death of a sinner drowned in my sinnes in the bloud of thy Sonne And if I liue longer yet I may now die the death of the righteous die to sinne which death is a resurrection to a new life Thou killest and thou giuest life which soeuer comes it comes from thee which way soeuer it comes let mee come to thee 17. Nunc lento sonitu dicunt Morieris Now this Bell tolling softly for another saies to me Thou must die 17. MEDITATION PErchance hee for whom this Bell tolls may bee so ill as that he knowes not it tolls for him And perchance I may thinke my selfe so much better than I am as that they who are about mee and see my state may haue caused it to toll for mee and I know not that The Church is Catholike vniuersall so are all her Actions All that she does belongs to all When she baptizes a child that action concernes mee for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too and engraffeâ— into that body whereof I am a member And when she buries a Man that action concernes me All mankinde is of one Author and is one volume when one Man dies one Chapter is not torne out of the booke but translated into a better language and euery Chapter must be so translated God emploies seuerall translators some peeces are translated by Age some by sicknesse some by warre some by iustice but Gods hand is in euery translation and his hand shall binde vp all our scattered leaues againe for that Librarie where euery booke shall lie open to one another As therefore the Bell that rings to a Sermon calls not vpon the Preacher onely but vpon the Congregation to come so this Bell calls vs all but how much more mee who am brought so neere the doore by this sicknesse There was a contention as farre as a suite in which both pietie and dignitie religion and estimation were minglâ—d which of the religious Orders should ring to praiers first in the Morning and it was determined that they should ring first that rose earliest If we vnderstand aright the dignitie of this Bell that rolls for our euening prayer wee would bee glad to make it ours by rising early in that application that it might bee ours as wel as his whose indeed it is The Bell doth toll for him that thinkes it doth and though it intermit againe yet from that minute that that occasion wrought vpon him hee is vnited to God Who casts not vp his Eie to the Sunne when it rises but who takes off his Eie from a Comâ—t when that breakes out who bends not his eare to any bell which vpon any occasion rings but who can remoue it from that bell which is passing a peece of himselfe out of this world No Man is an Iland intire of it selfe euery man is a peece of the Continent a part of the maine if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea Europe is the lâ—sse as well as if a Promontorie were as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were Any Mans death diminishes me because I am inuolued in Mankinde And therefore neuer send to know for whom the bell tolls It tolls for thee Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie as though we were not miserable enough of our selues but must feâ—ch in more from the next house in taking vpon vs the Miserie of our Neighbours Truly it were an excusable couetousnesse if wee did for affliction is a treasure and â—carce any Man hath enough of it No Man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it and madâ—â—it for God by that affliction If a Man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold and haue none coined into currant Monies his treasure will not defray him as he trauells Tribulation is Treasure in the nature of it but it is not currant money in the vse of it except wee get nearer and nearer our home heauen by it Another Man may be sicke too and sicke to death and this afâ—liction may lie in his bowels as gold in a Mine and be of no vse to himâ— but this bell that tels mee of his afâ—liction digs out and applies that gold to mee â— if by this consideration of anothers danger I take minâ— owne into Contemplation and so secure my selfe by making my recourse to my God who is our onely securitie 17. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God Is this one of thy waies of drawing light out of darknesse To make him for whom this bell tolls now in this dimnesse of his sight to become a superintendent an ouerseer a Bishop to as many as heare his voice in this bell and to giue vs a confirmation in this action Is this one of thy waies to raise strength out of weaknesse to make him who cannot rise from his bed nor stirre in his bed come home to me and in this sound giue mee the strength of healthy and vigorous instructions O my God my God what Thunder is not a well-tuned Cymball what hoarsenesse what harshnesse is not a cleare Organ if thou bee pleased to set thy voice to it and what Organ is not well plaied on if thy hand bee vpon it Thy voice thy hand is in this sound and in this one sound I heare this whole Consort I heare thy Iaacob call vnto his sonnes and â—ay Gather your selues together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last daies He saies That which I am now you must bee then I heare thy Moses telling mee and all within the compasse of this sound This is the blessing wherewith I blesse you before my death This that before your death you would consider your owne in mine I heare thy Prophet saying to Ezechias Set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not liue Hee makes vs of his familie and calls this a setting of his house in order to compose vs to the meditation of death I heare thy Apostle saying I thinke it meet to put â—ou in remembrance knowing that shortly I must goe out of this Tabernacle This is the publishing of his will this bell is our legacie the applying of his present condition to our vse I heare that which makes al sounds musique and all musique perfit I heare thy Sonne himselfe â—aying Let not your hearts be troubled â— Only I heare this change that whereas thy Sonne saies there I goe to prepare a place for you this man in thiâ— sound saies I send to prepare you for a place for a graue But O my God my God since heauen is glory and ioy why doe not glorious and ioyfull things leade vs induce vs to heauen Thy legacies in thy first will in thy old Testament were plentie and victorie Wine and Oile Milke and Honie alliances of friends ruine of enemies peacefull hearts cheerefull countenances and by these galleries thou broughtest them
feare of death that there was not a house where there was not one dead for therupon the Aegyptians said we are all deaâ— men the death of others should catechise vsâ— to death Thy Sonne Christ Iesus is the first begotten of the dead he rises first the eldest brother and he is my Master in this science of death but yet for mee I am a younger brother too to this Man who died now and to euery man whom I see or heare to die before mee and all they are vshers to mee in this schoole of death I take therefore that which thy seruant Dauids wife said to him to bee said to me If thou saue not thy life to night to morrow thou shalt bee slaine If the death of this man worke not vpon mee now I shall die worse than if thou hadst not afforded me this helpe for thou hast sent him in this bell to mee as thoâ— didst send to the Angelâ— of Sardis with commission to strengthen the things that remaine and that are ready to die that in this weaknes of body I mighâ— receiue spiritual strengâ—h by these occasions This is my strength that whether thou say to mee as thine Angell said to Gedeon Peace bee vnto thee feare not thou shalt not die or whether thou say as vnto Aaron Thou shalt die there yet thou wilâ— preserue that which is ready to die my soule from the worst death that of sinne Zimrie died for his sinnes saies thy Spirit which he sinned in doing euill and in his sinne which he did to make Israel sinne For his sinnes his many sinnes and then in his sinne his particular sinne for my sinnes I shall die whensoeuer I die for death is the wages of sinne but I shall die in my sinne in that particular sinne of resisting thy spirit if I apply not thy assistances Doth it not call vs to a particular consideration That thy blessed Sonne varies his forme of Commination and aggrauates it in the variation when hee saies to the Iewes because they refused the light offered you shall die in your sinne And then when they proceeded to farther disputations and vexations and tentations hee addes you shall die in your sinnes he multiplies the former expressing â—o a plurall In this sinne â— and in all your sinnes doth not the resisting of thy particular helps at last draw vpon vs the guiltinesse of all our former sinnes May not the neglecting of this sound ministred to mee in this mans death bring mee to that miserie as that I whom the Lord of life loued so as to die for me shall die and a Creature of mine owne shall be immortall â— that I shall die and the worme of mine owne conscience shall neuer die 18. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God I haue a new occasion of thanks and a new occasion of prayer to thee from the ringing of this bell Thou toldst me in the other voice that I was mortall and approaching to death In this I may heare thee say that I am dead in an irremediable in an irrecouerable state for bodily health If that bee thy language in this voice how infinitely am I bound to thy heauenly Maiestie for speaking so plainly vnto mee for euen that voice that I must die now is not the voice of a Iudge that speaks by way of condemnation but of a Physitian that presents health in that Thou presentest mee death as the cure of my disease not as the exaltation of it if I mistake thy voice herein if I ouer-runne thy pace and preuent thy hand and imagine death more instant vpon mee than thou hast bid him bee yet the voice belongs to me I am dead I was borne dead and from the first laying of these mud-walls in my conception they haue moldred away and the whole course of life is but an actiue death Whether this voice instruct mee that I am a dead man now or remember me that I haue been a dead man all this while I humbly thanke thee for speaking in this voice to my soule and I humâ—ly beseech thee also to â—ccept my prayers in his behalfe by whose occasion this voice this sound is come to mee â—or though hee bee by death transplanted to thee and so in possession of inexpressible happinesse there yet here vpon earth thou hast giuen vs such a portion of heauen as that though men dispute whether thy Saints in heauen doe know what we in earth in particular doe stand in need of yet without all disputation wee vpon earth doe know what thy Saints in heauen lacke yet for the consummation of their happinesse and therefore thou hast affoorded vs the dignitie that wee may pray for them That therefore this soule now newly departed to thy Kingdome may quickly