Hugo is his good pleasure his will is his operation and his will is his permission Sixtly doth not God will contrarie thinges if he doe will those things which he doth in his law forbid Yea saith Perkins if hee should will that the same thing should come to passe and not come to passe in the same respect and manner but God forbiddeth sin as it is an euill and doth will it should come to passe as it hath respect of good Here vpon Thomas Aquinas saith Deum velle mala sieri Deum velle mala non sieri non opponuntur contradictoriè cum vtrumque sit affirmatum this is no contradiction to say that God doth will that euills should bee done that God doth will that euils should not be done seeing both the propositions are affirmatiue Seuenthly doth God make men sinners or doth he onely order them Saint Austen saith God makes men iust and orders them peccatores autem in quantum peccatores non facit sed ordinat tantum but God makes not sinners so farre forth as they be sinners but onely orders and disposes them And againe as God is the best Creatour of good willes it a malarum voluntatum iustissimus ordinator so is he a most righteous orderer of euill willes Eightly is it iniurious to God to say that hee drawes good out of euill and vseth euills as a wise Phisitian doth poison vnto good Clemens Alexandrinus saith it is a point of diuine wisedome vertue and power not onely to doe good things but also to bring the deuises of the wicked to some good and profitable end vtiliter iss quaevidentur mala vtatur and to vse those things profitably which seeme euill Austen saith Deus quasdam voluntates suas vtique bonas implet per malorum hominum voluntates malas God doth accomplish certain good wils of his by the naughty wils of naughty men And Fulgentius saith De malo opere cuinslibet non desinit ipse bonum operari that God ceaseth not of euery mans euill worke to worke that which is good But tell me yet againe though God put no corruption into any mans heart yet doth hee not incline the will to sinne by offering a man obiects and by leauing him to himselfe as a Shepheard stirres vp his sheepe to eate by setting Hay or Grasse before it or as a Huntsman stirres vp his Greyhound to a course by shewing him the Hare and letting the slip goe Manifestum est c. It is manifest saith Saint Austen that God doth worke in the heartes of men Ad Inclinandas corum voluntates to incline their willes whither he pleaseth either to good things for his mercie or to euill things for their deserts sometimes verily with his open iudgement sometimes secret but alwaies iust And Bellarmine saith that by a figure God exciteth men to sinne As an Huntsman setteth the Dogge vpon the Hare by letting goe the Slip that held in the Dogge If these things then which are spoken of sinne in generall be applyed vnto the particular sinne of Murder it will appeare that euery Murderer doth as it is said of the Murtherers of our Sauiour Whatsoeuer the hand and counsell of God had fore-determined to be done and that God doth permit limit and order him as it seemeth best in his holy wisedome Now wee haue seene how God is the Ordainer and Inflicter of Death But further wee must know that death comes by Sinne as the Apostle sheweth and before sinne there was no death at all For death is the wages of sinne Quoniam mors non naturae conditio ised poena peccati sequatur necesse est poena peccatum Because death saith Saint Austen is not the condition of nature but the punishment of sinne it is necessary that the punishment should follow the sinne For it is most certaine that God hath not made death as though be were in loue with death for it self sake neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the liuing but vnrighteousnesse bringeth to death and man by forsaking God hath procured his owne death And although as saith Siracides Life and Death come of the Lord yet not vpon the same ground For vita is a donante Life is a gift of God that giues it but Mors is a vindicante Death is a punishment inflicted of God auenging as Saint Austen teacheth But let vs heare Saint Paul By one man saith he that is by Adaem sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And that wee may briefely dispatch the causes of Death we must vnderstand that as Death is of God For sinne so it comes by diuers meanes as hath beene toucht afore all which from the greatest to the smallestare determined ordered and directed by the Lord so as that none of them come to passe but according to his most holy prouidence And thus wee leaue the causes of death and come vnto the Subiects thereof Albeit Iesus Christ the Sonne of Mary dyed yet wee must know it was not by his owne desert for hee knew no sinne he was no Sinner but because it was his will to dye that by his death hee might deliuer vs from eternall death and sanctifie our death to be the doore of life vnto vs. And although Adam dyed yet it was not because hee was a man but because he was a Sinner For if Adam had neuer sinned Adam had neuer died because God had granted him this grace Vt posset non mori si eius mandatis obsequeretur as to bee able not to die if he did obey his precepts This then I say All the children of Adam by reason of sinne in which all but Christ are conceiued and borne are all without exception subiect vnto death By one man saith Saint Paul sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death went ouer All men The law of sinne saith Austen is that whosoeuer shall sinne must die The Law of death is whereby it is said to Man Thou art earth and vnto earth thou shalt returne Out of it we spring because wee are earth Et in terram ibimus propter meritum peccatiprimi hominis And to earth we shall returne for the first mans sinnes desert But you will say How is it that Infants of a day olde doe dye seeing that they commit no sinne I answere Sinne is either the corruption of nature or any euill which proceedes as the fruites thereof or thus sinne is either originall or actuall the former is in Infants though not the latter For euen Infants are conceiued and borne in sinne being naturally vncleane and guiltie of Adams first transgression The stame of the roote corrupted is so propagated diffused through all the branches which arise thereout that as Saint Austen truely speaketh Nec infans quidem
the stomacke digesteth and the breath comes goes but death depriues a man wholly for a time of all vse of his body Againe a man wakes out of his sleepe and returnes vnto the workes of his calling a fresh but a dead man wakes not to the workes of his former life neither can hee bee awakened out of the sleepe of death but by the power of God of whom alone the day of our resurrection is seene and knowne Thus much for the things where vnto death may be compared There remaine certaine Questions concerning death worthy to bee soiled which I remembred not in time to set in their more proper places neither are they here so methodically digested as plainely resolued First it may bee demanded whether any death may be said to be naturall seeing it destroyes life which is according to nature Quae cupit suum esse which delights still to be I answere a thing is said to be naturall more waies then one Death being simply in it selfe considered is not naturall but forasmuch as that which doth necessarily follow the nature of a thing and hath the beginning or ground of his existence therein to which that which is violent is opposed is called naturall That death therefore which followes the consumption and dissipation of the naturall moysture by the naturall heat seeing it comes of causes which are within the bodie in that respect is called naturall Secondly it may againe be asked what naturall death is properly I answere that properly is called naturall death when naturall heat faileth by reason that the moysture is dried vp by it as a lamp goeth out when the oyle is spent And this death is with much ease and with little or no paine as Aristotle writeth Thirdly it may be asked what violent death is properly I answere that is called violent death when by accident eyther the moysture is drawne out of the bodie or the heat extinguished by some inward or outward violence and oppression Inward violence is by poyson gluttonie drunkennesse or such excesse as when a lampe is drowned in the oyle Outward violence is when a man is strangled with an halter as a fire sodainely choaked with some huge heape of earth or ashes throwne vpon it and many moe oppressions of life there are of this kinde So that taking violent death in this largenesse of sense it will appeare that fewe die a naturall death Fourthly it may be demanded when a man doth die or when the soule doth leaue the bodie I answere then when there is a defect of those instruments of the soule whereby life is prolonged When the bodie is become vnfit for the soule to worke with then doth the soule forsake the bodie which it loues most dearely and not before Death comes not by the impatience fickle-mindednesse of the soule but by reason of the impotencie and vnaptnesse of the bodie as a workeman leaues his toole when it is become altogether vnfit for his vse Fiftly but whence is it that one man dieth sooner then another that nature failes in one sooner then in another I answere the highest reason hereof is Gods decree but the Principall naturall cause of the length of life is first a fit composition of heat and moysture in the sinewes marrow spirits c. And secondly the long and fortunate continuance of this good temper which being interrupted by diseases and other oppressiōs death necessarily follows a mans life is ended as an artificers occupation then endes of necessitie when his tooles are worne and past working with Sixtly whether natural death be by no meanes to be auoided if a man escape violence seeing that the radicall humour as it wasteth may be repaired by nurriture and therewith maintained I answer that the radicall humour may indeed by nourishment be daily renewed yet that restored moysture is not so good as that which was wasted of the beate it is not so pure as that which was of the seed it is not so wel wrought and excocted as the seed neither so exactly mingled and attenuated Seeing therefore that which is restored is not so pure as that that was wasted the heat for want of conuenient matter to feed vpon at length is dissipated and put out Neyther is the quantitie of the humour restored so much to be respected as the qualitie whereupon Auicennus saith that Though there were as much restored as is daily wasted yet must we of necessitie die And besides all this we are all Sinners vnable to keep such a precise and regular diet but that we shall offend herein and old age will steale vpon vs doe what wee can Festinat enins decurrere velox Flosculus augustae miseraeque breuissima vitae Portio dum bibimus dum serta vnguenta puellas Poscimus obrepit non intellecta senectus Sensim sine sensu senescimus Seuenthly what difference is there betwixt the death of a man and of a beast I answere when a beast dies his soule doth vanish and is dissolued but when a man dies his soule still continues For the soule of a beast is mortall but the soule of man is immortall as hath beene shewed God saith Gregory created three liuing spirits one which is not couered with flesh another which is couered with flesh but dies not with the flesh a third which is couered with flesh dies with the flesh Primus Angelorum secundus hominum tertius brutorū animaelū the first is of Angels the second of men the third of brute beasts And albeit the Scriptures sometimes speak of the death of the soules yet eyther the person or the life is to be vnderstood or such a death as is not the extinction and deletion of the soule but her separation from God who is her comfort and contentment Secondly the death of a man is wont to be with much comfort or else horror of hell it selfe our conscience telling vs of another state after death but beasts because they haue no conscience no hope of heauen nor feare of hell are not therefore subiect to such passions eyther of ioy or sorrow Thirdly when beasts die they die for euer but though death deuoure vs as the Whale did Ionas and binde vs as the Philistins did Sampson yet we shall come forth againe the bands and snares of death shall be broken and we shall be deliuered For it is most true which Saint Bernard saith There is a threefold state of holy soules the first in the corruptible bodie and that is in this life the second out of the bodie and this is after death the third in the bodie glorifyed and that shal be at the Resurrection And so there is a threefold condition of wicked soules the first is in their bodies of sinne the second is in misery out of their bodies by death dissolued
