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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09069	A booke of Christian exercise appertaining to resolution, that is, shewing how that we should resolve our selves to become Christians indeed: by R.P. Perused, and accompanied now with a treatise tending to pacification: by Edm. Bunny.; Booke of Christian exercise. Part 1.	Bunny, Edmund, 1540-1619.; Bunny, Edmund, 1540-1619. Treatise tending to pacification.; Parsons, Robert, 1546-1610. Christian directory.	1584 (1584)	STC 19355; ESTC S105868	310,605	572

the wise men of this world were the fittest to be chosen to do Christ service in his church Yet Saint Paul saith Non multi sapientes secundum carnem God hath not chosen many wise men according to the flesh Who would not think but that a worldly wise man might easily also make a wise Christian Yet Saint Paul saith no except first he become a fool Stultus fiat vt sit sapiens If any man seem wise among you let him become a fool to the end he may be made wise Vain then and of no account is the wisdom of this world except it be subject to the wisdom of God 18 The first vanitie belonging to pride of life is corporal beautie wherof the wise man saith Vain is beautie and deceivable is the grace of countenance Wherof also king David understood properly when he said Turn away my eies O Lord that they behold not vanitie This is a singular great vanitie dangerous and deceitful but yet greatly esteemed of the children of men whose propertie is To love vanitie as the prophet saith Beautie is compared by holie men to a painted snake which is fair without and ful of deadly poison within If a man did consider what infinite ruins and destructions have come by our light giving credite therunto he would beware of it And if he remembred what foul drosse lieth under a fair skin he would little be in love therwith saith one father God hath imparted certain sparks of beautie unto his creatures therby to draw us to the consideration and love of his own beautie wherof the other is but a shadow even as a man finding a little issu of water may seek out the fountain therby or happening upon a smal vain of gold may therby come to the whole mine it selfe But we like babes delite ourselves only with the fair cover of the book and never do consider what is written therin In al fair creatures that man doth behold he ought to read this saith one father that If GOD could make a peece of earth so fair and lovely with imparting unto it some little spark of his beautie how infinite fair is he himselfe and how woorthy of al love and admiration And how happie shal we be when we shal come to enjoy his beautiful presence wherof now al creatures do take their beautie 19 If we would exercise our selves in these maner of cogitations we might easily keep our harts pure and unspotted before God in beholding the beautie of his creatures But for that we use not this passage from the creature to the creator but rest only in the eternal appeerance of a deceitful face letting go the bridle to foul cogitations and setting wilfully on fire our own cōcupiscences hence it is that infinite men do perish daily by occasion of this fond vanitie I cal it fond for that every child may descrie the deceit and vanitie therof For take the fairest face in the world wherwith infinite foolish men fal in love upon the sight and rase it over but with a little scrach and al the matter of love is gone let there come but an agu and al this goodly beautie is destroied let the soul depart but one halfe hour from the bodie and this loving face is uglie to look on let it lie but two dais in the grave and those which were so hot in love with it before wil scarse abide to behold it or come neer it And if none of those things happen unto it yet quikly commeth on old age which riveleth the skin draweth in the eies setteth out the teeth and so disfigureth the whole visage as it becommeth more contemptible now than it was beautiful and alluring before And what then can be more vanitie than this What more madnes than either to take pride of it if I see it my selfe or to indanger my soul for it if I see it in others 20 The sixt vanitie belonging to pride of life is the glorie of fine apparel against which the wise man saith In vestitu ne glorieris vnquam See thou never take glorie in apparel Of al vanities this is the greatest which we see so common among men of this world If Adam had never fallen we had never used apparel for that apparel was devised to cover our shame of nakednes and other infirmities contracted by that fal Wherfore we that take pride and glorie in apparel do as much as if a begger should glorie and take pride of the old clouts that do cover his sores Saint Paul said unto a bishop If we have wherwithal to cover our selves let us be content And Christ touched deeply the danger of nice apparel when he commended so much S. Iohn Baptist for his austere attire adding for the contradictorie Qui mollibus vestiuntur in domibus regum sunt They which are apparelled in soft and delicate apparel are in kings courts In kings courts of this world but not in the kings court of heaven For which cause in the description of the rich man