brother to a man the second sister to a woman and the third that you must name the partie by their proper name For it ought not to be honoured with names of worldly honour and dignity but to oppose it selfe against Satan in the name of the Lord it ought to be named by the proper name which it receiued at the holy Sacrament of Baptisme Which doing thou shalt obey vnto God whom I beseech to be fauourable vnto thee at the day of his comming * ⎠* COMFORT FOR THOSE THAT ARE SICKE DRAWEN OVT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTVRES FOR to prepare them to die B.S.N. HE that is of God hearkeneth to the word of God Iohn 8. and doth not onely hearken vnto it but keepeth it and puts it in execution for all things shall haue an end Mat. 7. Hebr. 1. Isa 40. and waxe old as doth a garment but the word of God dureth for euer Now seeing it is so that by a man sinne came into the world Rom. 5. and by sinne death and consequently all afflictions and aduersities thereon depending with iust occasion the life of man is but a continuall warfare vpon earth Rom. 7. so that the flesh fighteth against the spirit and the spirit against the Diuell the World and the Flesh which are the enimies of our soules But following the counsell of the Apostle to obtayne victorie in this spirituall battaile wee must constantly resist by faith 1. Peter 5. For the victorie that surmounts the world is our faith 1. John 5. The which is a certaine and a firme knowledge of the loue of God towards vs Hebr. 11. according as by his Gospell hee declares himselfe to bee our Father and Sauiour by the meanes of IESVS CHRIST Hauing then such a firme faith for your principall foundation Acknowledge and confesse without feyning before the maiesty of God that you are a poore and miserable sinner Psal 51. conceiued and borne in iniquity and corruption inclined to doe euill vnprofitable to all good and that through your vice you haue without ceasing transgressed the holy Commandements of God Luke 17. which doing you haue purchased by his iust iudgement ruine and perdition vpon you Neuerthelesse you are displeased with your selfe that you haue offended him and doe condemne both you your vices with true repentance desiring that the grace of God may succour you in your calamity Pray then in such a firme faith Psal 51. if you cannot with your mouth say it with your heart That God our benigne father and full of mercy enter not in iudgement Psalm 142. nor in account with you but that it would please him to haue pitie on you in the name of his sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and that he would blot out all your spottes and vices by the merite of the death and passion of the same Iesus Christ in whose name present vnto him his holy prayer the which hee hath taught vs saying with all your heart Our Father which art in heauen Matth. 6. hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Giue vs this day our daily bread And forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs And leade vs not into temptation But deliuer vs from euill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for euer and euer Amen B. S. N. Acknowledge with all your heart your vnrighteousnesse haue a displeasure for your sinnes repent incessantly and the kingdome of God will draw neere vnto you Matth. 3. Acknowledge that there is no righteousnesse nor innocency nor any good workes from you nor in you Titus 3. but that like vnto a childe of wrath conceiued and borne in the sinne of old Adam you merite euerlasting death and damnation Neuerthelesse that neither that nor all the sinnes in the world Ephe. 2. Psal 51. Rom. 8. although you should haue committed them doe not make you affraid For IESVS CHRIST true Sonne of the euerlasting God is become man conceiued of the holy Ghost borne of the Virgine Mary to sanctifie and cleanse you Rom. 1. Luc. 1. Mat. 1. hee hath suffered vnder Pontius Pilate many afflictions iniuries and outrages yeelding himselfe to bondage Phil. 2. Act 3. Mat. 27. to set you at full liberty IESVS CHRIST was crucified as accursed vpon the Crosse to deliuer you from the euerlasting curse IESVS CHRIST died and shed his most precious bloud Isa 13. Reuel 1. Heb. 9. to wash you to redeeme you to deliuer you wholy from death from hell and from the power of Satan 1. Pet. 1. Rom. 6. Act. 2. 1. Pet. 2. Iesus Christ was buried in a Sepulcher to burie all your sinnes the which hee hath borne and blotted out Iesus Christ descended into hell suffering an extreme agonie for to deliuer you from all the paines dolours of death Marc. 16. Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to make you rise in your proper body 1. Cor. 15. and glorious immortality Act. 1. Iesus Christ ascended into heauen to make you ascend thither after him Col 3. Iesus Christ fitteth at the right hand of God his Father Almightie being your aduocate and intercessour towards him 1. Iohn 2. Heb. 7. Mat. 25. Psalm 61. Rom. 8. and the attonement of all your sinnes we waite for his comming to iudge the quicke and the dead to render vnto euery one according to his workes But to the faithfull that beleeue in him Mat. 25. he will not impute their sins but hauing iustified them through his grace wil make them to reigne with him for euer in his heauenly throne B. S. N. Such is the great mysterie of our redemption the which by the meanes of the holy Ghost you must firmely beleeue hath bene done for your saluation And doubt not but by the merits of Iesus Christ the head of his Church you are one member incorporated therein Eph. 1. giuing him thankes in all humilitie that he hath giuen you the grace to liue in the communion of his faithful ones hauing nourished you with his word with his body and with his bloud Mat. 4. 1 Cor. 11. acknowledging as well assured the great mercy of God in the remission of all your sinnes Rom. 5. 1. Cor. 15. the which is shewne you through Iesus Christ who shal cause you to rise againe at the latter day to reigne with him in euersting life Marc. 16. the which he hath promised to all those that beleeue in him being baptized in his name Then B. S. N. seeing you haue this faith doubt not but to receiue the promise of faith for God is true he is no lyar like vnto men Rom. 3. Mat. 24. Heauen and earth shall passe but the word of God shall endure for euer Isa 40. God is your Father and Creator you are his Creature and the workmanship of his hands
with such leasure and liberty of minde as hee desired tooke them and cast them into the Sea saying very well that hee had rather to drowne them then they should drowne him And if a poore Pagane hath done this through a desire that hee had to learne the knowledge of morall and pollitike vertues to the ende to frame and rule the course of his life well what should wee doe that are Christians instructed by the word and Spirit of GOD that haue the promises and so certayne a hope of euerlasting life and the Kingdome of heauen that wee ought not in any wise to doubt but that wee shall also one day haue the possession of it Let vs then leaue the vvorldly goodes to vvorldly men and to those that haue no other hope not other Paradise but vpon the earth If wee haue any 1. Cor. 7. let vs possesse it as if we had it not and let vs take no more of it then wee must needes for our vse that is to say for our bare nourishment and cloathing which Iesus Christ teacheth in his forme of praier which he gaue to his Disciples where he teacheth them to demand nothing else but their daylie bread Condemning thereby the delicates the lickorishnesse and wantonnesse the sumptuousnesse the excesse and all the vaine superfluities of this world For the world as it is corrupted and excessiue in all things doth not content it selfe with superfluous things only but the children of God ought to content themselues with things necessary thinke that they are very rich when they haue crusts or barly bread or little fishes broyled as had Iesus Christ and his Apostles a little cake baked vpon the harth as Elias had Locusts as Iohn Baptist had to nourish him and to cloth him a course coate shagged with Cammels haire Howsoeuer they must possesse the riches and not suffer themselues to bee possessed by it let them rule it and let them not suffer themselues to be ruled of it Conclusion whether God giueth them any or whether hee takes any from them they must bee as ready to leaue it as to take it and to blesse the name of God as well for the one as for the other as did patient Iob. The third concupiscence and the most dangerous is the concupiscence of the flesh the which Salomon pursues at large in Ecclesiastes to shew that it is the chiefest and most generall of all vanities For there are few folkes in the world or perhaps none but seeke after the contentment and pleasure of the flesh Some delight in building of houses and stately Pallaces for to perpetuate the memory of their names as saith the Prophet Their care is to build houses faire Psal 49. And so determine sure To make their name right great on earth For euer to endure Yet shall no man alwaies enioy High honor wealth and rest But shall at length taste of deaths cup. As well as the brute beast Others take pleasure in hauing faire gardens faire orchards faire plats faire allies well couered to bee coole and in the shaddow Others apparell themselues richly and spend almost the whole day in combing and curling their haire in setting of their stuffes in looking in a glasse in perfuming of them selues Others desire to haue rich and sumptuous houshold stuffe for to adorne and decke vp their Hals and Chambers good Tapestry faire Pictures Bedsteds Couerings Chaines of gold and the richest imbroderings that can be found Iuory casements and great store of gold and siluer plate Others desire to haue their tables well couered with the rarest and most exquisite meates that can bee found and lickorish Cookes answerable to dresse and season them Others take pleasure in being in merry company there to laugh reioyce dance and reuell and to doe other things which cannot bee spoken nor written with modesty And what is all this in summe is it any thing else but the markes monuments and trophees of the luxurie dissolution and vanity of Christians As it was spoken in times past of the golden Image which Phryna a famous Cortizan of Athens caused to bee erected in the middest of their Citty with this faire inscription vnder it This is the trophie of the spoiles of the dissolute and infamous lasciuiousnesse of the Greekes that was done in one onely Citty of the Grecians for to reproue the lasciuious life of the Cittizens But this day amongst Christians there is neuer a house in the Citties and Townes nor any Villages in the Countrey but you may see the Scutchins of the world set vp and of that filthy spirit that reignes therein and euen in those dayes which GOD hath reserued to himselfe to the end that in them all the world should employ themselues to serue and to praise him and they altogither should thinke of nothing else but of sanctifying and celebrating his most holy name But men are so farre from doing that that of the seauen dayes in the weeke there is neuer a one wherein GOD is so much prophaned and blasphemed as hee is on those dayes which now a dayes seemes to bee appointed to giue pastime to the Diuell to our flesh for dancing feasting and all other merry pastimes which the one and the other desire Who is hee then that can with reason bee sorry for such pleasures when they leaue them the which bring nothing else but shame and dishonour spoile and losse of goods infinite diseases to body and soule a stupidity and dulnesse ruines and desolations of Countries Kingdomes and houses a contempt of vertue and of all honesty a hatred of all true religion and of God himselfe whom these swine flie from and haue in such horror that they would gladly neuer heare talke of him Which moreouer doe not only effeminate vs but make vs in the end like vnto beasts and they stay not long to bring vs to death when wee continue in them Let vs then looke that by their flatteries and faire countenance they doe not seduce vs. Their apparant beauty which appeares outward is alluring and deceiues those that doe not beware of the poyson that is hidden vnderneath Like vnto the Bird and the Fish that are taken with the hooke Simil. being drawen thereunto and deceiued by the baite that couers it Let vs then behold them behind and not before as Aristotle did wisely admonish for pleasures before seeme faire like vnto Syrenes but if men looke vpon them behinde they draw after them a long Serpents taile so vgly that the sight of it only is fearefull Ha who were able to recount the deluge of euils and miseries that haue befallen vs by that little pleasure which our first Parents had in eating the fruit that was forbidden them Which was cause that God who is so patient and so stow to wrath did send that great deluge of waters vpon the earth by the which he blotted out and raced euery liuing soule from off the face of the earth reseruing none aliue
