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
Bored Servants for the time to come Exod. 21. Nor was there any hope of Freedom afterward No marvel then if the poor Woman cryed Clamavit mulier There is a saying Curae Leves loquuntur ingentes stupent Light Sorrows speak when greater silent are And it might seem then somewhat to lessen her Sorrow that she could and did Cry 'T is true In some sudden and unexpected Misery Vox faucibus haeret the unexpectedness and greatness of Sorrow doth stop the Floud-gates and there are found those who could neither weep nor speak for a while But violent Motions are not lasting and the thickest Cloud will be broken and the Rain will fall Tears and Words will find vent Tell me ye Mothers tell me what you would do if you should see the merciless Officer or Souldier seizing on your Child for his prey if but one Child But Vtrumque Filium Both All and All without hope of Redemption Not one left to comfort the poor Mother in her Calamity Me thinks I see Rebecka's swoln heart ready to break Gen. 27. when she counsels Jacob to fly from the fury of his Brother Esau who had sworn his Death O why should I be deprived of both of you in one day And that witty Complaint of the Woman of Tekoa did pierce Davids heart Thy Hand-maid had two Sons they strove they fought and one is slain The Kinred call for Justice and lo they 'l quench my Coal which is left O King without thy help and pardon I shall be deprived of them both Here 's a widow a poor widow deprived of her best Comfort and now like to be robbed of her Children also Well might she have borrowed Jerusalem's mournful Complaint out of Jeremy O ye that pass by behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow Let Fathers speak who exeunt hominem leave off to be men if they leave off natural affection Let Mothers speak if Schools distinguish right their Love is more fervent though the Fathers love be more constant Let all those speak who are so much troubled at every common Cross Loss or Affliction What would they say if Mephibosheth must loose all If they must go hand in hand with Job If with this poor widow Goods and Children and All must be lost and for ought they know without the hope of any Jubile or Restitution Here we may see the affection of Parents towards their Children How many years doth Jacob lament the supposed death of his beloved Joseph How bitterly doth David bewail the untimely death of his ungracious Absolon Anna calls young Toby sorrowing for his Departure the Staff of her old Age the Staff in her hand that she went by Stories will tell you of some Fathers that have given their own eyes to save their Sons of those who have resigned their Crowns their Loves their Lives and all to do their Children good I will add but one Example more though of many in that one in the third Punick War when the choicest young Noble-men were sent away Hostages into Sicily The Mothers accompany them to the Ship with all expressions of sorrow Thence they get up the top of the Rocks and at their going out of sight the Mothers many of them cast themselves head-long into the Sea A sad farewel Yet were their Sons sent away for Hostages and not taken away for Slaves And thus doth Love descend in a full carrier from the Parents to the Children But I fear the Motion is very slow in rising upward from the Children to the Parents Sure this Motion is against the Hill we pause too often The Poet said true Filius ante diem And many say in their hearts what Esau did Gen. 27.41 The dayes of mourning for my Father are at hand He cannot live long And then a sad Suit and a merry heart But beware of that Lex talionis As sure as a day they are paid again in their own Coyn Besides the sting of a guilty Conscience is sure to follow them as long as they live O that Children would but think upon the many Cares and Fears and Cost that Parents are put to for their Children and with what neglect contempt and disobedience 't is oft-times repayed But take heed remember that of the Apostle Eph. 6.1.2 Filii obedite c. Honour thy Father and Mother which is the first Commandement with promise The Promise is long life which all desire And our undutifulness to our Parents cuts of the thread of life and sends men headlong to the grave c. Now come we to those Horse-Leeches whose Teeth are spears as Solomon sayes And they devour the poor of the earth Prov. 30.14 Ecce Creditor The Father is dead The Mother almost distracted The Children in despair The whose little House nought but Tears and Terrour And in comes this Moth-of-men this Canker that hath eaten up many good Houses and their Masters to boot In comes the Vsurer one qui laetatur de lachrymis proximorum when all weep he laughs He hopes to gain wherever the loss fall and he riseth most while by the ruins of the poor Of all Vertues Mercy is the best It conforms us to our Maker and hath the promise of a reward both in this life and in the life to come Matth. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall be sure of mercy The object of Mercy is Misery To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed Job 6.14 So David Psal 41. Blessed is he that considereth the poor and needy And Solomon He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord and look what he giveth God will pay him again Prov. 19.17 Now of all People in misery God regardeth none so much as the Widow and the Fatherless And therefore one special Branch in Moses's Law was a Proviso for them Exod. 22.22 Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child And when ye make a Feast call the fatherless and the widow Deut. 16. Nay thrice in that Chapter you are bid to rejoyce in your Feasts but call the fatherless and the widow No good feasting without them So likewise at Harvest-time at Olive gathering and Grape gathering still Remember the widow and fatherless Deut. 24. And one of the Charges which Asaph gave the Judges was to help the poor and fatherless Psal 82.3 4. When Eliphaz thought to load Job with Reproaches he tells him he had sent away the widows empty and he had not relieved the fatherless Chap. 9 And in Psal 94. one of their crying sins was They slay the widow and the stranger and put the fatherless to death Well then see here one that regardeth nor God nor Man nor Widow nor Fatherless All 's fish that comes to his Net Hee 'l have away the Children And let the Mother break her heart All 's one to him The Debt could not be great But the Forfeit was too great The Debtor was a good man and therefore would not borrow what in
death Aquin 2.7 q 124. art 3. Ex zelo fidei charitate fraterna c. saith Aquinas Out of the fervency of their faith and to hearten and encourage their Brethren The Martyrs have often come forth and offered themselves to the fire or other fury of their enemies Apolog. cap. 1. This made Tertullian cry out Christianis quid simile c. What may be compared to the Christian question him and he is glad accuse him and he saith guilty adjudge him to death and he will give thee thanks This made Antonius Pius give a liberal testimony of them in his time Euseb Eccl. Hist. lib. 4. c. 13. It is their desire in Gods quarrel rather to die than to live Not to speak of Isaiah cut in twain Sixt. Senens lib. Sanct. l. 1. Jeremy stoned Ezekiel beheaded Daniel in the Den and his three companions in the Oven and indeed which of the Prophets have not been persecuted and slain Act 7.52 nor of Eleazar beaten to death being fourscore years old and ten 2 Machab. 6. ibid. c 7. nor of that honourable Woman and her seven Sons enduring to the amâ—zement of the Tormentors And though it be most true as one saith Erasmus virginum Martyr comparat Parentes atrocius torquentur in liberis quà m in seipsis The poor Mother suffered more Martyrdoms than she had Children and every stripe their backs felt went to her heart yet she exhorted every one of them with a mâ—nly stomack and prayed them all to die couragiously never deploriâ—g that she had brought them forth to such misery but overjoyed that she should be the Mother of so many Saints And though I know it to be true what the Orator hath Cic. 3. in Verrem Vetera exempla pro fictis fabulis jam audiri Yet will I touch at a few of those holy Saints and blessed Souls in Heaven who willingly joyfully constantly yielded up their spirits in his quarrel who first trod out the way and shed his blood for them Policarpe when many urged him to deny his Saviour and sâ—ve himself answered resolutely fourscore and six years have I served Him neither hath he ever offended me in any thing and how can I revile my King who hath thus long preserved me And when the Proconsul threatned to burn him his answer was Thou threatnest fire for an hour which lasteth a while and is quickly quenched but thou art ignorant of the everlasting fire of the day of Judgment and of the endless torments which are preparâ—d for the wicked And being now come to his last he turneth from 〈◊〉 Persecutor to his Maker O God saith he I thank thee that thou hast g aciously vouchsafed this day and this hâ—ur to aâ—lot me a portion among the number of Martyrs and Servants of Christ Ignatius â—hen he was sent from Syria to Rome to be meat for wild Beasts Idem lib 3. c. 32. Gr. â—5 Now saith he do I begin to be a Disciple I weigh neither visible noâ— invisible things Let Fire Gallows Violence of Beasts bruising of Bones racking of the Members stamping of my whole Bodâ— and all the plagues Satan can invent light upon me so I may win my Saviour Christ Fox in tertia persecutionâ— Simeon Bishop of Hierusalem being an hundred and twenty years old was scourged many daies together and at last Crucified Peter a Noble man of Nicomeâ—ia Euseb Eccl. Hist lib 8. cap 