Death There was a time when 't was otherwise Dixi in prosperitate mea c. Psal 30.6 I said in my prosperity I shall never be moved I made all cock-sure I thought the World had been mine eternally But now in his Affliction he is better informed and he that thought he should live for ever doth tell you of his going hence The Wise mans counsel is Memorare novissima the thinking upon Death is the ready way to Life And here 's one takes that course meditating on another World before he be compelled to leave this Many cast of these thoughts as too dull sad and melancholly None so old as the Oratour said but he thinks he may live one year longer And that 's the Millstone that hath sunk so many souls into the Abyss of Hell Senex volo intermortuus volo I may repent in mine old Age and on my Death-bed A late Repentance will serve that God who hath promised to accept of any At what time soever c. Sure we are afraid to be too good or to be too great Saints in Heaven And I may so often say I will and I will till God say I shall not I who have had so long a time and do neglect it may chance hear the Angel swearing That there shall be no longer time Solomon tells us of Evil daâ—es that ae to come Old Age are those and Sickness are those and Casualties are those The Scriptures tell us of an Hodie a time and an appointed time when we should repent and when God will surely hear But if we let slip that opportunity we may call and knock too with the Foolish Virgins and yet the Doors of Mercy be shut against us But what doth this concern the young man He hath many fair years to tell And those young Saints are never good Such indeed they may be But young Devils are alwayes naught And truly they set not the right foot before whose Rhetorick is Lyes and Oaths Their Musick a Baudy Song in their lips and a Prayer-book in their Pocket The greatest Discord in the World Their Devotion I am sure their Gesture yea and in Loco Sancto too is Antick Baptick any thing but what they should Their knees without joynts they cannot bow Their hands indeed sometimes lifted up but 't is to whiffle their locks or advance their Mustachio's Their eyes are rowling and adulterous eyes as St. Peter calls them and the whole model of their Carriage such as St. Paul said of some Jews They please not God and are contrary to all men 1 Thess 2.15 And do such Gallants think of going hence Do they dream of that Dance they must shortly dance That loath to depart Do they believe their own eyes Youth hath no priviledge As soon the young sheep comes to the Shambles as doth the old as soon indeed and oft-times sooner too Nay for one old man dye twenty young Ego ludebam foris in platea intus in Conclavi ferebatur super me judicium mortis Then wallowing in the sink of sin when the dismal Sentence of Death is pronouncing against them Well Youth gives these men no protection No nor Greatness neither And therefore David thinks of going hence Reads to himself and others that Lecture of Mortality Mors aequo pede pulsat pauperum Tabernas Regumque Turres Many are the priviledges of a King But none against Death And therefore the Heathen gave it and their supposed Fate the same Epithites Ineluctabilis Inevitabilis No wrestling against that Enemy Canutus may as well forbid the Sea to flow as any man can stop or turn back Death I must go hence And man is alwayes going A fasciis ad ferela linteum From the Womb to the Grave he is alwayes keeping on his progress St Gregory compares him to a Passenger or Merchant at Sea Stet sedeat c. Let him eat drink wake or sleep whatsoever he do the Ship keeps on his Course unto the Harbour Et nos impulsu navis ferimur The Gale is strong the Passage short and what our Merchandises will be God knows I fear many of us shall come short in our accompts and bring home stubble and straw Apes and Peacocks instead of Gold of Ophir 1 Kings 10.22 And what must our hope be What to make a better Voyage next No no our Ships will prove like Jehoshaphats Ships they 'l all break at Ezion-Gebeâ— No hope for a second Voyage or another Return If once we go hence we shall be no more And here make we our third Pause which hath brought us to the end of the race the visible race Now follows the last which brings us to the land of Forgetfulness as the Psalmist calls it If once we go hence we shall be no more There is hope of a Tree saith Job if it be cut down that it may sprout again and by the scent of Water it may bud and bring forth Boughs like a Plant But man dieth and is cut off he giveth up the Ghost and where is he Jobs first Quaere was Quid est What is man A poor silly Creature of few dayes and full of trouble A flower a shadow a nothing His next Quaere is Vbi est What becomes of him Where is he The Widow of Tekoa said much when she compared man to water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again But Job likens him to a floud decayed and dryed up no moisture or vestigia left For man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more They shall not awake nor be raised out of their sleep Cap 14. v. 12. And this is Davids Be no more no