knowledge of the greatest Clearke in the world The very heathen thought this to bee one great benefite that men especially wise men had by death that their knowledge was perefected in the other world and that none could possibly attaine to perfect wisedome knowledge vntill they came thither How much more should wee count this an inestimable glorie and benefite that in the life to come wee shall haue the perfect knowledge of heauenly things yea and of all things in the Kingdom of Heauen yea we shall know God with a perfect knowledge so farre as Creatures can possibly comprehend the Creator Wee shall know the power of the Father the wisedome of the Sonne the grace of the holy Ghost and the indiuisible nature of the blessed Trinity And in him we shall know not onely all our friendes who dyed in the faith of Christ with vs but also all the faithfull that euer were or shall bee For first our Sauiour Christ tells the Iewes in the Gospell of Saint Luke that they shall see Abraham Isaacke and Iacob Luk. 13,28 and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God and you your selues thrust out Then if the wicked shall know the godly much more shall we know them Gen. 2.23 Secondly Adam in his Innocency knew Eue so soone as hee awaked out of his sleepe to bee bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh much more then shall wee know our kindred and friendes in the faith when wee shall awake and bee perfected and glorified in the Resurrection Mat. 27.52.53 Thirdly the Apostles knew Christ after his resurrectioÌ„ and the Saints which arose with him and appeared in the holy City Mat. 17.4 as is recorded by the Evangelist S. Mathew therefore we shall know one another then Fourthly Peter Iames and Iohn knew Moses and Elias in the transfiguration of Christ much more shall wee know one another in our glorification Luk. 16.23 Fiftly Dines knew Lazarus a farre off in Abrahams bosome much more shall one child of God know another in the Kingdome of God Sixthly our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell of S. Mathew sayth vnto Peter Mat. 19.28 and the rest of his Apostles verelie I say vnto you that yee which haue followed me in the regeneration when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory yee also shall sit vpon twelue thrones iudging the twelue Tribes of Israel But this place of Scripture being somewhat obscurely vttered Our Sauiour Christ there alluding to the present state of things the number of the twelue Tribes of Israel and of the twelue Apostles the Apostle Saint Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians expresseth more plainely and clearely applying it in generall to all the faithfull vnder the New Testament Affirming that the Saints shall iudge the World 1 Cor. 6,2,3 Yea euen the Angells that is to say Wicked and Vngodly men and wicked and vngodly Spirites And hence Tertullian notably comforteth and encourageth the Martyres that were in durance dayly expecting the Iudges comming to receiue sentence of death perhaps saith he the Iudge is looked for yea but you shall iudge your Iudges your selues But heere by the way wee are to vnderstand that the authoritie of iudgment doth not belong either to the Apostles or Saints and that in their manner of iudgement they resemble Iustices who at an Assise are in a manner Iudges and yet giue no sentence but onely approue the sentence that is giuen The Iudges for the time haue the whole authoritie the Iustices on the Bench are but Assistants and witnesses the definitiue Iudgement is proper to our Sauiour Christ Acts 10.42 who is the supreme Iudge himselfe For he it is 2. Tim. 4.1 saith the Apostle Saint Peter that was ordained of God to bee the Iudge of the quicke and the dead and he it is saith Saint Paul that shall iudge the quicke and the dead at his appearing and in his kingdome The Apostles and Saints are not Iudges but as Iudges hauing no voice of authoritie but of consent So that although our Sauiour Christ our head principally and properly shall be the Iudge yet we that are his members shall haue a branch of his authoritie and shall be as it were ioyned in commission with him so the Bench and not the Barre is our place there in heauen which is part of our glory and ioy Then if the Saints shall be assisting in iudging wicked men and wicked spirits it then followeth that they shall know the wicked from the good the goats from the sheep and then much more shall they know their fellow-Iustices and Commissioners And the Apostle Paul confiâ—meth this in these words before alledged saying But then shall I know 1. Cor. 13.12 euen as I also am knowne And Augustine out of this place comforteth a widow assuring her as in this life shee saw her husband with external eyes so in the life to come she should know his heart and what were all his thoughts and imaginations Then husbands and wiues looke to your thoughts and actions for all shall one day be manifest Seuenthly Gen. 25.8 Gen. 35.29 2. King 22.20 The faithfull in the old Testament are said to be gathered to their Fathers therefore the knowledge of our friends remaineth Eightly The Apostle Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 13.8 That