vsually both in this and other things The life before and the profession and confession of a true Faith ought to giue all men satisfaction if not let them remember that saying well Who art thou that iudgest another mans Seruant hee standeth or falleth to his owne Master and Lord. To the wicked indeede that haue wallowed in sinne without feeling sodaine death is fearefull eyther in warre when the bullet taketh him or at Sea when hee is drowned or any other way whatsoeuer when Ammon is nailed to the wall by his Brother Absolon 2 Sam. 13.28.29 when Pharaoh and his Companie be sodainly drowned in the Seas Ezod 14.27.28 Corah Dathan and Abiram sodainely swallowed vp of the earth Numb 16.32 When Zimry and Cosbee the Israelitish and Moabitish wantons be sodainely destroyed by Phineas Speare or Gods plagues in their filth or after Numb 25.4.8 The old Worldlings and Sodomites sodainely consumed by fire or water Baltazar Antiochus Herod the rich Churle with others sodainely swept away like dung from the face of the earth with the besome of Gods wrath and strucke with Gods reuenging hand in the midst of their drunkennesse crueltie pride couetousnesse and such sins their case is fearefull Sect. 2. That all must die BVt though Moses be not sodainely taken away yet away hee goeth it is very true and so must all flesh therefore let vs reckon of it The reward of sinne is death Rom. 6.21 And since all flesh is sinfull to all is appointed once to die Heb 9.27 hodie an cras c. whether it be to day or to morrow it must be it will be a debt it is and must be paid saith S. Augustine Hodie mihi cras tibi I to day you to morrow till wee be all gone nothing more vncertaine then the time nothing more certaine then the thing They that liued so many hundred yeeres as Adam Methusalem Noah Sem and the other Patriarkes of euery one it is said Et mortuus est and hee dyed the longest time had an end and at the last death knocked for him hee must away And as no time so no vertue can auoid death but euen Moses himselfe as worthy a man as the earth hath carried as the Word testifies of him Iosh 1.2.13 Heb. 3.2.5 yet this Moses must die But if a man maruell at this why such men should dye since sinne which is the cause of death is pardoned forgiuen them through faith in Christ let him know that this is done for two causes First for those reliques of sinne and corruption which hang vpon and by death must be purged and taken cleane away God then perfecting that sanctification which was begun before Secondly that wee might be made conformable to our Head Christ Iesus who as hee by death ouer-came death and rose from death to life so must wee by him both which ends yeeld vs great comfort because they shew that death is not laid vpon the elect as a punishment but as a mercy vouchsafed by a sweet father for the ends named Sect. 3. God prepares his children to dye as hee did Moses by shewing them Canaan BVt before hee dye and passe this way of all flesh God will haue him goe into the Mountaine and see the Land of Promise this was done in sweet goodnesse that with more ready will hee might make an end And assuredly thus dealeth God with his louing children at their latter ends euen giue them a glympse a sight and taste of the true Land of Promise that heauenly Canaan which hee hath prepared for them after death But as Moses to see this pleasant sight must ascend vp into the Mountaine so must wee raise vp and lift vp our hearts our soules our thoughts and the eyes of our mindes as it were aloft to an high Mountaine that so wee may see what will make vs most willing to depart that our ioy may be full and endlesse as in Peter That Moses entered not into Canaan but onely saw it it had two ends first the punishment of his Incredulitie when hee strucke the Rocke spoken of here in the 14. Verse of this Chapter and secondly for mysterie Vt significet nos per Legem cuius Minister c. that it might signifie that by the Law whereof Moses was Minister wee may see as it were afarre off eternall life and saluation but neuer enter into it that way because through corruption of our natures wee are not able to performe it which being not performed shutteth vs out and subiecteth vs to a curse Sect. 4. Moses obedience to Gods summons a patterne to vs. THat Moses went vp into the Mountaine to dye Deut. 34.1 is an example before our eyes of most singular obedience for hee grudged not hee grieued not he shrunke not backe but yeelded to Gods blessed pleasure and was most willing and ready to dye O that wee may finde grace and mercy with God so to doe when time commeth saying with tongue and saying with heart behold here am I thy seruant be it vnto mee as thou my blessed God wi lt Is my time come and must I away Lord then I come and desire to be loosed and to be with thee Againe that Moses endured so patiently the deniall of him to enter into the Land which no doubt hee much desired let it euer teach vs and strengthen vs to doe the like when God denieth vs our desires for assuredly God will doe better for vs as here he did for Moses if vvee rest on his good pleasure It is a true saying it is a good saying let it neuer goe out of our mindes Semper Deus suos exaudit c. God alwayes heareth his Children if not vnto their will yet vnto their saluation and good CHAP. III. The nature of death sweetned to the Saints with fifteene resemblances of death to sleepe OBserue it againe carefully that death is not mentioned vnto Moses in any terrible words but in sweet wordes Ibis ad Patres Thou shalt goe to thy Fathers and so still is the death of Beleeuers spoken of in the Scriptures that we might draw sweet comfort from it against any feare that fraile flesh may conceiue of death For there is a death which most men feare and that is the seperation of body and soule our naturall death and there is a death which too few feare and that is the seperation of the soule from God Vita carporis anima vita animae Deus the life of the body is the soule and the life of the soule is God Against this naturall feare oppose this and the like phrases in Scriptures You goe to your father therefore feare not Socrates a Heathen was much comforted at his death that hee should goe and meete with those learned Poets Orpheus Homer Hesiod and such like how much more may wee ioy to meete with God the Father and God the Sonne and God the holy Ghost with
Angels Arch-angels Patriarkes Prophets Apostles and all the holy company of Heauen our fathers our mothers our sisters and brothers our friends and deare ones that are gone before vs O glorious sight O inestimable comfort worthy to make vs cry with the Apostle I desire to be loosed and to be there Come Lord Iesus come quickely Death is an end of all misery and the beginning of all blisse an eternall dwelling with God againe and an aduantage as the Apostle nameth it a sweet sleepe a comfortable rest Vitae via the way of life saith Ambrose Nomen tantum fidelibus death is onely a bare name and no death indeed to the faithfull saith Chrisostome Nemo timet mortem nisi qui non sperat viuere post mortem No man feareth death but hee that hopeth not to liue after death the Lord gaue and the Lord taketh away life as well as goods and shall not wee say with Iob Blessed be the Name of the Lord. If wee hold for tearmes of yeeres or at the will of the Lord must not we be content to relinquish it when our tearme is expired Wee our selues doe looke for it at the hands of our Tenants and would be much offended if they should be disobedient shall wee not performe to God what wee looke for at men Grudge not at the losse but be thankfull for the Ioane wee are Gods Tenants and we ought to giue him his owne when it is due to him Would you keepe a pledge from the true owner that committed it to you for a time Our life is Gods pledge hee hath left it with vs now so long he euer entended to call for it againe and will you not restore it gladly and willingly without murmuring and repining thinke how you would like that at mans hands to keepe your pledge Heathens haue beene strong and shall Christians be weake The Swan is said to sing most sweetly when shee must die and shall Gods Children weepe Blessed blessed are the dead that die in the Lord saith the holy Ghost Reu. 14.13 and will we not beleeue him O ignaros malorum suoruÌ„ c. O ignorant men of the miseries of this life that doe not esteeme and prayse death as the best inuention of nature yea let vs say rather it is the great mercy and goodnesse of God towards man for first it expelleth calamitie secondly it includeth felicâ—tie thirdly it preuenteth the perils of youth fourthly it finisheth the toyles of age Omnibus finis multis remedium nonnullis votum to all an end to many a remedie to some a wish deseruing better of none then of them to whom hee commeth before hee be called for As children feare their friends when they are disguised but when their vizards are plucked off are glad of them so of death Ignorance makes feare and Knowledge ioy Cleambrotus saith Cicero after hee had read Platoes Booke of the happy estate of the dead cast himselfe head-long off from a wall into the Sea that hee might come to that happinesse the same Author speaketh of another Philosopher that so disputed of the contempt of death that many willingly killed themselues whereupon Ptolomy the King forbad him any more to speake of that matter in his Schoole Now alacke what comparisons be betwixt Philosophicall Comforts and Diuine out of the Treasure of Gods owne Wisdome taken from his written Word Shall wee then with our light feare that which they in their darknesse so little regarded God forbid The day of our birth wee neuer feare and The day of death saith God that is euer true is better then the day that one is borne Eccles 7.3 That resemblance of death to sleepe in Scriptures 1 Cor. 15.51 is most fit if you marke it and full of pleasure for 1 As no man can euer wake but of necessitie must sometimes sleepe so no man can euer liue but must needes haue a time to die 2 Be a man neuer so strong sleepe will tame him and so will death as it did Goliah Sampson Milo and others 3 As sleepe maketh vs put off our cloaths and Iewels and that willingly that we may take our rest so dealeth death with vs it taketh away all our pompe and port and layeth vs downe in our beds till the waking time to arise 4 As sleepe commeth of eating so came death also to our first Parents by intemperancie in eating the forbidden fruit Gen. 2.17 5 As our dayes doings be our nights troubles by the working of the phantasie so are our lifes sinnes our deaths griefes by the gnawing of the Conscience as appeareth in Iudas Antiochus and Francis Spira 6 Sleepers haue no stormes nor dead men know the worlds woes for Abraham is ignorant of and Israel knowes not the Iewes woes the first things being past c. Reu. 21.4 7 Some fall sodainely or quickely into sleepe and some are long according to the moistnesse or drynesse of their braines euen so some dye sooner as young Iosias and some later as olde Methusalem according to the temper of their radicall moysture as it pleaseth God 8 Some sleepe in their owne houses and some in other mens as did Sisera in Iaels some in the fields some at Sea some here some there in sundry places so doe wee dye some at home and some abroad some by land and some by Sea as God appointeth 9 No man can tell the very time that hee falleth asleepe but onely feeleth it comming and his body disposed to it so no man can tell the very moment of his death but onely feeleth his body faint and his spirits drawing to an end 10 Suanius dormiunt qui relinquunt c. They sleepe much better saith one that leaue all their cares in their shooes which they put off and goe to rest with a quiet minde euen so doe they dye better that haue disposed of all their worldly matters by Will or otherwise whereby they are not troubled or distracted by them 11 They sleepe well againe that haue laboured and taken paines all the day time and so they die well that in their vocation haue not beene idle but imployed both body and minde to doe good 12 As Assuerus when he could not sleepe called for the Chronicles of his kingdom to be read vnto him so assuredly whilst wee wake in this world and the sleepe of death commeth not vpon vs it shall be a most profitable thing to reade or cause to be read vnto vs the chronicle of GOD the sacred and holy Scriptures the treasures of all Comfort and good instructions 13 When the body sleepeth the soule sleepeth not no more dyeth the soule when the body dyeth 14 No man goeth to bed to sleepe but with a certaine hope and purpose to wake and rise againe so must wee dye in assurance of that great and generall Resurrection 15 And as our voyce and calling vpon men awake them so shall that sounding Trumpet doe in that day Our Bed saith another is the Image of
our Graue the cloaths that couer vs of the dust and earth cast vpon vs the little Flea that biteth of the Wormes that shall consume vs the Cocke that croweth of the last Trumpet and as saith hee I rise vp lustily when sluggish sleepe is past so hope I to rise vp ioyfully to Iudgement at the last How fitly then Death and Sleepe be resembled together you see CHAP. IIII. Considerations to moue vs to embrace death as willingly as we goe to sleepe in our beds naturally BVT you may happily wish to know what may make you dye willingly and gladly when Gods time commeth flesh being fraile and an enemy still to the Spirit till God subdue it your desire herein is good and hearken a little to these things if death be a sleepe as you heare the Scriptures still call it for our Comfort then looke what maketh men goe to sleepe gladly without any feare and the same shall helpe vs greatly to dye contentedly and chearefully Note 1 the first thing is wearinesse or paine of body for in this case you know how willingly wee goe to rest and how heartily wee wish wee were asleepe for the sleepe of him that trauelleth is sweet Eccless 5.11 Apply it to death if you eyther be weary of the toyles and troubles of this wretched life of the dishonest courses that are in it and of the infinite trickes sinfull and vile before God and good men or if you be in any paine of the whole or any part of the body not to be cased and helped by the Art of man how in such a case is death welcome and of right so should be much more then sleepe For first sleepe easeth but for a time but death for euer both these causes secondly sleepe taketh not away the Maladie but the feeling Death taketh both away and as I say for euer The diseases of the body how many how strange how fearefull who can number them when daily happen new that the Physitian knoweth not sweet Death is a Supersedeas for all curing what we haue and preuenting what we might haue should God so be pleased to lay them vpon vs. Thinke therefore seriously of this one meanes to make death welcome and assuredly you shall be the better Sect. 3. The second Consideration Note 2 A Second thing that maketh vs willing to to goe to our naturall sleepe is griefe and anguish of minde sorrow and woe of hart and will not this also make vs dye willingly Surely so much more then the former by how much griefe of minde exceedeth any griefe of body The crosses by Foes the crosses by Friends the disobedience of Children the vnfaithfulnesse of Seruants publike woes and priuate wrongs in goods in name and many other wayes they are more bitter then Gall and Wormewood more burning and biting then tongue can expresse now scalding now cooling the oppressed heart groaning and sighing panting and pincing away in the view and sight of all beholders the number is so great that no man can comprehend them euery day begetting new griefes of minde as well as new paines and diseases of body Thinke with your selues whether euer you escaped day in your life without some discontent greater or lesser that according to his measure hath not bit you and grieued you It is Vallis Lachrimarum the Vale of misery that we liue in and from one misery or other we shall neuer be free while wee liue in it S. Augustine said vpon some feeling Diù viuere est diù torqueri Long to liue is long to be vexed and tormented The holy Prophet Elias went a dayes iourney in the Wildernesse and sate downe vnder a Iuniper tree desiring that hee might dye and saying It is enough O Lord take my Soule for I am no better then my Fathers See how griefe of minde made this holy man willing to dye and most welcome should that good will of God haue beene to him if so it had pleased the giuer and taker away of life to doe with him adde vnto these words the like words of Tobiah Deale with me O Lord as seemeth best vnto thee and command my spirit to be taken from mee that I may be dissolued and become earth for it is better for mee to die then to liue because I haue heard false reproches and am sorrowfull command therefore that I may be dissolued out of this distresse and goe into the euerlasting place turne not away thy face from mee See the effect of sorrow and griefe of minde in this good man againe it maketh him most willing and desirous to dye It is written of Babylis Bishop of Antioch slaine by Decius that persecuting Emperour that going to his death he said the words in the Psalme Returne vnto thy rest O my Soule for the Lord hath beene beneficiall vnto thee an excellent place for such a time as if he should haue said Now my griefes farewell and all my woes and wrongs in this wicked world and now my Soule be chearefull and glad for now commeth thy rest thy sure rest thy sweet rest thy neuer failing rest but eternall for euer therefore returne vnto it O weary soule and giue thankes and praise to God for hee hath beene beneficiall vnto thee in this most gracious change and happy release Conclude with the words of wise Sirach and remember them often O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liueth at rest in his possessions vnto the man that hath nothing to vexe him and that hath prosperitie in all things c. But againe O Death how acceptable is thy iudgement vnto the needfull and vnto him whose strength faileth and that is now in the last age and is vexed with all things c. Feare not the Iudgement of death remember them that haue beene before thee and that come after thee it is the ordinance of the Lord ouer all flesh and why wouldest thou be against the pleasure of the most Highest whether it be tenne or an hundred or a thousand yeeres there is no defence for life against the graue Sect. 3. The third consideration Note 3 A Third reason that maketh a man willing to sleepe naturally is the good that commeth both to body and minde by such sleepe it cheareth and refresheth gladdeth and comforteth both let the same reason also make thee willing to dye for Death will minister much more comfort chearing and refreshing and that for euer as shall be said The Brazen Serpent cured the beholders and had no sting so doth death and hath no sting neyther That it cureth and helpeth all euils you know because it is Finis omnium malorum the end of all euils and it hath no sting as you are taught when you reade those words O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victories the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law But thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord
comfortable end made Abraham Iob old Simeon Moses and other of the Saints in the old and new Testament The like wee read of Ambrose whose conclusion in his death-bed was that hee was neyther ashamed to liue nor fearefull to dye because he had a good Lord. Bernards death was grounded vpon the sure hope and Anchor of Gods mercy though hee liued in corrupt times Oecolampadius told his visitors newes in the last speech hee vttered namely that hee should shortly be with the LORD IESVS Mr. Caluin with Dauids heart repeating Dauids Psalmes mourning in the Spirit for his sinnes his soule was sent out of his body like Noahs Doue out of the Arke Melancthon in his last farewell to life professed he was exceeding willing to dye because it was the Lords will praying for a happy and ioyfull departure hee had his desire presently sealed Peter Martyr gaue a comfortable farewell to his brethren and deare friends acknowledging saluation onely in Christ the Redeemer in which faith as he liued so he dyed That halfe miraculous man Luther in his death abounded as with prayer so with praises and thankesgiuings that the Lord had reuealed Christ vnto him and made him an instrument to discouer Antichrist and to oppose him Annas Burgius cryed in her last cryes Lord forsake not mee least I forsake thee Mauritius the Emperour in his last fainting gaue glory vnto GOD that was righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his workes Saint Augustine wept vpon his sicke couch for many dayes together and so was his soule ferryed to Christ in a floud of teares as Peter walked to Christ on the Sea of waters I might giue your meditations matter enough to worke vpon in reflexing vpon infinite examples related by Authors to which euery faithfull Minister that vseth to performe this dutie of visiting the sicke like a spirituall Physitian discerning the estate of the soule addes his Probatum est in ioyfull experience of many whose dying hath beene suted and sorted to their liuing both gracious both glorious Why then shouldest thou feare for to the righteous there shall be peace at the last Esay 57.2 therefore liue by Faith beleeue the Promises and apply them and be comforted in Gods mercy to others but as for the wicked it is not so with them they shall bee like the chaffe scattered in the winde for there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Esa 57.21 the prolong of their wicked life ends in a fearefull Tragedie in death for though in respect of the body and the outward man there is the same condition to the vvise and the foolish to Nabal and Salomon godly Ionathan perishing in the field as well as wicked Saul 1 Sam. 31.2.3 Ezekias strucke with the plagues boyle Esay 38.21 Asa goutie in his feete nay euen good Iosias wounded in the Battell and the rest of the godly being afflicted in sickenesse as pittiously and dying oft times as painefully whether in a naturall or a violent death euen as the wicked as appeares in the exquisite torments of the Martyres in the Primitiue Church in the crucifying of Peter and Paul with their heads downewards c. yea euen in the very Passion of Christ himselfe yet in respect of the inward man and dispositions of their soules in death there is as great difference betwixt them as there was in their carriage and conuersation in life And therefore as you haue heard the godly praying or praysing and blessing GOD speaking graciously sending out their spirits ioyfully and dying comfortably so prophane men dye eyther carelesly and blockishly for the most part their hearts being frozen and their consciences benummed and scared without any touch in soule or remorse for sinne which kinde of dying though our sottish silly common people commend as the most happy and blessed death when they goe away quietly like Lambes as their stupiditie and blindnesse thinke yet indeede they dye like Beasts and Dogs without any life of grace or feeling of the Spirit in the power or comfort of it nay senslesly like stockes and stones as is said of Nabal whose heart was like a stone within him 1 Sam. 25.37.38 or else desperately and ragingly impatiently as impenitently belching out blasphemies against both the Maiestie and the Mercy of God Thus Iudas cryes hee hath sinned in betraying the innocent bloud but hath no Faith to apply that bloud to the washing away of his bloody treason Thus Antiochus Epiphanes dying is tormented inwardly with the gripes and conuulsions of conscience as with the rage of his sickenesse so Iulian the Apostate in his last act of life from his infected lungs sent out venome against Christ calling him in dirision victorious Galilean Thus Eccius dyes execrating his Popish on-setters in frustrating his golden hopes when they had clapt their hands to animate him to barke at Luther and the Protestanrs The like end made Latomus Hoff-maister Spira and other Antichristian Champions being not vnlike in their sinne Thus Gardiner dyes confessing that hee had sinned with Peter but could not repent vvith Peter Cornelius Agrippa cursing his attending Spirit that stood by him in the forme of a blacke dog Others paralel in the like sinnes making like proportioned ends vnlesse it be in some particulers as once in the Scripture in the Theefe vpon the crosse that a theeuish and licentious life should haue the promise of Paradise in Death which as it was first the conclusion of Christs life secondly the present magnifying of the power of his Passion so it is not to be vrged nor peremptorily pleaded 1. in defence of ill liuers 2. nor imitated in deferring repentance 3. nor presumed vpon no more then a man ought to presume to be a Traytor a Witch a murtherer in hope for a pardon when he is to be turned off the Ladder because some one man in an age hath by Gods prouidence this priuiledge to be repriued and released from these facts committed For in place of one example that hath had his inueterate old sores cured his crying treasons pardoned at the last houre like Gregories good theefe that begd heauen wee haue millions that haue perished rot and consumed in body and soule in the last exigent of life as they haue not spared GOD liuing God hath not giuen them any tokens of his fauour but rather of his wrath and indignation dying forgetting them dying as in their life they forgat him turning away his eare from hearing of their prayers though they houle vpon their sicke-beds like Wolues Ose 7.14 because in their health and prosperitie they haue like deafe Adders stopped their eares in not hearing his Law and Word and in not considering the cryes of the poore Prou. 28.9 Prou. 21.13 Prou. 15.8 Therefore for thy present instruction and future consolation worke thou out betimes thy saluation with feare and trembling Giue all diligence to make thy Election sure Breake off all thy sinnes by
death is most welcome that changeth his Mâ—ra to Naomi his bitternesse into beauty which deliuers him from dangers and dolours as the Angell did Lot from the fire and the three Children from the flames and Daniel from the Lions death like Zerobabel deliuers the Lords Israel out of Babilon Zach. 4.6 therefore death must needs be welcomed like a day of deliuerance a yeere of Iubilie which brings Ioseph out of Prison Iacob out of seruitude and Iob from the dung-hill Mors enim malâ—râ—m remedium portus humanis tempestaâ—ibus Plutarch de consol ad Apol. Fourthly in respect of their sinnes which cleaue so fast on which they cannot shake off Sinne with which they are at opposition and deadly feud dogs them at the heeles like a Serieant waytes on them like a Catchpole insinuates into them like a claw-backe creepes into their bosomes as a Serpent stings them at the heart like an Adder followes them as their shadow stickes close to them like their shirt vpon their skinne their skinne vpon their flesh and their flesh vpon their bones insomuch that it burnes and frets them as Dianiraes poysoned shirt did Hercules and as the Ticke vexeth the Oxe which makes them crye out in the anguish of their soules vvith Paul and the faithfull Rom. 7. Oâ— miserable man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this body of sinne They complaine of the strife of the Flesh and the Spirit as Rebeccah of the strugling betwixt Iacob and Esau Now death comes and rescues and makes thy baile and playes the Mid-wife and ends the broyle therefore welcome to the well disposed Fiftly they are here Pilgrimes and strangers 1 Pet. 2.11 as was Dauid and the rest in their ages they are here exuls and banished men as Children put forth to nurse from their Mothers as Schollers and Pupils sent to forraine Schooles and to farre Vniuersities and therefore their returning home to their owne Country their restitution to their prouided Kingdome their fetching home to their Father and friends their retyring to their Fathers house though it be through the shadow of death must needes be acceptable Sixtly they know that the day of their death is better then the day of life Eccles 7.3 because they dye prepared their soules purged their hearts by Faith purified As they haue entered into the first degree of eternall life in this life when they beleeued and receiued the gifts of the Spirit the earnest of their Saluation so they enter into the second degree in death when their soules are carryed into heauen and they dye in assurance of the third degree when body and soule shall be re-vnited to participate of happinesse as they haue liued together in holinesse Seauenthly they dye as with a desire so in an expectation to see and behold the face of Christ of which with Steuen they haue some glimmering in their deaths and therefore death to the godly so farre as regeneration rules is no more burthensome then the stripping off the cloathes vnto a louing Spouse to goe into the Marriage-bed of her contracted Bridegrome Hos 2.19 Eightly they haue kept a good Conscience with God and man like Paul Acts 24. And therefore they feare not iudgement no more then a true man feares to looke the Iudge in the face Ninthly wherein they haue offended God they haue their sinnes remitted and therefore feare not to hold vp their hand at the barre since they are quit before by Proclamation of all the promises in the Gospell and haue the Kings Pardon sealed them in the Sacraments Tenthly they haue oft in life invred themselues to thinke speake record and meditate of death euen as did Christ their head and his Seruants Iacob Moses and Paul as appeares in the Word and therefore Deaths dart foreseene wounds them lesse being fore-warned of it they are fore-armed for it Euen as the Souldier that hath beene long trayned and in many skirmishes is more couragious in the maine Battell and as hee that hath long exercised himselfe in foyles is more hardy to fight with sharpe so the petty conflicts that the godly haue had in their owne breasts vvith Deaths feare make them more hardy to encounter Deaths force Eleuenthly they entertaine it as a reward for their worke as a rest from their labour as willingly as the hired labourer receiues his hire and reposeth his wearied limbes Dan 12. Esay 57.2 Twelfthly they are perswaded and haue their Faith grounded in an happy and blessed change they expect a Metamorphosis and an alteration a comfortable transmutation of Earth for Heauen of the Sea for the Hauen of Griefe for Glory of the outward Court for the Sanctum Sanctorum of a Mortall for an Immortall body of Enon for Salem Sodome for Segor Aegypt for Canaan the Wildernesse of Sin for the Land of Promise of a House of day terrestriall for a House celestiall aboue the Clouds 2 Cor. 5.1 And therefore they are as willing to make this exchange as a poore begger would be to exchange his poore rags for some Princes robes or some poore man to leaue his smoaky rainy Cottage for a pompous Pauilion and decked Chamber in the Court. To reape the Vintage of this discourse the vse to vs is first of examination in that it is an argument of a good man to be willing to dye as here was Simeon Lay thou thy hand on thine heart and search in thy soule what propensitie and disposition thou findest in thy selfe to dye Many arguments there are in the Word and tryals both of a holy and a happy man both affirmatiue in shewing what hee doth and negatiue in shewing what he auoids Dauid points at him in the first Psalme as also in the 32. Psalme verse 1.2 as also in the 15. Psalme So doth our Sauiour Christ in the first eight Verses of the fift of Mathew So the Apostle Paul in the 2. of Cor. ch 7. ver 11. with other such places as namely delighting in the Word meeknesse mourning for sinne hunger after righteousnesse c. care to please God Feare Zâ—ale Indignation against sinne not letting Mony to Vsury and the like yet sure there is no greater euidence of an honest and holy heart then so to walke vprightly with God in life as alwayes to be willing to imbrace the strictest Summons of death to be as ready to depart out of this world as the Israelites were to depart out of Aegypt Againe it is most vsually a note of a soule eyther altogether soyled in corruption or indued with a smaller measure of Sanctification to be violently possessed with a continuated feare of death and therefore in this particular finde out thy selfe and trye in what case thou standest for the more vnwilling thou art to dye commonly the more Nature rules in thee the more earthly fleshly and carnall thou art the more willing commonly the more Grace raignes the more thou art holy heauenly and spirituall in
thought of it their heart trembles their bloud is conâ—ealed and like Baltazar in the like case their countenance is changed and their knees smite together the sound of death to them is the most harsh of all sounds and puts them sometimes in a deadly sowne the noise of the roaring Canon is not so fearefull to the fainting Souldier nor the Lightning and Thunder was so terrible to Nero as the summons of death to such naturall men whether by the Harbenger thereof Sickenesse or from the condemning voice of a Iudge or by such meanes for these reasons before mentioned What doth this argue but a guiltie conscience a secure soule a hardned heart a carnall minde and a maine measure of infidelitie incredulitie and want of faith in the remission of sinnes the resurrection of the body the immortalitie of the soule and hope of a better life which considerations as they haue moued the ancient and moderne Martyres Ignatius Policarpus Laurence Cyprian and others in our precedent age French Germaine and English to subiect themselues to the mouthes of Lions flames of fire and all other tortures and torments which Madnesse and Malice could inuent c. So the diffidence of these the want of the perswasion of Gods loue and expectation of wrath and vengeance after this mortalitie makes wicked men entertaine Death as Ahab did Elias euen as their greatest enemie as their Iaylor their Serieant their Butcherer their Executioner as the curber of their delights and procurer of their curse Yet that I be not mistaken I doe not here condemne all feare of death and make it such an essentiall note of Gods childe as though euery one that feared God did not at any time or in any respects feare to dye or that wicked men might not sometimes and vpon some seruile respects with some shew of alacritie vndergoe death for First I know that there is in all men a naturall desire to liue which caused Ezekias to mourne when hee was to dye Esay 38.10 And Dauid to pray that his soule might liue Psal 6.4 and Psal 119. As also our Sauiour Christ to desire the Passage of the cuppe from him Luke 22. There being a naturall desire in the best of Gods Saints to liue Nature fearing her dissolution and the body and soule being as loath to part as two friends that a long time haue liued and loued together Secondly besides I know Gods Children may be desirous to liue as to glorifie God more so for some other good ends propounded as for the better setting their estates to their successiue seed for the establishing their houses for to dispose of their Children in some religious courses which was the cause that Ezâ—kâ—as desired to liue say Interpreters because when the Prophet brought this message of death to him hee was without issue and left none to succede him in his Kingdome as Gods promise was to his Father Dauid 1 King 8. â—5 3. Thirdly a godly man is sometimes in distresse and perplexitie of minde as Dauid was vvhen hee made the sixt Psalme at which time hee is vnwilling to depart till GOD shine vpon him againe with his fauour Fourthly a godly man may pray sometimes against some kinde of death as our Sauiour Christ did praying not simply against death but against that cursed death of the Crosse fearing not death but the curse of the Law that went with death Fiftly I know that euen naturall men haue made light account of death such as the Decians and the Fabritians Curtius and Codrus with others amongst the Romanes and Athenians that exposed and spent their liues for the good of their Country I know euen of obstinate Heretiques such as the Gnostiques and the Circumcellions more lately Michael Sernetus many moderne Papists yea the late Arrian burnt in Smithfield haue some of them vndergone death more willingly and chearefully then those that haue had in them farre more grace and sanctification but some of these haue imbraced death so welcomly out of a morall desire of doing good to their Country or out of vaineglory to be spoken of like those Heathen or out of obstinacie or desperate madnesse or peruersenesse against the truth or Diabolicall delusions or erronious conceits or Atheisme or opinion of merit or chiefely pride of heart to be magnified and famoused of their fauourites or some other sinister ends not for Gods glory or hope of any better condition after this life as these Heretiques So that my conclusion still holds notwithstanding these doubts and scruples that Grace kisseth Gods rod though in the hand of Death Nature barkes and bites at the hand that holds the rod Gods Sheepe going quietly to their graues like Lambes to be sacrificed carnall men gruntling and complaining like Swine to be butchered Vse 3 Thirdly since that Grace is willing Nature vnwilling to her dissolution all are to be exhorted to vse the meanes to helpe forward their spirituall part to be more willing to curbe their carnall part in it nilling The meanes are two first priuatiue for the remouall of the impediments which lye in the way secondly positiue in incouraging vs to enter the way of all flesh What the causes are that cause the carnall man to sing Loath to depart you haue heard as namely the losse of his pleasures profits preferments promotions here with the like in all which things wee must looke to our hearts and be watchfull Centurions ouer our affections least they be carryed with too violent a course and torrent in the prosecution and pursuite of these terrestriall and earthly things wee must not be mad vpon the world as worldlings are let vs not place our affections on things below but on things aboue where CHRIST sits at the right hand of GOD let vs vse this World as though wee vsed it not as wee vse Physicke and wines modice medice with moderation and mortification as a Student vseth recreations for necessitie not vanitie let vs not fall downe and worship the Diuell though hee would giue vs it all let vs not bowe the knee to Baal nor adore the golden Calfe nor sell our soules for the trash and the dongue the white and red dust of it as Iudas did let vs touch riches tenderly with our hands not with our hearts as wee doe Thornes because they are Thornes let vs not loue vaâ—ne pleasures least after their Bâ—eish honie wee feele their Waspish sting when these charmers charme to delude vs let vs be as wise as Serpents stopping both our eares as shee doth with the taile and the earth remembrance of our ends of which the taile is an embleame and of our earth whither wee shortly must Thus must wee first learne to practise this hardest point of Christianitie in dying to the world ere euer wee can be willing out of faith and feeling to dye out of the world for alas what causeth men that they haue as little heart to goe into their Mother-earth as the Moale hath to
sling as Dauids against Goliah or throwne with the hand as that which Patroclus threw vpon Câ—brion in the Troyan warre besides the fall of wals such as that of the Tower of Shilo hath beene the death of many I cannot reckon all the meanes of our mortalitie Hoc opus hic labor So many Creatures as I contemplate nay so many things inanimate as I see me thinkes I see so many Actors in the Tragicke fall of man The Thunder in the heauens hath slaine many in earth if that which Virgil writes in the first third and sixt of his Aeneidos of Enceladus and other Gyants slaine by Iupiter Aiax by Pallas Ouid of Typheus Propertius of Semele be a fiction yet the report receiued of the death of Anastatius the Emperour Zoroastres the Magitian Tullius Hostilius by Thunder and that which wee haue heard and seene in this kinde is Authenticke What heapes and hauocke the Sword hath made in warre let these millions speake that haue perished not onely in the vvarres betwixt the Kings of Israell and Iudah in which in one battell there sell fiftie thousand betwixt Ahas and Ieroboam saith Iosephus as also betwixt the Iudges and Kings of Israell vvith their enemies when Achab slew an hundred thousand Syrians Gideon an hundred and twentie thousand Midianites But euen in thâ—se amongst Christians when Charles Martill in one battell slew three hundred and fiftie thousand Gothes In those amongst Pagans Caesar bragging of an eleauen hundred and nintie thousand that had fallen vnder his conduct besides those in ciuill warres betwixt him and Pompey Scylla and Marius c. besides those that fell in Tamberlaines Trophies ouer the Medes Albanes Mesapotamians Persians Parthians Armenians Turkes c. In Sicinius Conquests in fortie fiue set battels of Hannibals ouer Cornelius Scipio Sempronius Flamminius Aemillius and Terentius where there were slaine at once fortie Senators of Alexander ouer Darius slaughtering an eleauen hundred of Crassus killing twelue hundred of Spartacus Armie Lucullus two thousand of Mithridates Troupes Ptolomie fiftie thousand of Demetrius hoast Others moe in many maine battels recorded by Sabellicus Liuie Plutarch Volateran testifie how much humane bloud the sword hath effused how many Tragedies poyson hath acted not onely the sodaine and frequent fals of so many Mitred Popes out of Peters supposed vsurped Seate doth declare but the dismall deaths of famous Emperours and Kings as of Constantine the Sonne of Heraclius Zimisces after one yeeres raigne of Carolus Caluns of Henry of Lucelburge Lothar of France Lodouicus Balbus Dioclesian of Dalmatia Lucullus of whom Pliny nay of Alexander himselfe with infinite others who were as certainly poysoned as Socrates and Pope Victor Nay so easily is the thread of our life cut so soone our web vntwisted like Penelope's or rather swept away with the Spiders that euen in our meates and drinkes wee may suspect that Mors in â—lla Death is in the pot haue we not the testimonie of Sextus Aurelius that ingurgitation of meate and too much repletion not being concocted in the stomacke occasioned the deaths of Septimius Seâ—erus and Valentinian Emperours Doth not Ignatius ascribe the fall of Iouinian to the same cause as also Gâ—egory Turonensis imputes the sodaine death of Childericus the Saxon being found dead in his bed to the same crudities and suffocations by intemperancie The like censure giues Eusebius of Domitius Apher that ouercome of his meate dyed at Supper Neyther doth Hermippus indite any thing for the death of Archisilaus but his excessiue ingurgitating of Wine As I my selfe once in Cambridge saw a drunken dogge in forme of a man vent out his soule with disgorging his exonerated stomacke Neyther are wee onely subiected to our dissolution by too much repletion occasion of so many diseases yea of death it selfe that plures gula quam gladio the panch destroyes moe then the sword but the defect of meate and drinke hath contracted the liues of many in all parts and those no lesse mighty Millions haue tryed wofully the massacres of famine in the siege of Ierusalem and Samaria Narriners by Sea Cities in siege Souldiers in the Campe and the poore in dearth yea this hath beene the cruellest death that Tyranny and Ielousie could inuent Thus was Richard the second dispatcht of his Countrimen thus was Boniface the eight plagued by Phillip Boniface the sixt by one Cincius a Romane Citizen Aristo the Poet by the Athenians Earle Vgoline by his vngratefull Countrimen thus were Orator Fortunatus Foelix and Silinus Martyres pinched at Alexandria and perished Nay so soone wee are and are not that God doth not onely sometimes with his owne stroke immediately from himselfe cut vs short sometimes mediately by man for and in the midst of our lawlesse lusts as Cosbie and Zimbri were slaine of Phinees Arcibiadeâ— of Lysander saith Plutarch Iohn the twelfth by the Husband of a Whore in the midst of their filth as it is reported by Tertullian that Spensippus the Platonist by Pontanus that Beltrand Herrerius by Paulus Diaconus that Rodoald King of the Longobards by Cornelius Tacitus that Tigillinus the Ruler of the Watch by Celius that fayre Phaon by Pliny lib. 7. that Cornelius Gallus and Heterius Romane Gentlemen and by other Authors that others haue perished in their pollutions in the very venerious act but we perish sometimes euen in and by our lawfull affections euen the ouermuch opening and dilating of the heart in ouer-ioying and the too much contracting of the same againe by ouer-sorrowing hath brought thousands to their graues without gray hayres How many Authors haue we to testifie that which seemes more incredible that an ouer-ioying may presently depriue vs for euer after inioying any of the ioyes of life What vvas the reason that Sophocles and Dionisius both of them being victorious in the censure of the Critticques for their exquisite Tragedies dyed sodainely saith Plinie lib. 7. c. 37. euen of an ouer-ioy as Valerius and Volateran also think how euer Lucian and Sotades alledged by Crinitus thinke contrary The like is reported of Chilo imbracing his Sonne crowned at the Olympicke games of a Romane woman at the safe returne of her son which she thought was slaine in the wars at Canna of Philippides when his Laureat Poems were preferd of Diagoras of Rhodes when his three sonnes saith Gellius lib. 3. nott at or his two sons saith Tullie lib. 1. Tusc were victorious in the publicke Wrastlings of Philemon when hee saw an Asse eate Figges prepared for the table all who tell vs that euen this affection of Ioy with a sweet tickling like that stinging of the Serpent Dipsas may kill much more may sorrow as Iacob confesseth and Iudah intimateth in Genesis hasten our heads to the graue ere our haires be very gray Griefe being to the heart vnlesse it be godly griefe for sinne which neuer hurts but heales 2 Cor. 7.10 that the Moath is to the garment the Catterpiller to the fruit eating the heart like