more a Man of this world No more in esteem no more to repent and find Grace For as the Tree falleth there shall it be Eccles 11. And therefore lay no more upon me than I can bear For I am a man and man is nothing I must away and be no more I go from whence I shall never return again O would our sons of Anak think on this who have sold themselves to work wickedness and drink up iniquity as Beasts drink water Their eyes swell with fatness and they do even what they list or as our last Translation reads it they have more then heat can wish They murder the widow and the fatherless and put the innocent to death Those men have their Day but 't is a short one Adhuc pusillum and we shall see them no more No more till we see them dragged to a worse Judgment then they now hale others Well if they 'l not think on 't God grant we may Our Goods they were but lent us and the less we have the less we have to answer for we can but go out naked as we came in and so shall all Our Afflictions will not last for ever and be they never so many and sharp too yet are not our sufferings worthy that glory that shall be revealed And at most those Lions
volvi Aspicerent laetsque diu florere nocentes Vex arique pios c. Davids case Psal 73.17 vexed at the heart to see the ungodly in such prosperity But when he went into the Sanctuary of God then understood he the end of these men They do but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath And often times they perish and come to a fearful End in this life also The Righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth this Vengeance he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say Verily there is a reward for the Righteous Doubtless there is a God that judgeth in Earth Psal 58. the last Verse Pompey after the Pharsalian Battel disputing with Cratippus of his overthrow did thence conclude against all Providence Because saith he his Cause was good and his Success naught But we have not thus learned God however he sometimes suffer us to be oppressed And we assure our selves he will deliver and refresh us But as God told Abram when the Iniquities of the Amorites is full and our sins fewer And that day we hope that day is coming In the mean time Spare me Vt recreer ut roborer against Infirmity that under the burden of Punishment I sink not Against the violence of Affliction that I despair not And against Desperation that I totally perish not But he cannot perish that cannot despair He cannot despair that sees a Door of Comfort open in the midst of Sorrows No man brought so low but he may rise again I am consumed saith he quite consumed verse 10. Yet no Disease but may find a Physician a Cure Ask that Woman in the Fifth of St. Mark that had an Issue of Blood twelve Years and had suffered many things of many Physicians and had spent all that she had and was nothing bettered but rather grew worse and worse Or another Luke 13. That had a spirit of Infirmity eighteen years and was bowed together and could by no means get help Or a third in the Fifth of St. John that had an Infirmity thirty eight years comfortless and friendless too Yet Insperatum auxilium as he said in his Embleme All of them found unhoped unthought of Comfort and were delivered Thus one in the Whale another in the Stockâ— a third in the Den yet refreshed and restored again Yea the Lord blesseth the â—â—ter end of many as well as of Job more than the begining And poor David after a general revolt of his Subjects after his miserable fear and flight finds a suddain and strange alteration in the affections of his People 2 Sam. 19. at the ninth Verse All the people of Israel were at strife the one laying the blame of this Rebellion on the other and all accusing themselves of slowness in making satisfaction for their fault and to make some part of amends striving who should do the King most Service And at the fourteenth Verse He bowed the hearts of all the men of Judah so that with an unanimous consent they all profess themselves the Kings Servants and desire his speedy return unto Jerusalem And is' t not possible Why may we not live to see our Israel and Judah after their so general a Rebellion do the like Why may not England and Scotland do as much Accuse each other of the sowing the seeds first of this unnatural Rebellion Strive who shall be the first with melted hearts to make amends for their Disloyalty And with a general consent bring up the so much so long injured King to his Jerusalem Amen Lord Jesus O spare us that we may recover strength that we may see those blessed dayes again Peace within our Walls and plenteousness within our Palaces The King glorious The Kingdoms flourishing Our Forces formidable to Forrain Nations But all at unity amongst our selves But stay The Ark must back again as well as the King Nay the King prefers the Arks safety before his own Carry back the Ark again 2 Sam. 15.25 And indeed Currus Auriga Israelis There lies our strength Till the Ark be brought back again Till Religion be restored And the Church re-beautified And her Revenews recovered out of the Haâ—pies Claws No