and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Secondly I answer the particulars which be alleadged on this manner And first of all touching dispaire it is true that not only wicked and loose persons despaire in death but also repentant sinners who oftentimes in their sickenesse testifie of themselues that beeing aliue and lying in their beddes they feele themselues as it were to be in hell and to apprehend the very pangs and torments thereof And I doubt not for all this but that the child of God most deare vnto him may through the gulfe of desperation attaine to euerlasting happinesse This appeares by the maner of gods dealing in the matter of our saluation All the workes of God are done in by their contraries In the creation all things were made not of some thing but of nothing cleane contrary to the course of nature In the worke of redemption God giues life not by life but by death and if we consider aright of Christ vpon the crosse we shall see our paradise out of paradise in the middest of hel Eor out of his owne cursed death doeth he bring vs life and eternall happinesse Likewise in effectuall vocation when it pleaseth God to conuert and turne men vnto him he doeth it by the meanes of the Gospel preached which in reason should driue all men from God For it is as contrarie to the nature of man as fire to water and light to darknesse and yet for al this though it bee thus against the disposition and heart of man it preuailes with him and turnes him to God Furthermore whē God will send his owne seruants to heauen he sends them a contrarie waie euen by the gates of hell and when it is his pleasure to make men depend on his fauour and prouidence hee makes them feele his anger and to bee nothing in themselues that they may wholly depend vpon him and bee whatsoeuer they are in him This point beeing well considered it is manifest that the childe of God may passe to heauen by the very gulfes of hel The loue of God is like a sea into which when a man is cast hee neither feeles bottome nor sees bank I conclude therfore that dispaire whether it arise of weakenesse of nature or of conscience of sinne though it fall out about the time of death cannot preiudice the saluation of them that are effectually called As for other straunge euents which fall out in death they are the effects of diseases Rauings and blasphemings arise of the disease of melancholy and of frensies which often happen at the end of burning feuers the choller shooting up to the braine The writhing of the lippes the turning of the necke the buckling of the ioints and the whole bodie proceede of crampes and convulsions which followe after much euacuatiō And wheras some in sicknesse are of that strength that three or foure mē cannot hold thē without bonds it comes not of witchcraft and possessions as people commonly thinke but of choller in the veines And wheras some when they are dead become as black as pitch as Bonner was it may arise by a bruise or an impostume or by the blacke iaundise or by the putrefactiō of the liuer it doth not alwaies argue some extraordinarie iudgement of God Nowe these and the like diseases with their simptomes strange effects though they shall depriue man of his health of the right vse of the parts of his bodie and of the vse of reason too yet they can not depriue his soule of eternal life And all sinnes procured by violent diseases and proceeding from repentant sinners are sins of infirmity for which if they know them and come againe to the vse of reason they will further repent if not they are pardoned and buried in the death of Christ. And we ought not so much to stand vpon the strāgenesse of any mans end when we know the goodnesse of his life for wee must iudge a man not by his death but by his life And if this be true that strange diseases and thereupon strange behauiours in death may befal the best man that is wee must learne to reforme our iudgements of such as lie at the point of death The common opiniō is that if a man lie quietly and goe away like a lambe which in some diseases as consumptions and such like any man may do then he goes straight to heauē but if the violēce of the disease stirre vp impatience and cause in the partie franticke behauiours then men vse to say there is a iudgement of God seruing either to discouer an hypocrite or to plague a wicked man But the truth is otherwise for indeed a mā may die like a lamb and yet goe to hell and one dying in exceeding torments and strange behauiours of the body may go to heauē by the outward conditiō of any mā either in life or death we are not to iudge of his estate before God The fourth obiection is this Whē a man is most nere death then the diuell is most busie in temptatiō the more men are assaulted by Satan the more dāgerous and troublesome is their case And therfore it may seeme that the day of death is the worst day of all Answ. The condition of Gods childrē in earth is twofold Some are not tempted some are Some I say are not tempted as Simeon who when he had seen Christ brake forth and saide Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace c. fore-signifying no doubt that hee should end his daies in all maner of peace As for them which are tēpted though their case bee very troublesome and perplexed yet their saluation is not further off by reasō of the violence extremity of temptation For God is then present by the vnspeakable comfort of his spirit when wee are most weake he is most strong in vs because his manner is to shewe his power in weakenes And for this cause euen in the time of death the diuell receiues the greatest foyle when he lookes for the greatest victorie The sixt obiection is this Violent sudden death is a grieuous curse of all euills which befal man in this life none is so terrible therefore it may seeme that the day of sudden death is most miserable Ans. It is true indeede that sudden death is a curse grieuous iudgement of God and therefore not without cause feared of mē in the world yet all things considered wee ought more to be afraid of an impenitent and euil life then of sudden death For though it be euill as death it selfe in his own nature is yet we must not think it to be simply euil because it is not euill to al men nor in all respects euill I say it is not euill to all men considering that no kinde of death is euill or a curse vnto them that
themselues reckon a fewe yeares and daies that are able by arte to measure the globe of the earth and the spheres of heauen the quantities of the starres with their longitudes latitudes altitudes motions distances from the earth No verily For howesoeuer by a generall speculation we thinke something of our ends yet vnlesse the spirit of God be our schoole-master to teach vs our dutie wee shall neuer bee able soundly to resolue our selues of the presence and speedinesse of death And therfore let vs pray with Dauid and Moses that God would inlighten our minds with knowledge and fil our hearts with his grace that we might rightly consider of death and esteeme of euery day an houre as it were the day and houre of death The second dutie in this generall preparation is that euery man must daily indeauour to take away from his owne death the power and strength thereof And I pray you marke this point The Philistims sawe by experience that Sampson was of great strength therfore they vsed meanes to knowe in what part of his bodie it lay when they found it to be in the haire of his head they ceased not vntil it was cut off In like manner the time wil come whē we must encoūter hand to hand with tyranous and cruel death the best therefore is before-hand now while wee haue time to search where the strēgth of death lies which beeing once knowne we must with speed cut off his Sāpsons lockes and bereaue him of his power disarme him make him altogether vnable to preuaile against vs. Now to find out this matter we neede not to vse the councel of any Dalilah for wee haue the word of God which teacheth vs plaīly where the strength of death consists namly in our sins as Paul saith The sting of death is sinne Well then we knowing certenly that the power and force of euery mans partirular death lies in his owne sinnes must spend our time and studie in vsing good meanes that our sinnes may be remooued and pardoned And therefore we must daily inure our selues in the practise of two duties One is to humble our selues for al our sins past partly cōfessing thē against our selues partly in praier crying to heauē for the pardon of them The other is for time to come to turn vnto God and to carrie a purpose resolution indeauour in all things to reforme both hart life according to gods word These are the very principall proper duties wherby the power of death is much rebated he is made of a mighty bloody enemie so far forth friendly and tractable that we may with comfort incounter with him preuaile too Therefore I commend these duties to your christian considerations carefull practise desiring that ye would spend your daies euer hereafter in doing of them If a man were to deale with a mighty dragon or serpent hand to hand in such wise as he must either kill or be killed the best thing were to bereaue him of his sting or of that part of the body where his poison lies now death it selfe is a serpent dragon or scorpion sinne is the sting and poison whereby he wounds kils vs. Wherefore without any more delay see that ye pull out his sting the practise of the foresaid duties is as it were a fit worthy instrument to do the deed Hast thou beene a person ignorant of Gods will a contemner of his word and worship a blasphemer of his name a breaker of his Sabbaths disobedient to parents and magistrates a murderer a fornicatour a rayler a slanderer a couetous persō c. reforme these thy sinnes and all other like to them pull thē out by the rootes from thy heart cast them off So many sinnes as be in thee so many stings of death be also in thee to wound thy soule to eternal death therfore let no one sin remaine for which thou hast not humbled thy selfe and repented seriously When death hurts any man it takes the weapons whereby he is hurt from his owne hand It cannot do vs the least hurt but by the force of our owne sins Wherefore