and it will reuiue thee it can heale all leprosie of sinne and remooue all maladies from a sin-sick soule it is the nectar of our saluation and the Lethe of our iniquines tast but once of this breade of life thou shalt euer after loath the sugered cares and bewitching damties of lustfull affections looke daily vppon this bread of life and thou shalt euer after hide thine eyes and stop thine eares which are now captiued vassailes to behold and heare the legerdemaine of humaine iugling desires all siren songes of carnall concupisence and vices loue-lines which now are imprinted in thy brest shall be quight cancelled out after thou hast once digested inwardly and thy soule hath had an happy concoction of this bread of life it purgeth all the hidden corruption of mans folly giueth working pills to vomit vp originall transgressions it is the present remedie for a body which lieth in a consumption of grace to tast of this bread of life with in a short space by the vnspeakeable hidden operation will make a blessed recouerie for this languishing creature If thy soule bee hungry or thirsty behold two sacramentall riuers flowing out of the Paradise of Christs body in the one thou shalt find this bread of life in the other this water of life tast either of them and thou shalt neuer hunger or thirst more yea the power of this bread cannot bee sufficiently declared by the tongue of the worthiest Orator VVherefore let vs only satisfie our soules with this bread of life whose power and efficacie our daily Orator Christ Iesus hath declared vnto vs in these words Hee that cōmeth to me shall not hunger and he that belieueth in me shall neuer thirst Wherefore to drawe to a conclusion let vs from the bottome of our hearts desire Christ Iesus euermore to giue vs of this bread that when the glasse of our life is runne out and with the Phenix wee may discerne the terme of our dayes and with the Swanne discouer our fatall end that it would please him to feed our hungry soules with this spirituall foode this bread of life and place them at his heauenly table to satisfie themselues with this celestiall banquet yea whē our breath vanisheth our eyes waxe dim and wee turned out of the houseroome of this transitory world repayre vnto our doomesday house where the wormes the dead mens lawyers shall take their fees out of vs their graue-clients and our bodies shall be their bread to satiate their hunger yet thou O Iesus would vouchsafe to giue vs thy body the only breade of life for to nourish our hungry soules that by the winges of a liuely faith wee may fly vp to the heauens and inioy that age of vnspeakeable pleasures the eternall father through the merrits of his deerest sonne by the scepter of his holy spirit so rule our hearts that wee being righteous as Elias and our prayers feruent as those of Elias they may peirce the clouds and open heauen and thence bring downe this bread of life this dew of diuine grace vppon vs and satisfie our soules with this misticall banquet of Christs body O Lord inflame our tongues with the zeale of deuotion that our prayers may bee feruent and may make a sweete incense to pacifie thy wrath that thou blotting out all our vnworthinesse out of thy memory maist graciously hearken to our petitions and maist grant vs this inestimable treasure the price and raunsom of our soules redemption if the Lyons seeke their meate of God if the Oxe knowe his owner and the Asse his maisters crib graunt vnto vs a most carefull desire to craue this meate of our soules and to waite and seeke for this bread of life that we which were created by a consultation of the Dietie redeemed with the pretious bloud of Christ sanctified by the holy Ghost may be partakers of this blessed bread of life and in the end and without all end sit at his heauenly table raigning together with the Trinity in the Kingdome of heauen to which bee all glory power praise and dominion both now and for euermore FINIS A SHORT AND necessary Treatise entituled Deaths welcome By Sa Garey AT LONDON Printed by I. R. for Ieffery Charleton 1605. ⧠To the most puissant Emperor and Conquerer of all the vvorld Death greeting LIfe saith the Philosopher is but a borrowed dreame of pleasure a vision of delight a pageant of transitory happinesse and Death is a Harbinger of eternitie a bringer of felicitie a Messenger of glory it is a pyrat of life and yet a pilot to life a conductor to the heauenly hauen of blisse the Angell to keepe Paradise wherein none enters but by the entrance of his fatall sword Sith therefore ô Death thou art the Groome-porter to let out life and let in life the remoouer as Aeschilus calleth thee of worldly sorrows the deliuerer as Cicero saith of troubled mindes the laylor which art content with the fees of our life to set our Soules at libertie I heere inuite and welcome thee to the loathsome banquet of my body fat thy pale cheekes with the cates of my life and glut thy hungry appetite with my vitall spirits onely doe me this fauour that I may say my Grace at this last supper and then sit downe vpon my dying bed and drinke vp the sweet drop of sower life and the scraps and dead bones of my body and carkasse of my flesh take away and keepe thē in the doomsday house vntil my Soule by the liuely wings of faith descending frō heauen at the generall resurrection be vnited one to another and there enioy an endlesse age of pleasures to the which ô Death soone bring mee that I may say to the VVorldes misery which I say to thee farewell Your louing and vntill you come liuing friend Sa. Garey Tu nil rescribas attamen ipse veni ⧠A Treatise entituled Deaths welcome THE principall motiue vvhich doth encourage a man to welcome and imbrace death is the assured hope of the future life and of those ioyes which hee shall enioy in the neuer fading kingdome Therefore S. Paule saith Vnlesse the dead be raised againe what aduantageth it me to haue fought with beasts at Ephesus For vnlesse there were a resurrection of the dead and an immortall life to be obtained after this our pilgrimage why should we liue in ieopardy euery howre suffer such persecution in this world not rather follow the rules of the Epicures eate drinke for to morrow we shall die and vppon our graues engraue the Epitaph of Sardanapalus which hee writ a little before his death Cum te mortalem noris presentibus exple Delicijs animū post mortem nulla voluptas Et venere et plumis et caenis Sardanapali This I say were the best pleasing life to eate with the Epicure sleepe with Endimion carouse with Alexander with the rich man in the scripture to flatter our selues saying Soule thou hast much goods layde vp