6. had his body rent in pieces with the Lash afterward Vinegar mixt with Salt was poured into his wounds and last of all he was fryed to death upon a Gridiron Sanctus Idem l 5. c 1. one that would neither confess his Name Kinred or Country but only that he was a Christian had his body fired feared scorched with hot plates of brass Forty Martyrs young Gentlemen Fox in decima persecat ex Basil for professing themselves Christians were in the depth of Winter compelled to stand in a Pond all the night and in the morning taken out and burned Take one Wom n among the rest Blanaina Euseb lib 5. a 1. who was tormented from morning till night the Executioners tormenting her by turns and after a world of Cruelties she was wrapped in a Net and tumbled before a wild Bull which tossed her too and fro upon his horns and for a fare-well she had her Head divided from her Body I have read of some Jaques de Lavardin Hist. of Scanderbeg lib. 11. and those some of the valiantest the World did see within their Age who after all kind of Ignominy and Turkish cruelty practised upon them were flead alive by little and little for fifteen daies together Heb. 11.32 Euseb lib. 6. c 40. Gr 41. Ibid cap. 41. Gr. 42. Ibid. cap 40. Idem l. 5 c. 1. And to borrow the Apostles words what shall I more say for the time would be too short for me to tell how some had their eyes pricked out with sharp quills as Metras some were beaten to death with Cudgels as Ischyrion some had all their teeth beaten out of their head as Apollonia And what should I speak of the setting them in the Stocks Fox decima persecut and stretching their leggs unto the fifth-hole or of the Iron Chair wherein they sate broyling to death of holes made in their necks and their Tongues drawn out backward their Eyes pulled out and the hollow places seared with hot Irons (a) D King on â—onas Lect. 24. pownding in Mortars rowling in Barrels armed with pikes of Iron (b) D Benefiâ—ld on Amos Lect 7. Womens breasts seared (c) Sab. Prateolus lib 7. §. 7. Virgins faces whipped their whole body abused prostituted and tormented I am faint in telling and you be weary in hearing but they unterrified undaunted endured all couragiously * Erasmus viâ—ginum Martyr compâ—rat Tertul Apol. cap 50. Hemming in Pâ—â—l â—4 7. Naâ—anz Oat 〈◊〉 de Machabaeis Hosius Confess fidei cap. 6 8. Nasianz Cygneorum Carm. lib. Orat 3â— de Machabeis Heb. 2 Moses and Maximus c. 26 Ep. inter opera Cyprianâ— Tyrannorum ingeniosa crudelitas saith one The bloudy Tyrants set their wits on work to invent torment but nihil proficit exquisitior quaeque saith another the more the Torments the more the Martyrs Their bloud was like corn sown one brought forth many Yea the Persecutors themselves were astonished to see their constancy and how they went to their Martyrdom tanquam ad epulas tanquam ad de licias tanquam ad nuptialem thalamum they went to the fire as to a feast as to a dainty feast as to their bridal bed Wherefore let us also seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of Witnesses cast away every thing that presseth down and the sin that hangeth so fast on Let us remember from whence we are fallen that so we may repent and do the first works We
those crimson Capital offences that as the Orator said 2 in Verrem They might Cure not cover the wound and labour to profit raâ—her then to please the Patient So Clerus Romanus ad Cyprianum inter ejus opera tomo 1. ep â— That neither the wicked might be incouraged by their Facility nor religious minds disheartened by their Cruelty and yet of the twaine it was better with Domitius to be thought severe in punishing then dissolute in praetermitting passing by the wickedness Thus were some strengthened in Faith and armed against Lapses others were made to see the greatness of the sin and terrified against Relapses All were framed ordered tuned to a most wished happy harmony in the Church of God Reply p. 41. Yet Mr. Cartwright that disturber of Sions peace will cry out against the Churches severity extream excessive severity and though he somewhere tells us That Murderers Adulterers and Incestuous persons must die the death the Magistrate cannot save them such is this mild Moses's mercy toward those yet here pardon Ibid. p. 36. pardon pardon And lest he might seem any way to favour the proceedings of the Roman Church though when she was younger by fourteen hundred years then now she is Ibid. p. 149. He tells you That if Offenders be not meet to receive the holy Sacrament of the Supper they are not meet to hear the Word of God they are not meet to be partakers of the Prayers of the Church and if they be for one they are also for the other But this is he who thinks it more safe for us to conform our indifferent Ceremonies to the Turks Ibid pag. 131. Calvin Institut lib. 3. cap. 3. sect 16. Ibid lib. 4. â— 12. sect 8. which