Tradesman Artificer Mechanicall man Husbandman Souldier Seruant must liue and desire to liue not to themselues but that in their places 1. by their Life 2. their Labours 3. Mat. 5. their Prouokements 4. their Examples their light should so shine here that others seeing their good workes might bring glory to him who is the Father of lights to him which is the light of the Gentiles and the glory of his people euen here Simeons LORD whom Simeon prayseth and to vvhom hee prayes Vse 2 Of Redargution But sure the liues of most men from the highest to the lowest is as contrary to this light and as irregular from this rule as darknesse and irregularitie it selfe for if we should make a quere and an inquisition here as the Lord will make in Iudgement for such Simeons Ezek. 9. if they should now be marked in the forehead like Ezekiels Mourners where should we be inquisitiue for them In the Court perhaps there might be culled out some Ioseph as in Pharohs some Obediah as in Achabs some Daniel as in Nabuchadnezzars In great Houses some Naaman as in the house of Rimmon some Iacob in Labans some Chuza and Iohanna as in Herods In the Campe some Cornelius In the Citie some Lot In the Country some Boaz. Amongst great ones some Nichodemus Amongst priuate men some Nathaniels that desire to liue no longer then God may be glorified of them in them and by them But compare them to the multitudes that swarme in euery corner of Court Countries and Cities of all sexes and sorts like Aegyptian Locusts and Grasse-hoppers that liue onely to themselues and for themselues that limit themselues in themselues in effecting their owne proud couetous vaine ambitious sinister ends and carnall desires without any reference or relation to Gods glory or the good of others and they are very few one of a Citie and two of a Tribe Ier. 3.14 like the after-Vintage and the Haruest gleanings like the few names vvritten in Sardi Apoc. 3.4 as for example in particulars ah si fas dicere sed fas In the Sonnes of Leui how many there be that liue of the Altar and serue not at the Altar that scumme away the fat but pollute the the Sacrifice like Elie's Sonnes that seeke sua non suos their owne gaines not the peoples good Qui se pascunt non oues that feede themselues of the flocke but not the flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made them Ouer-seers that seeke for nothing as vvas once truely said of the ancient Abbots Monkes and Cloysterers but a lazy life and carnall command Otium cum honore against vvhom these and all such complaints as these which Gregory and Bernard tooke vp in their times might be well vsed and vrged I say how many there be of such I rather leaue to the consideration and deploration of such as haue any eyes or hearts then to the expostulation of this place onely I say whether such are Simeons or Simons or Sinons like Iude or like Iudas who sees not Secondly for the Magistrates what are the aymes and ends of most of them To discharge those dueties that the Word inioynes them which those worthy Lights Moses Phineas Ioshuah Samuel Nehemiah Salomon haue by their president and practise laid before them No verily for then wee should not haue the Sabbath which aboue all dayes should be sanctified so profaned so much drunkennesse abounding vncleannesse ouerflowing Oathes breaking forth by Gods Law capitall and criminall and by death penall vnreformed nay vnreprehended vnremoued yea vnreproued which shewes that many of them liue onely to the satisfying and seruing of their owne couetousnesse and vnconscionablenesse like Ahab Festus and that infoelix Felix or licentiousnesse like Herod but neyther vnto GOD nor to doe good vnlesse to themselues Thirdly as wee see the motion of the head and Eye Ecclesiasticall and Politicall of Ministers and Magistrates meerely naturall like that of the Elements and Beasts after vvhich the whole bulke of the body of the people moues so in the heads Oeconomicall wee shall see little spirituall For what is the aime of Masters and Mistresses in their housholds regiment is it Gods glory the good temporall and eternall of those that are vnder them doe they liue or desire to liue that by their meanes their housholds might be the households of Faith their wiues Christs Spouses their Children Gods Children and Heyres of of Grace their Seruants Gods Seruants the Lords Free-men their Kinsemen of the spirituall affinitie and consanguinitie of Christ that their strangers within their gates vvith them might enter in at the Gates of Sion Are these their ends Caius contrarium verum est the cleane contrary or at least contradictorie is verified in most Let experience speake looke into their houses into their regiment into their carriage and disportment and yee shall see their exercises such as vvere vsed in the Siege of Thebes couetous carding and dicing or wanton and promiscuous dauncing you shall finde moe shewes of Religion in the vse of the Word in the house of a Iew more