I say againe and againe lay this point to your hearts spend your strength life and health that ye may before ye die abolish the strength of death A man may put a serpent in his bosome when the sting is out we may let death creepe into our bosomes and gripe vs with his legs and stab vs at the heart so long as he brings not his venime and poison with him And because the former duties are so necessary as none can be more I wil vse some reasons yet furder to inforce thē Whatsoeuer a man would doe when he is dying the same he ought to doe euery day while he is liuing now the most notorious and wicked person that euer was when he is dying will pray and desire others to pray for him promise amendment of life protesting that if he might liue he would become a practitioner in all the good duties of faith repentance reformation of life Oh therfore be careful to do this euery day Again the saying is true he that would liue when he is dead must die while he is aliue namely to his sins Wouldest thou then liue eternally sue to heauen for thy pardon and see that now in thy life-time thou die to thine own sinnes Lastly wicked Balaam would faine die the death of the righteous but alas it was to small purpose for he would by no means liue the life of the righteous For his cōtinual purpose and meaning was to follow his olde waies in sorceries couetousnesse Now the life of a righteous man standes in the humbling of himself for his sinnes past and in a carefull reformatiō of life to come Wouldest thou then die the death of the righteous then looke vnto it that thy life be the life of the righteous if ye will needes liue the life of the vnrighteous yee must looke to die the death of the vnrighteous Remēber this and content not your selues to heare the word but be doers of it for ye learn no more indeed what measure of knowledge soeuer ye haue then ye practice The third dutie in our generall preparation is in this life to enter into the first degree of life eternal For as I haue said there be three degrees of life euerlasting and the first of them is in this present life for hee that would liue in eternall happines for euer must beginne in this world to rise out of the graue of his owne sinnes in which by nature he lies buried and liue in newnesse of life as it is said in the Reuelation He that will escape the second death must be made partaker of the first resurrection And Paul saith to the Colossians that they were in this life deliuered from the power of darkenesse and translated into the kingdom of Christ. And Christ saith to the
A SALVE FOR A SICKE MAN or A treatise containing the nature differences and kindes of death as also the right manner of dying well And it may serue for spirituall instructruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell 3. Women when they trauell of child Printed at London by IOHN LEGAT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1611. And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crovvne by Simon Waterson To the right Honourable and vertuous Lady the Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford THe death of the righteous that is of euery beleeuing repentāt sinner is a most excellent blessing of God and brings with it many worthy benefits which thing I prooue on this manner I. God both in the beginning and in the continuance of his grace doth greater things vnto his seruants then they doe commonly aske or thinke and because he hath promised ayd strength vnto thē therefore in wonderfull wisedome hee casteth vp them this heauie burden of death that they might make experience what is the exceeding might and power of his grace in their weaknes II. Iudgement beginnes at Gods house and the righteous are laden with afflictions and temptations in this life therfore in this world they haue their deaths and hells that in death they might not feele the torments of hell and death III. When Lazarus was dead Christ said He is not dead but sleepeth hence it followeth that the Christian man can say My graue is my bed my death is my sleepe in death I die not but onely sleepe It is thought that of all terrible things death is most terrible but it is false to them that be in Christ to whome many things happen farre more heauie and bitter then death IV. Death at the first brought forth sinne but death in the righteous by meanes of Christs death abolisheth sinne because it is the accomplishment of mortification And death is so farre from destroying such as are in Christ that there can be no better refuge for them against death for presently after the death of the body followes the perfect freedome of the spirit and the resurrection of the bodie V. Lastly death is a meanes of a Christian mans perfection as Christ in his owne example sheweth saying Behold I will cast out diuels and will heale still to day and to morrow and the third I will be perfected Now this perfection in the members of Christ is nothing else but the blessing of God the author of peace sanctifying them throughout that their whole spirits and soules and bodies may be preserued without blame to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now hauing often thus considered with my selfe of the excellencie of death I thought good to draw the summe and chiefe heads thereof into this small treatise the protection and consideration whereof I commend to your Ladiship desiring you to accept of it and read it at your leisure If I bee blamed for Writing vnto you of death whereas by the course of nature you are not yet neere death Salomon wil excuse me who saith that wee must remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth Thus hoping of your H. good acceptance I pray God to blesse this my litle labour to your comfort and saluation Septemb. 