Saint Bernard calls it Againe by that parable in the Gospell of the Labourers Mat. 20.1 c. that were called into the Vineyard at seuerall houres in the day doe many wicked men take great incouragement to neglect the time of their calling repentance because they that were called in the last houre were accepted and rewarded equally with those which came in the first houre of the day But shew me which of those labourers being called did refuse to come It seemeth rather vnto mee that hereby they should learne without delay to repent when they are called to repēt at what time soeuer it be for he is not bound to vs but we to him Hee that saith when the wicked man turneth from his wickednesse that he hath committed Ezech. 18.27 and doth that which is lawfull and right shall saue his soule aliue doth say also It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.27 for old age is like to flint you may breake it before you can soften it In youth sinnes are few and feeble but by continuance they grow to be as strong as Giants and increase into mightie armies And where Salomon said before to the yong man Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Eccles 12.1 in the same verse hee also sheweth the reason of the same and therfore saith Before thy euill dayes come and yeares approach wherein thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them These are the reasons for which Salomon would haue his yong man not to put off in the age of youth which is most prime and teachable the remembrance of his Creator and his repentance and they are taken from the many infirmities and withdrawings that are to be found in old age when youth is abused As much as if Salomon should haue said Well my sonne thou art now yong lustie and actiue of good apprehension and sharpe conceit indued with fresh and strong faculties of wit and remembrance thy feete are nimble thy sight is good and thy hearing perfect now therefore serue God and repent whiles thou mayest the time will come when thou wilt be old weake and sickly dull in apprehending and of bad capacitie and remembrance without good legges to bring thee to Church without a good eare to heare at Church and either without eyes or darke-sighted and not able to reade long nor to see a good letter but thorow spectacles Then it will bee too late to doe any good seruice to God thy Creator This I take to bee the Wisemans meaning in these words which teacheth vs that old age is no fit time wherein to begin repentance and godlinesse when the greene and fresh age of youth hath beene consumed in vanities The Israelites are complained of by the Lord in Malachy Mal. 1.8 that they offered the blinde for sacrifice and the lame and sicke for a hallowed thing And if yee offer the blinde for sacrifice is it not euill and if yee offer the lame and sicke is it not euill Offer it now vnto the Gouernour will he be pleased with thee or accept of thy person saith the Lord of Hostes He that would not haue a beast while he had no eyes in his seruice would haue thee while thou hast eyes to serue him the sicke and the lame were no good offerings then Leu. 22.20 as being forbidden in the Law and be they good ware now in the sicke and lame bodie of a man that hath desperately put off his repentance and turning to God till he can neither draw winde nor legge Moses knew this and therefore bore this burden yong and whiles his legges were able to beare him for the text saith Heb. 11.24 That when he was come to age he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter that is would not liue in delicacies while he had strength to liue vnto God Ioseph also in his beautie and faire person turned his backe to his tempting Mistresse Gen. 39.10.12 and his face to the Lord hee would not put off to serue God till olde age had made wrinckles in his faire face and his skinne withered Iosiah a good King 2. Chro. 34.3.4.5.6 in the eight yeere of his raigne and sixteenth of his age when he was yet a childe began to seeke after his God the God of Dauid his Father and in the twelfth yeere of his raigne and twentieth of his age made a famous reformation What So soone and so yong So saith the Scripture and so it was without controuersie For Gods children take the good dayes of youth for good duties and not the euill dayes of sickly and saplesse old age as commonly the children of the world doe Samuel serued God in his minoritie 1. Sam. 3.19 and grew in spirit as he shot vp in yeeres he was a good man and the better because a good yong man And Timothy from a child did know the holy Scriptures 2. Tim. 3.15 as the Apostle Saint Paul witnesseth for him The reasons why we must thus begin to repent betimes are these viz. First repentance as it can neuer come too soone where sinne is gone before so it must needs with much adoe and not without some speciall worke of