reuiuing graine doe thinke that Bread most delicate foode O foolish Caterers let vs rather learne to bury in our harts this reuiuing graine that in this generall famine of true Christian foode we may with Ioseph prouide aboundance of this bread of life for the benefit of our soules thē should we not haue such spirituall penurie and dearth of religion if our hearts were made fertill to bring forth the seedes of our soules nourishment and sustenance Labor not therefore for the bread that perrisheth but for this bread which remaineth vnto euerlasting life Ay but will some say where shall we find this spirituall food this bread of life I tell thee Christ is this bread of life Ay but will he perhaps reply how shal I come to Christ to get this foode I bidde thee goe to the scriptures Christs treasury where thou shalt finde this Manna this Bread of life there is plentifull store take and satisfie thy selfe neyther needst thou goe farre to seeke it as Dauid did the Arke of GOD or as Iosias did the Booke of the Lawe Neither canst thou desire with the Glutton that one frō the dead might arise to teach thee how to finde this bread of life for now adayes thanks be giuen to GOD for it the dispencers of this bread of life be plentifull who may without feare or perril shew thee the compendious way to seek this bread of life Now Obadia neede not feare Queene Iezabell to bide an hundred Prophets in a Caue Moses need not feare King Pharao and say I haue a stuttering tongue Ieremy need not feare the Iewes and say I am a child for now the Ministers of Gods word are maintained and preserued and may freely without danger boldly without feare dispence of this bread of life Yea enery one of Christes faithful children although he be not an heade in the misticall body of Christ or an eye or a legge yea if he be but an hand yet he may gather of this bread of life if he be but an eare he may heare of this bread of life or a tongue he may praise this bread of life or a mouth he may receiue this bread of life Labour therefore for this bread which endureth to euerlasting life I am the Breade of lyfe O Iesus art thou the bread which giuest life Thou art a guide to our waies a gardian to our persons a counseller in our doubts a comforter in misery a patron in necessity and wilt thou be bread also Thou art our keeper our sheepheard our defender our Sauiour wilt thou be bread also O Iesus thou art light vnto our eies musick to our eares contentment to our soules wilt thou be bread also O louing Iesus O mercifull redeemer O blessed Emanuell O Iesu we giue thee our bodies our soules our substance our wealth our honor our friends our Children our life and all that is ours Iesus wee are not our own but thine claime vs as thy right keepe vs as thy charge loue vs as thy children Iesus fight for vs when sathan commeth heale vs if he woundeth reuiue vs if hee killeth receiue vs if we flie into thy merciful bosom protect vs when he approcheth detect vs when he cōmeth Iesus thou art our foode in the day thou shalt also be our repose in the night Iesus make vs pliable to thy will resigned wholy to thy pleasure Iesus forsake vs not least wee perrish leaue vs not least we bee ouercome Iesus direct our intentions correct our follies erect our cogitations protect our endeuors Iesus grant vs sorrow for our sinnes feare for thy iudgements loue of thy mercies thankfulnesse for this bread of life I am the breade of life that is I am the bread of an immortall heauenly life not of this mortall and earthly life for else Christ might rather haue saide I am the bread of death and not of life for this life is a liuing death and a dying life But Christ is not bread of such a life But he is the bread of an immortall and neuer fading life Happy therefore is hee which is at this hanquet tasteth of this breade of life Neither is this an imaginarie fruition or a painted banquet resembling the hungry cheere which the birds had that fedde themselues with Zeuxis painted grapes vntill with picking at shaddowes they waxt so leane that they were glad with Esops Cocke to scrape for a Barley corne But with this bread of life thy foule shall be so cherrished with this Manna thou shalt be so wonderfully delighted that euer after thou shalt loath the flesh pots of Egipt Hic panis est corpus meum this bread is my body and therefore thou canst not mislike it O you Ministers the faithful dispencers of this hallowed bread of life feede duly Christs flock with this bread of life Christ said to Peter Pasce pasce pasce feede feede feede Feede with this bread of life vvith your doctrine with your almes Feede first with this bread of life for it is the bread of saluation Secondly feed with your wholsome doctrine that Christs sheep do not surfet with vice and so neede the corsiue of his correction to amend them Thirdly feede with almes but what shall I presse you to that Nay I must in cōscience spare you for the case nowe so stands that you are liker to liue of almes then bee able to giue almes and therfore till happier times come wherein your diuine function may more bounteously be rewarded I will spare you for that poynt for necessitie hath no law In meane while feede with this bread of life spend your breath happily in the fires of deuotion crying alarum spiritual gainst soule vice and all wickednesse so at last you hauing not defrauded Christes children of this bread of life may haue a most bountifull remuneration for your painfull labours and enioy all heauenly happinesse and celestiall ioyes tasting this bread of life which is prepared for all Gods faithful children And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken of the first parcell of my text I am the bread of life Nowe it followeth that I should briefly speake of the powerfull efficacie and effect of this bread of life VVhich by the tongues of Angels cannot be so wel declared as by these our Sauiours words He that commeth to me shall not hunger and hee that belieueth in me shall neuer thirst After a man hath tasted of all manner of delicate meats yea although hee hath caroused new grapes in Alexanders cup and plentifully payd that dailie Tribute to the stomacke which the lawe of our nature exacteth yet that foode will not satiate him for euer so that hee shall neuer hunger or thirst after But this bread this breade of life hath another power and effect for he that eateth of this breade shall neuer hunger or thirst more VVe read in the fourth chapter of Mathewe that man liueth not by bread onely but I say man onely liueth by this bread for