for the land of the liuing an earthly tabernacle for an house eternall in the Heauens 2 Cor. 5.1 For who is so improuident or imprudent that desires to stay in an old smoakie decayed Cottage ready euery day to fall on his head when the Land-lord offers to reedifie it and to make it better since euen Mise Rats by Natures instinct flye from an house that is inclining to fall Now this clayie Cottage of thy body which is vpheld by the weake prop of breath and vapour is euery day declining blesse the prouidence of the Worlds great Architect that when it fals by resuscitation will raise the frame and the fabricke a thousand times both fairer and firmer then the first Secondly let the thought of the Resurrection be as a consolation to thy heart so a direction to thy life Must body and soule meete together and eyther be blessed together or else for euer burne together after their departure and doth their euerlasting weale or woe blisse or bane depend vpon thy good or euill life here Oh then spinne the short thread of thy abridged life well and worthily that so it may tye a blessed peace to thy soule runne thy short race here well that thou maist obtaine an eternall Crowne hereafter passe the time of thy dwelling here with feare think as once S. Ierome that zealous spirit thought Quoties commedo c. as oft as I eate or drinke or walke or talke or rise vp or lye downe I alwayes heare the Trumpe sounding Surgite mortui c. Arise yee dead and come to Iudgement Thinke of dying and liuing againe of departing and returning of reuiuing and strict vnpartiall iudging which thoughts let them not perish like abortiue fruit but fixe them by these effects First euery day awake out of the sleepe of some sinne ere the darke night of death come now in this lifes light that God lends thee Secondly let it be a spurre to pricke thee to all good and gratious actions Thirdly a bridle to restraine thee from sin both in the action and affection Fourthly let them be meanes to rouze thee from the bed of securitie and to set thee on thy feete as the Angell did Elias in thy iourney toward heauen Fiftly as water poured out to coole the furnace of thy furious affections euen in thy youthfull and burning bloud Sixtly a Diall or watch to direct thee how to spend thy time well Seauenthly as a Fanne to winnow thee from the chaffe of sinne Eightly as a winde to scatter and disperse thy inordinate passions Ninthly as paile or Parke to keepe thee within thy limits and bounds Tenthly as a Counseller to redeeme thy time Lastly a holy director as if was to Paul himselfe to cause thee in euery thing to endeuour to keepe a good conscience towards God and man Acts 24.15.16 Thus wee haue seene that the body must returne to take part with the soule after the dissolution the same foundation vvill beare this truth that the soule is dissolued it dyes not for which cause Paul cals his death a dissolution Phil. 1.23 it departs it dyes not therefore Simeon cals death onely a Departing and in the mouth of these two witnesses it is euicted that the soule is immortall Death kils not the soule but onely lets it out as Noahs Doue was let out of the Arke at a man is let out of prison and fetters for Plato cals the body Ergastulum animae the Prison of the Soule as Luther cals it the Asse of the Soule and Erasmus Sepulchrum animae the sepulcher of the Soule Now death onely breakes open this prison doore vnties the fetters of the senses vnlooseth this Asse roules away the stone from this Sepulcher le ts out the soule sends graue deâ—rsum leue sursum the grosse body downeward the soaring soule vpward the soule is put here in saccis vilibus in a base sacke as Ioseph put his golden Cup and siluer treasure in Beniamins sacke Now Death like Iosephs Steward opens the sacke naturally or rips it vp violently takes out the treasure vntoucht if any thing perish the sacke is vnripped the body destroyed the soule is as safe as Iosephs siluer for it cannot die being vnmateriall and a forme abiding in it selfe which forme cannot be taken away like roundnesse or squarenesse from a Table because it subsists not in the matter but in it selfe Secondly the soule is impenitrable insufferable it suffers not of any externall agent from the fires heate or ayres coldnesse it receiues no hurt from the frozen Ice of Norway or the scorching Sands of Affricke therefore receiuing nothing whereby it should decay it cannot corrupt or marre or dye since nothing in the whole world is contrary to it Thirdly man is desirous of immortalitie Now how could hee desire it and discusse of it how should man so labour and seeke for immortalitie some by skill and policie some by martiall exploits as Hercules Thesus c. some by Soueraigntie as Alexander and Caesar some by Bookes nay some by villanies as the burners of Diana's Temple vnlesse mans soule were immortall for Ignoti nulla cupido Fourthly God by creation infusing it or by infusing creating it gaue vnto it in the first originall the gift of immortalitie Fiftly the rage of conscience in the wicked their soules accusing them of secret sinnes as Caine and Nero and Herod of their murthers Iudas of his Treason c. their inward horrour appearing by their pale faces trembling ioynts deiected lookes as was seene in Baltazzar and Felix Dan. 5.6 Acts 24.25 their consciences like Magistrates commanding them to execute themselues shewes they are more then mortall Sixtly the effects of the soule in numbring diuiding discussing discoursing remembring affecting knowledge desire of blessednesse respect to glory c. shew it immortall Seauenthly if the Soule were not immortall man should not resemble GOD neyther in Creation or Regeneration haue any part or participation of the Image of God or any reuelations from God or communications with the Spirit of God and our spirit Eightly else there should be no difference betwixt vs and Beasts whose soules are in their bloud Gen. 9.4.6 Ninthly else there should be no vse of Iudgement of the day of doome or of Christs second comming Tenthly else were the godly of all men most miserable if their hope were onely in this life 1 Cor. 15.19 the Sonnes of Belial whose portion is oft greater in this world then the Lords owne Saints as Dauid Iob Ieremie in their times haue complained should else be in better case then they But since the Sunne of this truth shines clearely in the Scriptures why should I giue any moe Reasons which are infinite both in Philosophy and Diuinitie so adding light to the Sunne and water to the Sea First is not the argument that our Sauiour Christ vsed against the Sadduces from Exod. 3.6 authentique against Atheisme God is the God of Abraham Isaack and Iacob
Persecutors Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Acts 7.60 Last words reuealed of the Theefe on the Crosse that bonus Latro good Theefe that so happily stole Paradise were Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy Kingdome Luke 23. The seauen last words that Christ spoke vpon the Crosse to the Daughters of Ierusalem to his virgin-Mother to his beloued Disciple Iohn to God his Father to the penitent Theefe as recorded by the Euangelists explained by Ferus Nahumius and Gueuarra these and all these of holy men in the sacred Cannon and of Christ himselfe as one speakes of Cyprians Epistles referunt pectus ardore plenum shew their deaths were full of peace as their liues were full of grace If I should instance in all the rest of this kinde and set downe at large the gracious words like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Siluer that haue proceeded out of the mouthes of Saints euen when they lay vpon their sicke couches drawing their last breath testifying their faith in Christ their hope of Heauen their zeale for Gods glory their sorrow for sinne their sealed pardon Or when they were to be martyred and sacrificed by fire as they are collected and recorded by Ecclesiasticall Authors Eusebius Nicephorus the tripartite History the Centuries Mr. Foxe his Martyrologie Grineus Mr. Perkins and others to whom I referre you It would easily appeare that where the Premisses are Grace in Life the Conclusion will be Peace in Death Let vs chew the cudde in the Meditation of some particulars The last words of Peter in his crucifying death were thus to his wife O Coniux memento Domini Oh Wife remember the Lord Iesus Of Polycarpus were prayses and prayers Of Cyprian Salus mea virtus mea Christus Dominus Christ the Lord is my strength and my saluation Of Ambrose Nec pudet viuere nec piget mori c. I neyther am ashamed to liue nor grudge to dye because I haue a good Iesus both in life and death Of Augustine It is no great matter that wood and stones fall and ruine or that mortall men dye vsing that sentence of Dauids Psalmes which also Mauritius the Emperour vsed when hee was slaine by Phocas his Centurion Iust is the Lord and righteous is his iudgement Zwinglius thus when hee was wounded in the wars mortally Well goe to they may kill my body my soule they cannot Erasmus dying in the house of Ierome Strobenius breathed out his soule crying thus Chare Deus c. Deare God oh God my mercy deliuer me make an end oh Christ and saue mee Peter Martyr saith Simler and Bullinger that were present at his departure confessed his faith acknowledged Christ his Sauiour expounded and applyed Scriptures exhorted his Brethren and in his death was wholy diuine So was Oecolampadius that burning Lampe in Gods house who supplyed with the oyle of grace gaue a wondrous light euen in his death as appeares by Grineus his Epistles to Fabritius Capito and others Luthers death resounds ioyfull prayses for Gods reuelation of the truth vnto him and victory ouer the Romish Antichrist Caluin as Beza reports that heard him with Dauids heart dyes not speaking but sighing out Dauids Psalmes Ridley Latimer Hooper Saunders with many moe constant Professors dyed desirous of the fire saluting the Stake professing their Faith confirming their Brethren and calling vpon God If I should ascend a little higher and looke into the sicke Couches of Emperours Kings Queenes Dukes Earles Nobles which like those Bereans Acts 17. were truely noble indeed I should occasion you to magnifie Gods mercies in calling some great ones vvho by their workes and words as liuing so dying testified that their Graces did equalize their Greatnesse I might instance in Charles the fift in Theodosius the great in Maximilian the second in Stephen King of Poland in Fredericke the third Prince Elector in Ferdinand in Queene Anne Bullen in Ioahn Gray the Duke of Suffolks Daughter with diuers others To omit the last words of Chrysostome dying in his exile of deuout Bernard of Ignatius the Martyr of these Belgicke Lights Phillip Melancthon Tremellius Musculus c. with mamy moe some whereof thankefully recording the benefits they had receiued from God in life spirituall and temporall some powring out their soules for the good of the Church which they haue bequeathed vnto Christ some discoursing of the vanities of this life of the fruits of sinne of the miseries of man some reioycing in the Spirit for the mitigation of their paines the consolations vvhich they felt from the Spirit their vnion vvith Christ their happy passage into Paradise their transmigration vnto their Sauiour exulting at the ioyes of Heauen which then they haue seene as Moses saw Canaan and in part tasted nay some as it were by a Propheticall Spirit illuminating them as it did Iacob and Ioseph fore seeing and fore-telling what should happen after their deaths as Iohn Husse and Ierome of Praige did concerning the Papacie haue all of them here with Simeon departed in peace And though some amongst the Heathens as Cyrus Caesar Augustus Titus Tratan Seuerus Adrian Pompey as also some of their Philosophers and Poets as Aratus Socrates Aristotle Anacharsis Antisthenes Theophrastus with others haue spoke to admiration concerning the necessitie of dying the miseries of life the exprobration of Tyranny the soules immortalitie the true God which they called The thing of things to whom they haue called and committed their Children as their Apothegmes and speeches are recorded by Plutarch Zenophon Laertius and others yet they haue come so farre short of Christians eyther in their ciuill acts and morrall workes liuing or their words dying that it is as easie to discerne betwixt them the strength of Nature and the fruits of the Spirit as betwixt conduit water and Aqua vitae by the taste Now the Reasons why the godly depart in peace are these First the Promise of God which must needes be acccomplished that Peace shall come that they shall rest in their beds euery one that walketh before the Lord Esay 57.2 which promise as it was verified in Enoch and Elias that vvalked vvith GOD so it shall be in all the faithfull Secondly they haue peace with God with whom they are reconciled by Christ which is their peace and therefore they must needes haue peace in God going out of the world to God who haue had peace with God in the world from whom they haue beene absent in the body Thirdly they haue that peace of God in their owne conscience which passeth all vnderstanding Phil. 4. which setteth them in an assured perswasion of the loue of God to them in his Christ the Lord shining in their hearts with the beames of his Spirit and the memory of all their well done deedes then reflexing vpon their vpright consciences fill them euen full of hidden ioy and inward peace These Reasons might be amplified
because they haue dyed of the Plague Suppose it be an accursed death did not Christ the penitent Theefe Peter and Paul which were crucified by Nero with their heads downewards dye an accursed death euen the death of the Crosse Fourthly besides is it not Gods visitation like other diseases Fiftly is it not oft-times sent as Cyprian well notes as well for the sinnes of those that liue it of those that dye as appeares in the Plague sent vpon Dauids Sheepe when he the Shepheard sinned in numbring of them Sixtly is it not a disease though sharpe yet short and more tollerable then the Stone Dropsie Gout Palsie or the French disease Seauenthly did not Dauid desire this kinde of death rather then eyther Famine or Warre Eightly nay haue not Gods Saints as namely Iob for many moneths together beene troubled with a more grieuous maladie Ninthly is not God very mercifull to many that dye of the Plague that haue their senses and memories till the last houre are not those blew spots which appeare Gods tokens as they are called fore-warning them that haue them as God did Ezekias to prepare themselues for they must dye Lastly is their any death much lesse this can hinder the soule after her dâ—arting from Gods present and immediate fellowship or the body from a glorious Resurrection and what if none visit the afflicted in this sort the fewer that gaze on them the fitter they are to looke vp to God And what if they dye and vvant solemne buriall what preiudice is that to the bodies resurrection or soules saluation Obiect 7. But some of the godly dye of Famine as did Lazarus from which God promiseth to preserue them Psal 34. Answ First it is vncertaine whether Lazarus dyed for want of food or the violence of his disease Secondly this death is rare and seldome fals out God prouiding for his as hee did for Iacob and Elias euen in Famine but if this happen God armes his with patience and strengthens them with the assured hope of life eternall as hee did the persecuted Hebrewes who were exposed to nakednesse and hunger Heb. 11.38 Thirdly the Promise is conditionall as all others are that concerne these outward things which fall alike to all Ecclâ—s 9. Fourthly some vnderstand the place in the Psalmist concerning the soules of Gods Saints which are fed with the hidden and precious Manna of the Word to life eternall Iohn 6. Apoc. 2.17 Obiect 8. But some are slaine by their enemies these dye not in peace Ans Yes for no death can seperate Gods Children from his loue Rom. 8.38 Secondly though they kill the body as Cain did Abels the Philistines Ionathans yet as Zwinglius said in the like case as you haue heard they cannot kill the soule Thirdly it is a priuiledge if they dye in Gods cause and procures them a greater increase of glory Apoc. 14.13 Mat. 5.8 Obiect 9. Lastly it is obiected that some of the godly as Sampson and Rasis haue killed themselues others haue done the like in our dayes How haue these dyed in peace Ans For Rasis it was a weakenesse in him if hee were a good man or a wickednesse if he were not For Sampson what hee did was typicall as he prefigured Christs death that ouercame dying Secondly it was by a speciall instinct and motion of Gods Spirit inimitable no more then Abrahams sacrificing his Sonne for those which our experience instanceth in I confesse it is a ticklish point and the knot is hard to be loosed I know that Saul Achitâ—phel and Iudas that killed themselues are noted in the Scripture for reprobates And it seemes that those which doe this inhumane deede doe not for the instant thinke of hell torments yet vvhat then God neuer forsakes his chosen Secondly his mercy is bottomlesse from the Ocean of which mercy hee may distill some drop of grace at the last point of time Thirdly this act is done commonly in some Frenzie or predominant Melancholy when they are not themselues Fourthly Sathan is a wilie Serpent that obserues his aduantages and the Lord knowing his malice and wickednesse and mans frailtie and weakenesse punisheth this sinne as he did the first sinne wherein this Serpent vvas chiefe actor more in Sathan the agent then in man the patient Fiftly many Selfe-murtherers liue after the selfe inflicted fatall stroke and repent ere they dye Let vs iudge the best of them and pray to GOD to giue vs grace neuer to yeeld to the like temptations Amen And now these Doubts discussed these Obiections remoued we come to the Vses The first is this is it so that the Seruants of the Lord doe dye in peace wee must then if wee meane to dye well as the Lord shall inable vs learne to liue well If wee will dye in peace wee must liue the life of grace for it is not â—am vetus quam verum so prouerbiall as true Qualis vita finis ita as is the life so is the death Instance in all particulars in the Scripture from the first line in Genesis to the last Letter of the Reuelation and wee shall neuer see otherwayes excepting one example of the Theefe vpon the Crosse which is particular miraculous vpon a speciall occasion to magnifie the effect of Christs bloud and the power of his Passion to eternize his mercy that gaue life euen at his death and to shew and demonstrate his Deitie that at the lowest ebbe of his crucified Humanitie was able to saue a soule to strengthen the Disciples and allure the vnbeleeuing Gentiles I say excepting him which is an extraordinary example and not to be propounded as a president by any presumptuous soule wee shall not finde any one that liued ill and dyed well but that had the Prologue of their euill life shut vp with the Tragedie of a damned death Looke vpon Cain the murtherer that desperate Runne a-gate on the licentious Worldlings on Lamech the seauentie time auenged Polygamist on polluted Onan and wicked Err on vncleane Sodome with her Sister Gomorrha Gen. 19 25. on rebelling Israel hard-hearted Pharaoh obdurate superstitious and irreligious Aegypt Exod. 6.7.8 ch 14. on disobedient Saul 1 Sam. 15. on lying Iesuitically aequiuocating Gehezi 2 Kings 5. on theeuish Achan treacherous Achitophel traiterous Iudas adulterous and murtherous Herod bloudy Ioab couetous Ahab persecuting Iezabel deluding Ananias deceiuing Saphira cruell Antiochus proud Hamman vsurping Athalia rebelling Absolon with millions moe looke at their liues obserue their deaths peruse their Stories paralell their doings with their sufferings and tell mee if they haue not sealed vp and concluded sensuall and sinfull liues with cursed deaths nay as the Prophet saith Goe yee to Calneh and see and from thence goe you to Hamath the great then goe to Gath of the Philistines looke vpon Ioppa behold Tharsus wonder at Niniuie the pride of Assur gaze vpon Babilon the beautie of all the Chaldees honour And