are afar off than to the Papists which are so near Indeed his Master tells us That the Church did use too much rigour And would know Si Deus tam benignus est ut quid Sacerdos ejus austerus vult videri God saith he is merciful and gracious why should his Priest be so austere and rigorous Ibid. lib. 3. c. 4. sect 10. Art 33. And yet Calvin here in our case will have the Sinner yield sufficient testimony of his sorrow That the scandal which the offender hath given may be obliterated and taken away And it must be palam in Templo and so doth our Church teach The Offender must be openly reconciled by Pennance Indeed we might be as unreasonably plausible as other some are and with those Hesterni as Tertullian calls Praxeas Cyprian tomo 1. epist. 10. Prov. 22.28 we might remove the ancient bounds which our Fathers have set We might be as unhappily undiscreetly merciful as Foelicissimus in Cyprian or another if it be true Tom 1. ep 40. lib. 6. cap. 9. in Socrates we might after a welcome-home admit them to the Church and Sacraments Cyprian de lapsis but it would prove a worse persecution then the first and we should call them A medela vulneris Idem tomo 1. ep st â—â— Serm de Benedicto Abbate it were the way to kill out-right and not to cure the disease Quae nimis propere minus prosperè The words are Bernards but it is a Proverb of our own More haste than good speed This made some Holy men of old pray That those which had fallen might know and acknowledge the greatness of their fall that so they might learn non momentaneam neque praeproperam desiderare medicinam That they might with all fearful humbleness expect Clerus Romanus ad Cyprianum inter ejus opera tomo 1. epist. 31. and not audaciously presume a pardon But to soder those rents to daub the breach with untempered mortar to incarnate on the splintred bones to cry peace peace in a present peril and the greatest danger what is this else but to precipitate and plung a poor distressed Soul into a more perplexed case and desperate disease It is a terrible lenity as saith St. Augustine Terribilis lenitas blanda pernicies stulta misericordia Bern ser 24. super Cantica a courteous mischief as St. Cyprian a foolish pity as St. Bernard Misericordiam hanc ego nolo God keep all poor sin-sick-souls from such Physicians Let the righteous rather smite me friendly and reprove me but let not their precious balms break my head Let me know my danger and whence I am fallen that I may repent and do the first works If much be remitted of the ancient severity as we see there is and the punishment be much less then those primitive Times did usually inflict it is not because the Sin is now less or the Compassion of the Faithful greater for that ancient discipline is to be wished for again but these delicate Times will not suffer it And the Church is forced to condescend to the weakness of her Children Church-book ante Comminat Tertul de poenitent cap. 1. Many men are become pudoris magis memores quà m salutis They will rather hazard the loss of Heaven than endure disgrace so they account it on earth And this is the very cause why many and as I am informed many hundreds are Musmans in Turky and Christians at home doffing their Religion as they do their Cloaths and keeping a Conscience for every Harbour where they shall put in And those Apostates and circumcised Renegadoes think they have discharged their Conscience wondrous well if they can Return and the Fact unknown make profession of their first Faith These men are Cowards and flexible before the fall careless and obstinate after it but what good will it do them saith Lactantius Bern. in Psal Qui habitat serm 11. l. 6. c. 24. non habere conscium habere conscientiam To have no witness without and one within To hide their sins from men and to appear as they are to the righteous Judge from whose eyes nothing is hid nothing is secret To be baptized with Simon Magus and yet live in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Cyprian de lapsis These are those cursed wretches to whom proprius interitus satis non fuit who will not perish alone but both by their example and their exhortation draw others into the same pit of perdition also who do add sin to sin and multiply and aggravate their offences by hiding denying excusing translating sin So that they may be Men here they care not to be Devils afterward If any such be here who hath received the Mark of the Beast and lives unknown yet for Gods sake for his own sake for that sweet Name by which he is named the Name of Christ by the hope of Heaven by the fear of Hell by his Friends on Earth and the holy Angels in Heaven who joy at the Conversion of a sinner by whatsoever is dearest unto him Gregory Nyssen in the end of his Homil. of Repentance Si vis curam agnosce languorem P. Chrysolog
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