to the earth and his soule to God that gaue it The third at the end of the world when body and soule revnited shal enioy heauen So likewise a wicked man hath three distinct deaths Dead in sinne while he liues dead in soule when hee dyes dead in body and soule when both are adiudged to eternall condemnation Malis fit mors sine morte fin◠fine fine defectus sine defectu Quia mors viuit fints semper incipit desicere defectus nescit To labour not to lye is labour in vaine it is to deferre not to auoid To forget to dye and hope to liue is dangerous securitie This let a wise man doe quod ne cesse est ne timeat quod incertum est semper expectet Seeke not consolation against death but let Death bee thy consolation for there is no comfort against death but in death Supremum necoptes nec metuas diem Mortem optare malum timere peius Now to make Death easie Thinke of the glory that followes it Who will not endure a few pangs for infinite pleasures The bitter pill promising health is swallowed willingly Mors non anfert vitam sed in melius transfert That the aspect of Death may not trouble thee looke not vpon Death in death but looke beyond it Thinke not so much of it as of the happinesse that comes by it Erit somnus dilectis initium refrigerij scala montis haereditas secura Ianua vitae ingressus in tabernaculum Therefore saith Iob From sixe troubles it deliuereth thee in septima that is at point of death non tanget te malum Fit your selfe for it and you will neuer feare it doe by it as you doe in other things when you would goe sleepe you put off your cloathes you draw the curtaines and goe to bed Thus as it were acting sleepe before you goe to sleepe So addresse your selfe to death before hand Bring your selfe acquainted with it that when it comes you may entertaine it non vt hostis sed vt hospes not as a foe but as a friend not as a stranger but as a guest that you had long looked for and bid welcome Death more blessed then thy Birth What a griefe is it to see some great men build stately houses as if they should alwayes liue and yet they to liue as if they had but mortall soules It is good counsell Effice mortem tibi familiarem vt possis cum sors tulerit illi laetus alacriter obuiam exire Those Philosophers were more mortified who had their graues alwayes open before their gates that going out or comming in they might alwayes thinke of Death Good Ioseph of Arimathea built his Sepulchre in the middest of his garden So doe thou amid all thy pleasures and delights thinke of death and that wil coole and temper all thy vaine desires It will so qualifie thee to the world and the world to thee as thou wilt not much care for it In this world wee are all Benonies the sonnes of Sorrow The way to Heauen is by weeping crosse Hi motus animorum atq haec certamina tanta Pulueris exigut tactu cōpressa quiescunt It is obserued that most of other creatures liue long but dying perish all to nothing Man that is short-liu'd he dying liues eternally Thinke but of this and you will thinke as S. Bernard did that life was little better then hell were it not for the hope of Heauen Surely Christ would not haue dyed but that wee might die with safety Hee by death in death did deliuer vs from death And did Christ dye for mee that I might liue with him I will not therefore desire to liue long from him It is a token of little loue to God to be loth to goe to God All men goe willingly to see him whom they loue Our brother Ioseph liueth therefore though with Iacob I cannot say I will goe see him before I dye Yet Lord let mee dye that I may see him whom my soule loueth Liuing I cannot but dying I shall Let no difficulties hinder for since Adams fall none passeth vnto Paradise but by burning Seraphims The way to Canaan is cumbersome but knowing that our iourney leades to the land of promise wee passe it pleasantly Yet before wee come at Hierusalem we take in our way the valley of teares The swift Riuer of Iordan must be crossed before wee come to the sweet Waters of Siloam Let no delights tempt you prosperous fortunes may hinder a cheerefull dying but if pleasures of life allure not feares of death will neuer trouble Neminem aduersa conuincunt nisi quem secunda decipiunt Adam was set vpon in Paradise Iob on the dunghill yet Iob fortior in stercore quam Adam in Paradiso The very place of pleasure is dangerous In Paradise Adam could not be innocent but out of Paradise he was a good man For any thing in life lose not the cause of life nor iudge not of things by the face of things For life and death haue deceiueable vizards vnder the faire face of life lurkes griefe vnder the foule feature of death which is but fancy lies felicity Take off the mask and you shall change your minde loath that you loued and loue that you loathed Vita habitu casto cum non sit casta videtur Mors praeter cultum nil meretricis habet Now for the freedomes that come by Death Freedo by deat First it frees from all worldly iniuries Mors multorum malorum finis nullius boni Heere good men doe but liue and suffer benè agere male pati It is their portion