as you passe by cast your eye vpon Ierusalem that virgin Daughter Sion And if you please reflexe vpon proud Troy renowned Carthage famous Constantinople learned Athens rich Thebes warrelike Numantia populous Samaria ancient Rome old Antwerpe and when you haue viewed them all in the Map of your retyred Meditations tell these renowned places these wonders of the vvorld that sinne hath sackt them that pride hath beene their period that their faults haue caused their fals that they haue beene miserable because vnmindfull of God and of themselues that they with their inhabitants because they haue wanted grace haue wanted peace But if these be to generall for thy application descend into particulars runne ouer Histories read the Tragicke parts that wicked men haue acted vpon the Stage of this world and marke their ends when Death hath struck them Non-plus Leaue all other sinnes and sinners looke on these that eyther haue broached errours Heretically or resisted or persecuted the truth obstinately and cruelly and you shall see them dying horribly you shall see blasphemous Cerinthus killed with the ruines of an house as he was sitting in a Bath at Ephesus Manes the Father of the Manichees exposed to the teeth of Dogs with his skinne flaine off by the command of a Persian King Arius that hellish patrone of the Arians voyding out his bowels with his excrements Olimpius strucke with Thunder by a three-fold Dart from Heauen for his blasphemies against the Trinitie Nestorius perished in Aegypt by the rotting of that tongue of his which denyed Christs humanitie Tandemus that Gygantean and profane contemner of the Word and Sacraments clouen to the braine by a sailing Priest Michael Sernetus burned at Geneua Maximinian the Tyrant smit with a sodaine plague from GOD his eyes swelling his whole body burning so dyed Cruell Domitian the next persecuter after Nero slaine by his Wife and Seruants and buryed like a Dogge Lucius Verus cut off by an Apoplexie the eleauenth yeere of his cruell raigne Maximinus the Thracian murthered by his Souldiers Decius drowned in a puddle Valerian King Sapors slaue after his persecutions had his skinne pluckt off his rotten carkasse Dioclesian with his Collenge butchering seauenteene thousand Christians in thirty dayes consumed miserably in his Frenzie by a lingring disease and his fellow hanged himselfe Valeâ—s the Arrian Emperour burned in his Inne by his pursuing enemies What neede I giue Coale-worts twice sod and set before you againe those dishes that haue beene cooked by all authentâ—cke Ecclesiasticall Authors that are of credit concerning the miserable death of Iulian the apostate whose bloud his owne hands threw into the ayre of Aurelian smit with a Thunderbolt Commoduâ— strangled of Paulinus possessed with a Diuell after hee had martyred Martinian and Processus with diuers others in which the Antichristian Popes as they haue acted the chiefe parts in filthinesse blood-guiltinesse and superstition so if wee obserue their ends as they are recorded by Platina Onuphrius c. and their owne Writers wee shall see they haue dyed fearefully and desperately as they haue liued damnably as may be instanced in Siluester the second Alexander the sixt Heldibrand c. and others all which instances with all other examples that Iewes or Gentiles the Christian or Pagan world afford vnto vs are nothing else but comments vpon that Maxime which S. Augustine drawes from his owne experience when hee saith Nunquam memini male mortuum c. I neuer remembred any to haue dyed ill that haue liued well and hardly doth hee dye well that hath liued ill Therefore to extract another Vse from these premisses Is it so that onely the Seruants of God the Lords Simeons dye in peace and none else then the madnesse of those men is to be mourned as Samuel mourned for Saul and their ignorance or obstinacie is to be pittied that flatter their owne soules and secure themselues they shall dye happily when they haue no care nor conscience to liue holily Faine would they with Balaam dye the death of the righteous but they will not liue the life of the righteous they would act Simeons part in death but they will not labour for Simeons Spirit they would dye like Iude but liue like Iudas dye like the Sonnes of God liue like the sonnes of Belial dye like Saints liue like sinners dye like Dauid but liue like Diues in chambering and wantonnesse in surfetting and drunkennesse in delights and dalliance in pleasures and pompe they would be vvith Christ on Mount Sion but they will not follow him to Mount Caluarie they will not be crucified with him nay they will not crucifie one lust nor sacrifice one sinne nor mortifie one member for the loue of Christ for the loue of their owne soules they will not plucke out their right eies cut off their right hands throw away those sinnes that are as deare to them as eyther eyes or hands for gaining of God for purchase of Paradise for conquest of a crowne nay they will rather carrie both their eyes and both their feete all their deare and darling sinnes whither Iudas carryed his Hypocrisie and Herod his Lust euen to death with them euen to the graue with them euen to Iudgement with them then cast them off as the wilde Beast hunted casts away his stones for which hee is pursued to saue their life by dying nay to saue their soules by dying to sinne Doe these men beleeue the Scripture that tels them as they sow so they shall reape Nay doe they beleeue Experience that in euery Garden Field and Seede-plat shewes it Doe they credit the holy Oracles that if they liue after the flesh they shall dye but if they mortifie the deedes of the flesh by the Spirit they shall liue Rom. 8.13 And doe they nay dare they then goe on in sinne and thinke notwithstanding to reape saluation Are they but dead men all their life euen dead in sinne and trespasses without the quickning Spirit Ephes 2.1 ver 5. and doe they thinke to be liuing men in death Doe men vse to gather grapes of Thornes and figs of Thistles they know to the contrary and thinke they that a good death will grow of a bad life let them neuer hope it I aske such men as Iezabel asked Iehu 2 Kings 9.31 Iehu Iehu did Zimri prosper that slew his Master I trow no. So I aske euery licentious loose sinner Did euer any sinner dye well without repenting that offended God his heauenly Master by treasonable sinning Apply all these precedent examples to thine owne soule and make them thy presidents read them ouer againe and remember them and paralell thy selfe with them Art thou a Theefe looke how Achan dyed that was a Theefe Iosh 7. Art thou a Whore-master looke how the Sodomites dyed how Er and Onan dyed Hophni and Phinees that were vncleane A Whore looke how whorish Iezabel dyed A Swearer looke how blasphemous Rabsakeh
to visit thy sinnes in Iustice but in Mercy 13. To preserue thy soule from the Hunter and thy darling from the Lyon 14. To giue his Angels charge ouer thee in thy extremitie 15. To keepe thee from 1. Impatiencie 2. Frenzie 3. Distraction 4. Idle fancies 5. Rauing 6. Raging 7. Blaspheming c. least thy death be scandalous 16. To touch thy tongue with a coale from the Altar that thou maist speake 1. to Gods glory 2. and to Edification 17. To dye the death of the righteous 18. Lastly to receiue thy soule into that new Ierusalem which is aboue Such Prayers we haue vpon record in holy Writ as of Dauid Psal 39. and Moses Psal 90. true patternes of our Prayers in this kinde And sure who euer approacheth oft to the throne of Grace and supplicates to a pittifull God from faith and feeling in these and the like petitions he shall be sure to finde an answere from God euen when hee lyes vpon his sicke-bed as the fruit of his formâ—r desires Besides that his former acquaintance with God in speaking to him and talking as it were with him oft-times in life by Prayer will increase in the sicke Patient euen a holy boldnesse in a filiall feare to come to that God as one friend to another in extremitie with whom he hath so oft conuersed and conferred with by the Word and Prayer in health and prosperitie Fiftly that thou maist depart in peace make sure to thy soule the inheritance of life eternall euen here in this thy life naturall for as worldlings are something at quiet vvhen they haue made sure such houses lands leases and purchases as they haue long gaped after so assurance of life eternall is the onely pacification to the spirituall man this is the lot the portion and inheritance that his soule longs after the estate that hee preferres before all the flesh-pots of Aegypt or the Iewels of Aegypt Now for the purchase of a fixed place in the heauenly Canaan thou must prouide these treasures 1. sauing Knowledge 2. Faith 3. Sanctification of more price vvith God then Gold Pearle and precious Stones with men For the first there is no traffique with God or purchase from heauen vvithout it Iohn 17.3 This is life eternall to know God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ For Faith the Truth affirmes it with asseueration Verily verily hee that heareth my word and beleeueth in him that sent mee hath eternall life Iohn 5.24 Iohn 3.16 For Sanctification whosoeuer submits their hearts and liues to the regiment of the Spirit of Christ they are the children of God Rom. 8.14 Now God hath an heauenly inheritance for all his Children get therefore these graces and saluation instantly comes to thy heart as it did to Zacheus house Luke 19. Sixtly it will make much for thy dying peace to doe all the good thou canst in life to all men in generall to the Church the Saints and houshold of Faith in special by thy 1. Wit 2. Wealth 3. Power 4. Place 5. Authoritie 6. Credit with great men as Nehemias and Mardocheus did to the Iewes or by any other meanes whatsoeuer Therefore hath God put it into thy heart to build an Hospitall for the distressed to giue some annuall contribution to the poore to mend some common wayes for a publike ease to erect or repayre some Grammer-Schoole for the trayning vp of youth to found some Fellowships or Schollerships in some Colledge as a furtherance to learning to plant some Library for a help to good Letters like that famoused BODLEY the Phoenix in this kinde of our time or to erect and maintaine in some barren place a preaching Ministerie the best worke of all because conuersant about the best obiect the sauing of soules or any the like Oh then strike whilst the Iron is hot goe about this worke speedily euen as speedily as Dauid went about the building of Gods house vvho would not haue giuen any rest to the temples of his head till hee had finished what hee intended had not God staid his resolution And here I cannot but take notice of the preposterous charitie of some that doe little or no good liuing vnlesse to themselues and those to whom Nature tyes them yet after their death they doe some good by their Deputies and Assignes and Executors which oft-times ayming at their owne ends by some quiâ—ques and euasions proue executioners of the desires of the deceased rather then Executors yet suppose the Will be Legally performed what may be censured of thine intent that hast beene close-handed in life and now art seemingly open-hearted at thy death First that thou giuest what thou canst no longer retaine Secondly or thou giuest to good vses what thou hast got by ill meanes or thirdly that conscience accusing thee thou wouldest stop the mouth of it by this sop cast to that barking Cerberus within thee as Iudas did by casting away his thirtie pieces of siluer the price of bloud Mat. 27. Fourthly or else from some opinion of satisfaction for by-past sinnes or present merit with our blinded Papists but chiefely the censorious Criticall world will iudge that if thou hadst not parted with the world thou hadst not departed with thy bewitching wealth therefore All that thine hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power Eccles 9.10 For there is neyther worke nor inuention nor knowledge in the place whither thou goest to Salomons counsell I ioyne Pauls Doe good to all whilst thou hast time Gal. 6.10 Doe what seruice thou canst to Gods Church to the Common-wealth to euery particular man chiefely to the poore members of CHRIST Oh what a comfort will it be to thee if thou hast beene bountifull and beneficiall to the distressed when thou canst say on thy sicke Couch with Nehemias in another case Lord remember mee concerning this good worke and concerning that good worke Nehem. 13.22 Oh blessed is hee that iudgeth wisely of the poore the Lord shall deliuer him in the time of trouble the Lord will strengthen him â—pon his bed of sorrow thou hast turned all his bed in his sicknesse saith the Psalmist Psal 41. ver 1.3 Seauenthly keepe a good conscience with God and man that it may be a continuated comforter vnto thee as in life so in the agonies of death as it was to Paul in all his pressures Acts 24.16 and as it is to the Saints in all their sorrowes a continuall feast Prou. 15.15 a perpetuall Christ-tide a Iubilee in the iawes of death a peace passing all vnderstanding Phil. 2. For as the want of this is the Racke and Gybbet vnto the wicked the greatest heauinesse and plague Sirach 25.15 as the Wiseman tearmes it a plague of plagues an euill which goes beyond all euill that tongue can speake as euen Plautus and Seneca haue thought it the greatest wound and griefe that can be sustained as Salomon determines it Prou. 18.14 nay the very flashes and Prologue to hell as Iudas
28. â—9 comforts them with the promised Comforter Iohn 16.7 Thus Peter endeuoured that those to whom hee writ and preached should haue remembrance of what hee taught them euen after his departure 1 Peter 1.15 If Peters pretended Successors stood not so much on their personall succession as they should in the right of succession labouring to imitate the doctrine of Peter of the Prophets and Apostles nay if this care of doctrinall succession were in the Ministers of the reformed Religion wee should not haue here so much blindnesse and ignorance where once was light there so many Schismes Errours and Heresies where once was an vnitie in veritie else-where so many Wolues come into the roomes of faithfull Pastors Acts. 20 ver 29. Thirdly if thou beest a Master of a Familie thou must set thine house in order as the Prophet from God commands Ezekias Esa 38.1 Now for as much as all Scripture is from God 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Pet. 1.20 and all examples are for our learning Rom. 15.4 what vvas said to Ezekias is said to euery man Set thine house in ordrr For Order saith Nazianzen is the mother and preseruer of all things Now for the procuring this order in thy Familie doe two things 1. concernes the temporall 2. the spirituall estate of thy Familie For the first make thy Will and Testament thou shouldest make it in thy health as Abraham did who in his health makes a Will and giues Legacies but chiefely in thy sickenesse as did Isaack and Iacob in that propheticall Testament of his Gen. 49. So some thus set downe Christs Will on the Crosse he giues his Soule to his Father his louing Mother to his beloued Disciple Iohn his body to Ioseph of Aramathia to the penitent Theefe Paradise to the Iewes his heartiest desires when hee prayes for them c. Now it is not a matter of indifferencie but a thing that conscience bindes thee to euen to make a Will and to distribute thine inheritance as Siracides counsels Syr. 33.22 for thus discharging a good conscience thou maist more freely depart in peace as a man takes his iourney more freely when hee hath set his house in order Secondly so thou cuttest off many contentions and stayest many suites in Law Thirdly thou takest away scandall and offence and so preuentest a woe threatned Mat. 18.7 Fourthly thou shalt be thought a wise man and not dye like a Nabal and a foole in setting all at sixe and seauen and so shalt leaue behinde thee a good name as a precious Oyntment Eccles 7.3 Fiftly thou shalt in this imitate God vvho is the God of order and not of confusion Now in the manner of making thy Will let the Rules be 1. the Law of GOD 2. of Nature 3. of that Nation whereof thou art a member 4. of common equitie If thy will be against any of these rules it is culpable First then it is Gods will to preferre thine owne bloud in disposing of thy estate before others as GOD tels Abraham that Eliazer a stranger shall not be his heyre but his owne Sonne Gen. 15.4 The like God commaunds the Israelites that if any man dye his Sonne shall be his heyre if hee haue no Sonne his Daughter if no Daughter his Brethren so descending still to the next of kinne Numb 27.8.17 It is a fault then for any man to alienate his goods or lands wholy from his bloud and posteritie the light of Grace and of Nature to condemnes it euen the very Schooles of Plato and Aristotle Secondly those are culpable that giue all to the eldest and little or nothing to the rest or all to Sonnes nothing to Daughters for though it be equall that the eldest haue more then the rest First because he is the eldest the Reâ—ben and first strength of the Father Secondly because Stockes and Families are preserued in their persons Thirdly that they may doe speciall seruices to the Common-wealth yet it is exceeding vnequall to giue so much to the eldest as though he should be my young Master and a Gentleman and the younger borne to beare the wallet as though he onely were a Son and the rest Illegitimate Fourthly in the Lawes of equitie remember him with something or her in thy Will that haue beene trusty and faithfull Seruants to thee gratifie in thy death their loues labours and strength spent for thee deale not with them as the Spaniell with the water shake them not off when thou hast no more vse of them Secondly allot some Legacies to thy friends as memorials of thy lasting loue Thirdly as thou art able remember the Chruch of God and those that are in it poore Ministers or poore Members Fourthly such Societies in the Common-wealth as thou hast liued in Now concerning the spirituall estate of thy Family teach instruct exhort admonish and pray for euery particular person in thy Familie In this reade and imitate the example of Dauid 1 Kings 2. the whole Chapter Exhort thy Wife to be the Spouse of CHRIST thy Children Gods Children thy Friends Gods Friends thy Seruants Gods Seruants so shall God and Gods Spirit giue that testimonie of thee that hee did of Abraham Gen. 18.19 euen for instructing thy Familie after thee The practise of these Precepts concernes thy peace both in sicknesse and in death Lastly when thou feelest Death approaching comming neare to the Agonie and pangs of it then vvith the Marriners stearne aright to get into the Hauen there is the greatest danger and if recouered the greatest ioy Now labour as thou hast liued so to dye by Faith Now apply the Promise to thy Soule trust in it let it quicken thee as it did Dauid Psal 119.49 Comfort thy selfe as that persecuted Patriarke did when Death was before him euen in the Lord thy God 1 Sam. 30.6 Now let God be the strength of thy heart euen vvhen thy flesh fayles and thy heart also Psal 73.26 Now vvith the Israelites looke to him vvith the eye of Faith of whom the brazen Serpent was a figure euen when the Serpent Death imbraceth thee to sting thee Iohn 3.14 Now call to minde all the former mercies of thy God to thy soule and suck spirituall sweetnesse from them Now vvith Moses cry vnto God euen when thou seest the dead Sea as hee the red Sea before thee Exod. 14. Now pray with all thy powers and spirits loue the Lord vvith all thy heart and affections reioyce that thou art going to meete thy Bridegroome now mourne and weepe more then euer that thou hast offended so good so gracious and so louing a GOD Now with Ezekias remember thy former sinnes in the bitternesse of thy soule turne thy selfe to the wall and weepe in the secret silence of thy Soule Esay 38.3 that so thou vvashing thy soule with penitent teares thy CHRIST may at that instant vvash away the pollutions of it vvith his bloud that so it may be presented spotlesse before the
may testifie thus much truely that I haue not beene penurious in paynes For since I vndertooke this taske in as many weekes as Virgils Poems yeeres I haue polished it as I could as the Beare her Whelps by licking pervsing some Authors for this purpose drinking deeply at their Wels where I thought the waters sweet decking this for Gods Israell with Aegiptian Iewels euen some Heathenish Illustrations as is lawfull and laudible in this kinde For the manner of penning you haue my good will if not skill in cooking what is catered if I adde sometimes sowre Sauce let it relish the better with you what is vntoothsome to a fleshly palate will proue wholesome to a sound soule For my words I haue not beene very curious though cautelous God and Nature haue administred them to my Pen as to my Tongue without martyring my selfe about them if I haue erred it is rather on the right hand then the left in the excesse then defect as some haue taxed the one in Osorius others the other in Lipsius rather chusing to flow and ouerflow as Tully once did before Athens brought him within his banckes that I may be intelligible in expressing the notions of my soule then with an affected concise Lipsian and Laconian breuitie to be obscure as is said of Aristotle Theophrastus and others who for their stiles are said to write to torment their Readers I haue laboured to giue a good garment to a good body to clothe a good subiect in words fitted not affected For the matter you haue here not what Sathan shewed Christ the World with her glory and her pompe but a Map of mans Miserie a Modell of his Mortalitie of the Worlds Vanitie Lifes Breuitie so brittle so briefe so short so certainely vncertaine in his flitting in its fading that the Word intitles our life in this world a Pilgrimage Gen. 47.9 a Flower Esa 40.7 a Smoke Psal 102.3 a Weauers shittle Iob 7.6 a House of clay a Shepheards Tent Iob 4.19 Esay 38.12 a Shadow Iob. 8.9 a Dreame Iob 20.8 Vanitie nay Nothing Psal 39.5 All which points with sundry moe I haue according to my Talent laid open at the full with sundry incouragements euery where inserted against such feares as the thoughts of these things naturally possesse men withall It was my purpose also to haue added some comforts as against the feare of death naturall so of death spirituall and eternall in the corroberation of the weake Christian against Sathan the wounds of Conscience and terrours of his owne Soule but the length of these Lines already extended beyond their propounded limits ioyned with weaknesse of body cause me to omit or pretermit this till some other occasion where I shall if it be requisit reueale what I know in this practicall part of Diuinitie in the meane space I referre you to draw cooling waters from those Springs of Israel to whom the Lord hath giuen the tongue of the Learned to speake a word to him that is weary in due season in perusing the Workes of the worthy Perkins D. Sparkes Espmes good old Linakers Comforts for afflicted Consciences Hughes Troubled mans Medicine The Pensiues Practise the Consolatory Letters of that zealous Greenham D. Hil Wilcox c. Ferrarius vpon 51. Psalme Mr. Knox vpon the 6. Psalme Mr. Downams Christian Warfare Luthers Consolations The sicke mans Salue chiefely that best sixe-penny Manuel that I know in English Mr. Fremans Comforters Wolcomb his Sinners salue with all those that haue strengthened the soule directly against desperation Besides if you desire further satisfaction in any point eyther positiue or controuersall concerning death naturally in which these my poore paines doe not content you the zealous learned Lucubrations of men of good parts and paines offer themselues as Mr. Perkins and Lupset Mr. Sutton with D. Hill by their printed Workes as their titles are will teach you how to die well Mr. Draxe lends the sicke man a Guide another a Salue Sr. Thomas Eliot lends a preseruatiue against Death Mr. Bradford writes against the feare of Death Mr. Caue out of French shewes how to remoue that feare Wolcombe lends Armour against Deaths assaults Erasmus shewes Deaths chances Mr. Foxe exhorts the sicke Deaths generall Proclamation is extant in Print with his Trophies and Conquests Couerdaile out of Dutch hath translated a Booke of Death Ars moriendi the Art of dying hath bin long extant Also the learned know what not onely the Fathers but Papists haue writ of this Argument as Pontanus Inclinus c. as also some Germane Protestants as Bibembachius and Brandmillerus in their Funerall Sermons with others both in Latine and English all which I haue seene most of which before and vpon this occasion read and in many of them omitting the principals found small satisfaction so that none by comparing mee with them shall finde me seruilely tyed to any of them or taking any thing so verbally or by sentences from them as it is not mine owne by method digestion and application Neyther I hope will it be more blame-worthy in me to write after these then it was in Curtius to write the life of Alexander in Baptista Egnatius to write the liues of Emperours in Platina to write the liues of the Popes after that seauenteen approued Authors had writ of the same subiect before the first thirteene before the second and fifteene before the third as a warrantable Writer reckons them And now hauing acquainted you what I haue done how and why I send all vnto you as Abraham sent his Seruant away with a blessing euen such a one as I desire and intend With which thought now the custome of all Epistlers cry it is time to conclude least it be too tedious yet beare I pray you with mine error of loue which still extends my lines being vncertain when or whether euer to see all your faces againe in earth by reason of that mortalitie we speake of or to speake to you by audible voyce to commend vnto you as a departing father would some things to his children as dying Dauid did to suruiuing Salomon onely these two things first that you would spend well the time of your short life secondly that you would prepare your selues for death The first makes way to the second as the Needle for the Thread the second for a third euen a dignitie amongst liuing Angels as Grace sits for Glory First therefore because the daies of your pilgrimage are as few as euill as short as sinfull that euen for that cause as the Apostle counsels you would redeeme the time account of it as not onely Christians but euen the Heathens Theophrastus Seneca with others haue prized it as the greatest treasure yea aboue your patrimonies and inheritances from which you will not suffer your selues to be disinherited Beware the losse of it as Lodouicke Blosius and that mysticall Thaulerus counsell amongst the rest of their documents as of the most pestiferous poyson that is knowing that one
