to come Many are gone the way before us and wee must all follow their steps Wee were borne with this condition and are bound by this Law to goe whether all men go to the Grave Death is the end of all men the bound which no man shall passe It is a remedy to many who are afflicted with misery in that it cures them of their griefe and translates them to glory It is the Godly mans wish desir'd by those who are predestinated to everlasting life to these death gives a release from sorrowes and sets a period to griefe and beyond which their calamities and misfortunes shall not passe It would bee extreame folly and madnesse to resist the decree of a most bountifull and gracious Lord to deny the payment of that Tribute which all do pay to covet that freedome which is granted to none The Christians Divinity is of a higher straine which teacheth us to have death in our desires and to enjoy our life with patience The Swan if we may believe Solinus in her life time is sadd and makes a lamentable noise Lib de mirabil mun but at her death is joyfull and sings The Elect do the same while they live they sigh and mourne they rejoyce in their death being assur'd that they shall for ever rejoyce and sing with the Saints and Angels in the Quire of Heaven Wee read of a Swan-like song chanted by old Simeon not long before his death Lord Luke 2. now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace And why do we lament and mourn when the cottages of our bodyes are ruin'd and pull'd downe For wee know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolv'd 2 Cor. 5. wee have a building with God an house not made with hand Eternall in the heavens First Who will not rise with hast and speed from an hard bed They onely loyter and delay who being delicately entertaind with the softnesse of their warme Feathers cannot easily forsake their downy nest What art thou sicke of this life art thou afflicted in it I suppose then to passe to a better thou wilt be contented Art thou in a good condition and dost thou flourish with health and happinesse It will not bee hurtfull to thee then if death put a sodaine period to thy life least thy prosperity prove thy ruine and procure to thee as it hath to many a grievous though late destruction Therefore as Tertullian rightly sayes wee ought not to feare that which delivers us from all our feares and that is death God is mercifull to a man releases him from a long torment when he shortens his life and makes it as it were but a halfe a spanne Therefore that Generous and Nâ—ble Martyr Cyprian hearing of Valerians decree against him Thascium Cyprianum gladio animadverti placet It is my wil that Cyprian dye by the sword he hearing this lifting up his hands and eyes to Heaven said Thankes bee to God who is pleased in mercy to quit mee from the bonds and fetters of this body Lib. de bono Mor. Saint Ambrose wonders at some men who when they were to dye would rather be thrust by force out of their prison then led out of it by faire entreaty And what is there sayes hee in this life but a continuall fight and strife with Anger Lust and Gluttony Chrys is of the same minde with him what plea hast thou for thy selfe O man Jn c. 1. ad col Thou art invited to a kingdome to the kingdome of the Son of God and yet thou altogether delayest to come and as idle persons use to doe thou dost scratch thy head and yawne What if thou wert bound every day to meet a thousand deaths wouldst thou refuse to under goe them All so that at length thou mightst by them enter into Heavens joyes And what wouldst thou not doe what paine so grievous which thou wouldst not willingly sustaine for Princely honour for a Diademe or a Crowne Now seeing thou shalt one day raigne with Christ as a King wilt not thou then fly from it court death expose thy selfe naked to the peril of a thousand swords and leape cheerfully into the scorching flames Nay contrariwise thou mournest because thou art to leave this vale of misery and teares and canst bee content to set up thy Tabernacle to dwell here so that in the meane time thou mayst pamper thy flesh with delicacies and good cheare Good God! what a madnesse possesses thy vaine thoughts and yet in the meane time thou supposest death to bee the most terrible of all terribles That which causes this folly this vanity in our desires are the delights of the flesh and earthly pleasures for on the contrary he that grones under the burthen of poverty and griefe such a man with the Prophet David desires the wings of a Dove that so hee may flee away and bee at rest being freed from all his miseries and distresses It is with us Christians as with young Birds newly fledg'd wee are loath to forsake their warme nests but the longer they stay in it the weaker they commonly prove and more unable for flight Now this present life is as it were a nest compacted of mud and mosse bragge never so much of thy stately buildings and pride thy selfe in thy Palaces emboss'd with Gold and shining most gloriously with precious stones thy phancie may swell thee to a high conceit of thy selfe for these my reason tells mee they differ nothing from the Swallowes nests winter defaces these time and death thy pleasures The truth of this