hope or strength and full Recovery Peace without this is but a painted peace the Common-wealth a Corps which must be animated by true Religion And true Religion is that which maintains the Worship of God the peace of Conscience and the love of Christians one to another Or in other words That which gives most Glory to God most Alms to the Poor and most endeavours to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Now the Lord spare us that we may recover this strength That the Lissomes of this three-twisted strong-twisted Cord may never be broken Vt recuperemus vires That we be not oppressed either with the burden of sin nor the punishment for sin neither smiting our knees together with Baltasar nor turning our face to the Wall with Hezekiah but with a cheerful confidence we may say Come life come death c. 'T is too true The best of men cannot so curb and conquer their Affections at all times but that sometimes their Passions will find vent And poor Clay dares adventure to expostulate with the Pâ—tter But here 's one teacheth us after such a slip to implore strength for a Recovery Neither to turn Stoicks and be insensible Neither to faint under the burden of our Afflictions and grow desperate Neither to rely upon our own Abilities and become insolent But to make our address to him who only can cure and comfort us And this was Job's Case Job 10.20 21. Are not my dayes few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go whence I shall not return even to the Land of darkness and shadow of death And here make we our second Stop and Pause That I may recover my strength The third comes in Before I go hence Recover and recover speedily Before I go hence Mors Medicus a sure Physician he cures all Diseases all bodily ones But here 's one seeks a salve before he go hence for hence he must The Walls of Purgatory were not built in those dayes He must recover before he go hence or not at all He was a King and a rich King too He might have had Prayers enough and Doles enough after his Obit and Interrment but he dares not venture on that Cure And though he knew a locum refrigerii after this life yet he sees and shews us out the way thither by a recovery here before he go hence to get remission and refreshment afterwards Recover here to do well afterward The refreshment which he here craves is from the pain and trouble which he suffered for his sins Yet this good do his troubles work upon him They withdraw his mind from the Vanities of this World make him meditate upon the â—railty of this life and the certainty of aproaching
Thus lie the Words and thus lie they in their own order to be handled and first for the Physician that Shepheard and Bishop of our Sculs as St. Peter calls him GOD. 1 Ep. 2.25 There are two waies especially by which miserable man doth dishonour his Maker and rob him of his Glory The one is by taking from the other is by adding to the Sacred Deity Of the first are those Irreligiosi who strike at the Divine Majesty and either acknowledge none or such an One as by disâ—bling Him they mâ—ke none Of the second are those Superstitiosi who such is their Holiness acknowledge a God yet afford him for which they shall never receive th nke certain Coadjutors this same Deos populares or Miâ—orum gentium Angels or Saint or Stocks or what they most fancy and unto these in all Necessities do these miserable wretches address themselves Of the first sort was Diagoras and he flatly denies a God secondly Protagoras and he is doubtful and makes a question whether there be a God thirdly I add unto these both another as bad as both David's Fool Dixit insipiens in corde Psal 14. and 88. The fool hath said in his heart there is no God This is some religious outside of which God help the World is too full in these daies who together with his Dog comes to the Church and perchance dares stare the Preacher in the face He will tell you there is a God and a Religion after which that God is to be worshipped and perchance he shall talk and tumble out as much Divinity as may win him the Name and Reputation of a Zealous Gentleman but Dixit in corde all this while He can distinguish of Quota pars to rob the Church And as the Jews could plead a Law to put Christ to death Joh. 19.7 We have a Law and by our law he ought to die so can he find Law to manacle those hands which reach to him the Blessed Sacrament and find a Law to dishonour those the Sacred Writ pronounced worthy of double Honour 1 Tim. 5. As much will he do by Fatherless or Widows or ought else accounting whatsoever his pretences be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. His Gain is his Godliness and his Revenues his Religion After this Fellow comes there in another and he Confesseth and with halting Agripâ—a is half-perswaded of the matter His heart tells him there is a God But what Eliâ—haz casteth in Jobs teeth Epicure-like he proposeth to himself That God walking in the circle of Heaven cannot through the thick Clouds see our misdoings And therefore after his Master Ennius he concludeth Ego Deûm esse genus semper dixi dicam coelitum sed eos