returne to a ioâ—full reunion to that body which it hath left and that wee with it may soone enioy the full consummation of all in body and soule I humbly beg at thy hand O our most mercifull God for thy Sonne Christ Iesus sake That that blessed Sonne of thine may haue the comsummation of his dignitie by entring into his last office the office of a Iudge and may haue societie of humane bodies in heauen as well as hee hath had euer of soulesâ— And that as thou hatest sinne it selfe thy hate to sinne may bee expressed in the abolishing of all instruments of sinne The allurements of this world and the world it selfe and all the temporarie râ—uenges of sinne the stings of sicknesse and of death and all the castles and prisons and monuments of sinne in the graue That time may bee swallowed vp in Eternitie and hope swallowed in possession and ends swallowed in infinitenesse and all men ordained to saluation in body and soule bâ— one intire and euerlasting sacrifice to thee where thou mayest receiue delight from them and they glorie from thee for euermore Amen 19. Oceano tandem emenso aspicienda resurgit Terra vident iustis medici iam cocta mederi se posse indicijs At last the Physitians after a long and stormie voyage see land They haue so good signes of the conâ—oction of the disease as that they may safely proceed to purge 19. MEDITATION ALl this while the Physitians themselues haue beene patients patiently attending when they should see any land in this Sea any earth any cloud any indication of concoction in these waters Any disorder of mine any pretermission of theirs exalts the dâ—sease accelerates the rages of it no diligence accelerates the concoction the maturitie of the disease they must stay till the season of the sicknesse come and till it be ripened of it selfe and then they may put to their hand to gather it before it fall off but they cannot hasten the ripening Why should wee looke for it in a disease which is the disorder the discord the irregularitie the commotion and rebellion of the body It were scarce a disease if it could bee ordered and
Adam sinned for Eues sake and Salomon to gratifie his wiues it was an vxorious sinne When the Iudges sinned for Iezabels sake and Ioab to obey Dauid it was an ambitious sinne When Pilat sinned to humor the people and Herod to giue farther contentment to the Iewes it was a popular sinne Any thing serues to occasion sin at home in my bosome or abroad in my Marke and aime that which I am and that which I am not that which I would be proues coales and embers and fuell and bellowes to sin and dost thou put me O my God to discharge my selfe of my selfe before I can be well When â—hou bidst me to put off â—he old Man doest thou meane not onely my old habits of actuall sin but the oldest of all originall sinne When thou biddest me purge out the â—euen dost thou meane not only the sowrenesse of mine owne ill contracted customes but the innate tincture of sin imprinted by Nature How shall I doe that which thou requirest and not falsifie that which thou hast said that sin is gone ouer all But O my God I presse thee not with thine owne text without thine owne comment I know that in the state of my body which is more discernible than that of my soule thou dost effigiate my Soule to me And though no Anatomist can say in dissecting a body here lay the coale the fuell the occasion of all bodily diseases but yet a man may haue such a knowledge of his owne constitution and bodily inclination to diseases as that he may preuent his danger in a great part so though wee cannot assigne the place of originall sinne nor the Nature of it so exactly as of actuall or by any diligence deuest it yet hauing washed it in the water of thy Baptisme wee haue not onely so cleansed it that wee may the better look vpon it and discerne it but so weakned it that howsoeuer it may retaine the former nature it doth not retaine the former force and though it may haue the same name it hath not the same venome 22. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God the God of securitie and the enemie of securitie too who wouldest haue vs alwaies sure of thy loue and yet wouldest haue vs alwaies doing something for it let mee alwaies so apprehend thee as present with me and yet so follow after thee as though I had not apprehended thee Thou enlargedst Ezechias lease for fifteene yeeres Thou renewedst Lazarus his lease for a time which we know not But thou didst neuer so put out any of these fires as that thou didst not rake vp the embers and wrap vp a future mortalitie in that body which thou hadst then so reprieued Thou proceedest no otherwise in our soules O our good but fearefull God Thou pardonest no sinne so as that that sinner can sinne no more thou makest no man so acceptable as that thou makâ—st him impeccable Though therefore it were a diminution of the largenesse and derogatorie to the fulnesse of thy mercie to looke backe vpon those sinnes which in a true repentance â— I haue buried in the wounds of â—hy Sonne with a iealous or suspicious eie as though they were now my sinnes when I had so â—ransferred them vpon â—hy Sonne as though â—hey could now bee raised to life againe to condemne mee to death when they are dead in â—im who is the fountaine of life yet were it an irregular anticipation and an insolent presumption to thinkâ— that thy present mercie extended to all my future sinnes or that there were no embers no coales of future sinnes left in mee Temper therefore thy mercie so to my soule O my God that I may neither decline to any faintnesse of spirit in suspecting thy mercie now to bee lesse hearty lesse sincere than it vses to be to those who are perfitly reconciled to thee nor presume so of it as either to thinke this present mercie an antidote against all poisons and so expose my selfe to tentations vpon confidence that this thy mercie shall preserue mee or that when I doe cast my selfe into new sinnes I may haue new mercie at any time because thou didst so easily afford mee this 23. Metusque Relabi They warne mee of the fearefull danger of relapsing 23. MEDITATION IT is not in mans body as it is in the Citie that when the Bell hath rung to couer your fire and â—ake vp the embers you may lie downe and sleepe without feare Though you haue by â—â—ysicke and diet raked vp the embers of your â—isease stil there is a feare of a relapse and the greater danger is in that â—uen in pleasures and in â—â—ines there is a propriety â— Meum Tuum and a man is most affected with that pleasure which is his his by former enâ—oying and experience and most intimidated with those paines which are his his by a wofull â—ense of them in former â—fflictions A couetous â—erson who hath preoccupated all his senses filled all his capacities with the delight of gathering wonders how any man can haue any taste of any pleasure in any opennesse or liberalitie So also in bodily paines in a fit of the stone thâ— patient wonders why any man should call the Gout a paine And hee that hath felt neither but the tooth-ach is as much afraid of a â—it of that as either of the other of either of the other Diseases which we â—euer felt in our selues â—ome but to a compassiâ—â— of others that haue â—ndured them Nay â—ompassion it selfe comes â—o no great degree if wee â—aue not felt in some â—roportion in our selues â—hat which wee lament â—nd condole in another But when wee haue had â—hose torments in their â—â—altation our selues wee â—emble at a relapse â—hen wee must pant â—hrough all those fierie â—eats and saile thorow â—ll those ouerflowing sweats when wee must watch through all those long nights and mourne through all those long daies daies and nights so long as that Nature her selfe shall seeme to be peruerted and to hauâ— put the longest day and the longest night which should bee six moneths asunder into one naturall vnnaturall day when wee must stand at the same barre expect the returne of Physitians from â—heir consultations and not bee sure of the sâ—me verdict in any good Indications when we must goe the same way ouer againe and not see the same issue this is a state a condition a calamitie in respect of which any other sicknesse were a â—onualescence and any greater lesse It addes to the affliction that relapses are and for the most part iustly imputed to our selues as occasioned by some disorder in vs and so we are not onely passiue but actiue in our owne ruine we doe not onely stand vnder a falling house but pull it downe vpon vs and wee are not onely executed that implies guiltinesse but wee are executioners that implies dishonor and executioners of our selues and that implies impietie And wee fall from that
comfort which wee might haue in our first sicknesse from that meditation Alas how generally miserable is Man and how subiect to diseases for in that it is some degree of comfort that wee are but in the staâ—e common to all we fall I say to this discomfort and selfe accusing selfe condemning Alas how vnprouident and in that how vnthankfull to God and his instruments am I in making so ill vse of so great benefits in destroying so soone so long a worke in relapsing by my disorder to that from which they had deliuered mee and so my meditation is fearefully transferred from the body to the minde and from the consideration of the sicknesse to that sinne that sinfull carelesnesse by which I haue occasioned my relapse And amongst the many weights that aggrauate a relapse this also is one that a relapse proceeds with a more violent dispatch and more irremediably because it finds the Countrie weakned and depopulated before Vpon a sicknesse which as yet appeares not wee can scarce fix a feare because wee know not what to feare but as feare is the busiest and irksomest affection so is a relapse which is still ready to come into that which is but newly gone the nearest obiect the most immediate exercise of that affection of fearâ— 23. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God my God thou mightie Father who hast beene my Physitian Thou glorious Sonne who hast beene my physicke Thou blessed Spirit who hast prepared and applied all to mee shall I alone bee able to ouerthrow the worke of all you and relapse into those spirituall sicknesses from which your infinite mercies haue withdrawne me Though thou O my God hâ—ue filled my measure with mercie yet my measure was not so large as that of thy whole people the Nation the numerous and glorious nation of Israel and yet how often how often did they fall into relapses And then where is my assurance how easily thou passedst ouer many other sinnes in them and how vehemently thou insistedst in those into which they so often relapsed Those were their murmurings against thee in thine Instruments and Ministers and their turnings vpon other gods and embracing the Idolatries of their neighbours O my God how slipperie a way to how irrecouerable a bottome is murmuring and how neere thy selfe hee comes that murmures at him who comes from thee The Magistrate is the garment in which thou apparellest thy selfe and hee that shoots at the cloathes cannot say hee meant no ill to the man Thy people were feareful examples of that for how often did their murmuring against thy Ministers end in a departing from thee when they would haue other officers they would haue other gods and still to daies murmuring was to morrowes Idolatrie As their murmuring induced Idolatrie and they relapsed often into both I haue found in my selfe O my God O my God thou hast found it in me and thy finding it hath shewed it to me such a transmigration of sinne as makes mee afraid of relapsing too The soule of sinne for wee haue made sinne immortall and it must haue a soule The soule of sinne is disobedience to thee and when one sinne hath beene dead in mee that soule hath passed into another sinne Our youth dies and the sinnes of our youth with it some sinnes die a violent death and some a naturall pouertie penurie imprisonment banishment kill some sinnes in vs and some die of age many waies wee become vnable to doe that sinne but still the soule liues and passes into another sinne and that that was licentiousnesse growes ambition and that comes to indeuotion and spirituall coldnesse wee haue three liues in our state of sinne and where the sinnes oâ— youth expire those of our middle yeeres enter and those of our age after them This transmigration of sinne found in my selfe makes me afraid O my God of a Relapse but the occasion of my feare is more pregnant â—han so for I haue had I haue multiplied Relapses already Why O my God is a relapse so odious to thee Not so much their murmuring and their Idolatry as their relapsing into those sinnes seemes to affect thee in thy disobedient people They limited the holy one of Israel as â—hou complainest of them That was a murmuring but before thou chargest them with the fault it selfe in the same place thou chargest them with the iterating the redoubling of â—hat fault before the fault was named How oft did they prouoke mee in the Wildernesse and grieue me in the Desart That which brings thee to that exasperation against them as to say that thou wouldest breake thine owne oath rather than leaue them vnpunished They shall not see the land which I sware vnto their fathers was because they had tempted thee ten times infinitely vpon that thou threatnest with that vehemencie if ye do in any wise goe backe know for a certainty God will no more driue out any of these Nations from before you but they shall be snares and traps vnto you and scourges in your sides and thornes in your eies till ye perish No tongue but thine owne O my GOD can expresse thine indignation against a Nation relapsing to Idolatry Idolatry in any Nation is deadly but when the disease is complicated with a relapse a knowledge and a profession of a former recouerie it is desperate And thine anger workes not onely where the euidence is pregnant and without exception so thou saiest when it is said That certaine men in a Citie haue withdrawne others to Idolatrie and that inquirie is made and it is found true the Citie and the inhabitants and the Cattell are to bee destroied but where there is but a suspicion a rumor of such a relapse to Idolatrie thine anger is awakened and thine indignation stirred In the gouernment of thy seruant Iosua there was a voice that Reuben and Gad with those of Manasseh had built a new altar Israel doth not send one to enquire but the whole congregation gathered to goe vp to warre against them and there went a Prince of euery Tribe And they obiect to them not so much their present declination to Idolatry as their Relapse is the iniquity of Peor too little for vs An idolatry formerly committed and punished with the slaughter of twenty foure thousand delinquents At last Reuben and Gad satisfie them that that Altar was not built for Idolatry but built as a patterne of theirs that they might thereby professe themselues to bee of the same profession that they were and so the Army returned without bloud Euen where it comes not so farre as to an actuall Relapse into Idolatry Thou O my GOD becommest sensible of it though thou who seest the heart all the way preuentest all dangerous effects where there was no ill meaning how euer there were occasion of suspicious rumours giuen to thine Israel of relapsing So odious to thee so aggrauating a weight vpon sinne is a relapse But O my
God why is it so so odious It must bee so because hee that hath sinned and then repented hath weighed God and the Deuill in a ballance hee hath heard God and the Deuill plead and after hearing giuen Iudgement on that side to which he adheres by his subsequent practise if he returne to his sinne hee decrees for Satan he prefers sinne before grace and Satan before God and in contempt of God declares the precedency for his aduersary And a contempt wounds deeper than an iniury a relapse deeper than a blasphemy And when thou hast told me that a relapse is more odious to thee neede I aske why it is more dangerous more pernitious to me Is there any other measure of the greatnesse of my danger than the greatnesse of thy displeasure How fitly and how fearefully hast thou expressed my case in a storm â—t Sea if I relapse They mount vp to Heauen and they goe downe againe to the depth My sicknesse brought mee to thee in repentance and my relapse hath cast mee farther from thee The end of that man shall be worse than the beginning saies thy Word thy Sonne My beginning was sicknesse punishment for sin but a worse thing may follow saies he also if I sin againe not onely death which is an â—nd worse than sicknesse which was the beginning but Hell which is a beginning worse than that end Thy great seruant denied thy Sonne and he denied him againe but all before Repentance here was no relapse O if thou haddest euer re-admitted Adam into Paradise how abstinently would hee haue walked by that tree and would not the Angels that fell haue fixed themselues vpon thee if thou hadst once re-admitted them to thy sight They neuer relapsed If I doe must not my case be as desperate Not so desperate for as thy Maiestie so is thy Mercie both infinite and thou who hast commanded me to pardon my brother seuenty seuen times hast limited thy selfe to no Number If death were ill in it selfe thou wouldest neuer haue raised any dead Man to life againe because that man must necessarily die againe If thy Mercy in pardoning did so farre aggrauate a Relapse as that there were no more mercy after it our case were the worse for that former Mercy for who is not vnder euen a necessity of sinning whilst hee is here if wee place this necssity in our own infirmity and not in thy Decree But I speak not this O my God as preparing a way to my Relapse out of presumption but to preclude all accesses of desperation though out of infirmity I should Relapse 23. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who though thou beest euer infinite yet enlargest thy selfe by the Number of our prayers and takest our often petitions to thee to be an addition to thy glory and thy greatnesse as euer vpon all occaâ—ions so now O my God I come to thy Maiestie with two Prayers two Supplications I haue Meditated vpon the Ielouzie which thou hâ—st of thine owne honour and considered that Nothing can come neerer a violating of that hâ—nor neerer to the Nature of a scorne to thee then to sue out thy Pâ—rdon and receiue the Sealâ—s of Reconciliation to thee and then returne to thâ—t sinne for which I needed and had thy pardon before I know that this comes to neare to a making thy holy Ordinances thy Word thy Sacraments thy Seales thy Grace instruments of my Spirituall Fornications Since therefore thy Correction hath brought mee to such a participation of thy selfe thy selfe O my God cannot bee parted to such an intire possession of thee as that I durst deliuer my selfe ouer to thee this Minute If this Minute thou wouldst accept my dissolution preserue me O my God the God of constancie and perseuerance in this state from all relapses into those sinnes which haue induc'd thy former Iudgements vpon me But because by too lamentable Experience I I know how slippery my customs of sinne haue made my wayes of sinne I presume to adde this petition too That if my infirmitie ouertake mee thou forsake mee not Say to my Soule My Sonne thou hast sinned doe so no more but say also that though I doe thy Spirit of Remorce and Compunction shall neuer depart from mee Thy Holy Apostle Saint Paul was shipwrackd thrice yet stil saued Though the rockes and the sands the heights and the shallowes the prosperitie and the aduersitie of this world do diuersly threaten mee though mine owne leakes endanger mee yet O God let mee neuer put my selfe aboard with Hymeneus nor make shipwracke of faith and a good Conscience and then thy long-liud thy euerlasting Mercy will visit me though that which I most earnestly pray against should fall vpon mee a relapse into those sinnes which I haue truely repented and thou hast fully pardoned FINIS Gen. 28.16 Mat. 13â— 16. 2 Reg. 4.40 Prou. 13.17 Esa. 58.8 1 Sam. 24 15. 2 Sam. 9.8 2 Sam. 24.14 Psa. 34.8 Prou. 14.30 Psa. 38.3 Ibid. Mat. 19.13 Amos 6 4. Psal. 132 3. Apoc. 2.22 Mat. 8.6 8.4 8.14 Psa. 26.8 84.4 5.8 69.10 1 Cor. 9.27 2. Reg. 2.11 Exod. 21 18. Psa. 41.3 Psal. 4.4 Iob 13.3 Ezâ—c 47.12 Ioh. 5.6 Ier. 8.22 Ecclus. 38.4 Ecclus. 38.15 1. Chro. 16.12 Ecclus â—8 9 Ps. 6.2 v. 10. v 12. Act. 9. â—4 Luc. 5.17 Apo. 22 2â— Ier. 51.9 Ose 5.13 Esa. 2 Châ—o 7.14 Ezech 47.11 Mat. 4.23 Luc. 6.19 Io 7.23 2. Reg. 20. â— Num 12.14 Io 13.23 Num 23.9 Deu 33.28 Eccles. 4.10 Sap. 1.9 Mat. 14.23 Mat. 26.13 Io. 8.16 Psa. 38.11 Esa. 63.3 1. regâ— â—4 14 Luc. 10.40 Ier. 1.1 Leu 13.46 Exo 14.2 Gen. 32.24 Ecclus. 6.16 2 Sam 3.11 9.34 Iob 9.34 Luc 18.1 Luc. 11.5 Psa. 27.1 Num 14.9 Ps 35.70 46.5 Ecclus 41 3. Mar. 6.20 Psa 25.14 Pro 2.5 Act. 9.31 Gen. 3.10 Pro 1.26 10.24 Ps 14.5 53 6. Io 7.13 19.38 29.19 Esai 33.6 Mat. 8.26 Iud 7.3 Apo 21.8 Iob. 6.20 Mat. 28.8 Ps 111.10 Pro. 1.7 Ecclus. 1.20.27 Deu 4.10 Heb 11.7 Ecclus 18.27 2 Sam. 18 25. So al but our Translation takes it Euen Burcdorf Schindler 2.4.11 Exod. 18 13. Num. 11 16. Heb. 1.6 Mat. 26.53 Mat. 25.31 Luc. 21.15 Io. 20.12 Gen. 28.12 Psa. 91.13 Gen. 19.15 Apo. 1.20 Apo. 8.2 Mat. 13.39 Luc. 16.22 Apoc. 21.12 1. Reg. 19.35 Luc. 4.18 Eph. 4.11 1. Pet 2.25 Io. 20.22 Ecclus. 13.23 Augustus 2 Sam. 19.12 2 Sam. 24. â—â— v. 17. 2 Chro. 14.8 2. Chro. 25.16 42.13 9.6 11.2 Gen. 1.26 Iob. 1. Tim. 4.1 Ose. 4.12 Esa. 19.14 Apoc. 7.1 Iosephus Iere. 9.21 Io. 8.44 Ioh. 6.70 Ps. 19.12 Esay 47.10 Gen. 4.10 Ier. 20.27 Eccle. 10.20 Gen. 3.8 Eccles. 