is confirm'd by that Golden mouth'd Father Chrys All things sayes he doe fade and fall and we with them and for the most part the safer is our condition how much our fall and dissosolution is more suddaine So the wise man the just man is taken away least wickednesse seasing upon his soule change it being subject to alteration and decay Hee beleeves not the resurrection of his body who hastens not in his desires to passe to the Heavenly joyes from earths sorrowes and miseries If a house totter in a storme and threatens every houre to quash us with his fall doe not wee speedily forsake iâ— and if the ship we are in be in danger of being sunke in a tempest what is more thought of and more desird then a secure and quiet Haven This world and all things in it are subject to ruine and decay wee are tossed here with the waves of affliction and stormes of griefe even as if wee were riding upon the maine sea Shall we not then think of an Haven of repose and rest Why doe wee not greedily desire to goe to our heavenly Father even to the place of blisse where our company is desired by them that are neare and deare unto us those glorious and happy Saints who are secure and certaine of their owne welfare onely carefull and sollicitous for ours O how happy and blessed are the dead that dye in the
of God and men and art most distastfull to the blessed Angels Thou art made up of Dust and Clay thou Son of Adam thou art compounded of corruption and yet thou castest forth the stench of Lucifers pride which will bring thee to speedy destruction If not only the sweet smell of the Cypresse but also its height and tallness be pleasing to thee if thou desirest to climb upon the staires of fortune Go Ascend but when thou art mounted on high let me give thee this caveat Despise none but thy selfe the subject of sin and the object of misery It argues a brave and noble spirit to be on high yet not to be advanced with an overweening conceit of that felicity He is the only brave one worthy of Admiration who when he is lift up can depress himselfe by an humble demeanour in his life and reaching Heaven with his faith and other heavenly vertues in his selfe estimation and lowly opinion of his owne parts creeps as low as earth and would fall lower to do God or his friend any service Saint Bern. saith that Humility is an individuall companion of Gods Grace which Humility has in it a kind of Sublimity it will not stoop to the bait of honour and preferment and never growes insolent by any acquired glory It is no great matter to be humble in an abject or mean condition Humility in honour is a great and rare vertue proper only to a Saint Heare ye this O ye Kings and. Princes and Potentates of the Earth and heare this all ye that are â—earn'd and proud ye that have riches and despise others Humility in honour is a great Vertue And this is the property of true humility by how much holier a man is even in the judgement of God to seeme more vile in his owne eyes and to judge himself the more wicked Abraham the freind of God most commended for his faith and holiness Gen. 18. yet seemes to himselfe but Dust and Ashes St. Peter who was eminent in graces confesses himselfe to be a finfull man nay the greatest of sinners St Paul a chosen vessell and the prince of the Apostles termes he not himselfe an Abortive a thing borne out of due time and unworthy to be called an Apostle To speak truly there is no better and easier way to be exalted then first to be cast downe and in a meane estimation of himselfe to be humbled Pride is the ruine and death of all vertues the downfall of men and Angels O God what a change once was there betweene Heaven and Earth The most beautifull Angell of all was thrown downe from Heaven and a poor most miserable Begger was carried by the Angells thither For from whence proud Lucifer fell thither did Lazarus poore humble Lazarus ascend whom we beleeve to have rather numbred his vlcers to have counted his boiles and botches rather this then to have cast up or made any Account of his vertues And I doubt not but that out of a Genuine contempt of himself his patience seem'd more glorious in others eyes then his owne Wittily well said he who affirmd that little was his strength who thought he was strong at all And no strength at all has he who thinks he has much to this purpose saith St. Bern. thus ' All things are wanting to him who conceives that he wants nothing We may adde that those men have no little or right to Heaven and belong not unto God who are pleasd with nothing but their owne gifts who are most proud Censors of other mens lives and partiall Iudges of their owne they are deceiv'd in other mens matters and bleare-ey'd in their owne assuming a voluntary and pleasing blindness Woe be to these selfe flatteries They will heare one day that heavy sentence Goe ye Cursed c Heaven admits of no such Peacocks who have long Tailes but shorter Crests great and swelling conceits of their owne doings but a bad opinion of other mens Those that are predestinate to eternall life censure no mens lives so rigidly as their owne and condemne themselves more often then they do others They are indulgent to all men never to themselves and are most severe