non curare Either for their Greatness they may not or for their Goodness they will not behold the things that are done here beneath upon the Earth His Gods are Gods upon the Mountains not in the Valleys Gods in Heaven and not in Earth Gods only somewhere and therefore no where Gods so confined to places and Cases as he is yet to seek for his Religion And therefore with the Samaritans 2 Kings 17. He dares be of any or of all Religions yet Lions taught them a lesson how to fear God and that roaring Lion 1 Pet. 5.8 will teach him when 't is too late to acknowledge Gods Providence In a word to him and all the rest I say no more but what Michaiah sometime did to Zidchiah The day is at hand and you shall see in that day when you shall go from Chamber to Chamber to hide you when you shall say to the Mountains fall on us and to the Hills cover us You shall see there is a GOD who beholdeth all that is done here beneath upon the Earth Bern. You shall see there is a GOD too great to be terrified too wise to be deceived too Just to be corrupted when your selves against your selves shall be forced to confess Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the Earth Now after Irreligion steps forth Superstition who believeth a God and a Righteous God yet with Jacobs How should it hath not yet learnt to put away those Deos alienos those strange Gods other Gods no gods which He and his Father worshipped He hath found out for every Town and every Trade and every Sickness and every Any thing a god proper and peculiar to that purpose he would employ him in St. Gallus shall keep his Geese St. Wendolin his Sheep St. Eulogie his Horses St. Anthony his Piggs One is good for the Tooth-ach another for the Plague One is for the Mariner another for the Tanner c. In a word He hath his Angelos Tutelares and his Sanctos Tutelares and nothing makes me more wonder then that so many dear Friends will after all this suffer his poor Soul to fry in Purgatory Well I say no more but with the Apostle 1 Cor. 8. Though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be many Gods and many Lords yet unto us there is but one GOD which is the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him But every man hath not knowledge the Publican had and therefore doth he invocate God alone GOD be merciful to me a sinner And indeed thus must He thus must all do whether we regard his Mercy or his Justice the favours he hath bestowed on us or the punishments he may inflict upon us This made David somewhere cry out Tibi soli peccavi 't is in that penitential Psalm of his after his Murder and Adultery Against Thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight Bathsheba is dishonoured Vriah is murthered Davids posterity disgraced the whole Realm endangered yet Tibi soli Against Thee onely have I sinned O my God though my Sins be never so many never so bloudy never so hellish never so execrable yet Tibi soli peccavi The Sin against Thee alone is more than all the rest more many waies more infinitely I have offended Thee my God my good and gracious God I have offended Thee who mightest justly expect much of me to whom thou hast given much Thy eyes cannot behold Vanity and lo thou spiest out all my waies I could blear others Eyes Thine I cannot For thou O Lord knowest the very Thoughts of my heart long before Thou hast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Thou art Oculus ille insopitus Thy Eyes will neither slumber nor sleep but every Creature is manifest in thy sight Heb. 4. and all things are naked and open unto thy Eies with whom we have to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod And therefore Deus quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thereby intimating that Fear and Reverence due to so infinite a Majesty of whom the Prophet David somewhere saith
fear over-matched some of them in our sins and wickedness O therefore here make a stand yet now begin to provide Oil for your Lamps now learn of Joseph to lay up against those years of Famine now bethink of your wedding-Garment GOD is Just and will not be mocked LIFE is frail and will soon be ended The BODY is dust and must be dissolved The SOVL returns and must be judged O therefore make use of that little time is left you Defer not your Repentance from day to day Say not to morrow I will do thus and thus 'T is Vox corvinae as St. Augustine said 't is harsh 't is hellish to say thou wilt to Morrow and appoint a day to save thy Soul who art not sure thy Body hath one hour to reckon Of this thou art surr That many millions perish in their sins who had they known what now they feel they would have repented long agone in sackcloth and ashes Of this thou art sure The longer thou continuest in sin thy Case is the worse thy danger the greater and thy return will be more difficult Of this thou art sure That late Repentance is seldome true Repentance and as one saith Percutitur hâc animadversione peccator ut moriens obliviscetur sui qui vivens oblitus est Dei 'T is a just Judgment of the Almighty That he that would not remember God in his life should forget himself at his death The Stork the Turtle the Crane the Swallow these all observe their times Jerem. 