and so ample demonstrations of the goodnesse and mercy of God towards him were not a great deale more easie for him to digest then the great reproches which he gaue him for his ingratitude 1. Sam. 12. after hee had oftended him and the fearefull threats which he added thereunto to discouer and publish his sinne to cause that his house should be filled with murder with bloud that the honor of his wiues should be tamted by his owne son and neuerthelesse although that such exploits of the iustice of God were heard a burthē which was importable vnto him yet did he yeeld his shoulder vnto him and old submit himselfe altogether to his will assuring himselfe alwaies vpon his mercy of the which hee did remember himselfe alwaies in his iudgements that the charge which he should lay vpon him should not be altogether to presse him downe Abac. 3. And we haue a singular example of his patience of this humble obedience which he was resolued to render vnto God in all his aduersities when with so peaceable and so moderate a spirit he bare the great and scandalous iniuries that Semei spake vnto him at that time when for to saue himselfe from the conspiracy made by his sonne and by his people against him 2. Sam. 16. he was constrained to flie in great diligence and to abandon the Citie of Ierusalem for the principall cause which made him so soft and supple was that he did referre all the insolencie and brauery which that little mastiffe did vnto him vnto the prouidence of God which had stirred him vp to speake those iniuries vnto him to humble him and trie his patience and vertue Which was cause likewise Iob. 1. 2. that Iob after so many notable losses of all his goods and children and finally of the health of his bodie did praise God as cheerefully as he did in his abundance and when he had the scope of his desires except the regard which he had to the prouidence of God the which he did contemplate in all his miseries for 〈◊〉 them at his hands as speciall blessings and fauours which hee doth to his children yea the most deare and best beloued And it sufficeth not that wee beleeue that all our sicknesses come from God but wee must beleeue it in all the circumstances thereof as that they are great long tedious painfull languishing and sometimes incurable that by reason of their contagion they let our friendes and kindred from comming to visite and comfort vs that wee finde no remedie no more then that poore woman that had the bloodie flixe which held her twelue yeares Mat. 9. Luc. 5. Iohn 5. and the poore man who was eight and thirtie yeares bound in his bed by reason of a palsie wherewith hee was stroken in all the members of his bodie Wee must also attribute all that to God and thinke that he is equally free to dispence of the good and euill which hee drawes from his treasures vnto whom hee thinkes good and in such portion and measure as it pleaseth him without that any one can iustly complayne of him or with reason demaunde of him why hee doth so or so After that we are resolued in our minds that not only the sicknesses but also all other euils happen vnto vs by the prouidence of God and that from them we haue gathered all the comforts which may be drawne Then to comfort vs yet more we must consider who is this God that sends them vnto vs and how neare he is vnto vs for it is not such a God as are those that these foolish people worship Psal 96. and are but a thing of nothing whereto they giue themselues Psal 115. who cannot see anything with their eyes nor heare with their cares nor smell with their nose nor taste with their tongues nor speake with their mouthes nor take nor giue with their hands nor walke with their feetes who in briefe can neither doe well nor ill for they are not only mortall like vnto men and beasts but things altogether dead who haue neither sense nor vnderstanding nor mouing nor feeling nor force nor vigour But the God in whom we beleeue Act. 14. Hebr. 1. is the Creator of heauen and earth who causeth euery thing to liue and die and breathe who beares the world and all things contained therein by the only vertue of his powerfull word who with one of his fingers measures and poises the earth as with a beame Esay 40. Psal 147. who knoweth the number and names of the Starres Rom. 4. Reuel 1. who cals the things that are not as well as if they were who beares the keyes of life and death who is infinite in himselfe and all his vertues are infinite for his Goodnesse Mercy Wisedome Iustice and Vertue are so high and so great that the length thereof can be no more couered then the breadth nor the breadth then the thickenesse Now this most good and most great God is not farre from vs 1. Cor. 3. Psal 5. Psal 17. neither in presence nor in affection he is in vs as in his Temple for to sanctifie vs and round about vs for to couer vs with his fauour and to hide euery part of vs vnder the shadow of his wings He dwelleth in vs as in his house 2. Cor. 6. for to gouerne and inrich vs to furnish and adorne vs our vnderstandings and our hearts are his galleries wherein he walkes and takes his pleasure there deuising with vs by the diuine thoughts and holy affections which he hath inspired And albeit that he replenisheth heauen and earth and that the loue which he beareth to his creatures and the care which he hath of them are cause that he doth assist and accomodate them with all that is necessary for to preserue and entertayne them Neuerthelesse Psa 148. we are nearer to his heart Job 3. Ephes 6. hauing receiued of him so many fauours as to haue espoused conioyned and vnited our selues inseparably vnto him and by the meanes of this vnion to receiue vs into a participation and communalty of all his goodnesse Then euen as a woman that knowes her selfe well beloued of her husband and which doth wholly possesse him cannot feare that hee should vse to her any euill intreatment Simil. also wee ought to assure our selues that God who loueth vs infinitely cannot doe nor suffer any thing to be done vnto vs to hurt vs Rom. 5. for if as saith S. Paul when we are enimies we were reconciled vnto him by the death of his Sonne much more rather being already reconciled vnto him shall we be deliuered by his life Is there any thing more absurd then to thinke that God who is the soueraigne good can be the authour of any euill Iam. 3. doth a fountaine cast our both sweet and bitter water The Heretikes themselues as Marcion and the Manicheans for the horror which
stony nature the spirituall seede were not able to take roote therein nor to fructifie no more then the bodily seede cast vpon a stone for a land vntilled The sicke being then thus resolued of the remission of all their sinnes neede not in any sort to doubt but that they are in the grace and fauour of God and that from thence they may infallibly hope for eternall life For there is nothing that can exclude vs from it but sinne only the which being not imputed vnto vs but being couered and quite blotted out what is it that can hinder or keepe backe God from vs And if by faith as hath been said we remaine conioyned and vnited inseparably with him who is a fountaine of life Ephes 3. and the scope of all good things what can we desire but we shall presently finde it in him Psal 56. What mishap or misery can wee feare being in his fauour If he be with vs who shall be against vs Then are we assured that the good will that hee beares vs shall be continued for euer and that there is no creature in the world that shall be able to turne it from vs as writeth S. Paul to the Romans I am assured that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principallities nor Power nor things present nor things to come nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate vs from the loue of God which he beareth vs in Christ Iesus our Lord. And a little before this passage What shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall it be tribulation or anguish or persecution or hunger or nakednesse or perill or sword All men then that haue beene ingrafted once by faith into the body of Iesus Christ and by consequent adopted of God and receiued into his fauour and into his house as his child neuer departs from thence afterwards But as he is assured of his election by his vocation and iustification which haue followed Rom. 5. also is he of his glorification which is the conclusion and as it were the crowne of his saluation For the gifts and the vocation of God are without repentance which the Apostle writes very plainly to the Romans Rom. 8. Those that he hath predestinate he hath also called and those that he hath called he hath also iustified and those that he hath iustified he hath also glorified And although that there are alwaies many vices and infirmities in vs and that it euen happens sometimes vnto vs to fall very heauily as it happened to Dauid S. Peter S. Paul and almost to all the Saints yea the perfectest that euer were neuer he lesse there is a point vpon the which we should be alwaies grounded and which ought greatly to comfort vs and vphold vs against all the assaults and temptations of Sathan which is that which Saint Iohn saith 1. Iohn 3. Whosoeuer is borne of God doth not sinne meaning to death for the seede of him remaines in him and hee cannot sinne because he is of God which he declares yet better else where 1. Iohn 5. All iniquity faith he is sinne but there is some sinne which is not to death we know that whosoeuer is borne of God sinneth not For by that hee giueth sufficiently to vnderstand that faith and the word of God which is in the soule and in the foundation are neuer altogither drawne away and exterminate out of the hearts of the elect and that by that reason they cannot commit that sinne which S. Iohn cals to death For although that faith bee sometimes as it were buried in them hauing not any mouing nor feeling no more then a dead thing neuerthelesse it is not altogither quenched no more then a fire couered in the ashes Simil. although it neither shew his light nor heate nor likewise dead no more then a tree in winter when the sappe being drawne to the roote bringeth forth neither flowers nor leaues nor fruit that shew any life which neuerthelesse is clasped vp within and hidden in the roote There is the reason for the which Dauid speaking of the faithfull man in the 27. Psalme saith Though that he fall Psal 37. yet is he sure Not vtterly to quaile Because the Lord stretcheth out his hand At neede and doth not faile And eeke his seede I will sustaine Psal 89. For euer strong and sure So that his seate shall still remaine While heauen and earth endure If that his sonnes forsake my law And so beginne to swerue And of my iudgments haue none awe Nor will not them obserue Or if they doe not vse aright My statutes to them made And set all my commandements light And will not keepe my trade Then with my rodde will I beginne Their doings to amend And with scourging for their sinne When that they doe offend My mercy yet and my goodnesse I will not take him fro Nor handle him with craftinesse And so my truth forgoe But sure my couenant I will hold With all that I haue spoke No word the which my lips haue told Shall alter or be broke Psal 23. And finally while breath doth last Thy grace shall me defend And in the house of God will I My life for euer spend Psal 30. For why his anger but a space Doth last and slacke againe But in his fauour and his grace Alwaies doth life remaine Though gripes of griefe and pangs full sore Shall lodge with vs all night The Lord to ioy will vs restore Before the day be light Psal 65. The man is blest whom thou doest chuse Within thy courts to dwell Thy house and temple he shall vse With pleasures that excell Psal 119. Of thy goodnesse still shewd to me Thou wilt not Lord I frustrate be All these passages and others like out of the Scripture must be alleaged to the sicke to strengthen their faith on euery side and to furnish and arme it strongly against the inflamed darts and arrowes of the Diuell to the end that on which side soeuer hee may shoote them hee may not finde any place bare where hee may reach or wound him For wee must not doubt but then hee will vse all his forces and all his sleights for to shake our faith and to ouercome vs. But the meanes to defend our selues is to keepe our selues alwaies in our fortresse and neuer to depart from the promises of God whatsoeuer hee can alleadge to the contrary Let vs propound vnto him that which I say saith that Israel is saued by the Lord with an eternall saluation Isay 45. and that we shall not be confounded nor ashamed from this time forth for euermore And elsewhere Isay 51. The heauens shall vanish away like smoake and the earth shall bee worne out like a garment and the inhabitants thereof shall likewise bee abolished But my saluation shall be for euer and my iustice shall neuer faile And to the end that the demonstrations which
happie spirits the euerlasting consolations which are there promised and reserued for the elect And the bodie on the other side in the earth as in a bed there for to sleepe and rest at his ease without that his slumber be any more interrupted or troubled neither by troublesome dreames nor by cares and solicitudes nor by feares nor by alarmes and violent noyses nor by any other occasion whatsoeuer and that vntill the day of the resurrection in the which it shall be awaked by the sound of Gods trumpet reunitted to the soule hauing lost his mortalitie corruption 2. Cor. 15. dishonour and weakenesse in the earth and bing clothed againe with glory force immortalitie and incorruption Wherin we may see that it is without reason that men are so greatly affraid of the bodily death the which for a time separates the body from the soule to the great profit of the one and the other For the bodie is by that meanes out of all danger not onely of sinne and of miseries which it draweth along with it but also of all temptation lying resting in the earth in assured hope of the resurrection and euerlasting life And although it seeme to be altogether depriued of life in the earrh because that the soule departing from it leaues it without any mouing or feeling and also that it rots and is reduced to dust neuerthelesse being alwaies accompanied with the spirit and infinite vertue of God who quickneth all things it is not altogether separated from life as saith St. Paul If the spirit of him that hath raised vp Iesus Christ from the dead dwelleth in vs he that hath raised him vp wil also quickē your mortal bodies because his spirit dwelleth in you And it is the reason for the which elsewhere he being willing to giue vs a picture of the resurrection to come of our bodies doth propound it vnto vs vnder the figure of a seed put into the groūd which hath life in it selfe although that being in a garner it hath no shew of any and that holding it in our hands we can iudge no otherwise of it but that it is a dead thing neuertheles whē it is put into the earth where it might seeme that the life which should be in it should there bee quite stifled and smothered it shewes it selfe and comes forth euen as out of the rottennesse from whence we see spings the stalke which afterward taketh nourishment and growth which are effects and demonstrations of the life which was hid therein before it was put into the earth And albeit that God in the Scripture calles himselfe the God Abraham Mat. 22. euen after his death and that he is not the God of the dead but of the liuing from thence it followes that not onely the soule of Abraham which he hath redeemed by the death of his Sonne is yet liuing after it is separated from the body but that also the body which doth participate in this same redemption and which is vnited and incorporated with IESVS CHRIST for to bee of his members and which finally hath beene consecrated and dedicated vnto God to the end that hee should dwell in it as his Temple is not depriued of life 1. Cor. 3. euen at that time when it is rotted in the earth Because that it is alwaies accompanyed with the grace of God and comprehended as well as the soule in the euerlasting alliance which hee hath made with his people the which alliance is a spring and veine of life not vnto the soules onely but vnto the bodies also