damned this is not omitted by Christ That he was apparelled in purple and silk 21 It is a woonderful thing to consider the different proceeding of God and the world heerin God was the first that ever made apparel in the world and he made it for the most noble of al our ancestors in paradise and yet he made it but of beasts skins And Saint Paul testifieth of the noblest saints of the old testament that they were covered only with goats skins and with hairs of camels What vanitie is it then for us to be so curious in apparel and to take such pride therin as we do We rob and spoil al creatures almost in the world to cover our baks and to adorn our bodies withal From one we take his wool from another his skin from another his fur and from som other their very excrements as the silk which is nothing els but the excrements of woorms Nor content with this we come to fishes and do beg of them certain pearls to hang about us We go down into the ground for gold and silver and turn up the sands of the sea for pretious stones and having borrowed al this of other creatures we jet up and down provoking men to look upon us as if al this now were our own When the stone shineth upon our finger we wil seem forsooth therby to shine When the silver and silks do glister on our baks we look big as if al that beauty came from us And so as the prophet saith we passe over our dais in vanitie and do not perceive our own extreme folly 22 The second general branch which Saint Iohn appointeth unto the vanitie of this life is concupiscence of the eies wherunto the ancient fathers have referred al vanities of riches and wealth of this world Of this Saint Paul writeth to Timothie Give commandement to the

of al our dooings then it shal be seene evidently what ech man is to have in the justice and mercie of God 12 To speak then of this second judgement general and common for al the world wherin as the scripture saith God shal bring into iudgment everie error which hath beene committed There are divers circumstances to be considered and divers men do set down the same diversly but in mine opinion no better plainer or more effectual declaration can be made therof than the very scripture maketh it selfe setting forth unto us in most significant words al the maner order and circumstances with the preparation therunto as followeth 13 At that day there shal be signes in the sun and in the moone and in the stars the sun shal be darkened the moone shal geeve no light the stars shal fal from the skies and al the powers of heaven shal be mooved the firmament shal leave his situation with a great violence the elements shal be dissolved with heat and the earth with al that is in it shal be consumed with fire the earth also shal moove off hir place and shal fly like a little deere or sheepe The distresse of nations upon the earth shal be great by reason of the confusion of the noise of the sea and fluds and men shal wither away for fear and expectation of these things that then shal come upon the whole world And then shal the signe of the Son of man appeer in the skie and then shal al the tribes of the earth moorn and wail and they shal see the Son of man comming in the clouds of heaven with much power and glorie great authoritie and majestie And then in a moment in the twinkling of an eie he shal send his Angels with a trumpet and with a great crie at midnight and they shal gather together his elect from the fower parts of the world from heaven to earth Al must be presented before the judgement seat of Christ who wil bring to light those things which were hidden in darknes and wil make manifest the thoughts of mens harts and whatsoever hath beene spoken in chambers in the eare shal be preached upon the house top Account shal be asked of every idle word he shal judge our very righteousnes it selfe Then shal the just stand in great constancie against those which have afflicted them in this life and the wicked seeing that shal be troubled with an horrible fear shal say to the hils fal upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the anger of the lambe for that the great day of wrath is come Then shal Christ separate the sheepe from the goats and shal put the sheepe on his right hand and the goats on the left and shal say to those on the right hand come ye blessed of my father possesse the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world I was hungry you gave me to eat I was a stranger and you gave me harbor I was naked and you clothed me I was in prison and you came to me Then shal the just say O Lord when have we done these things for thee And the King shal answer truly when you did them to the lest of my brothers you did it to me Then shal he say to them on his left hand Depart from me you accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and ye fed me not I was a stranger and you harbored me not I was naked and you clothed me not I was sick and in prison and you visited me not Then shal they say O Lord when have we seen thee hungrie or thirstie or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison did not minister unto thee And he shal answer verily I tel you seeing you have not done it to one of these lesser you have not done it