sound a retraite froÌ„ sin alwaies remembring Christ crucified For as Bernard saith The remembrance of Christ crucified crucifieth sinne And as S. Augustine saith Then Christ dooth sleepe in thee when thou hast forgot his passion The readiest way direct path to goe to Heauen is to swim through the red sea of Christes blood The droppes of Christs precious blood raigning downe from the clowdes of his mercie must queÌ„ch the angry flame of Gods wrath which wee cannot extinguish by the vertuous water of any merrit It is the oyle of Grace which must purge our defiled harts It is the dewe of heauen which will make vs florish beeing ingrafted into the true Oliue It is the welspring of our saluation it is the heauenly manna which all of vs should gather vp in the wildernes of this world Loue this good thing in which all goodnes is it is enough for thee yea obserue but this short lesson which Augustine giueth thou art a good Christian Ama deum et amices in deum et inimicos propter deuÌ„ et beatus es Loue Christ who loueth thee loue his friends that loue Christ and thee loue Christes enemies that hate Christ and thee then thou shalt be beloued of Christ for louing him thou shalt bee beloued of Christ for louing theÌ„ that hate Christ thee the haters shall perrish yet thou louing shalt be beloued Loue GOD without measure theÌ„ shalt thou be happy without measure Loue God withal thy hart whoÌ„ thou shalt behold without end loue without pride praise with out wearines Therfore if men did but obserue this briefe lesson wee need not feare death but welcome him vvith a thousand kisses for that messenger doth bring vs gladde tidings for by him we change transitory mortall and corruptible things for certaine immortall and incorruptible treasures earth for heauen sin for godlines darknes for light feare for security trauell for quietnesse sicknesse for health death for life the company of men for the companie of the omnipotent God and heauenly angels the vile pleasures of this world for the inestimable ioyes of heauen Oh therefore let vs hartily wish to be losoned froÌ„ this life that we may come to appeare before the presence of God let vs say with Dauid Like as the Hart desireth the water brookes so longeth my soule after thee ô God O GOD thou art my God early will I seek thee my soule thirsteth for thee my flesh also longeth after thee in a barren and dry land where no water is Let vs say with Iob It grieueth my soule to liue longer in this mortall body Let vs say with holy Toby O Lord deale with me according to thy will and command my spirit to be receiued in peace For wheÌ„ the liuely threds of our life vntie the spindle vndoe the web riue and our naturall life endeth yet the spirituall and essentiall part namely the soule shall be receiued with Angels carried to heauen most louingly as a precious relique into the kingdome of heauen It shal be like a Doue carried on the wings of Angels into this heauenly Palace For as Augustine saith It is the office of Angels to carry soules to the company of the blessed Now therefore when Death shal breake vp your mortall house imprint this lesson in the forefront of your languishing flesh yea euen when you are halfe berest of life that you remember Christ crucified remember him to be the onely Sauiour remember God the Father to bee a most mercifull Father Fixe the eyes of your faith on Iesus Christ on his merrits on his passion death on his blessed body breaking and his most precious blood shedding on his triumph and victory ouer fathan and his hellish army Forget not that all your sinnes are washed away in Christes blood that by vertue of his death and passion you are made beyre of euerlasting saluation Fight a good fight be not discouraged by the paines of death neuer shrink in Deaths battell call vppon Iesus for no baulme will be more comfortable to a wound theÌ„ the name of Iesus to deaths wound Put on the Helmet of saluation the brest-plate of righteousnes the girdle of truth the shield of faith the sworde of the spirit and your feete shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace Feare not stand fast quit your selues like men for in this spirituall battell you sight vnder the banner of the mighty victorious Emperor Iesus Christ onely continue with these weapons the day is yours If sathan tempt you you may with hartie prayers good Orators for your saluation inchant that Dragon that hee may sleep while your soule is translated to tast of the golden fruite of blessed soules perseuere in this battell which is the true complement of vertue The paine of the battel is small the glorie of the triumph shall abide for euer euer For so saith the scripture To him that ouercoÌ„mmeth I will giue to eate of the tree of life which is in the midst of Paradice be faithful vnto the death and I wil giue thee a crowne of life Hee that ouercommeth I wil make a piller in the temple of my God and hee shall go no more out yea to him that ouercoÌ„math wil I grant to sit with me in my seate These precious promises rewards may make vs couragious against death folow your captaine Christ you cannot erre for he is the way belieue christ you cannot be deceiued for hee is the truth abide and remaine in Christ and you cannot die the death euerlasting for he is the life wherfore cleaue with strong faith to Christ and say with that wise man My minde is rooted and built in Christ and then you neede not feare when death shall giue your soule the winges of true libertie to depart out of your fraile flesh and to flie vp to heauen and rest within Abrahams bosome for theÌ„ you