men I come now to set down some principall vses of that which hath beene said before First seeing death destroyes not the soule though it dissolue the bodie we see that the soule is of a more noble nature then the bodie and therefore more to be esteemed and with greater care and loue to be kept and tended As God excelleth all soules or as the Ladie excels her handmaid so the soule excelleth all bodies What would a man haue euill Surely nothing not his wife not his sonne not his seruant not his horse not his ground not his fruite no not his coate and wilt thou haue an euill soule For shame take care of it that it be not euill Euill it is or good For Omnis anima aut Christisponsa aut Diaboli adultera est euery soule as Saint Austen speaketh is eyther the Spouse of Christ and then good or the diuels harlot and so is euill If euill then thy state is euill and if death finde it euill it leaues it euill and this soule which cannot die in respect of dissolution yet it doth die in regard of consolation being separated by euill as wel from God who is the soule and solace of the soule as from the bodie which in life it did enioy with ioy And forsomuch as the soule doth suruiue the bodie and liue when it is dead it should comfort mē against the dread that death brings with it For they shall not be Nothing nor No-where Death doth subdue but one part and that which is the baser of them Secondly seeing God inflioteth death without whose prouidence it could not come it teacheth vs in all patience quietnesse and humilitie to bee contented with his worke not opening our mouthes against him though he take vs away in the flower of our time or by the crueltie of wicked men And to them that truly serue God according to his will it cannot but be a comfort that whē they die they die not without the knowledge but by the will and disposement of their gracious aud louing Master who is able to saue them in death as he did Daniel in the Lions denne and the three Children in the fierie furnace Thirdly seeing death is the fruit of sinne it should teach vs to detest sinne Death is not very pleasing but rather odious to flesh and bloud How much more odious then should sinne bee counted by which death found entrance into the world and without which no man had euer died Diseases death and damnation come by sinne diseases hinder health death endeth life and damnation depriues man of the ioyes of saluation will any wise man then delight in sinne a thing so odious hurtfull and vnhappie Salomon being directed by the Spirit of God calles him a Foole that maketh a mocke of sinue and as a pastime to doe wickedly Doth any man loue the plague the gout the palsie the stone the crampe the canker or the dropsie I suppose no man All these diseases are the consequents of sinne the world had not knowne them had shee not beene acquainted with sinne and certainely these diseases are not more hurtful to the body then sinne is to the true health and life of the soule Sinne is a Tyger a Beare a Lyon an Aspe a Viper a destroyer both of bodie and of soule Fourthly the ineuitable necessitie of Death which lies vpon all the world condemnes the immoderate feare of Death in many men There is no man so ignorant but knowes hee must die yet when death is threatned what feare is there what fainting what tergiuersation what impatience is there to be seene in many Quid fles miser quid trepidas Eye wretch why doest thou weep why dost thou tremble This yoke is laid vpon euery necke thou goest the way that all mê go To this wast thou born this hath befallen thy Father thy Mother thine ancestors to all men before thee and to all that succeed thee Wilt thou not thinke to come thither at last whither thou hast beene a going alwaies Nullum sine exitu iter est there is no iourney without an end VVee make our life vnquiet with the feare of death and such is the madnesse of men that some by the feare of death are brought vnto death wee ought to fortifie our selues that wee loue not our life too well and that wee hate not death too much and when reason aduiseth vs to dye and not to feare Vir fortis strenuus non fugere debet de vita sed exire a man of courage and spirit should not flye out of life but goe out To dye is not glorious but to dye couragiously is glorious Finally seeing all men must dye and seeing Christ vvill finde them at the day of iudgement as the day of their Death doth leaue them it behooues all men to prepare themselues for Death that it may not hurt them but rather helpe them To this end these things are to bee considered and performed First hee that would haue comfort in his death must beleeue in God the Authour of life in Iesus Christ who saues vs from the power and euill of Death Verily verily I say vnto you saith Christ Hee that heareth my word and beleeueth him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life And to Martha speaking of himselfe hee saith I am the Resurrection and the life hee that beleeueth in mee though he were dead yet shall he liue and whosoeuer lineth and beleeueth in me shall neuer die meaning the death of the damned Now Christ who thus speaketh to vs is omnipotent and true Verbum eius ab intentione non dissentit quia Veritas est nec factum a Verbo quia Virtus est Hee is Trueth and therefore he speakes as he meanes and he is Might it selfe therefore he does as he speakes But he doth professe and promise that those that beleeue in him shall not perish by death but liue for euer therfore we may be bold vpon his word and should stir vp our selues to beleeue And let no man deceiue himselfe For hee onely doth aright beleeue in Christ who beleeues him in his word and Sacraments and in his Ministers speaking according to his word In vaine it is for men to say or thinke they beleeue in Christ who beleeue not his Lawe who regard not his Sacraments who beleeue not his Seruants declaring to them their Maisters minde This faith is not faith but fancie Secondly hee that would dye the Death of the Godly must repent of the sinnes of the wicked For without Repentance it is vnpossible to escape the damnation of vnrepentant Sinners Returne saith God and iniquitie shall not be your destruction Cast away all your transgressions For why will yee die Qui per poenitentiam peccata diluit angelica foelicitatis consorsin aeternum
know that God both is and that he is iust and therefore hee will punish wicked sinners and by that meane declare his iust iudgement against vicious wretches The deseruing cause of death of sinne as ignorance of God disobedience of the truth especially of the Gospell of Christ Iesus and obedience of vnrighteousnesse as the Apostle sheweth as also want of charitie and charitable behauiour towardes the poore and needie members of Christ Iesus as hee himselfe doth teach vs. Neyther are these sins only meritorious of death but euen euery sinne though the smallest want of that which the law requireth is in it selfe odious and deadly For the wages of euery sinne is death The persons subiect to this death are all the Sons of Adam is as much as all are Sinners yet all of them shall not die this death namely they that are redeemed by the bloud of Christ who by his death hath deliuered them from this death by them through sinne deserued Those then shall die this death that were reprobated of God and who by their wickednesse and hardnesse of heart which could not repent haue treasured vp vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath Depart from me ye cursed saith Christ into euerlasting fire The cursed then are they that must die this accursed death I neuer knew you saith Christ Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie They that shal die this death are such as Christ knew not owned not neuer acknowledged for his and such as whiles they liued were very hypocrites nourishing some sinne or other in their bosomes though they did many glorious and good works as preach baptise eiect diuels cure diseases and were perhaps of great account with men The Apostle saith that the Lord Iesus will render vengeance at his appearing vnto them that know not God and obey not the Gospell So that all which are ignorant of God and which disobey the Gospell of his Sonne shall die this death This then I say All impenitent sinners shall be damned all that beleeue not in Iesus Christ as Mahometaus incredulous Iewes and all other Infidels and all that professe Christ in name but denie him in example All these liuing and dying without sound repentance shall die this death And I proue it thus Except ye beleeue saith Christ that I am he you shall die in your sinnes but the Iewes beleeue not that Iesus the sonne of Mary was the Messias foretold therefore they shall die in their sinnes Hee that obeyes not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him but neyther Iewes nor Mahometans obey Christ Iesus Therefore neyther of them shall liue but die Peter being full of the holy Ghost said that Christ is the Stone euen the fundamentall stone of mans saluation Neyther is there quoth he saluation in any other for among men there is giuen none other Name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued All therefore that either denie him or beleeue not in him and do not know him whether Iew Turke Persian Moore Indian American or who else soeuer all such shall bee damned cannot bee saued For by his knowledge shall my righteous seruant Christ Iesus Instifie many And we which are Iews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles know that a man is not iustified by the works of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ God saith Saint Iohn hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in that his Sonne Hee that hath that Sonne hath that life and hee that hath not that Sonne of God hath not that life But Mahometans Iewes and Infidels haue not that Son therefore they haue not eternall life in spe and shall not haue it In Re but so continuing shall vndoubtedly die the damned death of the wicked for ought that man can tell I say further that those which professe Christ in word and in shew but denie him by their deeds addicting themselues to wicked lusts as whoredome pride drunkennesse auarice idlenesse epicurisme those I say shall vndoubtedly perish without mature and true repentance Know ye not saith Saint Paul that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theiues nor couetous nor drunkards nor raylers nor extortioners shall inherite the kingdome of God But among Christians there are offenders in all kinds of the sinnes aforesaid therefore if they shall die in them they cannot possibly scape damnation Our Lord saith that The fearefull and vnbeleening the abhominable and murtherers whoremongers sorcerers idolaters and all lyars wherewith the Christian world aboundeth shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And finally S. Iude speaking of sundrie wicked Epicures cept into the Church saith that for them is reserued the blacknesse of darknesse for euer Thirdly I say that all they which professing Christ doe notwithstanding adde vnto the faith of Christ and coyne articles which they doe propose as necessarily to be beleeued to saluation all such I say by this their presumption do cut themselus off from Christ and shall vndoubtedly perish except they shall repent In like manner they that doe take from the faith any essentiall point and needfull absolutely to saluation they also are subiect to damnation which without repentance they cannot scape Ye shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom It was twise at least giuen in charge by Moses When Moses was now dead and the gouernment cast vpon Ioshuah God gaue him the same lesson in effect Thou shalt not turne away from it to the right hand nor to the left In like manner Agur saith Put nothing vnto his words least he reproue thee and thou be found a lyar I protest saith Christ to euery man that heareth the words of the prophecie of this booke If any man how precise how pure how holy how austere how sanctified soeuer he seeme or how learned soeuer he be and wit tie in the iudgement of men shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke and if any man shall diminish of the words of the booke he meaneth the true sense and substance of the words of this prophecie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from those things which are written in this booke If any subiect or subiects shall presume to repeale the lawes of the kingdome or to make new lawes and to vrge men to receiue and obey them the king in the mean time vnacquainted with their proceeding or disliking it they shew themselues busie bodies rebellious turblent and taking vpon them as kings they incurre the displeasure of
A DISCOVRSE OF DEATH BODILY GHOSTLY AND ETERNALL NOR VNFIT FOR SOVLDIERS Warring Seamen sayling Strangers trauelling Women bearing nor any other liuing that thinkes of DYING BY THOMAS TVKE PSAL. 89. 48. What man liueth and shall not see death shall he deliuer his soule from the hand of the Graue ECCL 14. 17. All flesh waxeth old as a garment and this is the condition of all times Thou shale die the death IOB 17. 13. The graue shall be my house and I shall make my bed in the darke LONDON Printed by William Stansbie for George Norton 1613. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR IOHN LEVENTHORPE Knight and to the right-vertuous Ladie the Ladie IOANE LEVENTHORPE his louing Wife ⸪ RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL many write and many more doe speake of Death and it were not much if as many wrote thereof as could write at all For it is the Way that all must walke in and although to all it be either very fortunate or very fatall yet of the most it is forgotten till it seeme to seize vpon them yea euen we that speake and write about it are sometimes too vnmindful of it perhaps then also when we speake and write vpon it But howsoeuer wee doe forget it it will bee sure to remember vs. It hath been wisely said that to speake and thinke often and seriously of hell is a good meane to saue the soule from hell so I suppose that a sad and sober thinking and remembring of bodily death will bee a blessed helpe to keepe the soule and bodie from eternall death It is strange to see the feares of many yet euen the fearefull sometimes shew small feare of death except then when it is to bee embraced Others well neare with the feare of death are brought to death Some will not beginne to liue till they feele themselues beginne to die And how many are there that are a-fraid of death and yet dare play with the sting of death It were no great matter to handle a Snake when her poysoning tooth is pulled out but to flie a Snake and in the meane time not to feare that which makes her venome were I wot not well whether more base or foolish I know not why death should not be counted terrible whiles her venomous and killing tooth is in her head but that being once pulled out why shee should affright a man I see no reason For why should he feare death whom death doth helpe not hurt and ease rather then end Hee that dies whiles he liues liues whiles he is dead yea and that death at last shall meet with death it selfe Certainly death cannot be ill to him that liues well neither is that worthie the name of death which is made the doore of life Yet I finde the vertuous sometimes appalled with her grisly lookes They are loth to part that haue liued long together and a man can scarce without some reluctation forsake the house wherein he was bred and hath euer liued since he liued to dwell in another though a better Countrie But me thinks the delicacie of the place the affluence of all good things there amongst these the fellowship of the Saints the presence of that louing and beloued Sauiour the fruition of the All-sufficient God together with a certaine expectation of a ioyfull returne at last should satisfie the departing Soule and settle her vnruly passions As for you Right Worshipfull I doubt not but that God to whom you striue to liue hath taught you both ere now to die I write not these things therefore as intending to instruct you but rather to shew that the memorie of your loue doth liue within me and as one desirous by putting you in minde of those things which ye know alreadie that whiles you liue the remembrance of them might not die Read them at your leysure and enioy them And that God vnder whom they were begunne and ended giue a blessing to them vnto whose sauing grace I do commend you both beseeching him in Christ Iesus to vouchsafe you his loue while ye liue on earth and to crowne you after