loue neuer falleth away therefore knowledge one of another being the ground thereof remaines in another life Rom. 2.5.6 Ninthly The Apostle saith That the last day shall be a declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will render to euery man according to his deeds Eccles 12.14 And the Preacher saith That God shall bring euery worke to iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill And in the booke of the Reuelation it is said Reuel 22.12 Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to giue to euery man according as his workes shall bee Then if euery mans worke shall be brought to light much more the worker Matt. 12.36 And if as it is in the Gospell wicked men shall account for euery idle word much more shall the idle speakers themselues bee knowne for if the persons bee not knowne then in vaine shall their workes be made manifest and knowne then if the wicked shall be knowne as well as their wicked works much more shall the Saints know one another Tenthly and lastly it is said in the booke of Wisdome Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldnesse Wisd 5.1,2,3,4,5,6 before the face of such as haue afflicted him and made no account of his labours when they see it they shall be troubled with terrible feare and shall be amazed at the strangenesse of his saluation so farre beyond all that they looked for and they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselues This was hee whom we had sometime in derision and a prouerbe of reproach We fooles
insist the longer vpon it And therefore to conclude with my Statute It is appointed c. It is therefore a care that euery one ought to haue viz. to know that they must die and that they cannot auoid it The decree is gone out against them from the highest court of Parliament of the most High What contempt were it not to take notice of it Euery one therfore ought to labour to number his daies and truely to know his mortalitie the greatest as well as the meanest the wisest as the simplest For if any one then all and if any more then other then the greatest for the greatest are most subiect to death As they challenge themselues to be the finest of the common mould so they must know that by that they are not exempted from the common law of Nature and force of Gods decree But as the finer the mettall or the purer the matter of any glasse or earthen vessell is the more subiect it is to breaking and so the daintiest bodies the soonest gone It behoueth vs all therefore to seeke for spirituall Arithmeticke thereby to number our dayes in a religious meditation of the incertainties of the time and the certaintie that that time will come Let vs therefore liue to die yea liue the life of grace that wee may liue the life of glory And then though we must go to the dead yet we shall rise from the dead and from thenceforth liue with our God out of the reach of Death for euermore The end of the first Diuision THE SECOND DIVISION ON THE MEDITATION OF DEATH THen if Death be thus certaine in the next place the law of reason aduiseth vs to thinke of the worlds vanitie to contemne it of death to expect it of iudgement to auoid it of hell to escape it and of heauen to desire it And thinke it not needlesse or superfluous to bee exhorted to this Meditation that the ignorant may learne the carelesse consider and the forgetfull remember that they all must die For as Saint Augustine saith nothing so recalleth a man from sinne as the frequent remembrance of death For the error of all men for the most part taketh his originall from hence that they forget the end of their life which they ought alwayes to haue before their eyes And of the want of this commeth pride ambition vaine-glory too much carefulnesse of the body too much carking and caring after the things of this life Hence also it commeth that we build Towers vpon the sand For if wee did consider what we shall be after a few dayes our manner of liuing would perhaps bee more humble temperate and godly for who would haue a high looke Psal 131.1 and a proud stomacke if hee did with the eyes of his minde behold what manner of one he shortly after shall be in his graue who would then worship his belly for a god Phil. 3.19 when he waigheth with himselfe that the same must in short time be wormes meate who would be so in loue with money that he would runne like a mad-man by sea and land as it were through fire and water if he vnderstood that he must leaue all behinde him If this were well thought vpon our errors would soone be corrected and our liues bettered Wish therefore rather for a good then a long life It is a thing doubtlesse worthy of euery mans best thoughts and intentions For seeing euery man must die and hath a course to finish which being finished hee must away It is speciall wisdome to learne to know the length of his dayes as it were the length of his lease for as he hath vsed himselfe in his farme he shall enter at the expiration of his time vpon a better or a worse 1. Sam. 13.14 Dauid for his learning a Prophet for his acceptation a man after Gods owne heart for his authority a King was then very studious in this knowledge when after fasting and watching he besought