in correcting their owne manners Wretched men that we are we are but Dust and as it were a shadow that departeth passing every moment to the region of darkness the Grave the mansion of the dead yet out of a vaine ostentation we run over our pedigrees we number up the names of our Progenitors as if they are the better men who reckon up most Ancestors Man is like to vanity sayes the Prophet David His dayes pass like a shadow c. Wheresoever we turne our eyes there we may behold matter of Griefe and teares if we look upward to Heaven there we shall see our Country afar off but our selves driven and banish'd from it Looke we downward to the earth there we shall see a Pit which the Earth threatns unto us when we are dead and though we now tread upon it with our feet yet after a little while our lofty heads shall be laid low in it Look we upon our selves we may behold a faire red Apple like that of Sodom in which notwithstanding its beauty there lurks a worme which in time will eat and consume that Apple at the heart filth and rottenness and Death it selfe harbours even in our very bowells Look we into our hearts do we unbowell our consciences there we shall find Cages of Vncleanness and dunghills of Impurity a nest of Snakes Toads and Vipers Alas we abound in sin and infirmities and yet we are not vile to our selves We are overwhelmed with miseries beset with folly and ignorance and yet we desire to seeme happy wise and searn'd and to be pointed at with the finger as if we were most eminent These considerations of our sinfull frailty beget in the elect a meane esteem of themselves and the more they consider their miseries the more humble are they and vile in their owne eyes And all things appeare unto them as they did to St. Paul Drosse and Dung because they themselves are so and worse in their owne opinion They easily despise all earthly things who have learn'd above all things to contemn themselves And whosoever desires to be happy let him inure himself to be contemn'd and learne to contemne all things but God and goodness which only is to be prizd and esteem'd in Gods Saints who have studyed and practised that excellent saying of St. Chrys It is as great a thing to think the most meanely of thy selfe Hom. 3. in Mat. as to do and Act the greatest things that may be Gods elect Children obey his voyce that said He that will be great among you shall be lesse in the Kingdome of heaven and whether he shall come there it is a question it is a place only for the humble and meek The way of humility they likewise know to be rough and ruggy and not easy at
whether or no we do not derogate from Gods honour when we arrogate to our selves the power of revenging and defending our selves God is the Arbitrator or Proctour of patience and if you commit the managing and care of your abuse to him he will be in thy behalfe Revenger commend your losse to his providence and you will fine him a Restorer trust him with thâ— cure of thy Grief and he will be thy Physitian or healer At the houre of death commend thy spirit into his hands and at the last great day he will be thy Rayser and reuniting thy body to thy soule he will glorifie both of them together in his heavenly Kingdome But an impatient and froward man may object and say with him in the Poet What shall I alwayes be a silent Auditor being so oft provok'd shall I never repay the wrong that is done unto mee so it is my Christian Brother never think thou of requiting an Injury although thou beest an hundred nay a thousand times abused if thou desirest to be reckon'd amongst Gods Sons commit thy self and thy cause to thy heavenly Fathers hands and with a patient silence suffer and beare with thy Adversaries malice My Children suffer patiently the wrath that is to come upon you from God Barue 4.15 for thine enemy hath persecuted thee but shortly thou shalt see his destruction and shalt tread upon his neck Thus did God once comfort his people by his servant Barue And by St. Paul he sayes He that has done wrong Col. 3.25 shall receive for the wrong which he hath done But perhaps thou wilt farther say well Sir I will forgive but never forget the injury Is it so indeed do ye think that God will be mocked do you think this kind of liberality is pleasing to God if it be so that you are resolved to do no otherwise then expect the same measure of bounty at the hands of the Lord. Should a man sayes Ecclesiasticus beare hatâ—ed against a man Eeclus 28.3 4. and desire forgiveness of God he will shew no mercy to a man that is like himself and will he aske forgiveness of his owne sins if he that is but flesh nâ—â—â—ish hatred and askâ— pardon of God who will entreat for that man I suppose none It is a vaine pretence of clemency and pitty to say I will not revenge such an Injury and yet never forget it Whatsoever thou givest and forgivest give and forgive it entirely or else for ever dispaire of mercy from God you know what Christ threatens in the Gospell So shall my heavenly Father do unto you Mat. 81. â— if ye forgive not every one his Brother from your hearts To this some great one may object All this I beleeve to be true and I vvould readily vvithout much adoe forgive and pardon my enemy but I am a man of publicke Authority No man shall think to abuse me and go unpunished I must and vvill defend my honour vvhich is Ecclips'd and my reputation vvhich is stained Such ansvvers have fallen from some mens lips but I beseech you Christian Brethren let us not play the Sophisters and dispute the case in so serious a point that concerns our salvation saye aside all painted phrases and all expressions gilded vvith a pretence of colourable excuses Saint Stephen was one that bare a publick office yet he threw not back a stone against those that ston'd him neither would he defend his honour so as to forfeit his Religion but cried out with a loud voyce Lord lay not this sin to their charge In like manner our crucified Lord and Saviour Christ Iesus did not as the Son of man only but also as the Son of God utter these words with devout teares to his Heavenly Father Father forgive them There is no mortall man of so great Majesty and worth but that he may without any the least blot to his reputation forgive an injury offered to his person Thou shalt not seek revenge Levit. 19. nor be mindfull of an injury from any of the Children of thy people So God by his servant Moses exhorts all Magistrates But thou wilt say I never gave that knave any cause of offence It may be so and I must tell thee if a cause had bin ministred that which thou sustainest could not be termed an Injury but it would be said that thou hadst hurt him and he wounded thee But what do you meane by talking of a Cause wherein did Ioseph trespass against his Brethren when he told them his Dreame And yet even Ioseph the Viceroy of Aegypt though so abus'd in a generous and brave silence buried all his injuries and rewarded them with great benefits which his Brethren who had sold him received at his hands But you will object and say But Sir the Injury is no small nor light one But now why do you exaggerate the greatness of your Ingury if the offences which thou forgivest be small thy praise will not be great And unless thou be exercisd with great crosses and Jujuries never expect to be famous for thy great vertues ' Heare what St. Hier. c. 5. in Mat. 9. Hierome sayes God is be it spoken with reverence a Smith his enemies are his Files and Hammers by which he purges and takes off our dross from us and being thus purg'd polish'd he stampes upon our soules the Image of holliness But let me ask thee whosoever thou beest that complainest of thy sufferings hast thou been ston'd with Paul hast thou ever been scourged and crucified with Christ No let this then teach thee humility and patience In that thou art not in so bad a case as thy betters But I am of a Noble he of a base parentage why should he not then feel the smart of my revenge poore mistaken man you are both of the earth earthy yours may be of the better meld yet dust thou art and to dust shalt thou returne as well as thy poorer Adversary If a desire of revenge overcome thee thou art not of the Son of the nobles but a servant of sin and wickedness Ecclus. 28. Remember therefore thy latter end and cease to live in enmity in debate and strife Thou maist say after all this Although I Revenge not my selfe upon mine enemy although I forbeare to do this yet I cannot so Command my passion as not to have a will and great desire to it Thou maist if thou wilt command thy affections But so long as thou doest minister to thy mind matter for thy hatred to feed on thy thoughts before God are as bitter as Wormewood thou bearest in thy brest nettles Thornes Thistles with which thy conscience is miserably wrack'd and tortur'd Againe Thou wilt say I burne with the flame of revengfull thoughts Let me tell thee unless thou put out and extinguish this fire betimes thou wilt cause God to shut thee out of Heaven to lock the gate of it upon thee and to doome thee to that
sprout at length they grow to a Wood and thicket which cannot by any strength or force in us be rooted up However we must not dispaire but know that custome may be weak n'd by another which is better and our Crowne will be the more precious and sweet unto us the harder our fight is with our sins and infirmities and we may promise to our selves the victory if we sight under Gods shield if desiring to be conquerors we grapple with our vices and begge of God in our prayers to help and assist our weakness Let but Mâ—ses strike the waves of the Sea with his Rod God will take care for the rest and Israell shall pass safely over Ex. 14. when the Aegyptians shall be drown'd The Amorâ—â—e and the Canaanite shall be driven out of our coast if we do but inure our selves to fight and often skirmish with our enemies Sit still we may noâ— in sloath and Idleness Iob 7. The life of man upon earth is a warfare sayes Iob let no man trust himselfe for none has a more dangerous and treacherous enemy then himselfe with whom to make a truce is not very safe Neither can it be secure for us to lay downe our weapons and shut them up in our Armories untill we put off our flesh and lay that up in our Graves He that has a desire to get the victory over his Adversaries must perpetually watch and sleep in his Armes Saint Cyprian sayes excellently to this purpose It is the greatest pleasure to a man to have overcome his pleasures neither can there be a greater and more noble victory then that which we obtaine over our lusts and affections for he that overcomes his enemy is indeed the stronger but this is in respect of another but he that overcomes his lust is stronger then himselfe in that he overpowers his owne weakness The Musitian never leaves handling his Jarring strings untill he has reduc'd them to an harmonious concord And a man predestin'd to salvation never ceases to allay the tumults and reconcile the differences between Reason and his affections till he compose the quarrell in a religious peace If we may beleeve Plato our body is as it were an Harp our Reason the Harper or Musitian who now playes upon these strings anon upon those sometimes it has to do vvith the eyes sometimes with the Tongue in proposing certaine Lawes and prescriptions to both now it stops the cares then it binds the hands and is still employed in managing and ordering the senses sometimes an affection of Luxury begins to rise this is presently suppress'd by casting upon it the bridle of Chastity At other times an affection of impatiency does start up and swell like a blister or bile Reason lets not this alone but launces it and le ts out the corruption Saint Paul was a skillfull Musitian as appeares by that confession of his 1 Cor. 9. I chastise my body and bring it into subjection And thus Gods elect ones are principally employed in tuning their Instruments in winding up or letting down the pins Now they strive with their Anger then reprehend Envy now they stir up and awaken their drowsinesse by and by they bridle their Laughter and wantonnesse and if griefe be predominant they mitigate it with lenitives with the comforts that do spring and arise from Gods promises and the consideration of his providence With the forenam'd and like strings of passion Reason like a good Artist is ever busied remitting some and intending others till all at length they become harmonious free from debate and dissention Those that are mark'd for heaven Gods chosen people never give way to their loose affections They are the greatest Admirers of other mens vertues and the hardest Censurers of their owne infirmities and ever shew the least pity to themselves for if upon a privy search and enquiry into their owne bosomes they find any unlawfull desire or any lust that domineers in their brests they presently sentence it to death and Crucifie it This therefore is a signe that we are predestin'd to eternall life if we crucifie the flesh with its imbred vices and lusts They that do this belong to Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed as is most due all Glory and Honour from this time forth and for ever more Amen SYMBOLVM XII Moderatio affectuum Sub te erit appetitus eius et tu dominaberis illiut Genes 4. AN APPENDIX To the twelve Signes of PREDESTINATION Concerning the paucity or small number of those that are predestinated to salvation SAint BERNARD shall put an end to the former discourse Ser. 2. de Oct Pasel who sayes the Lord knowes who are his and he only knowes whom he hath chosen from the beginning of the World But what man is there that knoweth whether he deferves love or hatred Therefore if it be certaine that a man in regard of his daily infirmities cannot be alwayes certaine of his Salvation who then will not be much delighted when one shall offer to his consideration the signes of Election And what rest can our Spirits find in themselves untill we have gotten some sure testimonies that we are predestinated to eternall joyes Faithfull and true is the word most worthy of all acceptation which commends unto us infallible testimonies and pledges of our salvation In this word indeed there is ministred comfort to the Efect and all manner of excuse is taken from the reprobate For when the signes and markes of our predestination are discovered he that neglects them is manifestly convinced that he disregards the state of his Soule and makes nothing of Heaven the Land of the living By right such a man ought to blame none but himselfe who will not understand nor be saved God has not by a blind Chance predestined these to Heaven and those to Hell knowne unto the Lord are his workes from the beginning of the world Act. 15. Prosp Resp 3. ad Object Gal. And Prosper saies That good men are not necessitated to perish because they are not predestinated but therefore not predestinated to life because God foresaw that by their wicked deeds they would deserve death Li. 1. ad simplic St. August consents with Prosper in this God saies he did not hate Esau as a man but as a man full of sin or as a notorious Sinner For God hates nothing in man but sin he saies also in another place thus It is sin alone that obstructs our way and stops our passage to Heaven We all hasten and post to one end or marke and there be divers paths and maine wayes in which we move and run to that end and many perish in their race The way that leads to life is narrow and thorny The way of perdition is spred with Roses soft and easie it is a descent into pleasant valleyes whereas the other is climbing up of high and rugged Mountaines Truth it selfe or Christ who is the