the king and deserue no better then death it selfe euen so are they the Children of death who teach their Traditions in the Church which is the kingdome of Christ for the doctrines of God and deuise new articles of saith not heard of in the ancient Church and presse them vpon vs as necessarily to be beleeued and they likewise who destroy the faith or maime it by their subtractions and denialls of Articles necessarily to be beleeued Let them looke to it therefore that deny the Trinitie or the Diuinitie of Christ and which deny saluation by Christ alone and they that teach worshipping of images adoration of reliques prayer for the dead transubstantiation and all they that beleeue it is of necessitie to saluation for euery Christian to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome affirming all to be Heretiques that refuse him to bee their chiefe Pastor on earth Finally all wicked and impenitent Sinners without exception of any shall dye this death Wit wealth birth beauty strength friends attendants these things cannot exempt them Tophet is prepared for Kings if wicked and Christ as Iude speaketh out of an ancient Prophecie will rebuke All the vngodly Saul shall not bee deliuered by his crowne nor Nabal by his Coffers Achitophel shall not bee helpt by his counsell nor Absalon by his beautie nor Haman by his honour nor Caiaphas by his priesthood nor any man by his greatnes by his high Offices and spacious Kingdomes These things cannot saue the body from Death much lesse able are they to saue the soule from Hell Nec prece nec pretio the Iudge will not bee perswaded by prayer nor blinded by bribing nor peruerted by any meane but vvill reward euery man according as his worke shall be without respect of persons The nature of this death is not easily to bee described to the full for neither hath the eye seene nor the eare heard neither hath it entered into mans heart to conceiue the panges and torments that are prepared for the wicked Only they that feele them are able if able to expresse them Neuerthelesse seeing the Scriptures are not wholly silent wee may be bold to speake by their direction First therefore the damned are depriued of the fauour of GOD and the comfort of his presence Secondly they doe indure horrible and very painefull punishments both in Soule and bodie Thirdly their paines are endlesse their tortures abide without ease for euer All these three Saint Paul affirmeth in one Verse together when he saith they shall be Punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glorie of his power Here is Paena Damni the punishment of losse and lack at the least exprest and the eternitie of it if not also Paena Sensus the punishment of feeling panges and torments but our Sauiour sheweth that the wicked shal suffer Euerlasting Paine and Esay saith that their worme shall neuer dye nor their fire bee quenched There shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Planè fltetus ex dolore stridor dentium ex furore They shall weepe saith Bernard for sorrow and grinde their te-th through rage Hell fire is full of paine and altogether voide of comfort In fire there are two things heate and light hell-Hell-fire is hot but darke if it giue light it is not the light of comfort but of miserie to let the damned see those things which might affright and grieue them But this fire is not as I suppose such fire as ours is neither is their worme such a worme as creepes vpon the earth or as is bred in our body but it pleaseth the Holy Ghost by these words to point out and as by simitudes to shew vnto vs the griefes and gripes of the damned which shall be with much paine and horrour as the burning of a fire or the gnawing of wormes The Diuell and the wicked saith Damascene shall bee deliuered vp into euerlasting fire Non materialem qualis est apud nos not vnto a materiall fire as is with vs but into such as is knowne to God And Saint Austen doth thus somewhere dispute about this point If the fire of Hell bee corporall it must bee fed by corporall fuell which beeing once wasted it also must goe out But it 's certen that hell-fire shall neuer fayle therefore it is spirituall but if it bee a corporall fire but by creation euerlasting then must the soules of men feele a corporall fire The Gluttons Soule in the parable was tormented greeuously burnt extremely but vvith vvhat fire with hell-fire indeed but it is improbable that elemenrary or bodily fire could affect a spirit out of the body But let vs not dispute vvhat kinde of fire it is but rather studie to keepe our selues from feeling it This fire saith Christ is euerlasting semper vrens nunquam exurens torquet non extorquet punit sed non finit it alwaies burnes but neuer burnes them vp it paines them but kils them not it afflicts but endes not It is called Ignis inextinguibilis fire vnquenchable for it neither is put out it selfe neither doth it extinguish