God to be instructed in it Lord let me know my end Psal 39.4 and the measure of my dayes what it is let me know how long I haue to liue Act. 7.22 So Moses wise in all the wisdome of Egypt and Israel accounted faithfull in the house of God Heb. 3.2 prayed yet for this point of wisdome to be informed in it Psal 90.12 and as well for himselfe as others Teach vs so to number our daies saith he that we may apply our hearts vnto wisdome like carefull schollers who forsake their meat and drinke and breake their sleepe and are often in meditation when they beate vpon some serious subiect What thinke you it will profit a man if by his skill in Arithmetike hee be able to deale with euery number and to diuide the least fractions and neuer to thinke on the numbering of his daies with the men of God and yet his dayes are few and euill What will it profit him if by Geometrie hee bee able to take the longitude of most spatious prospects and not be able to measure that which the Prophet hath measured with his spanne Psal 39.51 What will it auaile him if with the astronomer he be able to obserue and know the motions of the heauens and yet haue his heart so buried in the earth that hee cannot thinke of that which passeth away as swiftly as any motion of them all What profiteth it I say If he be able with the Philosopher to search out the causes of many effects and to know the causes of many changes as of the ebbing and flowing of the seas the increasing and wayning of the Moone and the like and be not able to know his owne changes and the causes of them Doubtlesse all this wil profit them nothing all this knowledge will be to little purpose in the end And vnlesse they think vpon death they cannot apply and fashion themselues to a godly life Yea we finde daily by experience that the forgetfulnesse of death maketh vs applie our hearts to all kinde of folly and vanity The holy men in old time were wont to keepe such an account of their dayes and so to think on death that aboue all things they might apply their hearts vnto wisdome So mindfull of these things was Saint Ierome who saith of himselfe that whether he did eate or drinke or whatsoeuer else he did he thought alwaies this sound of the last trumpet did euer ring in his eares Arise yee dead and come to iudgement Which when I consider saith he it makes me shake and quake and not dare to commit sinne which otherwise I should haue committed Likewise that ancient and reuerend father Innocentius the fourth was so carefull to auoid the vengeance to come that to stirre vp all the powers and faculties of his minde with due consideration of the vanitie of this world the vilenesse of his nature the shortnesse of his time the causes of sinne and the punishment for the same he still imagined to
nothing where I loued nothing and I haue my whole portion when I haue Christ my onely loue and ioy with me Let vs not therefore build where we cannot long continue but let vs make our provision for that place where we may liue and remaine for euer It is wisdome then in euery one to labour to be fitted for this passage Let vs be prepared for this iourney as Chrysostome saith for we haue neede of much prouision because there is much heat much drought much solitude no Inne no resting place no place of aboade there is nothing to be bought by him who hath not taken all things here Heare what the Virgins say Mat. 25.9 goe yee rather to them that sell but going they found not What ought we then to doe Euen that we doe not so labour for the things of this life from which we must be taken and which we must leaue behind vs but for those things which concerne a better life which we may carry with vs not for those things which shall haue either finem tuum vel finem suum as Bernard speaks an end of thee if thou haue not an end of them Either shall they be taken from vs as they were from Iob Iob 1. Luke 12.20 or else we from them as the rich man was from his substance and wealth but for those things which we may carry with vs and â—…ay either bring vs to or adorne vs where wee must bee perpetually euen for euer It were a very foolish part and sencelesse practise for strangers when they are in exile or farre from their owne Countrey in a forren soile where they are sure either to be called by their owne Prince or cast out by the prince of the Countrey to lay out all their wealth vpon some land there neuer prouiding for that which they may carry with them to their Countrey for to adorne them when they come there especially if the so imploying of themselues and their estate be a meanes to keepe them from enioying the happines of their Countrey yea a cause why they shall be cast into prison or plunged into miseries So is it meere madnesse for vs to imploy all our care and spend our time and indeauours for this life and things pertaining to it and the body which wee found here and must leaue here and being here from home strangers in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 absent from the Lord and our owne land as the Apostle speaketh whence we know we shall be called either by a naturall or violent death ordinary or extraordinary taken away by God or thrust out by the cruelty