8.7 and shall Man that was created Lord of all be more ignorant then them all shall he fore-slow the time given and reject the Grace profered Nay shall he make the times and observe the seasons in every thing but what concerns his Soul Sow in season and reap in season and plant in season and shall the hour for our Repentance allowed be unseasonable There is a time for all things saith Solomon and shall we never find time for this Thus thus it is and thus it followeth That many are Called and few are Chosen In the general Deluge Noah only and his Family escaped drowning At the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah Lot only and his Family escape the fire At the overthrow of Jericho Rahab only and her Family escape the Sword Here is Antefactorum narratio futurorum Prophetia as Irenaeus said in another Case Those fearful Examples those handfuls of People that were exempted from the common Calamity they tell us not only what befel them but what assuredly shall befal others when those that will not now and cannot then repent must look for nought but woe and misery a rejection a separation an Ite maledicti away for ever Leave we the Impenitent in his sins and leave we the impenitent to his sorrows for Tophet is prepared of old a place is made ready for them who will not make themselves ready for God And let us trace another while the steps of him who as Chrysostome said hath made that voluntary which he knew necessary who could welcome Death without fear and bid adieu to life without sorrow Yet by David's judgment he had not attained the half of Mans life and by our account had Youth and Strength two promising supporters in time of need O come hither and behold for here he lies here he lies whose hands were not hound nor his feet tied in fetters of Brass his grinders did not cease because they were few nor were they grown dark that did look out at the windows he arose not up at the voice of the bird the daughters of Musick were not brought low the Almond-tree had not yet budded c. And lo Earth is returned to the earth as it was and the Spirit is returned to God who gave it Well then what if he were prevented by Death What if his daies were not so many or life so long had he not the better gale of wind to bring him to his harbour Yes yes and was old enough Quicunque ad extremum fati sui pervenerit hic moritur senex the honourable Age is not that which is of long time neither that which is measured by the number of years but wisdom is the gray-hair c. therefore verse 13. though he were soon dead yet fulfilled he much time for his Soul pleased God therefore hasted he to take him away from wickedness De medio iniquitatis from Sin from Sinners O Noble Israel how are the mighty overthrown tell it not in Gath O yes tell it in Gath and publish it in the streets of Ashkelon Let the Philistians see and the uncircumcised hear Si sic in viridi quid fiet in arido If a young Plant in the prime of his years and the most flourishing time of his life be thus taken away why do we live as if we had made a Truce with Death or as if this World should last for ever We have a Consumption as well as He his was patens ours latens and the more dangerous his in Januis ours in Insidiis his was open ours in secret and yet not so secret but every man may run and read the Characters of DECLINING writ in our Fore-heads and every Limb can tell there 's something works within it to our end and every day can tell another we are worse then when he found us That Death then may not come suddenly let us amend speedily LOOSE NO TIME was Great Caesar's Motto Nought is more dangerous then Delaies Cur non hodiè cur non hâc horâ Why then this day why then this hour begin we to amend our lives Say we as sometime Balaam did but with a better resolution If Balack would give me his house-full of silver and gold I will not do thus and thus If I might win an house-full of silver and gold I will not do as I have done I will not grieve the holy Angels nor re-Crucifie my Saviour nor hazard my Soul nor offend my God I will not oppress where I am the stronger nor undermine where I am the subtiler I see Mans life is in his Nostrils and he is quickly gone I see the World is deceitful and can give no true content I see that blessedness is reserved till another World BEATI MORTVI QVI IN DOMINO Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. So let us die O Lord and so let us live that we may so die Sweet JESVS AMEN Reverendissimo In Christo Patri ac Domino DOMINO SETHO EPISCOPO SARISBVRIENSI Et Nobilissimi Ordinis Periscelidis Cancellario HAMNETTUS WARD Clericus Longaevitatem pancraticam dignitatis sastigium vitam aeternam ex animo optat DVO sunt Pater Praesul dignissime quae homini famam optimam apud posteros conciliare solènt debent benè facta scilicet benè dicta Vtcunque tamen benè dicta quaeque fuerint vel facta nisi etiam literis committantur plerumque incassum pereunt Nam quae per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