heare a damned soule answere his demand as followeth in manner of an interlocution or dialogue Thou dust and clay tell me I say where is thy bewtie fled Was it in vaine or doth it giue thee fauour with the dead Thy house so high thy pleasures by thy cattell more and lesse Thy land so wide thy wife beside a stranger doth possesse Where is thy strength become at length thy wit thy noble blood Thy worldly care thy daintie faire doe these thee any good The answere I will not faine all is but vaine there is no food to find No wit nor wealth no hire no health no hope in graue assign'd What wilt thou more my goods in store my land so large wide My glory gay my braue aray increased haue my pride My pride my paine procur'd againe my paine my griefe alas My griefe my griefe without reliefe my sences doth surpasse My wailing woe no man doth know no tongue can halfe display I freeze I frie exceedingly alas and well away I weepe I wayle I faint I faile I stirre I stampe I stare I dye I dye e'relastingly farewell by me beware Remember thou learn'd that die thou must And after come to iudgement iust Behold thy selfe by me such one was I as thou And thou in time shall be euen dust as I am now And so mindefull hereof also was Anaxagoras for when word was brought vnto him that his sonne was dead hee was not much moued with the newes because as he said he knew and had well considered long before that his son was mortall For a mortall father cannot beget an immortall sonne If they that brought vs into the world are gone out of the world themselues wee may infallibly conclude our owne following Hee that may say I haue a man to my father a woman to my mother in this life may in death say with Iob Iob 17.14 To corruption thou art my father to the worme thou art my mother and my sister Xerxes that mighty Monarch and Emperor of the Persians beholding from a high place the hugenesse of his Army in strength inuincible in quality diuers in number infinite in whose courage and might he had fully reposed the strength of his Kingdome the safegard of his person and glory of his Empire could not refraine his eyes from teares considering that of all this maruelous multitude which hee saw that after one hundred yeares there should not a man be left And shall we that are Christians at least wise by name viewing from the highest pinnacle of our conceit our selues our glory magnificence and renowne our wealth our strength our freinds our health and all our brauery wherein we repose all our felicity and happinesse be nothing moued with the due consideration of our Death and with the passing away of the world and the concupiscence thereof Therefore saith Martial an antient Bishop what haue we to doe with the delight of the world that it should hinder vs from the meditation on Death You may call it as you will either pleasure pastime gladnesse mirth ioy but in Gods dictionary it hath no such name in the holy scripture it is otherwise called It is called Adams goodlie apple Gen. 3.17 Gen. 25.30 1 Sam. 14 43. Ioh. 13.27 Reu. 1. Luk. 15.16 which being eaten depriued him of paradise Esaus redde broath which being supt vp bereaued him of his birthright Ionathans sweete honycombe which being but tasted was like to cost him his life Thus is all the delight in the world called in Gods dictionarie It is called Adams apple Esaus broath Ionathans hony-combe So that all this delight is no delight or suppose it were yet certainely it shall not giue thee the desires of thy heart As any solide body though it haue neuer so faire a colour as crimson or cornation or purple or scarlet or violet or such like yet alwaies the shadow of it is black so any earthly thing though it haue neuer so faire a shew yet alwaies the shadow of it is blacke and the delight thou takest in it shall prooue to be grieuous in the end when thou must leaue all Therefore Plato calleth it a sweete bitter thing so likewise if we meditate on Death it will make vs to call all these things of the world not sweet but bitter And it would make vs say with the Apostle Gal. 6.14 God forbid that I should delight in any thing but in the crosse and death of Christ by which the world is crucified vnto me and I vnto the world But of all arithmeticall rules this is the hardest to number our daies Men can number their heards and droues of Oxen and sheepe they can account the reuenues of their lands and farmes they can with a little paines number their coyne and gaines yet they are perswaded that their daies are infinit and innumerable and therefore they neuer begin to number nor thinke on them for the which they will neuer find any leasure Who saith not vpon the view of another surely yonder man looketh by his countenance as if he would not liue long yonder woman is old her daies cannot be many Thus we can number the dayes and yeares of others and vtterly forget our owne But the true wisdome of mortall men is to number their owne daies and like skilfull Geometricians to measure all their actions all their studies all their cares and indeauours all their thoughts and desires and all their counsells by their departure out of this life as the end whereunto they are reserued as it were by a certaine rule and thereunto to direct all things and so to finish the course of our life which God hath giuen vs that at last we may come to the hauen of eternall rest and happinesse What if we had dyed in the dayes of ignorance like Iudas that hanged himselfe before he could see the passion resurrection or ascension of Iesus Christ We should then haue numbred our daies and our sinnes too But alasse how many dayes haue we spent and yet neuer thought why one day was giuen vs But as the old yeare went and an other came so we thought that a new would follow that and so we thinke that another will follow this and God knoweth how soone wee shall be deceiued For so thought many of them before who are now in their graues Dearely beloued this is not to number our dayes but to prouoke God to shorten our dayes I that write you that read and all that heare this which of vs hath not liued twenty yeeres yea some forty fiftie or more and yet wee haue neuer seriously thought on Death nor applyed our hearts aright vnto wisdome O if we had learned but euery yeere one vertue since wee were borne we might by this time haue bene like Saints amongst men whereas if God at this present time should call vs to iudgment it would appeare that we had applyed our hearts mindes memories hands feete tongues and all our whole bodies