shal rest from your labors trauels For so saith the scripture the soules of the righteous are in thy haÌ„d ô God the paine of death shall not touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeare to die but they are in peace they are as the Angells of God they are clad with white garmeÌ„ts haue golden crownes vpon their heads They doe stand day night before his Maiesty there they haue all ioy solace and harts contentments By death we passe from earth to heauen from men to Angells from warre to peace from paine to pleasure from griefe to gladnesse from miserie to perpetuall felicitie we passe by death from this life which is like a bubble in the water like a weauers Shettell like a smoake like a vapoure like a shaddowe like a flower that fadeth like grasse that withereth it is but a span-long it is a warfare it is like a ruinous house euer readie to fall it is like a cloude in the element whereof wee are vncertaine where and when it falleth This cloude sometimes melteth in the cradle sometimes in the chaire Death is like the Sunne whensoeuer it shineth it melteth our cloudie life be the cloude thereof neuer so thicke or thin in yeares this life is like an vncertaine wethercocke which turnech at euery blast like a Waue that mounteth at euery storme like a reede that boweth at euery whistling wind This world is an exile a vale of miserie a wildernesse of sorrowes a dungeon of sinners a sea of miseries where wee passe away the wauering daies of this vncertaine life sayling as Pilgrims on the waters of this world tossed by the tempests of aduersitie and oppressed by sundry Pyrats the flesh sin and the deuill and yet by the Barke of a liuely faith and by the Marriner death wee shall bee transported from the flesh pots of Egipt to eate of comfortable Manna not in the wildernesse but in new Ierusalem Therefore hast ô good God to deliuer me froÌ„ this painfull life to that glorious life from this wretched mansion to that excellent tabernacle from this stormie worlde to the calme country of heauen where I shall haue liberty without imprisonment health without sicknes ioy without sorrowe pleasure without paine in such securitie eternitie and perpetuitie as passeth all thoughts Come therefore Death thou art welcome thou art thrice welcome death For when the Tree of my life shall fall downe heere vpon earth and I shall see my father dust my mother ashes yer my soule shall be carried into Abrahams bosome Adiew vile life farewell life sinfull life adiewe and welcome Death the Embassador from my louing Sauiour for by thee my misery shall end So that O Death thou art welcome VVelcome sicknes for my Lord Iesus hath nowe sent thee to fetch mee from this prison to his Pallace from a strange pilgrimage to dwell in the restfull Country of Canaan from these teares and mourning to the day of mariage sweet Iesus to bee espoused to thee in thy merrits for euermore where I shall liue like a Demie-god hauing the sight of the glorious Trinitie and the companie of holie Patriarks Prophets Apostles Martirs and blessed Saints inherite such ioyes as neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hart euer conceiued Therefore welcome death welcome sweet death for thou shalt remooue me out of this prison deliuer me froÌ„ this body of sinne to enter into the amiable tabernacles of my Lord where one day is better then a thousand else-where I shal no more weep by the waters of Babilon when I shal remember thee ô Sion for now I shall be in Sion and dwell there for euermore Come therfore ô death to mee at thy pleasure for it is a pleasure for me to die com death ô my ioy for it is a ioy for mee to enioy thee VVelcome death the beginning of ioy the first fruite of pleasure when thou commesâ—â—ar well sorowes adiew miseries death is the Prince of delights Arise therfore make hast ô my beloued my delight my comfort for at thy comming my winter is past and the tempestuous waters of miseries are ceased thou art ioâ—es messenger and gladde tidings bringer ô life thou art my death ô death thou art my life this life is a coÌ„tintiaÌ„ll death but after this death hath ceased vpon my body theÌ„ shal my soule go vnto her life Adiew therfore ô myserable liâ—e welcome thrice welcome death farewell also ô death welcome immortall life Laus Deo FINIS
in store eate drinke and take thy rest VVho would endure the mocks and scornes of the world who would be rosted with Laurentius or martyred with the Apostles vnlesse they hoped that after the vessel of theyr bodies were seasoned in the wombe of the earth they should arriue at that blessed vndiscouered country where is no mediocritie of ioy no end of pleasure So then we Christians who are illuminated with the bright sunny beames of Christs Gospell wil reiect such Epicurian opinions of godlesse Atheists who belieue there is no resurrection no crowne of glorie remaining for them after theyr life is ended but S. Paul teacheth vs an other lesson For saith he if the dead be not raised then is Christ not risen if Christ be not risen thē our fayth is in vaine And in another place If in this life we haue hope onely then of all men we be most miserable So Iob saide when hee was ouerwhelmed with a sea of sorrowe I am certaine that my redeemer liueth and that I shall rise out of the earth in the latter day and that I shall be clothed againe with this skinne and see GOD in my flesh yea I my selfe shal behold him not with other but with these same eyes This poynt of religion concerning our resurrection the very Heathen VVriters haue approoued for thus Cato speaking to Scipio Laelius in Ciceros booke De senectute saith Doost thou thinke that I would haue vndertaken so great labors both by day and night both at home and at the warre if my glory should haue had the same limits which my life hath So Plato in his Booke De animae immortalit saith That the soule of man is immortall and that it shall liue in another world So Socrates when he did drinke the venemous poyson with which he should breake of the feeble thred of mortalitie said I am sure that my soule shall liue and that my body shall arise in the second neuer dying birth But why doe I spend my time in a matter so needlesse to be confirmed sith the scripture the oracles of wisdome be so plentifull