those whom it doth torment Hell-fire saith S. Gregorie seeing it is incorporeus not bodily it is neither kindled by the help of man nor fed with wood but beeing once made it continueth vnquenchable and stands not in neede to bee kindled neither wants it heate Neither must it seeme hard that the paines of the wicked must indure euer For though indeede their liues had an end some sooner some later yet if we consider the infinitie of his person whom they sinned against and againe that their sinnes left an immortall and indeleble staine in their soules and finally the eternall auersion of their willes that if they had liued euer they would haue sinned euer if we consider these things I say it will appeare there is no cruelty or iniustice in the Lord to punish them with eternall perdition so as that their death shall be without death their wants without want their destruction without destruction And that which doth aggrauate their misery is that their companions are no better then the Diuels and the place of their abode no sweeter no better then Hell it selfe which of all places in the world is the worst the habitation of Diuels voide of order full of horror vbi nulla spes boni nulla desperatio mali where there is no hope at all of any good and no despaire of euill But yet in Hell there shall be differences and degrees of paines euen as in heauen there will be degrees of glory For pro disparibus ponderibus peccatorum erunt etiam disparia tormenta paenarum as Saint Augustine speaketh according to the different degrees of sinnes there shall bee different degrees of torments The seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it
God vpon those persecuting Tyrants Domitian Hadrian Valerian Dioclesian Maximinus Aurelian Arnolphus Baiazet the Turke and Mamucha a Saracen The former was slaine with Daggers by his owne Seruants in his priuie chamber his Wife consenting The second hauing caused ten thousand Christians at one time to bee crucified and still raging against them God tooke him in hand at last smit him with an issue of bloud then with a consumption of his lungs and lights which he spat out thirdly with a dropsie and being in horrible torment he would haue killed himselfe but being hindred he died in that miserable estate The third being taken prisoner in the Persian warres Sapor the King of Persia vsed him as a blocke or stirrope to get on horsebacke and as Eusebius saith made him to be slayed aliue and powdered with salt The fourth in hatred of Christianitie by publike edict commanded the Christians Churches should be beaten downe and their Bibles burnt and torne and themselues to be put out of their offices in the Common-wealth which had any but God met with him plagued him with strange diseases fired his house with lightning and terrified him with thunder so as that not knowing where to hide himselfe he fell mad and killed himselfe The fift was smitten with a most stinking and vile disease which increased his crueltie and at last killed him his carkasse being rotten and full of wormes St. Chrysostome saith the Apple of his eye fell out before his death The sixt had his throat cut by his owne seruants The seuenth rotted liuing and sending forth lice and wormes continually at length died miserably in the twelfth yeare of his tyrannie Baiazet was taken captiue by Tamerlaine caried about in a Cage and vsed as his stirrope and ended his daies miserably Mamucha returning from the slaughter of many Christians was with his whole Armie swallowed vp of the Sea few or none escaping of an hundred saile of ships What need I say so much The iudgements of God are many and fearefull in all the world Morindus a cruell Tyrant in this Iland was deuoured of a Monster that came out of the Irish Seas Popiel a King of Poland an Vncle-murtherer and a notable curser was with his wife who consented to his Vncles death eaten vp of Rats Cerinthus perished with the fall of an hot-house vpon him Arrius voided his guts The Emperours Constantius and Valence both Arrians were punished by God the former by a sodaine and inexpected Apoplexie whereof he died the latter was burnt in a little house in which he had hid himselfe in his slight from the Gothes But what need I goe so farre for examples All ages are full of them And we see how God suffers Adulterers Drunkards and other sinners which scape often vnpunished to fall into thefts and murthers whereby they come vnto their deaths Which things if men would duly consider it would rouse them vp by the grace of God vnto better care and conscience which God grant vnto vs. But I will hold thee no longer but leaue thee to consider the things I haue prepared for thee Thine in Christ Thomas Tuke A DISCOVRSE OF DEATH CORPORALL SPIRITVALL AND ETERNALL THere is as of Life so of Death three different kindes externall or bodily internall or spirituall eternall or of both body and soule Externall