of all the faithfull And if as saith St. Iohn in his reuelations those are happy that die in the Lord Reuel 14 and there is no beatitude without life from thence wee must conclude of two thinges the one eyther that the beatitude commeth not to the bodie or if it doth reach to it that it is not exempt from life lying in the earth For although that beeing all worme-eaten it doth not in such estate shew any appearance of life yet doth it alwaies retaine as it were a seed thereof and budde which shall appeare at the day of the resurrection when the Spirit of God powring his infinite vertue vpon our bodies it shall raise them and shall adorne them with glory and excellency which God hath promised to his elect And euen as in an egge there is a chicken Simil. and life hidden the which is put in euidence when the hen commeth to heate and broode it with her heat so the immortality and life to the participation whereof as well our soules as our bodies haue bene called from that time that by faith we haue receiued the Gospell which is a word of life and an incorruptible seed shall be as it were disclosed at the latter day by the power of our God who will reuiue vs as the heauen 2. Peter 3. the earth and all other creatures which thē shal be deliuered quite from the bondage of corruption Rom. 8. Whereof we are also assured by the Baptisme which hath bene communicated vnto vs in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost for the water which hath bene powred on our bodies which the Scripture calleth the washing of regeneration is not to assure vs that our soules onely are washed and cleansed in the bloud of Iesus Christ by the remission of our sinnes but also our bodies And that both together being couered and cloathed with the iustice and innocency of the Sonne of God and ouer and aboue sanctified by his Spirit are presently put in possession of life and altogether freed and deliuered from the bondage of death which hath no power as we haue said but there onely where sinne reigneth which is the onely cause of death The Lords Supper in the which by faith taking the bread and wine which therein are administred by the M◅ster we are receiued to the participation of the flesh and bloud of Iesus Christ and so vnited and incorporated with him that for euer as saith St. Iohn he dwelleth in vs and we in him Ioh. 6. doth it not also assure vs that being inseparably conioined with life and the meanes of life wee cannot die neither in soule nor in body by the meanes of this vnion which is common to both of them The bodily death then should not seeme so horrible and feareful vnto vs as it is to many who are affrighted with it Simil. as are children with a maske and false visage for if a mother did present her self before her child in a shape mōstrous and hideous to behold he would be affraid of it and crying would runne from it but as soone as she hath lifted vp her maske and that he knoweth her againe he will runne towards her to embrace and kisse her We also to be deliuered from this naturall feare and fright which we haue of death we ought to vnmaske it and looke vpon it now in
whom thy flocke elect And all of Isaacks sect Are put to open shame With them that peace did hate I came a peace to make And set a quiet life But when my tale was told Causelesse I was controld By them that would haue strife Elias seeing that the people of Israel had forsaken God 1 King 18. and had altogether abandoned themselues to Idolatry and on the other part the strange cruelties that Achab and Iesabel did vse and exercise against the Prophets and seruants of God being glutted and wearie of his life hauing cast himselfe into the desert vnder a banke prayed God to take him out of this world that he might see no more that which he had seene in it Also it is not possible that a man of a good heart seeing the disorders and confusions that are this day in the world and that euerywhere excepted a very few places godlinesse and iustice are turned vpside downe faith and the feare of God vertue and veritie banished and exiled out of the companie of the most part of men but hee must in his heart feele strange griefes and that for to turne away the sight of such pitifull spectacles would not wish his soule quickly to bee dislodged out of this earthly Tabernacle for to take and haue his dwelling in heauen where we hope for a permanent Citie and a habitation furnished and assured against all dangers and that then shall bee fully accomplished that which the Prophet saith Against all dangers from henceforth Thy soule he will preserue And to thy deedes for euermore A happy end reserue And that which ought to increase this desire is that going from hence we shall be sodainly transported into heauen where we shall see God face to face and Iesus Christ in his glory Which is a fight that rauisheth the Angels and all the happy Spirits in such sort that they desire nor seeke after any thing else for their perfect contentment as saith the Prophet I set the Lord still in my sight Psal 16. And trust him ouer all For he doth stand on my right hand Wherefore I shall not fall The Queene of Saba hauing seen Salomon and vnderstood his great wisedome by the resolution which he had giuen vpon all the points and questions 1. Kings 10. which shee had propounded vnto him hauing moreouer diligently considered and marked the order and great state which hee kept in his court being as it were rauished and as it were out of her selfe shee cryed out O how happy are the seruants of thy house that may behold thy face euery day and vnderstand the profound wisedome which distilleth incessantly from thy lips How much more happy shal we then be then they fully enioying the glorious face of our God and all the treasures of his diuine patiēce being opened vnto vs If Moyses be esteemed happy hath bin held for one of the greatest Prophets in the world because he saw Gods hinder part only what shall we be when wee shall see him face to face such as he is Many kings and Prophets in the time of the Fathers did feruently desire the cōming of Iesus Christ would haue thought themselues happy to see God manifested in the flesh as Iohn Baptist Simeon the Apostles saw him what felicity ought we at this day to esteem it when by death wee are so happy to see him in his glory maiesty clothed with his roial robe sitting on the right hand of God his Father hauing authority and power in heauen and earth to gouerne dispose of all things according to his good pleasure and holding al his enimies as a foot-stoole vnder his feete When he transfigured himself in the mountaine Peter Iohn Iames because they had only seen as it were passing by a small splendour of his glory were sodainly so rauished and transported with it that forgetting in an instant all other things they desired for all happinesse but that the pleasure which they felt at that houre might alwaies continue with them Then let vs now thinke if 〈◊〉 patterne and as it were a finall drop of the life and glory to come hath had so much power as to rauish the Disciples to transport them forth of themselues what shall become of vs when according to our hope we shall haue the whole power and shall drinke in that brooke or to speake better in that Sea of pleasure and all perfect contentment when this sempitern all happinesse whereof the Prophet speaketh shall bee powred on our heads Moreouer shall not this ioy redouble when with Iesus Christ we shall see and behold all this faire and noble company of Angels Archangels Principallities Powers Patriarks Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and generally all the Church triumphant of the happy Spirits who occupy and exercise themselues in nothing else but without ceasing to sing the praises of God saying Holy holy holy Reuel 4. Lord God euerlasting which was which is and which shall befor euer Item To him that fitteth on the throne to the Lambe Reuel 5. be all honor praise glory and power for euer and euer In times past it was a wonderful thing to see the assembly of all the Tribes of the people of Israell in Ierusalem 1 Kings 8. when that Salomon after hee had made an end of building the Temple would solemnely dedicate it with an Infinite number of Sacrifices with perfumes and sweet incense with prayers and thanks-giuing and an alacrity of the people of God neuerheard off nor seene before There were yet since that two other notable assemblies in Ierusalem which are much celebrated in the Scripture the one vnder the reigne of Ezekias 2. Chron. 30. 2. Kings 23. and the other vnder Iosias when these two good Princes moued with a zeale piety and seruice of God which had beene miserably corrupted by the Idolatry and impiety of their Predecessors did vndertake with valiant and heroycall hearts to cleanse the holy land of the filthy and stinking whordomes as well corporall as spirituall wherewith it was infected taking away all the stewes and Idols in the whole land of Iuda and abolishing all the false seruices that the fathers and hypocrites had inuented and established against the word and ordinance of God And besides to renew the alliance of God which was almost altogither buried and blotted out of the hearts of the people did call togither all the inhabitants of the countrey with the which after the publike reading of the law they celebrated the feast of the Passeouer with the greatest solemnity that euer was heard off or seene before And we must not doubt but all well minded people seeing such a company assembled togither to such a good end did leape for ioy beholding God in the middest of his holy people hearing the accords and agreements which were reuiued betweene both parties and the solemne promises and protestations which were respectiuely made by God assuring his people of his fauour
that liue in exile with barbarous and inhumane people ought not we to bee glad when God calles vs to establish vs in our countrie or with our brethren that is to say the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the happie spirits that we may together enioy in peace the glory honour rest and all that great and perfect felicity which he hath promised and prepared in his Kingdome for all his elect It is maruell that men and euen the faithfull that are instructed not onely by the word of God but also by so many experiences which they see euery day that all the brightnesse and glory of the world are but vanities and illusions and dreames that passe doe neuerthelesse suffer themselues to be so bewitched by flatteries and wantonnesse that at last they become altogether sencelesse beastes like the companions of Vlysses by the charmes and enchantments of Circes For must not their iudgement be much corrupted and altogether peruerted to grieue at their departure out of this world to go vp into heauen and to preferre changeable vncertaine transitorie and corruptible things which cause infinite paines to follow purchase them and as many cares to keepe them and yet more sorrow and griefe when they are lost before the goods which God promiseth in his Kingdome which are certaine vnchangeable incorruptible euerlasting and assured and which can bring nothing to those that enioy them but a true entire and perfect contentment Wherein as did our first parents for an Apple we forsake a Paradise not earthly but heauenly that is to say all the delightes and greatest pleasures that can be imagined for a messe of pottage wee sell our birth-right aod goods appertayning thereunto as did Esau we make more account of the garlike and onions of Egypt then the holy Land with all the plentie and blessings thereof Briefe wee had rather as did the prodigall child liue amongst hogs vpon chaffe and wash then bee nourished and sustayned in our fathers house with the breade of Angels and finally that after the example of Lots wife we mourne for the losse of the infamous pleasures of our Sodome with the which we had rather perish then by forsaking them to be saued the which bewayling we may say with the Prophet O folke vnwise and people rude Psal 94. Some knowledge now discerne Ye fooles among the multitude At length beginne to learne For what maketh you so much to esteeme the world and that which is therein but a damnable desire the which blindes vs in such sort that it maketh vs oft times to take the light for darknesse and to the contrary darknesse for light the bitter for the sweete and the sweete for the bitter To the end then that we be not deceiued in our iudgements wee must ground them not vpon the outward appearance nor vpon the common errour of men which being sensuall doe not approoue nor reiect the thinges that are present before them but according as they are pleasant or contrarie to their sence and appetite But wee must iudge all thinges as saith the Apostle by the word of God which is an infallible rule to discerne the true from the false And not in our iudgements to follow our reason or carnall prudence which is enemie to GOD and iustifieth ordinarily that which hee condemnes and to the contrarie condemnes that which hee iustifieth Now let vs then see what the word of God teacheth vs touching the world and the thinges that are of the world Loue not the world saith Saint Iohn nor the thinges that are of the world for if any man loue the world the charitie of the Father is not in him for that which is in the world to wit the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the ouerweaning of life is not of God but of the world There is then that which the holy Apostle teacheth vs of the world that wee must not loue it if wee will that God loue vs. And Salomon when hee speakes of it sayeth that after hee had long and diligently considered all the state of this world the varietie and inconstancie of mens mindes the diuersitie of studies whereunto they apply themselues the mutabilitie and sodaine changing of their counsels the little iudgement that they haue to praise or reuile to extoll or disprayse to loue or hate to pursue or disdayne the things which are set before them hee hath obserued not onely by reason but also by experience that the desires of most men are but folly and vanitie the which they worship being induced thereunto by their appetites the which because they are blind and doe not suffer themselues to be led by any good reason are easily transported euery where where their pleasure and the diuell driues them whereof commeth that some pursue ambitiously the honors and greatnesse of the world that for to attayne thereunto they violate all rights and lawes forget all piety and humanity mingle and confound all things cherish and fauour the wicked with whom they league themselues hate and reiect the good and vertuous make warre against the countrey wherein they were borne nourished and brought vp take the liberty from it if they can by a cruell tyrannie which they vse therein bring it to a miserable bondage as did Iulius Caesar and before and after him many others doth not that euidently shew that there is nothing truer then that which Iesus Christ said of such ambitious men to wit that that which is great and much esteemed of men Luk. 16. is for the most part abhominable before God And how should they be agreeable seeing the most part beleeue neither in him not in Iesus Christ as it is written in St. Iohn Iohn 5. How can you beleeue seeing you receiue glory the one of the other and seek not after the glory which cōmeth from God alone And elsewhere the Pharisees chiefe men of Ierusalem condemning themselues said Iohn 9. Is there any one of al the Princes that haue beleeued in him to wit Iesus Christ Mat. 11. And in St. Mathew O Father Lord of heauen and earth I giue thee thanks that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and vnderstanding hast reuealed them to the little ones We ought not then to grieue to forsake the honors and greatnesse of this world which ordinarily maketh vs to forget God and our selues and which turne vs from the study and exercise of vertue which induce vs to seeke our owne glory rather then Gods which maketh vs to disdaine our neighbours and to forget that wee are but dust and ashes and which finally brings vs to worship the Diuell and make vs insensible as saith the Prophet Thus man to honor God hath cald Psal 49. Yet doth he not consider But like brute beast so doth he liue Which turne to dust and powder And a little before where hee yet speakes more expresly of the foolish purposes and imaginations of the