seeming prayers in the house of a Turke Papist or Pagan who pray oftner to Saints and Idols then they then in their houses which are rather dens of Diuels and cages of vncleane Birds then Churches What are the desires of such who sees not What their deserts who knowes not who feares not In the same ranke are the rest where is the Tradesman as Iob of the good Messenger one of a thousand let him stand forth whose heart tels him that truely and sincerely in his Trade and Calling hee aymes aright and so all others let their soules speake Who in their traffique and commerce with men ayme at GOD at the profit and emollument of others and not wholy or for the most part at themselues Who in seruing of man seekes directly and immediately to serue God and not rather himselfe Who seekes grace and godlinesse and not gaine such an one erit mihi magnus Apollo I would trauell farre on my feete to finde such a Phoenix For the other sort that liue eyther in no calling or in a sensuall sinfull calling such as riotous Prodigoes profane Esau's vaine Gentlemen gull Gallants retchlesse Ruffians licentious Lechers gracelesse Gamesters filthy Brothellers Queanes Curtizans and beastly Bawdes with all the rest of that restlesse and retchlesse crew alas what good doe they in the world what ayme they at but like Swine to feede like the rich Churle to goe brauely and faire deliciously with the Sabarites and Sardanapalus to inuent and wallow in polluting pleasures to feede their fancy please their owne humours content themselues delight the flesh and damne the soule liuing to eate eating to liue the life of sinne doing as much good to others as the Moath to the garment the Caterpiller to the fruit the Cantharides to the Oyntment spoyling and infecting like plaguy people vvhom thy liue amongst Therefore these and all these Terrae
refreshing can come from our earthly beds and naturall sleepe here Wherefore with ioy let vs welcome the houre of death and blesse God for it tenne thousand times following the foot-steps of worthy Fathers and Saints in the Church whose feeling of this point God hath directed them to leaue behinde them in their writings O tu vita quam praeparauit Deus ijs qui diligunt eum vita vitalis vita beata vita secura vita tranquilla c. O thou life saith Augustine prepared of God for them that loue him thou liuing life thou blessed life thou secure life thou quiet life thou beautifull life thou life that knowest no death thou life that knowest no sadnesse thou life without blot without sorrow without care without corruption without perturbation without any varietie or change Would God that laying aside this burthen of my flesh I might enter into thy ioyes O quam fortunatus ero si audiuero c. O how happy shall I be if I might heare those sweet Songs of thy Citizens and those honey sweet verses but O more happy if I my selfe may finde grace and fauour to sing a song vnto the Lord Iesus Christ of the sweet Songs of Sion O verè foelices qui de Pilago c. O truely happy they that come out of the Sea of the World to the Hauen of Heauen out of Banishment to their owne Country and out of a soule Prison to a glorious Palace O Coelestis domus luminosa ad te suspirat c. O Heauenly House full of glorious light to thee tendeth my pilgrimage that he may possesse mee in thee that made both mee and thee Inter Brachia Seruatoris mei viuere volo mori cupio In the Armes of my Sauiour I wish to liue and desire to dye Many such feeling speeches I could repeate from the auncient militant warriours in this mortalitie whom we call Fathers when they went to the Father of Spirits shewing how farre they were from any vnwillingnesse to die which if wee make vse of as wee ought assuredly they will vvorke in vs through the blessing of God the same effect To shut vp this the godly cry come Lord Iesus come quickely Now they are in the world then they shall come to their owne now they are in the skirmish then shall they be in their victory now in the tempestuous Sea then in the quiet Hauen now in the heate of the day then in rest and coole euening now in place absent from Christ then with him following wheresoeuer hee goeth Now their life is hid with Christ but then shall they appeare with him in glory and that glory for euer and euer without change or end 1 Iohn 4.2 Comforts against the feare of Death by which the Christian Soule may be made willing to her Dissolution CHAP. V. THE feare of death is not one of the least temptations to a weake Christian for Death is not onely fearefull to a naturall man whose hope is in this world being in it owne nature the most terrible of all terribles as Heathen men haue tearmed it for which cause wicked men are agast at the apprehension of it as appeares in the example of Baltazar of Hamon and others being as vnwilling to dye as the Beare vnto the Stake and the Swine vnto the Shambles but euen the godly themselues haue some combats and conflicts in this kinde as had our Sauiour