to me And then these men shal go into eternal punishment and the just into life everlasting 14 Tel me what a dreadful preparation is here laied down How many circumstances of fear and horror It shal be saith the scripture at midnight when commonly men are asleep it shal be with hideous noise of trumpets sound of waters motion of al the elements what a night wil that be trowest thou to see the earth shake the hils dales mooved from their places the moone darkened the stars fal down from heaven the whole element shivered in peeces and al the world in a flaming fire 15 Can any tong in the world expresse a thing more forcibly than this matter is expressed by Christ the Apostles and Prophets themselves What mortal hart can but tremble in the middest of this unspeakable terror Is it marvel if the very just men and the Angels themselves are said to fear it And then as S. Peter reasoneth If the iust shal scarce be saved where shal the wicked man and sinner appeer What a dreadful day wil it be for the careles and loose Christian which hath passed his time pleasantly in this world when he shal see so infinite a sea of fears and miseries to rush upon him 16 But besides al these most terrible and fearce preparations there wil be many other matters of no lesse dreadful consideration as to see al sepulchres open at the sound of the trumpet and to yeeld foorth al their dead bodies which they have received from the beginning of the world to see al men women and children kings and Queens princes and potentates to stand there naked in the face of al creatures their sins revealed their secret offences laid open done and committed in the closets of their pallaces and they constrained and compelled to geeve accounts of a thousand matters whereof they would disdain to have beene told in this life as how they have spent the time how they have imploied their welth what behavior they have used towards their brethren how they have mortified their senses how they have ruled their appetites how they have obeied the inspirations of the holy ghost and finally how they used al good gifts in this life 17 Oh deare brother it is unpossible to expresse what a great treasure a good conscience wil be at this day it wil be more worth than ten thousand worlds for wealth wil not help the judge wil not be corrupted with money no intercession of worldly frinds shal prevail for us at that day no not of the angels themselves whose glorie shal be then as the prophet saith To bind kings in fetters and noble men in iron manacles to execute upon them the iudgement prescribed and this shal be glorie to al his saints Alas what wil al those wise people do then that now live in delites and can take no pain in the service of God What shift wil they make in those extremities Whether wil they turn

prevent it now by amendment of life which only can yeeld thee comfort in that sorrowful day For of good men the judge him selfe saith His autem fieri incipientibus respicite levate capita vestra quoniam appropinquat redemptio vestra When these things begin to come upon other men do you lift up your heads for that your redemption commeth on from the labors and toils of this world And the holie prophet saith of the vertuous man which hath done good works in this life that he shal be at this time Beatus vir An happie man And he giveth the cause Quia in die mala liberabit eum dominus opem feret illi super lectum doloris eius For that God wil deliver him in this evil day and wil assist him upon the bed of his sorrow Which is ment no dowt of the bed of his last departure especially for that of al other beds this is the most sorrowful as I have shewed being nothing else but an heap of al sorrows togither especially to them which are drawn unto it before they are readie for the same as commonly al they are which defer their amendement from day to day and do not attend to live in such sort now as they shal wish they had done when they come to that last passage CHAP. IX Of the pains appointed for sin after this life AMongst al the means which GOD useth towards the children of men to moove them to this resolution wherof I intreat the strongest and most forcible to the common sort of men is the consideration of punishments prepared by him for rebellious sinners and transgressors of his commandements Wherfore he useth this consideration often as may appeer by al the prophets who do almost nothing else but threaten plaegs and destruction to offenders And this mean hath oft times prevailed more than any other that could be used by reason of the natural love which he bare towards our selves consequently the natural fear which we have of our own danger So we read that nothing could moove the Ninivites so much as the foretelling them of their imminent destruction And Saint Iohn Baptist although he came in a simple and contemptible maner yet preaching unto the people The terror of vengeance to come and that the ax was now put to the tres to cut down for the fire al those which repented not He mooved the verie publicans and soldiers to fear which otherwise are people of verie hard metal who came unto him upon this terrible embassage and asked what they should doo to avoid these punishments 2 After