and it is good for mee saith Dauid that I haue beene afflicted Non sentire mala non est hominis sed non ferre non esset viri Sufferings are greater trials then actions Secondly it ends all miseries Man in misery saith Iob longs for death and digs for it more then treasure Mors finis est non poena Nay saith one Nec finis nec paena bonis lex est non paena perire Death ends sinnes not life it reformes but doth not destroy Nature Vitiorum est Sepultura virtutum Resurrectio Thirdly it frees vs from all corporall infirmities Mors omnium dolorum solutio Life it selfe is a disease and we dye by corruption of humours whether they be of body or manners who thinke to heale all infirmities with an easier plaister then Death Delineamenta potius quam remedia podagraesuae ponunt Fourthly it frees vs from all bodily labours So saith the Spirit Blessed are they that die in the Lord they rest from their labours Adeo iuuat occupatum mori Fiftly it eases vs of all troubles Refrigeries est animae Refection to the Soule Were wee but in a throng wee thinke that man at ease who gets out first Noah when hee had beene tossed but a yeere vpon the waters Mount Ararat was to him a gladsome place for there the Arke rested So likewise miscrable man after many wearisome
hee liue the arrest of Death shall not alwayes keepe him Well said S. Austine The bodies of Saints shall bee raised tanta falicitate quanta felicitate with as much ease as happinesse Nam mors tantum intermittit vitam non eripit death doth not disanul but discontinue life By our rising wee are remitted to our better right a life which neuer dyes a morning which hath no Eue nor ending Me thinkes I heare death say of life as Iohn the Baptist said of Christ He that commeth after mee is before me Which is life O sweet word Life The best Monasyllable in the world Gods owne Attribute Deus viuit And my soule saith Iob shall liue for my Redeemer liueth And is this life but the child of this word Death then blessed also bee the word Death the mother of life I will no more call thee Marah but Naomi for thou art not bitter but sweet more pleasant though swifter in thy gate then the Row or Hinde The Stoike could say Mors est quae efficit vt nasci non sit supplicium But what saith S. Iohn I heard a voice from heauen saying Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord whose workes follow them they die no more death hath no more power ouer them all teares are wiped from their eyes Compare together the benefits of life and death and you shall clearely see how that death which seemes to dispossesse vs of all puts vs in possession of more thē that al. Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerū Tendimus in Latium sedes vbi fata quietas Ostendunt It is but being which wee haue by Nature or by Birth our better being is by Grace but our best being is in glory there wee cannot bee till death haue conueyed vs thither Esse naturae est benè esse gratiae optimum esse gloriae Better therefore is our last being by death then was our first being by birth Dicique beatus ante obitum nemo Birth brought mee into the world but that was misery allowing no vacation to sorrowes Ne natalem quidem excipit For crying was the first note of my being Calamitatis futurae propheta Death carries me from a world of miseries to a world of felicities Dies mortalis est fatalis Natiuitas Heere I dwell in a house of clay whose foundation is dust Death brings to an habitation made without hands euerlasting in the heauens Ad excelsa sublatus inter felices currit animus excipitque illum coetus sacer Birth brought mee to conuerse and haue commerce with men death brings mee to haue communion with Saints and fellowship with Angels yea to enioy visionem illam beatificam The immediate fruition of God and Christ Old father Iacob when he was told of his sonne Iosephs power in Egypt was not satisfied to heare of his honours but enquires of his life intimating that life to come is better then all the honours that are in Egypt or fortunes that are on earth nor yet did Iosephs life content him without being present with him and therefore said I will goe downe and see him counting it better to behold with the eye and yetmost sinnes begin and creepe in at the eyes then to walke in desires Implying that the best things that are pleasure vs not in their being but in our enioying them What then shall bee the ioy The ioy soule dy at the meeting when soule and body separated for a season shall meete againe in ioy and mutually enioy one the other The sense of this delight and contentment did well appeare in that meeting betwixt Iacob and Ioseph whom mutuall losse and separation for a while did more endeare each to other Intermission of comfort hath this aduantage that it sweetens our delight more in the returne then was abated in the forbearance And was Iacob glad to leaue his countrey the land of Promise to see his yonger sonne Ioseph though in Egypt What then shall bee the soules ioy to end a pilgrimage in a strange land and goe to see his elder brother Christ in heauen an inheritance