of man neuer prouiding for that which must adorne vs there or further our passage yea procure our entrance specially when such things and the care for them which was ioyned with the neglect of so great things even of so great saluati n shall procure misery and punishment where the other would procure mercy and happinesse here these things are left behinde vs those other goe with vs of these we shall giue an accompt of those there wee shall reape a reward as Chrysostome saith Luk. 16.2 We must therefore imitate strangers who prouide for their departure and store themselues with such things as are both portabâ—e and profitable and may stead vs in our passage and possession of our Countrey so must wee prouide for things spirituall and store our selues with them which we shall onely carry with vs and cannot bee â—aken from vs and shall bee onely commodious to vs when wee come to our Countrey Chrysostome sayth he that is indued with vertue hath such a garment which as moaths cannot so neither can Death it selfe hurt And not without cause for the vertues of the minde take not their beginning from the earth but are fruits of the spirit They are then eternall riches and we shall be eternall by them and though Death dissolue body and soule and destroy our present being in this life yet as Iustine Martir spake for himselfe and others to their persecutors you may kill â—s but you cannot hurt vs so Death may kill vs but it cannot hurt vs whilest it comes expected and prouided for it will be to our great commoditie and aduantage And thus shall Death when it commeth be lesse hurtfull as a tempest before-hand expected Death is compared to the Basiliske which if shee see before shee be seene is dangerous but if a man first descrie the Basiliske the Serpent dieth and then there is no feare So if Death be not seene and prouided for before-hand there is great danger but if it be seene and prouided for the danger is past before their death come And they who with the glorified Virgins wait for Christ in the life of the righteous Mat. 25.10 are alwaies prepared for Death when it knocketh to open vnto it and what is a prepared death but a happie death and what followes a happie death but a happie life neuer to die againe Such go in with Christ to his mariage and haue euerlasting life Let vs not therefore forget heauen for earth the soule for the bodie and heauenly ioyes for earthly toyes one moneth or day for one houre or minute let vs not depriue our selues of that euerlasting happinesse that shall neuer bee taken from vs if we prepare our selues for it O that men would be wise to vnderstand know what Acts 1 7. that the great and generall day of Iudgement cannot be faâ—re off as that likewise of their owne death that they might in time prepare themselues for the same And although this day cannot be knowne of mortall men For it is not for you saith our Sauiour to know the times and seasons Mark 13.32 which the Father hath put in his owne power and is vnknowne to the Angels and to the Sonne as he is man yet neuerthelesse they must know that this day cannot be farre off As Daniel searched and found out by the bookes of Ieremiah not only the returne but the time of the returne of Israel to their owne land from their captiuitie So by the studie of the Scripture ought they to search and so may they come to know the time of their returne from their exile on earth to their countrie in heauen And though they cannot finde the particuler day or yeare yet shall they finde it to bee most certaine and in short time to be finished Man should be wise to vnderstand and know the reasons of the certainty of this day of Iudgement they are these First it is the will and decree of God For the Apostle saith And the times of this ignorance God winked at Acts 17.30.31 but now coÌ„mands all men euery where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giuen assurance vnto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now the will and
of a good life but vsed the meanes of flight onely to preuent violent and hastie death till the houre appointed should come that they were to giue their spirit in peace into the hands of him that made it and because such vntimely death was enemy to the good they had to doe and course they were to finish therefore they went aside by flying for some time and till the time of their departure come that they might doe the good to which they were appointed and finish the course for which they were sent For if a remouing or flying for thine ease in this respect may be effected by shifting thy place that may both be desired and vsed without sinne Isaak sent his sonne Iacob away from his brother Esau when Esau in his anger had sworne to slay him Dauid fled from the hand and iauelin of Saul and shifted for himselfe by remouing from place to place and conuayed all his fathers house into the land of Moab from Sauls reach The Lord Iesus oftentimes withdrew himselfe from the rage of the Iewes and he gaue his Disciples a rule for times of persecution saying When they persecute you in this city Mat. 10.23 flie into another And many honest men haue remooued their habitations to auoide euill neighbours and