12.14 Mat. 10.26 Psal. 32.34 8.5 Prou. 23.26 Iob. 1.8 Ier. 17 9 Gen. 6.5 Amos 4.14 1 Sam. 13 14. Ier. 3.15 Ezech. 11 19. Eccles. 7.26 Prou. 28.26 Io. 13.2 Ecclus. 50.23 Leuit. 26 36. Ios. 2.11 1 Sam. 7.3 2. Cor. 1.22 1. Sam. 25.37 24.5 1. Sam. 24.10 1. Reg. 8.38 Phil. 4.7 Coma latro in Val. Max. Ardionus 4.14 Gen. 2.6 Leuit. 16 23. Ezech. 8.11 Sap. 7.24 Sap. 11.18 Ioel. 2.30 Act. 2.19 Psa. 78.8 Esa. 6.4 Apo. 9.2 Psa. 91.13 Eze. 7.16 37.3 Can. 4.7 Iud. 23. Iob 9.30 Ephes. 5.29 Iosua 22.17 Sap. 13.14 Gen. 30.33 Mat. 9.12 Iob 11.15 Dan. 7 9. Mat. 20.6 6â—34 4.10 2 16â— 2. Cor. 6.2 Apoc. 6.17 Eph. 6.1 3. Ioh. v. 2. Heb. 1.2 2. Thes. 5.8 Mat. 23 30â— Mat. 22.15 V. 23. V. 34. V. 46. Gen. 32.26 2 Pet. 3.8 Ecclus. 41.1 Mat. 28.20 Psa. 121.1 2 Pet. 2.3 Psa. 127 1. Leu. 26.6 Ion. 1.5 Mat. 8.24 Io. 11.12 Eccles. 8.16 Pro. 4.16 Eccles. 5.12 Mat. 13.25.28.13 26.40 Iud. 16.3 vers 19. Eph. 5.14 1 Thes. 5.6 Ier. 51.59 Can. 5.8 1 Thes. 5.6 vers 10. Magius Antwerp Roan Roccha Num. 10 1. Exo. 18. Apoc. 14 13. Gen. 49.1 Deut. 33 1. 2 Reg. 20.1 2 Pet. 2.13 Ioh. 14.1 Psal. 31.5 Leuit. 21 1. Sap. 14.14 Sap. 13.9 Sap. 13.18 Esay 8.14 Deu. 33.6 Zechar. 11.9 Iud. 12. Exo. 12.30 Apo. 1.5 1 Sam. 19.11 Apoc. 3 2â— Iud. 6.23 Num. 20.26 1 Reg. 16 18. Ioh. 8.21 Vers. 24. Esay 66.14 Psal. 46.3 Psa. 33.7 Psa. 8.29 Ios. 3.17 Ecelus 43.24 vers 27. Sap. 14.3 Act. 17.11 Luc. 5.3 Act. 27.24 Mar. 5.2 Act. 27.31 Iac. 3.4 Apo. 8.9 Io. 6.21 Lam. 3.26 Exo. 13.21 16.10 1 Reg. 19.43 August Eccles. 11.4 Prou. 10 4. Psal. 24.3 Exod. 31.29 1 Sam. 22.17 Leuit. 8.36 Galâ—n Galen Galen Psa. 106 12. Mar. 15 23. Io. 12.28 Mat. 27 46.50 Deut. 5.22 2 Sam. 22.14 Psal. 68 33. Psal. 29. Io. 5.25 Apo. 1.12 Iob. 4.16 Psa. 93.3.4 Ecclus. 8.8 Ibid. v. 7. 1 Sam. 19.15 2 Chro. 24.25 Amos 3.12 Act. 5.15 Mat. 96 Leu. 5.2 Num. 15 22. Rom. 1.32 Eph. 2.3 1 â—o 3.4 Rom. 7.23 Ier. 6.7 7.26 Iacob 1.14 Gen. 3.6 1 Reg. 1â— 3 1 Reg. 21 1 Par. 22 3. Luâ— 23.23 Act. 12.3 Eph. 4.22 1 Cor. 5.7 Psal. 78.41 Num. 14 22. Ios. 23.12 Deut. 13 12. Iâ—s 22.11 1.12 Num. 25 4. Tertull. Psa. 107 26. Mat. 12.45 Io. 8.14 Mar. 14 70. Ecclus. 2.18 Ecclus. 21.1 2. Cor. 11.25 Timo. 1.19
eyes to testifie my spiritual sicknes I stand in the way of tentations naturally necessarily all men doe so for there is a Snake in euery path tentations in euery vocation but I go I run I flie into the wayes of teÌ„tation which I might shun nay I breake into houses wher the plague is I presse into places of tentation and tempt the deuill himselfe and solicite importune them who had rather be left vnsolicited by me I fall sick of Sin and am bedded and bedrid buried and putrified in the practise of Sin and all this while haâ—e no presage no pulse no sense of my sicknesse O heighth O depth of misery where the first Symptome of the sicknes is Hell where I neuer fee the feuer of lust of enuy of ambition by any other light then the darknesse and horror of Hell it selfe â— where the first Messenger that speaks to me doth not sayâ— Thou mayst die no nor Thou must die but Thou art dead and where the first notice that my Soule hath of her sicknes is irrecouerablenes irremediablenes but O my God Iob did not charge thee foolishly in his temporall afflictions nor may I in my spirituall Thou hast imprinted a pulse in our Soule but we do not examine it a voice in our conscience but wee doe not hearken vnto it We talk it out we iest it out we drinke it out we sleepe it out and when wee wake we doe not say with Iacob Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not but though we might know it we do not we wil not But will God pretend to make a Watch and leaue out the springe to make so many various wheels in the faculties of the Soule and in the organs of the body and leaue out Grace that should moue them or wil God make a springe and not wind it vp Infuse his first grace not second it with more without which we can no more vse his first grace when we haue it then wee could dispose our selues by Nature to haue it But alas that is not our case we are all prodigall sonnes and not disinherited wee haue receiued our portion and mis-spent it not bin denied it We are Gods tenants heere and yet here he our Land-lord payes vs Rents not yearely nor quarterly but hourely and quarterly Euery minute he renewes his mercy but wee will not vnderstand least that we should be conuerted and he should heale vs. 1. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who considered in thy selfe art a Circle first and last and altogether but considered in thy working vpon vs art a direct line and leadest vs from our beginning through all our wayes to our end enable me by thy grace to looke forward to mine end and to looke backward to to the coÌ„siderations of thy mercies afforded mee from the beginning that so by that practise of considering thy mercy in my beginning in this world when thou plaÌ„tedst me in the Christian Church and thy mercy in the beginning in the other world wheÌ„ thou writest me in the Booke of life in my Election I may come to a holy consideration of thy mercy in the beginning of all my actions hereâ— That in all the beginâ—nings in all the accesses and approches of spiriâ—tuall sicknesses of Sinn may heare and hearkeâ— to that voice O thou Maâ— of God there is death in thâ— pot and so refraine from that which I was so hungerly so greedily flying to A faithfull Amâ—bassador is health says thy wise seruant Solomon â— Thy voice receiued in the beginning of a sicknesse of a sinne is true health If I can see that light betimes and heare that voyce early Then shall my light breake forth as the morning and my health shall spriug foorth speedily Deliuer mee therefore O my God from these vaine imaginations that it is an ouercurious thing a dangerous thing to come to that tendernesse that rawnesse that scrupulousnesse to feare euery concupiscence euery offer of Sin that this suspicious iealous diligence will turne to an inordinate deiection of spirit and a diffidence in thy care prouidence buâ— keep me still establish'd both in a constant assurance that thou wilâ— speake to me at the beginning of euery such sicknes at the approach of euery such Sinne and that if I take knowledg of that voice then anâ— flye to thee thou wilâ— preserue mee from falling or raise me againe when by naturall infirmitieâ— I am fallen doâ— this O Lord for his sake who knowes our naturall infirmities for he had them and knowes the weight of our sinns for he paid a deare price for them thy Sonne our Sauiour Chr Iesus Amen 2. Actio Laesa The strength and the functioÌ„ of the Senses other faculties change and faile 2. MEDITATION THe Heauens are not the lesse constant because they moue continually because they moue continually one and the same way The Earth is not the more constant because it lyes stil continually because continually it changes and melts in al the parts thereof Man who is the noblest part of the Earth melts so away as if he were a statue not of Earth but of Snowe We see his owne Enuie melts him hee growes leane with that he will say anothers beautie melts him but he feeles that a Feuer doth not melt him like snow but powr him out like lead like yron like brasse melted in a furnace It doth not only melt him but Calcine him reduce him to Atomes and to ashes not to water but to lime And how quickly Sooner then thou canst receiue an answer sooner then thou canst conceiue the question Earth is the center of my body Heauen is the center of my Soule these two are the naturall place of these two but thoâ— goe not to these two iâ— an equall place My bâ—â—dy falls downe withouâ— pushing my Soule doâ—â— not go vp without puâ—ling Ascension is mâ— Soules pace measurâ— but precipitation my bâ—dies And euen Angellâ— whose home is Heaueâ— and who are wingeâ— too yet had a Ladder 〈◊〉 goe to Heauen by stepâ— The Sunne who goes 〈◊〉 many miles in a minuâ—â— The Starres of the Fiâ—â—mament which go so very many more goe not so fast as my body to the earth In the same instant that I feele the first attempt of the disease I feele the victory In the twinckling of an eye I can scarse see instantly the tast is insipid and fatuous instantly the appetite is dull and desirelesseâ— instantly the knees are sinking and strengthlesse and in an instant sleepe which is the picture the copy of death is taken away that the Originall Death it selfe may succeed and that so I might haue death to the life It was part of Adams punishment In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread â— it is multiplied to me I haue earned bread in the sweat of my browes in the labor of my calling and I haue itâ— and I sweat againe
againe Hee that collects both calls this feare the root of wisdome And that it may embrace all hee caâ—ls it wisedome it selfe A wise man therefore is neuer without it neuer without the exercise of it Therefore thou sentâ—st Moses to thy people That they might learneâ— feare thee all the dayes â— their liues not in heâ—â—uy and calamitous buâ— in good and cheerfâ—â— dayes too for Noâ—â— who had assurance 〈◊〉 his deliuerance yet mâ—â—ued with feare preparâ— an Arke for the sauingâ— his house A wise man 〈◊〉 feare in euery thing Anâ— thâ—refore though I prâ—â—tend to no other degreâ— of wisedome I am aâ—bundantly rich in thiâ— that I lye heere posseâ—â— with that feare which â—s thy feare both that â—his sicknesse is thy immediate correction and â—ot meerely a naturall â—ccident and therefore â—earefull because it is a â—earefull thing to fall into â—hy hands and thâ—t this â—eare preserues me from all inordinate feare arising out of the infirmiâ—ie of Nature because â—hy hand being vpon me thou wilt neuer let me fall out of thy hand 6. PRAYER O Most mightie God 〈◊〉 mercifull God 〈◊〉 God of all true sorrow 〈◊〉 true ioy to of all feare â— of al hope to as thou haâ—â— giuen me a Repentanâ—â— not to be repented of 〈◊〉 giue me O Lord a feaâ—â— of which I may not bâ— afraid Giue me tendeâ— and supple and confoâ—â—mable affections that 〈◊〉 I ioy with them that iâ—â— and mourne with them that mourne so I maâ— feare with them that feare And since thou hast vouchsafed to discouer to me in his feare whom thou hast admitâ—ed to be my assistance â—n this sickenesse that â—here is danger therein â—et me not O Lord go aâ—out to ouercome the sense of that fear so far as to pretermit the fitting and preparing of my selfe for the worst â—hat may bee feard the passage out of this life Many of thy blessed Martyrs haue passed out of this life without aâ—â— showe of feare But thâ— most blessed Sonne himâ—selfe did not so Tâ—â— Martys were knownâ— be but men and therfoâ—â— it pleased thee to fill tâ—â— with thy Spirit and thâ— power in that they dâ—â— more then Men Thy Sâ—â— was declard by thee 〈◊〉 by himselfe to be Gâ—â— and it was requisite thâ—â— he should declare himâ—selfe to be Man also iâ— the weaknesses of maâ—â— Let mee not