to all kinde of sinne and wickednesse but not applyed our selues at all to wisdome godlinesse vertue and true piety Democritus was wont to walke amongst the graues that he might become a right Philosopher for true philosophie saith Plato is the meditation on death and thou which art instructed in the true Christian Philosophie how canst thou behold the bones of the dead but thou must needs fall into this patheticall meditation with thy selfe Behold these legges that haue made so many iourneyes this head which is the receptacle of wisdome remembreth so many things must shortly be as this bare skull and dry bones are I will therefore betimes bid worldly vanities adieu betake my selfe to repentance and newnesse of life and spend the rest of my dayes in the seruice of my God and continuall meditation on my ende As the last day of our life leaueth vs so shall that last day the day of Christs comming finde vs. How good were it therefore before we run into desperate arrerages to cast vp our bils of accompt and the rather because we shall be warned out of our office we know not how soone Luke 16.2 Some Emperors amongst the heathen as bookes say were wont to be crowned ouer the graues and sepulchers of dead men to teach them by the certaine but vnknowne end of their short life to vse their great roomes as men that must one day be as they are whose graues they tread vpon The old Saints who liued in a continuall meditation of their short and vncertaine time were wont alwayes like wise merchants to think of their returne homeward and therfore tooke vp their treasure by bils of payment not where they were but where they would be and meant to make their long aboade that is meant to be for euer And the Philosophers who saw not beyond the clouds of humane reason wheÌ„ they perceiued how much men did decline by course of yeares wast of time were wont to say that the life of a wise man was nothing else but a continuall meditation on death the remembrance whereof made the world which wee for want of this meditation so willingly embrace vile and contemptible vnto them and auayled greatly to guide them in all godlines So a Christian mans life is or should be nothing els but a continuall meditation on death All that is within vs and without vs are so many remembrances of Death all things crye out vnto vs that we must hence Ioh. 8.23 as Christ cryed I am not of this world The apparrell which we weare vpon our backs Ioh. 17.14 the meate disgested and egested and returning to putrefaction the graues shrouding so many corpes vnder our feete time the mother of all things and the changeable state of times euen winter and sommer cold and heat seede time and haruest all doe crie vnto vs that wee shall weare away and dy and corrupt As they who were liuing are now dead and lye in the dust first we wax dry then old then cold then sicke then dead So that euery thing doth serue to put vs in minde that our bodies which wee beare about vs are mortall for even on our table we haue moments of Death for we eate not the creatures till they be dead our garments are either the skinnes or excrements of dead beasts we often follow the dead corps to the graue and often walke ouer their bodies and in Churches Church-yards especially men that doe vse to walke there shall doe well to remember that they treade vpon the dead and others shortly must tread vpon them Moreouer in great Citties wee haue almost euery day Death rung in our eares the deadly bell telleth vs that dust wee are and to dust wee must goe againe To this perhaps the old Oracle hath reference of whom the Philosopher Zeno being desirous to chuse the most honest and best rule for the direction of this life demaunded as the manner then was his opinion therein and receiued this answer That if he would frame the course of his life aright he should vse the commerce society of the dead And the Church-yards which are the howses of Christians and as it were the chambers or beds to sleepe in they are the places to which wee may resort to be put in minde of our mortalitie and future mutability But we Christians haue in stead of commerce and societie with the dead Luk. 16.29 Moses and the Prophets to put vs in minde of our death and if we will not heare them Ezeck 3.7 neither will we be perswaded though one rise from the dead to tell vs of our death Adam knew all the beasts called them by their names but his owne name he forgot Adam of earth What bad memories haue wee that forget our owne names and our selues that we are the sonnes of men corruptible and mortall Proud man I say forgets this sentence that earth is his natiue wombe when he was borne and that being dead the earth is his tombe When we looke to the earth it should put vs in minde that earth we were earth we are and earth we shall be the earth prouides for our necessity and feeds vs with her fruits neither in life nor death doth she forsake vs while we liue she suffers vs to make long furrowes on her back and when we dy her bowels are digged vp and she receiueth vs into her bosome here now a pit is digged seuen or eight foote long and so as it may serue for Alexander the great whom liuing the world could not containe And how loftie soeuer men looke death onely shewes how little their bodies are which so small a peece of earth will containe whom before nothing would content and therein the dead carkasse is content to dwell whom at his comming the wormes doe welcome and the bones of other dead men are constrained to giue place And in this house of obliuion and silence the carcasse being woond in a sheete and bound hand and foote is shut vp though it neede not to haue so great labour bestowed vpon it for it would not run away out of that prison though the hands and feete were loose And now if we doe but consider a little of the tombes of noble men and Princes whose glory and maiestie wee haue seene when they liued here on earth and doe behold the skill and sillie formes and shapes which they now haue shall wee not cry out as men amased Is this that glory that highnesse and excellencie Whether now are the degrees of their waiting seruants gone Wheâ—e are their ornaments and iewels Where is their pompe their delicacy and nicenesse All these things are vanished away like the smoake and nothing is now left but dust horror and rottennesse such is mans body now become yea though it were the body of an Emperor King or Monarch where is now that maiestie that excellencie and authoritie which it had before time when men trembled to behold it
warning And experience sheweth the truth of this plentifully The rich Churle in the Gospell Luk. 12.19.20 that boasted of store for many yeeres euen that very night had his soule fetched from him when like a Iay he was prouning himselfe in the boughes hee came tumbling downe with the arrow in his side his glasse was runne when he thought it but new turned the axe was lifted vp to strike him to the ground when he neuer dreamed of the slaughter-house Wee had need of monitors of Philips boyes to put vs in minde of our end not the oldest man but thinkes he shall liue a yeere and the yong man in the April of his age when his breasts are full of milke and his bones runne full of marrow full little thinkes of the slimie valley and that he shall shortly remaine in the heapes Certainly we dwell but in houses of clay and Corruption is our father Iob 17.14 the wormes our mother and sister We are creatures but of a dayes life and the foure Elements are the foure men that beare vs on their shoulders to the graue Assure thy selfe ere many yeares or months be past pale Death will arrest thee binde thee hand and foote and carry thee whither thou wouldest not to a land darke as darkenesse it selfe What then remaineth but that thou make thy graue presently with Ioseph of Arimathea in thy garden the place of thy delight to put thee in minde of thy death and mourning euery day amongst thy entising pleasures as if the sun of thy life were to sette at night For time past is irreuocable time present momentary and time to come full of vncertaintie When thou goest to bed and art putting off thy cloathes remember and meditate that the day commeth when thou