more pleasant then that land of Goshen freed from all the encombrances of this Egypt Therefore said S. Paul I desire to be dissolued that I may bee with Christ For this tedious mortalitie pleasant it how man can will be intollerable if death doe not disburthen it because long liuing so loads vs with sinne as the burthen thereof tyres euery man at last It is such an inmate as will roost in vs as long as life affords it house-roome nor wil it lodge alone but still one sinne will call in another but through death the very body of death and burthen of sinne are both cast out together Sith then the life I now enioy is beset with death tends to death and ends in death I will no longer mistake tearmes calling that death which is life and that life which is death Hanc esse mortem quam nos vitam putamus Illam vitam quam nos pro morte timemus said Lactantius More diuinely said S. Austine Per vitam ad mortem transitus est per mortem ad vitam reditus est Therefore the Pagans did not ill to celebrate the day of their death with mirth and the day of their birth with mourning For although the soule be then infused when man is made Death the regeneration of the soule yet it is new borne when man dyes His bodie being the wombe and death the midwife which deliuers that to sorrow this to glory The Prophet Ieremie so little ioyed in his birth that he said Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed Quis pauet quis flet quis eget quis errat Solus heusortes homo sperat optat alget voluit explorat queritur Malorum omnia plena said a diuine Poer But to assure there are ioyes in death What saith the Scripture vnto well dying men Reioyce and lift vp your heads for now your Redemption draweth neere The third generall diuision III. When Death is to be prepared for and how IT was the saying of the diuine Philosopher Plato There is nulla salutar is Philosophia The time when but perpetua mortis meditatio and sine ista meditatione tranquillo esse animo nemo potest Scipio was wont to say Mortis meditatio Is vita sapientis and that it was the most honourable Philosophy to study a mans mortality Politiques say Totâvitâ discendum est viuere But saith Seneca Hoc magis miraberis Totâ vitâ discendum est mori Fooles would faine doe in the end that which wise men doe in the beginning Prepare for their end but carelesse men thinke that the signiory and gouernment of times is at their commands to doe what they list when they list We haue little power ouer the present much lesse ouer the future Therefore King Dauid cryed betimes Lord let me know mine end and the measure of my daies what it is and
long time Et vita ipsa si scias vti longa est Vir bonus bis viuit saith the Spaniard Amâ—liat at at is spatium sibi vir bonus hoc est viuere bis vita posse priore frui He liues twice that leades his first life well Alexander had a good account of his age reckoning by victories not by dayes So should Christians count their dayes by euery sinne they conquer in that day Numbring of dayes saith Saint Austine is not numerus dierum quis sit but quî sit Tres sunt dies hominis saith Saint Hierom Dies Conditionis dies Conuersionis dies Resurrectionis One day certifieth another saith Dauid Time lent vs flyes away in the time that is lent euery moment comming being the death of that is past But weigh well euery moment for it is of so great moment as that vpon it depends eternity of time to come Vnto dying well there are three things most requisite Three things requisite to dying well First to bee often meditating vpon death Secondly to be dying dayly Thirdly to dye by little and little Often meditation of Death The first step to dying well brings you to die in ease alleuiates paines expels feares eases cares cures sinnes corrects death it selfe Quo modo non morimur cùm viuitur mortuis wee liue with so many deaths about vs that wee cannot but often thinke of dying Euery humour in vs engenders a disease enough to kill vs so that our bodies are but liuing graues and we die not because wee are sicke but because wee liue and when we recouer sicknesse wee escape not death but the disease Doe then as the Preacher counsels what you haue to doe that doe quickely For in the graue whither thou goest there is neither worke nor discourse nor trauaile nor wisedome nor conuersation nor fruition of any thing all is entombed in silence darkenesse ouershadowing it Measure not life spatio sed actu because life is ordained for Action not for fruition If thou hast any good to doe for the Church the Commonwealth or thy Friends doe it quickly Hast thou much goods laid vp in store make thee friends with thy Mammon but sing not a requiem to thy soule say not vainely Viuamus dum viuimus sors fortuna vt volet ordinet vita iam in tuto est Remember Hac nocte know that after the day of vanitie comes the night of Iudgement then both light and delight goe out together Sadly and suddenly shalt thou find all worldly pleasures turned into waking dreames Et quae parasti cuius erunt All the towers in the ayre that thou hast built Vno ictu prosternentur On the