of proues all VVriters doe defend this vndeniable veritie for who can denie but that there is a resurrection and a reward reserued for them which die in the Lord if that this life were the only Paradise where we should take our delights who would not desire a long life with Methusalah or store of wealth with Salomon or honor with Haman but wee that knowe this earth to bee nothing else but an element of sorrowe this world to be but a Hydra of renewing cares will not place our eternall affaires and treasures of heauen vpon the gliding streame of this vncertaine life For we are surely perswaded that after the houre glasse of this momentary life is runne out we shall be imparadized in heauen and made free Denizers in that celestiall Ierusalem whose ioyes and praises doe superabound all inhumaine inuention to comprehend for so sayth Saint Gregorie No man is able to tell how great the ioyes of the heauenly Cittie shall be Because as Saint Bernard sayth the dishes of the heauenly banquet are so great that they cannot be measured so long that they cannot be limitted so many that they cannot be numbred and so precious that they cannot bee esteemed Yet notwithstanding that those ioyes be inestimable and innumerable we shall be certaine to inioy them after this life is finished For so sayth Saint Paule when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed wee knowe wee haue a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heauens there shall wee haue ioyes without measure pleasures without end We shall sayth Saint Augustine see without wearinesse we shall loue with-measure and shall giue praises without end Then shall Dauid tast how sweete the Lord is I am sure sayth hee I shall see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing These ioyes and the hope of the fruition of that blessed future life doth inbolden and harden a true Christian against his fatall houre willingly and ioyfully to leaue this world which is valles miseriae as Augustine sayth that hee may see the new Ierusalem that blessed companie of Angells whose glory whose praises whose blessednesse whose delights no tongue is able to expresse no heart to conceiue Yet that I might giue you a tast of those ioyes and as it were a shaddow of the Sunne shine of that glory which we shall possesse after the dissolution of our earthly bodies I will recite a few things which I haue reade in the Scriptures and in other places concerning the blessednesse of that happie life for the ioyes of heauen bee the onely causes which doe mooue and incite vs to liue godly in this present life For what doth make the laborer to worke but his hire The husbandman to toyle but the hope of a good haruest The Souldier to fight but the hope of victory and of obtaining of a Garland so in like manner what doth stirre vp mortall men to liue religiously and louingly to welcome the approach of death but only the confident hope of that hire which none of them by vertuall merrits shall deserue The hope of that good haruest wherein they shall reape all contentment of minde The hope of that wished victory and precious Garland wherewith they shall bee adorned and florish like Angelis These bee the true motiues and inducements which doe giue alacrity and bold spirits to vndergoe the pangs of death willinly and encourage and animate all timerous and fleshly minded persons to bee delighted and theyr eares tickled with musick in the daunce of death when they shall seriously consider they shal passe from death to life from mortalitie to immortality from miserie to ioy from pertill to securitie frō bondage to libertie from aduersitie to prosperitie and in fine from hell and damnation to blisle and saluation Howbeit that I may giue some kind of sauour and feeling knowledge thereof which may allure fearefull men cheerefully to expect and patiently to suffer the Iayler Death to lock vp the windowes of the prison house of theyr soules I intend heere to rehearse euen worde for worde what S. Augustine saith in one of his Meditations namelie the 22 meditation speaking of the felicitie of the future life O life sayth hee prepared by almighty God for his friends a blessed life a seeure life a quiet life a beautifull a cleane life a chast life a holy life a life that knoweth no death a life without sadnes without labour without griefe without trouble without corruption without feare without varietie without alteration a life replenished with all beautie and dignitie where there is neither enemie that can offend or delight that can annoy where loue is prefect and no feare at all where the day is euerlasting the spirit of all is one where almightie God is seene face to face who is the onely meate
thy mouth but record therein day and night Their Lawes should be axioms arising out of their owne deedes but they themselues are the readiest to infring the same Now then when the lease of the liues of these Stewards who hold all their possessions by seruice is expired and shall be summoned by death to appeare before their Land-lord to giue there accounts how beneficially they haue imployed their talents then they will beginne to haue a feeling sense of there owne miserie seeing how ill they did gouerne the people ouer the which the Lord had made them ouerseers We reade that Dauid being chosen of God to feede his people in Iacob and his in heritance in Israell did feede them according to the simplicity of his hart and guided thee by the discretion of his handes These Dauids be few now adaies and as the Poeth saith Rex bonus est sapiens qualem vix repperit vnum Mellibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo A good King and wise such a one as Apollo beeing asked counsell of coulde scarce finde one among all men Yet thanks be giuen to God who by his blessed prouidence hath elected a second Dauid to raigne ouer vs whose loynes are girded with righteousnesse and faithfulnesse the buckle of his raines in whose throne Astraea sits weying euery mans merrits by the equall ballance of their actions whose minde is inuironed against vice with the cleere streames of sweet vertue And therefore sith it hath pleased God to set a temporal transitory crowne of glorie on his head he needs not feare but that in the world to come he