Christ himselfe Ezekias and Dauid c. by reason that Nature abhorres her owne abolishion and feares the dissolution of the soule and body which are naturally as vnwilling to be seuered and sundered as two friends that haue beene borne and bred and brought vp together are loath to depart and to take their long leaue eyther of other therefore to make that easie and facile vnto thee which of it selfe is harsh and difficult that thou maist submit thy selfe willingly to that which all flesh haue vndergone and must vndergoe of necessitie Arme Grace against Nature and the Spirit against the Flesh with these comfortable considerations 1 God cals for they soule 1 Consider that by corporall death God onely cals againe for that soule which at the first hee created and infused into the body to informe and animate it and that this Soule of thine flits not out of her terrestriall tabernacle by chance or hap-hazard or casualtie or fortune or by the Climactericall yeere the reuolution of seauens and nines or by the position of the Heauens or course of the Starres or by thy disease or sicknesse occasioned by bad dyet superfluities of meates or drinkes ouer-great heates or taking of cold or the like accidents which are but meere instruments of thy mortalitie but looke at the superiour Agent GOD himselfe who hath now determined and disposed thy death Hab. 9.27 who hath numbred thy dayes and appointed thy limits who turnes thy dust into his dust Gen. 3.19 thou being a Sonne of Adam and cals for thy Spirit to returne to him that gaue it Psal 90.3 Eccles 12.7 And therefore seeing it is the Lord that cals be thou as willing to sleepe with thy Fathers as Samuel was to awake out of his naturall sleepe at Gods call 1 Sam. 3.10 Thinke that thy Soule is giuen vnto thee as a precious pledge to be safely kept and therefore grudge not to returne thy holy pawne to God the chiefe owner when hee requires it but commit it to him as into the hands of a faithfull Creator and louing Redeemer Why should the Tenant at will stand out with his Land-lord for an old rotten Cottage when he would remoue him to a better Mansion why should the Souldier be refractorie to leaue his station and place to be otherwaies disposed of by his Generall and Commander Now thou art here but a Tenant at will thou hast no fee-simple of thy life thou art a war-faring Souldier professed in Baptisme therefore like the Centurions Souldiers be willing to goe when thy Captaine bids thee goe Mat. 8.9 2 Let this comfort thee that thy sinnes 2 The sting of death is taken away the cause of thy death is taken away by the Messias Christ in whom thou beleeuest by whom thy sinnes being pardoned thou art blessed Psal 32.1 his death being the death of Sin and the conquest of Hell Hos 13. 1 Cor. 15. And therefore comfort thy selfe with Dauids holy Meditations encouraging thy soule to returne vnto her rest because the Lord hath beene bountifull vnto thee since he hath deliuered thy Soule from death euen the second death thine eyes from teares and thy feete from falling and since thou shalt walke before the Lord euen with the foure and twentie Elders in long white roabes in the Land of the liuing Psal 116.7.8.9 For all thy bitter griefe in corporall death which yet is sweetened to the Elect the Lord will deliuer thy soule from the pit of corruption for hee hath cast all thy sinnes behinde his backe as hee did Ezekiahs Esay 38.17 And
of this life and of the life to come and who consent and obey must eate the good things of the Land That this Position is no Paradoxe that Grace is the way to gaine and Pietie the meanes to prosperitie as is Psal 1. so let any to stand vpon no moe places read Exod. 23.25 and hee will confesse that this is as true as God himselfe is true If any man be troubled with that scruple which perplexed Iob Ieremy and Dauid in their time that the slaues of Sathan are in outward peace and pompe and seeming-prosperitie when Gods Seruants are in the ebbe and going downe the winde the same Scriptures salue and satisfie the sore of this Obiection where it was first made to which place I referre you Psal 73. and Iob 21. The second meede and reward of Gods seruants is Honour Secondly Honour that continuing as inuiolable as the Decrees of the Meedes and Persians which God auoucheth to Samuel of reiected Saul Those that honour mee I will honour them 1 Sam. 2.30 Them whosoeuer whatsoeuer wheresoeuer they be Quoscunque qualescunque vbicunque Kings and Kesars poore and pesants that performe homage and fealtie vnto God holding their soules their lands and their liues in Capite from God those the mightie Iehouah who onely can set vp and pull downe aduance and deiect will honour they shall be gracious in his eyes dreaded of their enemies as was Ioshuah and Dauid and honoured of all those that are round about them This is Gods Law of Paritie Lex Talionis ratified in the high Court of Parliament in Heauen and put in execution in earth 1. Abraham Gods friend 2. Ioseph 3. Moses 4. Samuel deuoted to Gods Seruice proued the truth of this Promise the first honoured in the presence of his friends of his neighbours of his enemies Gen. 18.18 Ch. 20.3 23.6 The second found store of Honour where euer he came in his Masters house in the Prison in the Palace Gen. 39 40. 