or bodily death is as Plutarke saith the Priuation of all heate or as Scaliger speaketh the Priuatien of Life or as they both say the Disiunction of the soule from the body which two by God were coupled to make one liuing and perfect man Death is a disiunction of the soule not a destruction it is a separation and not an annihilation Etsi morimur corpore nunquam tamen spiritu for though as Martialis saith we die in regard of the bodie yet we neuer die as touching the soule because death as Lactantius speaketh Mors non extinguit hominem sed ad praemium virtutis admit tit doth not make a man to be iust nothing but admits him to the reward of vertue if hee haue beene vertuous or else deliuers him vp to most greeuous punishments if he haue beene vicious Amōgst the heathen some there were that held the death a dissolution of the soule as Democritus Epicurus Dicaearchus others there were which held it was immortall as Pherecydes Plato many moe The Stoicks saith Lactantius held that the soules of men continue and that nec interuentu mortis in nihilum resolui they are not brought by death to nothnig Cyrus instructing his sonnes a little before his death saith that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. neuer perswaded that the soule af man died when it left the body but saith that the mind when it is freed from the fellowship of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is then most wise and vnderstanding and that when a man is dissolued euery thing in the bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the soule returnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto the things of the same kinde that is are resolued into the elements out of which they were taken and therefore hee forbids his sonnes to thinke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he shall be Nothing any more after his death In like manner Hermes describing the Nature of man saith that God made man of both natures to wit of an immortall nature and of a mortall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making the same man to bee partly immortall and partly mortall which immortalitie is to be vnderstood of the soule experience shewing the body to bee mortall and corruptible without all remedie And finally the Diuell himselfe as he gaue testimonie to the diuinitie of Christ so hath hee by Oracle shewed the immortalitie of the soule for being by Polytes consulted vnder the name of Apollo Milesius Whether the soule remained after death or was dissolued hee answered that the soule when it was departed from the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is alwaies free from the weakenesse of olde-age and continueth altogither vnvanquished To these testimonies of the Creature we may for better satisfaction adde the witnesse of holy Scriptures which are the very Oracles of the great Creatour Salomon saith that when the body returnes to the earth the spirit returnes to God that gaue it Esay saith that the Worme of the transgressors shall not dye that their fire shall not be quenched which argues the mortall immortalitie or immortall mortatalitie of their soules Accordingly our Sauiour sheweth in two parables that the soules of wicked men dye not with their bodies but remaine in torments The one is of him that said Soule thou hast much goods layed vp for many yeeres but God said vnto him Thou foole this night will they fetch away thy soule from thee The other of another rich Epicure who was grieuously tormented in hell
regard of God to whom he was to make satisfaction for vs whose roome he did willingly stand in yet Pilate had no iust cause to condemne him nor the Iewes to accuse him But suppose the Magistrate will take away a mans life without cause or for maintaining Gods cause may not a man resist take vp armes against him or practise his death No in no case for though he abuse his power yet thou maist not breake thy patience the misapplying of his authoritie must not make thee forget thy loyalty Dauids heart smote him when he did but cut the very coate of his Soueraigne Saul And Saint Peter saith It is acceptable if a man for conscience toward God endure griefe suffering wrongfully For hereunto saith hee that was willingly crucified with his heeles vpward for his masters sake yee are called for Christ also suffered for you leauing you an example that ye should follow his steps who when he was reuiled reuiled not againe when he suffered he threatned not but committed it to him that iudgeth righteously Blessed are yee if yee suffer for righteousnesse And bee readie alwaies to giue an answere to euerie man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in you with meekenesse and reuerence hauing a good cōscience Yea feare not their feare neither be troubled But sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts For what praise is it if when yee bee buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently It is not indeede the praise of Martyrdome for non paena sed oausafacis Martyram the cause makes a Martyr and not the Crosse but if when ye doe well yee suffer wrong and take it patiently this is acceptable to God And thus much of Ciuill death sustained by the authoritie of the Magistrate who ought to be very wary how he smites remembring that it is more Prince-like to saue then to destroy and more difficult to reuiue one dead man then to kill a thousand liuing and that the smallest member is not to bee cutt from the body but for the fafety of the body and finally that the Emperour Theodosius Maluit sibi homines religione quà m timore a stringere thought it better to binde his Subiects to him by Religion then by terror For Multos timere debet quem multi timent he must needs feare many who will needes bee feared of many Quem multi timent pauci amant whom many doe feare few doe loue and quem quisque odit perijsse expedit But a Prince that is slow to punish and readie to reward and which is sory when hee is constrained to be seuere as it was spoken of Augustus Caesar doth most resemble the Prince of Princes and gaineth the loue of his Subiects which is saith Seneca Regi inexpugnabile munimentum an inuincible fortresse for the Kings protection But we haue too much digressed Thirdly there is a voluntary or rather a Wilfull Death when a man doth of purpose kill himselfe Of this death died Achitophel and Iudas who hanged thēselues such as desperately cut their owne throats throw themselues into Welles waters or burn themselues vp as she that seeing her goods and bagges consumed with fire ran in a rage into the fire and there dyed thus also dyed Empedocles a Sicilian Poet of whom Horace thus writeth Deus immortalis haberi Dum cupit Empedocles ardentem frigidus Aetnam Insiluit That is Whiles that Empedocles desired that men should count him an immortall God hee leapt into the flames of Aetna a Hill in Sicily whence ariseth most horrible smoke and flames of fire to the end that disappearing on the sudden from the sight of men he might haue beene thought to haue gone into heauen and to haue been a God as he did affirme vnto his fellow Citizens the people of Agrigentum But by the way marke the hap The flame as one saith more iust then hee discouered his imposture for it cast vp one of his pantables or sandals and so it was iusily coniectured that the poore ambitious wretch was there consumed Here sundry Questions are to be resolued First whether vpon any cause it be lawfull for a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to kill himselfe I answere no except God doe by speciall and extra ordinarie reuelation of his will command The reason is because a man is not created for himselfe but for God and no man is absolute and Soueraigne Lord of his owne life for wee are not our owne we are Christs our bodies and our soules are not ours but Gods as Saint Paul doth teach vs. Our bodies are the Temples of God if any man shall pull downe or destroy his Temple if he haue not expresse warrant for it God will him destroy The sixt Commandement saith Thou shalt not kill now he that killes himselfe kills a man therefore hee violates the lawe and so incurres the curse And whereas true fortitude is occupied about thinges that might ingender feare and because as Aristotle speaketh nothing is more terrible then Death it might seeme therefore that those which kill themselues are very valiant men and therefore to be commended as men indued with the vertue of true fortitude But in truth they are of all other most cowardly which doe kill themselues to auoide discredit shame pouertie torments for because they want discretion and courage to beare the crosse therefore out of passion and through saintnesse of Spirit they make themselues away This is the courage of an Hare which fearing to be rent in pieces of the Hounds runnes vnder the Hunter Which kinde of fatall foole-hardmesse Ouid doth elegantly set forth in these Verses Qui rapitur fatis quid praeter fat a requirit Porrigit ad spinas duraque saxa manus Accipitrem metuens pennis trepidantibus ales Audet in humanos fessa venire sinus Nec se vicino dubitat committere tecto Qua fugit infestos territa cerua canes He that the fates haue met with what doth he seek But things as fatall as the Fates hee met with He graspes the sharpest thornes roughest stones The tired Bird fearing the greedy Hauke Flyes to a man that is as greedy of her and so the Hind dreading the hoūds that chase her Takes vp some neighbour house as Fatall to her What valour was in the Fishes in the Fable which leapt out of the Frying panne into the fire What wisedome is it for a voiding shame to rush into a shamefull death Is this courage to kill thy selfe for feare of being killed by others Fortitude hath his name a Ferondo of bearing And men are called valiant saith Aristotle because they indure those things which are troublesome and bitter But saith he for a man to kill himselfe that hee might auoide pouertie or trouble doth not betoken courage but rather cowardice For it is the point of a feeble and effeminate spirit to