shall be crowned with a farre surpassing weight of glorie there shall tast the heauenly Manna and drinke the nectar of ioy But as for other Princes who heere doe tast the Roses of prosperitie shal in the world to come for their wickednesse drinke the worme-wood of aduersitie when they shall recount with themselues that they haue touched the Lords annointed and done his Prophets harme iniured the fatherlesse oppressed the innocent prophaned the sanctuary of God onely delighted themselues with the vaine pompe of this world how can they hope that their impure soules shoulde bee translated to this pure place of endlesse comfort So likewise to descend lower by a lineall degree throughout all the pedigrees of men Behold the Ministerie who haue the ouer-sight of our soules see if they can boldly run vnto the goale of death who haue not ledde theyr liues according to their inioyned vocations The Ministers which should haue two eyes as Gregory saith one of famous learning the other of an vpright godly life many of them haue one of these eyes but want the other And as the same Gregory saith Many declare that in wordes vvhich in life and manners they goe against These haue the eye of learning but want the eye of honest life Yea manie are blinde of both eyes but they be worse then the former For the Ministers should by their endeuours and honest coÌ„uersation reclaime the wicked from the brink of perdition they should inuent medicinable receits against the gostly maladies of sinners they should in the generall famine of spirituall foode prepare with Ioseph abundance of the breade of Angels for the repast of theyr soules Yea they should studie spirituall Phisicke and be trauelled in the scrutinie of the soules diseases and be acquainted with the beating and temper of euery mans pulse they should purge theyr flock from the leaprosie of sinne they should lift vp theyr voyce like a trumpet and shewe the people their offences and the house of Iacob theyr sinnes They are the Prophets of the Lord that shal bring the messages from the Mountaines and proclaime peace They be the light of the VVorlde the salt of the earth they be watch-men which for Sions sake should not holde theyr tongues for Ierusalems sake should not cease Nowe when they shall remember that they haue beene dumbe dogges which did not bark wheÌ„ the wolues did teare their flocks And as Gregory saith Thou hast seene the wolfe and hast escaped saying by chance I haue escaped all Thou hast escaped because thou hast kept silence Thou hast been heere in body thou hast escaped in spirit Or as Saint Bernard saith when they shall remember they were Ministri Christi sed serni anti Christi or call to mind the straight commandemeÌ„t giuen by christ to Peter to feede Christes flocke and they haue been rather wolues theÌ„ shepheards which did rather fleece and oppresse them then protect them when they did imitate Souldiers in habit husbandmen in gaine indeede they were neither because they did neither fight against the Wolues as Souldiers nor as husbandmen labour in Gods Vineyarde nor as Clarkes preach the Gospell in the Church and while they desire both they confound both As Bernard saith therefore their consciences will be perplixed their mindes distracted nor shall they perceiue the melodious harmonie of excusing thoughts or perswade themselues of that comfortable assurance that the opening of the booke will showe that their names are written in heauen or shall they tast that continuall feast of a cleere conscience the soules blessed banquet they shall wring their hands for griefe when they might haue clapt for ioy they shall tremble when they might haue triumphâ—d they shall weepe when they might haue laught they shall wish that the Mountaines would couer them hide them from the sight of God and these bee the causes why so vnwillingly they yeeld to dy yea euen wheÌ„ their forces languish their senses impaire their body droupeth and on euery side the ruinous cottage of their fraile body threatneth a fall yea when they may behold their grasse wasted their grapes gathered their house broken and nothing remaining but the stocke of the grapes the skinne of the flesh and but one only blast of life yet notwithstanding they will say with Callimachus I am too old to liue and too young to die and they are afraid to close vp their eies when they heare the Bell of death knelling in their eares but had rather fight still in this Campe of miserie then by deaths paspot to bee conducted out of this world They had rather with Aristippus prolong life then with Socrates yield to die and the causes bee these because they haue not beene carefull in their functions but haue beene carelesse in their liues dissolute in their actions they were not the instruments of God hauing a sound to teach well but the bones of the deuill because they did want the feeling and therefore they hauing deuoted their liues only to the deuill their conscience doe assure them that they hauing gorged the deuill with the fairest fruites of their liues God will not feede vppon the scrappes of his leauings gleane the reproofe of his haruest and therefore they bee vnwilling to depart out of this life But to passe ouer the spirituall gouernors and come to ciuell Magistrates The Lawyers
they make the lawes and statutes limetwiggs to catch the simple which should bee as it were Sea-markes to auoyde shipwracke for ignorant passengers they studdie for to inuent pollicie how to palliate committed disorders The Iudges imitate Samuels songs which did not walke in their fathers waies but tooke bribes and rewards to peruert right The widdowes complaine the Orphans are wronged the poore are not regarded And as Isidorus saith through the loue of desire lawes are of no force hee that hath to giue hath also to gouerne And as Saint Augustine saith a fat Hen doth more preuaile with Iudges then iustice and money more then innocencie They will not regard any plea vnlesse the euidence containes golden eloquence But there is another commaundement giuen them in Deutronomie Wrest not the law nor know any person neither take any rewards for giftes blind the wise and peruert the words of the righteous as there is a common axiom among the Canonists Ni nire non debet esse acceptio