to be done by good prayers confession of sinnes and Christian exhortations according to the word of God Mat. 4. without the which man cannot liue And to that end that all things may be done in good order and with zeale first it shall bee conuenient to fall downe before the Maiestie of God and pray vnto him beginning Our helpe is in the name of the Lord who hath made both heauen and earth Then present vnto him the generall confession of sinnes and consequently this present prayer as followeth LOrd God Almighty and father of mercy we heere assembled in the name of thy welbeloued Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Mat. 18. Iohn 14. in his fauour haue bene so bold as to present our selues before thee to call vpon thy holy name hauing our onely refuge to thy soueraigne goodnesse the which we doe not onely desire to feele and taste in our selues but also in the necessitie of thy poore creature being afflicted with sicknesse in body Iames. 5. affliction and calamitie of minde We know Lord that thou hast iustly visited and chastised him with thy rod 1. Cor. 11. to make him to vnderstand thy fatherly affection But thy great mercies the which thou hast vsed towards our fathers Psal 78. are not quenched and consumed For thou art the great God euerlasting Mat. 26. Psal 102. propitious and mercifull that neuer alterest Thy holy word teacheth vs plainely that the whole earth is full of thy mercies the which do much surmount this iudgement wherefore Lord appease thy wrath towards thy creature Haue pitie and compassion on him for the loue of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST our Lord Looke not vpon his sinnes Iohn 14. Heb. 7. 9 but looke vpon the face of thy Christ who hath sufficiently satisfied thee for him in offering vnto thee the great Sacrifice of his bodie on the Crosse VVee beseech thee then O God most benigne and full of mercie to make him to feele thy grace which thou diddest neuer refuse to thy children And because thou art our eternall Father Mat. 6. knowing well what is expedient and necessay for our saluation wee doe not pray thee to prolong his life or to abridge it For wee relie vpon thy holy will vnto the which onely wee desire to please Rom. 11. Thou art wise without counsell to dispose of thy creature according to thy good pleasure If it please thee to call him who is it that can resist Rom. 8. Iohn 11. If thou please to restore him to health againe who is it that can reproue thee For all thinges are in thy handes and nothing is done without thy will and holy prouidence Neuerthelesse Lord if by thy fauour thou doest prolong his daies Psal 22. thy rod shall serue for a chastisement vnto him to amend and conuert him vnto thee and wee with him will render thee thankes and praise But if thy will bee setled to make him passe into a better life wee beseech thee in the fauour of thy Sonne Iesus to forget all his faults and sins the which it was thy will to haue blotted out Reuel 1. and washed in the shedding of his precious bloud May it please thee by the merite of the death and passion of thy Sonne to receiue his soule into thy handes Mat. 16. Psal 20. when it shall please thee to call him out of this world Lord God doe not despise the worke of thy handes Psalm 137. Psal 129. Psal 51. for behold thy poore creature almost consumed who calleth vpon thee out of the bottome of his sorrowes presenting vnto thee his sorrowfull and penitent soule with his humbled heart which wee beseech thee to accept in good part for the loue of thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Iohn 14. in whose name thou hast promised to grant our requestes Wherefore Lord wee beseech thee to receiue vs into thy holy keeping illuminating our hearts and vnderstandings to addresse our selues towards thee and to call vpon thy holy name Mat. 6. as thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hath taught vs to pray vnto thee for all our necessaries saying Our Father which art in heauen c. Finally O God most benigne Father and full of mercie that it may please thee alwaies to sustaine vs by thy grace and vertue to the end that through the infirmitie of our flesh wee doe not fall And because that of our selues wee are so weake that wee were not able to remaine stedfast one minute of time may it please thee to fortifie vs by thy holy Spirit and to arme vs with thy graces that wee may constantly perseuere in faith without the which it is not possible for to please thee Heb. 11. May it please thee then to confirme vs from day to day in it whereof we will make a confession with heart and mouth saying I beleeue in God the Father c. The prayers ended you may looke how the sicke bodie doth and inquire of his health with friendly wordes and Christianlike speeches And if you perceiue that hee declineth and that no signe of health doth appeare a little after you may chuse a fit time to speake to the said sicke bodie and aske him whether hee hath a good minde to talke of God and to hearken to his word whiles hee is yet in his good sence that if hee bee of God Iohn 8. you may beginne this little Catechisme that followeth A SHORT CATECHISME which is not only to instruct the Sicke but also to refresh their memories with the great mysterie of our redemption Eccles 18. the which well to vnderstand and keepe in his latter dayes hee ought to make Confession of his faith before the assistants of the faithfull whereof one of them in the absence of the Minister ought to examine him as followeth THE MINISTER B.S.N. EVery man that knoweth himselfe well and is not ignorant of his condition and quality surely he ought to confesse that notwithstanding that he is created after the Image and likenesse of God Genes 1. neuerthelesse that he is conceiued and borne in the sinne of old Adam Psal 51. Ephes 2. Rom. 5. whereby he is made a poore miserable sinner ignorant inconstant and full of iniquity and consequently subiect to all miseries afflictions aduersities and finally to death All which sinne hath caused which because God would not leaue vnpunished he afflicts vs daylie and to speake better he chastiseth vs in this world to the end not to damne vs with the world wherfore 1. Cor. 11. Psal 31. B.S.N. Bee patient in your sicknesse and you shall possesse your soule in spirituall ioy Acknowledge your sinne and accuse your selfe before the Maiesty of God vpon whom you must looke by faith making confession thereof with heart and mouth before all the assistants for it is written Rom. 10. that men beleeue in heart to righteousnesse and with their mouth confesse to saluation Hearken
then vnto the questions which now I shall demaund you and answere faithfully according to the vnderstanding that you haue receiued of the Lord which if you cannot by reason of the weakenesse and hinderance of your sicknesse Mat. 10. I will answere for you and it shall suffice for you to giue vs your heart and constancy of faith in the which you must liue and die Now I aske you wherefore and to what end you were created in this world Genes 2. The Sicke To know God The Minister Was it necessary for you to know God Psal 16. 17. The Sicke Yes surely for seeing hee is my soueraigne good without the knowledge of him I had beene more wretched then the brute beasts The Minister Seeing you know God you know well that hee is the mighty the wisedome and the infinite good Genes 1. Iohn 1. Luke 1. 1. Iohn 5. Genes 18. one God in three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost It is the only God that Abraham Isaacke and Iacob worshipped in spirit and truth It is the only euerlasting God who hath created heauen and earth and all things therein The knowledge that you haue of God is it not such The Sicke Yes The Minister But such a simple knowledge of God were it able to conduct you to eternall life The Sicke Very hardly for euerlasting life Iohn 17. is to confesse and knowledge one only God and him whom hee hath sent his euerlasting Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ The Minister Wherefore is it necessary for you to know and confesse the Lord Iesus Christ The Sicke Because that I must recouer in IESVS CHRIST Rom. 5. Psal 51. Luke 24. Psal 21. Rom. 11. that which I haue lost in my selfe through the sinne of the old Adam whereunto I was conceiued and borne Therefore it hath beene needfull for my saluation that IESVS CHRIST true God and true Man hauing put on our flesh should giue me by his grace all that I had lost in Adam The Minister It is very well said That is the reason why Iesus Christ was conceiued by the holy Ghost Mat. 1. Luke 1. and borne of the Virgin Mary to purge and sanctifie you For cleane contrary to him Ephes 2. Psal 51. you were conceiued and borne in sinne and of sinnefull parents Wherefore doe you not confesse that without Iesus Christ you had remayned a wretched and miserable sinner Rom. 8. in euerlasting death The Sicke Yea certainly but I beleeue and confesse Rom. 6. that this good Iesus Christ hath reconciled me to God his Father The Minister But how did he reconcile you to God his Father Mat. 26. Heb. 7. 9. The Sicke By his Death and Passion the shedding of his most precious blood for to deliuer me out of al euerlasting paine this good Iesus Christ hath suffered vnder Pontius Pilate for me many afflictions iniuries and tribulations Act. 3. Mat. 27. It is Iesus Christ who hath beene crucified for me as accursed vpon the Crosse to deliuer mee from the euerlasting curse vnto the which Adam had bound me This my Sauiour IESVS Christ was truly buried to bury al my sinnes with him to the end they bee not imputed to me before God It is my Lord and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST Rom. 6. who descended into hell Act. 2. 1. Peter 2. suffering an extreme temporall anguish for to deliuer mee from the euerlasting The Minister All that you haue now confessed of Iesus Christ was it sufficient to saue you The Sicke No according as the holy Scriptures ought to bee accomplished in all things Isa 53. Mat. 26. For what had it profited mee that Iesus Christ was borne crucified dead buried and descended into hell for me onely without rising againe Wherefore Marke 16. 1. Cor. 15. I beleeue and confesse that my Lord my head and Sauiour Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to cause mee to rise againe with him as one of his little members in euerlasting life The Minister Consequently it is written that hee ascended into heauen Act. 1. being now set at the right hand of God his Father But what doth this Ascension profit you The Sicke My Lord my head and my Sauiour Iesus Christ is gone vp into heauen to make mee ascend after him Colos 3. 1. Iohn 2. Rom. 8. For where the head is there are the members also And I beleeue that being set at the right hand of God his Father hee is my Aduocate Rom. 8. Intercessor and only Mediator towards him assuring me very well that no man can hinder mee Iohn 5. seeing Iesus Christ is my Aduocate Mat. 25. and Iudge also wherefore I haue no occasion to feare his iudgement when hee shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead For I beleeue and confesse with a stedfast faith that there is no iudgement nor condemnation for those that are faithfull members in Iesus Christ Rom. 8. The Minister VVho hath giuen you the grace to know and vnderstand all these things The Sicke It is by the grace of the holy Spirit 1. John 5. one only God with the Father and the Sonne by the meanes whereof wee receiue all the goods and gifts which are offered vnto vs in Iesus Christ The Minister Seeing you haue already confessed that you are a member of Iesus Christ it followeth then that you are also incorporated in his Church the which hee hath caused you to beleeue to bee Holy Catholike and Vniuersall The Sicke I verily beleeue the holy vniuersall Church Ephes 5. washed and cleansed in the precious blood of IESVS CHRIST for the which I giue him thanks with all humility that hee hath giuen mee the grace to bee one of the small members of his Church and being baptised in his name hath caused mee to liue in the communion vnity and charity thereof hauing instructed mee with his holy word Mat. 4. 1. Cor. 11. and nourished mee with his very body made mee drinke of his precious blood in hope of eternall life The Minister Now seeing you are so well grounded vpon the liuely Rocke which is IESVS CHRIST 1. Cor. 10. in knowing your selfe aright you must acknowledge and confesse the principall good which you haue receiued of this good IESVS CHRIST The Sicke It is very reasonable For I will not bee vnthankefull to remember the goods and gifts that I haue receiued of God wherefore I confesse that I miserable sinner Psal 51. haue incessantly offended the goodnesse and iustice of God hauing transgressed his holy Commandements Luke 17. in which doing I haue deserued euerlasting death and damnation Neuerthelesse appealing to the mercy of GOD I haue asked forgiuenesse and doe beleeue and confesse without doubting any whit that full and entire remission of all my sinnes is giuen me Act. 4. Reuel 1. by the only merit of the death and passion of my Lord and Sauiour