death with eternall life in heauen London St. Clem. Ann. 1612. Nouember 5. A day neuer to bee forgotten of true English hearts Your Worships to be commanded in the Lord Thomas Tuke To the Reader I Suppose there is not one thing more common and lesse thought of then death All men must die yet most men liue as if they thought they should neuer die Wherein men are very iniurious to them selues the sad and setled remembrance of death being a notable furtherance of Repentance and a profitable meane to keepe vs from eternall death For I pray you why should man lift vp himselfe against his Maker who ere long must fall into the earth Why should we be proud and insolent who are but dust Why should we insult ouer any man because wee surpasse him in wit wealth strength honor beautie Are we not all food for the Wormes Will not death knocke all our bones together Is not our life a breath a bubble Why should a man pinne his heart to the earth and set his loue on the World Shall not the earth deuoure him Will not the world forsake him Shee is certaine in nothing but in vncertainetie vncertaine in nothing but in her certainetie If she doe not him yet of necessitie Hee must forsake her We are here but Pilgrims and Forrainers Mors manet omnes and we know not how soone our Pilgrimage will end neither can we carrie the world away with vs. We come naked and we go naked Why then should we wed our soules to the World Riches pleasures wife children friends honors and all the things that the world can afford are all mutable momentanie mortall but mans soule is immortall wherefore then should it be set vpon these things Why not vpon God who is an immortall and immutable Good only indeede able to giue true and full contentment to the soule And finally why should men wallow in their sinnes and deuote themselues vnto their lusts Shall we not all die And as the tree falleth so shall it lie In what estate we die in that we shall be iudged Oh that we would therefore remember our latter end Oh that wee would number our dayes and thinke of our death that we might apply our hearts vnto wisdome Lie is vncertaine Death is most certaine if men could duly meditate of this that is most certaine they could not abuse and mispend that so much which is precious but most vncertaine But besides that all men must once die euen by the course of nature death being by sinne bred in the bone and will neuer out of the flesh God who hath the keyes of life and death in his hand doth by many meanes bring men vnto their ends and sometimes he doth punish vngodly wretches by vntimely and vnexpected death shewing his anger by the manner and occasion of his punishing Famous were the Iudgements of
vnto God! Such surely either thinke God is not or that his eye mindes them not or else they presume vppon his mercie or distrust his prouidence but how euer it be it is sure there wants true wisedome and fortitude of spirit they forget to humble themselues vnder the mighty hand of God and are not contented with his corrections and finally take vpon them as if they were the Lords of their owne liues and forget to winde their care vpon his prouidence Now seeing these are causes of such selfe-murdering courses wee must needes account such selfe-slayers guilty of greeuous sinne whereby they are very iniurious to Almightie God the Lord and authour of their liues Secondly hee that murthers himselfe is iniurious to the Church of God For whereas he should obey the doctrine taught him which she commends vnto him from Christ her Husband hee flatly shewes himselfe disloyall vnthankefull and vnruly and is by this his wilfull murder a griefe vnto her scandalous by his leud ensample And whereas his life should vpon necessitie haue beene giuen away in her service and for her securitie it cannot now bee neither can he performe such seruice for her as hee ought and might haue done if this murderous spirit had not possest and spoiled him Thirdly he that murders himselfe offers wrong vnto his Country For as he was borne in her so he was born for her His life which he owed to death should if neede had beene haue beene offered vp in her seruice but by this vnnaturall murder of himselfe he depriues her of all helpe and honour which otherwise shee might haue enioyed of him if true valour faith and wisedome had possest him Fourthly he offers wrong vnto his Parents which vnder God were the causes of his life And is this all the thankes the comfort and credit hee does them for their generation and education care and cost to make himselfe away to bee his owne hangman or executioner Such a Sonne is a Shame to his Father and an Heauinesse vnto his Mother and by his wickednesse depriues them of that helpe and comfort which God and Nature claimed at his hands Finally he is iniurious vnto himselfe first to his soule making himselfe guilty of murder and so of death Secondly to his body which with his owne hands hee doth destroy and deliuer to corruption beeing neuer able to repaire it by himselfe againe and depriues it of that honest and comely buriall which otherwise it might haue had with the bodies of the Saints Thirdly he marres his credit making himselfe famous by an infamous death and giues iust occasion to men greatly to suspect his saluation Wee are now come to the second part of the Question Whether may this Selfe-murder be forgiuen Vndoubtedly it may if God will for Gods mercy is greater then the mischiefe and malice of any sinne or sinner and the death of Christ is of merit sufficient to wash away the foulest wickednes that can be committed This therefore I say a man that killes himselfe if hee doe repent of his murder before he be dead he may and shall be forgiuen Gods mercy may be bestowed Inter pontem fontem betweene the bridge and the water betweene the stabbe and death The sinne against the Holy Ghost might be forgiuen if the sinner could repent but because hee cannot repent by reason of the hardnes of the heart which shall not be remoued to death therefore he cannot be forgiuen But Selfe-murderers are not alwaies as those sinners punished with finall hardnes and impenitencie and therefore they may be forgiuen and no doubt are sometimes then when God doth giue them grace to repent and grone vnto him for his mercy But let no man presuming vpon Gods mercy dare to commit this barbarous villany least by presuming on mercy he meet with iudgement which is the ordinarie portion of presumptuous offenders but rather let him pray and say with Dauid Keepe thy Seruant from presumptuous sinnes and let the meditation of mine heart be acceptable in thy sight for indeede the meditation and intention of murder is too too vvicked and abominable To conclude it may be demanded whether a man be guilty of his owne death if he shall be kild when out of a priuate humour and desire of reuenge hee doth either make or take a challenge Yes no doubt for though hee did not simply will but rather nill his owne death yet because he left his calling and did willingly agree and condescend vnto the meanes of his death which is fighting hee becomes thereby guilty of his death And it is not inough to say that hee did not intend to worke his death but rather to saue his credit and honour by offering or accepting the challenge and by sighting For neither God nor the positiue lawes of our kingdome doe allot and allow those meanes of sauing mens reputations and of righting themselues by them but vtterly condemne them and punish the vsurpers of them besides whatsoeuer he ment to effect by those irregular courses yet the euent shewes when he is slaine by them that they were the meanes of his slaughter to which he gaue consent without constraint Yea I adde further that whosoeuer holds this paradox which is so commonly receiued in the world That the giuing of the lye or of foule-mouthed language must necessarily for the saueguard of honour bee reuenged vvith a Stabbe a Stroke or a Challenge of a combat He is an embracer of a murderers doctrine and by holding it makes himselfe a very Murderer in the iudgement of GOD who condemnes all murdering positions intentions desires as well as the acts of murder And thus much concerning voluntarie Death Violent death is when by force a man doth die Such a death did Absalon die when as full against his will he hanged in the Oake where he was slaine hanging by Ioab and his tenne seruants The like death died Daniels accusers who being cast among the Lions were crushed and killed of them In like manner also this kinde of death those eighteene died vpon whom the Tower in Siloam falling slew and of this death Horace saith he had almost perished by a tree that fell vpon him And that we may briefly conclude our discourse of the kinds and waies of dying one man dies more easily another with more difficultie and greater paines One dieth in his full strength being in all ease and prosperitie his breasts are full of milke and his bones runne full of marrow and another dieth in the bitternesse of his soule and neuer eateth with pleasure One dieth being wasted with long sicknes and lingring diseases another dieth sodainly without warning and beyond his expectation Now it may be by the way demanded Whether it bee lawfull to pray against sodaine death I answere thus because our corruption is great our sins are daily our aduersarieslie and
subtle readie to take all aduantages and because without repentance men may not looke for pardon and because as death doth leaue vs so the latter day shall finde vs therefore least we should be taken vnprepared it is fit and needfull for vs to pray that God would not take vs away vpon the sodaine or if it shall seeme good vnto him to remoue vs sodainly that hee would be pleased not to take vs away vnprepared for him but that whēsoeuer he doth remoue vs he woud pardon accept vs be pleased to smite vs whiles we be either in some holy worke of his seruice as preaching prayer meditation or the like or else in some honest worke of our honest calling or at the least in no euill plot nor about any euill act Now finally of sodaine deathes some are by the distemper of the passions as the death of such as die of feare sorrow or ioy Thus died that good old Poet Phileman who being neere an hundred years old and seeing as he lay an Asse eate figs fell into an extreme laughter and hauing called his seruants he bad them giue the Asse some drinke after his figges and laughing very earnestly so died Plutarch also writeth of one Polycrita who with ioy conceiued for that her life was granted whereof it seemes she was not a little fearefull fell downe sodainly and so died Againe some that die sodainly are taken away by the extraordinarie hand of God as Dathan and Abiram whom the earth opening her mouth by Gods command deuoured thus also two sonnes of Aaron Nadab Abihu sodainly were killed by fire sent out from God Nabal also the Lord sodainly smote and slue not long after his churlishnesse toward Dauid Others haue died by the special permission of God though by the meanes of the diuell himselfe as Iobs children who were sodainly slaine with the fall of the house vpon them which was blowne downe with a sodaine storme raised doubtlesse by the power of the diuell Others haue beene sodainly dispatcht with their owne hands as Lucretius the Poet some haue beene sodainly killed of others as Eglon whom Ehud slue with his dagger or as the Princes and people of the Philistins on whom Sampson with the sorce of his armes pulled downe the house in which they were assembled or also as Sisera whom Iael slue with a naile driuen into his head as he was sleeping in her Tent but all these perished without treason but some others haue been sodainly dispatcht by treason as Senacherib whom his owne sous slue as he was in his Idols temple as Elah whom his seruant Zimri kild as he was in his drunkennesse and thus with inhumane barbarity shold our noble king with many mo haue died in the Parliamēt house by the malice of wicked Iesuits and their bloudie schollers had not God from heauen deliuered them Whose name be praised for euermore Amen And thus from the kinds of death we passe vnto the causes The first and highest Ruling cause of death is Almightie God Dauid saith to the Lord Thou hast made my daies as an hand breadth Hezekiah saith Thou wilt make an end of mee to whom said God I will adde vnto thy daies fifteene yeares By which it appeareth that God is vitae necisque arbiter the Author and Ordainer of life and death Yea the Lord by that commination vnto Adam In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die doth plainely shew that in his hands is the power of life death Finally he saith I forme the light and create darkenesse the light of prosperitie the darknesse of aduersitie the light of life the darknesse of death I make peace and create euill the euill not of sinne but of sorrow of troubles bloudshed famine pestilence death To all things saith Salomon there is an appointed time a time to be borne a time to die who hath appointed this time but GOD who hath put times and seasons in his owne power as our Sauiour teacheth And surely if God number the verie haires of our head doubtlesse he hath numbred the daies and houres and minutes of our life and hath set downe the periode of our age And if a poore Sparrow cannot light on the ground without his will surely then no man can fall into the ground but by his will Euen the wiser heathen knew this therefore Hector saith in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that God did call him vnto death Tertullian another Doctor saith Deus vniuersa vtique disponendo praescituit praesciendo disposuit that God hath foreknowne and disposed all things if all things then the liues and deathes of men Saint Ierome saith What good things or euill things soeuer be in the world Non absque prouidentia fortuito casu accidit sed Iudicio Dei not one of them comes to passe by chance and without prouidence but by the iudgement of God if nothing then not murthers manslaughters killing Finally Saint Austen saith Voluntas Deiomniū quae sunt ipsaest causa that the will of God is the verie cause of all things that are and to conclude with the Prophets speech Who is he that saith It commeth to passe and the Lord commandeth it not It will be thus perhaps obiected If God be the Author of death then it seemes hee delightes in the destruction of his creature for by death life is put out and the bodies of men are corrupted I answere thus Death is a punishment or at the best and to the best a triall a correction a passage to a better life now God ordaines and appointes death not simply as it is a destruction but eyther as it is a punishment of wicked men or a correction and triall of the godly and as a meanes of deliuerance to his elect from worldly and wicked miseries Euen as a wise potent and iust King appointeth places of execution executioners and the death of grieuous malefactors not as though hee delighted in them but for the maintenance of iustice the punishment of vice and for the good of the Commonwealth Or as a Father who maketh and vseth rods not because he taketh pleasure simply in whipping or in roddes but because hee desires the good of his children and that they might be afraid of euill Or finally as a Landlord that puls downe his Tenants house not because he delightes simply in pulling downe of houses but for that he purposeth to cure it of all rottennesse and ruines and to build it for him new and faire againe It may againe bee thus obiected If God appoint and ordaine euery mans death then if a man murther himselfe or if he be killed by another or be vniustly put to death by a Tyrant God you will say appointed and ordained that mans death which you will say is harsh I answere and let my words be well obserued