41. The third honoured by working Miracles for deliuerance of Gods people for confusion of Gods and his enemies Exod. 14. Ch. 16.32 The fourth increased in honour as in yeeres growing in fauour with God and man Infinite such examples might be recited the time would be too short to shew how Gedion Baarack Iob Dauid c. the faithfull Seruants of God were exalted from the Threshing-floore Iudg. 6.11 Iudg. 4.6 From the Sheepe-fold yea from the Dunghill Iob 42.12 to sit with Princes yea to be Princes of the people Psal 78.70 Psal 113. vers 7.8 Sin brings shame and other iudgements So that if it be so that all affect honour and eminencie me thinkes wee should take the right course to effect what we affect euen by seruing God Not to seeke it as Mary sought Christ where it is not preposterously and carnally eyther of the world as the ambitious Iewes did Iohn 5.44 nor from the vaine breaths of men as the hypocriticall Pharisies did Iohn 12.43 Much lesse at the hands of the Diuell as Balaam did Num. 22. by Diuellish courses and sinfull impieties and horrid villanies Nimrodians Nabuchadnezzar Erostratus as those that built Babels Tower and hee that built Babell and he that burnt Dianaes Temple did Genes 11.3 By Rebellions and Treasons Rebellions and Treasons as Absolon did 2 Sam. 18.18 as the Papists by King killings and Powder-plots as our drunkards by their vnreasonable quaffings by quarrelling fighting and stabbing as our vaine and vicious Gallants in their falsly supposed manhoods nor by any other horrid sinne whatsoeuer for the way of sinne is the way to shame and dishonour For as wicked and vngodly men seruing the Diuell whose Children they are Ioh. 8.44 by seruing sinne 1 Iohn 3.8 suffering it to raigne in their mortall bodies Rom. 6 12. are called and accounted the enemies and haters of God Rom. 1.30 Rom. 8.7 vnruly and vntamed Heffers Hâ—s 4.16 Spurners against God Deut. 32.15 A rebellious and a false seede Esay 57.3.4 Conspirators and such as stretch their hands out against God as Iob and Ieremie call them Ier. 11.9 Iob 15.25 Dispisers of the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Stout against God in their words Mal. 3.13 Contemners of his wayes Iob 21.14 Setting their mouthes against heauen Psal 73.9 Dispising both the Word of God vvith the Iewes 2 Chron. 24.19 Psal 50.17 and the Workes of God as did the Gentiles Rom. 1.21.22 And the Ministers of God as the Elders of Israell and the People did Moses and Samuel Exod. 16.8 1 Sam. 8.7 And the Iewes CHRIST and his Disciples 1 Kings 20.28 Dan. 3.15 2 Kings 19. but euen the person of GOD himselfe as did the Aramites Nabuchadnezzar Senacherib Rabsâ—kah and others so the Lord hath threatned to despise such despisers 1 Sam. 2.30 to deride such deriders and to lay their honors in the dust Psal 2.4 Cursed are they of the Lord like the inhabitants of Meros Iudg. 5.23 euen with all the curses pronounced from Mount Eball Deut. 27. Because they serue not the Lord the Lord accounts basely and vilely of them euen as of Oxen and Asses Dogs and Swine Esay 1.3 2 Pet. 2.22 As drosse and dung and vnsauory Salt fit to be cast away yea though Coniah the Sonne of Iehoâ—akim were as the signet vpon the Lords right hand yet if hee despise the Lord hee shall be pluckt thence accounted as a despised and broken Idoll or as a filthy vessell Ier. 22.24 28. Nay though Saul be a King if hee reiect and forsake the seruice of God God will reiect and cast him away to 1 Sam. 15.16 Yea Ierusalem if shee refuse to obey her God shall be an habitation of Diuels Reu. 18.2 The Iewes though Ruhamah shall be Lo-ruhamah though Ammi Gods people yet if they forsake the seruice of God they shall be Lo-ammi none of Gods people Hos 1.6.9 But as at this day it is seene a disgraced despised and contemptible Nation and so will the LORD deale with all other wickedly wretched contemners and despisers of his Glory his Word his Workes his Ordinances they shall be blamed and shamed and come to an ignominious and odious end Euery creature shall conspire their destruction that serue not their Lord and Master Gods hand shall be vpon his enemies in many iudgements the Creator The Angels shall smite them as they did Pharaohs first borne Zenacharibs Hoast and Herod Acts 12.23 Men shall laugh at them and the righteous shall haue them in derision Psal 52.6 7. They shall not continue in honour but be like the dumbe beasts that perish Psal The Diuell shall tryumph ouer them and cry at their deserued Plagues So so there goes the game They hiding their sinnes and not confessing them to Gods glory shall not prosper Prou. 28.13 Their soules shall be smit with feares like Pashur and Cain Gen. 4. Ier. 10.3 There shall be no peace to them but sonitus terroris a sound of terrour
dottage that in other things are politique Gallio's and plotting Iezabel's yet in this are witty fooles in preferring the Purse before the Gold the Caske before the Wine the Hiue before the Hony the Body before the Soule How many spend yeeres and moneths nay all their precious time in hawking hunting whoring carding dicing c. in scraping and gathering yealow dust together in doing workes morrall or sinfull their owne workes or the Diuels how many in doing nothing or doing euill or as good as nothing How many women spend many dayes and houres in tricking and trimming the painted sepulchers of their soules I meane their bodies in a Glasse who neuer considering how the glasse of their time runnes spend not a moneth in a yeere a weeke in a moneth a day in a weeke an houre in a day in the publique or priuate worship of GOD in looking into the Glasse of Gods word prayer meditation c. How many Citizens and Countrimen of all sorts spend the vvhole sixe dayes in catering and purueying for the body who grudge God his Sabbaths for the prouision of their soules such men eyther they thinke they haue no soules or that their soules shal die with their bodies like the beasts liuing like Libertines and Epicures as their faith is like the Saduces which denied any Spirit or Resurrection or soules immortalitie as Iosephus testifies of them Iosephus antiq lib. 8. c. 2. de bello Iud. lib. 2. c. 7. Oh we had need cry to such deluded franticke men and tell them that they haue soules and soules immortall to raigne with GOD or to be plagued with the Diuels after their departing out of the body His hoped Pacification In these words In peace NOW followes the last part of this holy Hymne Simeons Quietus est or his Pacification God suffering him to depart in peace Caluin and Bucer renders Simeons minde thus Nunc libenter sedato quieto animi moriar Lord now I depart willingly with an appeased heart and a setled soule since I haue seene thy Christ From whence I gather Doctrine that a good man that liues piously alwayes dyes peaceably It appeares here in Simeon so in the rest of the Saints as in Abraham to whom it was promised Gen. 15.15 that hee should goe vnto his Fathers in peace Godly men alwayes die in peace and should be buryed in a good age which promise was plentiously performed to Abraham for he yeelded the spirit dyed in a good age an old man and of great yeeres Gen. 25.8 So Isaack the Sonne of Promise gaue vp the ghost and dyed peaceably being old and full of daies Gen. 35.29 Neither was the death of good Iacob that preuailing Israel discrepant to his holy life for he dyed quietly making an end of his charge vnto his Sonnes hee pluckt vp his feete into his bed and gaue vp the ghost Gen. 49.33 After the like manner was the death of chaste and mercifull Ioseph Gen. 50.26 of penitent and patient Iob after hee had seene his sonnes and his sonnes sonnes euen foure generations Iob 42.16 Of zealous and sincere Dauid 1 Kings 2. after hee had counselled and charged his Sonne Salomon to walke in the wayes and Statutes of the Almightie Deut. 34. Of Moses the faithfull Seruant of the Lord who dyed when his eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated though he were an hundred and twentie yeeres old God himselfe being present at his death and buriall So Iosuah that couragious Leader of Israel Iosh 24.29 Aaron the Lords Priest who dyed before the Lord in the Mount Hor Numb 20.28 Eleazar Aarons Sonne Iosh 24.33 Samuel the Lords Prophet 1 Sam. 25.1 with all the rest of Gods Children Patriarkes Prophets Iudges Kings Martyres Confessors the learned Lights of the Church such as Ambrose Augustine c. as they haue liued holily they haue dyed happily of which in their seuerall Histories they haue giuen demonstrations most of them if not all in these three particulars First Three things demonstrate that the godly dye in peace that they were gathered to their Fathers in a mature and full age full of yeeres reaped like a Ricke of ripe Corne into the Lords Barne taken like mellow Apples from the Tree of life in which full age Abraham Isaack Iacob Ioshuah Iob with the rest before mentioned as also the Patriarkes before the Floud which out-liued them with others of the faithfull did blessedly yeeld their spirits and quietly slept in the Lord which blessing of long life being the promise annexed to that fift Commandement of Obedience is peculiarly incident to the godly rather then the wicked whose sinnes as the Iuie kils the Oake ordinarily abbreuiate their dayes or if any of the faithfull dye young or in their middle age before they haue attained to the yeeres of their Fathers eyther by a naturall dissolution as Iosias or by a violent death as the auncient and moderne Martyres eyther they are taken away from the euill to come as Augustine was immediately before the siege of Hippo by the Gothes and Vandals or else because they are ripened already in grace and come to that maturitie which GOD in his fore-seeing wisedome knowes they would or could attaine to and so are fitted for glory or else they testifie the truth here to others confirmation Gods glory and their owne consolation Secondly the Elect vsually haue their wishes The godly oft haue their desires before at and in their deaths and the fruition of their desires ere their departure to the great satisfaction of their soules the contentation of their hearts the corroberation of their faith and the scaling pledge of Gods speciall loue vnto them thus Simeon ere his death had CHRIST in his armes which was the desire and longing of his heart So Abraham saw Christs day before his death in the spirit and reioyced what did old Israel so long after in the whole world except the sight of Shiloh the Messias in the flesh as to see his darling Ioseph which longing of his the Lord satisfied at the full ere his death for his dying eyes did not onely see Iosephs face but his seede Ephraim and Manasses Gen. 48.11 What did Moses desire more then the fruition of Canaan the promised Land Now euen before the Lord shut his dying eyes the Lord tooke him vp into a mount and as a rellish and a taste of his fauour gaue him a sight of Canaan Deut. 34 ver 1.4 In what could Dauids heart be more setled then to see his Throne setled in Salomon his Sonne which his desire was accordingly accomplished for his eyes did see what his heart desired for which hee blessed God 1 Kings 1.48 And the like ordinarily fals out as many aged Christians at this very day can bring in their experienced probatum est as many that are fallen a-sleepe before them could haue testified how the Lord hath heard their requests and granted the desires of their soules in
mortem futurus Beholding this vse merry glee For as this is so thou shalt bee Hence it is that Augustine as hee would haue a man alwayes to thinke vpon these quatuor nouissima foure last things Death Iudgement Heauen Hell so chiefely in their Festiuals and meetings wherein Sathan chiefely beguiles men as hee did Adam and Eue by eating And sure amongst other things this made that Ciâ—icke Philosopher so abstinent because hee was continually amongst tombes and Sepulchers but sure the meditation of their Tombes and Sepulchers De orig Monich caused Paulus Symplex Macariuâ— Pambo and other Hermites in Hospinian to be so abstenuous euen to a maruell if not to a miracle I wish the Tricongij Biberij and Heliogabuli I meane the Epicures and Belly-gods that eate and drinke till there be as little Grace in their Soules and Wit in their Pates as their be Wines in their Pots that they would drinke out of an earthen vessell with Agathocles or looking vpon a Deaths-head as is the fashion in some Countryes or that a dead mans skull were presented vnto them the first dish at their Table as it is in the Court of Prester-Iohn or at least that if the picture of Death which I haue seene in the bottome of some cups will not yet that the sight of the dead creatures before them might call vnto them as Phillips Boy to Phillip Memento te esse mortalem Oh Epicurish Glutton remember thou art mortall or that they would ponder the voyce which S. Ierome alwayes imagined euen when hee was eating and drinking Arise you dead and come to Iudgement Perhaps these thoughts vvould make them put their kniues to their throates as Salomon speakes and damme vp the gulph of their inordinate appetites Fiftly this thought would worke in vs contentation in euery estate as it did in Iob who in the midst of his afflictions comforts himselfe with this consideration Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne The thought of this that wee shall carrie nought away with vs but a Coffin or a winding sheete should keepe vs within compasse of too eager pursuite in purchasing or impatiencie in parting with this vnrighteous Mammon Sixtly this thought of death is a notable meanes and spurre to further our Repentance it will cause vs if any thing not onely with Ezekias and Achitophel to set our houses in order but our hearts to for what so hastned the repentance of Niniuie as the beliefe and thought of Ionas his Sermon it was time for them to bestirre themselues when they had but forty dayes to liue So when Elias tels Ahab that the Dogges shall eate him and Iezabel hee makes some superficiall shew of repentance So the third Companie of fiftie with their Captaine that came by violence to fetch Elias when they saw the two other Captaines with their fifties consumed with fire they seeme to relent and deale with the Prophet by intreatie If then meditation of death haue such force both in the godly and wicked both in Christians and Pagans to incite to vertue restraine vice curbe couetousnesse cure pride bridle lust moderate murmuring keepe in intemperancie procure repentance cause mortification and doe euery way so correct a vicious life and so direct a happy death since of all other Meditations this strengthens the minde as of all other meates bread strengthens the body since it is as needfull to a good life as wings for Birds sailes for Marriners tailes for Fishes to swimme wheeles for Coaches to runne as Climachus makes the comparisons since you see the holy Patriarkes Abraham Iacob Ioseph Iob Moses Dauid nay I may adde our Sauiour CHRIST who was most frequent in discourse with his Disciples of his death his Passion his houre his crucifying nay euen then when hee was transfigured in glory hauing two dead men with him Mat. 17. Moses and Elias and talking of his death when hee came from the Mount as appeares in the Euangelists did so oft thinke of death since the Saints after Christs death Augustine Ierome Basil Bernard the deuout Hermites nay euen Ethnicke Kings and Philosophers made such good vse of this Meditation as we haue proued then let the thought possesse vs that are now liuing of our ineuitable dying that it may worke in vs the same effects that it did in them Exhortat Oh let vs thinke of it in our prosperitie in our pleasures let vs meditate of it in our Orchards in our Gardens as did Ioseph of Aramathia who Iohn 19.41 had his Sepulcher in his Garden euen the place of his recreations let vs thinke of it in our beds those Embleames of our graues in our Closets in our Cloisters in our Walkes and Galleries that so remembring it in euery place expecting it at euery houre it may not come vpon vs vnprouided as the storme vpon the Marriner as the enemie vpon the drowsie Centinel as Dauids Companie vpon the drunken Amalekites Inuadunt vrbem sâ—mno vinoque sepultum as the politique Graecians vpon the secure Troyans Death is like the Basiliske it hurts not if it be spyed betimes if Death spye vs first it kils vs as the Basiliske doth the Traueller if wee spye it first wee kill it as the Traueller doth the Basiliske as Ambrose makes the Application and therefore as Aristotle writes of two Fountaines the one whereof if a man drinke it makes him laugh so much till he dye if of the other it both hinders laughter and preuents death Et risum impedit mortem these two fountaines are the Remembrance and the Obliuion of death the last is like poysoned water to kill vs the first like strong distillatorie waters to reuiue vs. Yet alas for all this who thinkes of death Expostulation there is such a generall crust of Securitie growne ouer this Land that it is to be feared wee are exposed to the same dangers that Ierusalem was the cause of all whose plagues was shee knew not her visitation she remembred not her end Lament 1.9 Oh how few number their dayes that they may apply their hearts vnto wisedome How few thinke of their ends till sicknesse end them till Death say to them as GOD to Ezekias Thou must dye and as the Prophet to Ahaziah Thou shalt not come downe from thy bed to which thou art gone vp 2 Kings 1.4 How few looke into hell ere they leape into it How many Arithmeticians are in the world that number all things but their dayes their corne cattle sheepe stocke money wares and the likeâ— that are as wise Serpents in euery thing excepting in fore-seeing their death How many like carelesse debters still runne into the debts and arrerages of former sinnes with GOD their patient Creditor neuer thinking of the day of account the strictnesse of the Iudge the closenesse of the Prison the Serieant at their backes Death ready to arrest them How many sleepe out their time like Salomons sluggard How many cry
bitter cuppe then thou how many hast thou heard of how many knowest thou of Gods deare Children that haue and are vtterly exhaust and spent some by shipwracke or Pyrates by Sea some by Fire some by Theeues and Robbers some by bad Seruants some by bad Debtors and Customers some by Suertiship some by prodigall and vnthriftie Children some this way some that and some by the Surgions and Physitians like the woman in the Gospell vvhich perhaps is thy case Now what euer the meanes be of thy impouerishing God is the Author of it afflicting thee with it as a tryall of thy Faith and to excite thy prayers or inflicting it as a punishment of thy sinnes Iob knew well that Sathan could not stirre vp the tempest to blow downe his house nor the Chaldeans and Sabeans take away his goods without a commission or permission from God therefore with him haue thou recourse vnto God say The Lord giues and the Lord takes away blessed be the name of the Lord Iob 1.21.22 3 Pouertie is no token of Gods displeasure to thee for as it is no argument that the Lord loues a wicked man because he is rich so it is no argument that God reiects the godly because they are poore nay vvhere wealth and wickednesse pouerty and pietie concurre it testifies Gods wrath vpon the wickedly wealthy Psal 37.3 v. 18.19 setting them in slippery places feeding them like Swine with the mast of the world against the day of slaughter and giuing them their portion in this life as was seene in Nabal the two rich Churles in Saint Lukes Gospell with diuers others Besides it is Gods loue to his Children to keepe them bare here to that end he may the better blesse them The Seruant sometimes hath a greater portion then the Sonne for a time the slaue is better fed and clad then the Heyre that is kept at hard meate till his inheritance fall yet the Father loues the Heyre better Ponder well Psal 49.6.7.8.9.11.12.13.14 19.20 reade it all and apply it so Iob chap. 5. The poore Sheepe that the Housholder meanes to hold and to keepe goes in a bare pasture a short common is straitely folded in the night kept in obedience by the Shepheard and his Dog once a yeere coldly washt and nearely shorne but his Oxe or Bullocke that hee purposeth to butcher and kill hee puts in a fat pasture to feede hee goes grazing at libertie in Summer is stall-fed and housed in Winter Apply this to thine owne particular if thou beest poore and poore in spirit thou art Gods Heyre of his inheritance Gods Sheepe of his pasture The wicked though wealthy are slaues and bond-men 1. to Sathan 2. to their Lusts 3. to their Wealth 4. to the World they are fat Oxen fat Buls of Basan like the Oxe and the Asse that know not their Master Esay 1.4 like the Horse and Mule without vnderstanding Now how much is thy case better then theirs Vide Chrisost hom de Diuite Lazaro 4 hom 13. in 2 Cor. thou art crazed in the outward scaberd thy outward man but they are false mettall a Psal 37.17 which shall be burnt and broken their soules damned when their bodyes dye 4 A little that thou hast with the feare of God is better then great riches of the vngodly see Prou. 16.8 Psal 37.16 5 All things fall out to the best to those that feare GOD yea all things b Rom. 8.28 and euery thing as well pouertie as riches GOD is thy Physitian thou art his Patient the Physitian knowes better then the Patient what is good for him 6 If the Lord had fore-seene that a rich estate and an higher pitch had beene good for thee thou shouldest haue had it but hee knowes what is best for thee how ere thy corrupt desires incline this way or that way The Father will not giue the Childe a Sword or Knife though hee cry for it he knowes it will hurt him How knowest thou with what heart thou shouldest haue vsed Mat. 25. with what hand thou shouldest haue imployed thy Tallents of wealth if thou hadst them whether in the practise of sinne and workes of darknesse as dangerously to thy soule as a Childe or a mad man vse a sharpe weapon to the hurt of their owne or others bodies 7 Pouertie hinders not the acceptance of thy Prayers Teares Cryes and Sacrifices vnto thy God A wise poore man hath not so free accesse in earthly Courts to earthly Kings as silken Courtiers but The Lord heares the desires of the poore hee bends his eare vnto them Psal 10.17 For the sighes of the poore I will vp saith the Lord and helpe them Psal 12.5 The Lord turnes vnto the prayers of the desolate and despiseth them not Psal 102. verse 17. Psal 145. ver 18.19 The mighty Iehouah the King of Heauen will heare and helpe and relieue thee when the hautie and high minded and wealthy and wicked witty of the world are with their sacrifices reiected c Esay 1.13 14 Ier 7.10.11 Prou. 28.9 Psal 51.16 ver 7. like Caines d Gen. 4.5 For the Lord heales those that are broken in heart and bindeth vp their sores yea the Lord relieueth the meeke but abaseth the wicked to the ground Psal 147. ver 2. v. 6. Agar e and her Childe in their pouertie and distresse in the Wildernesse after they were cast out of Abrahams house cryed to the Lord being like to perish for want of water so did the Israelites in the extremities of their thirst f Exod. 17.3.4.5.6 and Moses for them complaine vnto the Lord in a Land where no water was so did g Iudg. 15.18.19 Sampson call on the Lord after his conquest of the Philistines being ready to faint for drinke and the Lord heard their distresse and granted their desires Agars eyes were opened and she saw a fountaine Moses smit the rocke and the water gushed out Sampsons Iaw-bone of an Asse sent out a spring of water many are the like examples This poore man cryed vnto the Lord and hee heard him saith Dauid so did this and this and this Oh then be thou patient and penitent and pious and thou shalt still finde God gracious in the midst of thy grieuances 8 Consider that if thou be poore in thy spirit as in thy outward estate thou art rich in Christ euen as the good Seruant is the Lords Free-man thou art the Lord of all the Creatures sublunarie h Psal 8.6.7.8 in title and interest how euer the wicked to whom all things are impure as Rebels and Traytors to God vsurpe them from thee As thou hast an interest in CHRIST so to all the Creatures Christ is all in all vnto thee i Reuel 3.17.18 if thou beest naked hee is the Wedding-garment to thee if blinde his Spirit is Eye-salue if hungry hee is the Manna k Iohn 6.48 58 the bread of life the bread of Heauen if