or full Points or seeming defect in not alwayes quoting the Chapter and Verse to which I haue reference testimonially or exemplarily which perhaps would haue stuft the Booke too full or in any such circumstances which my farre absence from the Presse might occasion I pray you let your loues make the best construction if any thing be amisse that is mine owne if ought here be good that is the Lords and his Grace in mee to which good Grace commending you and these my poore labours for you I rest as now so euer Yours in the best bond STEVEN IEROME MOSES His sight of Canaan With SIMEON his Dying-Song Directing How to liue holily and dye happily BY Steuen Jerome late Preacher at St. BRIDES Seene and allowed Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet LONDON Printed for Roger Iackson and are to be solde at his Shop neare to the Conduit in Fleetstreete 1614. The chiefe Contents of the two subsequent TREATISES In Moses his sight of Sion these things are obseruable 1 THE Case of the Inheritance of Daughters propounded page 1 2 How Cases are wisely to be carryed before the Magistrate pag. 3 3 The true Rule of iudging Cases Consultation with God pag. 4 4 The Case adiudged and spiritually applyed pag. 6 5 Moses is forewarned to dye and how God forewarnes vs. pag. 9 6 All must dye 13 7 God prepares his Children to dye as hee did Moses by shewing them Canaan 14 8 Moses his obedience to Gods summons a patterne to vs. 15 9 Fifteene Resemblances of Death to Sleepe 16 10 Fiue Considerations to imbrace Death as willingly as we sleepe naturally 23 11 Sixteene Comforts against the feare of Death in these ensuing particulars 35 1 GOD who infused the Soule cals for it againe 36 2 Sinne the sting of Death is taken away by Christs death 37 3 God as a Father is present at the death of his Children 39 4 Death is no death but a dissolution to the godly 41 5 The Saints shall know and enioy their friends in glory 43 6 Death frees the soule from her spirituall enemies 44 7 It deliuers from euils present and to come 47 8 It ends Sinnes Conflicts with Heauens Tryumphs 48 9 It frees vs from conuersing with the wicked 51 10 It secures vs from corrupting by the wicked 55 11 It secures from the malice of the mighty 56 12 Our good name is cleared in Death which calumny ecclypsed in life 57 13 Death tryes and declares the sinceritie and measure of grace 63 14 It is the inheritance of the Saints as it is the terrour of the wicked 64 15 The Christian should in death desire Christ who by death desired him 71 16 Death is the common Inne of all flesh where the Saints are refreshed 75 In Simeons dying Song these are the chiefe Notes both from the Doctrines and the Vses THE force of Examples eyther for imitation of Vertue or detestation of Vice 77 The vaine Songs and Sonnets of our age iustly reproued 79 Our singing as corrected so directed 80 The ground of all our reioycing must be in and for Christ 81 The sensuall and sinnefull ioyes of worldlings iustly taxed 83.84 c. Wee must be truely thankefull for Christ 8â— Tenne Reasons to incite vs to the duty of gratulation with the vses 88.89 The great mistery and greater mercy of Christ incarnate 92.93 c. Wee must be borne againe to CHRIST and and hee borne in vs as hee was borne for vs 95 The glorious Name of the Lord must not be vsed vpon euery triuiall occasion 97 How bootlesse it is for the wicked in death to cry Lord Lord. 99 The godly haue diuers raptures and secret ioyes in life and death 101 These Ioyes demonstrated in sixe particulars 103 Three Reasons of these extraordinarie Rauishments 105 Worldlings farre wide that thinke Christians Melancholicques and comfortlesse 106 Foure Comforts of the Christian which the world neyther knowes nor feeles 107 All the Patriarkes and Prophets since the promise haue expected the Messias 110 Wee see Christ more clearely then the primitiue Saints 111 How Christ came to them how to vs. 112 How wee should entertaine Christ with Redargution and Commination of the Iewes and our ingratitude 113 Our desire of long life must be simply to glorifie God 116 Reproofe of the worlds practise in Ministers Magistrates Masters and all sorts ayming at themselues not God 120 The better Christian the more willing to dye 126 Twelue Reasons which cause this willingnesse 127 The point applyed by examination 133 Christ most willing to dye of all the Sonnes of men 135 Seauen Reasons why Death is vnwelcome to the wicked 136 Wicked men may die willingly for sinister respects as Heretiques haue done 143 Fiue meanes to be vsed to make vs willing to our dissolution 144 God manifests his presence at the death of his three wayes 148 How God workes in sinne permissiuely disposingly c. but neuer workes sinne 151 Euery death for Time Place Matter Manner is determined by God 153 Iust inuectiues against Heathenish Fortune 157 The rash censures of men concerning diuers deaths condemned 160 Comforts in that God sees the cause and effect of euery mans maladie 161 Patience perswaded in that it is Gods rod which strikes 162 No meanes can protract or detract from our dayes besides their limits 164 Foure maine Obiections answered 165 Meanes must be vsed both for life temporall and spirituall notwithstanding Gods decree 168 Vnlawfull for any priuate man to take away life from himselfe or others 170 Twelue disswasiue arguments against Selfe-murther 171 The sinne reproued and the frequencie of it deplored 174 Twelue things from experience and Heathenish examples occasioning selfe-killing 179 How to preuent this sinne 188 Euery obstinate sinner from causes naturall and supernaturall accused of selfe-murther 189 * The chiefe delight and desire of euery man must be to be Gods Seruant with foure reasons why 196 Multitudes that liue vnder the meanes are ignorant how God should be serued 201 Multitudes reproued that haue as little will as skill to serue God 202 How few ayme at Gods seruice in all their wayes expostulated in particulars 210 Ciuill honest men most enemies to Gods true Seruants and sincere seruice 216 Many in the rancke of Christians serue the Diuell and their owne lusts 218 All the members that haue serued sinne directed to serue God 221 Sixe Motiues perswading to serue God 1 From the end of our Creation 227 2 From our Preseruation 231 3 From our Vocation 233 4 From our Redemption 235 5 From our Profession 237 6 From the Reward ibid. First Reward of Gods seruice Wealth and Riches 238 Second Honour and Dignitie 239 Sinne brings shame and all other iudgements 240 Gods hand vpon his enemies in many iudgements 243 Holinesse is the way to Honour 245 God is most liberall of all Masters 246 Gods seruants best rewarded and regarded in eight particulars 248 God grants the suites of his seruants 252 The
godly haue a taste of Heauen here enioyed hereafter 253 God blesseth the wicked oft for his seruants sakes 255 God deliuers his seruants from generall iudgements sixe wayes 257 God and Sathan cannot be serued together 258 The case of Sathans captiues opened 259 Seauen Reasons why the godly must dye as well as the wicked 263 Tenne sins that haue prouoked the Lord to sweepe away the wicked 268 That all must dye exemplified and amplified by many instances 269 The deaths of the worlds Worthies of all sorts epitomized 274 Fiue naturall causes of death 282 Death is as inexorable as vnresistible with his Trophies ouer all 283 We must not too much loue this life which we must shortly leaue 287 Those that loue life must hate Sinne the cause of death 289 Death onely makes the Prince and the poore man equall 291 Deaths effect in equalizing all illustrated by fit similies 296 Sixe Reasons further shewing the necessitie of dying 299 How euen in liuing wee dye and are dead in part 301 By how many meanes we dye 304 Diuers examples of seuerall sorts of deaths violent and naturall 305 Some cut off in the midst of their lawlesse lusts 309 Our dayes abbreuiated in respect of the long liues of the Patriarkes 316 Foure causes of the long continuation of things 318 Because our life is short we must spend it well 319 Our many sinnes to be mourned for and why 320 The practise of Epicures and profane men reproued and threatned 321 How wee must sow in teares in this short seed-time 323 Further vse to be made of our short time 325 Our life is laborious and miserable euery calling hauing his crosse 328 No place priuiledged from foure things 1. Sathan tempting 2. The hearts wandring 3. Ill tongues biting 4. The world crossing 330 Examples of humane calamities 331 Twelue meanes to get that peace with God which the world wants 334 The vanitie of life with all the things in life truely discouered 336 The world truly described by eleauen similies 340 How Christ in his practise crossed all the worlds proceedings 342 The benefits of death to a Christian vnder the Crosse 343 God oft cats away the best soonest 345 How death is fearefull and not fearefull 347 Death is onely a departure out of life not a finall destroyer 348 Eight Arguments prouing the Resurrection of our bodies 351 Illustrations from Nature that our bodies shall rise 352 Foure Reasons besides from the Word 354 The Christians comfort in the consideration of our Resurrection 355.356 That wee may rise ioyfully we must liue holily in tenne particulars 359 Tenne Arguments to proue the soules immortality 362 Seauen moe from the Word 364 Death vnmasked what it is to the godly 365 Reproofe of those that respect the body more then the soule 367 The seruants of God alwayes dye in peace 369 The godly oft haue their desires at before and in their deaths 372 The very last words recorded which the Saints vttered in their death beds 374 How great men haue liued and dyed good men 377 Reasons why the godly depart in peace 379 Nine Obiections answered that seeme to contradict the peaceable departure of the Saints 380 Nine Reasons that his death may be good that dyes of the Plague 384 How selfe-murther doth not alwayes imply a wretched death 387 Hee that would dye well must liue well 389 The fearefull ends of wicked persecutors in euery age 391 An ill life the vsuall Prologue to a Tragicall death 395 None can repent when he will 397 The Word layes downe a way to a blessed death 402 Death is certaine yet vncertaine 403 The paines of Hell without remission or redemption 405 Repentance is not to be deferred till death 406 The danger of deferring discouered 408 The Theefes Repentance vpon the Crosse examined 412 Sixe effects of Deaths meditation 417 The life of Faith brings dying Peace 429 Repentance the meanes of peace with God 430 How to dye daily three wayes 433 How to leaue the damnable custome of Swearing 434 Eighteene things to be prayed for that death may be prosperous 437 A good conscience in life brings peace in death 442 Sixe causes of sickenesse besides sinne 445 With fiue duties to be done in sickenesse 446 The sicke man must send for a Minister before the Physitian and carnall friends 451 The necessitie and lawfull vse of Physicke proued and vrged 455 Rules obseruable in the vse of Physicke 457 Against seeking to Witches and Charmers in sickenesse 459 Reconciliation and Restitution vrged 461 Fiue Reasons why a sicke man must make his Will 465 Foure Rules in making all Wills 466 A Christian carriage prescribed in the houre of death 468 Twenty seuerall Comforts in the death of friends 1 Because God takes them away 470 2 The Saints haue beene patient spectators of the deaths of their deare friends 471 3 If he dyed in the faith of Christ he is translated from this life to a better 472 4 He is blessed being dead in the Lord. ibid. 5 Hee is returned home to his Fathers house ibid. 6 He is inseperably vnited vnto God the chiefest good 473 7 He is marryed vnto his Bridegroome Christ ibid. 8 His warfare is now at an end ibid. 9 Being here a pilgrime hee is returned into his owne Country 474 10 Thou hast not lost but left him ibid. 11 He shall be restored vnto thee againe at the Resurrection ibid. 12 Ere long thou shalt goe vnto him 475 13 His better part is yet liuing ibid. 14 His estate is bettered by death ibid. 15 Thou sorrowest for that could not be preuented 476 16 Thou hast many companions in thy sorrow ibid. 17 Thy impatient sorrow hurts thy selfe 477 18 Thy extreame sorrow is as fruitles as faithlesse ibid. 19 The Lord thy best friend is still liuing ibid. 20 They are insensible of thy sorrow 479 Twenty Cordials against the crosse of sicknes 482 And Meditations how to beare the intollerable burthen thereof 499 Eight seuerall Consolations against the vnkindnes of mercilesse Friends 500 1 Thy case is not singular but ordinary ibid. 2 The Saints haue had the same measure 501 3 Christ himselfe was maliced of his owne brethren ibid. 4 There hath beene hatred amongst the nearest friends by nature ibid. 5 Though thy friends forsake thee yet God careth for thee 502 6 As thy friends are vnkinde to thee so thou hast beene vnthankefull to God ibid. 7 God hath elected thee though man reiect thee 503 8 Though thou canst not see thy friends here with comfort yet ere long thou shalt see God as hee is ibid. Thirteene Preparatiues against Pouertie 504 1 It is the prouidence of God that thou shouldest be poore 504 2 Thy crosse is not singular 505 3 Pouertie is no token of Gods displeasure ibid. 4 A little with the feare of God is better then great riches of the vngodly 507 5 As well Pouertie as Riches fals out to the best to them that feare God ibid. 6 The Lord
his Inheritance vnto his next Kinsman of his Family and hee shall possesse it and this shall be vnto the Children of Israel a Law of Iudgement or an Ordinance to iudge by as the Lord hath commanded MOSES In which gracious Answere these things may serue for our vse Note 5 First we may note that God reiected not these women from hauing a place in his earthly Canaan because so earnestly they sought and desired it and thereby wee may gather comfort assured and infallible that out of his Heauenly Canaan hee neuer reiecteth any that are desirous to haue a place in it for Hee that commeth to me saith hee I cast not away God would not the death of a sinner but rather that hee would turne from his sinne and be saued God would haue all men to be saued and to come to the knowledge of his truth And in this God is no excepter of persons but in euery Nation hee that feareth him and worketh righteously is accepted of him There is neither Iew nor Grecian bond nor free male nor female in this but wee are all one in Christ Iesus Exclude not then your selues out of Canaan and the Lord of mercy and goodnesse will not exclude you Note 6 Againe wee may note how harsh this disinheriting of Daughters is because wee desire to continue the name If God be pleased to continue the Land or Inheritance in our name blessed be his will if hee be against it and to that end giue no Sonne but Daughters wee fight against one that is too strong for vs in seeking by-wayes contrary to his rule and how can it please him God raiseth vp houses and putteth downe at his pleasure for the Earth is his and all that is in it with his owne to doe his will who will controule and checke him Now if he doe this by a woman why may hee not May hee raise a name by women inheritors and may hee not change the name againe when hee seeth good by giuing a daughter and no Sonne Let vs often thinke of the Psalme in a religious feeling and humbly desire to receiue instruction from the Lord They thinke their houses and their habitations shall continue for euer euen from generation to generation and call their lands by their names but man shall not continue in honour hee is like the beasts that dye This their way vttereth their foolishnesse yet their posteritie delight in their talke c. Here wee may note how grossely and grieuously they erre that condemne the gouernment of Women when Crowne and Kingdomes by lawfull descent in the all-guiding prouidence of God fall vnto them for be they not within this Law of God that he saith should be a Law of Iudgement that is a Law to iudge by of this matter for euer If a man haue no Sonne his Inheritance shall descend vnto his Daughter CHAP. II. Moses is fore-warned to die and how God fore-warnes vs. Sect. 1. THE second part of this Chapter now followeth in the 12. Verse to wit the shewing of the Land of Promise to Moses and the telling him of his death in these words Againe the Lord said vnto Moses goe vp into this Mount of Abarim and behold the Land which I haue giuen to the Children of Israel And when thou hast seene it thou shalt be gathered vnto thy people as Aaron thy Brother was gathered c. These points that are naturall from this place will come againe to be spoken of in the last Chapter of Deutronomie to which I referre you Let vs therefore I pray you euen seriously and zealously pitch our mindes vpon these points Note 1 First that Moses is not here taken away sodainely but is premonished before that he must away and a time giuen him to prepare himselfe for it a great and sweet mercy of God to his Children Wherefore Dauid prayeth heartily Lord let mee know my end and the measure of my dayes Let me know how long I haue to liue And againe in another Psalme Teach mee to number my dayes that I may apply my heart vnto Wisedome The Lord doth not this by expresse words as here to Moses but first by increasing weaknesse and infirmities vpon vs secondly by many yeeres thirdly by Examples of others daily before our eyes and fourthly many times by a secret instinct in our hearts with arguments and circumstances fitting to confirme vnto vs that wee must dye so that if wee be vnprepared it is our fault that wee carry no better an eye to the Lords dealings with vs no better a watch ouer our selues for state of body and minde nor make better vse and application of things as that often repeated counsell in Scriptures willeth vs saying Watch watch for you know not at what houre the Bridegroome will come c. Sweet is the Lord and most gracious is his course Let vs not be wanting in ours and all shall be well the time neuer sodaine the thing neuer fearefull but as welcome as quiet sleepe to a wearied and ouer-wearied body A sodaine death to any one prepared is no hurt for the word of God is firme and immutable hee that beleeueth shall be saued No man taketh my Sheepe out of my hands There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus which walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit Againe Who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perils or sword No no for I am perswaded that neyther death nor life no not sodaine death nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Now if none of these certainly not sodaine death as I said before and therefore well saith the Booke of Wisedome concerning the godly that though he be preuented by death yet shall hee be in rest hee was taken away least wickednesse should alter his vnderstanding or deceit beguile his minde though he was soone dead yet fulfilled hee much time for his soule pleased God therefore hasted hee to take him away from wickednesse c. It is said that S. Iohn dyed of an Apoplexie and Policarpuâ— wished hee might doe the like yet wee vsually pray against sodaine death first in regard of the rash iudgement of the world secondly many mens negligence in preparing themselues for all houres the want of which hath made the godly sometimes timerous as wee see in Dauid Psal 39.15 thirdly as their soules are not alwayes set in order so neyther their houses as in Ezekia 2 Kings 20.1 But I say againe to one that hath laid his ground-worke well it is no hurt blessed be God and for the iudgement of men in taking Gods office vpon them in iudging weakly or wickedly of their Brethren Mat. 7.1.2 it is too rash
of death and blesse God for it tenne thousand times following the foot-steps of worthy Fathers and Saints in the Church whose feeling of this point God hath directed them to leaue behinde them in their writings O tu vita quam praeparauit Dexs ijs qui diligunt eum vita vitalis vita beata vita secura vita tranquilla c. O thou life saith Augustine prepared of God for them that loue him thou liuing life thou blessed life thou secure life thou quiet life thou beautifull life thou life that knowest no death thou life that knowest no sadnesse thou life without blot without sorrow without care without corruption without perturbation without any varietie or change Would God that laying aside this burthen of my flesh I might enter into thy ioyes O quam fortunatus ero si audiuero c. O how happy shall I be if I might heare those sweet Songs of thy Citizens and those honey sweet verses but O more happy if I my selfe may finde grace and fauour to sing a song vnto the Lord Iesus Christ of the sweet Songs of Sion O verè foelices qui de Pilago c. O truely happy they that come out of the Sea of the World to the Hauen of Heauen out of Banishment to their owne Country and out of a foule Prison to a glorious Palace O Coelestis domus luminosa ad te suspirat c. O Heauenly House full of glorious light to thee tendeth my pilgrimage that he may possesse mee in thee that made both mee and thee Inter Brachia Seruatoris mei viuere volo mori cupio In the Armes of my Sauiour I wish to liue and desire to dye Many such feeling speeches I could repeate from the auncient militant warriours in this mortalitie whom we call Fathers when they went to the Father of Spirits shewing how farre they were from any vnwillingnesse to die which if wee make vse of as wee ought assuredly they will vvorke in vs through the blessing of God the same effect To shut vp this the godly cry come Lord Iesus come quickely Now they are in the world then they shall come to their owne now they are in the skirmish then shall they be in their victory now in the tempestuous Sea then in the quiet Hauen now in the heate of the day then in rest and coole euening now in place absent from Christ then with him following wheresoeuer hee goeth Now their life is hid with Christ but then shall they appeare with him in glory and that glory for euer and euer without change or end 1 Iohn 4.2 Comforts against the feare of Death by which the Christian Soule may be made willing to her Dissâ—lution CHAP. V. THE feare of death is not one of the least temptations to a weake Christian for Death is not onely fearefull to a naturall man whose hope is in this world being in it owne nature the most terrible of all terribles as Heathen men haue tearmed it for which cause wicked men are agast at the apprehension of it as appeares in the example of Bâ—ltazar of Hamon and others being as vnwilling to dye as the Beare vnto the Stake and the Swine vnto the Shambles but euen the godly themselues haue some combats and conflicts in this kinde as had our Sauiour Christ himselfe Ezekias and Dauid c. by reason that Nature abhorres her owne abolishion and feares the dissolution of the soule and body which are naturally as vnwilling to be seuered and sundered as two friends that haue beene borne and bred and brought vp together are loath to depart and to take their long leaue eyther of other therefore to make that easie and facile vnto thee which of it selfe is harsh and difficult that thou maist submit thy selfe willingly to that which all flesh haue vndergone and must vndergoe of necessitie Arme Grace against Nature and the Spirit against the Flesh with these comfortable considerations 1 Consider that by corporall death God onely cals againe for that soule which at the first hee created and infused into the body to informe and animate it and that this Soule of thine flits not out of her terrestriall tabernacle by chance or hap-hazard or casualtie or fortune or by the Climactericall yeere the reuolution of seauens and nines or by the position of the Heauens or course of the Starres or by thy disease or sicknesse occasioned by bad dyet superfluities of meates or drinkes ouer-great heates or taking of cold or the like accidents which are but meere instruments of thy mortalitie but looke at the superiour Agent GOD himselfe who hath now determined and disposed thy death Hab. 9.27 who hath numbred thy dayes and appointed thy limits who turnes thy dust into his dust Gen. 3.19 thou being a Sonne of Adam and cals for thy Spirit to returne to him that gaue it Psal 90.3 Eccles 12.7 And therefore seeing it is the Lord that cals be thou as willing to sleepe with thy Fathers as Samuel was to awake out of his naturall sleepe at Gods call 1 Sam. 3.10 Thinke that thy Soule is giuen vnto thee as a precious pledge to be safely kept and therefore grudge not to returne thy holy pawne to God the chiefe owner when hee requires it but commit it to him as into the hands of a faithfull Creator and louing Redeemer Why should the Tenant at will stand out with his Land-lord for an old rotten Cottage when he would remoue him to a better Mansion why should the Souldier be refractorie to leaue his station and place to be otherwaies disposed of by his Generall and Commander Now thou art here but a Tenant at will thou hast no fee-simple of thy life thou art a war-faring Souldier professed in Baptisme therefore like the Centurions Souldiers be willing to goe when thy Captaine bids thee goe Mat. 8.9 2 Let this comfort thee that thy sinnes the cause of thy death is taken away by the Messias Christ in whom thou beleeuest by whom thy sinnes being pardoned thou art blessed Psal 32.1 his death being the death of Sin and the conquest of Hell Hos 13. 1 Cor. 15. And therefore comfort thy selfe with Dauids holy Meditations encouraging thy soule to returne vnto her rest because the Lord hath beene bountifull vnto thee since he hath deliuered thy Soule from death euen the second death thine eyes from teares and thy feete from falling and since thou shalt walke before the Lord euen with the foure and twentie Elders in long white roabes in the Land of the liuing Psal 116.7.8.9 For all thy bitter griefe in corporall death which yet is sweetened to the Elect the Lord will deliuer thy soule from the pit of corruption for hee hath cast all thy sinnes behinde his backe as hee did Ezekiahs Esay 38.17 And therefore as there is no danger in handling an Adder or Viper or any other Serpent when her sting is taken away so there is no perill in Death since Sinne which is
the sting of Death is to thee not imputed but in the mercies of God pardoned and in the merits of Christ couered 1 Cor. 15. Rom. 8.1 Remember that God is the same God vnto thee in thy death that hee was in life good gracious propitious mercifull and mindefull of thee in thy last and greatest exigent Enoch found it so who walking vvith God in his life vvas taken away by the same God in his death that he was no more seene Gen. 5.24 Therefore it was Iobs dying comfort that his Redeemer liued whom as hee desired so hee hoped to see with the eyes of his body as he had beheld him with the rest of the Patriarkes with the eyes of Faith Iob 19.25 This consideration made him confident in the midst of his combats that though the Lord should kill him yet hee would trust in him Iob 13. This made prophecying Iacob ioyfull in his last farewell out of the few and euill expired dayes of his Pilgrimage in the inioying that Shilo the blessed Messias and his saluation which so long hee had waited for Gen. 49.18.33 This made old Simeon so comfortably caroll out his Swan-like song a little before his death euery particular of vvhich dittie expresseth his delight to dye and his desire to depart when hee had the worlds Sauiour in his armes and his Spirit in his heart Luke 2.25.26.27 28.29 And sure if thou haue the same grace and feele God in so many particulars now gracious vnto thee in thy life as did Enoch Iob Iacob and Simeon thou oughtest vpon the same grounds to seâ—tle thy heart in the sweet assurance of Gods speciall presence in thy last dissolution that hee will make thy bed in thy sickenesse and send thee that very Comforter his owne Spirit which according to his promise he sent his Disciples euen when all externall comforts faile if thou now worship him in spirit and in truth Iohn 4.24 For Salomon the wisest of men from the wisdome of God taught what Dauid his Father blessedly felt 1 Kings ch 1. v. 48. ch 2. v. 1.2.3 v. 10.11 that the righteous hath hope in death euen then when the wicked is cast off by reason of his malice as was Antiochus Epiphanes Herod and others And therefore you of the Israel of God you the Seede of Abraham the friends of God feare not for the Lord is vvith his Seruants with those whom hee hath chosen and he will be with you and not cast you away but vvill strengthen help and sustaine you yea againe I say Feare not thou worme Iacob and yee men of Israel I will helpe thee saith the Lord and thy Redeemer the holy One of Israel Esay 41. v. 8.9.10 v. 14. If the Lord be thy friend as hee vvas a friend to Abraham to Lazarus and to his Disciples and is still to all that seeke him and his grace then sure hee will play a sure friends part hee will sticke fast to thee in thy last conflict in this thy vvarrefare remembring thee euen in death as hee did his friend Lazarus Iohn 11.11 Therefore apply Dauids meditation as balme to thine owne sore in thy feares and say to thy soule Why art thou sad oh my Soule and why art thou so disquieted within mee still trust in God and giue him thankes for the comfortable helpe of his presence Though I walke through the shadow of death yet will I feare none euill for thou art with mee thy Rod and thy Staffe shall comfort mee Psal 23.4 God is my God euen the God of whom commeth my saluation God is the Lord by whom I escape death by whom indeede death is no death Psal 68.20 4 Remember what death is properly to the godly not a dying but a departing Luke 2.29 not an abolishion but a dissolution Phil. 1. a loosing out of Prison a Goale-deliuery to the soule not a curse but a blessing a freedome and a libertie out of captiuitie not pernitious but precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints Psal 116. A walking with God Gen. 5. A going to our Fathers in peace A gathering to our people and A yeeldding of the spirit Gen. 25.8 Gen. 49.33 A sweet sleepe Deut. 31. A rest of our flesh in hope Psal 16. 116. A resting from our labours Reu. 14. with diuers such Epithites that the Scripture giues speaking of the death of Abraham Iacob Moses Dauid Iosias c. and the rest of the Saints of God Oh then why shouldest thou feare thy freedome Doth any Iewish Turkish Romish or Athenian Bond-man take it ill to be infranchized Doth any Apprentise distaste to be made a Free-man Is any Prisoner daunted vvith the newes of his deliuery out of colde Irons Is any Captiue discomforted when hee perceiues the meanes of his ransome oh then why shouldest thou be daunted with that messenger that is sent from the King of heauen to deliuer thee from all the maladies and miseries of this life from all the distresses crosses and cares that are incident to this mortalitie in bonds sickenesse diseases paines of body burthen of minde incurable sores with an hundred such like afflictions which make life to be loathedly vnpleasant and vnprofitable besides Is any man afraid of his bed is not rest comfortable to a iournying foot-man to a trauelling pilgrime or a drudging labourer Oh how glad is hee to repose his wearyed limbes in his wished couch Oh how acceptable is sleepe to refocillaite and recouer the ouer-spent spirits and to reuiue the decayed powers Now thy death is but a sleepe as the Word testifies there being such a proportion betwixt death and sleepe that the Heathen could tearme sleepe the Image of Death and the elder Brother of Death and our graues are our beds in which our bodies resting and sleeping the holy Ghost vvhose liuing Temples they were vvatching ouer them vvhen they are dead shall rouze them vp at the last day in beautie glory and splendor like the Sunne refreshed like a Gyant ready to runne his Race 5 Further to inlarge and diffuse this meditation a little further doth any man dislike to accept of these opportunities where hee shall not onely see and visite but inioy the company and conference of his friends his longed for his louing and beloued absent friends their sight is gracious the communion and conuersation with them is more gracious now by death we come to enioy and to ioy in the presence of our friends vvho haue broke the Ice before vs and haue led the way to this common Inne of death we shall see the face of CHRIST wee shall looke vpon him whom our sinnes haue pierced behold his wounds in his glorified body as the Angels now behold them wee shall inseperably be vnited vnto him and so ioy in him that our ioy shall be full in those blessed mansions which hee hath gone before to prepare wee shall liue and conuerse with Abraham Isaack and Iacob
GOD against the Amorites Amonites Amalekites Aegiptians Philistines or any of their mortall enemies Thou canst tell well what these enemies were the deceitfull World deluding Flesh and deceiuing Diuell 1 Tim. 6.4.18 Ephe. 6.12 1 Pet. 5.8 1 Iohn 2.13 The lust of the flesh the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life 1 Iohn 1.16 How oft haue they soiled how oft haue they foyled thee What burnings hast thou had from thine owne boyling concupiscence within and from Sathans fiery darts without What bloody bickerings hast thou had with thine owne rebellious heart What ciuill broyles betwixt Grace and Nature two armed Champions strugling within thee like Iacob and Esau in Rebeccahs wombe What combats hast thou had with thine owne corruptions thine owne flesh rising against thee as Absolon against Dauid incouraged and counselled by that Serpentinely politique Achiâ—phel the Diuell how to dispossesse thee of a better kingdome then any earthly Monarch euer gaue euen the Kingdome of Heauen driuing thee from the Castle of Grace and preuenting thee from the Throne of Glory What troupes of lusts out of thine owne bosome and breeding like the blacke guard of Ruffians and Swash-bucklers haue ioyned issue with the Flesh against thee the Diuell being the grand Generall of those slauish and sinfull Legions What vvounds and wrackes hast thou receiued from Pride Luxurie Worldlinesse Carnalitie Ambition Anger Aemulation Malice Couetousnesse sensuall Delights carnall Desires c. the skars whereof are yet remaining though their rancour be cured by repentance how haue these successiuely and oft successefully set vpon thee one after another like the Lion after the Beare and Goliah after the Lion against Dauid oft-times all together What oppositions hast thou had with Luxurie when Couetousnesse hath beene conquered how hath Ambition lift vp his head when Lust hath beene bet downe with the Hammer of Mortification If Ambition hath beene quenched how hath Anger boyled how hath Pride puft vp Wrath inflamed Enuy gnawed thy distracted and distempered heart how haue pestilent Passions like Hydra's heads cut off risen vp one after another nay like the heads of the Serpent Amphisbena one against another all against thy peace Now when Death comes it is the death of all these thy deadly enemies thy rest in the graue is a rest from all these perturbations the bearers of thy Hearse carry thee like the Romane Worthies in a triumphant Chariot then thou hast the Conquest after these tumultuous and various conflicts therefore lift vp thy head and reioyce in thy death-bed for now thy warre-fare is at an end and thy reward which thou shalt now possesse amongst the blessed conquering Spirits in glory shall neuer haue end Now thy soule like the Aeagle shall mount aloft singing vpward with the little Larke taking the wings of a Doue it shall flye out of this inclosing house of the body and be at rest safe and secure from the snares of the hellish Fowler free from the snares of the world neuer to be besmeared nor intangled againe with the lime-twigs of the catching and intrapping flesh Sugar and sweeten the bitter cup of thy death with this Meditation and if thou truely hate sinne loue the Lord detest thy corruptions and fight against thy spirituall temptations this triple peace which thou shalt enioy first from thine enemies secondly in thy Soule thirdly with thy GOD the God of peace amongst the Angels of peace in the Kingdome of peace will be thy dying peace 9 Thou maist inlarge this Meditation by pondering the griefes and vexations that thy soule hath beene pinched with here not onely for thine owne personall sinnes Originall and Actuall of Omission and Commission but for the sinnes of others of this wicked world in which thou liuest and of wicked and vngodly men amongst whom thou liuest which now thou shalt be freed from for alas what man hath any feare of God any sparke of Grace liuing trading trafficking amongst vngodly vngracious and prophane men as Noah liued amongst the Worldlings Lot amongst the Sodomites Ioseph and Daniel amongst Idolaters as Esay Ieremie and Ezekiel amongst a sinfull beastly hard-hearted and rebellious people seeing their abhominations hearing their fearefull and horrid blasphemies when like Dogs they set their mouthes to barke against heauen that hurts them not like Toades and Serpents spitting daily and deadly poyson in their deuillish oathes euen in the very face of God vpon no occasion without any temptation but onely of custome gracelesnesse madnesse and malice against the Lord himselfe besides other harsh sounds comming from their worldly luxurious and carnall hearts with a thousand such like impieties and horrid villanies amongst professed Christians more enormious then haue beene or now are amongst the very Turkes Iewes and Pagans nay amongst the Beasts themselues who I say hearing and seeing these things can haue any ioy or comfort in this life in the few and euill dayes of his Pilgrimage Who could be contented to liue in a Pallace in pompe where hee should euery day heare his deare Parents his Father and Mother railed vpon and reuiled his Brethren traduced his owne Country and country-men vilified this were a racke and torture Oh what ioy haue we then to liue in this worlds Prison where daily and hourely wee heare God our Father the Father of Spirits Iesus Christ our elder Brother blasphemed his Name abused his glory eclipsed and his children calumniated our Brethren Saints by calling Cittizens of the Celestiall Hierusalem vsed as the off-scourings of the world mocked at by the mocking Michols and rayled vpon by the Satanicall Shemeis of our age being meere subiects of sport as CHRIST vvas to the Iewes and Sampson to the Philistines to the Diuels Apes prophane men in their Pest-house-Play-houses and in their deuillish and drunken merriments in Tauernes Ale-houses Tobacco-shops and Brothell-houses who vnlesse hee haue an heart of flint hardned like the nether-Milstone can be freed from remorse diuision diuulsion who vnlesse a Myrmidon or hewen out of Caucasus as was once fained can temper from teares who can be otherwayes if hee be Gods then a mourning Doue an howling Ostrich and a solitary Pellican in this worlds wildernesse and Desart of sinne for all the sinnes of the sonnes of men who can but mourne with the holy Saints in former times for all the abhominations of the Citie Ezek. 9 4. Whose heart is not vexed with Lots for the vncleane conuersation of millions amongst vs vvhose workes of darkenesse in these dayes of light shall iustifie the Sodomites in iudgement 2 Pet. 2.7.8 who cryes not Woe is me with Dauid that is constrained to liue here in Meseck and to dwell in the tents of Kedar Who prayes not with Samuel for a sinfull people 1 Sam. 12.23 Whose soule is not wounded with the sinnes of the times that breake out in such abundance Who could not be content to be free from the smell stinckes and infection of them What comfort is there to haue any