must be as barely vnstript of all that thou hast in the world as now thou art of thy cloathes And when thou seest thy bed let it put thee in minde of thy graue which is now the bed of Christ which he hath sanctified and warmed for the bodies of his deere children to rest in and let thy bed-cloathes represent vnto thee the mould of the earth that shall couer thee thy sheets thy winding sheete thy sleepe thy death thy waking thy resurrection for when wee rise in the morning we must remember thereby that we shall rise out of the graue of the earth at the last day For all these things appertaining to Death yea and Death it selfe Christ Iesus hath sanctified vnto vs by laying his blessed bodie three daâ—es and three nights in the graue from whence the third day he rose againe ouercomming thereby Death it selfe and all the difficulties thereof and the miseries incident to the same for vs most miserable distressed sinners With this key of meditation we should open the day and shut in the night and what befalleth others in the dust of their bodies we must thinke will come to vs we know not how soone in our owne dust and mortalitie here And therefore as the third Captaine sent from the King of Israel to Eliah to bring him 2. King 1.13 and perceiuing that the other two Captains with their fifties were deuoured with fire from heauen at the request of Eliah grew wise by their experience and therefore fell downe and besought fauour for him and his fiftie so we hearing and seeing of so many fifties yong and old that in these late yeeres of mortalitie haue ended their liues in a fire of pestilence sent from the Lord should make supplication day and night not as that Captaine to the man of God but as true Christians to the Man and God Christ Iesus that our lâ—ues and deathes may be precious in his eies And that wee may not forget that what is done to others may come to our selues Againe the meditation of Death is a most soueraigne and effectuall medicine against dâ—seases of the soule if we would well practise the same and applie it to our spirituall wounds Other medicines are auaâ—leable to some certaine and particuler diseases and serue for their seuerall vses and seldome doth one medicine profit for many diseases though it excell Triacle of Venice Mythridatum or the herbe Moly so much extolled by Homer but only the meditation on Death is profitable to the extirpation of all the diseases of the soule Of this it may be said as Dauid said of the sword of Goliah 1. Sam. 21.9 there is none to that giue it mee and I by the grace of God will bee a conquerour of vices As bread is necessarie for a man before al other elements so the serious meditation on Death beareth the prize aboue all other good exercises of pietie and vertue And surely as wings are to the bird to fly to the Mariners their sailes CoÌ„passe Pole-starre gouernment and direction for their nauigation to fishes their tayles and finnes to swimme to a Chariot wheeles to carrie it to horses hoofes and shooes for their trauell So necessarie is the meditation on Death to the leading of a holy Christian and godly life The Wise-man saith Eccl 7.3 Remember thy end and thou shalt neuer doe amisse and Seneca could say That nothing profiteth so much to keepe vs within the bounds of temperance in all our actions as the often meditating on our short and vncertaine life Aptly and elegantly speaketh the golden mouthed Doctor Iohn Chrysostome of sinnes saith hee are borne two daughters Sorrow and Death but these two daughters destroy their wicked mother as the worme which is bred in timber or cloath doth by little and little consume the same As the Viper killeth his Dam and the Dam the male in conceiuing and as the Naturalists affirme the biting of a Viper is cured with the ashes of a Viper the stinging of a Scorpion with the oyle of a Scorpion the biting of a dog with the burnt haires of a dog as Achilles speare cured Tellephus whom before it had wounded the rust thereof being cast into the wound so sinne which is more hurtfull then any Viper or Scorpion or other thing hath begotten Death which hath stung and hurt vs and of immortall made vs mortall but the meditation on Death doth wound and kill sinne which begate it The wound of this Viper Scorpion Dogge Speare that is our propension and greedinesse to sinne the ashes of this Viper the oyle of this Scorpion c. that is the remembrance and meditation on Death doth wound and slay in vs in as much as Sinne is the parent and author of all euill And shall a Christian man then bee so sencelesse and doltish to intertaine and embrace sinne in his heart which hath beene the murtherer and paricide of mankinde and will also be our destruction vnlesse by time we banish it by often meditation on our end Had it not beene for sinne Death had neuer entred into the world and were it not for Death sinne would neuer goe out of the world Basil saith God made not death
both man and tree fall into the bottom of that deepe pit This hungry Vnicorne is swift death the poore traueller that flyeth is euery sonne of Adam the pit ouer which he hangeth is hell the arme of the tree and slender twigge is his fraile and short life those two wormes are the wormes of conscience which day and night without intermission consume the same the hiue of hony is the pleasures of this world to which while men wholly deuote themselues not remembring their last end the roote of the tree that is the temporall life is spent and they fall without redemption into the pit and gulfe of hell If thou thus seriously ponder this thy vnstable estate I suppose thou wilt take little pleasure in ryot and dissolute liuing Giue those that are condemned to dy Nectar giue them Ambrosia giue them Manna the bread of Angells and will they tast it No they can neither eat drinke laugh or sleepe and wilt thou that art already condemned and guiltie of death perchance this very moment to be inflicted vpon thee securely addict thy selfe to drunkennesse gluttonie excesse and to al manner of riotous and intemperate liuing Remember rather the rich glutton in the Gospell Luke 16.23 who after he had pampered his body all the dayes of his life in the end Death made him a fat dish for the wormes his flesh and bones were consumed into dust but which was most terrible his soule was cast into hell the burning lake of brimstone and at this time calleth for one drop of cold water to coole his tongue which yet is denied him What adamantine and flinty heart can thinke vpon this without relenting I speake not here of the harmes and hurts that intemperance in meates and drinkes bringeth to the body for meate should be vsed as oyle put into a lampe to keepe it burning not to quench it And Galen the Prince of Physitians saith that abstinence is the whole summe or abridgement of Physicke How then can they liue long that liue by so many deaths whose bellies are sepulchers of lusts and very gulfes and sinckes of the shambles to their owne destruction For as he that allowes lesse to his body then he owes to his body kils his friend so hee that giues more to his body then he owes to his body nourisheth his enemie If the glutton did remember that God is able to come against him yea at the very disburdening of nature he would not make his kitchin his Church gurmandizing his Chamberlaine his Table his Alter his Cooke