therefoâ—â— O my God bee ashameâ— of these feares but let me feele them to determine where his feare â—id in a present submitâ—ing of all to thy will And when thou shalt â—aue inflamd thawd my former coldnesses â—nd indeuotions with â—hese heats and quenchâ—d my former heates with these sweats and â—nundations and rectified my former preâ—umptions and negligences with these fears â—ee pleased O Lord as one made so by thee to thinke me fit for thâ—â— And whether it be thâ— pleasure to dispose 〈◊〉 this body this garmeâ—â— so aâ— to put it to a faâ—â—ther wearing in thâ— world or to lay it vp iâ— the common wardrope thâ— graue for the next gloâ—rifie thy selfe in thâ— choyce now glorifâ—â— it then with that glory which thy Son our Sâ—â—uiour Christ Iesus hatâ— purchased for them whome thou makeâ— partakers of his Resuâ—â—rection Amen 7. Socios sibi iungier instat The Phisician desires to haue others ioyned with him 7. MEDITATION THere is more feare therefore more cause If the Phisician desire help the burden grows great There is a grouth of the Disease then But â—here must bee an Auâ—umne to But whether an Autumne of the disease or mee it is not my paâ—â— to choose but if it bee of me it is of both My disease cannot suruiuâ— mee I may ouer liue iâ— Howsoeuer his desiring of others argues his caâ—â—dor and his ingenuitie 〈◊〉 the danger be great heâ— iustifies his proceedingâ— he disguises nothing that calls in witnesses â— And if the danger be not great hee is not aâ—â—bitious that is so readâ— to diuide the thankes and the honour of thâ— work which he begâ—â— alone with others It diminishes not the dignitie of a Monarch that hee deriue part of his care vpon others God hath not made many Suns but he hath made many bodies that receiue and giue light The Romanes began with one King they came to two Consuls they returned in extremities to one Dictator â— whether in one or many the soueraigntie is the same in all States and the danger is not the more and the prouidence is the more wheâ— there are more Phisicians as the State is the happier where businesses are carried by more counsels then can be in one breast how large soeuer Diseâ—ses themselues hold Consultations and conspire how they may multiply and ioyn with one another exalt one anothers force so and shal we not calâ— Phisicians to consultations Death is in an old mans dore he appeareâ— and tels him so deaâ—â— is at a yong mans backe and saies nothingâ— Age is a sicknesse and Youth is an ambush and we need so many Phisicians as may make vp a Watch and spie euery inconuenience There is scarce any thing that hath not killed some body a haire a feather hath done itâ— Nay that which is our best Antidote against it hath donn it the best Cordiall hath bene deadly poyson Men haue dyed of Ioy and allmost forbidden their friends to weep for theÌ„ wheÌ„ they haue seen theÌ„ dye laughing Euen that Tiran Dyâ—â—nisius I thinke the sameâ— that suffered so much aâ—â—ter who could not dâ—â— of that sorrow of thaâ— high fal from a King tâ— a wretched priuate maâ— â— dyed of so poore a Ioy as to be declard by the peoâ—ple at a Theater that heâ— was a good Poet. We saâ— ofteÌ„ thâ—t a Man may liâ—â— of a litle but alas oâ— how much lesse may a Man dye And therfore the more assistants thâ— better who comes to a day of hearing in a caus of any importaÌ„ce with one Aduocate In our Funerals we our selfs haue no interest there wee cannot aduise we cannot direct And though some Nations the Egiptians in particular built theÌ„selues better Tombs then houses because they were to dwell longer in them yet amongst our selues the greatest Man of Stile whom we hane had The Conqueror was lest as soone as his soule left him not only without persons to assist at his graue but without a graue Who will keepe vs then we know notâ— As long as we can lâ—t vs admit as much helpe as wee can Another and another Phisician is not another and another Indication and Symptom of death but an otherâ— and another Assistant and Proctor of life Noâ— doe they so much feed the imagination with apprehension of danger as the vnderstanding with comfort Let not one bring Learning another Diligence another Religion but euery one bring all and as many Ingredients enter into a Receit so may many men make the Receit But why doe I exercise my Meditation so long vpon this of hauing plentifull helpe in time
mention the Flea as the Viper because the Flea though hee kill none hee does all the harme hee can so euen these libellous and licentious Iesters vtter the venim they haue though sometimes vertue and alwaies power be a good Pigeon to draw this vapor from the Head and from doing any deadly harme there 12. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God as thy seruant Iames when he asks that questioÌ„ what is your life prouides me my answere It is euen a vapor that appeareth for a little time then vanisheth away so if he did aske me what is your death I am prouided of my answere It is a vapor too And why should it not be all one to mee whether I liue or die if life and death be all one both a vapor Thou haâ—t made vapor so indifferent a thing as that thy Blessings and thy Iudgements are equally expressed by it and is made by thee the Hierogliphique of both Why should not that bee alwaies good by which thou hast declared thy plentifull goodnes to vs A vapor went vp from the Earth and watred the whole face of the ground And that by which thou hast imputed a goodnes to vs and wherein thou hast accepted our seruice to thee sacrifices for Sacrifices were vapors And in thâ—m it is said that a thicke cloude of incâ—nce went vp to thee So it is of that wherein thou comst to vs the dew of Heauen And of that wherein we come to theeâ— both are vapors And hee in whom we haue and are all that we are or haue teÌ„porally or spiritually thy blessed Son in the persoÌ„ of wisedome is called so to she is that is he is the vapor of the power of God and the pure influence froÌ„ the glory of the Almighty Hast thou Thou O my God perfumed vapor with thine own breath with so many sweet acceptations in thine own word and shall this vapor receiue an ill and infectious sense It must for since we haue displeased thee with that which is but vapor for what is sinne but a vapor but a smoke though such a smoke as takes away our sight and disables vs from seeing our danger it is iust that thou punish vs with vapoâ—s to For so thou dost as the Wiseman tels vs Thou canst punish vs by those things wherein wee offend thee as he hath expressed it there Bâ— beasts newly created breathing vapors Therefore that Commination of â—hine by thy Prophet I will shew wonders in the heauen and in the Earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoke â— thine Apostle who knewe thy meaning best calls vapors of smoke One Propheâ— presents thee in thy terriblenesse so There went out a smoke at his Nostrils and another the effect of thine anger so The house was filled with smoake And hee that continues his Prophesie as long as the world can continue describes the miseries of the latter times so Out of the bottomlesse pit arose a smoke that darkened the Sunne and out of that smoke came Locusts who had the power of Scorpions Now all smokes begin in fire all these will end so too The smoke of sin and of thy wrath will end in the fire of hell But hast thou afforded vs no means to euaporate these smokes to withdraw these vapors When thine Angels fell from heauen thou tookst into thy care the reparatioÌ„ of that place didst it by assuming by drawing vs thitherâ— when we fel from thee here in this world thou tookst into thy care the reparation of this place too and didst it by assuming vs another way by descending down to assume our nature in thy Son So that though our last act be an ascending to glory we shall ascend to the place of Angels yet our first act is to goe the way of thy Sonn descending and the way of thy blessed spirit too who descended in the Doue Therefore hast thou bin pleased to afford vs this remedy in Nature by this application of a Doue to our lower parts to make these vapors in our bodies to descend and to make that a type to vs that by the visitation of thy Spirit the vapors oâ— sin shall descend we tread them vnder our feet At the baptisme of thy Son the Doue descended at the exalting of thine Apostles to preach the same spirit desceÌ„ded Let vs draw down the vapors of our own pride our own wits our own wils our own inueÌ„tions to the simplicitie of thy Sacraments the obedience of thy word and these Doues thus applied shall make vs liue 12. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who though thou haue suffred vs to destroy our selues hast not giuen vs the power of reparation in our sâ—lues hast yet afforded vs such meanes of reparation as may easily and familiarly be compassed by vs prosper I humbly beseech thee this means of bodily assistance in this thy ordinary creature and prosper thy meanes of spirituall assistance in thy holy ordinances And as thou hast caried this thy creature the Doue through all thy wayes through Nature and made it naturally proper to conduce medicinally to our bodily health Through the law and made it a sacrifice for sinne there and through the Gospel and made it thy spirit in it a witnes of thy sonnes baptisme there so carry it and the qualities of it home to my soule and imprint there that simpliciâ—y that mildnesse that harmelesnesse which thou hast imprinted by Nature in this Creature That so all vapours of all disobedience to thee being subdued vnder my feete I may in the power and triumphe of thy sonne treade victoriously vpon my graue and trample vpon the Lyon and Dragon that lye vnder it to deuoure me Thou O Lord by the Prophet callest the Doue the Doue of the Valleys but promisest that the Doue of the Valleyes shall bee vpon the Mountaine As thou hast layed mee low in this Valley of sickenesse so low as that I am made fit for that question asked in the field of bones Sonne of Man can these bones liue so in thy good time carry me vp to these Mountaynes of which euen in this Valley thou affordest mee a prospect the Mountain where thou dwellest the holy Hill vnto which none can ascend but hee that hath cleane hands which none can haue but by that one and that strong way of making them cleane in the blood of thy Sonne Christ Iesus Amen 13. Ingeniumque malum numeroso stigmate fassus Pellitur ad pectus Morbique Suburbia Morbus The Sicknes declares the infectionâ—â—nd malignity thereof 〈…〉 13. MEDITATION WEe say that the world is made of sea land as though they were equal but we know that ther is more sea in the Western theÌ„ in the Eastern Hemisphere â— We say that the Firmament is full of starres as though it were equally full but we know that there are more stars vnder the Northerne then