God ouertake so many sinnes of youth and manhood so farre and much before it Secondly old age is full of wearinesse and trouble and where we haue elbow-roome in youth we cannot turne vs in old age perhaps we shall neither heare nor see nor goe nor sit without paine and torment in all parts and is this say you a fit condition of life and time of age to serue God in But say that the forcible working of the holy Spirit like a great gale of winde be able to blow thee home on the sodaine yet art thou not sure to haue it And doest thou thinke seeing thou wilt not repent know God in youth that hee will know thee at these yeeres and in this case and state And wilt thou bestow on Satan the beautie strength and freshnesse of youth offer to God the wrinkles weaknesse and foule hew of old age or when thou hast giuen away the flower of thy youth to Gods enemie wilt thou offer to God who will haue the first and deserues the best the dregges and leauings To all such I say if you will not know God in your youth hee will neuer know thee for ought that thou knowest when thou art gray-headed If as hath beene said thou wilt not giue him the yong and sound and that which is without blemish he will neuer take in good part the old and sicke and euill fauoured which no man will giue to his friend nor dare offer to his prince If thou wilt not when thou art quick-witted when thou art come to the yeares of dotage he will not If thou wilt not heare him in his day thou shalt crie in thy day that is in the euill day and shalt not bee
left being obedient It was neuer beautifull and cheerefull since it waxed old in youth through manifold attaxes and disorders and at this day lyes bedrid waiting for the comming of the Son of God And we full well know and are taught by the reading of the Scripture and also by experience that men are not so long liued nor of that goodly tall proportion or strong constitution of bodie as in former ages For the world as a voice out of a bush telleth Esdras 2. Esdr 14.14 hath lost his youth and the times beginne to waxe old and we are borne weaker and more feeble then all creatures and had we not some body to receiue vs when we come into the world woe were it with vs wee might make a short and wofull stay or tragedie to bee borne to weepe to die We haue no cause to perswade vs that this is the golden age but rather that according to the dreame of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 2. The golden head the siluer breasts the brasen thighes are long since past and wee now liue in the time of the Iron legges the feete whereof are partly yron partly clay In the fortunate Islands beyond the Atlantick seas in the vttermost borders of Ethiopia where the people that liue there are called Macrobij for their long life a man perhaps may liue a long life but what countrey may bee found where a man may auoid the sickle of Death Hence it was that Hormisda did answere the Emperour Constantine demaunding him of the bewtie of Rome stately buildings goodly Statues and sumptuous Temples if he thought that in all the world were any such Citie Surely saith Hormisda there is indeede none comparable vnto it yet hath it one thing saith hee common to all other Cities for men die heere as they die in all other places And what doth it profite to liue long and wickedly and die at length It were better like Cadmus progeny to die the same houre wee were borne What Duellum is this betweene death and nature And if God should not suffer vs to die alas what a miserable life would this be when we come to be old and full of sorrowes Eccle. 11.1 aches sicknesses diseases and griefes When our sences are gone and we haue no pleasure in any thing And when as the Psalmist saith Psal 90.10 our life is but a labour and a sorrow In which age we had need if we haue our sences then to pray hartily to the Lord. Psal 71.9.18 Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth me And also When I am old and gray headed O God forsake me not And alas if we should not then die we would wish to die and say it were better a thousand times to die then to liue For death saith Iesus the sonne of Syrach is better then a better life Eccle. 