ezek. 18.23 Is it my will that the wicked should die saith the Lord God or rather that hee may returne from his waies and liue As I liue saith the Lord God I will not or I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and liue 2. In this that a man exercises himselfe in liuing godlily For by his blessed Apostle he saith 1. Pet. 2.15 So is the will of God that by well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 3. In this that a man continues in well doing to his liues end For saith the beloued Sonne of God Ioh. 6.39 This is the fathers will that hath sent me that of all which he hath giuen me I should loose nothing Now perseuerance in doing good is that which makes that a man is not lost because it is said Mat. 10.22 He that endureth to the end he shall be saued Saith Hierome It is not the point of vertue to haue begunne but to haue continued and perfected what was begunne And saith Remigius Rewarde is giuen not to those that beginne but to those that perseuer For as Isidore saith Then doth our conuersation please God when we finish the good which we beginne by holding out to the ende In which of these three did not he we speake of according to the will of the Lord in the first the second or the third in neither Not in the first for there he turned from his wicked waies he had been a theefe now he was none he had been an euill doer now he was none he had been a reuiler of the sonne of God now he was none Not in the second for there after that once he was conuerted he exercised himselfe in doing of good He sorowed for his sinnes he confessed them he prayed for pardon of them he suffered quietly some punishment due to them he reprooued his fellow theefe for continuing in them he iustified Christ the Messias from the guiltines either of them or the like vnto them the text which recordes the historie of him prooues asmuch as I say One of the euill doers which were hanged railed on Christ Iesus saying Luk. 23.39 If thou be the Christ saue thy selfe and vs. But the other aunswered and rebuked him saying fearest thou not God seeing thou art in the same condemnation There is a shew of his owne conuersion his fellowes corruption We are indeede righteously heere There is his confessiō with a continuatiō of his fellowes corruption For we receiue things worthie of that we haue done There is his patient suffering of punishment with a reasō of his fellowes corruption But this man hath done nothing amisse There is his iustifying of Christ And he said vnto Iesus Lord There is his acknowledgment of Christs power Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome There is his prayer for his sinnes remission and his soules saluation Neither yet in the third for there he perseuered as long as life lasted After once he put his hand to the plough he neuer look't backe In what hee sometime ere his death liued in that he once at the ende of his life died In faith and hope and loue he liued for the time after his conuersion that he liued and in faith hope and loue hee died when the time wa this life ended In asmuch then as in his life from his conuersion to his death he liued according to the will of the Lord it is thereby certaine that ere he once died in the Lord he sometime liued to the Lord. And so at length that is manifested which long I haue laboured to manifest Q. In deede the certaintie of the theefes liuing sometime to the Lord once dying to the Lord is thereby manifested but the necessitie of euery ones liuing so that faine would die so is neuer the more prooued R. In that you are deceiued For the action of one man that is good is the instruction of euery one that would be good Whatsoeuer good the theefe did he thought duety for him to doe and other than duety the like no man can thinke because he that taught him to doe what he did teacheth no man but what is dutie Q. Why who
it is naturall for a man to die vpon his bed the other i. the second would haue been both violent and suddaine For it is a violent suddaine death to be taken away when a man is very likely to liue and whilest he makes none accompt to die And I thinke a violent and suddaine death is worse then a naturall In a naturall death life hath attayned his full periode In a violent and suddaine life is cut off ere euer shee comes to her periode Againe for the naturall oft we wish and well we may It is the end of all our labours it is the gate of life it is the house appointed to all that liue it takes away all euils and deliuers the iust mans soule from them As one saith In generality it takes away three things for the which the righteous wish to goe out of this life to wit The feare of transgression the griefe of affliction the heate of emulation so long as they liue they are sure to sinne to sorrow to lament saith Bernard By how much the longer we liue Bernard Hierom. by so much the more we are molested and doe sinne saith Hierome Infinite are the perils amongest which we walke what should it delight vs to remaine among the snares of the diuels the swords of men the vnlawfull motions of the flesh and therfore Paul said Rom. 7.24 Tobit 3.6 O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death Tobit said It is better for me to die then to liue because I haue heard false reproches and am very sorowfull 1. Mach. 2.7 Mattathias said Woe is me wherefore was I borne to see this destruction of my people the destruction of the holie Citie and thus to sit still 1. Kin. 19.4 Elijah said It is inough O Lord take my soule for I am no better then my Fathers and Ieremie said Ier. 20.14 Cursed be the day wherein I was borne and let not the day wherein my Mother bare me be blessed with many other wordes which you may reade in the xx of his Prophecy Againe as death takes away all euils so it brings giues many goods Bernard as Barnard saith Death will come but it will be but a sleepe to the elect of God a gate of life a beginning of refreshing a ladder to ascend vp into heauen by Hence saith one vpon that saying of Syrach O death how acceptable is thy iudgemēt vnto the needfull c. Vnto the Saints truely the iudgement of death is good because it is no other thing to them but a going out of prison an end of banishment a finishing of labours an arriuing at an Hauen an end of a pilgrimage a laying downe of a greeuous burthen a deliuery out of a ruinous house a returne to their countrey an entry into life And in consideration hereof Paul said Philip. 1 2◠I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ for Christ is to me both in life and death aduantage What Paul wished others may wish for death is the same to them it was to him aduantage to him aduantage to them aduātage to all that die in him by death they passe from labour to rest from shame to honour from pouertie to plentie from a cottage to a kingdome from death to life And thus now you see both that we may pray and also well pray for naturall death but so much you neither can nor may see for a violent a suddaine death Against that wee many times pray from plague pestilence and famine from battaile and murder suddaine death good Lord deliuer vs and of right we ought for we are neuer so ready as that it is good for vs to be taken suddenly and we know it will goe but hardly with vs if we be taken in our sinnes Others being taken suddenly makes vs afraide and therefore the feare of being taken our selues suddenly should more make vs to feare and vpon feare to say From sudden death good Lord deliuer vs the fore-thought of death comes somtimes ill inough and therefore the suddaine cannot come alwaies well inough But now I remember my selfe I haue said inough of this to manifest what I was to manifest Now therefore if you please I will backe againe as fast as I may Q. And whither will you backe R. To that from which we are somewhat fallen Q. What is that R. The bad dealing and ill speeding of those that vse the prescripts of Coniurers and Charmers Q. Why you haue been about the one and the other of these all this while R. I haue so but otherwise then I would if you had not been Q. What would you haue done if I had not been R. Haue made quicker speed about their euill speeding Q. Me thinke you haue been quick inough and if it be as you say they are sure to speed ill inough R. You if still as if you doubted If you will not beleeue either mee for Moses or Moses for himselfe or both for God looke vpon Ahaziah king of Israel and tell mee if you find not