temporall things wherein he sees and discouers so much inconstancy and such sudden and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of vncertaine casuall things he should stir vp himselfe vnto a contemplation of those that are diuine and heauenly And forsaking that which is heere perishing and transitorie vnto worldly men hee should chuse his part in heauen and should stay himselfe at that which is permanent and eternall For the like reason Philip the father of Alexander the great a man of good vnderstanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the middest of his great prosperity he should not forget himselfe in his dutie gaue order that one of his Gentlemen should eeuery day at his awaking come and speake these words vnto him King haue in remembrance that thou art a mortall man Iesus Christ also our Sauiour and Maister tending to the same end doth exhort vs to watch to lay vp treasures in heauen and not on earth where all things are vncertaine and changeable Wee see by that that during our life we cannot doe better then to thinke vpon death and our bodie being vpon the earth to accustome our selues to haue alwaies our spirit and heart in heauen Now because that the remembrance of death is a fearefull thing to many I haue bethought my selfe to passe away my griefes and to recreate my selfe from my other studies and also to giue you a testimony of the Obligation which I thinke I haue towards you as well for the good which you haue done vnto mee as for the friendship which you beare me to write vnto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I haue briefely touched certaine points wherewith the faithfull may arme themselues against death which hee ought to doe in time and prepare himselfe to receiue it with assurance at such time as it shal please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the comming thereof is suddaine vnto them and that they are surprised vnlooked for We see by experience in a frontier towne that when it is well victualled and prouided of all things necessary for to withstand a long siege those within are a great deale the more assured and bold whereas if it were vnprouided they would stand amazed and tremble with feare if they should chance to see the approaching of the siege It is easie to iudge by that of what importance it is to haue preuented a danger and to bee prepared for it Then to prouide and arme the faithfull man against death wee must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporall of the body which Christiās ought to desire the other is eternall of bodie and soule which they ought not to feare perfeuering in the faith of our Lord. That it is so all feare presupposeth euill and danger we doe not feare that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it selfe we receiue it ioyfully But an euill we apprehend and feare we flie from it and when it happens vnto vs we sorrow and do complaine If then it doth appeare by good and euident proofes that the faithfull man is not in danger of this second death may we not then conclude that if we feare it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had iudgement and neuer so little faith it were sufficient presently to take away the feare of it from vs. For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soone as it is receiued in vs. The iust saith the Prophet shall liue by faith Now euen so as the bodie whiles the soule is in it liueth and dieth not vntill such time as it be separated from it no more doth the faithfull man perseuering in the faith which hath bene inspired and put into his heart by the grace of God Although saith Dauid I should walke in the middest of the shadow of death I will not feare for thou art with mee O Lord. What was the cause of this assurance was it not faith wherewith we ought no more to feare death then wee doe sicknesse when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or pouerty when we haue plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly by faith we haue remission and an abolition of all the faults which we haue done why doe wee then feare death There is no death where there is no sinne by sinne death came into the world saith St. Paul and else where The reward of sinne is death sinne causeth God to be angrie with vs and that in his anger he condemnes vs to death Now all seedes doth bring forth euery one according to their sort and qualitie The wheat bringeth forth wheat and the Rie Rie and we must not hope for any fruit if there be not seede before hand That being true and witnessed in a thousand places of the Scripture that vnto a Christian all his sinnes and debts are quitted him by the grace and mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are couered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as farre from vs as the East from the West Prouided that there be no more seede thereof we neede not looke for any fruite That is to say if there be no more sinne there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more feare Thirdly by faith wee haue the word and the promises of God whereupon it is grounded Among others this Who so beleeueth shall not die but is passed from death to life Now this promise can no more faile then he that gaue it vs. It is eternall And all that God saith is as sure and permanent as heauen or earth For this cause when wee looke into them wee ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this word by the which they were once created and euer since preserued and maintained in that estate wherein now we see them and to inferre thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor vncertaine of all that which God doth say and promise vnto vs. And therefore as St. Iames saith Receiuing his holy word by faith in our hearts and the promises which hee hath made vs to giue vs eternall life wee ought to assure our selues of it and take away all feare and apprehension of death What was the cause of the ruine of vs and our forefathers was it not because they did decline from the word of God to follow their owne fancies and the counsell of Satan If then to the contrarie wee will cleaue to it without leaning any iot neither to the right hand nor to the left wee shall liue by it and in it Hearken vnto mee saith God speaking by Esay and your soule shall liue And Zacharie in his Canticle Hee hath giuen vs a science
full of infirmities without vertue without vnderstanding without the vse of reason and speech and without wit and he must be fifteene yeares olde before he is capable to know onely what estate is fittest for him wherin oftentimes he deceiues himselfe chusing that whereunto he is least fit Is he come into his youth he is rash aduenturous foolish passionate voluptuous prodigall drunkard gamester quarrelsome whereby it hapneth oft that in this age hee falleth into great inconueniences and dangers to be imprisoned to be hanged to lose his goods and euen to bring his parents with sorrow to the graue When this great heate by little and little begins to coole and diminish and that hee waxeth a perfite man then he must labour night and day for to entertaine his house nourish his children and prouide for them for time to come he is besieged now with desire and coueteousnesse then with feare lest his children should remaine vnprouided for lest they should behaue themselues ill and lest they should doe some dishonour to their house The age of vertue and perfection declining behold in our sight old age comes creeping on in the which man is sickly vnwieldy cold and forsaken and as among the seasons of the yeare the last is Winter and the most troublesome so amongest all the ages of man is the olde age That which I haue said is not the hundreth part of all the euils whereunto the sicke man is subiect and neuerthelesse that little which wee haue spoken of it is sufficient to shew that in all estates and in all ages it is miserable and as said Menander life and misery are two twinnes for they are borne grow they are nourished and liue alwaies together the which nature teacheth vs in two things First in that the little children comming into the world they alwaies crie as presaging the euill which they are to endure if they liue long Secondly in that coming forth of their mothers belly they are all bathed in bloud and are more like vnto a dead man whose throate had bene lately cut by murtherers then to any thing else Two ancient Philosophers considering these things said the one That God did loue those which hee takes out of this world in their childhood the other That it were good neuer to be borne or else to die presently Surely it is a wonderfull thing and which sheweth well that we haue want of vnderstanding that although life were neuer so vglie and disfigâ—â—ed and that in all her partes there were neither grace nor beauty that could commend it we neuerthelesse should be so in loue with it that we alwaies desire to keepe it and neuer to change But we are much abused for it is more vncertaine then it is miserable for to shew vs the vncertainty of it the Auncients called it a shaddow and a dreame which are the two things in the world the most vaine and least setled in our estate Pythagoras being once demaunded what humane life was spake neuer a word for his custome was to answere and instruct more by signes then by wordes but went into a chamber and came forth againe presently signifying that the life of man is but an entring in and going out And IESVS CHRIST exhorting vs to watch grounds himselfe vpon nothing else but vpon the inconstancie and vncertaintie of this life Watch saith hee for you know not at what houre the Lorde will come And who is that man in how good disposition and happinesse soeuer hee bee that can promise himselfe to continue in it but a day Those in Samaria doubted of nothing when in an instant they were destroyed by the ruines of the Tower of Syloe In the time of the flood they did build and made marriages and banquets when suddenly contrary to the expectation and opinion of all the world the raine fell in cleere weather which raine did ouerflow the whole earth The rich man wherof mention is made in the twelfth of LVKE though hee was very secure who hauing so much wealth that hee knew not where or whord it made acount to giue himselfe to pleasure and to liue after that time at his ease when while hee was standing vpon these termes beholde the Sericant of GOD comes and arrests him to appeare the same day to giue vp an account vnto him of all the precious things and goods which hee had left and which hee had gathered with such great labour But it is labour lost to goe about to prooue a thing so manifest and which we experiment and see daily For in this world there is nothing more ordinary nor more frequent then that which Ouid saith that the life of man and all humane things are hanged and doe hold but by a little threed Let vs behold then seeing on the one side the great euils whereof it is full and on the other side the inconstancy of the good which it hath if we haue great occasion to desire of God that he would prolong it vnto vs or to complaine or discontent our selues at death when it taketh it away from vs Wee haue vnderstood the euils from the which death doth deliuer vs Let vs now come to consider the good which it bringeth vnto vs from thence we shall yet better know that we ought not onely not to feare shune and auoid it but also desire it with all affection For one of the goods only which we enioy by deathes meanes is greater then all those which we can haue in the world liuing in it for euer By it first we rest as saith St. Iohn in his Apocalyps And after that we haue endured and are almost consumed with innumerable troubles and labours dying our spirit goeth into heauen our bodie into the earth as into a bed there for to rest and refresh it selfe The poore artificers are so glad when euening drawes neere and that it is almost night that they may be paid for their labor and goe home to rest themselues or when after they haue laboured the sixe daies in the weeke that Sunday comes when they hope to recreate themselues and recouer the force and vigour as well of their bodies as of their mindes we ought not to be lesse ioyfull when the time of our death draweth neere which wee ought to waight for and desire as a holy day in the which wee hope to rest and by the pleasure which therein we take presently forget all the sorrowes and troubles which wee haue had in this world The end of all that we doe and of that which we purpose is it not our rest Why doe we gather goods with a thousand troubles and as many dangers why doe wee studie why doe wee fight why doe we labour why doe we all other things Is it not by that meanes to come to ease and to a rest which we pretend and seeke as a soueraigne good What is the principall reward which God doth promise to his people and to all those that serue him faithfully