Seuenth day my Euerlasting Saboth in thy rest thâ— glory thy ioy thy sight thy sâ—lfe and where I shall liue as long without reckning any more Dayes after as thy Sonne and thy Holy Spirit liued with thee before you three made any Dayes in the Creation 14. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who though thou didst permit darknesse to be before light in the Creation yet in the making of light didst so multiplie that light as that it enlightned not the day only but the night too though thou haue suffered some dimnesse some clouds of sadnesse disconsolatenesse to shed themselues vpon my soule I humbly blesse and thankfully glorifie thy holy name that thou hast afforded mee the light of thy spirit against which the prince of darkenesse cannot preuaile nor hinder his illumination of our darkest nights of our saddest thoughts Euen the visitation of thy most blessed Spirit vpon the blessed Virgin is called an ouershadowing There waâ— the presence of the Holy Ghost the fountaine of all light and yet an ouershadowing Nay except there were some light there could bee no shadow Let thy mercifull prouidence so gouerne all in this sicknesse that I neuer fall into vtter darknesse ignorance of thee or inconsideration of my selfe and let those shadowes which doe fall vpon mee faintnesses of Spirit and condemnations of my selfe bee ouercome by the power of thine irresistible light the God of consolation that when those shadowes haue done their office vpon mee to let me see that of my selfe I should fall into irrecouerable darknesse thy spirit may doe his office vpon those shadowes and disperse them and establish mee in so bright a day here as may bee a Criticall day to me a day wherein and whereby I may giue thy Iudgement vpon my selfe and that the words of thy sonne spoken to his Apostles may reflect vpon me Bâ—hold I am with you alwaies euen to the end of the world Intereà insomnes noctes Ego duco Diesque I sleepe not day nor night 15. MEDITATION NAturall Men haue coÌ„ceiued a two fold vse of sleepe That it is a refreshing of the body in this life That it is a preparing of the soule for the next That it is a feast and it is the Grace at that feast That it is our recreation and cheeres vs and it is our Catechisme and instructs vs wee lie downe in a hope that wee shall rise the stronger and we lie downe in a knowledge that wee may rise no more Sleepe is an Opiate which giues vs rest but such an Opiate as perchance being vnder it we shall wake no more But though naturall men who haue induced secondary and figuratiue considerations haue found out this second this emblematicall vse of sleepe that it should be a representation of death God who wrought and perfected his worke before Nature began for Nature was but his apprentice to learne in the first seuen daies and now is his foreman and works next vnder him God I say intended sleepe onely for the refreshing of man by bodily rest and not for a figure of death for he intended not death it selfe then But Man hauing induced death vpon himselfe God hath taken Mans Creature death into his hand and mended it and whereas it hath in it selfe a fearefull forme and aspect so that Man is afraid of his own Creature God presents it to him in a familiar in an assiduous in an agreeable and acceptable forme in sleepe that so when hee awakes from sleepe and saies to himselfe shall I bee no otherwise when I am dead than I was euen now when I was asleep hee may bee ashamed of his waking dreames and of his Melancholique fancying out a horâ—id and an affrightfull figure of that death which is so like sleepe As then wee need sleepe to liue out our threescore and ten yeeres so we need death to liue that life which we cannot out-liue And as death being our enemie God allowes vs to defend our selues against it for wee victuall ouâ— selues against death twice euery day as often as we eat so God hauing so sweetned death vnto vs as hee hath in sleepe wee put our selues into our Enemies hands once euery day so farre as sleepe is death and sleepe is as much death as meat is life This then is the misery of my sicknesse That death as it is produced from mee and is mine owne Creature is now before mine Eies but in that forme in which God hath mollified it to vs and made it acceptable in sleepe I cannot see it how many prisoners who haue euen hollowed themselues their graues vpon that Earth on which they haue lion long vnder heauie fetters yet at this houre are â—sleepe though they bee yet working vpon their owne graues by their owne waight hee that hath seene his friend die to day or knowes hee shall see it to morrow yet will sinke into a sleepe betweene I cannot and oh if I be entring now into Eternitie where there shall bee no more distinction of houres why is it al my businesse now to tell Clocks why is none of the heauinesse of my heart dispensed into mine Eie-lids â—hat they might fall as my heart doth And why since I haue loâ—t my delight in all obiects cannot I discontinue tâ—e facultie of seeing them by closing mine Eiâ—s in sleepe But why rather being entring into that presence where I shall wake continually and neuer sleepe more doe I not interpret my continuall waking here to bee a pâ—rasceue and a preparation to that 15. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God I know for thou hast said it That he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleepe But shall not that Israel ouer whom thou watchest sleepe I know for thou hast said it that there are Men whose damnation sleepeth not but shall not they to whom thou art Saluation sleepe or wilt thou take from them that euidence and that testimony that they are thy Israel or thou their saluation Thou giuest thy beloued sleepe Shall I lacke that seale of thy loue You shall lie downe and none shall make you afraid shal I bee outlawd from that protection Ionas slept in one dangerous storme and thy blessed Sonne in another Shall I haue no vse no benefit no application of those great Examples Lord if hee sleepe he shall doe well say thy Sonnes Disciples to him of Lazarus And shall there bee no roome for that Argument in me or shall I bee open to the contrary If I sleepe not shall I not bee well in their sense Let me not O my God take this too precisely too literally There is that neither day nor night seeth sleepe with his eies saies thy wise seruant Solomon and whether hee speake that of worldly Men or of Men that seeke wisdome whether in iustification or condemnation of their watchfulnesse we can not tell wee can tâ—ll That there are men that cannot sleepe till they haue done mischiefe
and â—hen they can and wee can tell that the rich man cannot sleepe because his abundance will not let him The tares were sowen when the husbandmen were asleepe And the elders thought it a probable excuse a credible lie that the waâ—chmen which kept the Sepulchre should say that the bodie of thy son was stolne away when they were asleepe Since thy blessed Sonne rebuked his Disciples for sleeping shall I murmure because I doe not sleepe If Samson had slept any longer in Gaza he had beene taken And when he did sleepe longer with Delilah he was taken Sleepe is as often taken for naturall death in thy Scriptures as for naturall rest Nay sometimes sleepe haâ—h so heauy a sense as to bee taken for sinne it selfe as well as for the punishment of sinne Death Much comfort is not in much sleepe when the most fearefull and most irreuocable Malediction is presenâ—ed by thee in a perpetuall sleepe I will make their feasts and I will make them drunke and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe and not wake I must therefore O my God looke farther than into the very act of sleeping before I mis-interpret my waking for since I finde thy whole hand light shall any finger of that hand seeme heauy since the whole sicknesse is thy Physicke shall any accident in it bee my poison by my murmuring The name of Watchmen belongs to our profession Thy Prophets are not onely seers indued with a power of seeing able to see but Watchmen euermore in the Act of seeing And therefore giue me leaue O my blessed God to inuert the words of thy Sonnes Spouse she said I sleepe but my heart waketh I say I wake but my heart sleepeth My body is in a sicke wearinesse but my soule in a peacefull rest with thee and as our eies in our health see not the Aire that is next them nor the fire nor the spheares nor stop vpon any thing till they come to starres so my eies that are open see nothing of this world but passe through all that and fix themselues vpon thy peace and ioy and glory aboue Almost as soone as thy Apostle had said Let vs not sleepe lest we should be too much discomforted if we did he saies againe whether we wake or sleepe let vs liue together with Christ. Though then this absence of sleepe may argue the presence of death the Originall may exclude the Copie the life the picture yet this gentle sleepe and rest of my soule betroths mee to thee to whom I shall bee married indissolubly though by this way of dissolution 15. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who art able to make and dost make the sicke bed of thy seruants Chappels of ease to them and the dreames of thy seruants Prayers and Meditations vpon thee let not this continuall watchâ—ulnes of mine this inabilitie to sleepe which thou hast laid vpon mee bee any disquiet or discomfort to me but rather an argument that thou wouldest not haue me sleepe in thy presence What it may indicate or signifie concerning the state of my body let them consider to whom that consideration belongs doe thou who onely art the Physitian of my soule tell her that thou wilt afford her such defensatiues as that shee shall wake euer towards thee and yet euer sleepe in thee that through all this sicknesse thou wilt either preserue mine vnderstanding from all decaies and distractions which these watchings might occasion or that thou wilt reckon and account with me from before those violencies and not call any peece of my sicknesse a sinne It â—s a heauy and indelible sinne that I brought into the world wiâ—h meâ— It is a heauy and innuâ—merable multitude of sins which I haue heaped vp since I haue sinned behind thy backe if that can be done by wilfull absteining from thy Congregations and omitting thy seruice and I haue sinned before thy face in my hypocrisies in Prayer in my ostentation and the mingling a respect of my selfe in preaching thy Word I haue sinned in my fasting by repining when a penurious fortune hath kept mee low And I haue sinned euen in that fulnesse when I haue been at thy table by a negligent examination by a wilfull preuarication in receiuing that heauenly food and Physicke But as I know O my gracious God that for all those sinnes committed since yet thou wilt consider me as I was in thy purpose when thou wrotest my name in the booke of Life in mine Election so into what deuiations soâ—uer I stray and wander by occasion of this sicknes O God returne thou to that Minute wherein thou wast pleased with me and consider me in that condition 16. Et properare meum clamant è Turre propinqua Obstreperae Campanae aliorum in funere funus From the bels of the church adioyning I am daily remembred of my buriall in the funeralls of others 16. MEDITATION WE haue a Conuenient Author who writ a Discourse of Bells when hee was Prisoner in Turky How would hee haue enlarged himselfe if he had beene my fellow Prisoner in this sicke bed so neere to that steeple which neuer ceases no more than the harmony of the spheres but is more heard When the Turkes tooke Constantinople they melted the Bells into Ordnance I haue heard both Bells and Ordnance but neuer been so much affected with those as with these Bells I haue lien neere a steeple in which there are said to be more than thirty Bels And neere another where there is one so bigge as that the Clapper is said to weigh more than six hundred pound â— yet neuer so affected as here Here the Bells can scarse solemnise the funerall of any person but that I knew him or knew that hee was my Neighbour we dwelt in houses neere to one another before but now hee is gone into that house into which I must follow him There is a way of correcting the Children of great persons that other Children are corrected in their behalfe and in their names and this workes vpon them who indeed had more desâ—rued it And when these Bells tell me that now one and now another is buried must not I acknowledge that they haue the correction due to me and paid the debt that I owe There is a story of a Bell in a Monastery which when any of the house was sicke to death rung alwaies voluntarily and they knew the ineuitablenesse of the danger by that It rung once when no man was sick but the next day one of the house fell from the steeple and died and the Bell held the reputation of a Prophet still If these Bells that warne to a Funerall now were appropriated to none may not I by the houre of the funerall supply How many men that stand at an execution if they would aske for what dies that Man should heare their owne faults condemned and see themselues executed by Atturney
We scarce heare of any man preferred but wee thinke of our selues that wee might very well haue beene that Man Why might not I haue beene that Man that is carried to his graue now Could I â—it my selfe to stand or sit in any Mans place not to lie in any mans graue I may lacke much of the good parts of the meanest but I lâ—cke nothing of the mortality of the weakest Thâ—y may haue acquired better abilities than I but I was borne to as many infirmities as they To be an incumbent by lying down in a graue to be a Doctor by teaching Mortiâ—ication by Example by dying though I may haue seniors others may be elder than I yet I haue proceeded apace in a good Vniuersity and gone a great way in a little time by the furtherance of a vehement feuer and whomsoeuer these Bells bring to the ground to day if hee and I had beene compared yesterday perchance I should haue been thought likelier to come to this preferment then than he God hath kept the power of death in his owne hands lest any Man should bribe death If man knew the gaine of death the ease of death he would solicite he would prouoke death to assist him by any â—and which he might vse But as when men see many of their owne professions preferd it ministers a hope that that may light vpon them so when these hourely Bells tell me of so many funerals of men like me it presents if not a desire that it may yet a comfort whensoeuer mine shall come 16. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God I doe not expostulate with thee but with them who dare doe that Who dare expostulate with thee when in the voice of thy Church thou giuest allowance to this Ceremony of Bells at funeralls Is it enough to refuse it because it was in vse amongst the Gentiles so were funeralls too Is it because some abuses may haue crept in amongst Christians Is that enough that their ringing hath been said to driue away euill spirits Truly that is so farre true as that the euill spirit is vehemently vexed in their ringing therefore because that action brings the Congregation together and vnites God and his people to the destruction of that Kingdome which the euill spirit vsurps In the first institution of thy Church in this world in the foundation of thy Militant Church amongst the Iewes thou didst appoint the calling of the assembly in to bee by Trumpet and when they were in then thou gauest them the sound of Bells in the garment of thy Priest â— In the Triumphant Church thou imploiest both too but in an inuerted Order we enter into the Triumphant Church by the sound of Bells for we enter when we die And then we receiue our further edification or consummation by the sound of Trumpets at the Resurrection The sound of thy Trumpets thou didst impart to secular aâ—d ciuill vses too but the sound of Bells onely to sacred Lord let not vs breake the Communion of Saints in that which was intended for the aduancement of it let not that pull vs asunder froÌ„ one another which was intended for the assembling of vs in the Militant and associating of vs to the Triumphant Church But he for whose funerall these Bells ring now was at home at his iournies end yesterday why ring they now A Man that is a world is all the things in the world Hee is an Army and when an Army marches the Vaunt may lodge to night where the Reare comes not till to morrow A man extends to his Act and to his example to that which he does and that which he teaches so doe those things that concerne him so doe these bells That which rung yesterday was to conuay him out of the world in his vaunt in his souleâ— that which rung to day was to bring him in his Reare in his body to the Church And this continuing of ringing after his entring is to bring him to mee in the application Where I lie I could heare the Psalme and did ioine with the Congregation in it but I could not heare the Sermon and these latter bells are a repetition Sermon to mee But O my God my God doe I that haue this feauer need other remembrances of my Mortalitie Is not mine owne hollow voice voice enough to pronounce that to me Need I looke vpon a Deaths-head in a Ring that haue one in my face or goe for death to my Neighbours house that haue him in my bosome We cannot wee cannot O my God take in too many helps for religious duties I know I cannot haue any better Image of thee than thy Sonne nor any better Image of him than his Gospell yet must not I with thanks confesse to thee that some historicall pictures of his haue sometimes put mee vpon better Meditations than otherwise I should haue fallen vpon I know thy Church needed not to haue taken in from Iew or Gentile any supplies for the exaltation of thy glory or our deuotion of absolute necessitie I know â—hee needed not But yet wee owe thee our thanks that thou hast giuen her leaue to doe so and that as in making vs Christians thou diddest not destroy that which wee were before naturall men so in the exalting of our religious deuotions noâ— we are Christians thou hast beene pleased to continue to vs those assistances which did worke vpon the affections of naturall men before for thou louest a good man as thou louest a good Christian and though Grace bee meerely from thee yet thou doest not plant Grace but in good natures 16. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who hauing consecrated our liuing bodies to thine owne Spirit and made vs Temples of the holy Ghost doest also requirâ— a respect to bee giuen to these Temples euen when the Priest is gone out of them To these bodies when the soule is departed from them I blesse and glorifie thy Name that as thou takest care in our life of euery haire of our head so doest thou also of euery graine of ashes after our death Neither doest thou only doe good to vs all in life and death but also wouldest haue vs doe good to one another as in a holy life so in those things which accompanie our death In that Contemplation I make account that I heare this dead brother of ours who is now carried out to his buriall to speake to mee and to preach my funerall Sermon in the voice of these Bells In him O God thou hast accomplished to mee euen the request of Diues to Abraham Thou hast sent one from the dead to speake vnto mee He speakes to mee aloud from that steeple hee whispers to mee at these Curtaines and hee speaks thy words Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Let this praier therfore O my God be as my last gaspe my expiring my dying in thee That if this bee the houre of my transmigration I may die the
into thy bed-chamber by these glories and ioies to the ioies and glories of heauen Why hast thou changed thine old way and carried vs by the waies of discipline and mortification by the waies of mourning and lamentation by the waies of miserable ends and miserable anticipations of those miseries in appropriating the exemplar miseries of others to our selues and vsurping vpon their miseries as our owne to our owne preiudice Is the glory of heauen no perfecter in it selfe but that it needs a foile of depression and ingloriousnesse in this world to set it off Is the ioy of heauen no perfecter in it selfe but that it needs the sourenesse of this life to giue it a taste Is that ioy and that glory but a comparatiue glory and a comparatiue ioy not such in it selfe but such in comparison of the ioilesnesse and the ingloriousnesse of this world I know my God it is farre farre otherwise As thou thy selfe who art all art made of no substances so the ioyes glory which are with thee are made of none of these circumstances Essentiall ioy and glory Essentiall But why then my God wilt thou not beginne them here pardon O God this vnthankfull rashnesse I that aske why thou doest not finde euen now in my selfe that thou doest such ioy such glory as that I conclude vpon my selfe vpon all They that finde not ioy in their sorrowes glory in their deiections in this world are in a fearefull danger of missing both in the next 17. PRAYER O Eternall and most gracious God who hast beene pleased to speake to vs not onely in the voice of Nature who speakes in our hearts and of thy word which speakes to our eares but in the speech of speechlesse Creatures in Balaams Asse in the speech of vnbeleeuing men in the confession of Pilate in the speech of the Deuill himselfe in the recognition and attestation of thy Sonne I humbly accept thy voice in the sound of this sad and funerall bell And first I blessethy glorious name that in this sound and voice I can heare thy instructions in another mans to consider mine owne condition and to know that this bell which tolls for another before it come to ring out may take in me too As death is the wages of sinne it is due to meâ— As death is the end of sicknesse it belongs to mee And though so disobedient a seruant as I may be afraid to die yet to so mercifull a Master as thou I cannot be afraid to come And therefore into thy hands O my God I commend my spirit A surrender which I know thou wilt accept whether I liue or die for thy seruant Dauid made it when he put himselfe into thy protection for his life and thy blessed Sonne made it when hee deliuered vp his soule at his death declare thou thy will vpon mee O Lord for life or death in thy time receiue my surrender of my selfe now Into thy hands O Lord I commend my spirit And being thus O my God prepared by thy correction mellowed by thy chastisement and conformed to thy will by thy Spirit hauing receiued thy pardon for my soule and asking no reprieue for my body I am bold O Lord to bend my prayers to thee for his assistance the voice of whose bell hath called mee to this deuotion Lay hold vpon his soule O God till that soule haue throughly considered his account and how few minutes soeuer it haue to remaine in that body let the power of thy Spirit recompence the shortnesse of time and perfect his account before he passe away present his sinnes so to him as that he may know what thou forgiuest not doubt of thy forgiuenesse let him stop vpon the infinitenesse of those sinnes but dwell vpon the infinitenesse of thy Mercy let him discerne his owne demerits but wrap himselfe vp in the merits of thy Sonne Christ Iesus Breath inward comforts to his heart and affoord him the power of giuing such outward testimonies thereof as all that are about him may deriue comforts from thence and haue this edification euen in this dissolution that though the body be going the way oâ— all flesh yet that soule is going the way of all Saints When thy Sonne cried out vpon the Crosse My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me he spake not so much in his owne Person as in the person of the Church and of his afflicted members who in deep distresses might feare thy forsaking This patient O most blessed God is one of them In his behalfe and in his name heare thy Sonne crying to thee My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me and forsake him not but with thy left hand lay his body in the graue if that bee â—hy determination vpon him and with thy right hand receiue his soule into thy Kingdome and vnite him vs in one CoÌ„munion of Saints Amen 18. At inde Mortuus es Sonitu celeri pulsuque agitato The bell rings out and tells me in him that I am dead 18. MEDITATION THe Bell rings out the pulse thereof is changed the tolling was a faint and intermitting pulse vpon one side this stronger and argues more and better life Hiâ— soule is gone out and as a Man who had a lease of 1000. yeeres after the expiration of a short one or an inheritance after the life of a Man in a Consumption he is now entred into the possession of his better estate His soule is gone whither Who saw it come in or who saw it goe out No body yet euery body is sure he had one and hath none If I will aske meere Philosophers what the soule is I shall finde amongst them that will tell me it is nothing but the temperament and harmony and iust and equall composition of the Elements in the body which produces all those faculties which we ascribe to the soule and so in it selfe is nothing no seperable substance that ouer-liues the body They see the soule is nothing else in other Creatures and they affect an impious humilitie to think as low of Man But if my soule were no more than the soule of a beast I could not thinke so that soule that can reflect vpon it selfe consider it selfe is more than so If I will aske not meere Philosophers but mixt Men Philosophicall Diuines how the soule being a separate substance enters into Man I shall finde some that will tell me that it is by generation procreation from parents because they thinke it hard to charge thâ— soule with the guiltinesse of Originall sinne if the soule were infused into a body in which it must necessarily grow foule and contract originall sinne whether it will or no and I shall finde some that will tell mee that it is by immediate infusion from God because they think it hard to maintaine an immortality in such a soule as should be begotten and deriued with the body froÌ„ Mortall parents If I will aske not a few men but almost whole
bodies whole Churches what becomes of the soules of the righteous at the departing thereof from the body I shall bee told by some That they attend an expiation a purification in a place of torment By some that they attend the fruition of the sight of God in a place of rest but yet but of expectation By some that they passe to an immediate possession of the presence of God S. Augustine studied the Nature of the soule as much as any thing but the saluation of the soule and he sent an expresse Messenger to Saint Hierome to consult of some things concerning the soule But he satisfies himselfe with this Let the departure of my soule to saluation be euident to my faith and I care the lesse how darke the entrance of my soule into my body bee to my reason It is the going out more than the comming in that concernes vs. This soule this Bell tells me is gone out Whither Who shall tell mee that I know not who it is much lesse what he was The condition of the Man and the course of his life which should tell mee whither hee is gone I know not I was not there in his sicknesse nor at his death I saw not his way nor his end nor can aâ—ke themâ— who did thereby to conclude or argue whither he is gone But yet I haue one neerer mee than all these mine owne Charity I aske that that tels me He is gone to euerlasting rest and ioy and glory I owe him a good opinion it is but thankfull charity in mee because I receiued benefit and instruction from him when his Bell told and I being made the fitter to pray by that disposition wherein I was assisted by his occasion did pray for him and I pray not without faith so I doe charitably so I do faithfully beleeue that that soule is gone to euerlasting rest and ioy and glory But for the body How poore a wretched thing is that wee cannot expresse it so fast as it growes worse and worse That body which scarce three minutes since was such a house as that that soule which made but one step from thence to Heauen was scarse thorowly content to leaue that for Heauen that body hath lost the name of a dwelling house because none dwels in it and is making haste to lose the name of a body and dissolue to putrefaction Who would not bee affected to see a cleere sweet Riuer in the Morning grow a kennell of muddy land water by noone and condemned to the saltnesse of the Sea by night And how lame a Picture how faint a representation is that of the precipitatioÌ„ of mans body to dissolution Now all the parts built vp and knit by a louely soule now but a statue of clay and now these limbs melted off as if that clay were but snow â— and now the whole house is but a handfull of sand so much dust and but a pecke of Rubbidge so much bone If he who as this Bell tells mee is gone now were some excellent Artiâ—icer who comes to him for a clocke or for a garment now or for counsaile if hee were a Lawyer If a Magistrate for iustice Man before hee hath his immortall soule hath a soule of sense and a soule of vegitation before that This immortall soule did not forbid other soules to be in vs before but when this soule departs it carries all with it no more vegetation no more sense such a Mother in law is the Earth â— in respect of our naturall Mother in her wombe we grew and when she was deliuered of vs wee were planted in some place in some calling in the world In the wombe of the Earth wee diminish and when shee is deliuered of vs our graue opened for another wee are not transplanted but transported our dust blowne away with prophane dust with euery wind 18. EXPOSTVLATION MY God my God if Expostulation bee too bold a word doe thou mollifie it with another leâ— it be wonder in my selfe let it bee but probleme to others but let me aske why wouldest thou not suffer those that serue thee in holy seruices to doe any office about the dead nor assist at their funerall Thou hadst no Counsellor thou needest none thou hast no Controller thou admittest none Why doe I aske in Ceremoniall things as that was any conuenient reason is enough who can bee sure to propose that reason that moued thee in the institution thereof I satisfie my selfe with this that in those times the Gentiles were ouerfull of an ouer-reuerent respect to the memory of the dead a great part of the Idolatry of the Nations flowed from that an ouer-amorous deuotion an ouer-zealous celebrating and ouer-studious preseruing of the memories and the Pictures of some dead persons And by the vaine glory of men they entred into the world and their statues and pictures contracted an opinion of diuinity by age that which was at first but a picture of a friend grew a God in time as the wise man notes They called them Gods which were the worke of an ancient hand And some haue assigned a certaine time when a picture should come out of Minority and bee at age to bee a God in 60. yeeres after it is made Those Images of Men that had life and some Idols of other things which neuer had any being are by one common name called promiscuously dead and for that the wise man reprehends the Idolatrer for health he praies to that which is weake and for life he praies to that which is dead Should we doe so saies thy Prophet should we goe from the liuing to the dead So much ill then being occasioned by so much religious coÌ„plement exhibited to the dead thou ô God I think wouldest therefore inhibit thy principall holy seruants from contributing any thing at all to this dangerous intimation of Idolatry and that the people might say surely those dead men are not so much to bee magnified as men mistake since God will not suffer his holy officers so much as to touch them not to see them But those dangers being remoued thou O my God dost certainly allow that we should doe offices of piety to the dead and that we should draw instructions to piety from the dead Is not this O my God a holy kinde of raising vp â—eed to my dead brother if I by the meditation of his death produce a better life in my selfe It is the blessing vpon Reuben Let Reuben liue not die and let not his men be few let him propagate many And it is a Malediction That that dieth let it die let it doe no good in dying for Trees without fruit thou by thy Apostle callst twice dead It is a second death if none liue the better by me after my death by the manner of my death Therefore may I iustly thinke that thou madest that a way to conuay to the Aegyptians a feare of thee and a