then that we have considered of death and of Gods severe judgement which insueth after death and wherin everie man hath to receave according to his works in this life as the scripture saith it followeth that we consider also of the punishments which are appointed for them that shal be found faultie in that account hereby at lestwise if no other consideration wil serve to induce christians to this resolution of serving God For as I have noted before if every man have naturally a love of himselfe desire to conserve his own ease then should he also have fear of peril wherby he is to fal into extreme calamitie This expresseth saint Bernard excellently according to his woont O man saith he if thou have left al shame which apperteineth to so noble a creature as thou art if thou feele no sorrow as carnal men do not yet lose not fear also which is found in verie beasts We use to load an asse and to wearie him out with labor he careth not bicause he is an asse but if thou wouldest thrust him into fire or fling him into a ditch he would avoid it as much as he could for that he loveth life and feareth death Fear thou then and be not more insensible than a beast fear death fear judgement fear hel This fear is called the beginning of wisdom and not shame or sorrow for that the spirit of fear is more mightie to resist sin than the spirit of shame or sorrow wherfore it is said Remember the end and thou shalt never sin That is remember the final punishments appointed for sin after this life Thus far Saint Bernard 3 First therfore to speak in general of the punishments reserved for the life to come if the scriptures did not declare in particular their greatnes unto us yet are there manie reasons to persuade us that they are most severe dolorous and intollerable For first as God is a God in al his works that is to say great woonderful and terrible so especiallie he sheweth the same in his punishments being called for that cause in scripture Deus iustitiae God of iustice As also Deus vltionum God of revenge Wherfore seeing al his other works are ful of majestie and exceeding our capacities we may likewise gather that his hand in punishment must be woonderful also God himselfe teacheth us to reason in this maner when he saith And wil ye not then fear me And wil ye not tremble before my face which have put the sand as a stop unto the sea and have given the water a commandement never to passe it no not when it is most trobled and the floods most outragious As who would say If I am woonderful and do passe your imagination in these works of the sea others which you see daily you have cause to fear me considering that my punishments are like to be correspondent to the same 4 Another conjecture of the great and severe justice of God may be the consideration of his infinite and unspeakable mercie the which as it is the very nature of God and without end or measure as his Godhead is so is also his justice And these two are the two arms as it were of God imbracing and kissing one the other as the scripture saith therfore as in a man of this world if we had the mesure of one arm we might easily conjecture of the other so seeing the woonderful examples daily of Gods infinite mercie towards them that repent we may imagin by the same his severe justice towards them whom he reserveth to punishment in the next life and whom for that cause he calleth in the scriptures Vasa furoris vessels of his furie or vessels to shew his furie upon 5 A third reason to persuade us of the greatnes of these punishments may be the marvelous patience and long suffering of God in this life as for example in that he suffereth divers men from one sin to another from one day to another from one yeere to another from one age to another to spend al I say in dishonor and dispite of his majestie adding offence to offence and refusing al persuasions allurements good inspirations or other means of frindship that his mercie can devise to offer for their amendement And what man in the world

prophet And why so Bicause we draw therin with a sweet companion we draw with Christ that is his grace at one end and our endevor at the other And bicause when a great ox and a little do draw togither the waight lieth al upon the greater ox his nek for that he beareth up quite the yoke from the other therof it commeth that we drawing in this yoke with Christ which is greater than we are he lighteneth us of the whole burden and only requireth that we should go on with him comfortably and not refuse to enter under the yoke with him for that the pain shal be his and the pleasure ours This he signifieth expreslie when he saith Come you to me al that labor and are heavie loden and I wil refresh you Heer you see that he mooveth us to this yoke only therby to refresh and disburden us to disburden us I say and to refresh us and not any way to load or agreeve us to disburden us of the heavy lodings and yokes of this world as from the burden of care the burden of melancholy the burden of envie hatred and malice the burden of pride the burden of ambition the burden of covetousnes the burden of wickednes and hel fire it selfe From al these burdens and miserable yokes Christ would deliver us by covering