30.17 or continuall sicknesse And therefore we reade of a certaine Islâ—nd where they liue so long that they are faine to bee carried out thence that they might die And God hath prouided wonderous well for mankind that whereas any man may take our life from vs yet there is none that can take Death from vs who can stoppe the winde that it blow not Who can hinder death that it come not If Iacob counted his time but short Gen. 47.9 hauing already liued an hundred and thirty yeeres what reckoning may we make of our time which is farre shorter Gen. 5.5.27 In the time before the Floud the age of man was great Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeeres Noah nine hundred and fiftie Gen. 9.29 Methusalem nine hundred sixtie nine yeeres but after the Floud in Terahs dayes who was father to Abraham Gen. 11.32 Gen. 25.7 Deut. 34.7 Iosh 24.29 the age of man was a great deale shortned from nine hundred brought downe to two hundred and twentie and vnder For Terah liued two hundred and fiue yeeres Abraham his sonne not so long one hundred seuentie fiue yeeres Iacob in his time brought it to a shorter account one hundred and thirty Moses 120. and Ioshua one hundred and ten yeeres And yet are wee not truely said to liue any one of these yeeres vnlesse it be religiously and holily in Christ as a certaine worthie souldier seruing in the warres a long time vnder Adrian the Emperour yet in the end returned to his house and liued Christs souldier where and in which manner after he had liued seuen yeares he departed this life and being readie to die commanded that it should be written on his tombe Heere lyeth Similis for so was his name who was a man many yeeres and liued but seuen accounting that he liued no longer then he liued a Christian How many spend their daies in war after the flesh vnder the Emperour of the Ayre not vnder Adrian who yet I cannot say for seuen yeeres I would I could truely say seuen daies or seuen houres before their death cast away these weapons of sinne that it might be written vpon their grauestone for their Epitaph that seuen dayes or seuen houres before their last houre they not only had a being but a life in the world and not onely were but also liued Therefore it is our duetie to liue well that at the day of death we may speede well and to liue well should be the delight and sweete perfume of euery Christian Thus liue well that thou mayest die well and after death eternally speed well Psal 90.12 Yea So teach vs to number our daies saith the Prophet that we may apply our hearts vnto wisdome Where we are to obserue that he speaketh heere not of weekes or moneths or yeeres but of daies noting thereby the shortnesse of our life in this word Daies And the same phrase is vsed of all the holy men of God vpon the like occasion Iacob being asked by Pharaoh how old he was Gen. 47.8.9 tould him That few and euill were the dayes of his pilgrimage speaking of the time to note the shortnesse of the time or of his life he names not yeeres but daies and speaking of the toyles and troubles of life he calles it a pilgrimage as to be euery day hastely iourneying towards our end Iob 9.25.26 Iob 14.14 Iob in like manner numbring his dayes My dayes saith he are more swift then a post and swifter then the ships And againe he saith All the daies of my appointed time will I waite till my change come The time of Iobs attending or waiting on God for his helpe is the whole terme or acte of his life which he calleth not yeeres but dayes so hee measureth his short time by the inch of dayes rather then by the span of moneths or long ell of yeeres teaching thereby that the dayes of man are few and his life short vpon earth Our Sauiour Christ teaching vs to pray Matth. 6.11 bids vs to pray thus Giue vs this day our
decree of God is vnchangeable Esay 46.10 His counsell saith the Prophet shall stand and he will doe all his pleasure Secondly it is an article of our faith grounded on the word of God and from thence saith the Article he shall come to iudge both the quicke and the dead Eccles 12.14 Thirdly the Scripture saith That God shall bring euery work vnto iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill But all this is not done heere for heere many matters are cloaked and carried in a mist that deserue iudgement and merit condemnation Therefore that God may be iust in his sayings there must be a sessions of gaole-deliuery which the Scriptures cal the iudgement of the last day Fourthly the godly doe heere groane vnder many miseries the vngodly wallow in many delights and pleasures The rich liue delicately and Lazarus is in paine therefore it is necessary as it is certaine that a day should come wherein the Lord may make knowne his righteousnesse and magnifie his iustice before his most glorious throne that they who haue liued merily and dishonored God might liue in torments of fire and they whose life hath beene miserable seruing the Lord might be comforted for euer Some haue offâ—nded deepely and haue not beene touched by the Magistrate some haue suffered great rebuke and sometimes death who haue done good and deserued not only fauour but recompence and therefore a day must come and is appointed wherein the Lord that is iust 2. Thess 1.6.7.8 will recompence tribulation to all that haue troubled the righteous and rest to them that were troubled On the otherside would it not bee hard for the godly who haue here endured the crosse for the ioy that was set before them if there should not come a time of refreshing from God And would it not too much obdurate the wicked who drinke iniquitie as water if they should escape all punishments and vengeance here and also after death Fiftly this is shadowed out in that Housholder Mat. 20.8.10 Matth. 