asmuch prooued by his history as before was auouched vpon diuine verity Q. Why what is his history R. That being sicke through a fall thorow the lattesse window in his vpper chamber 2. King 1.2 which was in Samaria hee sent messengers to Baalzebub the God of Ekron to know whether hee should recouer of that his disease yea or no but while this was in doing the Angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Thisbite arise and go vp to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say vnto them Is it not because there is no God in Israel that ye goe to enquire of Baalzebub the God of Ekron wherefore thus saith the Lord thou shalt not come downe from the bed on which thou art gone vp but shalt dye the death Q. And is there hereby as much prooued as was before by you propounded R. What else Q. I see but three things in it 1. Ahaziah his sinne 2. the reproofe of his sinne 3. A commination against him for his sinne R. Yet therein may you see what I would haue you see See viz. First that they do sinne greeuously which leauing the ordinarie meanes the Lord hath set to haue health by doe seeke vnto extraordinarie Secondly that they which doe so wickedly shall therefore speed ill fauouredly The first in the two first you see for there as Ahaziah sinned so he was therefore reproued The second in the last you say you see for there is shewed how Ahaziah should speed for his wicked deed Q. I but yet it is not shewed how hee did speede R. It may thence easily bee collected for the word that commeth out of the mouth of God shall not returne vnto him void Esa 55.12 but it shall accomplish that which he will and it shall prosper in the thing whereto he sent it Q. But did this so R. Yea verilie for
depart from your husbands neither know any mā besides them but keepe the bed vndefiled that your mariage may be honourable in the sight of God and of his holy congregation And if GOD doth blesse you with children looke that you bring them vp to the glory of God in his feare and doctrine Engraffe in their young breasts euen from their tender age vertue godlinesse and good manners Looke well vnto your household and be examples to your maides of godlinesse and honestie Be no gadders abroade nor haunters of tauernes but keepe your houses continually except some earnest and lawful busines prouoke you to goe forth Be no bablers nor vaine talkers but for the most part vse silence For silence in a woman is an ornament vnto her Apparell your selues in comely aray with shamefastnes and discreet behauiour 1. Pet. 3.4 not with broydred haire either golde or pearles or costly garments but as it becommeth women that professe godlinesse through good workes Let the hid man which is in the heart be without all corruption with a meeke and quiet spirit which is before God a thing much set by For after this manner in time past did the holy women which trusted in God tire themselues and were subiect to their husbands as Sara obeyed Abraham and called him sir whose daughters yeare whiles ye doe well not being afraid of any terrour These few lessons if you obserue doubt you not my deare daughters but God will well prosper you and giue you a ioyfull and quiet life vpon earth In steede of me he will be your father and will defend you better than euer I could or should pray to him therefore for his blessing and vexe not your selues much for my departure I am to goe before you and you are to follow after me God send vs all a good going And thus Gods blessing be with you my daughters This is the admonition the sicke man may make vnto his daughters if he hath any or many Q. What if he hath but one R. Then as heere he seem'de to speake plurally as hauing many so there he may speake singularly because he hath but one Q. If then he chaunges the person he neede not vse any other admonition R. True except he himselfe will or he knowes some cause why he should chaunge his stile Q. But what manner of admonition may he giue vnto his seruants for they are a parte of his family aswell as others and those you said he was to admonish also R. This or the like syrs you my seruants ye see in me what shall be the ende of you and all flesh else euen a departure from this vile and transitorie world For we are but straungers and pilgrimes on the earth as all our fathers were We haue heere no continuing citie but we seeke one to come The ordinance of God is that all men shall once dye There liueth no man that shall not die A man in his time is but grasse and flourisheth as as flower of the field Our life is euen as a vapour that appeareth for a little time then vanisheth away On this condition came wee into the world that we should againe goe out We haue been sure of death euer since we had life These things doe ye now see practised in me The time of my departure out of this world is at hand I thought it good therefore to send also for you and to take my leaue of you till we meete againe in the kingdome of God I thanke you for the good seruice that ye haue done me I haue not forgotten your seruiceable hearts and good will towards me but I haue giuen to euery one of you such a portion of money as shall declare some part of my thankefull and wel willing heart toward you Now this remaineth to bee craued at your hands that as ye haue hitherto faithfully truely and honestly serued me in my life time euen so after my departure so long as ye tary heere ye will shew the like faithfulnes truth and honestie toward your mistresse Consider that so long as I liued I was a stay vnto her and vnto the things that concerned her but now her chiefe hope next vnto God consisteth in you Therefore I pray you looke well vnto the things that appertaine vnto her see that nothing goe to wrecke waste and decay Prouide that through your diligence her things may rather encrease than decrease Ye know I hope the dutie of a good seruant notwithstanding at this my departure from you I will put you in remembrance of it that when I am gone ye may yet remember my admonitions and so the more speedily aunswer vnto your vocation Eph 6. Col. 3. 1. Tim. 6. Tit. 2. 1. Pet. 2. The duty of a good seruant is to serue his maister and mistresse willingly and with a free courage euen for conscience sake not with the eie but with the heart to obey them to honour them gently to aunswere them not to picke or steale away their goods but to be faithfull vnto them in all things See rherefore that yee on this manner behaue your selues toward your mistresse auoide all stubbornnesse churlishnes cursed speakings telling of tales lying picking wast idlenes negligence and sluggishnes eschew all euill and riotous company Fly drunkennes and whoredome Abstaine from vaine oathes and foolish pastimes So behaue your selues in all your life and conuersation that the name of God and his doctrine be not ill spoken of Let the light of your godly behauiour so shine before men that ye may doe worship to the glorious Gospell of our Sauiour Christ in all things And in this seruing your mistresse with a glad ready and faithfull will thinke your selues to serue the Lord your God and to doe that thing which is pleasing in his fight and that he also will see your paines recompenced Col. 4. as the holy Apostle faith Ye seruants be obedient vnto them that are your bodily maisters in all things not with the eye seruice as men pleasers but in singlenes of heart fearing God And whatsoeuer you doe doe it hartily as though ye did it to the Lord and not vnto men knowing that of the Lord ye shall receiue the rewarde of inheritance for ye serue the Lord Christ But he that sinneth shall receiue according to his sinne For there is no respect of persons with God If ye serue your mistresse truly and faithfully heereafter when ye your selues shal be householders God shall likewise send you true and faithfull seruants But if ye serue her falsely and vngodlily then shall ye of your seruants be likewise serued heerafter For with what measure that ye mete with all shall other mete to you againe Mat. 7.2 saith our Sauiour Christ Liue therefore according to your vocation in the feare of God and ye shall prosper right well God shal blesse you and neuer leaue you succourses As the holy man Tobit saith be not afraid truth it is we leade
heere a poore life but great good shall we haue if we feare God and depart from all sinne and doe well Well the blessing of God be with you Tob. 4. For I must ere it be long away from you Farewell Thus I thinke I haue shewed you as much as hitherto you haue desired of me Q. You haue so and I hartily thanke you therefore For thereby I learne how to instruct and admonish them that are with me and vnder me but I haue not yet done For how euer death be the last ende of this life yet it is not the least thing to be regarded in this life as before you haue signified My request now therefore is to know how the sicke man in the agony of death is to behaue himselfe for no doubt he must aswell care to order himselfe aright in death as to prepare himselfe aright to death R. I will satisfie you in your petition because you please me in your reason For to a good death there is aswell required a good disposition in death as a right preparation to death In the very agony of death therefore the first thing the sicke man is to haue care of is that as he hath liued in faith so he may also die in faith For such as he dieth such shall he be iudged And such as the last day of this life doth leaue him such shall the last day of the world finde him Eccles 11.3 As Salomon saith In the place that the tree falleth there it shall be The second that as he hath spent the former part of his life so hee may also spend the latter for obedience is better than sacrifice and without obedience his death cannot be acceptable to God because he seemes to goe vnto God of feare and constraint as a slaue to a maister and not of loue and good will as a childe to his father The third that as in the beginning he receiued his soule of God so now in the ende he renders it againe to God For as he was the first giuer so he is the best keeper Q. I hope you wil heere deigne me the same libertie that hitherto you haue that so it shall be as lawfull for me to question with you about these things as before it hath been about others R. I should else do little for you For whom at all times I would doe asmuch gladly as I might fitly Q. By how much the more you are at all times readie to doe for me by so much the more I am alwaies bound to thinke my selfe beholding to you All this is courtesie in you no desert in me R. Let such words passe least time ouerpasse leauing what you could say goe to what you would say Q. I will then Touching the first thing therefore you spake of what is it to die in faith R. It is with all thy heart wholy to relie a mans selfe vpon Gods special loue and fauour and mercie in Christ according as it is reuealed in the volume of the booke of God Q. But why is the sicke man in the agonie of death to looke to this R. Because that is the most speciall time of all his time for him to put his faith in practise Q. Why that R. Because then all things in and of the world doe faile and forsake him His friends his riches his pleasures his outward senses yea and his temporall life too do then all at once leaue and forsake him What helpe soeuer in times past they yeelded him yet then they faile him and yeelde him no helpe at all Q. And what can faith then doe for him that so much you wish him to establish it in him R. It can make him go wholy out of himselfe and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of any earthly thing and cause him with all the power and strength of his heart to rest on the pure mercie of almightie God Q. Hath it euer effected so much in any R. Yea that it hath in many Q. Where haue you an instance thereof R. In the first booke of Samuel the thirtieth Chapter and the sixt verse Q. Why what is there said R. 1. Sam. 30.6 That Dauid comforted himselfe in the Lord his God Q. What doth that make to the purpose you speake of R. As much as may bee For the time when Dauid did this was then when the people intending to stone him there was nothing before his eyes to bee seene but present Death Q. And what made him then to doe it R. The application of the mercifull promise of God to his miserable and distressed soule For thus he saith vnto God and of his promise in one place Psal 119.49 50. Remember thy promise made to thy seruant wherein thou hast caused me to trust it is my comfort in trouble for thy promise hath quickned mee And thus of himselfe in another place and the comfort hee found in his trouble My soule she failed and my heart also Psal 73.26 but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer Q. But doth it hereupon follow that it will effect as much in some other R. What else for wherefore else is this written of Dauid but for our instruction what agrees to and with the generall will not I hope disagree to and with the particular But for the generall Paul saith Whatsoeuer things are written aforetime are written for our learning Rom. 15.4 That wee through patience and comfort of the scriptures might haue hope And therefore for this particular you may soone know what I might say For written you see it is and therefore for our learning written it is Q. But it may be we may learne some other thing thence than this R. Though that may be yet it followeth not therefore that this is not thence to bee learned I stand not against other things but for this Q. What reason haue you therefore R. More then that which is shewed I haue the efficacie of faith For if faith bee faith worketh Saith Iames the Apostle Faith without workes Iam. 2.26 August in serm 22. is dead and saith Augustine that learned Clerke Faith is called Faith of that which is done two syllables doe sound when faith is named the first is of that which is done the second is of God I aske thee therefore whether thou doest beleeue thou sayest I beleeue Doe what thou saiest and it is faith and saith our Sauiour Christ Mar. 16.17 These tokens shal follow them that beleeue In my name they shall cast out diuels and shall speak with new tongues and shall take away Serpents And if they shall drinke any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay their hands on the sicke and they shall recouer Q. But faith may then worke some other thing then that which you speake of R. But this is then the proper worke of faith and that then is the due time for that worke Nom. 21.9 As the
for Christ He hath left him an example 1. Pet. 2.21 that he should follow his steppes It is more for his profit so to doe than he is aware Who would be an enemie to his owne good he cannot cease to sinne except he die why should he be vnwilling to escape so great an euill he shall neuer come to the true life where felicity both ioyfull and eternall is except he die why should he neglect to attaine so great a good he shall neuer haue the fruition of Gods maiestie and the blessed company of heauenly spirits except he die why should he not pray daily to be deliuered from this present euill world vppon condition he might once come to enioy the most glorious presence of the almighty The very heathens which knew not God aright but only dreamed of the immortalitie of the soule as those that look'te for a better life after this though they knew not what that life was or might be both wished death ere it came and died valiantly and ioyfully when it came and shall he being a Christian one which knoweth both God and his word and hath the promise of ioy hope and comfort after this life both abhor death ere it comes and refuse to vndergoe it when it comes oh fie for shame that it should be so If an Ethnicke said thus Cic. lib. 1. quest Tuscul Oh immortall God how is that pleasant and ioyfull iourney to be wished for which being once done and past there remaineth no sorow no care no pensiuenes ô that goodly and pleasaunt daie when it shall be my hap to leaue this filthy and troublesome world and come to their companies that inhabit the heauens Id. de senectute If God would suffer me that I being of this age might become an infant and sucking childe againe I would vtterly refuse it neither would I by any meanes call the race that I haue runne backe againe that I might againe be young For what pleasure and commoditie hath this life yea rather what displeasure incommodity paine trauell and trouble hath it not but let it be graunted that it hath pleasures certes yet hath it either saciety or measure And nature in this world hath giuen vs a place to tarrie in for a while but not to dwell and continue in for euer What should a Christian say to him should death be much better and lesse bitter than to an heathen Of him therefore should death be better accepted than of any heathen But it is a world to see the world the heathen writers in their monuments call death a chaunging for a better life a quiet sleep are-mouing frō mortalitie to immortalitie from trouble to quietnes from the shadow of a life vnto a very perfit and vncounterfet life from sorrow to ioy from euill to good and hauen of rest a solace of the minde and end of all euill and wickednesse and a beginning of all true ioy felicitie and pleasure and therefore they were vnwilling to liue The Christian professours acknowledge all this and more too and yet they are vnwilling to die What must follow heereupon but that they must therfore be their iudges It is said that one once hauing read a little booke of Platoes touching the immortalitie of the soule did therefore make a way himselfe being thereto incensed by too great a loue to eternitie a better life How much more should he that hath read the whole booke of God touching the happie estate of soule and bodie after death be willing well to welcome death when God doth impose and lay the same vpon him 1. In Gods booke of life there are better reasons found to perswade by thereto than in Platoes booke of the immoratlitie of the soules there are any to enforce the making away of a mans owne life 2. God hath more authoritie ouer the soule of man to recommaund it againe to himselfe at his pleasure than man hath ouer his life to deceiue himselfe of it when he will God is the first giuer and therefore should be the first receiuer Man is the sole recaller therefore should be the safe keeper But not longer than the first doner is content he should enioy such a gift All good men haue euer desired to depart with it when God was purposed to recall it And what should not he that is sicke doe the like either his sicknesse hath made him good or it ought to haue made him good For sickenesse is euer sent for good and Gods great mercy it is that he warnes with sickenesse ere euer he strikes with death If it hath made him good why is hee vnwilling to lay downe his life when God doth call for his life if it hath found him good why would he longer detaine it life than he may If it be to make him good why doth he hinder the working of it be he good or hath he a minde to be good it is not his part to be vnwilling to die So farre from being vnwilling to die haue sundrie of the godliest wights that euer were in the world been as earnestly they haue longed wished desired and prayed for death That Princely Prophet Dauid cryeth out and saith Woe is me and sorie am I for it Psal 120.5 that I must yet longer abide in this world like as the hart desireth the water broookes Psalm 42.1 so longeth my soule after God My soule is a thirst for God yea euen for the liuing God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God Psalm 84 1 And againe O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of hostes my soule hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh reioyce in the liuing God Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall alway bee praysing thee One day in thy courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a doore keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of vngodlinesse In another Psalme he prayeth after this manner Psal 142 7◠Deliuer my soule out of prison that it may come and praise thy name That good olde man Tobit Tobit 3.6 made thus his prayer vnto God and said O Lord deale with me according to thy will and 〈…〉 commaunde my spirit to be receiued in peace For more expedient were it for me to die than to liue How desirous of death the holy Apostle Paul was these his wordes doe manifest Christ is to me life Philip. 1.21 23. and death is to me aduantage And therefore againe he saith I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ What should I speake of that auncient and godly father Simeon whose historie is knowne laid down in the second of Luke how did he desire to die as soone as he had seene Christ in the flesh and know him to be the Sauiour of the world Was not this thereupon his present saying Lord now lettest thou thy
seruant depart in peace according to thy word Luk. 2.29 30 31 32. For mine eies haue seene thy saluation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people a light to the Gentiles and thy glory of the people Israel Such affection as was in these good and godly men Dauid Tobit Simeon and Paul should also be in those that are sicke and by their sickenesse are admonished to looke for death they should desire rather to die than to liue to be dissolued than to bee restored to bee deliuered than to bee detained For if they marke well what is their life but a vapour that vanisheth a flower that fadeth a winde that passeth a smoake that flieth a lampe that burneth And what should they be desirous to haue a winde to holde a flower to stand a smoake to stay a vapour to continue longer then either they may or God will suffer and permit He numbers their daies he measures their monethes he recordes their yeres when they are all come to their summe number and measure why should they be vnwilling either to end them or to end with them will they nill they end they shall and end them God will And better I thinke it would be with them if God might end them with their good will then it will be if he ends them with their euil will Apoc. 14.13 For blessed are they which die in the Lord but it is in doubt what they are which die vnwillingly for they hardlie die in the Lord because they die not in obedience to the Lord. Q. I but I pray you do not censure them so hardlie you know not what death can do death is fearefull and the feare thereof may affright the best R. But not so I hope as that it shall make theÌ„ vtterly vnwilling to die for though death of it selfe be feareful yet is not euery way fearfull nor to euery one fearefull though in it selfe it be the entraÌ„ce into eternal misery because of sinne from whence it came whose wages it is as Paul saith Rom. 6.23 yet in Christ it is the gate to eternal life abounding with all felicitie for when Christ tooke away sinne he took away also death issuing from sin which drew with it eternall condemnation and when hee gaue vnto vs righteousnes he gaue vnto vs also immortalitie and celestiall felicity the companion of righteousnes so farre is it therfore from the godly to feare death which terrifies others as often they wish death and soone they desire to leaue this life for they know they are heere but strangers and not citizens and therefore they are euer seeking a Citie to come to them therefore death is pleasant and amiable for then cease all their miseries and troubles yea then begins all their ioyes and pleasures as appeareth by this saying of Iohn the Euangelist Apoc. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for from henceforth the spirit saith that they shal be at rest from their labours But to the vnfaithfull and vnbeleeuing death is fearefull for then begins their sorowes and miseries their plagues and torments as is to be seene in the historie of the rich man Luk. 16. When the wise man therefore speaketh of this very point in question this is his saying Syr. 41. 1. Oh death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liueth at rest in his possessions vnto the maÌ„ that hath nothing to vexe him and that hath prosperity in all things yea vnto him that yet is able to receiue meate or that yet setteth his mind on bellie cheare Sy. 41.2 O death how acceptable is thy iudgment vnto the needfull vnto him whose strength faileth and that is now in his last age and is vexed with all things and to him that despaireth and hath lost patience and this therevpon is his exhortation Feare not thou the iudgement of death remember them that haue beene before thee and that come after this is the ordinance of the Lord ouer all flesh And why wouldest thou be against the pleasure of the most high whether it be ten or a hundreth or a thousand yeeres there is no defence for life against the graue Q. But like you this his exhortation and that which hee saith touching the matter in question R. What else I know no reason why I should dislike either he speakes truth and according to truth and should I dislike his speaking of truth Q. No but yet you may examine the truth R. What where there is no doubt but I doubt whether I may examine the truth further then for the finding out of the truth for the truth is to be beleeued not examined Q. Put in if it be once manifested R. Whether that bee in or no the truth must bee beleeued Heb. 11.1 For faith as the Apostle saith is the ground of things which are hoped for and the euidence of things which are not seene And Gregorie saith Grc. ho 26. super euaÌ„g Amb de Trinitate That faith is worth little which hath proofe from humaine reason Take arguments away saith Ambrose where faith is sought In her owne schooles let logicke now holde her peace Fishers are beleeued not Logicians August super Ioh. What is faith but to beleeue which thou doest not see whence and how the Trinitie is comprehended ô man thou doest well enquire how it is beleeued thou doest not well aske yea therefore it is well beleeued because soone it is not comprehended for if it were soone comprehended it were not needefull that it should bee beleeued because it should be seene But to leaue this and to returne to what we were in hand withall What is it that you dislike in the wise mans saying you make so much adoe about it Q. I dislike not any thing though I doubt of something R. What is that you doubt of of a mans fearâ—ng death Q. I neede not doubt of that that 's a thing a man cannot auoide R Yet that 's a thing a maÌ„ should refraine Q. Why would you not haue a man to be afraide of death R. No not a good man not a faithfull and beleeuing man for what should he feare death that hath his faith fixed on Christes death Death is swallowed vp into victorie through Christs death death hath neither power nor dominion ouer him that beleeueth Q. But that all men doe not for all men haue not faith R. But I speake to him and of him that hath faith Q. And would you not haue him that hath faith to feare death R. Not so as he should therefore be vtterly vnwilling to dye for it is appoynted by God that all men shall once dye and I would not haue him that hath faith to withstand the ordinance of God for his it is to obey not to resist Q. How then would you haue him to feare it R. First as it is the destruction of humaine nature in him i. as it makes him cease
to suffer all kind of paines and torments for the glorie of God and therefore he said the holie ghost doth testifie in euerie Citie saying Act. 20.23 That bonds and troubles doe abide me but I care not for them neither is my life deare vnto mee so that I may finish my course with ioy So should he that is about to die be willing to suffer all the paines of death and therfore say Though once it be appointed me to dye and I cannot shift it yet I care not for it neither is my life deare vnto me so that I may lay it downe with ioy for as Paul said of himselfe I am readie not onely to be bound but also to dye at Ierusalem for the name of the Lord Iesus so may he say of himselfe I am readie not onely to suffer with Christ if so it be his will but also to dye for him wheresoeuer and whensoeuer it shall please him to call me This if he would say as it would be wondrous profitable to him so would it be merueilous comfortable to others he should receiue a reward for it and they take occasion by it to glorifie God their father in heauen forgiuing such gifts here on earth vnto men Q. And this it may be he would say were it not for the feare of death with which he is possessed the paines of death with which he is astonied and some other things with which he is molested R. These things should not hinder him as I haue shewed Q. Yet they doe as oft it is experienced R. That is the fault of men that are to die not of the things for these are no causes to make men vnwilling to dye that know of necessitie they must dye Q. Yet they are taken for causes as well as other things R. I know they are but that makes not that they are causes mens accepting them as causes is no prouing of them to be causes Q. Neither doe I say they are R. Why doe you then so often propound them as causes Q. Because I would haue you throughly disproue them to be causes R. In so doing you doe little amisse but haue I not alreadie sufficientlie disproued them to be causes Q. Yes so many of them as are named R. Why are there moe yet vnnamed Q. Why else said I as I said R. What may they be Q. The taking of him away from his gorgeous and pleasant houses his sweete and delicate pastures his other commodious and comfortable creatures the spoiling him of all his honour and pompe the seuering of him from all his frends and acquaintance his wife his children his kins-folkes neighbours and other his familiars the disappointing him of al his good purposes the prouiding for his wife and children the disposing of his goods the repenting him of his sinnes the preparing of his Tombe and other things necessarie for his solemne and seemelie funerall R. Are these thinke you such thinges as should make a man vnwilling to die Q. Whether they should or no I know not but what they doe I am not altogether ignorant R. I hope you make your selfe more ignorant then you neede I take you not to bee so simple as you would seeme to bee where the effect is to be condemned the duetie cannot be commended Q. You then are of the minde they should not doe what they doe whatsoeuer they doe R. Not in making him vnwilling to die such effect they should none of them take Q. What not the first R. No nor yet the last Q. Why would it not greeue a man thinke you to be taken from his faire houses which hee hath builded his seeled parlours which he hath vsed his pleasant Orchards which he hath planted other commodious things which hee hath much delighted R. Yes but not that way this way to be taken should bee no griefe at all giuen they were once one day this way to be taken againe and what should the feare of being once taken away from these things make him that is but a steward ouer them vnwilling to die his loue to these things should not be so great but that hee should willinglie leaue them alwaies hee cannot stay with them a parting there must be from them and rather he should be thankfull vnto God for the long vse he hath had of them then vnwilling to die because of the loue he beares to them It may be if he had liued longer they should haue bin taken from him what a griefe would that haue bin of the twain it is better for him to be taken from them then thē to be taken from him by the first he is sure he hath vse of them during life and so escapes the miseries many others are subiect vnto which want them by the last he should haue beene sure to haue beene filled with griefe conceiued vpon the losse and lacke of them by the first hee is in possibilitie to dispose of them to Gods glorie and others good by the last he should haue been at a certaintie that he should no waies haue bestowed them for man cannot dispose of that he hath not What therefore by death should he be vnwilling to leaue them It is better to leaue them by death then to loose them by misfortune in life in taking him from them when he can no longer stay with them death doth him no hurt but good First Gen. 47. Ps 39. 1. Pet. 2. Heb. 13. it takes but him away that cannot stay the best in this world is but a pilgrime and stranger he hath heere no dwelling Citie but he lookes for an other that is to come and what should hee bee vnwilling to goe that must of necessitie goe It is better be times then too late hee shal the sooner come to his waies end he shal haue the longer time of rest when he comes there he shall all the way goe in the lesse perill and the more safetie c. Secondly it takes him but from those things which will one day leaue him though it were granted him many daies to stay with them for though his houses were neuer so strong and stately yet are they but earthlie transitory as in time they were made of clay so in time they wil turne to clay how soone and in what maner neither he nor any man else can tell And what should he be vnwilling to be taken from those things which one day will he nill he will bee taken from him It is better to leaue them then to be left of them The contempt of them makes a man rich not his loue to them Thirdly it helpes him to more and better then it takes him from it takes him from earthlie it helpes him to heauenlie it takes him from corruptible it helpes him to incorruptible it takes him from temporall it helpes him to eternall it takes him from somewhat that man made it helps him to that which none but God made and what should he be vnwilling to change
this world may easilie be gathered by this his praier which he made to God his father at his way going Father into thine handes I commend my spirit Luk. 23.46 for why should he commend his spirit into his handes except he knew it were then to goe into his hands and thereupon also it may soone and readily be collected where the soules of the righteous after their departure are and shall be for where the head is there the members must be If the head therefore bee with God and so hath been euer since his departure out of this world the members shall also bee after their departure and so shall continue for euer Q. Yea in time peraduenture but not presentlie R. Yes presently without any peraduenture for as Christ said to the thiefe vpon the crosse This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise so Paul said to the Philippians Luk. 23.43 Phillip 1.21 22. Christ is to me both in life and death aduantage desiring to be dissolued and to be with Christ Q. It is true that Christ said as you say to the theefe and that Paul so said vnto the Philippians but what you would will not thereupon presently follow for Christ said to the theefe this day shalt thou be with me in paradise to wit in hope but not in deed for henceforth thou shalt hope to come thither and Paul said to the Philippians I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ according to his petition but not according to Christes execution for it followeth not because Paul desired to bee with Christ that therefore presentlie after his dissolution he was with Christ R. All followes that I would haue to follow for all that yet you say for these toyish distinctions haue nothing in them because they haue not in scripture any thing for them Where is it there said the theefe according to hope should bee in paradise also where is it there said that Christ did not execute Paules petition when once he came to his finall dissolution hope hath respect to the time that is peradueÌ„ture long yet to come Christ speakes to the theefe as it were in the time present to day thou shalt be with me in paradise as heri yesterday is an aduerbe of the time past and cras to morow an aduerbe of time to come so hodie to day as I guesse is an aduerbe of the time present as I take it therefore your distinguishing inter spem rem is but triâ—â—ing circa spem rem and so nihil omnino ad rem that is nothing at all to the matter for this day thâ—â— shalt bee with mee in Paradise is as much as this assoone as life is gone out of thy bodie whatsoeuer becommeth of thy bodie thy soule shall goe with mee into the kingdome of heauen that so where I thy master am thou my seruant maiest be And whatsoeuer you say touching Pauls desiring to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ yet I am sure Paul himself saith the contrary for Paul saith that when the time of his departing came there was no distance of time betweene his dissolution and his acceptation In his second epistle to Timothie his sonne in the faith when hee was neere his end this was his saying I haue fought the good fight 2. Tim. 4.7.8 and haue finished my course I haue kept the faith from henceforth is laid vp for me the crowne of righteousnes which the Lord the righteous iudge shall giue me at that day not to me onlie but vnto all them also that loue his appearing Q. If this be as you say and seeme to proue what shall become of purgatorie R. Euen what will or else what should for what should become of that which is not Q. Is not say not so for so saying you may haue more tongues on your toppe then you are aware of R. As Pilate said touching the superscription set vpon Christs head Ioh. 19.22 What I haue written that I haue written so say I touching purgatorie what I haue spoken that I haue spoken Otherwise then I haue said will not be said how many tongues soeuer I may haue on my toppe for saying so yet still and euer I must say so for out of this life there is no purgatorie and in this life the true and onelie purgatory by which and in which our sinnes must be cleansed is the sweete pretious and euer vertuous bloud of Christ 1. Ioh. 1.7 For the bloud of Iesus Christ as Iohn saith cleanseth vs from all sinne Q. What then doe you thinke that presentlie after the seperation of soule from bodie by death that the soules of all men goe either to heauen or to hell R. I doe more then thinke it for I constantlie beleeue it Q. What ground haue you for it R. As much as neede to be for any matter of faith Q. What Scriptures R. Yea and Fathers also Q. Faine would I see that R. Soone may you see it if wel you listen to it The petition of old Tobit doth prooue so much Tob. 3.6 for this it was Commaund O Lord that I may be dissolued out of this distresse and goe into the euerlasting place and what may this euerlasting place be but the kingdome of heauen It can no waies be vnderstood of purgatorie for purgatorie is not an euerlasting place as Fisher sometime Bishop of Rochester saith in his booke against Luther Among the old Doctours and Fathers of the Church there was either no talke at all or verie little of purgatorie Tobit 1.3 besides Tobit was a right good man as his historie doth declare and therefore not to goe into purgatorie for by the new deuised doctrine of the purgatorie proctours no such persons are to come there They themselues exempte martirs out of purgatorie Aret. prob part 1. loc de purgat Luc. 16.22 the historie of Lazarus and Diues doth proue so much for this it is It was so that the begger died and was caried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome The rich man also died and was buried and being in hell in torments he lift vp his eies and saw Abraham a farre off and Lazarus in his bosome and what may the inference hereupon be but that which I say this heere upon I am sure is the saying of Iustine Iustin q. 60 to Orthod this is a plain and a manifest doctrine of Lazarus and Diues by which is taught that after the departing of the soule from the bodie men cannot by any meanes or prouisions or by any pollicies bring profit or commoditie to them the sayings of Christ Iohn the third and Iohn the fift doe proue so much for these they are Ioh. 3.18 Hee that beleeueth in him â—hat is Gods owne beloued sonne whom he sent into the world not to condemne the world but to saue it shal not be condemned but he that beleeueth not is condemned alreadie because hee beleeueth not in the name of the
shall haue nay Q. I marrie that is that which troubles him R. The fault is his owne why should that trouble him either he might haue done it before his sicknesse or in the beginning of his sicknes Q. He might so but in his health he thought not of sicknes and in the beginning of his sickenes he hoped for health R. In neither he did them as hee should and ought Q That cannot now bee holpen the time past is irreuocable R. Neither must he therefore be euer the more vnwilling to die though hee hath not disposed of his goods there are that will dispose of them neuer let him feare that his goods shall lacke owners Whilest he liues they are wished desired and expected when hee is dead they will bee enioyed and possessed Q. That is that which grieues him for by this meanes they goe not to whom he would R. But they shall goe to whom God wil and that ought to content him for hee is the Lord of them and as he gaue them to him ere he had them so he will deriue them to others when he shall leaue them better it may bee nay assuredlie he will dispose of them then euer he would or could he trieth the heart and searcheth the reines hee knoweth what is in man better then man hee can tell for whom they are fit and for whom vnfit For whom they are most fit on them hee will bestow them this is more then any man can doe for he is blinde and cannot see he is affectionate and cannot iudge who is the fittest to haue this or that much or little something or nothing what then for his goods should anie man be vnwilling to die let him leaue them to the disposing of him that disposed them to him and let him neuer doubt but they shal be disposed well inough there is no disposer like him none comparable to him none that can doe as he doth In this regarde he needes neuer be vnwilling to leaue either them or the world Q. No more it may be he would these things you haue said being once and well considered If so his sinnes were pardoned and remitted but he hath not so much as repented him of them and that doth much affright him R. The fault is his owne and no bodie is to be blamed for it but himselfe why did hee delay so long who doth hinder him now what meanes he to driue off further doth he thinke to liue the longer for that as to die the better Q. What his thoughts are I know not but loath he is to die for it I am sure R. How loath soeuer he is die hee must and he had best to looke to it in time if he dies in his sinnes he shall rise againe with his sins and in the end he shal be condemned for his sinnes he might better carie anie thing with him then his sinnes that burden wil bow him downe to hell Q. The feare of that makes him loath to dye R. Why doth it not also cause him soone to repent of the twaine this it should soonest effect therefore in deede it is laide vpon him let him not neglect his time whatsoeuer is ill deferred is worse omitted except he repents he perishes and what will he perish Q. He would not R. Why then repents he not Q. He feareth it will not be accepted R. Why doth hee not more feare to bee condemned If once hee sheweth his vnfeigned repentance neuer let him feare Gods gratious acceptance Act. 17.40 Ion. 6.37 Ezek. 18.21.22 Chrisost in lib. de reparat lap He that cals euery man thereto reiects no man therefore At what time soeuer a sinner doth repent him of all his sinnes from the bottome of his heart he will put them out of his remembrance saith the Prophet God neuer despiseth repentance if it be offered vnto him simply and sincerelie although a man comes to the height of euils yet if he wil returne thence to the way of vertue he takes him willinglie and embraces him louinglie For repentance is not weighed by the length of time but by the sinceritie of the affection The theefe which hung vpon the crosse needed not the prolixitie of time that therein he might merite entrance into paradise but so much time sufficed him as would serue him to vtter one speach Lord remember mee when thou comest into thy kingdome so that in one moment of time being absolued from the sinnes of his whole life he was thought meete to goe before the Apostles into paradise If thus the Lord dealt with him let him not thinke he will deale otherwise with him this example is recorded for his instruction and for the consolation of all that in true saith with vnfeigned repentance turne vnto the Lord. Q. And therefore not for his for his hope is small because his sinnes are great and his repentance is not good because it comes not in time R. If his hope be small so it be somewhat at all let him say with Dauid let mee not bee disappointed of my hope If his repentance be not good let him pray with the people in the lamentations of Ieremie Lam. 5.21 Turne thou vs vnto thee ô Lord and we shall bee turned renue our daies as of old Whatsoeuer they either be so they both at all be let him not thinke but that which is written for the instruction of any and the consolation of all that repent is also written for his one amongst any or all he is What though his sinnes be great yet the mercies of God are greater saith an auncient writer Gods mercie is greater then mans iniquitie and if it were not so how could any sinne be pardoned any trespas remitted any offence forgiuen and couered Lam. 3.22 His mercie it is saith Ieremie that we are not cōsumed as if his mercie were not our sinnes would worke our destruction the wages of sinne saith Paul is death Rom. 6.23 but eternal life is the gift and mercie of God through Christ Bern. in quod serm As Barnard therefore saith in a certaine sermon of his so may it well bee said to him that is so hardly conceited of his owne sinnes and Gods mercies Let not your conscience hinder you because where sinnes haue abounded there grace hath been wanting to superabound the truth of this is to bee seene in diuerse mentioned in Scripture who haue bin accepted to mercie the greatnes of their sins notwithstanding Examples for this purpose are Dauid Salomon Manasses the prodigall Sonne Marie Magdalen the Theefe vpon the crosse the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul these all found grace to haue more abounded where sin much abounded for these all were receiued into fauour how euer their sinnes many for number and mightie for measure deserued nothing but eternall wrath and displeasure some of them confessed their sinnes to bee as many as the haires on their heads more then the sands too heauie for them to beare yet as great and
as manie as they were they were all pardoned forgiuen and remitted Why then should any doubt or despaire of mercie because his sinnes are great as his sins are great so let his repentance bee good and let him not feare Esa 1.18 Though his sinnes were as crimsin they shall bee made white as snow though they were red like skarlet they shal be as wooll Aug. in lib. â—e â—litoâ—e â—gâ—â—d penâ— Let no man despaire saith Augustine the wickednes which he committed did not so much cause Iudas the traitour vtterlie to perish as his despaire of mercy to the same effect saith Ambrose Let no man distrust let no man being guilty of his old sinnes Amb. super Luâ— lib. 2. despaire of the diuine rewardes the Lord knoweth how to chaunge his sentence if thou knowest how to chaunge thine offence Q. I if he changes it in time but he this hath delaied till death and now he feares it comes too late R. If it comes in life and comes then in truth when it comes it comes not too late as one saith It is neuer too late if euer it be true for the Lord himselfe testifieth that at what time soeuer a sinner doth repent him of his sinnes he will put them all out of his remembrance and what is he that dares distrust him whom will he beleeue that will not beleeue him it is an hard thing not to beleeue a man when he speakes the truth but it is an harder not to beleeue God when hee sweares to the truth Now saith the Lord as I liue Ezek. 33.11 I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his waie and liue Tertullia in hunc loc He inuiteth by reward he promiseth saluation he desireth to bee beleeued swearing O blessâ—d they for whose cause God doth sweare O most wretched we if we do not beleeue the Lord swearing Hee that beleeueth not God saith Iohn 1. Ioh. 5.10 hath made him a liar If hee will not make God a liar which is the truth it selfe and hath sworne by himselfe that that is true which is spoken by himselfe let him beleeue God that his repentance will not come too late if it comes at all that he might not doubt God hath confirmed asmuch by deed as he hath affirmed by word he pardoneth the theefe repenting at the last gaspe when he was vpon the crosse readie to yeeld vp the ghost hee did but say Luc. 23.42.43 Lord remember me wheÌ„ thou comest into thy kingdome and immediatly againe Iesus said vnto him verilie I say vnto thee to day shalt thou be with me in paradise as Chrysostome saith he needed not so much as one day to repent himselfe Chrysost homil 27. vpon Genesis Cyprian in his first treatise against Demetrian what speake I of one day no he needed not one houre so great is the mercie of God toward vs. VVhat Cyprian therefore writeth to another let him take as spoken to himselfe Although thou doest at thy verie departing out of this worlde and going downe of this temporall life pray vnto God for the sinnes who is the true and only God calling vpon him with a faithfull confession and acknowledging both of thine offences and of his truth thus confessing and beleeuing thou hast free pardon and forgiuenesse giuen and granted vnto thee of the meere goodnesse and mercie of God And in the verie death euen assoone as thou hast giuen vp the ghost thou passest vnto immortalitie For as the same Cyprian againe other where writeth Cyprian in his sermon of the Lords Supper In that verie moment of time euen when the soule is readie to depart away from the bodie and is euen at the lippes of the partie to yeeld vp the Spirit the goodnesse of our most mercifull God refuseth not repentance and whatsoeuer is trulie done is neuer too late done August ser 59. de verbis domini and as Augustine saith Whensoeuer anie man turneth himselfe vnto God all things vtterlie are forgiuen him let no man be doubtfull least any thing happily be not forgiuen As Isidore saith Isid de summo bono lib. 2. Let no man despaire of pardon although he turnes not to repentance till the end of his life For God iudges euery man according to his end and not according to his life bypast and againe In the life of maÌ„ the end is to be sought Ibidem because God respects not what kind of ones before wee liued but what kind of ones we were about the end of our life So then it repents him at length of his sins that hath liued long in his sins let him not thinke his repentance comes too late For it is better to repent late then neuer Late workes good as you haue heard neuer brings death as you may reade Luk. 13.5 Except ye repent ye shall perish Neither let him be euer the more vnwilling to die because his repentance comes late For well he dies that dies repenting and what should he be vnwilling to die that shall die well when hee doth die to that a man should neuer be vnwilling which either he knowes he can or hee is sure he shall doe well either ignorance to doe a thing or assurance that he shall not do it wel is that which makes a man vnwilling to doe it at all Insomuch therefore as he knowes hee must die because he is mortall and that hee may die well if he repents let him neuer bee vnwilling to die that is willing to repent but let him repent earnestlie because he repents late that he may die blessedlie because he repents at all Apoc. 14.13 For blessed are they which die in the Lord and die in the Lord do they which by repentance turne vnto the Lord. Q. Your counsaile is good commend it hee must obey it he would but as yet he thinkes not himselfe fitted thereto R. VVat lackes he yet Q. The trimming of his tombe the making of his graue the getting of things necessarie for the celebrating of his funeral R. And is he for these things vnwilling to dye The further hee goes the simpler hee is did he know or consider what it is to be with Christ in heauen he would neuer be desirous for a graue to stay from him here on earth If he neuer hath any at all it is little to him The losse of a sepulture is nothing Hee is couered with heauen which is not couered with earth He that is sure to be couered with that what neede he care whether he be couered with the other There shall no other thing betide him if hee bee so serued than hath betided many other both better and greater than hee And what should that trouble him when hee hath many in the same miserie to accompany him The prouerbe is The miserie of many sweetens the misery of any If he lookes well about him he shall finde many in this predicament Pompey the great
practise should also be other old mens as well as his What fitted him because he was olde doth also well fit them because they are old His time was short and therefore he was desirous to know to die Their time is short and therefore they should be desirous to doe the like Surely they must away whether it be to night before to morrow or to morrow after to night they do not know Better it is to prepare in time than to say I would I had Had I wist comes to late As it was a great commendation for Mnason to be called an old disciple so it is a great discredit for them to be counted olde dissemblers It is ill for young men to be vitious but it is worse for olde men not to be vertuous It is too bad for men to follow sin when sin forsakes them Nothing doth so much blemish olde men as sinne For old Noah to be drunke for old Lot to be sleepie for olde Sampson to loose his strength for olde Eli to cocker his children it is a great disgrace If olde men regarde ought a good name after their death which is better than great riches in their life I wish them I will them I aduise them to be sober discreet holy righteous and religious in their age Pro. 16.31 Age is a crowne of glory when it is found in the way of righteousnes Syr. 25. 4 5. 6. Oh how pleasant a thing it is when gray headed men minister iudgement and when the elders can giue good counsell oh how comely a thing is wisedome vnto aged men and vnderstanding and prudence to men of honour The crowne of olde men is to haue much experience and the feare of God is their glory But if then they neglect the wayes of God and the works of his commaundements the Lord haue mercie vpon them without his great mercy their estate is euil their condition is all too bad Syr. 25. 2. Three sorts of men saith the Lord my soule hateth I vtterly abhorre the life of them a poore man that is proud a rich man that is a lier an old man that doteth If therefore hated and abhorred of God they will not be let them speedily reformed be If death which is at their gate take them vnawares the thredde of their hope is cut off and perish they must in their sinnes For after death there is no place Ignat. in epist 6. August ad Petr. diac cap. 3. August epist 80. ad Hesychium nor time to cōfesse them In the life to come they shall haue repentance for them but in the sight of God they shall not finde remission of them In what state their owne last day shall finde them in the same state the last day of the world shall finde them for such as euery man in the same day shall die euen such in that day shall he be iudged As Salomon saith If the tree fall toward the South Eccle. 11.3 or toward the North in the place that the tree falleth there it shall be As the apostle Paul therefore saith vnto all While wee haue time Gal. 6.12 let vs doe good vnto all men so say I vnto them while they haue time let them doe good vnto themselues and to doe that let them not linger with Lot till the angell plucke them but haste with Noah while the floud doth warne them least when they would enter with the foolish virgins they haue answere I know you not Mat. 25.12 41.34 in steed of with the disciples from the beginning I haue loued you and when they come to iudgement they receiue with the wicked Goe yee cursed in steed of Come yee blessed sounded to the blessed Sharpe is the word Goe ye sweet is the word Come yee as they like of the sweete Come ye better than of the sharpe Goe yee so let them like better of the meanes to the sweete Come yee than of the waies to the bitter Goe ye Q. As your counsell is good so they had best follow it R. You say true as it is commodious to follow it so it is perilous to forsake it perilous in the time present because it bereaueth thē of the honour due vnto them for who will honour an olde man that is vitious I reproue an olde man saith Cleanthes that hath graye haires Laert. lib. 7. c 2. but hath not a graue heart and perilous in the time to come because it dispossesseth them of the kingdome of heauē for God hath said Apoc. 21 27 Stob. ser 113. No vncleane thing shall enter therein And Metrodorus said An olde man is not blessed except he hath the nūber of good workes absolute And to one that asked Diogenes what thing was most miserable in this life he answered Laert. lib. 6 An olde poore man and that may be an olde man void of good workes as well as an olde man destitute of great riches for poorer is he that is destitute of goodnes than he that is destitute of goods And vnlike it is that he wold cōdemn that in another which he so highly commended in himself for great was the amity that was betweene him and pouerty great also the commendation hee gaue to pouertie when one obiected to him his pouertie he said Stob. ser 95. Oh vnhappy man that thou art what sayest thou I haue not seen any man exercise tiranny for pouerty Idem ser 93 but all men for wealth and riches pouerty is a vertue which is learned of it selfe and an helpe to philosophy for to what philosophy doth perswade by words to that pouertie compells by deedes But what doe I prosecute this thus farre It is no great matter which way it be taken It makes little for the honour of olde men that are vitious neither doth it derogate any thing from the renoune of those that are vertuous By that which I haue said may easily be coniectured what I would haue said It is euery way perilous for olde men to persist in their sinnes and to perseuer in their wickednes Themselues they ouer burthen others they too much corrupt all they hurt In asmuch as I cannot effect with tongue what I affect in minde I beseech God to giue them all grace so to liue while they are olde as well they may die when they do die Q. Amen to that say I. For it is as miserable to die to die as it is pleasurable to die to liue And I would as gladly die to liue as liue to be olde R. Yea I thinke and rather too Of the twaine the first is the best Q. But of the other twaine the last is the best R. I say not that because I know not whether there be any goodnes at all in the first But this I say because I know it that of those two neither the one can be attained nor the other annoyed without liuing wel while they liue and dying well when they die For the scripture