our neks only with his yoke and burden so lightened and sweetned by his holy grace as the bearing therof is not travelsome but most easie pleasant and comfortable as hath been shewed 10 Another cause why this yoke is so sweet this burden so light and this way of Gods commandements so pleasant to good men is love love I mean towards God whose commandements they are For every man can tel and hath experienced in himselfe what a strong passion the passion of love is and how it maketh easie the verie greatest pains that are in this world What maketh the mother to take such pains in the bringing up of hir child but only love What causeth the wife to sit so attentive at the bedside of hir sik husband but only love What mooveth the beasts and birds of the air to spare from their own food and to indanger their own lives for the feeding and defending of their little ones but only the force of love Saint Austen doth prosecute this point at large by many other examples as of merchants that refuse no adventure of sea for love of gain of hunters that refuse no season of evil weather for love of game of soldiers that refuse no danger of death for love of the spoil And he addeth in the end that if the love of man can be so great towards creatures heer as to make labor easie and indeed to seem no labor but rather pleasure how much more shal the love of good men towards God make al their labor comfortable which they take in his service 11 This extreme love was the cause why al the pains and afflictions which Christ suffered for us seemed nothing unto him And this love also was the cause why al the travels and torments which many Christians have suffered for Christ seemed nothing unto them Imprisonments torments losse of honor goods life seemed trifles to divers servants of God in respect of this burning love This love drove many virgins and tender children to offer themselves in time of persecution for the love of him which in the cause was persecuted This love caused holie Apollonia of Alexandria being brought to the fire to be burned for Christ to slip out of the hands of such as led hir and joifully to run into the fire of hir selfe This love mooved Ignatius the ancient martyr to say being condemned to beasts and fearing least they would refuse his bodie as they had done of divers martyrs before that he would not permit them so to do but would provoke and stir them to come upon him and to take his life from him by tearing his body in peeces 12 These are the effects then of fervent love which maketh even the things that are most difficult and dreadful of themselves to appeer sweet and pleasant and much more the laws and commandements of God which in themselves are most just reasonable holie and easie Da amantem saith Saint Austen speaking of this matter et sentit quod dico Si autem frigido loquor nescit quid loquar Give me a man that is in love with God he feeleth this to be tru which I say but if I talk to a cold Christian he understandeth not what I say And this is the cause why Christ talking of the keeping of his commandements repeateth so often this word love as the surest cause of keeping the same for want wherof in the world the world keepeth them not as there he sheweth If you love me keep my commandements saith he And again He that hath my commandements and keepeth them he is he that loveth me Again He which loveth me wil keep my commandements In which last words is to be noted that to the lover he saith His commandement in the singular number for that to such an one al his commandements are but one commandement according to the saieng of Saint Paul That love is the fulnes of the law for that it comprehendeth al. But to him that loveth not Christ saith his commandements in the plural number signifieng therby that they are both many and heavie to him for that he wanteth love which should make them easie Which Saint Iohn also expresseth when he saith This is the love of God when we keep his commandements and his commandements are not heavie That is they are not heavy to him which hath the love of God otherwise no marvel though they be most heavie For that every thing seemeth heavie which we do against our liking And so by this also gentle reader thou maist gesse whether the love of God be in thee or no. 13 And these are two means now wherby the vertuous life of good men is made easie in this world There follow divers others to the end that these negligent excusers may see how unjust and untru this excuse of theirs is concerning the pretended hardnes of vertuous living which in very deed is indued with infinite privileges of comfort above the life of wicked men even in this world And the next after the former is a certain special and peculiar light of understanding pertaining to the just and called in scripture Prudentia sanctorum the wisdome of saints which is nothing els but a certain sparkle of heavenly wisdome bestowed by singular privilege upon the vertuous in this life wherby they receive most comfortable light and understanding in spiritual matters especially touching their own salvation and things necessarie therunto Of which the prophet David ment when he said Notas mihi fecisti vias vitae Thou hast made the wais of