vnius diei a culpâ sit primae praenaricationis alienus indeede an Infant of a day old is not free from the fault of the first transgression But it may bee asked how Infants can become guilty of that they did not giue consent to I answere The fall of Adam and Eue is the fall of all their Children begotten after the common order euen as the righteousnesse of Christ is become the righteousnesse and saluation of all his Children because as Christ so Adam was no priuate person but represented all Mankinde which vvas now within his loynes Because saith Anselme the whole nature of man was in protoplastis in our first formed Parents and nothing thereof was out of them the whole nature was weakened and corrupted As therefore if it had not sinned it should haue been propagated such as it was of God created it a post peccatum qualem se fecit peccando propagatur so since it hath sinned it is propagated such as it hath made it selfe by sinning Fuit Adam in illo fuimus omnes perijt Adam in illo perijmus omnes Adam was saith Saint Ambrose vpon the Gospell of Saint Luke and in him wee all were Adam perished and in him we perish all In him because wee were all in him because we are all of him and he as our Head and Representer receiued and lost for vs all But it vvill bee obiected that Infants baptised haue no sinne it beeing taken away in baptisme how happes it then that Infants baptised die And how is it that the best Beleeuers die seeing that their sinnes are vvashed away in the blood of Christ I answere with the Augustane Confession out of Saint Austen Sinne is remitted in Baptisme non vt non sit sed vt non imputetur not so that it should no longer bee but that it should not bee imputed It is destroyed saith Anselme not as if it were made nothing sed vt non cogamur ei seruire but that wee might not be compeld to serue it But to giue a full answere the reason why the Lord inflicts death on them that are baptised and doe beleeue is not as if their sinnes were vnforgiuen for they are for Christ forgiuen fully neither yet is it to be supposed that they should haue dyed though they had not sinned for death is not the condition of Nature but the Daughter and desert of sinne neither yet doth God take away their liues as intending thereby to punish Them for if sinne be forgiuen them as it is indede then also all the punishments due to sinne which followes sinne as the shadow doth the bodie God therefore inflicts death vpon his Elect not as a Iudge offended with them for hee loues them most dearely and their death is precious in his sight but as a Father a Friend or gracious King who by death doth humble try amend and deliuer them from worldly miseries sinfull diseases and earthly discontentments and brings their soules into heauenly Canaan to the fellowship of Christ and those blessed Spirits of Men and Angels that tend vpon him in the Heauens To returne therefore to the point a fresh Euery child of Adam is subiect vnto death It is appointed vnto men that they shall once dye saith Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death is a debt that all men owe. I goe the way of all the Earth saith Dauid that is I draw neere to death which is the common course of all men liuing vpon she earth Moriendum est omnibus All men must dye saith Tully Tendimus huc omnes met am properamus ad vnam Omnia sub leges mors vocat atra suas To death saith Ouid wee doe All of vs goe it is the marke wee hast to shee causeth all to bee in thrall her lawes vnto Omnes vna manet nox calcanda semel via lethi Omnes eôdem cogimur Death waites for all the way thereof must needes bee once trod Thither we are driuen All saith Horace There is no writ of priuiledge to exempt vs her eyes are pitilesse her heart is inflexible and her hands will hold no bribes Pietie vertue goodnesse cannot put by her stroke Hector in Homer is reported to haue said vnto his wife that no man could kill him before the time of death destinated vnto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as for destinie and such a thing is death he tolde her that no man neyther good nor bad could scape it Nec pietas moram Rugis instants senectae Afferet indomitaeque morti Pretie saith the Poet will cause no stay to death Abraham Moses Ioshuah Iob Dauid were godly men but yet the Scripture saith of them all they died Strength is not able to withstand death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hercules was a strong man yet the strength of Hercules yeelded vnto death which ouercame him Milo was renowned for his strength of bodie yet Milo was weaker then death Sampson was stronger then euer any mere man was yet was he ouercome of death Fortitude and valour of spirit cannot out-stand death but the most couragious that euer liued yeelded vnto death Dauid and his Worthies were valiant men yet all of them are dead Abstulit clarum citamors Achillem Achilles famous for his courage was taken away by death Wisedome is a most excellent vertue yet it is vnable to conquer death Salomon the wisest King that euer raigned is of death dispatched Wise men die as well as Fooles and goe whensoeuer death calleth them Eloquence is not able to charme death but the most eloquent men that euer liued haue also died as Tullie Demosthenes and the rest Noblenesse of birth and royaltie are vnable to encounter with death and ouermaster it Alexander Iulius Caesar and the most victorious Princes that haue euer raigned haue stooped vnto death which subdueth all men Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres Death can finde way into Princes pallaces into the courts of Kings as well as into the peasants Cottage Magistrates are Gods in office but yet as mortall as their subiects I haue said yee are Gods but ye shall die as a man and ye Princes shall fall like others Agamemnon Cyrus Nebuchadnezzar and Augustus Caesar were mightie Monarches but yet death hath preied vpon them all Old age is venerable youth is stout and lustie swiftnesse and actiuitie are commendable but death reuerenceth not the gray hoires of the aged it respecteth not the greene lockes of the young neyther is there any by swiftnesse of foote or dexteritie of hand able to out-runne and out-match death Mista senum ac iuuenum densantur funera Old and yong die in heapes together Death will not die vnder any Magistrate neither wil she be ouer-awed with the hore-head or graue behauiour of any aged father Both old and young are a
et si fragile est tamen seruatuÌ„ diu durat for though glasse be brittle yet being kept it lasteth long But though wee keepe our selues neuer so well yet death will steale vpon vs and ouercome vs. For what is your life saith Saint Iames It is euen a vapor which is easily dissolued And for externall meanes how easily can any thing kill if God permit A little fire a little water a little waight a little bullet a bone a flie what not who not Eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent There is none saith Seneca but can take away a mans life but no man can hinder death to it there are a thousand passages There are not more riuers runne into the Sea then waies leading vnto death It is much more easie to destroy then to build to fall then to rise soone is an house burnt downe that hath beene long in setting vp corruption is readier then generation and a tree that hath beene an hundred yeares a growing is blowen downe or cut vp in one day and may easily bee soone consumed to ashes Our life is transitorie For puluis vmbra sumus we are but dust and shadowes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but a breath and a shadow The continuance of our life is verie vncertaine Quis scit an adijciant hodiernae erastina summae tempora Dij superi Who knowes if God will let him liue to morrow And how easily may death arrest vs It is an easie thing to blow out a candle or to put out a little fire so it is an easie thing to cut a-sunder the threed of life easily is the life of man extinguisht a little smoke or vapor such as is the life of man is easily and soone resolued and vanisht out of sight For the second In what estate a mans last day shal find him in this estate saith Austen shall the last day of the world receiue him Quoniam qualis in die isto moritur talis in die illo iudicabitur For as he dies in this day such shall his iudgement be in that day As the tree falleth so it lieth For this life is the onely time allowed vnto man to prouide against damnation Quando hinc excessum est nullus iam poenitentiae locus When we are once gone hence saith Saint Cyprian there is no place for repentance I come now to speake of the commodities that come by death Death vnto the Râ—probate and vngodly doth bring no good but depriues them of all earthly benefits and though it rid them of many crosses which they did perhaps endure whiles they liued yet it makes them no true gainers but sets them in further miserie for measure greater and for continuance longer For the wicked are in bitter and inextricable torments so soone as death hath preyed vpon them The true commodities then of death belong truely to the Elect and Godly whose death is sanctified by the death of Christ who by his death hath beene the death of sinne which is the cause of death and by fulfilling the Lawe for vs hath made an entrance for vs into heauen First of all by death the Children of God are deliuered from all worldly troubles and vexations Mors est malorum remedium portus humanis tempestatibus Death is the remedy of all earthly euilles and brings vs out of all stormes and tempests Secondly by Death the godly are deliuered wholly from sinne after death they sinne not at all but in their soules and after the Resurrection in their soules and bodies they doe serue God purely God in his prouidence ordaining that the Daughter should eate vp the Mother that sinne the mother of death should be deuoured by death Thirdly by death the soules of the Faithfull are brought into Abrahams bosome and inioy the fellowship of those onely who are iust and holy and doe liue in all peace and quietnesse in a Paradise of euerlasting pleasures where the King is Veritie the Lawe Charitie the peace Felicitie and the Life Eternitie Precious is the death of the Saints saith Bernard precious without doubt as the end of labors as the consummation of a victorie tanquam vitae ianua perfectae securitatis ingressus as the doore of life and the entrance to perfect securitie And the onely discommoditie that death doth bring vnto the godly is that it depriues the soule of the body for a time which discommoditie is not voide of many commodities which doe make amends For by this departure of the Soule a man is taken from the sight and sense of many sinnes and sorrowes many crosses and calamities he looseth earth and gaineth heauen hee forsaketh men but findeth Angels and holy Spirits hee looseth the company of his friends on earth but inioyes the face and fellowship of God of Christ in heauen and though he leaues his body which he loues most dearely yet hee shall not be depriued of it alwaies hee goes but as it were out of a smokie and sluttish house waiting a time yet with vnspeakeable ioy al the while with pleasing companions there where is good being till it be renewed and made cleane Wherevpon Saint Austen saith Qui cupit dissolui esse cum Christo non patienter moritur sed patienter viuit delectabiliter moritur He which desireth to be dissolued and to be with Christ doth not dye as a Patient but liues as a Patient and dies with delight Indeede Death to the wicked is full of discomforts For it depriues them of their worldly promotions profits and pleasures it robs them of their Friends and Familiars it depriues them of their bodies it abridges them of the light of the sunne the societie of the liuing and the comfort of the creatures and finally it closeth them vp in Hell vvith Diuels and Reprobates there to bee tormented in endlesse easelesse and remedilesse tortures Vbi mors optabitur non dabitur where death shall be desired but not granted to them Hauing thus farre discoursed of bodily death we will now see whereto it is compared and then answere a few questions and so come to apply the former doctrines to our edification and this with as much breuitie and perspicuitie as we may conueniently Death is compared to a Physitian because it cures men of all earthly miseries as the Physitians cure men of their maladies But herein it ouergoes all Physitians for whereas it killes them all they are not all able to kill it It is also likened to an Hauen For as an Hauen affoordeth quietnesse and comfort to those that haue beene tossed with windes and waues vpon the Seas so death vnto the Godly is a quiet and safe harbour freeing them from all that hard weather and tedious trauels which they did indure in the world which as a Sea is full of changes crosse-windes tempestes
and vexations according to that of the Scripture The righteous are taken away from the euill They rest from their labours and their workes follow them But yet here is some dissimilitude in two other respects For first the hauen entertaines and comforts all whether good or bad but death affords no true rest no true comfort but to the godly onely For much more miserable are the wicked after death as may appeare by the parable of the rich Epicure in the Gospel Secondly saylers tarry not long in the hauen but put forth again when they see conuenient into the Seas a fresh but men when they once come into Deathes Hauen there they continue till God will there they tarry and neuer returne more into this mortall life they neuer come more vpon this glassie Sea vnlesse it bee by an extraordinarie worke of God He shall returne no more to his house saith Iob neither shall his place know him againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diseases come and goe and returne againe but death comes but once neither did any man euer see saith Agathias a dead man to come againe Let the holy Land bee excepted and it will not bee denyed I thinke except perhaps in Troas once a dead man was by Paul reuiued Thirdly Death is compared to the Night For as the night is the priuation of the light so death is the priuation of life as the night followes vpon the going downe of the Sunne which is the fountaine of light so death ensueth the departure of the soule which is the Author of life But yet here also is some oddes for the night comes and goes and comes againe the Sunne doth set and rise againe but when our life is gone when our death is come wee returne no more to a life with men on earth our night endes not our Sunne riseth not vntil that determined time of the Resurrection be fulfilled which how long or how soone it will be before it bee expired God that hath appointed all times and seasons can onely tell Furthermore Death is compared to a Medicine or Remedie for it cures all crosses it is a salue for all sores a medicine for all maladies and the remedie of all calamities Quae morbos placat pauperiemque leuat But heere is the difference a man may chuse whether he will vse a medicine or no but death will not be denyed cannot be eschewed Dat cunctis legem recipit cum paupere regem And where as medicines are applyed during the residence of the Soule in the bodie this medicine is the reliction of the bodie the discession of the Soule out of the bodie Againe Death is like Fire that saith not It is inough so is Death vnsaturable it is not contented with those infinite millions which it hath alreadie deuoured but still waiteth to swallow vp more Indeede here is great diuersitie in another respect For there is no fire made by man but it will either bee put out or goe out but death is a fire that man by sinne hath kindled which hee is not able to extinguish neither will it dye of it selfe Christ alone is able to slake it with his bloud he will be the death of death Moreouer death is likened to an Haruester vvith his Sickle cutting downe the corne without partialitie or respect so death moweth down all and spareth none Mors resecat mors omne necat nullumque veretur it cuts vp all killes all feares none And as the Haruester cuts downe the corne but is not cut vp himselfe of the corne neither can bee so death takes away all but it selfe is kild of none Mors mordet omnes mordetur a nullo it bites all it deuoures all it is bitten it is deuoured of none Yet here also is something vnlike For Haruesters tarry till the corne bee ripe but death stayes not alwaies till men come to ripenesse of age but like a woman that longs puls the greene Apple off before it bee halfe ripe or like hungry Cattell which croppe vp corne as soone as it sproutes vp Pelles quot pecorum tot venduntur vitulorum Infants dye as well as old men the Calues skinne is as vsually sold in the market as the old Cowes and the Lambe goes to the shambles as well as the Ewe Seuenthly death is compared to a cruell Tyrannesse that pities neither age nor sexe and so death altogither pitilesse spareth neither man nor vvoman neither yong nor old Esops wit Irenes beautie Tullies tongue the Infancie of Dauids first child by Bathsheba no respect whatsoeuer can withstand death obtaine her fauour Indeede here is a difference for as Iuuenall saith Ad generum Cereris sine caede vulnere pauci Descendent reges sicca morte tyranni few tyrants scape vnmurdered but no man can tyrannize ouer death no man can kill her Hee that could kill a thousand with an Assesiaw could not kill death with all his weapons Euulsisque truncis Enceladus iaculator audax Hee if any such that could pull vp trees by the rootes and cast them like dartes could not strike a dart through death And they that haue beene most skilfull in poysons could not saue themselues from the poison of death and poison her no sinner can subdue her Moreouer death is compared to a woman winged For death is fruitfull and very swift it often takes men ere they bee aware and like a Serieant is at their backes before they looke for her Againe death is like the Sea which is terrible not to bee drained not to bee turned out of his channell and which breaking bankes and preuailing without mercy carries all away with it which it meetes with And as into the Sea so vnto death there are many vvayes and meanes to bring men Besides it is compared to the Lyon in the fable to whose denne many beasts went but none returned so many die but from death to life again we see no man to returne It accepts as many as comes but like a couetous niggard it keepes all and parts with none Finally death is compared to Sleepe Homer calles Sleep the Brother of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Diogenes being wakened out of a dead Sleepe and asked of his Physitian how he did answered I am well Nam frater fratrem amplectitur for one brother embraceth another And Gorgias beeing neere vnto death and sleepic if any man askt him how hee did returned this answere I am somnus incipit me fratri suo tradere Sleepe begins now to deliuer me to his brother meaning death Which two are something alike For death is common as sleepe and a dead man is depriued of worldly cares and is at rest in his soule if godly and his bodie lyeth in the graue as in a bed but yet a man sleeping is not wholly depriued of the vse of his bodie for the pulses beate
the third shall be in eternall torments within their bodies at the Resurrection which Resurrection shall be of men both iust and vniust but not of beasts Eightly Whether may death be said to be euill Thales said that death was no more euill then a mans natiuitie wherefore being asked by one that heard him say so Cur igitur tu non moreris Why doe not you die then Thales Hee made him this wittie answere Ob hoc ipsum quia nihil refert Potius enim habetur quod accersitur which is as if he should haue said The reason why I die not and forsake my life is because there is no difference betwixt life and death one is not better then another for that is counted the better which is desired If therfore I should hasten mine owne death it might be well supposed that I doe account death better then life whereas I make no difference betweene them But to passe by this conceit of Thales that we may answere rightly to the question we must distinguish Death considered simply by it selfe and as it is an effect of sinne is euill for if life bee good then death must needes be euill and if it bee an euill to bee in Hell tormented then to an euill man death must needes bee euill because by death his soule is brought into affliction in hell and hee altogether depriued of those benefits of life which hee did before enioy But death beeing considered as bereaued of her sting which is sinne and as it is sanctified by the death of Christ to be the dore of life vnto his members it is not in this respect euill but rather good Chrysostome saith well Mors nonest malum sed post mortem poenas dare malum est Death is not euill but to suffer punishmēt after death is euill Death is an euil not in regard of gods iustice for so it is good but it is euill to him that suffers it for it is a punishment and a very curse to the wicked But vnto the godly it is become a benefit the graue is as a bed Death is as a sleepe and the soule is at peace vvith Christ 9. Whether is the day of a mans birth or death the better I answere if a mans birth and death bee simplie considered surely it is better to be borne then to dye Melius est nasci quà m denasci But if wee remember how we are borne in sinne how we sinne as long as we liue and that our life is full of crosses and if withall we doe remember that death if wee die Gods Seruants doth deliuer vs from all worldly euilles both of sinne and sorrow and is the meane whereby our soules are brought vnto the Cape of Hope and Hauen of pleasing rest then surely wee may say with Salomon the day of death is better then the day that one is borne in melius esse denasci quam nasci 10. Whether is better to dye quickely or to liue long I answere it is better for a Reprobate to dye betimes euen in the cradle then to liue till olde age because his sinne increaseth with his yeeres and his punishment shall bee answerable to his sinne But for an Elect and godly man to dye quickly is better then to liue long and not better It is the better in this sense because he is the sooner deliuered from sin and sorrow it is not so good in another regard namely because by his long life hee may doe much good vnto others and hee may come to such grouth of grace to shew forth such abundance of good workes as that his glory in the life to come may be much augmented for as we doe excell in grace in this world so we shall exceede in glorie in the world to come 11. Whether is it lawfull for a man to hasten his death that he might bee the sooner vvith Christ I answere wee may not do euill that good may come of it The end makes not an act good but the good ground of it the good forme and the good end together Thou shalt not kill saith God as not another so not thy selfe Non est nostrum mortem arripere It is not for vs saith Saint Hierome to catch at death but to accept it willingly if others inflict it Vnde in persecutionibus non licet propriâ manu perire Wherefore also when wee are persecuted it is vnlawfull to kill our selues 12. Whether is it lawfull to desire death or no I answer thus To desire death merely for deaths sake and onely or principally to be rid of grieuances is a certaine weakenesse and vnlawfull But to desire death to be deliuered from all sinne and to be with Christ and in the last place to bee rid of crosses and annoyances so long as we referre all to the good pleasure of our God it is vndoubtedly lawfull and according to Paules ensample It was well said by Saint Austen Potest iustus iustè optare mortem in vitâ amarissimâ si non concedat iustum pativitam amarissimam a iust man may iustly wish for death when his life is full of Wormewood but if God grant not this iust it is to suffer this most bitter life 13. Whether may a man pray against death I answere to pray against death as it is the stipend of sin it is allowable againe to pray against death till a man haue learned how to dye is lawfull prouided that he studie and desire to be prepared and instructed to pray against death till a man haue effected some good worke which hee desired to see done before his death generally if a mans endes of his deprecation of death be good it is lawfull for him to pray against it Prouided that hee commit all to the will of God resting himselfe therwith content resoluing with Iob that though the Lord doe kill him yet to put his confidence in him and so long as his breath is in him to speake no wickednesse nor to forsake his righteousnesse 14. Whether is death to be feared When thou hast walked much and long saith Seneca thou must returne home It is folly to feare that which thou canst not auoide hee hath not escaped death who hath deferred it Hac conditione intraui vt exirem I came into the world vvith this condition to goe forth againe Therefore for a man to torture himselfe with the feare of Death and as it were to dye for feare least hee should dye is basenesse of Spirit and vnchristian But yet altogether to be without feare of death is not good for death beeing against Nature doubtlesse Nature cannot but something feare it and for a man nothing to feare it is a certaine oppression of Nature Besides the feare of death if moderate and mixed with Faith in the Death of Christ doth further to repentance and
sanctimonie of life and quasi clauis carnis omnes motus superbiae ligno crucis affigit doth fasten all proud and carnall motions as it were with nayles vnto the Crosse Againe the moderate feare of Death makes vs meditate the deeper of it nihil sic reuocat a peccato quà m frequens mortis meditatio and nothing saith Saint Austen doth so much recall a man from sin as doth the often meditation of his death And finally there is no better way to vanquish the terrible aspect of death approching then a well tempered feare of Death before it doe come Sic mors ipsa cum venerit vincitur si prius quam veniat semper timeatur Death when it comes is ouercome if before it doe come it be alwaies feared 15 Whether is the suddennesse of death in it selfe an euill I answer if the death be not euil the suddē cōming of it is not euil Anselm saith wel Nō nocet bonis c. It is not hurtful to good men though they be slain or die suddenly non enim subito moriuntur qui semper se cogitauerunt morituros for they die not suddenly which haue alwayes thought they should die Precious in the sight of the Lord alwayes is the death of his Saints as it is said Quacunque hora iustus moriatur iustitia eius non auferetur ab eo Whensoeuer a righteous man dieth his righteousnesse shall not bee taken from him And as the Common saying is Qualis vita finis ita a good life hath a good end how sudden soeuer it falleth out 16 Whether is it vnlawfull to lament the death of Parents Children Friends Kinsfolkes and honest Christians Not to bee grieued at all for their death is a sinne to be lamented with griefe of heart For they are our flesh wee haue inioyed comfort by them and are now depriued of it and their life sometimes is very profitable to the Church and Kingdome To grieue then is a thing both naturall and honest Contristamur sayth Austen set non sicut caeteri Wee sorrow but not as others that are hopelesse Non culpamus affectum sayth Bernard but excessum wee accuse not the affection but the excesse Saint Paul forbidding the Thessalonians to sorrow for the dead doth not simply forbid all sorrow but Sorrow not sayth he as other that haue no hope For if we beleeue that Iesus is dead and is risen euen so them which sleepe in Iesus will God bring with him And hee himselfe professeth that God had mercie on him in sparing Epaphroditus Least quoth hee I should haue sorrow vpon sorrow What should I heape vp the examples of Abraham mourning for his wife Sarah of the Israelites for Samuel of the Machabees for Iudas their noble Captaine of Dauid for Ionathan of the Widowes for Dorcas of Martha for Lazarus Infinite are examples hereof But this our mourning must bee moderate and mixed with hope For they are not amissi but praemissi lost but sent before vs. And Sapiens eodem animo fert illorum mortem quo suam expectat a wiseman will take their death as hee doth expect his owne Filium meum memini me genuisse mortalem moriturum Thy child that 's borne to day and dies to morrow Looseth some daies of rest but yeares of sorrow Thou loosest wife and friends and parents deare The Heauens find them though thou loose them here 17 But of all the meanes of death which are very many which doth death most certainely follow and attend Seneca shall giue the answere Other kindes of death sayth he are mingled with hope A disease endeth a fire is extinguished a man escapes a ruine which was likely to haue opprest him the Souldier being readie to cut the necke asunder held his hand back nil autem habet quod speret quem senectus ducit ad mortem but there is no hope of escaping lest for him whom Old-age leadeth vnto death 18 Of all that die who commonly forget themselues and die without sound repentance The sinner sayth Caesarius is smitten with this punishment Vt moriendo obliuiscatur sui qui viuens oblitus est Dei that hee should forget himselfe at his death who forgot God in his life Et vix benè moritur quimalé vixit and he that liued ill sayth Saint Austen doth scarcely die well 19 Whom to is death most terrible and vnwelcome Surely to those whose GOD is their Belly whose portion is the world whose end is damnation and whose conscience affrights them Death sayth Tully is terrible to those who loose all thinges with their life not vnto them whose praise is immortall 20 Who die most cheerefully and with least discomfort They questionlesse whose conscience witnesseth with them Venientem nemo hilaris mortem recipit nisi qui se ad illam rectè composuerit No man giues death a cheerefull welcome when it comes but hee that hath rightly prepaired himself for her Hee dies most readily that liued most religiously 21 Is there any thing in the world more certaine and withall more vncertaine then death No verily What sayth Saint Bernard in humane things is there more certaine then death and what is found more vncertaine then the houre of death Shee pitties not pouertie shee reuerenceth not riches she spareth not wisdome manners age nisi quod senibus mors est in ianuis iuvenibus vero in insidijs sauing that death lookes olde men full in the face but lies skulking to take yongmen napping at vnawares 22 Doth death make no difference betweene the bodies of the rich and the poore the noble and the simple And are all these worldly differences among men become dead by death We are all borne naked saith Saint Ambrose and wee die naked there is no difference among the carkasses of the dead vnlesse perhaps the bodies of rich men doe sauour more strongly by reason of their riot And as a Marchants Counters vpon his counting table may stand for a greater or lesser number as he pleaseth but are all alike when they are shuffled together and put in the bagge euen so these earthly differences which were amongst men whiles they liued vpon earth doe all take their end and die when death hath once shuffled them together on heapes in the graue Alphonsus asked what made all men equall answered Ashes 23. But of all kindes of death which is the best and worst Doubtlesse of the best the death is the best and of the worst the death is the worst Of the death of good men I suppose the death of Martyrs to bee the best because it is indured with shew of the greatest vertues and as I thinke is best rewarded and they lose that for God which is most deare to nature namely life And of Malefactors their death is the worst simply who haue liued
and die most wickedly but theirs is counted most odious and infamous who either murder themselues or else die by Law for their outragious villanies Bias being asked What kinde of death was euill answered Quod legibus constitutum est That which the Lawes ordained meaning that which men haue deserued for their wickednesse as treason murther robberie In like manner hee in Plautus saith So I die not for my faults I care not much though I perish heere Qui per virtutem peritat non interit He that dies for well-doing doth not die 24. Why doe not men know the very time that is appointed for their deathes Saint Austen shall answere Latet vltimus dies vt obseruentur omnes dies A mans last day is kept secret that all daies might be obserued Ad hoc fortè nescis quando veniet vt semper paratus sis therefore it may be thou knowest not when he will come that thou mightest be alwaies prepared I suppose saith Plutarch that Nature knowing the confusion and shortnesse of our life would therefore haue the period of our life vnknowne to vs for it is cōmodious for vs. For if we should forknow it many would pine away with vntimely mourning would preuēt death with death he means the feare of death would kill thē wheras otherwise by course of nature they might haue liued longer 25. Whether is a man worse at his death or at his birth Peiores morimur quâm nascimur we die more euill then we are borne saith Seneca But this is our fault not natures if we consider it simply without relatiō to corruption Indeed we are borne in sinne but that sin is not acted of vs but by propagatiō deriued to vs but before we die if we liue the age of a man we die after the commission of many actuall transgressions Neuerthelesse by the grace of God in Christ a mans death may be better then his birth much more comfortable For to be borne is a worke of nature but to die with Christian faith fortitude either for Christ or in Christ is a work aboue nature I haue read of some that are said to die or to sleepe in Christ but I read of none that is borne in Christ re-borne and borne a new in Christ we may be said but not borne In briefe There is no man borne iustified and absolued But a man may die iustified and absolued Now it is better to die iustified then to bee borne a sinner It is better to die the child of Christ then to bee borne the sonne of Adam This then I say an old man dying if we regard him by himselfe is worse then an infant newly borne but if we consider an Infant without Christ an old man in Christ certainly it is much better for him to die with many sins forgiuen in Christ then fot the other to be born though but with one sin out of Christ so to die in that estate 26. Of all kindes of death considered simply without respect of grace or sinne which is the best Iulius Caesar said that sodaine death was best and a sodaine death befell himselfe But as I take it a sodaine death except it be by the course of nature without violence is not the best For that doubtlesse is the best which is most agreeable vnto nature now a naturall death is not simply sudden because it is not without messengers and signes foregoing yet sometimes it comes on the sodaine that is in a trice or before a man thinkes or while he thinks he may liue a while longer or when he thinkes not of it sometimes whiles he sleepes sometimes whilst he is awake as a mellow apple which drops of whilst a man sometimes is lookng on it 27. Whether is it lawfull for a man to pray that God would tell him directly when hee shall leaue the world and die I would not say it is altogether vnlawfull by reason of some extraordinarie occasions But vsually and ordinarily it is not expedient For reuealed things belong to vs but not the secrets of God such as are hidden seasons locked vp within Gods breast as the day of our death the day of Christs comming And as it is no way fit to pray to know the day of iudgement the verie time of the Iudges cōming so neither is it to pray to know the certain houre of death For though our end may be good yet that is not enough to make a prayer good but it must be made in faith according to the will of God But the curious inquiring into such things hath a checke in the Scriptures And though Dauid pray Lord let me know mine end and the measure of my daies what it is and let me know how long I haue to liue yet he meanes as I take it not to begge the knowledge of the verie point article of his death but desires God to giue him grace to acknowledge consider and duely to acquaint himselfe with the shortnesse and frailtie of his life as to me it seemeth by considering the words ensuing and by comparing it with Psal 92. 12. But howsoeuer it be we know Legibus viuitur non exemplis that good and obedient Christians must liue by lawes and not by ensamples But I demaund why wouldest thou know the verie moment of thy death That thou mightest prepare thy selfe the better for it Thy meaning may be good but this thine ayme is of litle moment Know this thou art a man die thou must this verie day may see thy death prepare thy selfe this day Thou maist die any day to day to morrow next day be therefore prepared euery day to day to morrow next day any day euerie day Miserable man why dost thou not prepare thy selfe euery houre Thinke of thy selfe as if thou werst now a dying for thou knowest thou must die It is not for thee to know the times or the seasons which God hath put in his owne power If God will not haue thee know them then desire not to know them It is enough for vs to know wee must die how soone or when it skils not it cannot be long to for we are but fome and fume 28. What honour ought the liuing to performe vnto the dead I answere they ought moderately to be touched with the losse of them they ought to giue them honest buriall they ought to commemorate and imitate their vertues they should praise God for his graces giuen them and for receiuing them to mercy out of a miserable mercilesse world they ought to maintaine their credits they ought not to misuse their bodies neither speake euill of them if the deafe ought not to be euill spoken of much lesse the dead for who deafer then a dead man who further off Who lesse able to answere for himselfe Hauing thus ended these questions concerning death and dead
erit He which by repentance purgeth away his sinne shall be partaker and saith Saint Austen of Angelicall happinesse for euer Now a true penitent person must bee thus disposed First hee must plainely and from his heart confesse his sinnes to God Secondly he must earnestly beg pardon of his sinne desiring God for Christ to bee reconciled to him Thirdly hee must resolue fully to leaue his sinues and to practise all holy and honest duties If the wicked will returne from all his sinnes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely liue and shall not dye It is not inough to set himselfe against one fault but against all all all without exception of any For one wing belimed may cause the whole bird to be taken and one discase may bee the death of all the bodie so one vnrepentant of knowne enormitie euen one though there were no more may yea and will bee the ruine of the soule the destruction of the sinner Fourthly where an iniury is done vnto our neighbours there ought wee to seek reconcilement and to giue them satisfaction For hee that hauing offended man seekes not to be reconciled to him doubtles shall neuer truely be at peace with God Briefely hee that would shew himselfe a true penitent must be truly grieued because his repentance is so poore his deuotion so cold and his life so bad Thirdly hee that would dye comfortably in Christ should liue obediently to Christ For hee that obeyeth not the sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Now he that will proue his obedience vnto Christ the Lord must shew it vnto the Bishops and Ministers of the Church his Seruants speaking vnto them in his Name according to his Lawe Obey them saith the Holy Ghost which haue the ouersight of you and submit your selues Certainely they that dishonour disobey and disdaine them dishonour disobey and disdaine Christ their Maister Fourthly it behooues vs to weine our affections from the world for the pleasures and vanities of the world are very bandes and boltes vnto our soules if wee wed our selues vnto them and they vvill make vs altogether vnwilling to depart Fiftly doe good vnto the poore and afflicted members of Christ Iesus pray for them visite them and aduise them help them feede them cloth them harbour them By mercy and trueth iniquitie shall be forgiuen saith Salomon Charge them that are rich saith Paul that they bee rich in good workes and be ready to distribute and communicate laying vp in store for them a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life That which is giuen to pore christians because they be christians is giuen vnto Christ himselfe who will recompence our temporall gifts with eternal glory Pore christians are as a rich fieldif the rich will sow the seede of their charitable almesdeedes on them they shal by the heauens blessing receiue a plentiful crop of eternall happines On the contrarie he shuts against himselfe the doores of Gods mercy who will shew no mercy to his afflicted brother Sixtly he that would haue comfort in his death ought to liue or at least to die in the loue and reuerent affection to the Church of Christ neither meane I onely the Catholique Church part whereof is triumphing in heauen and a part warring on earth but that true visible Church in which hee is borne and baptised and to the obedience whereof he is most properly called For I doe very much doubt of the saluation of all such as dye vnreconciled to the church out of loue with that church vnto the loue and obedience wherof God doth call them Let our Papists therefore Brownists aud such like spirits take heede vnto themselues how they liue and dye out of loue and loyalty to this church of England whereof they should be louing and obedient members but vnto which indeede they stand ill-affected disobedient and vndutifull They malice her they write and speake against her they speake euill of her and of her chiefest members I meane not to dispute of her lawfulnes and trueth this is all I say if shee be found to be a true Church of Christ as it will appeare one day I doe much feare that these her enemies her slanderers her disobedient and vnruly children will not bee able to stand vnconfounded before her Head Husband Christ Iesus who then will recompence to euery one according to his workes euen euerlasting life to them which through patience in well-doing seeke glorie and honour and immort alitie but vnto them that are Contentious and disobey the trueth indignation and wrath It behooues vs therefore for our better assurance of comfort and saluation to know the true Church and to cleaue vnto it beeing knowne Seuenthly let a man set his house in order and dispose of his estate It was the last wise work which Achitophel performed And finally when death seemeth to approch if it giue him any warning as vsually it doth let him commend his soule with Steuen into the hands of Christ Lord Iesus receiue my Spirit crauing for mercie and not forgetting that the ioyes of Heauen after which he gaspeth are farre more compleat and are able to giue a thousand times more true contentment to the soule of man then all the transitorie pleasures profits and preferments of this world can doe He that is thus composed for death shall not dye but liue for euer his death shall bee as a pleasant sleepe his graue as a bed and his soule shall rest in peace with Christ till the time appointed for the Resurrection of our bodies bee fulfilled Oh that men would thinke of these things practise these things Wouldst thou haue comfort in thy death then seeke and sue for comfort in thy life Wouldst thou bee armed against the feare of death then dye betimes to sinne Death is a Serpent her sting is Sinne pull out the sting by true repentance and thou needst not feare the Serpent Death can not hurt thee if thou hurt not thy selfe by Sinne. Death is not Interitus Death to the penitent Introitus but an entrance into heauen and the way is made and the doore is opened by true repentance and by Faith in Christ who is the Sunne of our glorie and the Saluation of our soule by whose death letum delethum mortua mors est death is defaced and dead it selfe But wouldst thou giue hope of the truth of thy turning then turne whilest thou maist runne on repent when thou mightest yet sinne deferre not thy turning till thy death least it be thought that the world doth forsake thee and not thou the world and that sinne rather leaues thee then thou dost leaue sinne and that the cause of this turning is not the loue of GOD and godlinesse but the feare of death and the apprehension of
damnation only Take heede therefore and deale plainly with thy selfe I know many men thinke well of themselues and would count themselues much iniured if they should bee censured as euill members which yet how they will auoide I cannot see This is my reason they are notorious and ordinarie prophaners of the Lords day euen those houres that are destinated to the publique worship of GOD euen those very houres are mispent vsually in eating and drinking in buying and sclling and gaming This is a mortall sinne stat against the Law of God and his Church and is commonly practised of manie how is it possible for these Sinners to haue any true comfort How can they be saued Vndoubtedly so continuing they are in the state of death and not in the state of grace For hee that oheyes sinne is the Seruant of sinne is not borne of God doth not serue God And there is no way to scape but by true repentance which consists in Auersion from sinne and in Conuersion vnto God these are the two celestiall Poles or Hinges whereon repentance turneth I name this one sinne but there are others as drunkennesse whoredome and such like which beare sway with many and if they looke not to it will sway and weigh them downe into the pit of Hell It behoues vs all therefore to looke vnto our selues Death and the Iudgement are the things most certaine but when or how or where our death shall happen that we know not If wee should bee taken away in our sinnes all the world could not saue vs but if we repent vnfeignedly then happie are wee death cannot come amisse wee may embrace it kisse it welcome it wee loose the earth but wee find Heauen wee goe forth of the wildernesse into Canaan out of the Region of death into the Land of the liuing the euer-liuing wee goe from Sinners to Saints from Men to Angels to God with him to liue in immortall glorie and in glorious immortalitie in that Kingdome wherein all shall be Kings and of which there shall neuer be an end vnto the which God for his mercie bring vs through Iesus Christ vnto whom with their Holy Spirit be all honour praise and glory this day and euermore Amen Hauing finisht our discourse of Corporall or temporarie death it remaineth that we say something of Spirituall and Eternall deatb Spirituall death is either of the wicked or of the godly The spirituall death of the wicked is a certaine spirituall separation of them from spirituall and Christian grace and goodnesse when as they lie dead without all godly feeling in sinnes and trespasses their hearts being alienated from God and true godlinesse This is a most miserable kind of death for they that are thus dead are the Seruants of sinne the Vassals of Satan the Children of wrath out of the state of grace and in the Region and shadow of death liable to damnation which to escape they can haue no hope while they continue in that estate The spirituall death of the godly is threefold The first is whereby they are dead to sinne This death stands in the disallowing and condemning sinne in the iudgement in the nilling and refusing it in the will in the hatred of it and grieuing for it in the affections and finally in the declining and forsaking it in the life and conuersation This death is the separation of the soule from the approbation loue and embracing of wickednesse It is of God through Christ and with much comfort and contentment For hee that dies to sinne shall neuer die fot sinne he that dies to sinne doth liue to God and whosoeuer liues vnto God in this world shall liue for euer with GOD in the world to come To die to sinne is to liue a Saint and precious in the sight of the Lord is both the life and the death of his Saints They be like the Moūtaine that was not to bee toucht They that touch you sayth the Lord touch the apple of mine eye and wee know that the apple of the eye is very tender The second Spirituall death of the Godly is whereby they are dead to the Law and this is because the Law doth not condemne them that are in Christ Iesus who by iustifying vs through his righteousnesse doth deliuer vs from the curse of the Law and rids the conscience of those terrours which the Law might cause by sinne vnpardoned The third death Spirituall of the Godly is whereby the world is crucifyed or dead to them and they dead vnto the world The World is dead to them when as they dote not on the world but contemne all worldly things and account them as nothing in comparison of Christ Iesus and his benefits This death is very needfull for he that liues to the World liues not vnto GOD and hee liues to the World to whom the World is not dead but who doteth on the World shall perish with the World hee that liues not to God in this life shall not liue with God in the life to come Godly men are said to bee dead to the World when the World coutemnes them hates them persecutes them and wisheth as it were to be rid of them This kind of death is the ordinarie portion of the Godly For they being not of the World but of God whom the World knowes not and being but as Forrainers and Strangers it is no maruell if the World frowne on them and shew her selfe an vnkinde Step-mother towardes them it is no wonder though wicked Worldlings beat them bite them barke at them and flie at their throats for thus Dogges vse to deale with Strangers which they know not And thus much wee haue seene what death is in respect of the World to wit the Separation and abalienation of our hearts from the World or of the World from vs and so much also for Spirituall death The third kind of death is called Eternall death or the second death which is the Separation of the soule from God or the euerlasting punishment of the whole man consisting of soule and bodie from the comfortable presence of GOD in hell fire The Prouider and Inflicter of this death is God who is a most iust Iudge Whose very soule doth hate the wicked and him that loues iniquitie Tophet which indeed is Hell is prepared of old Hee hath made it deepe and large the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a Riuer of brimstone doth kindle it By which we see that Hel-fire is prepared and kindled by the Lord. Now God doth not ordaine and inflict death for it selfe as if he did delight in death and destroying but it is for the clearing of his iustice for if wicked men should neuer be punished they would imagine either GOD is not or that he is not iust But all the world shall
not shall be worse beaten then he that knowes ir not and doth it not Christ tells the Scribes and Pharisees that because vnder the cloke of Religion they preyed on Widdowes therefore they should Receiue the Greater damnation and sayes that they make their seduced proselytes Two fold more the children of Hell then themselues And speaking of them that contemne the Gospell offered them he saith It shall bee easier for them of the land of Sodome and Gomorrha in the day of iudgement then for that Citie As for the situation of Hell to say precisely where hell is it is not easie below it 's doubtlesse as may appeare by sundry places of the Scripture and farre from heauen but that there is an Hell to wit a place appointed for the tormenting of wicked Angels and vngodly men it is cleere ynough our chiefest care should bee so to demeane our selues that we may neuer come there And assuredly whosoeuer is in the state of grace shall neuer come into that horrid place prepared onely for gracelesse and wicked people He is in the state of grace which depends wholly on the grace of God which turnes not his grace into wantonnes which delights not in vngracious wretches which maketh much of those meanes of grace which God hath in his Church and finally who out of a gratefull spirit doth bestow himselfe his soule seruice vpon God labouring tooth and nayle with might and maine for the aduancement of his honour and the welfare of his house which is the Church being sorie at the heart that his seruice is so simple his weakenesses so many and his obedience so vnperfect as it is Certainely this man shall not dye but liue eternally not hell but heauen shall bee his habitation God doth honour him with his grace in this world and will crowne him with eternall glory in the world to come Trin-Vni Deo Gloria Because these few pages left vntouched should not bee lost I haue set downe some Positions which are not disagreeing from the matter handled The first Position Death is not the End of man if wee speake properly THE end is that properly to which a thing is ordained or for which it is But when God mad a man death was not the end he shot at dissolution is not the scope of Gods creation nor of Parents generation Againe the End by it selfe and of it owne natnre is only good but death of it selfe and in it owne nature is not good but the priuation of life which is a certaine good death came in by sinne is the fruit of sinne and is as the Apostle sheweth an Enemie which shall bee destroyed as an enemie and therefore death properly is not good but euill therefore properly death is not the end of man Furthermore Finis est quod maximè volumus that is the end which we doe chiefly desire but neither God nor man doth chiefly desire death A good Christian desires death not for it selfe but to bee with Christ to be unburdened of his concupiscence Many men out of distemper of minde and an ill-informed will doe couet death and kill themselues but yet it is not for death it selfe but for some respect besides as Cato Vticensis killed himselfe with his owne sword because he would not fall into the handes of Iulius Caesar Sophronia to keepe her chastitie from the lust of Decius the Emperour who daily assaulted it by her husbands consent slew her selfe Portia the wife of Brutus vnable to beare the newes of her husbands death killed her selfe with eating burning coales Labienus hearing his bookes were condemned to the fire killed himselfe because they should not die before him Siluius Italieus murdered himselfe to rid himselfe of the torments of his greuous and incurable disease Pontius Pilate being banished to Vienna and feeling the gripes of an accusing conscience and fearing punishment for his misdeeds to preuent all killed himselfe These and such like are the ends of Selfe-slayers and not death it selfe And albeit God doe appoint men to die yet it is not death hee aimes at but the manifestation of his iustice in punishing sinne of his power in raysing men dead to life and for such ends as are best knowne vnto himselfe To conclude then Death is not properly a mans end non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the highest scope of Gods creation nor a mans perfection or be atitude which is the full and finall fruition of Almightie God but it is a certaine Extreme or the end of priuation which end is the corruption and the dissolution of a thing The second Position It is iust with God to smite Sinners with death euen in the very act of their wickednesse and with that wherein they doe offend COrnelius Gallus and Quintus Elorius two Roman Knights died as Plinie lib. 7. recordeth in the very action of filthinesse Arichbertus eldest sonne to Lotharius King of France died as hee was embracing his whores Anacreon the Poet a notable Drunkard was choked with the huske of a grape A certaine African caled Donitius eate so much at a Supper that he died there with Philostrates being in the Bathes at Sinressa deuoured so much wine that hee fell downe the staires and almost broke his necke with the fall Alexander the sonne of Basilius and Brother of Leo the Emperour being a very belly-god one day hauing crammed himselfe too full as hee got vp his horse he burst a veine whereat flowed such store of bloud that hee died These and many more such are the iudgements of GOD vpon Sinners and are in him most iust For first his will is the rule of iustice but these punishments hee doth will and ordaine for there is no euill in the Citie no punishment which hee sendeth not therefore these must needes bee iust Secondly they are deserued for the wages of sinne is death and in that God doth not strike euerie Sinner alike the reason is because hee is tied to no Law but is a Law vnto himselfe and may doe what he will But sometimes he is pleased to smite suddenly to terrifie the wicked and to keepe his owne in obedience and to let all men know that there is a God that iudgeth the world and hateth wickednesse and wicked men The third Position A wicked man though wickedly and cruelly murthered is not not therefore discharged of his wickednesse vnrepented of and saued SEnacherib was murthered of his sonnes yet for that his owne Idolatry other sinnes were not forgiuen For men are not saued for any good thing either done by thē or for any euil sustained of them The Easterne Emperour Zeno was such a loathsome Belly-god that his wife Ariadne fell to loath bim and on a day as he lay senselesse as his manner was through gurmandizing she got him into a tombe and throwing a great stone vpon it pined him to