personarum the Iudges and Lawyers should not regard the great men more then the poore nor the plaintifes bagges more then the defendants in forma pauperis Woe be vnto them that make vnrighteous lawes whereby the poore are oppressed Woe vnto that abominable Cittie whose Rulers are as roaring Lyons whose Iudges are as Wolues in the Eucning these threatnings out of the Scripture will make the Lawyers timerous to die when they shall recount with themselues how oft they haue trangressed these diuine lawes how many bribes they haue receiued to giue vniust sentence how oft they haue stopt their eares against the crie of the needie how oft they haue heard the accuser would not hearken to the accused Reiecting Alexanders graue iudgement who did alwaies stop one of his eares when any one did complaine againe another saying this care I lend the accuser the other I reserue for the excuser When I say they shall record their publicke and priuate iniuries their conniuence at manifest faults and too much seueritie at small crimes their vnlawfull condemnations and their partiall absolutions I say these committed offences will so examinate them and strike such a terror into them when the streame of their life runneth at a low ebbe and the date of their life heere in this world is expired and they entering into the kalends of death then they will sit quiuering for feare and knocke at the doore of their conscience and there summon a quest of inquirie for their sinnes and when they shall come to appeare at the Bar of consideration and there be arrained they shall answere as prisoners at the Barre guiltie guiltie And this is the reason why they are so vnwillingly to depart out of this life in like manner the Tradesmen who are customers to the world who haue gotten false ware sutable to the shoppe of such Marchants whose traficke is to toile whose wealth trash whose gaine miserie they I say are vnwilling to depart this life because by their fraudulent dealings they haue purchased an ill conscience which doth make them sleepe like the Nightingalls who alwaies sleepe with a prickt against their brest so doe they sleepe or rather slumber hauing a pricking conscience It alwaies registreth their misdeedes showing them their offences and so they haue no confident perswasiion that their election is sure Also the husbandmen who haue long time tilled the earth and by the sweat of their labours haue increased their worldly possessions now perceiue by the infirmitie of their body they bee not able any more to endure the churlish entertainment of the world or to prolong the tedious line of life and recount with themselues what infinite paines they haue vndergone for to obtaine worldly riches and neuer laboured one houre in the field of Gods Church to possesse beauenly treasures sowing the seedes of repentant sorrowe and watering them with the teares of contrition that they might reape a more beneficiall haruest and gather the fruits of endlesse comfort Then they will thinke with them selues that it is an vnseasonable time to alter the course of their vnthriuing husbandry when in the Aprill of theyr yeeres they might haue brought foorth the flowers fruites of saluation and these be the causes why they be vnwilling to depart out of this life and dare not say with father Simeon O Lord cōmaund that my Soule may depart in peace Nor dare not cry out with Dauid the pyller of mother Sion who liued in the child-hood of the Church when the clowde of the Law did ouershadow the appearance of the Sun in fulnesse of comfort before Christ had opened the store-house of ioy and yet he beeing wearie of his life and the burden of his body cryed out Oh howe long shall I liue in this prison And Paule the notable organ of the holy Ghost singeth the same long with Dauid saying ô wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of sinne So did Father Ieremie wish that the wombe had serued for his tombe And so did Esay be waile his birth and murmured against the knees that held him vp the breasts that gaue him sucke For they knew that the worlde was but a sea of sorrow and our life like vnto a new ship put into the sea fleeting to the bottomlesse swallow where as the tempestuous winds and waues of this world doe beate vppon and alwaies threaten a drowning of life but whē this fraile mortall life seemes to haue brokē her wings by the force of death then presently as immortall shee taketh her flight and lands at a good port VVhy therefore should wee desire to adde more feathers to the wings of time sith after our dissolution we shal be made liuely members fully knit in our body Christ Iesus Ay but a man will say if I were fully perswaded that I should bee made partaker of this beauenlie life I would willingly desire to die and wish that the feeble threds of my life would euery howre vntwine But now my guiltie conscience doth accuse mee my ill ledde life doth terrifie me and all my wicked deedes doe so molest my mind that I am afraide to die Sure this serious consideration of our former offences dooth much amaze a good grounded christian when hee lies vppon his dying bed wayting for the rufull diuorcement of his body and soule hauing a fettered conscience which alwaies will assure him that he hauing been a sluggish drone in the hiue of Christes Church shall not tast the sweetnes of pleasure nor the hony combe of comfort in the heauenly Citty but hee shall bee glutted with the sower grape of persecution of Gods wrath and these hellish torments that he hauing been a carelesse Marriner in this world and alwaies the shippe of his body remaining in the scope of the wicked wind and vveather of this world the Pirate the deuill shall make shipwracke of his saluation and so hee perrish vppon the rocks of eternall ruine But