25.19 who wheÌ„ euening was come called the labourers and gaue euery man his hire and peny And if a wise master will recken with his seruants shal we thinke that Wisedome it selfe will not one day recken with impeniten sinners and call them before him for his money that is pretious graces of wit learning authority wealth and other outward and inward ornaments of life which they haue consumed on their lusts Sixtly euery mans conscience doth by a trembling feare as in Felix at one time or another Acts 24.26 iustifie this point of a iudgement to come And therefore as the Floud of waters once drowned the world Gen. 7.1.7 except a few who were sauâ—d in the Arke so it is certaine that the floud and tempest of the last day with fire shal consume it and all therein 2. Pet. 2.5 except such as Christ hath or then will gather into the little Arke of his Church In the euening of the world and when there shall be no more time he wil cal the labourers before him giuing them the peny or pay of euerlasting life but for the idle and loyterers he will put them out of the vineyard Matth. 7.23 and out of Christ and send them with sinners to the place prepared for them as they haue liued without the Church or idle in it so when the labourers receiue their peny thâ—y shall heare this sentence Depart from mee yee that worke iniquitie I know you not Thus it is proued not onely to be certaine but necessarie that there should bee a iudgement which we are to vnderstand know and wisely prouide for But some will say seeing men come to their account at their death what needeth any other day of audit or hearing to whom I answere That men at their death receiue but priuate iudgement but heere they shall receiue publike sentence then they are iudged in their soules onely heere they shall be in soule and body This first is but a close sessions the other is an open and solemne assise In the first much of their shame is hid heere they shal be ashamed to the full and vtterly confounded If our owne lawes doe not condemne and execute malefactors in prison but in open place and manner for their greater shame it is great reason that wicked sinners should not priuately in the graues as in prison be iudged and led to execution but be brought to the publike skaffold and barre of solemne sessions there to receiue their shame and sentence together and not to be executed by a close death in the gaole but be brought forth to suffer vpon the high stage of the world in the sight of Saints and Angels where all eyes may see and behold them And that this day cannot be farre off it may appeare both according to the prophecies of holy Fathers as also the truth of the Scriptures Augustine in his booke on Genesis saith against the Maniches That the world should last sixe ages The first from Aadam to Noah the second from Noah to Abraham the third from Abraham to Dauid the fourth froÌ„ Dauid to the Transmigration to Babylon the fift from the Transmigration to the comming of our Sauiour Christ in the flesh and the sixt from the comming of our Sauiour in the flesh to his comming againe to Iudgement So that according to this Prophecie we liue in the last age 1. Iohn 2.18 which last age is called by Saint Iohn the last houre And how long this last houre shall continue Reue. 1.11 he onely that is Alpha and Omega the first and the last knoweth The Hebrewes they boast of the Prophecie of Eliah a great man in those dayes who prophecied that the world should last sixe thousand yeeres two thousand before the Law two thousand vnder the Law two thousand from Christs comming in the flesh to his comming againe vnto Iudgement If this Prophecie bee true then cannot the world last foure hundred yeeres But leauing men and comming to the Scriptures which cannot erre Saint Paul saith 1. Cor. 10.11 That wee are they vpon whom the ends of the world are come If therefore the end of the world were come vpon them that liued aboue one thousand and fiue hundred yeeres agoe then surely Doomes day cannot now be farre off Saint Iames saith Iam. 5.9 Behold the Iudge standeth before the dore Saint Iohn Baptist preached repentance to the Iewes saying Matth. 3.2 Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Saint Peter saâ—th 1. Pet. 4.7 The end of all things is at hand Though no man can shew the fingers of this hand The Apostle Saint Iude saith Iude 1.14.15 And Enoch the seuenth also from Adam prophecied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute iudgement vpon all and to conuince all that are vngodly among them of all their vngodly deeds which they haue vngodly committed and