other side doest thou eate the bread of carefulnesse and drinke the water of wearisome affliction Heere is Manna bread from heauen and water after which non sities There is no such cordiall to comfort cares or temper sorrows as often and seriously to thinke of death and to be acquainted with it betimes Priuacie with death a souereigne cordiall against death for through acquaintance death will leese his horror like vnto an ill face though it be as formidable as a Monster yet often viewing will make it familiar and free it from distaste It is said that Philostrates liued seuen yeeres in his tombe that hee might be acquainted with it against his bones came to lye in it Some Philosophers haue beene so rapt in this Contemplation of Death and Immortalitie that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it as if a faire death were to bee preferred before a pleasant life This is well for Natures part Where the power of death lyeth and Moralists thinke it enough for their part but Christians must goe further and search deeper They must search where the power of death lies They shall finde that the power of euery particular mans death lyes in his owne sins that death neuer hurts a man but with his owne weapon it alwayes turnes vpon vs some sin it findes in vs. The sting of death is sinne Plucke out the sting death cannot hurt Quid huius viuere est diû mori Dye often and you shall be sure to dye well The second step to dying well The second step is to dye dayly Morior ne moriar I dye dayly saith S. Paul Singulos dies singulas vitas putae qui enim â—mnes dies tanquà m vitam ordinat crastinum nec optat nec timet The old saying is as good Doe that euery day which thou wouldest doe the same day that thou dyest Bonum est consumere vitam ante mortem Make that voluntarie which is necessarie and yeeld that quickly as a gift which you must pay as a debt at last Did men know that death were onely an end of life and no more euery man for his owne ends would bee a disturber of the worlds peace while hee liued and seeke to make his owne but when he dyed Hee that dies daily seldome dies deiectedly so he that will liue when he dies must dye while hee liues The widow that liues in pleasure said Saint Paul is dead while shee liues Liue holily you shal die happily Studeto talem esse in vita qualem velis reperiri in morte A liuing man is subiect to a double death Two sorts of death where to euery man liuing is subiect The one naturall the other spirituall Naturall death doth but separate the bodie from the soule But the spirituall death separates the soule from God Of all other it is the most desperate state of life to liue naturally and to bee dead spiritually Thou hast a name to liue but thou art dead said Saint Iohn but of the Prodigall child returned from his euill wayes it is said This my sonne was dead but is now aliue Wee count it a fearefull thing for a man to bee author of his owne death A sinfull life slayes the soule and so while we liue we kill or lose our better life The commandement that sayes Thou shalt d ee no murder specially forbids the murthering of our owne soules but certainly that which depriues vs of our better life makes of all other the worst death It is therefore a holy wisedome for a man to let his sins go before him Moriantur ante te vitia They to die actually thou heere virtually and so to liue that when thou art to die thou haue nothing to doe but die Atchieuement of riches pleasures honours haue beene painefull yet if these things leaue not vs by accident we leaue them by death and at our death we shall plainely tell them as Iob said Miserable comforters are you all If life delight then vse it yet so as a Traueller doth his Inne for a night and away and in thy iourney follow not the common tracke Nam ad Deum faciens iter per trita si itur longiùs abitur But do as the doubtful passenger aske questions of euery one you meete that can set you in your
mortalibus viuere cum exijssent ex ijs emori Let mee euer worship the great God of this little god my Soule Et ne plus vltra Onely this I know That to no creature else God hath giuen a liuing soule nor is there hope in any creature else but man and this hope is giuen for sustentation of his soule Hee that contemplates these things wil beare himselfe too loftily and thinke himselfe too good to looke so low as vpon the sublunarie things of this life Angustus est animus quem terrena delectant How then can this Beautie bee pleased to inhabit long contubernio isto All it needs to care is but Sepulture to that body which once had the Honour to be the Temple of such a ghest But because many times the houses of the dead and the vrned bones doe meete with foule hands for this also Nature hath prouided vt disertè ait Maecenas Nec tumulum quaero sepelit Natura relictos It is one of the daily petitions of euery good Soule Adueniat Regnum tuum Thy Kingdome come O Lord Yet saith Ambrose Hoc nitimur reluctamur For Quis sine querela moritur Quis non gemens quis non recusans exit Quis cum accesserit non tergiuersatur timet plorat In all