shunne those things which are painefull Neither doe they indure to dye for honesty sake but that they might escape and auoide some euill or greeuous thing Secondly it may bee asked whether a man may not lawfully hazard his life yea and expose himselfe to certaine death for the Churches sake or for the good of his Countrey Yea no doubt he may and must if necessitie so require Hereby saith Saint Iohn we perceiued loue that Christ laide downe his life for vs therefore wee ought also to lay downe our lines for our Brethren And Saint Paul saith I passe not at all neither is my life deare vnto my selfe so that I may fulfill my course with ioy and the ministration which I haue receiued of the Lord Iesus to testifie the Gospell of the grace of God And when Agabus by the inspiration of the Spirit had told Paul that the Iewes should bind him and deliuer him to the Gentiles wherevpon some that heard it with teares besought him that hee would not goe to Ierusalem Then Paul answered What doe yee weeping and breaking mine heart For I am ready not to be bound onely but also to die at Ierusalem for the Name of the Lord Iesus And vnto the Philipians he profesteth his willingnesse to dye for their confirmation Yea saith he and though I be offered vp vpon the sacrifice and seruice of your Faith I am glad and reioice with you all And this kinde of death is very honourable For sanguis Martyrum est semen Ecclesiae the bloud of the Martyrs is the seede of the Church Persecutiembus creuit Ecclesia Martyriis coronata est The Church saith Saint Ierome increased by persecutions and was crowned by Martyrdomes Tanta est virtus Martyrij vt per illam credere etiam ille cogatur quite doluit occidere So great saith Saint Cyprian is the force of martyrdome that thereby euen he is forced to beleeue with thee that was ready to haue killed thee The Phoenix as Epiphanius others doe report when she is come to her full age gathereth in some high mount a pile of Myrrhe Frankencense and other Spices which being kindled by the heate of the Sunne she suffereth her selfe to be burnt vp and of her ashes there first breedeth a litle worme which at last becomes a Phoenix so the Martyrs of Christ hauing gathered a pile of vertues and good works when they see the glory of God and the good of the Church requires it expose themselues to the scorching heat of persecution and sacrifice themselues by patience in the flames therof that by their death the posteritie of the Church might be preserued another generation of faithful Christians springing as it were out of their ashes Philo saith that the Coriander seed being cut into little peeces euerie parcell thereof bringeth out as much as the whole seede would haue done so it may be said that euery inch of the Martyrs euerie drop of their bloud is exceeding fruitfull Ligabantur saith Saint Austen They were bound beaten butchered burned multiplicabantur and yet they multiplied insomuch as at last Christianitie did preuaile Emperours Kings and Queenes submitting their soules to the Scepter of Christ Iesus and being become noursing-fathers and noursing mothers of the Church which is the Spouse of Christ as Esay prophecied In like manner honourable and honest is their death that die for the safegard of their King and Countrie How readie is the hand to set it selfe before the head caring for no danger that I may so speake so that the head may bee preserued whole The King is the Head of a Kingdome what good Subiect or Seruant will not willingly glue his life to saue the life of his Soueraigne Dulce decorum est pro patriâ mori it is a sweete and honest death saith Horace which a man indures for his country Patria est communis omnium nostrum Parens Our country saith Tully is the common Mother of vs al. Chari sunt liberi c. We loue saith he our children kindred acquaintance but our Countrie alone hath all the loues of all men omnes omnium charitates patria vna complexa est for which what good man would refuse to die to doe it good For the Commonwealth is a name of an vniuersall Citie on which wee ought to bestow our selues wholly and as it were to consecrate our selues A wiseman should refuse no danger for the safetie of his Countrie for thus saith Tullie he reasons with himselfe Non mihi soli sed etiam atque adeò multo potius natus sum patriae I am not borne for my selfe alone but also and much more too for my Countrie Vita quae fato debetur saluti patriae potissimum soluatur Let the life which is due to destinie bee payed especially for the safegard of the Countrie O fortunata mors quae naturae debita pro patria potissimum est reddita O blessed death saith hee which being