7. 1595. Your H. in the Lord W. Perkins Eeclesiastes 7.3 The day of death is better then the day that one is borne THese words are a rule or precept laid down by Salomon for weightie causes For in the Chapters going before he sets forth the vanity of all creatures vnder heauen that at large in the very particulars Now men hereupon might take occasion of discontentment in respect of their estate in this life therefore Salomō in great wisdome here takes a new course in this chapter begins to lay downe certaine rules of direction and comfort that men might haue somwhat wherewith to arme themselues against the troubles and the miseries of this life The first rule is in this third verse that a good name is better then a pretious ointment that is a name gotten and maintained by godly conuersatiō is a speciall blessing of God which in the middest of the vanities of this life ministreth greater matter of reioicing and cōfort to the heart of man then the most pretious ointment can doe to the outward senses Now some man hauing heard this first rule concerning good name might obiect say that renowne good report in this life affoardes slender comfort cōsidering that after it followes death which is the miserable end of all men But this obiection the Wise man remooueth by a second rule in the wordes which I haue in hand saying that the day of death is better then the day that one is borne That wee may come to the true proper sense of this precept or rule three points are to be cōsidered First what is death here mentioned secondly how it can be truly said that the day of death is better then the day of birth thirdly in what respect it is better For the first death is a depriuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne First I say it is a depriuatiō of life because the very nature of death is the absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shewe that it was ordained as a meanes of the execution of Gods iustice iudgment And that death is a punishment Paul plainely auoucheth when he saith that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And againe that death is the stipend wages or allowance of sinne Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocency by a solemne law then made in these very words In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 But it may be alleadged to the contrary that the Lord saith by the Prophet Ezechiel that hee will not the death of a sinner therefore that hee is no ordainer of death The answer may easily be made that sundry waies First the Lord speakes not this to all men or of all men but to his owne people the Church of the Iewes as appeares by the clause prefixed Sonne of man say vnto the house of Israel c. Againe the words are not spoken absolutelu but onely in way of comparisoy in that of the twaine he rather wills the conuersion and repentance of a sinner then his death and destruction Thirdly the very proper meaning of the words import thus much that God doth take no delight or pleasure in the death of a sinner as it is the ruine and destruction of the creature And yet al this hinders not
truth it selfe but I doe it for this ende that we might without wauering be resolued of the truth of this which Salomon auoucheth For there may be sundrie reasons brought to the contrarie Therfore let vs now haÌ„dle the question the reasons or obiections which may be alleadged to the contrarie may all bee reduced to sixe heads The first is taken from the opinion of wise men who think it the best thing of all neuer to bee borne the next best to die quickly Now if it be the best thing in the world not to bee borne at all then it is the worst thing that can bee to die after a man is borne Answ. There be two sorts of men one that liue and die in their sinnes without repentance the other which vnfainedly repent beleeue in Christ. Now this sentence maybe truly auouched of the first of whome wee may say as Christ said of Iudas It had bin good for him that he had neuer bin borne But the saying applied to the second sort of men is false For to them that in this life turne to God by repentance the best thing of all is to bee borne because their birth is a degree of preparation to happinesse and the next best is to die quickly because by death they enter into possessioÌ„ of the same their happinesse For this cause Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous and Salomon in this place prefers the day of death before the day of