death This was a iust punishment of a glutton in regard of God though vniust in respect of her that did it This then I say If a man out of the state of grace be murthered or die by an iniust sentence of the Magistrate yet he is not therfore deliuered from the sentence of God but must suffer as he hath deserued that his vntimely death being also long of his sinne And though a wicked man or one not within the state of grace may die not deseruing it of man as Archelaus King of Macedonia who was murthered of one Cratenas whom he loued deerely or as that forenamed father was of Adrameleke and Sarasar his sonnes yet is this their death iustly sent from God whom they knew not worshipt not serued not as they should haue done Yea their death may be iustly punished in their murtherers as Cratenas was himselfe also after murthered and yet death deserued at the hands of God For though God and the murtherer agree in the act yet not in their grounds and ends God therefore pursues the murtherer because he violates his law so souly he not bidding him but forbidding him to murther and putting no malice into his heart to make him murther giuing him no commission but onely a certaine permission which God being Lord of all and bound to no man may iustly doe The fourth Position The number of such as shall suffer eternall death is greater then of them that shall be saued MAny are called but few in comparison of them are chosen now none shall be saued but the chosen There are haue beene many that neuer had a verball calling An infinitie of people there is at this day in the world as of Turkes Iewes Indians Tartars and other sauage nations in number beyond Christians of all that rabble there can be no hope of life so long as they liue out of the Church and by no extraordinarie fauour know Christ who himselfe doth teach that the way of life is strait and found of few but that the way to death is broad and full of trauellers And finally euen among Christians only those shall be saued which embrace the true faith and are obedient vnto Christ in those particular true visible Churches in which they were bred and baptized and to the obedience of which God doth call and tie them Now how few these are to heretikes schismatikes and other factious firebrands and euill liuers as drunkards fornicators earthwormes idle and vnprofitable wretches the multitude of sinnes and sinners which swarme like the flies of Egypt in Citie and countrey doth demonstrate The fifth Position Whosoeuer doth simply and sincerely will and desire to be deliuered from eternall death shall not die but liue eternally I Make it plaine thus he that willes the end simply and sincerly doth seeke out means vnto it doth vse those means for if he know the means whereby he may obtaine his desire yet neglects to vse thē and cares not for them he shewes his desire is but confused vncertaine vnsincere If therfore a man with an honest and true heart do will wish desire to liue and to escape death he wil seeke out meanes to accomplish his desire when he knowes them he will be carefull to vse them It is an old and true saying Wishers and Woulders were neuer good Householders the meaning whereof is to taxe the foolishnesse of such as wish and would but will take no paines will vse no meanes An idle peeson would be rich but he will not labour a trewant would be a scholler but he will not studie The truth is that he that indeed would inioy a thing wil vse means to compasse it If then I would not die but liue I must not runne on in sinne I must not distrust God I must not disobey the Church of Christ and kindle coales of contention I must not contemne the word and Sacraments but I must beleeue in Christ repent of my sinne begge their pardon reuerence my Minister loue my Brethren and take heede I giue no offence Now he that doth carefully vse the meanes of life and auosdes the waies of death shall vndoubtedly liue and not die But hee that saith I would liue I would not die and yet goes the broade way and regards not the narrow path this man surely is wrong his will is not simple and sincere but confused and mishapen and except he reforme his course he shall perish notwithstanding his wishing and woulding Tell mee if a man shall say he would be in health and yet will vse no meanes of health no good diet no labour nor the like but delights onely in eating drinking glouzing sleeping idlenesse tell me does this man indeed will health and a good temper of bodie He doth not doubtlesse he may wish health but he will take no paines for it which argues verie foolishnesse Euerie man would be saued who would die Balaam would not no man would yet in the meane time who vseth the means Who leaueth his sinnes Who fighteth with his lusts Who honoureth his Minister as the man of God Who thirsteth after Christ Who is louing and obedient vnto the Church Is not sinne committed countenanced Is not the Sabbath commonly and notoriously profaned Doe not othes drunkennesse pride idlenesse and hard-heartednesse abound And are not many to seeke as it were in the Alphabet of religion They know not which is the true Church which are the people of God which is his house What miserable times doe we liue in How vaine is the world Men would faine liue they would not die they say and yet they care not for the waies of life whereas if men did truely and effectually will to liue and to auoid death they would not runne the broad way but would shew themselues wise men that is as well seeke out and vse the meanes as affect the end The sixt Position Though a man feele not the fruits and working of the Spirit in him yet hee must not despaire of life and thinke hee is ordained to death and must needs be damned A Man may bee called before death though now he be in sinne ouer head and eares and altogether voide of mercy Gods arme is neuer too short to saue his eare is neuer too dull to heare neither doth any man know what the purpose of God is Paul was as bad as one God did call him so was the Thiefe that was called on the Crosse Againe a man may be in the state of grace and yet sometimes feele no comfort no working of the Spirit euen as a man in a swoone or sleepe doth liue though hee knowes not so much and a child we see liues before it knowes it liues I say finally what though thou feelst no grace what though thou beest nothing so good as thou shouldst bee Wilt thou therefore despaire Is there no way with thee thinkest thou
5. Isa 38. 12. Gen. 2. 17. Isa 45. 7. Ec. 3. 1. 2. Act. 1. 7. Math. 10. 29. 30 Iliad 22. Contra Marcel In lerem c. 12. De gen cont Manich. l. 1. c. 2 Lam. 3. 37. Ob. 1. Sol. In what sense God may be said to ordaine and cause death A Simile Ob. 2. Sol. Act. 2. 23. Act. 4. 28. Ob. 3. Sol. No murtherer is excused by Gods decree Epist ad Vinc. 38. Note Ex. 20. 13. Ob. 4. Sol. Note Three actions of God about murther 1. Act. 17. 28. Note Act. 2. Note Act. 3. Quaest 1. Sol. Enchir. c. 95. Quest 2. Sol. Enchir. c. 101. Quest 3. Sol. Enchir. c. 98. Quest 4. Sol. De Praed Grat. c. 15. August Enchir. c. 101. Quest 5. Sol. Lib. 1 de Sacr. c. 7. part 4. Quest 6. Sol. Depraedestin grat p. 48. Sum. 9. 19. art 9. Quest 7. Sol. De Gen. ad lit imperf cap. 5. De ciuit Dei l. 11. c. 17 Quest 8. Sol. Strom. l. 1. Euchir ad Laur. c. 101. Quest 9. Sol. De grat lib. arbit cap. 21. De amiss grat l. 2. c. 13. Acts 4. 28. Sinne the mother of Death Rom. 5. 12. Rom. 6. 23. Depraed grat c. 11. Wisd 1. 13. 15. Eccles 11. 14. Aug. retract l. 1. c. 21. Rom. 5. 12. Note Who are Subiect to Death 2. Cor. 5. 21. Ioh. 10. 15. 18. Rom. 3. 25. Bucan loc 11. q. 13. 1. Cor. 15. 22. Rom. 5. 12. Lib. contra Fortunat disput 2. Gen. 3. 19. Quest Ans Why Infants dye Psal 51. 5. Aug. de praedest grat cap. 2. Quest Ans Why Infants are guiltie of Sinne. Lib. 16. de excell Mariae c. 10. Quest Reu. 1. 5. Ans In cap. 6. ad Rom. Note Note Psal 116. 15. All men must dye Heb. 9. 27. 2. King 2. 2. Tuscul 1. Ouid. ad Liuiam Hor. Car. l. 2. od 28. l. 2. ode 3. Iliad l. 6. Hor. carm lib. 2. od 14. Homer ll 18. Hor. carm l. 2. od 16. Psal 49. 10. Hor. l. 1. Carm. od 4. Psal 82. 6. Hor. carm lib. 1. od 28. Hor. carm l. 3. od 11. Ouid. 2. Sam. 2. 18. Eccl. 3. 20. Quest. Sol. 1. Cor. 15. 5. Of the time of Death Isa 46. 10. 11. Iliad 1. Lucret. Martial Isa 38. 5. Note Seneca Herc. fur Deaths houre is vnknowne Tul. 1. de finib Epist 23. Note A Simile Death is but once Heb. 9. 27. Carm. l. 1. od 18 2. King 13. 22. Death takes possession easily Iam. 4. 14. Hor. car l. 4. od 7 Eurip. Hor. 16. A Simile As death leaues so the Iudge findes men Ad Dâ—oscor Eccl. 11. 3 Cyp. Tract ad Demetrian Of the coÌ„modities of death To whom death is â—ndeed a benefit Commod 1. Vid. Plutarch de consolat ad Apol. Commod 2. Commod 3. Note A simile In Ioh. Death is discommodious to the wicked 1. 2 3 4 5. Aug. ad Julian ep 211. What to death may be compared Simile 1. Death is a Physitian Adissimile Death is an Hauen * Isay 57. 1. Reu. 14. 13. Adissimilitude In two cases Death is vnlike an Hauen Luke 16. A second dissimilitude Job 7. 10. Vid. Nat. 〈◊〉 Myth l. 3. c. 13. Acts 20. 9. 10. Death is a Night A dissimile Agath in Nat. Com. vbi supra A dissimile Pro. 30 16. Death a fire A dissimile Death is a Reaper A Dissimilitude Death is a Tyrant A Dissimili Satyra 10. Iudg. 15. 15. Horat. Carm. l. 3. Od. 4. Death is a flying woman Death is a Sea Death a Lion Death a Sleep Laert. lib. 6. Plutarc Consol ad Apoll. A Dissimilitude 28 questions about Death Quest 1. Sol. How death may be said to be naturall Note Quest. 2. Sol. Naturall death described Quest 3. Sol. What violent death is A Simile A Simile Quest 4. Sol. Note A Simile Quaest 5. Sol. The causes of long life A Simile Quest 6. Sol. This answere belongs to the state of mans fall by sinne Note Note Juuenal Satyr 80. Quest 7. Sol. Three liuing spirits created How mans soule is said to die 2. Difference 3. Difference In Cant. ser 107 Iohn 5. Act. 24. 15. Quest 8. Sol. Laert. lib. 1. c. 1. Ans How death is an euill and how not Note 1. Cor. 15. Quest 9. Sol. Psal 51. 5. Note Ec. 7. 3. Quest 10. Sol. Note Quest 11. Sol. Rom. 3. 8. We must not die till God call vs. Quest 12. Sol. Phil. 1. 23. Quest 13. Sol. lu what sense a man may pray against death Note Iob. 13. 15. Iob 17. 3. 4. 6. Quest 14. Sol Epist 88. Note How death may be feared Aug. l. 2. de doct Christ Greg. Quaest 15. Sol. When sudden is euill Quest 16. Sol. How we may lament the death of our friends De verb. Ap. ser 3 2. In Cant. ser 29. 1. Thes 4. 13. 14. Note Phil. 2. 27. Note Whiles I was a writing these things it pleased God to take from me mine onely sonne before he was a fortnight old Quest 17. Epist 30. Sol. Quaest 18. Sol. In admonit 6. Quaest 19. Sol. In paradox Quaest 20. Sols Quaest 21. Sol. Death both certaine and vncertaine Quaest 22. Sol. A Simile Quaest 23. Sol Whose death is best Whose death is counted worst The iuster the Law the worser the death Quest 24. Sol. Why God keepes from men the time of their deaths De consolat ad Apoll. Quest 25. Sol. Epist 22. Note Note Note Quest 26. Sol. What is the best death without reference to sinne or vertue A Simile Quaest 27. Sol. Why it is vnlawfull to pray to know the time of our deathes Tu ne quaesieris scire nesas quem mihi quem tibi finem Dij dederint Seu plures hyemes seu tribuit Iupiter vltimakm Hor. car l. 1. od 11. Rom. 14. 23. Psal 39. 5. Note Spacio breui spem lougant reseces Dum loquimur sugerit inuida aelas Hor. car li. 1. od 11. Act. 1. 7. Quest 28. Sol. The honors performed to the dead Leuit. 19. 14. Vses of the former discourse â— The bodic is baser then the soule A Simile Note Why should a man haue an euil soule that would haue a good bodie A comfort against the feare of death Vse 2. Why death is to be borne with patience A comfort to a good man dying Dan. 3. 6. Vse 3. A reason to hate sinne Sinne a very Crab-tree Pro. 14. 9. 10 23. Vse 4. Inordinate feare of death to be supprest Senec. 78. epist Epist 24. Epist 78. Vse 5. Rules of preparation against Death 1. John 5. 24. Iohn 11. 25. 26. Note Who is a right beleeuer and who fantasticall Rule 2. Ezek. 18. 30. 31. Fiue duties of a true penitent Ezek. 18. 22. Note A Simile Rule 3. Iobn 3. 16. Heb. 13. 17. Rule 4. Rule 5. Pro. 16. 6. 1. Tim. 17. 18. 19 Note Mat. 25. A Simile Iam. 2. 13. Rule 6. English Papists Brownists are liable to damnation for their obstinate Schisme Note Reu. 22. 12. Rom. 2. 7. 8. Rule 7. Isay 38. 1. 2. Sam. 17. 23. Acts 7. 59. The death of the godly commended 1. Cor. 15. 56. Note Note A false imagination of sundrie persons Ex. 20. 8. 10. Rom. 6. 16. 1. Joh. 3. 8. 9. Ezek. 18. 21. Is 1. 16. 17. Of spirituall death Eph. 2. 1. Col. 2. 13. The spirituall death of the Godly is threefold What death to sinne is The preeminence of a Saint Ex. 19. 12. Zak. 2. 8. Rom. 7. 4. Gal. 2. 16. 19. Note Gal. 6. 14. When the World is dead to a man How a man is said to be dead to the World Iob. 15. 19. 16. 3. 1. Pet. 2. 11. Reu. 22. 8 What eternall death is 2. Thes 1. 9. God the inflicter of eternall death Psal 11. 5. Is 30. 33. Note Rom. 2. 5. 8. Death the fruit of sinne Rom. 6. 23. 2. Thes 1. 8. Rom. 2. 8. Matth. 25. 41. 42. Who are subiect to eternall death Who shall die this death Math. 25. 41. Math. 7. 23. 2. Thes 1. 8. Ioh. 8. 24. Note Ioh. 3. 36. Act. 4. 8. 11. 1 Pet. 2. 4. 6 Act. 4. 12 Isa 53. 11 Gal. 2. 15. 16 2. Ioh. 5. 11. 12 In hope In actuall possession Note 1. Cor. 6. 9. 10. Reu. 21. 8. Iude. 4. 13. Note Deut. 4. 2. 12. 32 Iosh 1. 7. Pro 30. 6. Reu. 22. 18. 19. How dangegerous it is to tract or adde vnto the word of Christ A Similitude Note As Anti-trinitarians Arians As Papists No saluation for sinners during their impenitencie Isay 30. 33. Iude 15. Reu. 22. 12. Rom. 2. 6. Eternall cannot be fully described Three things about this death to be noted 1. Paena damni Paena Sensus Aeternitas Paenae 2. Thes 1. 9. Math. 25. 46. Esay 66. 24. In fire two things Note Hell-fire is not like our fires Lib. 4. de ortho c. 28. Lib. de cogn verae vitae c. 40. Luke 16. Note Math. 25. 41. In 20. cap. Iob. Note Why the death of the damned is for euer The companions of the damned The Place Difference of torments Lib. 4. contr Donat c. 19. de Bap. Luke 12. 47. Math. 23. 14. 15 Math. 10. 15. Where Hell is Isay 30. 33. Luke 16. 26. Reu. 9. 11. 20. 3. 17. 8. Num. 16. 30. 33 Iude 6. 2. Pet 2. 4. Note Whom Hell shall not receiue Who is in the state of grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 15. 26. Aristot lib. 1. de Anima Rom. 6. 23. Note 2. King 19. 37. Why God punisheth a murther which he doth permit Math. 20. 16. Ioh. 3. 18. Heb. 5. 9. Ioh. 27. 9. Math. 7. 13. 14. Note Note Ezek. 18. 21. Ioh. 3. 16. Note Note Isay 59. Note Note 1. Ioh. 4. 10. 19. Note Note Mat. 11. 28. Mat. 12. 20.