death to those that were not succoured and warranted by Iesus Christ But in the kingdom of God and of Paradise we shall eate of the fruit of the tree of life which shall alwaies keepe vs yong and fresh and which more is will make vs incorruptible and immortall There is that which wee shall taste VVhat shall we smell A hall of perfumes the garments of the bride and the bridegroome perfumed with all odoriferous and fragrant things It shall be then that the Church shall triumph that the vine being blossomed shall giue such a pleasant odour that the whole heauens shall bee filled with it There shall be no stinke for there shall be no corruption wee shall there plainly smell the sweetenesse of the Sacrifice which Iesus Christ made for vs on earth so great and pleasant that the Father for the pleasure which he tooke to smell it was reconciled with the world and his anger towards vs hath bene appeased What a pleasant Sacrifice and precious Incense is also the praises of the Saints who with one accord doe glorifie God and sanctifie his holy name Moreouer what an odour giues that faire flower sprong from the root and sappe of Iesse now that it is in it force strength To conclude we cannot misse there to smell good odours for our Winter shall then be past we shal be in a perpetuall springtime wherin all things shal grow and flourish for the delectation and pleasures of the Church For to satisfie our desire and content the lust of our selues we shall touch no more neither shall we be touched of any thing that may hurt vs. VVe shall be gathered vp by IESVS CHRIST our Lord and Sauiour who will come at the entrance to receiue vs saying Come hither faithfull seruant thou hast serued me faithfully in the world while thou hast beene in the world enter now into the ioy and rest of thy Lord. He will kisse and embrace vs and will keepe vs neere to his person without suffering vs to depart or go farre from it Now if the greatest good that vnto the which all others are referred be this felicitie which doth consist in a possession and enioying of all good to the contentment of our will and of all our sences with what a desire should wee waite for death by the which we attaine it Moreouer death doth deliuer vs out of all dangers In this world night and day within and without we are alwaies in feare of perill Our life is a cruell and bloody warre we haue a great many enemies that kill vs continually and doe assay by all meanes to destroy vs the diuels watch for vs and cease not compassing about like deuouring Lyons and rauening Wolues to see whether they cannot surprise vs and carry vs away the world sometimes by enticings and allurements sometime by threates and violence endeuours to trie and turne vs out of the right way Our flesh on an other side doth flatter and tickle vs and the better to vndermine vs with great cunning doth propound and lay before vs things wherin wee haue most delight It weepeth also sometimes to stirre vs vp to pittie it all to the intent to winne vs and cause vs in all points to yeeld vnto it and that it may maister vs. Now if we consider our infirmitie our stupiditie and negligence the little warinesse and watchfulnesse that is in vs wee may iudge in what danger we liue It is impossible that we should liue in this world among so many that are infected and that with so great a contagion without falling often into sicknesse Is it possible that wee should so often grapple with such strong and mighty enemies without being sometimes staggered and ouerthrowne Is it possible that we should go in such durty and muddy waies without being durtied We see it in good Saints of old time who could not gouerne themselues so well but the serpent who alwaies dogs vs at the heeles hath reached them with his venome but that they haue fallen in diuers faults some in incredulity others in Idolatry others in adultery others in excesse and drunkennesse others in murthers there is none of them but had his fall yea sometimes so great heauie that they had bene altogether bruised if God had not vpheld them with his hand Ought not we then follow the example of St. Paul and as he did crie Who shall deliuer vs from these dangers wherein we liue whiles our soule is in this miserable mortall body Let vs confesse that it is our gaine and profit for to die that by death we may be fully deliuered from all mortal things Againe death puts vs in full possession of all the promises of God and of those goods which Iesus Christ hath purchased for vs that we hope for of him He in dying hath freed vs and purchased our liberty and neuerthelesse wee see our selues still in great seruitude We are Kings Lords Iudges heires of God coheires with Iesus Christ the Prince of heauen and earth yet it seemes not so whiles we liue in this world for there wee are beaten and vsed like seruants like children vnder age we haue as yet no vse nor managing of our goods Kings and great Lords though we bee we are often in such necessitie that we haue neither bread to eate nor water to drinke nor wooll to couer vs. Moreouer IESVS CHRIST hath purchased for vs the grace of God a perfect Iustice life eternall an immortall incorruption glorie and vertue to our bodies and to our soules an assured peace and quietnesse a ioy and a contentment but this good hath not yet bene deliuered vnto vs for often times wee experiment the wrath and iudgement of God Wee feele the concupiscences and vicious desires of our flesh In our bodies there is corruption mortality and weaknesse and in our spirit troubles anguish and as it were a studious and intestine warre betweene our good and bad desires which fight the one against the other and because these euils are more grieuous so are the abouesaid goods more great more to be desired If then although they be already purchased for vs and that they bee ours we neuerthelesse cannot come to the possession of them but by death are not we for this reason much bound vnto it Ought not we to loue and desire it The children of Israel being arriued at the riuer of Iordane seeing on the other side thereof the fruitfull land which God had promised them and that being passed they should beginne to enioy it and to rest had they not great cause to reioyce and to passe the riuer with great alacrity And why not we when we shal come nere vnto death that is to say to the passage beyond the which is our country our house or City our friends kinsfolks our rest our ioy and our pleasure The child who during the time of his minority hath alwaies liued in feare base seruitude doth he not reioyce
when he seeth the day comming wherin he doth hope to haue liberty and quietly to enioy his goods So ought euery faithfull man seeing the day of his death draw neere in the which he shall be put in possession of all the goods which God hath giuen him and the gift wholly resigned When a man that hath vndertaken some long and tedious iourney hauing trauelled many daies and being wearied on the way seeth the gate of the town whither he goes doth he not reioyce and as it were leape for ioy Doth he not giue God thankes going into the towne that it hath pleased him to conduct and bring him safely thither Now euer since wee were borne we haue alwaies bene in this world as strangers we haue done nothing else but trauell in this low place as in great desert we haue heere wearied oâ—â—elues then seeing death neere vnto vs that is to say the gate whereby wee must enter into the kingdome of our God and the staires whereby wee must ascend vnto his holy mountaine haue wee not occasion to consolate our selues and to leape for ioy considering that we are almost arriued at the place where we hope to rest perpetually If poore Adam being driueÌ„ out of the earthly Paradise after he had tasted of the miseries whereinto hee had precipitate himselfe by his sinne had beene called thither againe and set in his first estate what occasion should he haue had to reioyce And we also who after so many and diuers afflictions are called out by God by the means of death into no earthly but heauenly Paradise not Adams but Gods where there is no sin where there is no Serpent where there is no forbidding briefe where there is no feare nor shame When Noah after the flood and falling of the waters which had broken and torne all began to see the firme land he did reioyce and for ioy sacrificed to God for a thanksgiuing although it was accursed and brought forth thornes and thistles as before VVhat more great occasion shall wee haue when after the great flouds and desolations which wee haue seene in this world 〈◊〉 shall beginne to see and salute the land of the liuing the blessed land the land that was promised to the good the land flowing with Milke and Honey and all sweete and sauory things When Ioseph after hee had a long time beene prisoner in great calamitie suddenly without thinking thereone was raised to such dignitie that hee was next the King in Egypt making lawes and ordinances for to dispose the State and Kingdome had not hee matter of consolation VVee haue no lesse but much more when after our prisons captiuities seruitudes banishmentes and so many other afflictions which wee suffer in this world wee by death are in a moment lifted vp from the dunghill into heauen there to reigne with IESVS CHRIST and to bee partakers of his glory of his honour of his faith of his rest and of his table VVas it not a great ioy to the Iewes who had beene captiue three score yeares in Babylon amongest the Idolaters in great miserie depriued of the vse and commoditie of spirituall thinges as to assemble together to prayse God and to heare his word and to doe other thinges appertayning to the office of a Christian weeping sometimes when they were by themselues and hanging vp their Harpes and Instruments through griefe that they could not serue God according to their desires nor sing his prayses among the strangers for to haue the Kings letters to returne into their countrey build their Temple and there according to their ancient manner in all liberty serue praise and worship their God It is lesse to vs when after a long and redious captiuitie that we haue endured in this world conuersing with Idolaters vnbeleeuers blasphemers despisers of God and of his word we are deliuered and haue our pasport to goe into this celestiall Ierusalem and into the holy Temple of our God there for to praise him perpetually and in beholding his goodnesse to glorifie and sanctifie his holy name Death is also to be desired by reason that with our sorrowes it also ends our mourning we in this world are alwaies sad heauie and malancoly In it we weepe we sigh and alwaies weare the blacke weede But when by death wee goe forth of it to goe into the house of our Bridegroome wee put off and leaue the mourning weed for to take our goodly and sumptuous abiliments With goodly Robes rich and imbrodered Before the Kings she shall in state be led Saith our diuine Poet Esay and euerlasting ioy shall be powred on those which haue bene the faithfull sereants of God and then shall be accomplished that which hath bene promised them You that doe weepe in this world are happie for you shall laugh there shall be no more griefe nor complayning nor teares for God at our comming into his kingdome will wipe them away from our eyes we shall be comforted and we shall rest in Abrahams bosome as did Lazarus there shall be no other question but of singing and saying euery one to our soules Go to praise God in all things oh my soule And all my parts without let or controlle Praise his most good holy and blessed name Say to the Harpe and other instruments Go to awake that you may now be set vp againe in the estate to serue God and praise him for his goodnesse say to all the Church Giue vnto God praise and renowne For hee 's louing and kinde And which is more his gracious loue Shall dure world without end Say to all creattures blesse the Lord in all his works praise and exalt his name Blesse God ye Angels of heauen Sunne Moone Fire Ayre Water Earth Trees and Beasts A maide that hath long time bene betrothed desires that the day of her mariage were come and when it is come shee reioyceth seeing that shee shall soone be brought to her husbands house to dwell perpetually with him wee ought also to comfort our selues when the time drawes neere that our Lord must come and wee ought to attend him waking as did the fiue wife Virgines that so soone as hee shall bee come wee may goe in to the wedding with him and that the gate be not shutte against vs as it was against the fiue foolish becaue they were fallen asleepe An other reason why death is to bee wished for is that it causeth vs to see our friend and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST of whom we haue as yet seene but the picture The Prophets and Apostles haue described him vnto vs so faire of such a comely stature so courteous so vertuous so loyall so eloquent so louely so noble so rich so louing of vs that for our saluation hee did abandon his owne life which ought more to moue vs then any other thing Where is that maid who hauing heard of so many perfections to be in her friend would not burne and be altogether transported with desire and affection to
see him If our King or some Prince of renowne comes into our countrey we desire to see him because of the report which we haue heard of his vertue and valour If Hercules Alexander the great Caesar Cato of whom we so much commend the ancient pictures were now in this world we would through curiositie goe a hundred miles to see them with what an affection then should we aspire to that day in the which we shall face to face see and behold that so mightie Prince who with an inuincible force hath broken the head of all our enemies who like vnto a valiant Iosua in despite of them hath brought vs through the dangers and conducted vs into the land which God had promised vs What a pleasure shall it be to vs to see him glorious in order and in triumphant array and round about him the goodly trophees of his great victories set vp It is said that when Alexander had ouercome Darius King of the Persians entring into the place where he made his residence He sits downe in his throne and that presently a Greeke Gentleman of his company began to weepe for ioy in speaking these words O happy day in the which we see our King victorious against the Barbarians and their pride troddeÌ„ vnder foot O that all Grecia had now the sight the pleasure of this spectacle Think what ioy it will be also to euery faithfull man to see Iesus Christ in his royal seat holding vnder his feet all his enemies ours but specially the serpeÌ„t whose head is alreadie broken and now hee doth nothing else but wagge his tayle waiting his finall end which shall bee at the day of iudgement May Kings and Princes did with great affection desire to see him when he was on earth accustomed like a seruant Simeon because he saw him so did so reioyce and was so satisfied that he feared no more to die ought not we more to desire to see him in heauen in a kingly robe with company greatnesse maiestie and pompe and in the state of a Lotd The Queene of Saba who being induced by the rumour which was spred ouer all the earth of the great Court of King Salamon came running thither from the farthest part of the South to see him and to heare his wisedome after she had diligently considered his great and maruellous wisedome the order the splendour and state of his house stood all astonied with great admiration said O how happie are the seruants of thy house who may see thy face euery day and heare thy diuine speeches let vs say also O thrice and foure times happy are the faithfull who dying goe directly to heauen to be hold the face of Iesus Christ who is much more then Salomon For the onely contemplation of it makes man content in euery point in taking from vs the memory and feeling of all other pleasures causeth that we cannot nor will not turne our eyes and thoughts from it Now death doth not onely cause vs to see Iesus Christ but maketh vs with him to behold the Angels the Patriarkes the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs which haue beene singular in graces and vertues And if any man that hath a hart towards God desires to see the Church well ordered in this world and preferreth it to all that can be giuen him albeit the order of is neuer so great but that there will be many things more to be desired with what vehemence and heate should he wish to see it in heauen without spot or wrinkle shining like the Sunne clothed in robes as white as Snowe set forth in nuptiall order The last reason for the which wee ought to desire death is that by it our spirite being parted from the body which doth clog it is more at liberty and more capable to looke into the mysteries of God We liue all in this world with a natural desire to know therefore is it that for our contentment we seeke alwayes to heare and see some nouelties then is it not possible that here beneath we should come to any great knowledge chiefely of the truth as well because that of it selfe it is obscure and hard to know as for the cares perturbations afflictions passions c. wherewith our minde is intangled and hindered whiles it is in our bodies which are vnto it as dust in a mans eye which doth hinder it from discerning any thing vnderstandingly It is the reason wherefore God said to Moyses that whiles we liue wee cannot see it cleerely for the which also S. Paul sayth That we know but in part and S. Iohn That we see the mysteries of our God but as it were in a glasse or through a window but when our soule shall be parted from this body and the vaile taken away which blindeth her eyes then shal it behold and see God face to face then shal it haue the perfect knowledge of him of Iesus Christ his Sonne in it eternal life We shal behold that which now we worship for we shal enter into the Sanctuary of our Lord and there shall looke on him without ceasing the propitiation the Cherubins nothing neither of the law nor the Gospell shal be any more vnknowne or hid from vs. God wil shew vnto vs as vnto his friends familiars all the riches of his house he will talke friendly with vs wil impart all vnto vr An ancient man turning from merchandise being entred into the hall where Demetriê° Phalereê° read when he had hard him a litle while begins to complaine said O vnhappy man that I am haue the good of this world bin cause that I haue bin so long depriued of such good things as these Let vs also say O miserable life wilt thou dure much longer wilt thou not shortly let vs go whither we aspire which is the schoole of our God Must we lose so many dayes Happy death wilt thou not hasten to bring vs thither We see by these reasons what occasion we haue to feare flie from and complain of death which is a rest sleepe most delightfull aboue all other for there is no noise nor dreames to trouble or interrupt it it is a holsome medicine which being swallowed doth heale vs of all diseases taketh al pain from vs. Which Socrates considering after he had drunke the poyson by the commandement of the Athenians who had vniustly condemned him to die when the venom was dispersed in his members his friend Crito a litle before he gaue vp the ghost had asked him if he would commaund him nothing no said he but that thou offer sacrifices to Aesculapiê° the god of physick to giue him thankes for I neuer tooke a medicine of such great force nor which wrought better It is a great shame that these Pagans in their ignorance and infidelity seeme to bee better instructed and more vertuous then wee are for wee feare death and flie from it as an euill thing and they hold
lye hid in him so that at the day of the separation of our soules from our bodies wee may finde it wholly in heauen waiting with assured rest and ioy the happy resurrection of this flesh in the which all corruption infirmity and ignominie being abolished and death being swallowed vp of victory wee shall liue eternally with thee in an incomprehensible happinesse in thee by the which thou shall be glorified Maintaine then thy children O Lord in this faith and hope finishing thy worke in vs vntill they be altogether with thee for to enioy the inheritance and the glory which thine onely Sonne hath by his merit purchased for them Amen Prayer LOrd Iesus Christ Creator and Redeemer of mankind who hast said I am the way the truth and the life I do beseech thee by this vnspeakable charity which thou hast shewed in yeelding thy selfe to death for vs that I may neuer stray any iot from thee who art the way nor that I doubt of thy promises seeing thou art the truth and dost accomplish that which thou promisest Cause that I may onely take pleasure in thee who art the eternall life beyond the which there is nothing to be desired neyther in heauen nor earth Thou hast taught vs the true only way to saluation because we should not abide erring like strayed sheep in the lost waies of this world shewing vs so clearly that nothing can be more that which wee ought to beleeue to do to hope and wherein we ought to yeeld settle our selues It is thou that hast giuen vs to vnderstād how cursed we are in Adam and that there is no way to escape from this perdition in the which we are all plunged but by faith in thee Thou art that faire light which doest appeare to those that walke in the desert of this life who hauing drawen vs out of the darknesse of the spirituall Egypt hast driuen away the darknesse of our vnderstandings and doest enlighten vs to the end we may tend towards the promised inheritance which is the life euerlasting into the which the mistrustfull doe not enter but those that haue assuredly relied vpon thy holy promises O what a goodnesse that thou hast vouchsafed to descend from thy Fathers bosome and from the euerlasting throne to the earth to put on our poore nature of master to become seruant to the end that by thy doctrine thou mightest doe away the darkenesse of our ignorāce to guide our feet into the way of peace to make plaine the way of saluatiō vnto vs a way made vnto vs the which if we follow we cannot stray nor wax weary seeing that thy grace power do accompanie vs therin all the daies of our life Moreouer by thy spirit thou doest strengthen vs in it and double our courage Thy word is bread which nourisheth vs therein thy promise is the staffe which vpholds vs. Thou thy selfe by thy secret and incomprehensible vertue doest beare and maintaine vs in it in an admirable manner to the end that both in faire and foule weather we may walke with all alacrity vnto thee And as in preseruing vs thou hinderest that we do not fall into the snares of Satan the world also seeing thou art the truth thou takest away all doubts scruples mistrusts which may trouble let vs or turne vs during our course thou causest vs to behold the supernall vocation the misery and vanity of the world the frailty of this present life the gate of death the most happy life which is beyond that And as thou art this true life euen in this world thou dost quickē by thy truth vs that are poore wretched and dead in sinne thou doest augment that life by the ministery and efficacie of thy holy Gospell and doest confirme it by the vse of the Sacraments which thou hast established to confirme the faith of those that are thine vntill that our corruption what we haue of mortality in vs being abolished by the resurrection we shall bee and liue euerlastingly with thee both in bodie and soule when thou shalt be all in all Life euerlasting is to know the true God and thee his Sonne which wert sent vnto vs. Now we see thee by faith in a glasse and in obscuritie but one day we shall behold thee face to face and shall be transformed into thy glory and wholly reformed vnto thy image I doe beseech thee mercifull Sauiour to increase my faith that I may be so well grounded in the doctrine of my saluation that nothing may turne mee from it increase in my heart the reuerence which I owe thee that I may neuer turne from thy obedience strengthen mee in such sort that the allurements nor threatnings doe neither intrappe nor astonish mee but that constantly I may cleaue vnto thee who art my life till death Cause that in vertue of thy holy promises and of thy Spirit I may heate my selfe more and more in thy loue and leauing behind mee the things of this world I may tend to that which is firme and perfect Increase thy grace in mee that euery day I may die in my selfe for to be quickened and guided by thy fauour fearing no other but thou God Almighty louing nothing but thee as there is nothing but thee to be loued boasting my selfe in nothing but in thy onely grace and mercy which is the glorie of all thy seruants seeking no other good but thee nor desiring any thing but thee who art the full and entire felicity of all the faithfull Amen An other LOrd Iesus who art alwaies mercifull who doest not sticke to be my Sauiour as well in aduersitie as in prosperity giue me the grace in all humble obedience to yeeld vnto thy will when it shall please thee to mingle bitternes amongst so many sweet things which thou causest me to taste in liuing vnder thy protection Thou art admirable and most good in the time of afflictions In that by such meanes thou doest heale spirituall diseases and in visiting of vs in this world thou disposest vs to meditate of a better life hauing thy selfe shewed vs the example thereof True it is that I find it verie hard to digest but thou hast beene brought to a more strange condition when for to draw me out of hell thou wentest downe into it thy selfe and for to reconcile mee to thy heauenly Father thou hast vndergone his curse by reason of my sinnes I haue so often deserued hell and the fiery torment and thou deliueredst me assuring mee that I haue part in the merits of thy death and thy obedience and that I am one of thy coheires for to reigne one day with thee in thy kingdome and at this present in the middest of so many afflictions to be neuerthelesse set in the heauenly places Hauing part in so many good things why shall I vexe my selfe for a little endurance by the meanes whereof thou wilt awake mee and make me better and draw mee so much
of this life and not to loade their soules with the burthen of sinne to the end that dying they may bee raised vp towards God our Father and IESVS CHRIST our Sauiour vnto whom we ought with a stedfast faith recommend them Now euen as the faithfull doe reioyce at it the vnfaithfull on the other side knowing the soules to bee immortall Jam. 1. 1. Pet. 1.4 are so much the more fearefull of death seeing the eternall paines and torments to bee prepared for them at their going forth of this world So that which serueth to the elect for ioy and instruction is vnto the wicked nothing but sorrow and occasion of despaire THE SECOND POINT TOuching the body it is all apparant that it is subiect to die as well because that we know that those that were in times past are dead and that we see that those of our time die one after another as principally because that the Lord declares to Adam that by reason of his sinne Gen. 3. he with his posterity shall be subiect to returne into the earth from whence he was taken The Apostle sayes that by a man sinne came into the world Rom. 5.8.6 and by sinne death and so death came vnto all men by reason that all haue sinned and the reward of sinne is death whereof the houre is vncertaine vnto vs. Luc. 12. Although we are certaine that it is the iourney that euery man must go Jos 12. 1. King 2. by reason that vnto them all it is ordeined to die once and that the Lord hath set bounds for mans life the which he will neither aduance nor put backe Heb. 9. Iob 14. The Scripture is full of testimonies vpon this matter although it be well enough knowne of all by euery dayes experience The Pagans themselues without instruction of the word of God haue well vnderstood that vnto man it is a thing that cannot be auoyded as Euripides shewes it in the Tragedie of the Supplicants saying that euery part of man must returne from whence it came the spirit into heauen the body into the earth which is the mother nurse thereof Wherefore it is a noted thing to all that we must die and all the faithfull ought to be perswaded that the Angels wait for the departure of men for to carry their soules into their place The holy Angels carry away those of the faithfull according to the charge which they haue for their saluation into Abrahams bosome and into the place of the happy and the euill Angels those of the wicked into hell That is the reason wherefore men often heare and see many things when a man is to die the Angels giuing to vnderstand therby of their presence and the neere departure of men But there is this difference that that which is seene before the departure of the iust is lesse fearefull comming from soft and peaceable spirits and seemes to serue but for an admonition to those that are neere to the sicke for to stirre them vp to pray vnto God and to comfort their brother and to exhort and encourage him to prepare himselfe for the will of God to go cheerefully out of this world that he may be with IESVS CHRIST his Sauiour Then the faithfull being departed all such things cease although it may happen that the faithfull shall be in all extremity assaulted by Sathan to make him fall from faith if it were possible for him but those are extraordinary things and in the meane time the Lord giueth victory to his 1. Ioh. 5. Mar. 16. 1. Thes 1. Gen. 24. 31. and makes them the better to know the power of their faith and the assistance of the holy Angels But ordinarily that which is seene and heard at the departure of the wicked is fearefull comming from the destroying Angels and enemies of men Authors of troubles the which do all they can to bring the vnfaithfull to desperation and to keepe thē in it endeuour as much as in them lieth to hinder and trouble the praiers of the assistāts for the feare that they haue lest their damnation should bee prolōged knowing well that the prayers of the iust made for the sicke are of great power and efficacy towards God for the faith which they haue in Iesus Christ Then after the departure of the wicked Satan returnes Iames. 5. Iohn 11. appeares and makes a noyse in the place which he did enioy before him that was his Mat. 12. willing as it were to keepe the place of his child deceased and take possession and enioy of that which he had gathered him together And we see that the Scripture declares that the habitations of the wicked after they shall bee hunted out of it shall be the habitations of diuels Apo. 18. Ier. 51. Isa 13. Ier. 50. and a resort for all euill spirits and of all filthy and execrable fowle wherefore it is a great folly and abuse to thinke that the soules of the children of men appeare in this world after their death for those of the faithfull do enioy such and so great felicity Mat. 17. and find that it is so good remayning where they are Marc. 9. that although they could they would not nor desire not to returne hither Luc. 9. but rather forgetting that which is of this life are continually rauished in the praise and seruice of the holinesse of the Eternall Apo. 4. 7. and in the contemplation of his glory Mat. 17. Psal 16. which is their soueraigne good Those of the wicked would faine come againe and haue so much respit but they cannot otherwise the euill rich man would very willingly haue done his message to his brothers himselfe Luc. 16. which hee did request to be done by the Lazar. For the Scripture doth not know this third place which Antichrist hath forged contrary to the declaration of Iesus Christ Mat. 7. for to inrich himselfe purge the substance of the world for the intertainment of her creatures Satan being very glad thereby to suggest vnto him some matter and colour after the decease of the Infidels and Idolaters Now by how much it is easie to beleeue that necessity to die is imposed vpon vs by so much is it more difficult to beleeue that our bodies being returned to dust shall rise againe and indeede the sensuall man cannot comprehend any thing therein neyther hath any thought of it as we see that the Pagans neuer thought of it although that they haue disputed of the immortality of soules But the man that is regenerate by the Spirite of God doubts not but that the Lord can raise the dead seeing he will haue it and that nothing can hinder his will For as sayeth the Prophet Psal 115. Apoc. 4. he doth what he will We must then see how the Scripture doth assure vs that the bodyes as well of the good as of the wicked shall rise againe the first to be