birth vnderstaÌ„ding that death which is ioyned with godly life or the death of the righteous The second obiection is taken from the testimonies of Scripture Death is ths wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 it is an enemy of Christ 1. Cor. 15. and the curse of the lawe Hence it seemes to followe that in and by death men receiue their wages paiment for their sinnes that the day of death is the dolefull day in which the enemie preuailes against vs that he which dieth is cursed Answ. We must distinguish of death it must be considered two waies first as it is by it selfe in his own nature secoÌ„dly as it is altered changed by Christ. Now death by it selfe considered is indeed the wages of sinne an enemie of Christ of all his members the curse of the law yea the very suburbs and the gates of hell yet in the second respect it is not so For by the vertue of the death of Christ it ceaseth to be a plague or punishment and of a curse it is made a blessing and is become vnto vs a passage or middle-way betweene this life and eternall life and as it were a litle wicket or doore whereby wee passe out of this world and enter into heauen And in this respect the saying of Salomon is most true For in the day of birth men are borne brought forth into the vale of misery but afterward when they goe hence hauing death altered vnto theÌ„ by the death of Christ they enter into eternall ioy and happinesse with al the Saints of God for euer The third obiection is taken from the exaÌ„ples of most worthie men who haue made their prayers against death As our Sauiour Christ who praied on this manner Father if it bee thy will let this cup passe from mee yet not my will but thy will bee done And Dauid praied Returne O Lord dâ—liuer my soule saue me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall praise thee And Ezechiah when the Prophet Esay bade him set his house in order and told him that he must die wept sore that in respect of death Now by the examples of these most worthy men yea by the example of the sonne of God himself it may seeme that the day of death is the most terrible doleful day of all Ans. WheÌ„ our Sauiour Christ praied thus to his father he was in his agonie and he then as our Redeemer stood in our roome and stead to suffer all things that we should haue suffered in our own persons for our sinnes and therefore hee praied not simply agaiÌ„st death but against the cursed death of the crosse and he feared not death it selfe which is the separation of body and soule but the curse of the lawe which went with death namely the vnspeakable wrath and indignation of God The first death troubled him not but the first and second ioyned togither Touching Dauid wheÌ„ he made the sixt Psalme he was not onely sicke in body but also perplexed with the greatest temptation of all in that hee wrestled in conscience with the wrath of God as appeares by the words of the text where hee saith Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath And by this we see that hee praied not simply against death but against death at that instant wheÌ„ he was in that grieuous temptation for at other times hee had no such feare of death as hee himselfe testifieth saying Though I should walke thorough the valley of the shadowe of death I will feare no euill Therefore he praied against death only as it was ioyned with the appreheÌ„sion of Gods wrath Lastly Ezechiah prayed against death not onely because he desired to liue and doe seruice to God in his kingdome but vpon a further and more speciall regard because when the Prophet brought the message of death hee was without issue and had none of his owne bodie to succeede him in his kingdome It will be said what warrant had Ezechiah to pray against death for this cause Ans. His warrant was good for God had made a particular promise to Dauid his posteritie after him that so long as they feared God walked in his commandemeÌ„ts they should not want issue to sit vpon the throne of the kingdome after them Now Ezechiah at the time of the Prophets message remembring what promise God had made and how he for his part had kept the coÌ„dition thereof in that hee had walked before God with an vpright heart and had done that which was acceptable in his sight hee praied against death not so much because hee feared the danger of it but because he wanted issue This praier God accepted and heard and he added fifteene yeares vnto his daies two yeares after gaue him Manasses The fourth obiection is that those which haue been reputed to be of the better sort of men ofteÌ„times haue miserable ends for some end their daies despairing some rauing and blaspheming some straungely tormented it may seeme therefore that the day of death is the day of greatest woe miserie To this I answer first of all generally that we must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by outward things whether they be blessings or iudgements whether they fal in life or death For as Salomon saith all things come like to all and the same condition is to the iust and the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted