of goods not goods but perishing and transitorie and which doe not enlarge the straight boundes of this present life where wee are confined and this is our happinesse comfort tranquilitie to deliuer vp and resigne our persons goods our affaires briefely all that we loue into the handes of our heauenly Father humbly beseeching him euery houre to subdue guide and gouerne our heartes by his grace and power Whereupon it followes that it ill becomes all Christians much more wise old men to be voluptuous ambitious or couetous Also that in all the accidents and chances of our life we ought quietly to submit and yeeld to the will of God Touching the word Iustice which respecteth our dutie toward our neighbours it requireth two thinges The one is that wee rightly examining and considering what we our selues are wee should preferre others before vs the other that our studie and endeuour tend to this end faithfully to procure their benefit and good In this behalfe it is wholly requisite that we be furnished with humilitie patience a frank and liberall mind least we fall into the neglect and contempt as well of those that are of the houshold of faith as of those which seeme not to be not shrowding our selues vnder this vaine subterfuge shift and coullor that our neighbour is a stranger one we know not contemptuous base vile vngrateful an enemie vnto vs. For to all this the law of humanitie charitie the image of God his honour mercie and goodnesse makes a suyply Moreouer euery good doing and deede ought to proceed from a well informed conscience a sincere affection of heart without which our workes are soyled and tainted with damnable hypocrisie with peruerse confidence vaine arrogancie infamous reproch fond opinions As that God is our debtor to repay and requite vs that our neighbours are exceedingly bounden and obliged vnto vs yea that hauing performed some small dutie in this or in that wee are freed and discharged euen in the sight of him of whom we hold all that we haue to whom we owe all that we haue without whom we are nothing of our selues without whom we can doe nothing of our selues of whom onely wee ought to glorie in whom alone it behooues vs to put our affiance and trust from all other duties of charity whereof we willingly make our selues ignorant or basely refuse neither louing God nor our neighbours nor ourselues and liuing one with another as brute beastes before the eyes of our iust Iudge But it is requisite that our wise Vieillard mount vp yet higher though the way bee narrow rugged vneuen steepe and headlong to wit that he bee continually readie and prepared to beare the crosse which God layes vpon him that is to be exercised within and without by diuerse temptations and afflictions all the remainder and rest of his dayes If from his youth he hath borne the yoke hath not bin brought vp in the shade but hath endured stormes cold and extreame parching heate his travaile toward the euening of his life will be lesse tedious seeing the houre of his rest is neere and at hand Hereupon he will call to minde that his heauenly Father who from the cratch did handle in like manner his owne and onely beloued sonne will also that his members be made conformable to their head and hath predestinated them thereunto whereof this most excellent comfort doth follow that being vnder the crosse we partake of the afflictions and suffrings of our Lord. Furthermore for diuers reasons afflictions are necessary for Christians more particularly to old men First the vaine assurance of their flesh the opinion of their sufficiencie their obstinate selfe-willd conceipt their arrogancie require such a correctiue Secondly they haue need to be kept in humilitie and in a reuerend awe of God to the end so much the more heartily to seeke and sue for his grace without which it would be impossible for them to stand vnder the burthen much lesse to sauour and relish well how sweete and wonderfull the Lord is in their bodily and spirituall deliuerances Thirdly It is necessary also that their patience and obedience may more euidently appeare it being vnpossible for them to stoppe vnto God if hee doe not awe and reclaime them by afflictions Fourthly Their life past is had in remembrance to the end that being chastised in this world by the rod of a Father they may bee kept in order in their maisters seruice who scourging their bodies comforteth and saueth their soules in the hope of the last resurrection briefely hee chastiseth those that are his in this world that they may not perish with the world Now among the sundry sortes of crosses and afflictions one among others carries with it singular contentment as when wee shall suffer for righteousnesse for Christs name sake for the maintenance and defence of Gods word and truth Christians willingly lay downe their neckes vnder the light yoke of the Lord and reioyce at it not with a stupid or hastie mad braine-sicke or fond toying ioy their reioycing is spirituall accompanied with that magnanimous resolution which appeared in the Apostles after they had receiued the holy Ghost and in all their true Disciples This doth not vanquish nor abolish true patience cōsisting in this that Christians doe not faint altogether vnder the burthen that presseth them But in the anguish and bitternesse of their heartes feele the sweetnesse of the consolations of the holy Ghost which comforteth and strengtheneth them vnto the end so as the loue of God vanquisheth the vanitie which cumbers them in the world In this appeareth wherein the Philosophers patience differs from the Christians One sayth that it is an vnresistible necessitie or doing of that which must bee done and counselleth to beare what is vnavoidable But the other telles vs that wee ought so to depend vpon the consideration of the iust wise and good will of God that wee acknowledge that our sufferings in the world are equall agreeable honourable profitable that therefore wee ought to bee couragious and resolute in them glorying in the constancie that our God giueth vs and will alwayes giue vs at need The principall fruit which the wise Vieillard may gather from the tree of affliction is that by the taste thereof he should be enured to contemne this present life which would beguile and bewitch him if all things succeeded according to his sensuall appetite and lust Afterward this fruit makes him by faith to relish and taste the sweetnesse and pleasure of the happy life which is reserued for vs in heauen For if in youth and old age We see nothing but troubles and dangers in our course heere on earth if our delights bee mingled with griefes our hony with gall our pleasures bee steeped and drenched in distastes and discontentments our mirth end in teares to what purpose should wee start backe and retire And why should wee bee sorrie to goe out of prison to goe into the Palace of libertie out
wee haue of God Sixtly that we are not our owne men to liue as we list for we haue bin bought redeemed by a price to wit by the precious blood of Christ as a Lambe without spot and without blemish as S. Peter speaketh of him Of these strong and forcible reasons S. Paul frameth a holy exhortation to all men especially to old wise men whom it most concernes who before all others are bound to thinke and be mindfull of it Glorifie then God in your body and in your soule which belong vnto God Let vs conclude this short discourse with the definitue sentence of Christ propounded by S. Iohn in the last Chapter to the Reuelation in these wordes Blessed are those which doe his commandements that they may haue their right in the true tree of life and may enter in thorough the gates into the citie But dogs enchanters whoormongers c. shal be without Heere wee doe put wise old men in minde of the holy exercise of prayer and particularly we recommend vnto them the serious and continuall meditation of the one and fiftieth Psalme All that hath beene spoken against the aboue mentioned sinnes is extraordinary and vnusuall and it is a thing monstrous to see old men addicted vnto them or if such old men are to be found at last diseases and old decrepit age or some particular vengeances of God doe come to quench and put out such fiers of hell But there are sinnes which doe not grow old nor dye in old age but commonly grow young and reuiue againe These sinnes among others are couetousnesse anger or choler distrust or impatience Cicero thinketh that such sinnes proceed rather from mens manners then of old age because other ages of mans life haue their part in them as Ieremy said of the people of his times That from the inferiour to the superiour from the lowest to the highest euery man was giuen to fordid and dishonest lucre and gaine That old men appeare to bee more subiect to such euills then young men it seemes to proceed of their weaknesse and of diseases which doe incessantly harrie and molest them so that feeling their strength to faile feare inuades them and pynions thē vp in such sort that as one saith they are more afraid then euer they were before that the earth slides from vnder their feet are suspicious distrustfull and doe mutter at and finde fault with euery thing that is spoken or done Cicero excuseth these frailties and imperfections with this That they imagine they are despised not regarded mockt and scoft at And that they doe fitly resemble sicke persons who are quite out of taste with euery thing and nothing can be made or done to please or like them But all these froward humors are calmed and tempered by the knowledge of learning and exercises of vertue Moreouer Cicero wondereth very much to see an old man couetous for that it is a strange folly to load himselfe with much luggage and to massacre and torture his minde with making prouision of victualls when hee is neere his iourneyes end and almost at home Doe you not see said Saint Augustine in his 246. Sermon De Tempore that couetousnesse is so much the more furiously kindled and flames out in frozen old men when it is time for them to leaue and resigne vp all and when they cannot keepe any longer that which they haue gotten and scraped together O strange folly the neerer shee is to her home the more hasty and instant she is to lay on heauier loades then she is able to beare All this is well spoken by these worthy persons In all other things except in couetousnesse time doth discouer vnto vs more plainely what is to be done and how we may handle and feele the pulse beate But if wee question old men of the cause of this boyling desire and Cupid of theirs they answere in excuse That it proceeds not of couetousnesse but of parsimony and thrift and alledge foure speciall reasons or motiues First that their strength failing them thay are past getting and gathering and it behooues to seeke and forecast for helpe and stayes and to prouide pillowes and propps whereupon to lay their old bones and to rest their weake crazie age Secondly that their ayme scope and drift is by the lustre of their wealthy possessions and riches to keepe themselues in honour estimation and credit with those who disdaine old age that is spurr-gald with pouerty Thirdly that being not able to recreate themselues and to walke and ride abroad from this place to that their pleasure and delight is to bee cashiers at home to looke vpon their money bagges and to reckon what store of crownes they haue in Banke Fourthly that so they may in better sort prouide for their children and be bountifull and doe good to the poore These excuses are but pretences and the Apostle doth in few words answere them in the thirteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrewes saying Let your conuersation be farre from couetousnesse and be content with that which you haue for God hath said I will not faile thee nor forsake thee so that wee may boldly say The Lord is my helper wherefore I will not feare what man can doe vnto me Saint Basil in his Homilies or Sermons against couetous persons doth confute their seuerall allegations whereof we will here draw out a few lines vnto you If saith he old age doth put you to paine why doe you make it more painefull and tedious to you by treading morter and tempering clay to make brickes as heeretofore the children of Israel did in the time of their bondage in AEgypt If your strength faile you ought your charity therefore to faile If you so much loue and affect life will you therefore preferre the goods of the world before the Author of life will you therefore despise and not regard the true life Doe you desire to be had in honour and estimation Doe you feare to be contemned and despised practise that which the Prophet speaketh in the 112. Psalme and that which the Apostle rehearseth in the second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 9. A good man is charitable and lendeth The iust shall bee had in euerlasting remembrance Hee distributeth and giueth to the poore and needie His righteousnesse remaineth for euer His might or horne shall bee exalted in glory Doe you desire gaine or profit Hearke what the Apostle saith to the Galathians Chap. 6. 9. 10. Let vs not be weary of well doing for in due season wee shall reape if wee faint not Wherefore while wee haue time let vs doe good to all men but especially to the houshold of faith What myching couetousnesse is it not to bee willing to part with somewhat of that which we haue and to let others haue a feeling thereof vntill wee bee dead to wit when we haue nothing to doe with it our selues Will you then haue men to wish your death or as they kill fat
hogges to practise and procure it that euery one afterward may haue a peece and a part Though you haue the gout in your feet it may not be in your hands as it is when after the example of the accursed rich man you will giue nothing to poore begging Lazarus What a shame is it to young men and much more to old men to waste and so badly spend and lay out so much money in banquets reuellings maskes yea in many lusts and shamefull pleasures and to shew themselues so pinching and niggardly in necessary beneuolences tending so many wayes to their honour credit and profit What wrong doth a rich old man to himselfe to loue rather to haue his table charged withsuperflous dishes of meate to haue a great retinue and number of leud seruants to take pleasure to bee cloyed with buffones impostors scorners of all religion then to shew himselfe religious indeed What a wofull case is it to giue lesse in a whole yeare to a great number of poore Christians then to some one detestable rake-hell who hath tenne times deserued to haue iustice executed vpon him to be nayled to the pillory or to be put in a sacke and castinto the sea Vndoubtedly couetousnes especially in old men knowes no meane in sparing or spending Sometimes shee is all for belly cheare and banquettings and as wee say throwes the house out at the windowes then shee is niggardly and pinching againe and like vnto Rhodomache a wilde beast in Polonia which forrages vp and downe seeking pasture to fill her selfe and afterward seekes to disgorge and emptie her panch to cramme it quickly againe fuller then before It is a pleasing and fauoured excuse among men saith Basil to alledge that they spare for their children But haue you begged children of God that hauing them you might forget God himselfe and your neighbours How many persons by their riches haue wasted themselues in pleasures to the wracke and ruine of their bodies and soules to whom it had beene much better to haue still beene poore What auayles it a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his soule to abound in perishing riches and not to haue one myte of faith charity repentance humility truth and stedfast hope And what of all this you deserue then a double punishment both because you haue doated and beene enamoured of this yellow and white oare and earth as also because your rauennous niggardship and base pinching on the one side and your monstrous and beastly prodigality and lauishing out on the other side haue bin the instrumentall cause of the dissolution perdition and ruine of your successors and children You thinke sometimes if you giue order that they bee well instructed in the feare of the Lord your Soueraigne and theirs that they shall lacke nothing If they be wicked the more you shall leaue them the worse they will doe O sot thou flyest pouerty which indeed hath want of some things and forgettest that the couetous person wants all things O mad foole sayd Iesus Christ speaking of the rich worldling Luke 12. 20. this night they will take thy soule from thee and whose shall these things be which thou hast prouided c. And I aske of you rich old men and not very wise who haue deuoured so many families to increase wicked riches for your children whose shall you bee and what will become of you when you must be dislodged and turned out of the world redeeme your sinnes by iust dealing and your iniquities by your beneficence and good deedes to the poore this shall prolong the prosperity and welfare of your successors and posterity which you so much desire And this counsell heeretofore wise Daniel gaue to the King of Babylon Dan. 4. 27. Let vs say further with a worldly wise man That he is rich who is content with his pouerty on the contrary hee is poore which coueteth more to that which he hath not he which hath little For what auailes it how much money a rich man hath in his Coffer or mowes of corne in his barne or heardes and flockes of cattle in his pastures or crownes at interest if he cast an enuious eye vpon that which another man possesseth if he reckon not vpon the goods he hath but vpon those he would haue Will you know what is the measure of riches The first is to haue that which is needfull the second is to haue as much as is enough or to suffice There is nothing then better or safer nor whereof our wise Vieillard ought more to take heed then not to suffer himselfe to bee bewitched and intoxicated with the poyson of couetousnesse which it behooueth betimes to root out of our hearts for if it take roote there euery eye shall see it bring forth leaues and fruites of all sorts of sinne according as the Apostle teacheth in the last Chapter of his first Epistle to Timothy For conclusion of this point we exhort the wise Vieillard to remember to imitate the prayers of Dauid in the 119 Psalme and to say with that great Prophet Encline mine heart to thy testimonies not to couetousnesse O Lord I haue thirsted after thy saluation and thy word is my delight I loue the doctrine of thy mouth better then thousands of gold and siluer Wee further present vnto him the prayer which followeth to the end hee may want nothing which appertaines to his duty or which he might require of vs. O Lord God Almightie which hast giuen me the vse and lent mee the commodities of this present life I am greatly displeased with the too greedy affection which I beare to transitory riches Behold this is the worst euill of my ouer thirsty and ouer greedy mind which no reason can allay no measure limit for the more I possesse the lesse I cease to couet the more I lose the possession of my selfe The greater my heapes be the lesser I find them My carking and caring is beyond measure to increase my reuenewes and to heape vp goods and possessions and still my couetousnesse makes the heape small Gaping after that which I hope I let that which I hold in my hand fall to the ground All that I doe is a very dropsie of the minde In hunting after plenty I haue found scarcity and want and imagining transitory things to be very profitable I finde my selfe intangled in the toyle of miseries out of which I cannot get They are precious chaines and manacles I confesse but they binde me as fast as if they were of iron They are chaines which make me forget thy holy maiesty to neglect my saluation for which I ought diligently to watch and labour O my God tame and suppresse this vnruly wilde and ouer greedy affection making abstinence and continence to spring vp in stead thereof Ease the heart in my breast which panteth and gapeth for breath Change this denne of rapine and robbery into a quiet lodge and harbour of holinesse Wash and wash againe these grosse
Daniel calles him The Ancient of dayes not that therefore it is lawfull to represent God in the shape of an old man with a great long white beard as many ignorant folke doe which neuer read Moses nor the Prophets and which are ignorant of the nature and essence of the true God But that wee should conceiue this incomprehensible Maiestie to bee nothing else but wisedome a venerable supremacy and greatnesse of estate and a perfect sanctitie Secondly wee are taught to reuerence old men to honour their persons to rise vp with great respect to these white heads and beards and to shew thereby that we acknowledge in this their old age the stampes and prints of God as Moses exhorts vs in the 19. Chap. Leuit. v. 32. which we recite to the same end and purpose as wee haue done other sayings and sentences before whereunto wee adde this of a wise Elder who writ Ecclesiasticus in the third Chapter of which booke hee sayth My sonne helpe thy father in his age and grieue him not so long as hee liueth when his vnderstanding faileth him haue patience and beare with him and dispise him not but honour him as much as thou canst For the good intreaty of thy father shall not bee forgotten but shall bee a fortresse for thee against thy sinnes The women of Bethlehem are friendly and kind to the good old Naomi for that her daughter in law Ruth had borne a sonne to Boaz. This say they may bring life againe to thee and lenghthen thy dayes and cherish and comfort thine old age Ruth 4. 15. God by his Prophet Isaiah reprochet the Babilonians that they were cruell and vnmerciful to the Iewes and laid a very heauy yoke vpon them Chap. 47. 6. Also these wicked people were as hammers which the iust Iudge of the world vsed to breake in peeces the old and the young as Ieremie speakes in the 52. Chapter Vers 22. whence proceeded those woes and alasses of the Prophet in his Lamentations 4. Chap Vers 16. They reuerenced not the face of the Priests nor had compassion of the Elders And in the fift Chapter following Vers 12. The Princes are hanged vp by the hands and they reuerence not the face of the Elders That which Ezechiel proposeth in the 9. chap. v. 6. is most feareful and it sufficeth vs to marke and obserue it that our wise Vicillard doe thereby take heed On the contrary in Zachariahs dayes there being a question and demurre concerning the reestablishment of the people and of the fauours that God was minded to bestow vpon them Zachariah declares in the 8. Chapter Vers 4. That the God of hostes sayd thus There shall old men and women dwell in the streetes of Ierufalem and euery man haue his staffe in his hand for very age But Isaiah in the third Chapter Vers 2. and 5. putteth for signes of the terrible iudgement of God to Ierusalem That the old men shall be taken away and destroyed that the childe shall exalt himselfe and presume against the auncient and the abiect and vile against the honourable If in these times there bee any presage of the decay and ruine of Churches and Common-weales it is that the number of wise old men is very smal that the age of the worthies and renowned men is vanished and past That those that are children in yeares and vnderstanding are percht vp and set vp in the places of the experienced valiant and learned An extreame misery which we cannot sufficiently describe and lament But as good fruit when it is ripest and mellow is most delicate and pleasant to the taste and as the last draught contenteth the thirstie person In like sort pleasure seemes to reserue her dainties to the last and for the last seruice and messe So likewise wee say that old age hath in it I know not what that is notable and more excellent then other ages and the sayings of the auncients as the singing of swannes are daily excellent monitors and admonitions to vs. If wee listen to the last wordes of the Patriarches Moses Ioshua Dauid and giue them the hearing wee shall in them finde an ample proofe heereof Such Histories are familiar to wise old men and it is much better to read them in themselues then heere to recite them What illumination of Gods spirit is reuealed and manifest in the sayings of infinite Martyrs especially of such as were old euen from the Apostles time till now It is matter for a greater booke then this small Tractat or Manuel In the second booke of the Maccabees Chap. 6. It is spoken of Eleazar one of the chiefe Scribes an aged man who being pressed and instantly solicited to feigne and make semblance to adhere and obey to the superstitions of the Heathens vpon an honest and vpright minde worthy his age the excellency of his yeares the honour of his gray hayres his good conuersation from his childhood and chiefly Gods holy law suddenly required that hee might bee led to the place of execution adding these words worthy of memory It becommeth not our age to dissemble least many yong persons diffident and wauering that Eleazar being fourscore and tenne yeares old was gone and yeelded to prophane ceremonies thorough mine hypocrisie and dissimulation for a smal moment of a caduque and transitory life might bee seduced and I bring a malediction and curse and a staine and reproach to mine old age for though I should bee deliuered from the torments of men yet could I not escape the hand of the Almightie neither aliue nor dead Wherefore manfully changing and giuing vp this life I shall shew my selfe such as mine age requireth and meriteth And I shall leaue a notable example for such as be young to die willingly and couragiously for the venerable and holy lawes To this worthy old man let vs ioyne the constant Martyr Polycarpus a Disciple of S. Iohn the Apostle and of the Church of Smyrna in Asia As he was brought to the torturing fire the Proconsul hauing most earnestly solicited him to recant and renounce his faith with promise of libertie I haue said this wise old man and constant Martyr these fourescore and sixe yeares serued Iesus Christ and all this time he did me no outrage nor hurt how should it then be possible to bring me to bee of the minde to blaspheme my Sauiour and King I will neuer doe it If you feigne and pretend you know not my qualitie I would haue you to know that I am a Christian Many other words of admirable constancie were then vttered by this reuerend old man who being armed with inuincible courage presently suffred death for the name of the Lord. These two examples shall suffice to shew that the neerer wise old men are vnto death be it easie or violent the greater is their courage the neerer are they to the kingdome of Heauen And still as their bodies growe weake the holy Ghost doth fortifie and strengthen them in such sorte that
this pardon by the gift and hand of a liuely faith doe wrastle against the image of death against a bruised Serpent a wourried torne Lyon against a stinglesse Waspe against a vanquished enemie Chrysostome censureth in good manner those wretches who feare death and feare not sinne wherein they are insnared and wrapped nor the vnquenchable fire of hell which gapes for them Thus sayth he as children are wayward and wrangle if their mothers come neere them with maskes on their faces but when a lighted Candle is brought neere vnto them they readily thrust their handes in it and are burned So those men feare death who know not what it is to liue Death snatcheth away a miserable and short life to make vs to enter into an eternall and perpetuall blessed life Death doth seperate vs from the heapes of Iewells the robes moueables coffers crammed with gold and siluer the sundrie immoueables which we must leaue But in heaven we haue vnseperable riches with the Angels death extrudes and thrustes vs out of the earth but to bring vs into paradize death kills the bodie but it shall rise againe to die no more but be conformable to the glorified bodie of Christ Iesus If any man fight with his owne shadow he hurtes no bodie so death doth but beate the ayre in bickering and jousting against the just It hath beene Gods will and pleasure so sayth Chrysostome that this present life should be painefull and miserable to the end that being buffetted on all sides with so many and manifold miseries we should eagerly aspire to the happinesses to come But seeing we are thus farre ill aduised to wallow and idle it so willingly in this present life where so many disasters and miseries doe surround and encompasse vs how would it be with vs if there were nothing but ioy peace and rest here Our most mercifull heauenly Father doth so mitigate and temper the afflictions of this life that as a Lute-player doth not winde vp too high his Lute strings for feare to breake them nor slacken them too much that so their sweete harmonie tunablenesse may be more distinctly perceiued So doth the wise maister of our life not leauing vs in continuall prosperitie nor too much oppressed He is faithfull who will not suffer vs to be tempted beyond and aboue our strength but will giue a good issue to our temptations and tryalls to the end we should be able to beare them We see men of warre desirous of honour and to attaine to some rancke and degree manfully to expose themselues to a thousand dangers The couetous Marchant to runne vpon all hazards and risques for a handfull of yellow earth The voluptuous person to disdaine and set light by infinite reprochfull and woefull dangers to satisfie his passions and humours And you wise old men will you slumber and sleepe in a corner will you still sit with your armes and legges a crosse not rouzing lifting vp your selues to the contemplation and diligent seeking after so many happinesses prepared for them which loue God Doe you feare death you which in the middest of the shadowe of death haue standing at your ell-bow the Prince and Author of life If you beare in your hearts that quickning spirit which raised vp Iesus Christ from the dead whence is it that you feare death Haue you blotted out of your remembrance him who hath the wordes of eternall life who is the way the truth the resurrection the life who dyed for our sinne and is risen againe for our iustification But soyle not this gracious remembrance with the myre and mudd of sordid and obscene pleasures Let not the perswasions of the vncleane and filthie flesh stoppe and hinder the motions of the spirit illuminated by sacred Philosophie Let the repetitions of his most sweete most certaine and most holy promises bee potent and powerfull in your hearts who was willing to participate of our flesh and bloud that in the same nature foyled by Sathan our Sauiour hath abolished it by his death as by a most sufficient ransome he which conquered death to wit the Deuill Giue me leaue to reforme and rectifie you by recitall of the excellent promises following of the Lord. Verely I say vnto you that whosoeuer heareth my word and beleeueth in him which sent mee hath eternall life and shall not come to condemnation but is passed from death to life Iohn 5. 24. This is the will of him which sent me that whosoeuer beholdeth the sonne and beleeueth in him hath eternall life and for this cause I will raise him vp againe at the last day Such perspection and contemplation of faith is not as prophane persons chatter and mutter a vaine imagination but is coupled and covnited with his effect and with the true apprehension and laying hold of Iesus Christ and his benefites This great Sauiour hath so often times and againe and againe recommended it and for confirmation of it hath prepared his holy Table to which we draw neere there to receiue the bread of life ordayned to the nourishment of our soules to eternall life not for our bellies to receiue which bread we hold vp the hands of faith to heauen and beleeuing in him doe eate it That bread I say which is giuen to the children of the house not to reprobates who sometimes eate the bread of the Lord but not the bread of life which is the Lord. He which is not reconciled to Christ Iesus eateth not his flesh and drinketh not his bloud although euery day hee receiue but to his condemnation the Sacrament or the holy signes of so excellent a thing But he which confirmes and establisheth vs in Christ and who hath annoynted vs is God who also hath sealed and giuen vnto vs the earnest of his spirit in our hearts It is this holy spirit of promise wherewith we haue beene sealed yea for the day of redemption without which spirit the visible signes in the Sacramentes are receiued to condemnation by which spirit faith taught by the word confirmed by the signes or seales of the righteousnesse of the same faith takes daily new growthes and growinges and is manifested by holy workes of which the summe and totall is that we liue and die to the Lord who is dead and risen againe to haue dominion as well over the liuing as the dead to gouerne and guide vs as the sheepe of his pasture and finally to draw vs out of the hideous deserts of this worldly life no life in deed to gather vs to himselfe his heauenly sheep folde If God be on our side who shall be against vs Who shall bee able to make vs afraide and dismay vs Iesus Christ who is dead is risen againe it is he who now being set at the right hand of God maketh request for vs. Let vs adde some worthie sayinges of S. Cyprian in his excellent Treatise of death Simeon the iust reioycing to hold in his armes the little babe Iesus whom he had so
much desired declareth by his wordes which breathed nothing but faith charitie consolation a stedfast hope that the seruants of God are in peace enioy a free rest being drawne out of the foaming and tempestuous waues of this world and landing at the port of safetie and eternall happinesse when after the abolishment of death we come to a glorious immortalitie For this is our peace our assured rest our assured and perpetuall safetie In this world we are continually grapling tugging and wrastling with Sathan and all our exercise is to repulse and repell his dartes We haue on our armes on our foreheads sides and backes avarice incontinencie anger ambition of necessitie wee must wrastle without ceasing against the lustes of the flesh and the baites and allurements of the world Toward the end of the same Treatise hee sayth further that we must not weepe for our brethren when it pleaseth God to call and deliuer them out of this world for well I know that they are not lost but gone before and haue the start of those who tarrie behinde Wee may desire and looke after them as men do for their friends who are going some voyage or who take shipping to sayle and goe to land in a good port But we must not bewayle them nor here weare black mourning habitts seeing they haue alreadie receiued white robes in heauen It becomes vs not to giue occasion to Heathens justly to tax and reproue vs if they see by an inordinate loue our countenance appalled and agast thinking them vtterly lost and annihilated whom we hold and maintaine to be aliue with God and if they perceiue it witnessed euidently enough by our minde that wee condemne the faith we professe with our mouthes In this case we ouer throw our faith and our hope which we could not say but to proceed of hypocrisie It is nothing to shew our selues hardie in wordes if we evert and destroy the truth with our doings and deedes It is tyme to conclude this Chapter We say then that the anxieties of minde maladies perplexities and apprehensions of so many deathes which doe spurne and kicke against vs doe silently and tacitely cry vnto vs and exhort vs with speed to lift vp our eyes to Christ Iesus the fountaine of life to the communion we haue with him also to the blessinges alreadie receiued of him and to those which the hope which makes vs not afraide doth assuredly expect And following the counsell of S. Basile in his Treatise that thankes must alwayes bee giuen to God Let vs not put our affiance and trust in man nor let vs say with the ignorant vulgar death hath taken from me all my succour and helpe my father my husband my sonne the comfort of my old age the prop and piller of my house Who hath commaunded you to moore your ancher of hope in such a little lump of dust as man is What age is priuiledged from the handes of death What a one is he who by couenant made with vs protesteth that he will be the God of their fathers and of their children to a thousand generations who loue feare him Shall we forget him who makes so kinde a proffer of himselfe to vs to imagine forge to our selues succours and helpes of straw and of wind Let the ancher of our sure and stedfast hope sincke into the vaile of heauen and let it bee sticking faste in the throne of God It shall there be a brasen bullwarke for vs a wall of fire Let Christ be our life in death in him let death be our gaine Let vs say with Ieremiah in the 17. Chapter Blessed be the man which trusteth in the Lord whose confidence the Lord is For he shall be as a tree planted by the water which spreadeth out her roots by a flowing riuer which shall not feele when the heate shall approach her leafe shall be greene and shall not wither in the yeare of drought and shall not cease to yeeld her fruit Let vs further amasse and gather some words from the same Prophet O Lord thou art the hope of thy Church those that forsake thee shall bee confounded for they haue forsaken the fountaine of liuing waters Heale those that are thine O Lord then shall they be in rest saue them and none shall bee able to hurt them Leaue them not forlorne and in a desperate plight thou which art their hope in the day of affliction Let their despayring and hopelesse enemies be confounded and let them rest in safetie vnder the shadow of thy wings CHAP. XIX Of the resurrection of the bodies and of the immortalitie of humane soules THE Apostle speake to very good purpose in the 15. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians that if our hope should be in Christ Iesus in regard of this present life onely our condition should be more miserable then other mens seeing that true Christians are continually exposed to diuers afflictions and from time to time doe suffer great tortures troubles But what would it auaile to liue in the world and there to subsist and be a thousand yeares if it be in the fire of calamities and sundry oppressions There cannot then bee proposed vnto vs a more certaine refuge and helpe nor a more sweete comfort and support against the miseries and infirmities of this present life then the assured hope of the resurrection to a better life When we shall beare about vs no longer the image of the first earthly man but of the second who is the heavenly Adam and that this corruptible and mortall bodie shall put on incorruption and immortalitie The sure confidence of Christians is the resurrection from the dead wherein we shall haue a glorious bodie which shall be so revnited to the blessed soule and the soule againe to the bodie that we may be for euer with our head fully replenished with euerlasting ioy in the presence of God The Heathens enemies of Christian religion haue especially impugned this Article of the resurrection of the bodie And which is more many of their Philosophers haue spoken doubtfully of the immortalitie of the soule At this tyme to the end to confirme our faith our hope and assured consolation we will consider the groundes of these two Articles aswell by the nature of things and by certaine conceptions as by the sound resolutions rehearsed in the holy Scriptures Certainly as Gregory the great said in his Moralls That those who haue not learned from the Scripture the doctrine of the Resurrection ought to learne it of nature For what doe men daily obserue in the continuall medley and blending of the Elements whereof all visible things are composed but proofes of the resurrection of the dead Wee see by the vicissitude and reuolution of time the Plants and Trees to lose their greene leaues which wither and fall off when Winter comes after in the Spring to sprout forth againe and the earth to become greene gay as before If the smal
seat of Christ that euery man may receiue according to what he hath done in his body be it good or euill Knowing then the terror of the Lord we perswade men to the faith and wee are made manifest to God And that which he sayth at the end of the fourth Chapter of the first to the Thessalonians This we say vnto yee by the word of the Lord that wee which shall liue and remaine to the comming of the Lord shall not preuent them which sleepe For the Lord himselfe with a shout with the voyce of the Archangell and with the Trumpet of God shall descend from heauen and those which are dead in Christ shall rise first afterward wee which shall bee aliue and remaine shall bee caught vp with them also in the cloudes to meete the Lord in the ayre and so shall we euer be with the Lord. O how great occasion haue young and old who read these things to thinke vpon and consider their consciences Let vs adde some lineaments of the immortalitie of mans soule not that wee thinke that any good man doth call in doubt this truth but because we cannot too much fortifie young nor old against the bloudie scoffings execrable blasphemies of Epicures Atheistes with whom the earth is couered in these latter tymes Many auncient Philosophers as Pythagoras Pherecydes the Platonistes and the Stoickes haue set forth many sayinges of the immortalitie of the soule as much as they could learne out of the Schoole of Nature And yet as Lactantius declares it in his 7. booke of Diuine Institutions seeing they were ignorant wherein the soueraigne good of man doth consist vnlearned in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles they apprehended not any thing of the truth of this Article but by vncertaine opinion and coniecture rather then by assured knowledge Yea which is worse some of them first Dicaearchus then Democritus and after them Epicurus haue disputed against the immortalitie of soules Cicero himselfe who otherwise doth eloquently harang and pleade this cause in the first booke of his Tusculane questions hauing examined diuers opinions is at a demurr doubt euen to say that it belongs to some god to scan and to see which of all these diuers opinions are maintained sayth he because these diuers opinions are maintained by learned men we cannot well coniecture which of them all is to be receiued But as Lactantius sayth wee to whom God manifesteth his truth need not to coniecture But the source and spring of error vpon this poynt is that those who haue questioned the certaintie of the immortalitie of the soule haue stood too much vpon their owne conceiptes and vnderstanding judging false and incomprehensible whatsoeuer was out of the reach of their apprehension Their reasons are well set forth and fitly confuted in the second and third Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome as it followeth The wicked haue falsely imagined with themselues our life is short and full of vexation and in the death of man there is no recouery and it was neuer knowne that any returned from the graue For we are borne at aduenture and shall be as if we had neuer beene because the breath of our nostrilles is as smoake and our wordes as a sparke rising vp out of our heart which being extinguished our body is turned into ashes and our spirit vanisheth as soft ayre Come then and let vs frolicke it with the pleasures that are present chearefully vsing the creatures and our youth let vs fill our selues with the best wine and with parfumes c. It is added also after The wicked haue thus erred and gone astray because their wickednesse hath blinded them and they haue not vnderstood the mysteries of God nor hoped for the reward of holines and haue not discerned what is the reward of the soules that are faultlesse For God created man to be incorruptible hauing made him to be an Image of his owne nature and likenesse but thorough the enuie of the Deuill death is come into the world and those which hold on his side proue it But the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they seemed to die their end was grieuous At their departure from vs they seemed vtterly destroyed but they are in peace They suffered paines before men their hope was full of immortalitie hauing beene lightly or in few things punished they shall be plentifully rewarded because God hath proued them as gold and hath found them worthie of him They shall judge the Nations and shall haue dominion ouer the people and their Lord shall raigne for euer Those which trust in him shall vnderstand the truth and the faithfull shall remaine with him in loue For grace and mercy is to his Saints and he hath care of his elect But the vngodly shall be punished for their very imaginations who haue made no reckoning of the righteous and haue rebelled against the Lord. For wicked is he who despiseth Wisedome and Discipline their hope is vaine their labours helpe them not and their workes are vnprofitable From these words we gather that the abhominable opinion of the mortalitie of the soule openeth the windowe to error and letteth goe the raynes to all impietie and dissolution Whereunto doth sort and agree the scoffing speeches of Epicures and prophane ones to elude and shift off the judgments of God denounced vnto them of which Esaiah in the 22. Chapter and Saint Paul in the 15. Chapter of the 1. to the Corinthians make mention Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we shall die Let vs be frolicke and merry we haue but one day more to liue This is the reckoning of these clamourers and brawlers who deafe and trouble our eares with their discourses and reasons Moreouer this Text of the Booke of Wisedome discouereth the prophanenesse of these sensuall and carnall men to proceede from this that they judge of the soule of man according to their grosse imaginations to wit that it is no other but a respiration a breath and vapour of smoake not considering there is great difference betweene the effect and the cause that is betweene respiration which proceedes from the lunges and is conveyed to the nostrills or to the mouth and the soule it selfe which is that essentiall spirit which formeth man yea doth many thinges without the adiument and helpe of the bodie witnesse her speculations deepe imaginations profound meditations shee being neuer idle and without motion when the bodie is faste a sleepe and stirres not Although then that respiration ceaseth the naturall faculties of the heart and lunges being suffocated and leauing their office the soule created to the image of God is not stifled and abolished so as there is great difference betweene it and the soules of Beastes which being formed with the bodies of the same matter that the bodies are doe perish also as the bodies and with them whereof it is that
the Beastes doe suour the earth and desire nothing but that which is earthie and of the earth Man on the contrary as the wisest of the Heathens especially Plato and Cicero in diuers passages of their writings doe obserue hath a diuine and heauenly soule which being enfranchised and deliuered out of the prison of the bodie returneth to the place of his originall And the more generous the mind of man is the more he lusteth after and desireth heauenly thinges meditating and looking for a better state and condition then he enioyeth in this present life From thence it commeth to passe that he despiseth losses and troubles calamities wounds and death it selfe holding it a great honour to yeeld vp his soule in some valiant and vertuous exployt and enterprise for the seruice and safetie of his Countrie to the end to goe to the other life where good men haue their reward Salust sayth that the vertuous effectes and suffringes of the minde are no lesse immortall then the soule it selfe which to vs is common with God but the body assimilateth and a greeth with the beastes Another reason hath strongly perswaded the auncient Philosophers to beleeue the immortality of mans soule That God should seeme otherwise vniust if he should suffer the vau-neantes treacherous dissolute to prosper in the world after to escape his vengeance and good men who are industrious and imploy themselues to preserue humane societie should vtterly perish in death without hope of rest at the end of their trauailes and of ioy after so many disquiets and griefes of minde and of a crowne at the end of so many thousand fought battailes and combatts Vndoubtedly prophane persons who are bold to thinke and affirme the soule of man to bee mortall doe abolish as much as in them lyes all pietie and religion they ouerthrow all vertuous and laudable actions and enterprises and as S. Ambrose very well sayth in his exposition of the worke of the six dayes they are madd-men Furthermore what is more avers preposterous and ill beseeming then to haue a straight body and a crooked soule alwayes groveling and stooping to the earth never lifting or rouzing vp it selfe toward heauen her true dwelling place But as God our creator hath plainly instructed vs in his word touching the originall end and soueraigne good of man It is also from the same word that wee must gather the infallible doctrines which we doe handle Mans soule was not composed of the elements nor fabricated or formed of the dust of the earth but the Lord God inspired it and endowed it with diuers gifts Little children doe obtaine even a soule of God their creator to wit a reasonable soule not of the seed of their fathers and mothers but by the singular fauour and benefit of him whom the Apostle Hebr. 12. calleth the Father of spirits and not without cause For although that he be the father of our bodies yet notwithstanding he created not our soules by corporall helpes but hath placed them in our bodies as excellent lampes and lights as Salomon speakes of them Prov. 20. 7. We call them immortall for two reasons first by reason of their essence which is spirituall and originarie or primarie from God the giuer of it Secondly in regard of the grace peculier to the children of God for so much as we haue communion with Iesus Christ the eternall Word of the Father the Prince and author of life This immortall and eternall life is the true happie life and so much to be desired so much recommended in the Scripture whereof Saint Paul sayth The just shall liue by faith Rom. 1. 17. Also who beleeueth in me hath eternall life Iohn 6. 47. And the Apostle sayth Iesus Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortalie vnto light thorough the Gospell 2 Timoth. 1. 10. For although the soules of the wicked in regard of their essence sense and motion be immortall neuerthelesse they suffer death in as much as they are depriued of the iustice light beatitude and glorious life of God vpon which cause the wicked who triumph and braue it for a while in the world are called dead and after this present life it is sayd that they goe into condemnation and into eternall death because the state wherein they are then to be and remaine in perpetuall torments deserueth rather the name of death then life Prophane people talke they know not what in obiecting vnto vs that neuer any came from the other world as they babble and prattle to tell newes of them O the greatest fooles and idiots among people O silly sotts will they be still madde miserable and more brutish them beasts who beleeue nothing but what they see with their eyes and touch with their hands According to their babble they ought to giue ouer to beleeue that they doe participate of reason seeing they doe not see their soule Let them giue ouer to beleeue that our friends dwelling remote and farre from vs doe liue and are at their ease and content desiring to see vs againe and that because wee see them no more But to proceed it is not simply true that neuer any returned from the other life on the contrary the Histories of the Old and New Testament doe furnish vs with examples of men and women of young striplings and damsells raised againe from death The Prince of our faith the head of all Christians our Lord Iesus descending from heauen to assume our humaine nature in earth hath tould vs ample and gladsome newes of the state of heauen and of life eternall His ascension to heauen in bodie and soule is an assured pledge that we also shall ascend into heauen in our bodies and soules S. Paul caught vp into the third heauen where he was informed of the high and deepe mysteries and secrets of God from thence came to tell vs afterward many particularities of the Church Christ Iesus is in heauen and we shall liue there For although that death dissolue the bodie into dust from whence it was taken death cannot let the soule to returne to him that gaue it And when we die young and old let vs after the example of Christ Iesus and of Dauid recommend our soules to God rendring them into his hands as into the handes of a most faithfull keeper and gardian of them And let vs say with S. Stephen Lord Iesus receiue my soule being well assured that at the same houre when it shall be fit for vs to goe out of this present life we haue part in that gracious promise of the sonne of God made to the sinner conuerted Verely I say vnto thee that this day thou shalt be with me in Paradize This is the sweete voyce which still ought to be sounding in the heart of the wise Vieillard to the end that being at the poynt to leaue this world as his age plainely shewes him his conscience doe not smite and checke him to be a prophane person and a contemner