his Preacher the odours of his meate his sacrifice swearing his prayer quaffing his repentance and his whole life wanton fare Did the Drunkard but remember this that God is ready to come quickly against him yea euen in his drunkennesse he would not rise early to follow strong drink Esa 5.11 which doth trouble the head ouerthrow the sences cause the feete to reele the tongue to stammer the eyes to roule and the whole fabrick of his little world to be possest with this voluntarie madnes losse of many friends credit and time It would make too great a volume to insist vpon all other sinnes for the subduing wherof the meditation on Death is a most soueraigne remedy Are we strangers vpon earth and is our countrey in heauen and must we all dye Yea verily this necessitie thē should inforce vs to aspire to our heauenly countrey and let vs rather meete Death in our meditation thē carelesly attend it lest we be surprized by it at vnawares Before thy miserable spirit resigne ouer his borrowed mansion bethinke with thy selfe what thou art and whether thou goest the remembrance whereof will breede in thy heart sorrow sorrow remorse remorse repentance repentance humilty humility godly affection and loue to God-ward And here assure thy selfe that nothing in all the world can inforce a man sooner to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present euill life then the due consideration of his owne infirmities the certaine knowledge of his mortality and the often and continuall meditation and remembrance of his last gaspe death and dissolution when as a man then becommeth no man For when once he beginneth to wax sicke and still by sicknes groweth more sickly then doth a wretched man despaire of life hauing onely his paine griefe in remembrance His heart doth quake his minde is amazed with feare his sences vanish quite away his strength decayes his carefull brest doth pant his countenance is pale neither willing nor able to call for mercy his fauor out of fauor his eares deafe his nose loathsomely foule and sharp his tongue furred with phlegme and choller quite flattereth and faileth his mouth vnseemely froathing and foming his body dyeth and rots at length his flesh consumes his shape his beautie his delicacy leaue him and he returnes to ashes and in stead and place of these succeede filthy wormes as one sayth elegantly Next after man doe wormes succede then stincke in his degree So euery man to no man must returne by Gods decree Behold here a spectacle both strange and dreadfull and assure thy selfe that there is neither skill nor meanes of art nor any kinde of learning that can be more auaileable to quaile the pride of man conuince his malice confound his lusts and abate his worldly pompe and vaine-glorious vanity then the often remembring of these things For in all the world there is nothing so irksome nothing so loathsome and vile as the carcasse of a dead man whose sent is so tedious and infectious that it may not lodge and continue in a house fower dayes but must needs be cast out of doores as dung and deepely buried in the mould Ioh. 11.39 for feare of corrupting the ayre Then blush for shame thou proud peacocke who in death art so vile and wormes meat and shortly shall become most loathsome carrion Thinke therefore vpon these things and thou shalt receiue great profit thereby When the Peacocke doth behold that comely fanne and circle of the beautifull feathers of his taile hee jetteth vp and downe in pride beholding euery part thereof but when he looketh downe seeth his black feete with great misliking he vaileth his top-gallant and seemeth to sorrow Euen so many know by experience that when they see themselues to abound in wealth and honor they glory much are highly conceited of themselues they draw plots and appoynt much for themselues to performe for many yeares to come This yeare say they we will beare this office and the next yeare that afterward we shall haue the rule of such a prouince then wee will build a pallace in such a Citty whereunto wee will adioyne such gardens of pleasure and such vineyards and the like And thus they make a very large reckoning before hand with the rich man in the Gospell Who if they did but once behold their feete that is if they did but see how fast they stoope toward death Luk. 12.16
brought backe againe their seruants into their former bondage Ierem. 34.10 So fareth it with these kind of men when God layeth fiege to them by sicknesses or some other pinching affliction then couenants and promises are made concerning the putting away of their sinnes but no sooner doth God begin to depart and slacke his wrath but we returne with the dog to the vomit and with the so we to the wallowing in the mire like Pharaoh that dismissed the Israelites when death entred within his palaces but presently after in all hast makes after them to fetch them back againe Consider therefore how fearefull a reckoning thou hadst made before Gods iudgment seat ere this time if thou hadst died of this sicknes and spend the time remaining in such pleasing sort to thy gracious God that thou mayest be able to make a more cheerefull and ioyfull account of thy life when it must expire indeed Therefore put not farre off the day of thy death though the Lord for thy good if thou vse it well hath put it off for thou knowest not for all this how neere it is at hand and see that thou being so fairely warned be wiser against the next time For if thou bee taken vnprouided againe thy excuse shall bee the lesse and thy iudgement the greater Thy worke is great which thou hast to doe and thy time can be but short and hee who will recompence euery man according to his worke standeth at the doore Thinke how much worke is behind and how slowly thou hast wrought in the time past The vncleane spirit is cast out Mat. 12.43 let him not enter and come in againe with seuen worse then himselfe Thou hast sighed out the grones of contrition thou hast wept the teares of repentance thou art washed in the poole of Bethesda streaming with fiue bloudie wounds Ioh. 5.4 not with a troubling Angel but with the Angel of Gods presence troubled with the wrath due for thy sinnes who descended into hell according to our Creed that is the extreame humiliation and abasement of Christ in his manhood vnder the power of death and of the graue beeing kept there as a prisoner in bonds vntill the third day to restore thee to sauing health and heauen Now therefore returne not with the dog to thy vomit nor like the washed Sow to wallow in the mire againe 2. Pet. 2.22 and the filthy puddle of thy former sinnes left being intangled and ouercome againe with the filthinesse of sinne which now thou hast escaped thy latter end proue much worse vnto thee then thy first beginning Twice therefore doth our Sauiour Christ giue the same cautionarie warning to healed sinners Ioh. 5.5.14 The first to the man cured of his eight and thirtie yeeres disease the second to the woman taken in adultery goe and sinne no more Ioh. 8.11 hereby teaching vs how dangerous a relapse and falling againe is into our wonted and accustomed sinnes And for this present mercy and health Luke 17.15 imitate the thankefull Leper in the Gospel and from hence forward tarie thou the Lords leisure because the Lord tarieth thine he tarieth for thee till thou change thy euill life tarie thou for him therefore vntill hee crowne thy good life and remember these two things to thy dying day and thou shaâ—t neuer doe amisse First that there is about thee an all seeing eye and an all-hearing eate He that planted the eare saith the Psalmist shall he not heare Psal 94.9 he that formed the eye shall he not see goest thou out he seeth thee returnest thou home hee seeth thee Psa 139.11.12 doth the candle burne he seeth thee is the candle put out hee seeth thee be it light or darkenesse hee seeth thee hee seeth how thou doest conuerse with thine owne heart and how with other men Therefore in this case the counsell of the Philosopher is good Sic viue cum hominibus quasi Deus audiat sic loquere cum Deo quasi homines videant So conuerse with men as if God heard thee so conferre with God as if men saw thee But suppose that thou desirest to recouer and yet neither thy selfe sees any likelihood nor God sees it good that thou shouldest recouer then if thou hast inured thy selfe to repentance heretofore and to prayer it will be the more familiar with thee now at this time Feruent prayer Psal 6.6 heartie repentance and watering thy couch with teares are most of all necessary at this time that the feare of death may not affright thee but be a welcome guest vnto thee For that being truly penitent at thy departure thou mayest bee sure with Simeon to depart in peace Luk. 2.29 And so God granting not thy will but his will may indeed grant both thy will and his will thy will which is not simply to recouer but if God will and his will which is not to haue thee lye lingering and languishing any longer in this short pilgrimage and warfare but to triumph for euer in heauen Therefore when the pangs of death doe come vpon thee and the wormes of the earth doe waite for thee it God giueth thee then thine vnderstanding say thou then inwardly to thy selfe to thy sicke soule Now my pilgrimage is ended my haruest is inned my iourney is finished my race is run my houre-glasse spent my candle burning in the socket Many of the godly are gone before me and I am now to follow after 2. Tim. 4.7.8 I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith hence-forth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not to me onely but to all them also that loue his appearing And O Lord I thanke thee that I am a Christian that I haue liued in a Christian Church that I shall die amongst a Christian people and that I am going to a Christian societie Exod. 33.14.15.16 And whereas the Lord said vnto Moses My presence shall goe with thee and I will giue thee rest let vs at this time pray vnto the Lord as Moses doth and say If thy presence goe not with mee at this time then carry me not vp hence For wherein shall it be knowne heere that I haue found grace in thy sight Is it not in that thou goest with me And if we thus spend the time of our sicknesse in this sort the Lord when he calleth for vs by Death shall finde vs either reading or hearing or meditating or counselling or resisting euill or doing some good or repenting or praying and then wee may bee sure that God will be our guide euen vnto death Psal 48.14 and will also send vs his Angeâ—s to stand at our beds-head Luke 16.22 waiting for vs to carry our soules into Abrahams bosome where we shall see God the Father behold God the Sonne and looke vpon God the holy Ghost where
vnder the burthen therof account that bondage more intollerable and worse subiection then can bee to the most barbarous and cruell tyrant in the world from whose tyrannie hee that should set vs free must needs bee welcome Which death and onely death can doe What great cause haue we then with all willingnesse to embrace death and be greatly comforted when it appproacheth But death doâ—h yet much more for vs then all this for it not onely frees vs from all euills euen sinne but puts vs also into actuall and peaceable possession of all good things and bringeth vs to that good place where if there were any place for any passion we would be offended with Death for not bringing vs thither long before And though the bodie rotte in the graue or bee eaten of wormes or deuoured by beasts or swallowed vp by fishes or burnt to ashes yet that will not be to vs a matter of discomfort not-onely because as wee haue heard before they are at rest and doe sleepe in peace in their beddes till the last day but also if wee doe well consider the ground of all grace as namely our vnion and coniunction with Christ our head it is indeede a spirituall and yet most real coniunction and vnion For we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned and vnited to the body or soule of Christ but the whole parson of man both body and soule is vnited and conioyned to whole Christ For we are vnited wholy to whole Christ who is not deuided euen according to both natures 1. Cor. 1.13 1. Cor. 3.21 by which hee is wholy oure but after this good order as first to be vnited to the manhood and then by the manhood vnto the Godhead of Christ And when we are once ioyned and vnited to whole Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the Spirit we shal so abide and remaine eternally ioyned and vnited vnto him And this coniunction and vnion being once truly made can never afterward be dissolued Hence it followes that although the bodie bee seuered from the soule by death yet neither the soule nor body are seuered or sundred from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue or howsoeuer else consumed abide still ioyned and vnited vnto Christ and is then as truly a member of Christ as it was before death For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the condition of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his body and soule were seuered and sundered for the time the one from the other as farre as heauen and the graue yet neither of them were sundered from the God-head of the Sonne but both did in his Death subsist in his person Euen so though our bodies and soules bee pulled in sunder by naturall or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shal be pulled or disioyned from Christ the head but by the vertue of this coniunction and vnion shall the dead body howsoeuer it bee wasted and consumed arise at the last day to eternall glory For although the dead bodies of Gods Saints are often mingled with the bodies of beasts foules fishes or other creatures that deuoure them yet as the Goldsmith by his art can feuer mettals and extract one mettall out of another euen so God can and will distinguish these dusts of his Saints at the last day of the glorious resurrection In the winter season the trees remaine without fruit or leaues and being beaten with the winde and weather they appeare to the eye and view of all men as if they were withered and rotten dead trees yet when the spring time comes they become aliue againe and as before doe bring forth their buds blossoms leaues and fruits the reason is because the body grayne and armes of the tree are all ioyned and fastened to the roote where all the sappe and moisture lies in the winter time and from thence by reason of this coniunction it is deriued in the spring to all the parts of the tree Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also and this iâ— in death in which time they are turned into dust and so remaine for a time dead and rotten Yet in the spring time that is at the last day at the resurrection by meanes of the misticall coniunction and vnion with Christ his diuine quickning vertue shall streame and flow from thence to all the bodies of his elect and chosen members and cause them to liue againe and that to life eternall For the bodies of Gods elect being the members of Christ though they be neuer so much rotten putrified and consumed yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenant of grace to which because they haue right being dead they shall not remaine so for euer in their graues but shall arise againe at the last day vnto glory And by reason of this vnion and coniunction with Christ we gaine the prayers of the Saints yet liuing with vs the loue of the Saints glorified before vs the ministrie of Angels working for vs grace in earth and glory in heauen And in Christ our gaine is such as that we shall haue all losses recompenced all wants supplied all curses remoued all crosses sanctified all graces increased all hopes confirmed all promises performed all blessednesse procured Satan conquered death destroyed the graue sweetened corruption abolished sanctification perfected and heauen opened for our happy entrance And as for death it selfe we are to consider that it is chiefely sinne that makes it so terrible vnto vs for in it selfe and by it selfe it is the wages of sinne and the reuenging scourge of the angry God but vnto those that beleeue in Christ it is changed into a most sweete sleepe For although the regenerate those that beleeue in Christ doe as yet carry about the reliques of sinne in their flesh from whence also the bodie is dead that is to say subiect to death Rom. 8.10 for the sinne that dwelleth in it yet the spirit is life for righteousnesse that is because they are iustified from sinne by true faith in Christ and resist the lusts of the flesh through the Spirit therefore that sinne which yet remaineth in the flesh is not imputed vnto them but is couered with the shadow of the grace of God Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soule doth not die in them but doth rather begin to which death is constrained to doe as it were the office of a midwife So that now we are deliuered from sinne in Christ that it cannot hurt vs nay it is conuerted to our owne profit and therfore death hauing her strength from sinne is not to bee feared sith sinne the sting of death is ouercome What need wee feare the snake that hath lost her sting shee can only hisse and make a noyse but cannot hurt and therefore wee see that many hauing taken out the sting
death is of no continuance it is buried in its own birth it vanisheth in its own thought and the paine is no sooner begunne but is presently ended Though the flesh bee weake and fraile yet the spirit is strong to encounter the crueltie of Death and to make it rather a kinde kisse 1. Cor. 4.16 then a cruell crosse We faint not saith the Apostle for though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renued day by day Our Sauiour Christ said at his death and last farewell Iohn 17.1 Father the houre is come glorifie thy Sonne that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee Is there glory in death and is death but an houre It is of no long abode that abideth but an houre and little doe I doubt but that in that houre the soule is more rauished with the sight of God then the bodie is tormented with the sence of death Nay I am further perswaded that in the houre of my death the passion of mortalitie is so beaten backe with impression of eternitie that the flesh feeleth nothing but what the soule offereth and that is God from whom it came and whither it would as Saint Augustine saith with as great hast as happinesse And therefore whether you please to define or diuine of death what it is if it bee rightly broken into parts and passages the elect of God shall finde it a very easie passage euen as it were but a going out of prison a shaking off of our giues an end of banishment a breaking off our bands a destruction of toile an arriuing at the hauen a iourney finished the casting off an heauie burthen the alighting from a madde and furious horse the going out of a tottering and ruinous house the end of all griefes the escape of all dangers the destroyer of all euels Natures due Countries ioy and heauens blisse And from hence doe flow those sweete appellations by which the holy Ghost which is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly in saying that they are gathered or congregated to their people that is to the company of the blessed and triumphing Church in heauen to come to those which haue deceased before them in the true faith or rather haue gone thither before them So that the holy Ghost vseth a most sweete Periphrasis of death as speaking of the death of Abraham Gen. 25.8 Then Abraham gaue vp the ghost and died in a good old age Gen. 35.29 Gen. 49 33. Numb 20.24 Num. 27.13 an old man and full of yeeres and was gathered to his people And of the death of Isaac And Isaac gaue vp the ghost and died and was gathered vnto his people and so likewise of Iacob of Moyses of Aaron c. It is but the taking of a iourney which we thinke to bee death it is not an end but a passage it is not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse things to better a taking away of the soule and a most blessed conueying of it from one place to another not an abolishing for the soule is taken from hence and transposed into a place of eternall rest it is a passage and ascension to the true life it is an out-going because by it the godly passe out of the slauerie of sinne to true libertie euen as heretofore the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt into the promised land And as S. Peter termes it it is a laying downe of the tabernacle 2. Pet. 1.14 2. Cor. 5.4 for so he stiles our bodies And as S. Paul termes it it is an vnclothing or putting off of it and a remouing out of the bodie from a most filthie lodging to a most glorious dwelling They are said to be loosed from a port or from a prison and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 seeing they are led out of the Inne of this present life to the heauenly Countrey and out of the dregs of wicked men to the most blessed societie of Christ and his Saints in heauen They are loosed by death out of the bonds of the bodie for euen as cattell when they haue discharged the labour of the whole day at last about the euening are set free and as they which are bound in prison are loosed from their fetters so the godly are led foorth by death from the yoke of their labours and sorrowes of this life and out of the filthie prison of sinne and by a wonderfull and most sweet translation are caried to a better life Out of all which it clearely appeareth Phil. 1.21 how truely the Apostle hath called the death of the godly aduantage seeing it is aduantage to haue escaped the increase of sinne aduantage by auoyding worse things to passe to better from labour and daunger to perfect rest and security and which is all in all to eternall blessednesse All which appellations of death doe teach vs to be so farre from beeing afraid of it that we ought willingly to welcome it as the easie and ioyfull messenger of our happy deliuerance and not sing loth to depart as all worldlings doe who tremble at the very name of it And thus I passe from the facility of dying to the felicitie of dying of which I may say as Sampson did of his riddle Out of the eater came meate Iudges 14.14 and out of the strong came sweetnesse Now the meat that commeth out of this eater and sweetnesse that proceedeth forth of this strong one is a cessation of all euill and an indowment of all good and by this doore we haue an easie and readie passage to all blessednesse and happinesse where God and with him all good is Man that is borne of a woman saith Iob hath but a short time to liue Iob 14.1 and is full of misery O sweet death that turneth time into eternity and misery into mercie so graciously hath our Sauiour done for vs making medicines of maladies cures of wounds and salues of sores and to his children producing health out of sicknesse light out of darknesse and life out of death Psal 27.13 This made Dauid to daunce in the midst of all his affliction and calamitie when he said I should verily haue fainted vnlesse I had beleeued to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing This hath supported the soules of Gods Saints in the seas of their sorrowes when they thought vpon the day of their dissolution wherein they should be made glorious by their deliuerance For as our Sauiour Christ tooke his flight from the heauen to the Virgins wombe from her wombe to the world from the world to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue vnto heauen againe Euen so from the womb wee must follow his steppes and tread the same path that he hath traced out for vs. Iohn 14.6 I am the way saith our Sauiour the truth and the life He is the way without wandring the truth without shadowing the life without
euen against God himselfe I know you will hearken vnto these things Consider saith the Apostle what I say 2. Tim. 2.7 and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all these things It is sufficient to waigh these matters with the waights of the Lords Sanctuarie and not needfull to try them by fetching helpes of humane reason Yet to giue them ouer measure that will not rest satisfied with the comforts which the holy Scripture doth affoord let it bee first considered what humane wit and reason hath said in this case And touching this matter which now is mooued I haue read and you may see what Heathens by learning and naturall light haue said to themselues and their friends in such losses but this did I neuer read neither shall you finde that all their comforts haue counteruailed one promise out of Gods booke I confesse the bookes of heathen Writers doe promise comfort in this case but alas they performe it not but are like a brooke that swels in winter when there is no need of it and is dry in Summer when the passenger fainteth and panteth for heat no if we will haue good gold we must goe to Ophir if good balme to Gilead if good wine to Christ at the wedding of Cana and if good tidings to the booke of God They did say well in many things but neuer like this word that is from the Lord. Iohn 7.46 For neuer man spake like this man as the officers told the chiefe Priestes and Pharisies concerning Christ They considered the necessitie of death the miseries of life the examples of great men that had gone before them and such like But what are these to those that the word of God will shew vs our safety in Christ our resurrection in immortality in the presence of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost with such like yet both good vnto a sanctified mind First the necessitie of death is a true comfort against death be it of our selues or of our friends no liuing flesh but must die as we haue heard in the first Diuision What man is hee saith the Psalmist that liueth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 And shall we feare that in our selues or bewaile immoderatly that in our friends which cannot be auoided This were with witlesse wil to disturbe the peace of our whole life and with a seruile dread of the last houre to bereaue of comfort all the rest of our houres that we are to liue in this present euill world which in your iudgment conceiue how fond a thing it were The carefull view of natures course doth shew vs degrees from age to age till we come to a full and a like decrease by step after step till we come to the change againe Youth followeth childhood and age followeth youth by assured necessitie if we liue But when we are children wee feare not to be men neither when we are men to become olde but many rather wish it why then should we either feare in our selues or lament in our friends death to follow age in his course appointed more then age to follow youth as was said before Surely the one must bee receiued as well as the other without choice And whereas Christ said in the Gospel touching man and wife Matth. 19.9 What therefore God hath ioyned together let no man put in sunder it may be more peremptorily said of this What God hath ioyned or coupled together no man can separate nor put asunder And therfore a wise content both in our friends and in our selues shall become vs best Who will not die let him neuer liue for we receiue the one to endure the other when God appointeth and we must all die both friend and foe to wise men necessitie is a comfort and so I hope to you Secondly the miseries of this life is another head from whence heathen men haue deriued comfort against death be it of our selues or of our friends Consider then with your selfe from the first age vnto the last houre the diseases incident to our bodies to vexe vs with woe according to their seuerall natures some more some lesse and yet the least too much All the changes and chances of this most wretched sinfull world whereunto whilst we liue wee must lye open will we nill we from all which our death doth free vs and our friends Therefore how should wee either feare or sorrow for our selues or for our friends for that which doth so befriend vs If we conceiue hereof as we ought we must needs be of the same iudgment with Seneca and in some sort approoue his speech O men most ignorant saith hee of their owne miseries who praise not death as the best inuention that euer nature had which includeth felicity excludeth miserie finisheth the toyles of age preuenteth the perils of youth to many is a remedie to some a wish to all an end and deserueth better of none then them to whom it commeth before it be called Yea we must confesse these things beeing well considered that it befalleth to men concerning death as vnto young children concerning their friends Litle children if their friends bee disguised with some strange shewes they are afraid of them and crying flie from them Exod. 4.3 as some that would hurt them as Moyses fled from his rod of death when it was turned into a Serpent But take off these vizards that their friends may appeare as they are and then by and by they are comforted and reioyce and imbrace them gladly againe euen so it is of death when we are misled it appeareth vnto vs disguised and couered by ignorance of the truth and his approaching maketh vs shrinke but plucke off that vizard of supposed euill and behold it as it is to vs in Christ and it is then but a painted death and we see him then our great friend that cutteth the thrid that we do weaue and then we neither flie nor feare any more but are truely comforted and imbrace him most willingly as we ought and loue him as Ionathan loued his friend Dauid 1. Sam. 18.1 as his owne soule Thirdly the heathen considered againe the famous and worthy men that died before them and what they endured and could not auoid and therevpon thought great shame either to feare or flie to lament in themselues or in their friends The greatest lights that euer were amongst them died all Socrates Demosthenes Plato Pompey Caesar Cicero learned martiall or whatsoeuer yea what wisedome and knowledge what valour and prowesse what act what gouernement soeuer they had all gifts and graces all pompe and power all empire and maiestie were it ouer thousands or thousand thousands yeelded to death death had his place when his time was come and as well these great lights and loftie gallants as the lowest wretches and poorest wormes the high okes as the small shrubs drunke of deaths cuppe when they were inuited and inioyned Shall it not then euen in reason seeme
saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Your friend is dead in the Lord and therefore blessed will you then weepe and lament for him his workes follow him and the Lord in mercie hath crowned his obedience according to his promise and will you looke awry at it God forbid Againe consider with your selfe that your friends walk with God and are gone to their heauenly Father in peace they are gathered vnto their people they are not dead but sleepe and their flesh resteth in hope they are gone the way of all flesh and doe now behold the face of God in heauen and what cause of sorrow is this to any friend that loueth them If your friend were discharged and released out of prison and miserie and preferred to the palace of an earthly prince and to his Court to his great and exceeding ioy and content would you shewe your loue and contentment toward him in bewailing the same how much lesse then should you lament his preferment into Gods euerlasting Court and kingdome to his vnspeakable ioy and comfort Thus may you gather many places of holy Scripture and on this sort meditate on them For sweet is the word of God against all sorrowes and griefes and by name against this But it may happily be obiected it is your child that is dead and it died before it could well be baptized this grieueth me more then otherwise it would and so you feare your childs estate Answ God forbid that we should either speake or think so seeing the Lord neuer said so but contrariwise the Scripture witnesseth that they are in the Couenant of God and so in state of saluation so soone as they are borne and Baptisme doth not make them Christians that were none before but is the Sacrament the seale the signe the badge of them that are Christians before Besides it is not the want of the Sacrament that depriueth a man of Gods fauour for the children of the Israelites were not circumcised all those fortie yeeres which they liued in the wildernesse the reason whereof was because they were euer to remoue and iourney whensoeuer the pillar of the cloud that was their guide ascended and went forward Numb 9.18 c. so that they were alwaies to attend vpon the cloude both night and day not knowing when it would remooue and therefore could not circumcise their children in the wildernesse as yee may read Iosh 5.2 c. but it is the contemning or despising of the Sacrament that depriueth men of Gods fauour when they make no more account of it then Esau did of his birth-right Gen. 25.32 then Ahaz did of the Lords helpe Esay 7. and it is also the neglecting of it when God offereth time and opportunitie that we might haue it Againe the Lord neuer said that whosoeuer died vncircumcised or vnbaptized should be wiped out of the booke of life but hee hath said Gen. 17.12.14 that whosoeuer contemneth or carelesly neglecteth the Sacraments shal be cut off from among his people And so read you the notes vpon that seuenteenth chapter of Genesis and I hope they shall content you for this matter God is not tyed to the Sacrament nor euer was The contempt hurteth but not the want when it is against your will Obiect Happily your child was of ripe yeeres and withall so toward that it could not be but that he should come to some great place and preferment if he had liued both for the good of himself and his friends and that he in his youth and the flower of his age should thus bee taken away is a great losse say you Answer True it is that the losse is great in respect of the world but what is that if we consider God God is also able to supplie all that some other way if we take it well This is apparant that what good or preferment could haue come to him any way or to his friends if he had liued the Lord for some purpose as yet happily hidden hath preuented but yet his arme is not shortened as I said to doe vs good some other way but it might perhaps prooue otherwise contrarie to our expectation if he had liued longer and then it would haue beene a great griefe vnto vs. But admit that it would haue beene as you hope if he had liued longer yet he is more highly preferred euen to the highest heauens and to the presence of God and this no earthly preferment can match And except we be wholy earthly our selues we cannot but sauour this and not let his youth grieue vs for no youth nor age is too good for God when he is pleased to take them A foole or a child seeing a goodly cluster of grapes thinketh it pitie to put them into the presse to deface them but he that is wise knoweth that thereby the liquour which is in them is preserued and that this timely gathering is a meanes to keepe them from corruption So we thinke sometime Oh it is great pitie such a one should die so soone so towardly a youth so good a creature can hardly be spared but God in his wisedome knoweth it to be good And if he cut off the life of that good and godly king Iosiah as it were in the middle of the stemme 2. Kings 22.20 doubtlesse it is for this cause that his eies may not see the manifold euils to come If you will be ruled to weigh things with reason you may well see mercie euen in this timely death for many are the perils both of bodie and soule that young men auoid when they are taken hence false doctrine heresies errours and many grieuous sinnes wounding the very conscience with a biting worme that euer gnaweth publike calamities and ruine of state many priuate miseries great and grieuous which no man can thinke of beforehand more bitter to good men then any death from all which this happie deliuerance in time of youth doth free your child and set him safe that you shall neuer mourne with him nor for him that way And herein we haue Dauid an example of godly fortitude who hauing a child sicke did while it liued afflict his soule besought God for the child and fasted and wen◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lay all night vpon the earth and would not be comforted Thus while there was hope of remedie he gaue way to the sorrow of his heart 2. Sam. 12.16 but when Dauid perceiued that the child was dead then he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himselfe and changed his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and after came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eate His sorrow ended when he once saw there was no hope of enioying any longer the companie of his child Now this course seemed vnto