free themselues from beeing troubled by hem But where it is againe alledged that Christ himselfe prayed against the cup of death for the further satisfying of this point I answere further two wayes First that hee prayed without sinne against it seeing that in his supplication of teares and much feare hee submitted to his Fathers will alwayes Mat. 26.39.42 Neuerthelesse said he not as I will but as thou wilt And againe O my Father if this cup may not passe away from me except I drinke it thy will be done Also death was not to him as it is to vs for to vs the sting of it is conquered and the force broken but to him it was in full power he felt the sting of it and wrastled with the force of it in soule and bodie Secondly I say as was said before that it was not meerly a bodily death though vnsubdued saue where himselfe subdued it that he trembled at but by the burthen of our sinnes which he was to vndergoe in which hee beheld the whole There he saw his Fathers countenance turned against him and there knew that he must beare his wrath because he bare our sinnes And besides Christ feared death beeing cloathed with our flesh to shew that he tooke our infirmities Isay 53.4,5,6 and bore our sorrowes and was perfect man And so death may in some case be feared and at sometime prayed against but euer vnder the correction of Gods will For the rod of death turned into a serpent made Moises feare Exod. 4.3 and the best haue moderately declined and shrunke at the stroke of death when it came in some tempest and who doth not dread all Gods terrors whereof death is one and feare that which is the punishment of sinne and curse of sinners and decline that which is the ruine and destruction of humane nature and shrinke at that which hath made the strongest the wisest the greatest the richest to fall downe flat before it Therefore the feare of death thus reproued is not the naturall feare of it which is in all but the seruile feare of it proper to euill doers and common to those who can haue no hope in death because they neuer cared to liue till they were compelled to die The fourth obiection is that those who haue beene reputed to be of the better sort of men haue oftentimes miserable ends for some end their dayes despayring some rauing and blaspheming some strangely tormented It may therefore seeme that the day of death is the day of greatest woe and miserie To this I answer first of all generally that wee must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by outward things whether they be blessings or iudgements whether they fall in life or in death For as the Preacher saith Eccles 9.1.2 No man knoweth either loue or hatred by all things that are before them all things come alike to all and the same condition is to the iust and to the wicked and to the good and pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Againe the Preacher saith Eccles 8.14 There is a vanity that is done vpon the earth that there be iust men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked and there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the worke of the righteous Secondly I answere to the particulars which be alleaged in this manner First for despaire it is true that not onely wicked and loose persons despaire in death but also godly and penitent sinners who often in their sicknesse testifie of themselues that beeing aliue and lying in their beds they feele themselues to bee as it were in hell and to apprehend the very pangs and torments of it and I doubt not for all this but that the child of God which is most deare vnto him may through the gulfe of desperation attaine to euerlasting life and happinesse Which appeares to bee so by Gods dealing in the matter of our saluation For all the workes of God are done in and by their contraries In the creation all things were made not of something but of nothing cleane contrary to the course of nature In the worke of redemption God giues life not by life but by death And if we consider aright of Christ vpon the Crosse wee shall see our paradise out of paradise in the midst of hell for out of his own cursed death hee brings vs a blessed life and eternall happinesse Likewise in our effectuall vocation when it pleaseth God to conuert and turne men vnto him he doth it by the meanes of the preaching of the Gospel which in reason should driue men from God for it is as contrary to the nature of man as fire to water and light to darknesse For the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 1.21.22.23.52 After that in the wisdome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue For the Iewes require a signe and the Greekes seeke after wisdome but we preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling block and vnto the Greekes foolishnesse And yet for all this though it be thus against the nature and disposition of man it preuailes with him at length and turnes him vnto his God it hee belong vnto him Furthermore when God will send his owne seruants vnto heauen he sends some of them a contrary way euen as it were by the gates of hell For our way to heauen is by compasse euen as the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt into the Land