things else Mans crosse Nature obserue how contrarily wee carry our selues The labourer from his work hasts to his bed The Mariner rowes hard to gaine the Port. The Traueller is glad when hee is within kenning of his Inne yet we when Death comes to put vs into our Port shun it as a rocke Wee feare what wee should wish and wish what we should feare O fortunatiorem Marcellum eo tempore quo exitum suum Bruto approbauit Mans better choice quà m quo populo Romano consulatum Heare O Christian what the Pagan saith Quid ni non timeat qui mori sperat It is harder to make a true Philosopher patient of life then of Death Hic spe mortis patienter dolet taedio doloris libenter moritur Hunc fert illam expectat sed expectata Mors tardè venit I am in a straight betwixt two said Saint Paul whether to liue in the flesh were profitable for mee and which to chuse I wote not Yet at last resolued liue or die Christ was to him aduantage Therefore to bee loosed and to bee with Christ was best of all Till then God grant that I may haue vitam in patientia mortem verò in desiderio So shall I fulfill my course with ioy life not deare nor death grieuous In elder times both wise men great men Life and death compared and vaine men had Death in such estimation and so vndervalued life as they fondly said Had man beene worthy to know what life was before he receiued it hee would haue beene loth to accept it Nemo vitam acciperet si daretur scientibus Life would haue kept vs in slauerie but that Death freed vs. They counted death but the retreite of life optimum Naturae inuentum for by it euery man might make himselfe happy no man be longer miserable then he will Placet no vita viue Non placet licet co reuerti vnde venisti They thought no state miserable but that which Death could not remedy Wherefore say they a wise man liues but so long as he should not so long as hee can If Death were not in our power wee should desire it more then now wee feare it Magistra rerum ratio taught them that common safety lay in Death inuitum qui seruat idem facit occidenti Life was subiect to many fortunes sed in eo qui scit mori nil posse fortunam This made them cherish these desperate conceits Nil referre faciatne finem an accipiat For though life be not yet Death is at a mans command Mori nihil aliud est quà m velle in which respect no man could complaine of life Quia neminem tenet If any man did complaine this was their wish Mors vtinam pauidos vitae subducere nollet sed virtus hanc sola daret In scorne some said Egone expectem vel morbi crudelitatem vel hominis cum possim medio exire tormento aduersa discutere But their brauest conceit was worst that it was genus mortis generosum for a man to be author of his owne death say they if permitted to desire death why ill to giue it to themselues Sed furor est ne moriare mori They seemed thus to maintaine their assertion by reason as wellas courage Death is naturall therefore we come Viuere noluit qui mori non vult hee is sorry that he was a man that is not glad to dye It is ineuitable therefore we must be resolute feras non culpes quod vitari non potest Fooles fly it old men attend it wise men wish it Nay some so prided themselues in this way that for Care Feare or Griefe they would not dye Non inferam mihi manus propter dolorem nor yet for feare stultum est timore Mortis mori Nor yet the threats of torments Sic mori vinciest Sed si coeperat suspecta esse Fortuna si multa occurrebant molesta tranquillitatem turbantia then it was Fortitude to dispatch themselues How or with what it mattered not Scalpello aperitur ad illam magnam libertatem via puncto securitas constat said Seneca when he bled to death Cato will die because the Commonwealth declined Nerua because the lawes were not kept Siluianus because he would not liue at the mercy of his enemy Lucretia to couer a dishonour But Plato and his Socrates were of another minde Death was to be expected till Nature called for it or Iustice tooke it For Religions sake men may ponere animas but suas not for ostentation nor in discontent Inde facult as fuit non ponendi animam sed pendendi Bona res est mori suâ morte Life was giuen to manage to the vtmost and to make the best of it Euery one was heere set sentinell not to depart the place till his Captaine calls him off Non est optima quae placet sed quaedecet That Death was best which was well recollected quietly suffering what it could not possibly preuent Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest It is not enough to die with a Romane courage nor that the cause of Death be iust but it must bee also necessarie vnsought ineuitable But let goe this discourse my Contemplation lyes another way The kindes of Death as of life are two The one bodily The kinde of death the other spirituall As bodily life is the coniunction of body and soule So bodily Death is the separation of soule and body And as a godly man hath three degrees of life The first in this life when Christ liues in him for the soule of a good mans soule is the Spirit of God within The second when his body returnes