due as a debt to nature is payed especially for the Countries good And vndoubtedly they that willingly and deuoutly lay downe their liues for God and their Countrie being called thereunto are of all others most louing and most couragious neither doe they die but liue in happie and eternall memorie with God who no doubt rewardes their momentanie crosse with an immortall crowne of glorie in the heauens Thirdly it may be demanded whether the death of Christ and of the holy Martyrs may be called voluntarie seeing they died at the commaund and by the execution of others I answere their death was voluntarily but not with wicked wilfullnesse sustained of them For Christ could haue saued himselfe then when hee suffered himselfe to be apprehended condemned and executed for hee had power to lay downe his life and take it vp and might to doe what he listed no man could take his life from him against his wil for being verie God he could not be compelled And for the Martyrs of Christ they died in deed by the malice of others and not through the malicious wilfulnesse of their owne spirits yet did they willingly die choosing rather to die then to denie their Lord and to betraie a good cause A man will cast away his wares rather then bee drowned himselfe so the Martyrs would willingly embrace the fire rather then dishonour God by cowardize and loose their soules by Apostacie And that it may fully appeare that their death was with their willes though not simply as if they were in loue with death or were wearie of their liues aske the cause of their profession What made who forced them to embrace the faith No man but they willingly through the worke of Gods Spirit receiued it Againe though they did embrace it yet if they would haue forsaken and for sworne it they might haue saued their liues and perhaps haue come to preserment
subtle readie to take all aduantages and because without repentance men may not looke for pardon and because as death doth leaue vs so the latter day shall finde vs therefore least we should be taken vnprepared it is fit and needfull for vs to pray that God would not take vs away vpon the sodaine or if it shall seeme good vnto him to remoue vs sodainly that hee would be pleased not to take vs away vnprepared for him but that whēsoeuer he doth remoue vs he woud pardon accept vs be pleased to smite vs whiles we be either in some holy worke of his seruice as preaching prayer meditation or the like or else in some honest worke of our honest calling or at the least in no euill plot nor about any euill act Now finally of sodaine deathes some are by the distemper of the passions as the death of such as die of feare sorrow or ioy Thus died that good old Poet Phileman who being neere an hundred years old and seeing as he lay an Asse eate figs fell into an extreme laughter and hauing called his seruants he bad them giue the Asse some drinke after his figges and laughing very earnestly so died Plutarch also writeth of one Polycrita who with ioy conceiued for that her life was granted whereof it seemes she was not a little fearefull fell downe sodainly and so died Againe some that die sodainly are taken away by the extraordinarie hand of God as Dathan and Abiram whom the earth opening her mouth by Gods command deuoured thus also two sonnes of Aaron Nadab Abihu sodainly were killed by fire sent out from God Nabal also the Lord sodainly smote and slue not long after his churlishnesse toward Dauid Others haue died by the special permission of God though by the meanes of the diuell himselfe as Iobs children who were sodainly slaine with the fall of the house vpon them which was blowne downe with a sodaine storme raised doubtlesse by the power of the diuell Others haue beene sodainly dispatcht with their owne hands as Lucretius the Poet some haue beene sodainly killed of others as Eglon whom Ehud slue with his dagger or as the Princes and people of the Philistins on whom Sampson with the sorce of his armes pulled downe the house in which they were assembled or also as Sisera whom Iael slue with a naile driuen into his head as he was sleeping in her Tent but all these perished without treason but some others haue been sodainly dispatcht by treason as Senacherib whom his owne sous slue as he was in his Idols temple as Elah whom his seruant Zimri kild as he was in his drunkennesse and thus with inhumane barbarity shold our noble king with many mo haue died in the Parliamēt house by the malice of wicked Iesuits and their bloudie schollers had not God from heauen deliuered them Whose name be praised for euermore Amen And thus from the kinds of death we passe vnto the causes The first and highest Ruling cause of death is Almightie God Dauid saith to the Lord Thou hast made my daies as an hand breadth Hezekiah saith Thou wilt make an end of mee to whom said God I will adde vnto thy daies fifteene yeares By which it appeareth