against all these desperable considerations the saying of Saint Augustine is the best remedy If thou feare iudgement to come rebuke thy conscience In the whole course of thy life so liue that thou maist haue a secure conscience for thou must liue here for a time in such sort that thou dying godly maist liue for euer VVe must die that wee may liue and wee must liue that wee may die well If thou liuest well thou shalt die vvell and thou shalt liue wel if thou doost follow the holy course which Saint Hierome obserued VVhether I eate or drinke saith hee or what soeuer els I doe alwaies that same terrible trumpet soundeth in mine eares Arise you that be dead and come to iudgement For as the same Father saith in another place He easily contemneth all things that doth alwaies thinke that he shall die For he that alwaies takes the memory of death for his vnseparable spouse and bitter sighs for his chyldren and holy compunction for his mother to depure him from his filthynesse he which hateth the world perfectly fauoreth godlinesse zealously endeuoreth to amend his life seriously obeieth his superiors gladly and beareth Christs crosse patiently showeth good tokens that hee will die a good Christian such a man needs not feare the mention of death nor neede his soule weepe in secret nor his eies drop downe teares for hee may bee certaine that he is one of that perdestinated company which shall raigne for euermore But as for a man that hath liued dissolutely through the whole course of his life hath beene a notorious sinner yet for all that hee needs not dispaire for Christ was not surprised with a rauing feuer when in the tragedie of his passion he made his body as a Cloude to resolue in showres of innocent bloud and suffered his decrest vaines to be launced to giue a full issue for the price of our soules redemption Hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance O yee sinners behold the Lambe bleeding and shedding his precious blood to clense you from sinne and to saue you from sathan drinke vp in faith the droppings of his blood and moisten your soules therewith eate him and chew him for he is the bread of life which whosoeuer eateth shall neuer hunger more Say with Christestome Omnis mea salus in passione Christi est posita For whatsoeuer doth belong to my saluation paratum est per Christi mortem as the same father saith his death hath made a sufficient ransome for my sinnes It is the Lambe of God which doth purge mee from all my sinnes I fully beleiue that therefore all my sinnes shall be forgiuen me not for my merrits but for Christs death not for my righteousnesse but for Gods mercies which doth extend to thousands and tenne thousands whose sinnes in respect of Gods mercies are but as Augustine saith one droppe in respect of the whole Sea And as Bernard saith the mercie of God is greater then any miserie of ours Hold vp thine eies to heauen behold the God of all consolation and mercy craue of him to poure downe the influences of his comfort to helpe thy vnbeliefe to confirme thy faith to strengthen thee with a stedfast assurance of his heauenly Kingdome Wast away thy wickednesse in the Fountaine of repentance and the leprosie of thy sinne in the streaming Riuers of penitent teares For this heauenly dew of repentance neuer falls but the Sun of righteousnesse drawes it vp for it was sweetly vttered by a Diuine of sweetest vtterance that repentant eies are the Cellars of Angells and penitent teares the sweetest wines which the sauour of life perfumeth the tast of grace sweetneth and the purest cullours of returning innocency highly beautifieth Oh that our harts were euermore such a limbecke distilling so pure a quintessence of godlinesse drawne from the weedes of our offences by the fire of true contrition heauen would mourne at the absence of so precious waters and earth lament the losse of so fruitfull showres Sure till death close vp those fountaines they should neuer faile running which if they did alwaies runne we neede not doubt of our saluation but that GOD would wash away all our sinnes The world saith Bernard had not perrished with the flood if they had betaken themselues to repentance And as it is in Ieremie If wee repent of our wickednesse God will repent of his wickednesse deuised against vs and as it is in Ezechiell If the vngodly will turne away from all his sinnes that he hath done doubtlesse he shall liue and not die And againe bee conuerted and turne you cleane from your wickednesse so shall there do sinne doe you harme So when the Niniuites did repent mourning in Sack-cloath and ashes he repented on the euill which he said he would doe vnto them and did it not Examples of repentant sinners who obtained remission for their offences be Paule the sinfull woman Dauid Manasses Peter the theife this day on the crosse this night in Paradise For Iesus is like an Euangelicall henne neuer ceaseth clocking to gather thee vnder his winges like a Chicken for it pleased Iesus of vnmerrited goodnesse to leaue the nintie nine mist sheepe the societie of blessed Angells to seeke the straying sheepe the groate that lost the royall stampe of pure nature man this lost sheepe thou soughtest O Iesus thou foundest sweete Iesus by death thou foundest him by bleeding paines thou foundest him by nayled hands and boared feete thou foundest him by a thornie Crowne by drinking vineger by sweating droppes of bloud by suffering the violent death on the crosse thou foundest him O louing Iesus and tender harted Samaritan that of a sicke hast salued of a grieuous sinner hast saued him of a wicked creature hast washed him in the streame of thy inestimable mercie Therfore I confidently beleiue although the flower of my age is faded the grasse withered and my whole life as a vanishing vapoure is passed away yet when I shail be dissolued I assuredly hope to be ioyned fully to Iesus my head and onely Vine wherein I liue although the purseuant sicknesse must visit this body of sin and death must rowe mee ouer the Seas of this world yet I hope in the barke of faith and merrits of Christ Iesus and by the Ancor of Gods couenaunts made to the house of David I shall arriue at that blessed Hauen from whence I shall neuer more hoise vp sailes or lanch into the deepe of miserie but shall sit imparadised in heauen with fulnesse of grace till the day of thy great visitation shal com whē meeting thee in the cloudes I shall enter into the store house of ioyes there for euermore to raigne If a sinner could thus absolutely confirme himself not distrust Gods mercy and clemencie without all doubt he would not feare to die but withall hee must haue a setled determination to mortifie his bodie to abandon vices with the trumpet of a Christian life to