haue so much dishonored him When a nut or the kernel of a peare or apple is rotted in the ground God causeth it to rise againe to a great tree for to beare much more fruit being risen againe then it did before and a graine of wheat being put into the ground Iohn 12. and dying brings forth much fruit doe wee thinke that the Lord hath not as great power to raise vp men as he hath to raise these things so small and as it were of no value shall it not be as easie for him to raise vs againe as it hath bene easie to him to draw vs forth of the matrix of the mother aliue where before we were borne we were as it were in a sepulcher If the Prophets and Apostles in the name of God haue raised vp the dead Psal 18. 2. King 4. Act. 9. shall it be impossible to the Lord by his power to raise them Let vs assure our selues that nothing can separate the bodie and soule of the faithfull from the loue which God beareth them neither hinder but that hee shall make the wicked both in bodie and soule to bee his foote-stoole Now by reason that the Apostle saith Iohn 6. Heb. 10. 1. Cor. 15. that the bodie which is sowen is not that which riseth againe there are that will infer therupon that at the resurrection our soules shall not returne into those bodies which now we haue but into other bodies which the Lord shall giue vs. He himselfe in that place sheweth vs that he speakes not that but onely to shew vs that although our bodies shall rise in the same substance which now they haue they shall notwithstanding be changed in quality glory seeing that this corruption must put on incorruption and that this mortality shall be swallowed vp of life and shall put on immortalitie 2. Cor. 5. declaring that they shall be these selfe same bodies in substance but diuers in qualities St. Paul saith Christ will transforme this vile bodie Phil. ◠that it may be made like vnto his glorious body according to the power by which he is able to make all things subiect vnto himselfe Mat. 27. Luc. 24. John 20. Whereon followeth that as Iesus Christ rose againe in the same bodie which was crucified for vs being cleansed and discharged of all infirmitie also we shal rise againe in the same bodies which now we haue in this world hauing in them cold heat hunger and thirst pouerty sicknesse banishment Heb. 10. 11. imprisonment and such like aduersities being cleansed and disrobed of all that which by sinne did cause vs any griefe for the iustice of God cannot consist without remunerating the bodies of those that haue fought for his glory in crowning his graces in them punishing those which haue laboured to offend him Moreouer we see that those which the Prophets and Apostles and Iesus Christ himselfe haue raised againe Mat. 27. it hath bene in the selfe same bodies in the which they had liued before Who doubts but those that rose again at the death of our Lord did rise in the selfe same bodies which they had before for otherwise how should they haue bin knowne by those to whom they did appeare The Apostle puts vs out of doubt of it saying 1. Cor. 15. That if the Spirit of him who raised Iesus from the dead doth dwell in vs he that hath raised vp Christ frō the dead will also quicken our mortall bodies because his spirit dwelleth in vs he saith moreouer that the body which is sowen in corruption shall rise againe in incorruption It is sowen in dishonor it shall rise againe in glory it is sowen in weaknesse it shall rise againe in force it is sowen a sensuall body it shall rise a spirituall body Wherefore wee ought to beleeue that the bodies which now we haue shall be the selfe same which shall rise again in the same substance but the earthly qualities shall be changed into heauenly which is no small consolation seeing that we loue our bodies so much although that in this world they be lodē with so many miseries The third point AS concerning the Author of the resurrectiō the scripture doth declare vnto vs that God the Father in the beginning made man by his word which is his son Gen. 1. 2. Iohn 1. Gen. 2. Psal 33. 2. Cor. 4. 1. Cor. 15. hauing made his body breathed into him a liuing soule by his spirit so in the resurrectiō of the dead he shal raise vs againe by his Son in a quickning spirit And when the Sunne of iustice shall come Mal. 4. in iudgement for to iudge the quicke and the dead Mal 4. Reuel ◠2. Tim. 4. the Sunne shall waxe darke and the Moone shall not yeeld her light and the brightnesse of the Starres shall be seene no more then if they were fallen from heauen and the vertues which are in the heauens as the Starres the Planets and other celestiall creatures Mat. 24. Luc. 21. Reue. 6. 2. Pet. 3. with heauen and earth shall be shaken then the Sea and her waues shall roare after an vnaccustomed manner and when the order of nature shal be changed those shall bee signes of the comming of the Son of man And when that Iesus Christ Mat. 16. Luc. 1. Act. 1. the son of God shal come who tooke humane nature vpon him in the virgines wombe he shall come in the same bodie wherewith he did conuerse here below vpon the earth before and after his death as he himselfe declares calling himself the Son of man Mat. 24. Marc. 13. Luc. 24. Iohn 5. Marc. 16. 24. 1. Thess 4. Reue. 1. Mat. 24. sent of God his Father who gaue him power to do iudgement in so much as he is the Son of man set aboue the clouds at the right hand of the power of God accompanied with cries of exhortation with the voices of Archangels of Angels with Gods trumpets all eyes shall behold him for he will cause his signe to appeare in heauen his voice to be hard the which at the 1. Cor. 15. last tromp shal be hard of those that haue bin Put into the Sepulchres to the end that first they may rise againe 1. Thes 4. and those which shall be found liuing shall heare it also to the end they may be translated which vnto them shall be a kinde of death being changed from mortal and corruptible to immortall and incorruptible bodies 1. Cor. 15. and shall rise againe and shall be changed in a moment and twinckling of an eye This day shall not surprise the elect that are in the light because it shall be the day which they haue so long waited for 1. Thes 5. 1. Iohn 1. and wished with the other creatures but to those who haue ouercome Sathan by the blood of the Lambe 1. Cor. 1. Rom. 8. 1 Ioh. 2.4.8 5. Reu.
shackled to Ierusalem to the end to prosecute against them to cause them to be condemned to death And neuerthelesse although he was so horrible a blasphemer of Iesus Christ and his Church and by that meanes vnworthy not only to bee of the number of the Apostles as hee himselfe confesseth but also of the sheepe God forgetting in an instant all these iniuries which had beene done to him and to his Church made an elected and chosen instrument of him and a trumpet chosen among all his fellowes for to publish his Gospell throughout the world Who will say that hee had any regard to his merit and to the dignity of his gestures and actions when hee raised him to such a degree of honour and hath done him as much or more fauour then to any of all his fellowes Seeing that hee himselfe doth so highly magnifie grace whereunto hee attributeth all that hee euer thought said or did that was commendable It is then the only grace of God that is the foundation and meanes of the life which wee hope for as it also is of iustice and holynesse by the which wee attayne it Which Iesus Christ plainely teacheth vs when speaking of his sheepe hee saith that they heare his voice Iohn 10. and follow him and in the meane time that hee giueth them eternall life signifying thereby that it is freely graunted vnto them and of meere gift and not in contemplation and respect that they haue heard his voice and followed his steppes Which also cannot bee gathered by the wordes of Moyses in the twentieth of Exodus Exod. 20. where God promiseth to continue his mercy to a thousand generations towards those that loue him and keepe his commandements Whereupon wee must note that he promiseth no other recompence to his seruants for all their seruices but to vse mercy towards them and their posterity As much may we obserue in the foure and twentieth Psalme where the Prophet speaking of those that shall goe vp into the mountaine of the Lord saith that it shall be a man Whose hands are harmelesse Psal 24. and whose heart No spot there doth defile His soule not set on vanity Whose heart hath sworne no guile And addeth afterward Him that is such a one the Lord Shall place in blessefull plight And God his God and Sauiour Shall yeeld to him his right This is the broode of Trauellers In seeking of his grace As Iacob did the Israelites In that time of his race For to giue to vnderstand that what duty soeuer wee haue done in obeying to God in washing our hearts from all euill thoughts and affections and our handes from all euill workes in humbling our selues vnder the hand of God and presuming nothing of our selues nor of our vertues neuerthelesse that for all that we shall not goe vp into the mountaine of our Lord but that it shall bee only in fauour of the grace which hee giueth vs and of the mercy that it pleaseth him to shew towards vs. And it is much better to comfort and assure vs our hope entirely that it be grounded vpon his mercy and truth which are firme and immoueable then vpon the dignitie of our workes and vertues which are so imperfect Now when yee shall see the sicke well resolued of the remission of all his sinnes and that in his heart there shall no more remayne any feare of them that doth any more trouble his conscience then you must proceede farther and arme him against the horrour and apprehension that hee may haue of death in shewing vnto him out of the word of God that it hath bene done away and swallowed vp by the death of Iesus Christ who speaking by the mouth of the Prophet sayeth to Death Ose 13. 1. Cor. 15. O Death I will be thy death For seeing that the sting of death is sinne and the power of sinne is the law Iesus Christ accomplishing the law for vs hath by that meanes taken away the sting of death so that it can hurt vs no more And likewise broken the power of sinne so that it can no more condemne vs. And although the decree and ordinance of God beares that all men must die and that being come out of the dust they shall returne to dust againe neuerthelesse to speake properly the separation of the bodie and the soule in the faithfull man ought not to bee called death Also IESVS CHRIST speaking to his Disciples of Lazarus Iob. 11. who was dead tolde them that hee slept This manner of speaking is very vsuall in the old Testament to signifie the death of the Fathers St. Paul vseth it also when hee writeth to the Corinthians and Thessalonians 1. Cor. 15. 1. Thessa of those that shall be departed before the day of the resurrection which be calleth sleeping But he speaks yet more magnificently in the Epistle which hee writeth to the Philippians where he calles the departure of soules from bodies Phil. 1. dislodging Which agreeth well with the saying of Iesus Christ who being desirous to aduertise his Disciples of his approaching death said vnto them That the howre drewe neere Iohn 13. that hee was to passe from this world to goe to God the Father calling the corporall death a passage by the which we must passe out of this vale of misery for to enter into the fruition and possession of a Paradise that is to say of a place of assured rest and full of delectation The which the ancient Greekes haue also taught by the name which they haue giuen to death calling it Thanaton which is as much to say according to the Tymologie which Temiste hath giuen of it that ano eis ton theon in French is now vp to God and Telutin eion ei teletin consecration as if he would say that death is like vnto a solemne ceremonie by the which the faithfull are altogether consecrated and dedicated to God for afterwards to apply themselues to no other exercise then to sing the praises of God and to sanctifie his holy name And for that regard Iesus Christ did also call it Baptisme Mat. 20. because that by death we passe as by a port and thorow a water to arriue in a place of rest and pleasure whither we pretend And if the bodie which the Greekes call Soma to shew that it is a sepulcher to the soule which they call by a name comming very neere to the other to wit Sima where it seemes that during this life it is as it were buried and interred when it pleaseth God to take it away is it not as if he made it to come out of a tombe and that he raised it What occasion then can men haue to flie from bodily death and to abhorre it so seeing that separating the soule from the bodie it puts the soule out of prison and sends it in libertie to heauen there to be received into the bosome of Iesus Christ and to enioy with him and all the