that God is vitae necisque arbiter the Author and Ordainer of life and death Yea the Lord by that commination vnto Adam In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die doth plainely shew that in his hands is the power of life death Finally he saith I forme the light and create darkenesse the light of prosperitie the darknesse of aduersitie the light of life the darknesse of death I make peace and create euill the euill not of sinne but of sorrow of troubles bloudshed famine pestilence death To all things saith Salomon there is an appointed time a time to be borne a time to die who hath appointed this time but GOD who hath put times and seasons in his owne power as our Sauiour teacheth And surely if God number the verie haires of our head doubtlesse he hath numbred the daies and houres and minutes of our life and hath set downe the periode of our age And if a poore Sparrow cannot light on the ground without his will surely then no man can fall into the ground but by his will Euen the wiser heathen knew this therefore Hector saith in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God did call him vnto death Tertullian another Doctor saith Deus vniuersa vtique disponendo praescituit praesciendo disposuit that God hath foreknowne and disposed all things if all things then the liues and deathes of men Saint Ierome saith What good things or euill things soeuer be in the world Non absque prouidentia fortuito casu accidit sed Iudicio Dei not one of them comes to passe by chance and without prouidence but by the iudgement of God if nothing then not murthers manslaughters killing Finally Saint Austen saith Voluntas Deiomniū quae sunt ipsaest causa that the will of God is the verie cause of all things that are and to conclude with the Prophets speech Who is he that saith It commeth to passe and the Lord commandeth it not It will be thus perhaps obiected If God be the Author of death then it seemes hee delightes in the destruction of his creature for by death life is put out and the bodies of men are corrupted I answere thus Death is a punishment or at the best and to the best a triall a correction a passage to a better life now God ordaines and appointes death not simply as it is a destruction but eyther as it is a punishment of wicked men or a correction and triall of the godly and as a meanes of deliuerance to his elect from worldly and wicked miseries Euen as a wise potent and iust King appointeth places of execution executioners and the death of grieuous malefactors not as though hee delighted in them but for the maintenance of iustice the punishment of vice and for the good of the Commonwealth Or as a Father who maketh and vseth rods not because he taketh pleasure simply in whipping or in roddes but because hee desires the good of his children and that they might be afraid of euill Or finally as a Landlord that puls downe his Tenants house not because he delightes simply in pulling downe of houses but for that he purposeth to cure it of all rottennesse and ruines and to build it for him new and faire againe It may againe bee thus obiected If God appoint and ordaine euery mans death then if a man murther himselfe or if he be killed by another or be vniustly put to death by a Tyrant God you will say appointed and ordained that mans death which you will say is harsh I answere and let my words be well obserued
know that God both is and that he is iust and therefore hee will punish wicked sinners and by that meane declare his iust iudgement against vicious wretches The deseruing cause of death of sinne as ignorance of God disobedience of the truth especially of the Gospell of Christ Iesus and obedience of vnrighteousnesse as the Apostle sheweth as also want of charitie and charitable behauiour towardes the poore and needie members of Christ Iesus as hee himselfe doth teach vs. Neyther are these sins only meritorious of death but euen euery sinne though the smallest want of that which the law requireth is in it selfe odious and deadly For the wages of euery sinne is death The persons subiect to this death are all the Sons of Adam is as much as all are Sinners yet all of them shall not die this death namely they that are redeemed by the bloud of Christ who by his death hath deliuered them from this death by them through sinne deserued Those then shall die this death that were reprobated of God and who by their wickednesse and hardnesse of heart which could not repent haue treasured vp vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath Depart from me ye cursed saith Christ into euerlasting fire The cursed then are they that must die this accursed death I neuer knew you saith Christ Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie They that shal die this death are such as Christ knew not owned not neuer acknowledged for his and such as whiles they liued were very hypocrites nourishing some sinne or other in their bosomes though they did many glorious and good works as preach baptise eiect diuels cure diseases and were perhaps of great account with men The Apostle saith that the Lord Iesus will render vengeance at his appearing vnto them that know not God and obey not the Gospell So that all which are ignorant of God and which disobey the Gospell of his Sonne shall die this death This then I say All impenitent sinners shall be damned all that beleeue not in Iesus Christ as Mahometaus incredulous Iewes and all other Infidels and all that professe Christ in name but denie him in example All these liuing and dying without sound repentance shall die this death And I proue it thus Except ye beleeue saith Christ that I am he you shall die in your sinnes but the Iewes beleeue not that Iesus the sonne of Mary was the Messias foretold therefore they shall die in their sinnes Hee that obeyes not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him but neyther Iewes nor Mahometans obey Christ Iesus Therefore neyther of them shall liue but die Peter being full of the holy Ghost said that Christ is the Stone euen the fundamentall stone of mans saluation Neyther is there quoth he saluation in any other for among men there is giuen none other Name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued All therefore that either denie him or beleeue not in him and do not know him whether Iew Turke Persian Moore Indian American or who else soeuer all such shall bee damned cannot bee saued For by his knowledge shall my righteous seruant Christ Iesus Instifie many And we which are Iews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles know that a man is not iustified by the works of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ God saith Saint Iohn hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in that his Sonne Hee that hath that Sonne hath that life and hee that hath not that Sonne of God hath not that life But Mahometans Iewes and Infidels haue not that Son therefore they haue not eternall life in spe and shall not haue it In Re but so continuing shall vndoubtedly die the damned death of the wicked for ought that man can tell I say further that those which professe Christ in word and in shew but denie him by their deeds addicting themselues to wicked lusts as whoredome pride drunkennesse auarice idlenesse epicurisme those I say shall vndoubtedly perish without mature and true repentance Know ye not saith Saint Paul that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theiues nor couetous nor drunkards nor raylers nor extortioners shall inherite the kingdome of God But among Christians there are offenders in all kinds of the sinnes aforesaid therefore if they shall die in them they cannot possibly scape damnation Our Lord saith that The fearefull and vnbeleening the abhominable and murtherers whoremongers sorcerers idolaters and all lyars wherewith the Christian world aboundeth shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And finally S. Iude speaking of sundrie wicked Epicures cept into the Church saith that for them is reserued the blacknesse of darknesse for euer Thirdly I say that all they which professing Christ doe notwithstanding adde vnto the faith of Christ and coyne articles which they doe propose as necessarily to be beleeued to saluation all such I say by this their presumption do cut themselus off from Christ and shall vndoubtedly perish except they shall repent In like manner they that doe take from the faith any essentiall point and needfull absolutely to saluation they also are subiect to damnation which without repentance they cannot scape Ye shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom It was twise at least giuen in charge by Moses When Moses was now dead and the gouernment cast vpon Ioshuah God gaue him the same lesson in effect Thou shalt not turne away from it to the right hand nor to the left In like manner Agur saith Put nothing vnto his words least he reproue thee and thou be found a lyar I protest saith Christ to euery man that heareth the words of the prophecie of this booke If any man how precise how pure how holy how austere how sanctified soeuer he seeme or how learned soeuer he be and wit tie in the iudgement of men shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke and if any man shall diminish of the words of the booke he meaneth the true sense and substance of the words of this prophecie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from those things which are written in this booke If any subiect or subiects shall presume to repeale the lawes of the kingdome or to make new lawes and to vrge men to receiue and obey them the king in the mean time vnacquainted with their proceeding or disliking it they shew themselues busie bodies rebellious turblent and taking vpon them as kings they incurre the displeasure of