Cranmer Latimer Ridley c. amongst our selues at home what filthy blots and aspersions were cast vpon their good names how were their doctrine and doings misconceiued their liues and learnings questioned and censured their workes and writings wrested and misse-interpreted all that they said or did preuerted or corrupted by the malicious enemies of the truth both within and amongst themselues and abroad amongst the Papists insomuch that it was one of Melancthons dying Comforts that by death hee should be freed as his words are from the barkings and bitings of some dogs in the forme of Diuines which was the measure that the rest found as indeede in the whole course of Scriptures the greatest enemies that euer the Church and zealous Teachers in the Church had were of their owne rancke and profession false Priests false Prophets Scribes and Pharisies and false Apostles in which respect as the same Melancthon once hoped and in a manner prophesied that the after-Ages would iudge more candidly and sincerely of him and his Workes after his death euen so hee and others now finde it for notwithstanding the Blasphemies which Romish Rabshakeh's Feuerdentius Cocâ—leus Bolserus and others belch out against these Germaine and Belgicke Lights and the rest of the Host of God whose tongues are no slanders how hath the Lord honoured famoused those worthy labourers in his Vine-yard euen in their good names since their dissolution all of them being accounted pillers notwithstanding the detraction of these Romish Caterpillers in the house God all of them in their zealous and learned Labours like Oecolampadius as his name imports shining as precious Lights in the Church which neuer shall be wholy obscured til he that is the light of the world come againe to Iudgement This wee daily see verified that to the comfort of the suruiuing though zealous Pastors men of exquisite parts and paines haue beene in the day of their Ministrie torne and reuiled amongst these Swine and Dogs to whom they haue giuen holy things counted as fooles and deceiuers as the Iewes and Christs Country-men accounted Christ mad men as Festus thought Paul and rauers and ragers in the Pulpit as the Iewes held Ieremie yet after the setting of their Sunne they haue beene longed for their losse lamented chiefely of the houshold of Faith and their names honoured in the harts and mindes and mouthes of multitudes when the wicked in all their power and pompe being magnified of their fawning Parasites for a time in the sodaine dampe of death haue had the glimmering of their glory put out their honour laid in the dust and their names like their rotten carkasses rotting and smelling and stincking in the nostrils of God and good men as may beseene in the life and death of Herod Antiochus Nero and others For I pray you who is now more famous after death Nero or the persecuted Christians Iulian or the poore Saints which he butchered Herod or Iohn whom he beheaded Pashur or Ieremie whom hee imprisoned Gardiner Bonner and such bloody Butchers or our English Martyrs whom they burned Surely the candle of the wickeds glory is put out and there remaines the impure filthy stincking snuffe of an euill name their glory is their shame Phil. 2.19 but the memoriall of the righteous is precious smelling like Balme and Spikenard diffused yea their name shines like the Starres in the shady night of death or rather like the Sunne the cloud being remoued flourishing in the storme of death like the Laurell which is greene when the Winter is foule Though CHRIST himselfe be counted a Samaritan an imposter one that vvas Belzebubs friend a poore Carpenters poore Sonne in his life yet in and at his death hee is iustified approued and famoused as a righteous man as an innocent as a iust man as the Sonne of GOD by the testimonie that was giuen of him first by Pilate secondly Pilates Wife thirdly the Passengers that smote their breasts fourthly the teares of the Daughters of Ierusalem fiftly the Centurion sixtly and Iudas himselfe seauenthly yea 1. the vaile of the Temple 2. the stones 3. the Sunne 4. the Elements 5. the raised bodies of the dead Saints giue a reall and an honourable testimonie of him 6. thus shall it be with thee if thou beest a member of Christ though thou beest misse-reported and sinisterly censured as Iob was of his friends 7. yet in thy dissolution principally thy name shall be raised like the fire from vnder the ashes of ignominie It was the Heathens Comfort that hee should leaue a good name behinde him so let it be thine it being one of the greatest earthly blessings aboue Gold and Siluer Prou. 22.1 yea as a precious Oyntment Eccl. 7.3 this Oyntment smels the sweetest when the boxe of thy body is broken thou carryest this Oyntment as dead bodies are annoynted euen to the graue with thee and it liues when all other earthly things dye to thee and thou to them Therefore be thou cheared vvith the thought which comforted the Pagan Nemo me c. Let none be-moist my Hearse with helplesse teares From Learnings mouth Fame flyes to vulgar eares 14 In death thou shalt haue an excellent and notable both tryall and demonstration as also exercise of thy graces as first of thy Faith secondly thy Patience thirdly thy Constancie fourthly thy Christian Courage fiftly Fortitude sixtly and the Spirit of Prayer by which first others shall be strengthened secondly the weake shall be confirmed thirdly and all that are present with thee and amongst whom thou liuest incouraged in their Christian courses fourthly thy sinceritie in thy profession approued fiftly Gods graces in thee magnified sixtly and aboue all his name glorified 15 In thy death thou shalt be distinguished from a carnall and a prophane man for commonly the sicke bed shewes the sicknesse or the health of the soule the death shewes the life diuiding and iudging the estate of the visited as Gidâ—on diuided his company by lapping of water Iudg. 7.1 and as the Ephramites were distinguished from the Israelites by pronouncing Shibâ—lâ—th For looke at the godly from time to time and the last acts they did and the last words they spake were the most sacred seasoned and sanctified of their whole life but it hath beene contrary in the wicked and God is the same God to thee that hee was to them if thou beest a beleeuer Looke into particulars the last speeches of dying Saints as they haue beene full of grace so they are worthy relating and remembring and applying The last period of S. Steuens life was prayer for his enimies and for his owne soule the last words of Dauid holy exhortations to his Sonne Salomon to obserue the Statutes and Ordinances of the Lord and the disposing of some particulars of which hee gaue him cautions the last acts of old Iacob Prayer and prophecying concerning his sonnes and posteritie the like
repentance Dan. 4.24 Turne to the Lord with all thine heart in fasting weeping and mourning Ioel 2.12 Turne from the wickednesse thou hast committed with the Niniuites Ionah 3.7.8 Wash thee and make thee cleane Esay 1.16 Cleanse thy heart from euill thoughts Ier. 4.14 Leaue thy formalitie in Religion and worship the Lord in truth and spirit Iohn 4.24 Get faith and learne to liue by faith Hab. 2.4 and to dye by faith Be a Nathaniel in thy dealings with men let thy heart be vpright as thy hand Ioh. 1.47 Remember the poore and needy then the Lord will remember thee in the day of thy sicknesse Christ will visite thee as hee did Iairus Daughter and Peters wiues Mother he shall be thy Physitian when the simples of Nature and the arme of Flesh faile his Angels shall pitch their tents about thee and carry thy flitting soule as they did Lazarus his into the seates of the blessed Make vse of this and the LORD giue thee vnderstanding in all things 16 As the examples of the Saints of God that hauing liued conscionably and dyed comfortably must comfort thee in this houre so their willingnesse to dye must encourage thee willingly to drinke of that cup which the Lord offers thee without resisting or relucting Looke vpon old Simeon singing that Swan-like song prophecying his death Lord now leâ—tâ—st thou thy Seruant depart in peace Luke 2.29 But especially of Saint Paul vveary of this mortalitie desirouâ— to be disburdened of the burthen of his corruptions to be deliuered from the body of sinne Rom. 7. to be present with the Lord to be dissolued and to be with CHRIST 2 Cor. 5. Phil. 1. But the best president that wee haue in life and death as the best comfort is the practise of Christ who although hee feared death as man desiring conditionally the passing of that bitter cup yet neuerthelesse wee shall see in him a great alacritie chearefulnesse propensitie and willingnesse to dye for besides his often conference with his Disciples about his death the frequent nomination of it vpon all occasions which shewes how vehemently hee was affected towards it the tongue speaking from the hearts abundance all his words and acts declare it for to shew his desire to dye hee counts it but a Baptisme or as it were a sprinkling of cooling water Mat. 20.22 nay it is meate and drinke to him to doe his Fathers will which was that hee should dye hee counts it a Iourney to goe which hee was willing to vnder-goe nay hee was euen payned vntill it was past when it came to the push that his houre was come hee seekes death as it seekes him hee goes forth to meete and welcome it as his friend as Abraham and Lot to meete and entertaine the Angels hee offers himselfe to the instruments of his death his backe to the smiters and finally his soule is not taken from him compulsorie but as hee commended it so hee resigned and gaue it vp to his Father willingly hee gaue vp the ghost hauing power to lay downe his life sending out his spirit as Noah did the Doue out of the Arke which after three dayes returned againe to quicken the body from heauen from whence also Lazarus his soule returned after foure dayes Now apply this to thine owne particular art not thou a Christian so denominated of CHRIST then euery one of Christs actions ought to be thy instruction chiefely in his death all whose dying gestures are worthy to be writ in thy heart in letters of Gold Did hee then vnder-goe such an extraordinary vnnaturall painefull shamefull cursed death the worst that euer was for therefore Christ dyed the worst death that euer was both for the ignominie of it and the exquisite tortures in it that a Christian should not feare any death since euery death is sanctified vnto him in the death of Christ Did Christ not onely indure his pangs and paines in death so patiently as a Lambe before the shearer but was euen desirous of this bitter pill for the ioy that was set before him and the loue hee bore to redeeme thy enthralled soule and art thou scrupulous and timerous of a naturall and an ordinary passage from life to life through this dead Sea Wilt thou mutter and murmure and shew thy selfe refractory to come to the Kings Court when thou art so gently summoned by such a sweet messenger as a lingring sickenesse Hast thou so little longing to goe to him by the rupture of a weake thread of life who was so desirous to come to thee from heauen to earth from the earth to the Crosse from the Crosse to the Graue euen through a red Sea of blood thorow Pikes and Speares and nayles and thornes being dieted in this his bloody march with the bread of affliction and the water of teares with gall vinegar oh hast thou so little delight in him so little desire towards him so small liking of him so little loue to him that thou list not step ouer the narrow bridge of this life to meete him to greete him and to inioy him Expostulate with thy soule how it comes to be so dull so dead so lumpish so leaden how it is that thou professest thy selfe to be a Spouse of Christ a member of Christ a branch of Christ which thou must beleeue and professe if thou hast any part in him and yet hast no desire to put off the outward mantle of this bodies couering to be inseparably imbraced in the armes of this Bridegroome not to leane with Iohn but for euer to rest in his bosome to be ioyned to thy Head to be fixed in this vnion But if Christs loue and desire to dye and to dye for thee be too high a pitch for thee to soare to which yet ought to be aymed at yet imitate the desires and the patience of the Saints in this kinde so farre as the Apostle speakes of himselfe as they imitate Christ for as the examples of the wicked are recorded for our detestation 1 Cor. 6.10 so the examples of the godly are written for our comfort and consolation Rom. 15.4 You haue heard saith Iames of the patience of Iob and what end God made with him You haue heard of the desires of Paul and Simeon of the graces that appeared in Dauid Iacob Steuen c. Ambrose Augustine c. Caluin Luther c. and vvhat ends they made vvith God Then thou vsing the same meanes that they did euen Faith and Repentance why shouldest thou demurre or be vnwilling to goe that Iourney vvhich they haue gone 17 Yet if examples and presidents of others as of Christ and Christians set not an edge on thy desires to dye yet let the mutabilitie breuitie and vncertaintie of life with the certaintie of death cause thee to make a vertue of necessitie as Esay said from God to Ezâ—kias thou must dye and as God to Moses thou
of their Aquinas Bonauenture Katheran of Sienna c. and other their Monkes Friars Virgins vestall Votaries but Surius is vnsure in his reports Lippomanus his lips are not freed from lies and Marrulus makes and marres many Fables It is more likely vvhat is writ of Augustine and Bernard in their Soliloquies in this kinde Others haue expressed their inward raptures in their very countenances as Moses and Steuen whose faces so shined when the one had beene on the Mount with God the other disputing for God that they seemed like the faces of Angels Acts 6.15 Others haue beene so carryed away in such glimpses of glory as the Lord hath shewed them they haue beene so inebriated and spiritually drunke with the wine of the Spirit that they haue not knowne what they haue said as Peter in Christs Transfiguration Mat. 12. Others haue neuer beene satisfied vvith commerse with God in speaking with God and speaking to God by reading the Word and Prayer some reading ouer the Bible foureteene times in a yeere as Alphonsus others as constantly as Cyprian read Tertullian or Alexander Homer others trauelling in their iourneyes as Phillips Eunuch Acts 8. Others at their Tables as duely as their meate others praying three times a day with Daniel thrice with Paul frequently yea at midnight with Dauid and Silas so long so oft till their knees were growne as hard as the earth they kneeled on as Ierome in the Desart others seauen houres together yet obseruing none canonically as Father Latimer so haue they chawed their chud on that hidden Manna which God gaue them hauing still a godly dropsie like the Worldlings golden dropsie vnstanched Others haue fallen into bodily dead sownes by their heauenly visions and rauishments of the inward man as Iohn surnamed the Diuine Reuel 1.10.17 such Daniel Dan. 8.16.17 when groueling on the ground hee lay as dead so Ezekiel by the Riuer Kebar with many moe Now the Reasons why God doth thus delight and oft as it were ouer-ioy his Children are First to giue them some taste and feeling of his loue and fauour to them euen as a Master will oft shew to his Seruant some argument of his loue and a Father declare to his childe some testimonie of his fatherly affection so deales God with his Secondly to incourage them against crosses the Marriners heart would breake if he should alwayes be tossed in such stormes as Ionas and Paul tryed without euer any merry gales The Traueller would be too much perplexed with continuall shâ—wrings and tempests without any intermission or interposition of refreshing Sunnie beames so were the world and worldly woes insufferable and intollerable to a weake and wearied Christian if the holy Ghost the Comforter should not wonderfully blow and breathe and reflexe vpon vs. Thirdly that they may haue some good relish and feeling of those better and more lasting and euerlasting ioyes of which they shall haue ere long the fruition of which these are certaine Images and Ideaes sparkes and reflexions for euen as the wicked and the reprobate in the rage and hell of their conscience feele oft-times certaine flashings of hell-fire which are as it were summoners to iudgement Heraulds of their damnation and Prologues of their Tragicall execution so God distils into the hearts of the righteous hidden and holy heates as it were drops of that fountaine of life with which they shall be refreshed and glimpses from the Sunne of Righteousnesse with whose beames they shall be rauished Vse 1 This then first reformes their mindes or refutes their madnesse that thinke the estate of Grace to be most comfortlesse Many millions in the world thinke the Professors of the Word to be depriued of all inward and outward ioyes men as retchlesse as richlesse as forlorne in their soules as forworne in their bodies they appeare to them as budlesse and beautilesse Trees and withered branches and why because they cannot discerne any thing in them but sighing and sobbing and wayling and weeping and Melancholy and solitarinesse they will not be sociable with their neighbours in gossipping and company-keeping in walking abroad and talking in pratling and prating at home in meetings and merriments in Tauernes and Tipling-houses in feasts and frolickes in sports and pastimes in dallyances and drinkings in gurmundizing and gluttony they neyther care for worldly play as Carding or Dicing c. nor to see Playes the Baudes of loose lust therefore they maruell how they liue since they are neuer merry Hence the Lords owne Simions gracious and godly men such as haue set their faces to Sion framed aright their life and fitted for death are censured and derided as dastards and dotards as silly and simple as Monkish Monasticall Stoicall and vnciuill men nay as fantastiques and fooles hence comes the hellish Prouerb Gods follower Gods fooles that Gods Sheepe Gods Geese Gods Gauders and such like Blasphemies but alas poore deluded Soules they must know that as our Sauiour Christ had meate to eate vvhich the Iewes knew not of and as he was to goe whither his Disciples wist not of so the true Christian and beleeuer hath comforts here that the world knowes not of and is to goe to endlesse and prizelesse comforts hereafter such as worldlings wot not of here they haue the testimony of a good conscience as had Paul which is a continuall feast a continuated Christmas alwayes Iubile yeere the golden bed of Salomon the beautifull Porch of the Temple Fidus acbates a holy and a happy companion Secondly they haue the loue of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit of God Thirdly they haue those extraordinary ioyes and sodaine extasies chiefely in their Soliloquies and deuotions with God the Sunne of his goodnesse shining vpon them in the heate and light in the comfort and power of the Spirit euen after they haue rayned powred and showred downe their teares into the Lords bosome which they would not exchange for Crownes and Empires Fourthly like Steuen and Paul and Simeon here they are euen filled with the holy Ghost tasting of such ioyes which are but the first fruits of the Spirit and the earnest of their inheritance in heauen as none know but those vvhich experimentally feele For as none knowes the loue of a Parent to his Childe but those that are Parents nor of a good Shepheard to his Sheepe a good Pastour to his people but hee that is a good Shepheard indeed so none knowes the comfortable condition of a good Christian liuing and dying but hee that is a Christian indeede a common Christian a naturall man a wicked man a ciuill honest man knowes it no more then a young childe doth Greeke and Hebrew discernes it no more then a blinde man doth colours feeles it no more then a stocke or a stone or a dead man esteemes it no more then Esau doth his Birth-right or the Prodigo his patrimonie then Aesops Cocke a Pearle accounts of it as the Iewes and Gentiles
manner how the beginning of sickenesse cause originall continuation and end that euery fit in thy sickenesse nay the very pangs of death are particulerly set downe in the counsell of God Did God so as hee did Dauid when thou wast an Embrio without forme in thy mothers wombe when thou wast made in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth Psal 139.15.16 and doth he not now thinkest thou behold thy trouble Will he not strengthen thee in the bed of languishing and make all thy bed in thy sickenesse Psal 41.2.3 In the 56. Psalme v. 8. Dauid prayes that the Lord would put his teares into his bottle Now consider with thy selfe hath God a bottle for the teares of his Seruants much more hath hee bottles for their bloud and much more doth he respect their paines and miseries with all the circumstances of sickenesse and death How did this comfort the Church of Ierusalem in the death of Christ in that nothing came to passe in it but that which the fore-knowledge and eternall counsell of GOD had appoynted Acts 4.28 Thirdly the Meditation of this point must teach thee to possesse thy soule in patience to kisse Gods Rod to subiect thy selfe like an obedient childe to his correcting hand to couch downe like Issacar vnder thy burthen what miserie soeuer in life what manner of mortalitie in death doth befall thee because it is the Lords doings it is a message from thy King an errand from thy Father a summons from thy Iudge a Loue-token from thy Bridegrome a warning from thy Generall therefore to be receiued with all loue and loyaltie submission and subiection without muttering and murmuring belching and barking against God as the manner of some is Oh consider the practise of Dauid Psal 39.10 I held my tongue saith hee and said nothing Why so because thou Lord aidst it The same consideration sealed vp the lips of Aaron when two of his owne Sonnes were consumed with fire Leuit. 10.3 So Eli when hee considered it was the Lord that threatned him and his house was content that he should doe what seemed him good 1 Sam 3.18 Ioseph thus reuiues his brethren when their harts failed them in a great perplexitie Gen. 43. Feare not saith hee for it was the Lord that sent mee before you Oh obserue how the very meditation of Gods permissiue prouidence armes him and his against griefe impatience and discontent open thou the boxe and apply thou these Cordials and Mithridate to thy owne particular I warrant you who euer had a window into Simeons Soule had seene no small Iubilie of ioy in his inward man arising euen from these very thoughts that it was the Lord that let him depart in peace after hee had imbraced the Prince of peace to whom that thou maist conforme thy selfe let this one motiue moue thee besides many moe Namely the greatnesse of this sinne of impatience a sinne not onely condemned in the Word Prou. 14 29. 19. vers 19. if it be but against man much more if against God as that of Iobs was Iob 3.1.2.3 c. but also punished most seuerely in the Lords owne people as yee may see at leasure in euery Chapter almost of Exâ—dus and Numbers it neuer scaping scot-free but bringing a greater iudgement with it then that which did occasion it As doe the people murmure for Quailes for Water c. against God against Moses and against Aaron they shall be plagued vvith Pestilence and Serpents and Death and Murraine and mortalitie Oh then if thou wilt be angry be angry with thine owne sins the occasion of all crosses and of all curses the causer of Terâ—ours and Consumptions and Burning Agues and Biles and Botches and Plague-sores yea of Death it selfe Leuit. 26.16 22. Wherefore is the liuing man sorrowfull Man suffereth for his sinnes Lament 3. Sinne was the cause of Ezekias botch of Gehesies and Miriams Leprosie of the Philistines Emerods of the Aegyptian plagues and therefore Christ bids the blinde man sinne no more least a worse thing befall him Iohn 5.14 For Death by Sinne entered into the world Rom. 5.12 which Sinne still continueth Deaths sting wee carrying that sting in our bosomes that vvill kill vs oh then plucke this sting out drowne Sin in the salt Sea of repentant sorrow as the Marriners cast Ionas into the Sea and the cause being remoued the effect will cease The tempest shall turne to calme when thou turnest to Christ though thou hast outward paine thou shalt haue inward peace and shalt depart in peace Secondly in that God limits and lets and permits our departure it teacheth vs that the dayes of man are so determined as that no man no meanes can protract them or detract from them beyond and besides their limits for God which hath appoynted the seasons and times for euery thing Acts 1.7 ch 17. hath determined also the dayes of euery mans life as hee did Iobs Iob 14.5 which life as it is like a weauers Lombe Esay 38.10 so it must last till the last thread thereof be wouen like an Houre-glasse running till the last minute of time be expired before which time this thread cannot be cut by the power of men and Angels this Glasse cannot be broken all externall created power cannot cause the Lord to alter what hee hath written in the numbring of our dayes no more then Pilate would change what hee had vvritten vpon Christs Crosse Obiect 1. But here a scruple may arise concerning Ezekias who was told from God that hee should presently dye Esay 38.1 yet after there were fifteene yeeres added to his dayes 2 Kin. 20.1 Answ First Gods will is alwayes one in it selfe like God himselfe how euer in respect of vs it may seeme contrary or contradictory as it is secret and reuealed Secondly there was no change of will or decree in God but in Ezekias himselfe who receiued the sentence of death like the Niniuites conditionally as the Theefe may receiue the sentence of death from the Iudge vnlesse hee carry himselfe after more carefully or get the Kings Pardon presently For all Legall Threats as also Euangelicall Promises haue their relation and reference vnto the condition of Faith or Infidelitie of Repentance or Impenitencie by the performance or not performance vvhereof wee auoid or incurre the curses denounced or are capable of or not capable of the promises propounded therefore when God staid the execution and as it were repriued this good King hee did nothing but what hee determined for hee decreed by this threatning to bring him to the sight of his sinnes and so to repentance that hee might liue Obiect 2 Obiect 2. Iob complaines that his breath is corrupt that his dayes are extinct and that the graue is ready for him Iob 17.1 So Dauid complained that the Lord had weakened his strength in the way that he had shortened his dayes yea hee feared that God would take him away in the midst of
from the fore-seene preuailing part of Dauid and Saul pretends this as his best argument to kill himselfe least the vncircumcised Philistines should fall vpon him and mocke him and Abimelech will be guilty of his owne death rather then it be said that a woman slew him 8 Others out of vaine-glory and desire of fame as Empedocles the Scicilian Poet vvho to be accounted immortall threw himselfe into Aetna Deus immortalis haberi dum cupit Empedocles c. 9 These that haue desired the immortalitie of the soule after death haue vpon false grounds vsed this vnequall meanes of killing themselues as did Cleanthos Crysippus Zeno and others besides Empedocles as did Cleombrotus also after hee had read Platoes Phedo the Booke which Cato read also before his death all whom Lactantius for that cause of making away themselues in his third Booke of False Wisedome Cap. 8. recites and refutes 10 Some haue beene deceiued by the Diuels Delphicke Oracles as Codrus amongst the Athenians to preserue their Countries by their owne voluntarie deaths 11 Others haue beene so ouer-whelmed in the flouds of Passions and so transported from themselues in the eager pursuit of their desires that they haue sacrificed themselues to their beloued and adored Idols suppose these be fictions 1. of Didoes killing her selfe for the loue of Aeneas 2. Sappho for the loue of Phao 3. Phaedra for Hippolitus 4. Phillis for Demophoon 5. Hemon for Antigone though they be all testified by Authors The first instanced by Virgil Ouid Siluis Politian and all that haue followed Virgil the second by Statius the third by Ausonius the fourth by Pontanus the fift by Prepertius to say nothing of those that haue cast themselues into flouds and riuers and so drowned at the command of their Mistresses as Pontanus instanceth in Galeatius Caelius in Tâ—magoras we haue too many pittifull presidents euen in our times of no small number of foolish Flies and deluded doters who are profuse of their bloud which inconsiderately they expose to effusion in single combats or madly they let out with their owne hands eyther when their supposed lawfull loue or lawlesse lust is crossed by their corriuals or reiected of their beloued ones Lastly and most ordinarily to omit him that killed himselfe by the instinct of Gods Spirit who also killed his enemies that Typicall Sampson whose fact was particular and inimitable most make away themselues out of impatiencie vnder the Crosse ioyned with Infidelitie and Atheisme neyther greatly beleeuing or regarding any future estate after death And therefore as the crosses and miseries incident to this our mortalitie are diuers and manifold so many snares hath Sathan not onely for the soules but the bodies of vnbeleeuers Some in the extremities of warre haue warred with themselues and let out their owne bloud with their owne hands ere they would fall into the hands of their enemies vvhich was Sauls case when the Philistines pressed sore vpon him So Cassius and Brutus the murtherers of Caesar murthered themselues sath Plutarch with the same weapons vvith which they stabbed Caesar being ouercome by Anthony and Augustus at Philippos for Which Ioâ—ianus and others blame them The like parts in the like Tragedies acted Cato when Pompey was ouercome of Caesar who of the Citie Vtica where he dispatched himselfe was called Vticensis saith Pliny and Gellius So Dolobella one of Caesars fauourites when hee was vanquished by Cassius in his Sirian warres So vsurping Fla. Fimbria in his conflicts with Sylla at also Gnorban when hee was banished by the same Sylla So Norbanus when hee was ouercome by Scipio So Otho the Emperour after one battell lost in his warres vvith Vitellius So Petreius one of Pompeis Captaines foyled by Caesar Labio by Octauius with many moe As Portia Catoes Daughters destroying dyet was hot coales after the death of her Husband Brutus and as Aria accompanied her Husband Petoes proscription with her owne death so diuers other Wiues haue voluntarily accompanied the dead ashes of their Husbands as also Husbands of their Wiues as Plantius of his Wife Erestilla so Marke Anthony when hee heard but a false rumour of the death of Cleopatra aggrauating his troubles with Augustus saith Oresius killed himselfe Some haue taken to heart the crosses of their Children as Boetus that killed himselfe at the Tombes of his daughters Hippo and Miletia who being defloured by some Spartan young men were cast into a pit so old Gordianus is by Marcellinus reported to haue hanged himselfe when hee heard his Sonne was slaine in the warres so Mopsus threw himselfe downe from a tower when hee saw his sonnes dead before him so Iocasta the Mother affrighted with the horrible spectacle of her two Sonnes Eteocles and Polinices that had slaine one another would liue no longer So Children haue followed their Parents Funerals as Erigone that hanged her selfe when her Father Icarus dyed So Brothers and Sisters haue sympathized in sorrowes and in Selfe-murthers one with and one for another as Iuturna Daunus his Daughter that drowned her selfe after her Brother Turnus was ouer-turned by Aeneas Others in a despayring repentance for killing other out of the horrour of conscience and Gods remunerating vengeance haue killed themselues as Argobastes after he had caused Valentinian the younger to be strangled at Vienna So Ecelinus the Tyrant after innumerable slaughter of others made hauocke of himselfe Lesser Crosses haue occasioned others selfe destruction as the losse of friends scandall of name miscarrying of some things which they ouer-weeningly loued in life as Terence that drowned himselfe because some hundred and seauen Comedies which he had turned out of Greeke into Latine perished by Sea so Hipponax the Poet made Bubilas the Painter hang himselfe by his ierking Iambickes In all which particulars these desperate salues that they vsed were worse then their sores These were Heathens that knew not God nor the soueraigne good nor the true being or beatitude of man the most of them they wanted illumination from the Sunne of Righteousnesse and Sanctification from the Spirit of Grace they were in the shadow of death both in life and death and were vnder the power and Prince of darknesse who ruled so powerfully in them and ouer them that oft times they haue made away themselues for little or no cause as haue also some in the rancke of Christians as Celius and Crinitus write of one Laurence a learned Florentine who threw himselfe into a pit in the health and strength of body as also of one Peter Leonius an excellent Philosopher and a singular wise man that did the like no probable cause being knowne or suspected in eyther Let vs feare the Fates and the vntimely fals of such Cedars whom God hath cut downe with the Axe of death put into their owne hands let vs by faith in CHRIST and repentance from dead workes be reconciled to
Vessels of Mercy Rom. 9. Children of the Marriage-Chamber and such as excell euen their neighbours Mat. 9. yea excellent ones Psal 16.3 with such other titles of eminencie and dignitie with which his Seruants are aduanced Now if it be a grace to be called the Sewer the Chamberlaine the Cup-bearer c. to an earthly Monarch as Nehemiah was to Artaxerxes then what luster and excellencie is their in such high and honourable places which the attendants in Gods Courts doe daily inioy Thirdly onely the Seruants of God are acceptable vnto God here and shall haue a glorious reward hereafter Heb. 12.28 Fourthly the Church and Children of God esteeme and approue of such as serue Christ truely and sincerely Rom. 14.18 as for others that are eyther strangers from the Common-wealth of Israell without the Church or seruants to their owne lusts and sinfull ends within the Church that serue not the Lord in spirit and truth they esteeme them as debashed and vile men vnworthy of the common ayre vncleane Birds vnsauory salt the earths burthen the Churches bane Sathans Impes Natures shame Heauens exiles Hels Inheritance and the Diuels due in that case wherein they stand till by the power of the Word and Spirit they be brought from darkenesse to light and from the power of Sathan vnto God from the seruice of vaine Idols to the liuing God Acts 26.18 If we according to our vse apply this by vse wee shall finde Miriades and Millions of such as haue the faces of men and the names of Christians and goe vnder the common rancke of Gods Seruants as farre from Simeons desires and delight in this poynt as the Diuell himselfe that neuer since they were borne of their Mothers did eyther know or will or affect or practise or thinke of the least measure of the seruice of God Examine their knowledge and you shall finde them as ignorant how God is truely to be serued as the Getes and Sauromatanes and those Paganish people that neuer heard of God Let thousands that might be culled out both in the Citie and Country that are vnder the meanes and that haue dexteritie of wit strength of intellectuall powers soundnesse of iudgement in attaining discerning and iudging the things of this life that belong to their Callings and Functions Tell mee the difference betwixt a ciuill morall temporarie generall Faith and sauing Faith without which God is not serued and pleased with the markes proprieties and effects of the same Let them distinguish vnto mee betwixt that godly and that worldly that Christian and that carnall sorrow mentioned 2 Cor. 7.10 Let them shew mee the true qualities and conditions of such a prayer as preuailes with God and fetcheth a blessing from the Throne of Grace the Notes and Adiuncts of that Confession of sinnes to which Remission is promised 1 Iohn 1.9 Pro. 28.13 Let them tell mee wherein the Euangelicall Repentance of the childe of God in his new birth or after his fall differs from the Legall Penitencie of Iudas Esau and the Papists with other such like Misteries and Principles of Diuinitie the knowledge of which is a good meanes both for honouring of God and sauing of their owne soules and I shall be very glad that my strong iealousie and vehement suspition of their blockish ignorance is desiredly remoued I know many like the naughty Seruant know the will of their Master that doe it not Luke 12.47 like the Athenians that know how to doe well and will not that know how to speake well and to worke ill like that carnall Cardinall that declaimed against whoredome and practised ere hee slept what hee inueighed against such like the Armenian Dragons haue hot mouthes and cold hearts yet an hundred times moe we haue in this our marueilous light that doe no more know how to beginne prosecute or finish any part of the seruice of God then a new admitted Colledge-Student a fresh-water Souldier an vnexpert raw seruitor a rude Prentise know what belongs to their places functions professions to the customes and conditions of their place the first houre of their admittance a fearefull case for such as haue had so good meanes and haue profited nothing A second branch of this reprose extends to those who want not onely the skill but the will to serue and worship God vnlesse in a will-worship such as they themselues conceit and imagine is sufficient though mixt vvith such filthy dregs and dung-hill of Ignorance profanenesse superstition formalitie and hypocrisie as makes God lothe and abhorre their offerings How many are there in the common folde of Christianity amongst vs that in this maine dutie of hearing the Word and the voyce of the great Shepheard in the Ministerie of vs the Vnder-shepheards for one Sermon that they here lend their eares and hearts to an hundred times to the voyces of strangers whether Seminaries and Iesuites the Popes Factors or Stage-Players the Diuels Preachers or other such Charmers which infatuate and bewitch their soules as the false Apostles did the Galathians Gal. 3.1 I speake not of the manner of their hearing without all preparation before without all reuerent attention submission or faith in hearing or meditation and examination of themselues and their families after hearing whereby the word is made vnprofitable to them yea the sauour of death to death But when doe they heare at all or whom where is their Dauids delight in the Law and Statutes of God where is their longing after the Congregations and Assemblies of the Saints after Bethell where is their soules sickenesse after the house of God to come and worship in the holy Temple there were such men when Dauid Ezekias Iosias Anna good Simeon and the Primitiue Saints were liuing whom Augustine called the Lords Antes that euery day would hast into the Lords Barne to fetch corne the bread of life as the Israelites gathered Manna euery morning But our age affords Drones and Waspes and Grashoppers in their stead the neglect of Gods publike worship in the solitarie seates of many vnfrequented Churches in the thronged fields and tippling-houses in many Parishes In this our numerous people wherein our Land like a full Bee-hiue might cast many swarmes shewes that most haue lesse will to serue God then the Diuell the world or their bellies But to leaue the Church-seruice wherein man sees thy defects and defaults better then thou thy selfe Tell me vaine men in the truth of their soules if there be any truth in you what sacrifices many of you chiefely you the common and vulgar people haue offered vnto God in priuate vvhere is the furrowes and wrinckles in thy face thy bleared Leah-like eyes that thy teares haue made being occasionedly distilled from the Limbecke of a sorrowfull soule for thy sinnes where was thy last Bochim place of weeping thy last Mâ—spez where like a true Israelite thou didst poure downe water before the Lord When didst thou take vp Dauids course in washing thy Couch with teares
of God Rom. 1.30 Rom. 8.7 vnruly and vntamed Heffers Hâ—s 4.16 Spurners against God Deut. 32.15 A rebellious and a false seede Esay 57.3.4 Conspirators and such as stretch their hands out against God as Iob and Ieremie call them Ier. 11.9 Iob 15.25 Dispisers of the Spirit of Grace Heb. 10.29 Stout against God in their words Mal. 3.13 Contemners of his wayes Iob 21.14 Setting their mouthes against heauen Psal 73.9 Dispising both the Word of God vvith the Iewes 2 Chron. 24.19 Psal 50.17 and the Workes of God as did the Gentiles Rom. 1.21.22 And the Ministers of God as the Elders of Israell and the People did Moses and Samuel Exod. 16.8 1 Sam. 8.7 And the Iewes CHRIST and his Disciples but euen the person of GOD himselfe as did the Aramites Nabuchadnezzar Senacherib Rabsekah and others so the Lord hath threatned to despise such despisers 1 Sam. 2.30 to deride such deriders and to lay their honors in the dust Psal 2.4 Cursed are they of the Lord like the inhabitants of Meros Iudg. 5.23 euen with all the curses pronounced from Mount Eball Deut. 27. Because they serue not the Lord the Lord accounts basely and vilely of them euen as of Oxen and Asses Dogs and Swine Esay 1.3 2 Pet. 2.22 As drosse and dung and vnsauory Salt fit to be cast away yea though Coniah the Sonne of Iehoâ—akim were as the signet vpon the Lords right hand yet if hee despise the Lord hee shall be pluckt thence accounted as a despised and broken Idoll or as a filthy vessell Ier. 22.24 28. Nay though Saul be a King if hee reiect and forsake the seruice of God God will reiect and cast him away to 1 Sam. 15.16 Yea Ierusalem if shee refuse to obey her God shall be an habitation of Diuels Reu. 18.2 The Iewes though Ruhamah shall be Lo-ruhamah though Ammi Gods people yet if they forsake the seruice of God they shall be Lo-ammi none of Gods people Hos 1.6.9 But as at this day it is seene a disgraced despised and contemptible Nation and so will the LORD deale with all other wickedly wretched contemners and despisers of his Glory his Word his Workes his Ordinances they shall be blamed and shamed and come to an ignominious and odious end Euery creature shall conspire their destruction that serue not their Lord and Master the Creator The Angels shall smite them as they did Pharaohs first borne Zenacharibs Hoast and Herod Acts 12.23 Men shall laugh at them and the righteous shall haue them in derision Psal 32.6 7. They shall not continue in honour but be like the dumbe beasts that perish Psal The Diuell shall tryumph ouer them and cry at their deserued Plagues So so there goes the game They hiding their sinnes and not confessing them to Gods glory shall not prosper Prou. 28.13 Their soules shall be smit with feares like Pushur and Cain Gen. 4. Ier. 10.3 There shall be no peace to them but sonitus terroris a sound of terrour round about Esay 57. Iob 15.20 c. For their good names these shall rot and perish Prou. 10.7 euen like their wealth and substance vpon which Gods curse shall seaze Deut. 28.16.17.18 They shall be made a wonder a Prouerbe and a reproach amongst all people an astonishment an â—issing and continuall desolation Deut. 18.37 Ier. 25.9 And for their seede it shall not prosper the sword shall destroy them Iob 27.14 for the Lord will root out the memoriall of the wicked from the earth Psal 34.16 Therefore as Dauid concludes to the comfort of Gods Seruants after the enumeration of many blessings Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord so I may say in these particulars and many moe plagues denounced from the mouth of GOD as in Leuit. 26.16 Psal 49.12 Psal â—07 10 Prou. 3.33 vpon the wicked in this life besides those which they shall feele and finde in their death Iob 13.26 Psal 49.14 And in Iudgement Dan. 12.2 Esay 2.11 Reu. 1.7 Reu. 6.15 Mat. 25. and 41. and in hell Marke 9.43.44 Luke 13.28 Reuel 9.6 Loe thus shall the man be plagued that serueth not God If any beleeue not these testimonies let him looke his owne face in the glasse of the examples of Pharaoh Herod Nebuchadnezzar Holofernâ—s of Iulian the Apostate Valerian Antiochus Nero Domitian Decitis Dioclesian Baiazâ—t with infinite others from the Word and Histories as they are recorded by the Machabees Tacius Suetonius Dion Orosius c. and they will speake that from the beginning of the world till now sinne alwayes brought shame and that Gods dishonour brought Gods disfauour death to the body damnation to the soule which considerations may be whips and goads to driue vs to the dutie vrged It is contrary with the godly their seruice is the path way to honour the people that hearken vnto Gods voyce are a precious people vnto him high aboue all Nations in praise in name and honor Deut. 26.17.18.19 Aske the verdict and censure of all the Prophets and Apostles and the Seruants of God Esay Micah S. Paul S. Iames S. Peter yea of Christ himselfe and according as they were inspired by the Spirit of Truth and knew in their owne experience they will say that the way to be great is to be good to rise is to fall to be exalted is to be humbled vnder the mighty hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 The way to seeke glory and honour and immortalitie is to continue in well doing Rom. 2.7 to be fixed established and to indure for euer is to beleeue and to fulfill the will of God Esay 7.9 1 Iohn 2.17 and that the onely thing that is good for man is to walke with God Mâ—c 6.8 Yea Tâ—lly and Aristotle that made Honour the subsequent and effect of Vertue and Goodnes the Aegyptians that painted it betwixt Humilitie and Labour the Romanes that so composed their Temples that a man must first passe by the Temple of Humilitie and Vertue ere hee could touch the Shrine of Honour saw with the eyes of Nature that the way to be great is to be good Yea to serue that goodnesse which the Heathens onely coniectured but Christianitie defined to be the soueraigne good and that is God himselfe who is both more willing to preferre his Seruants to earthly dignities here if it be good for them to be exalted yea and infinitely more able then Assuerus was to honour Mordocheus Hest 6.6 Nabuchadnezzar Daniel Dan. 5.7 Pharaoh Ioseph yea or Saul any of his Captaines or followers for all his baosts of his Fields and Vineyards 1 Sam. 22.7 since his alone is Greatnesse and Power and Glory and Victory since all that is in heauen and Earth is his Riches and Honour Power and Strength c. as Dauid acknowledgeth Hannah singeth and Cirus confesseth 1 Chro. 29. 11.12 1 Sam. 2.7.8 Ezra 1.2 For I pray you what was the most that any of those great Monarchs could doe for any of their
miserable life in vvhich wee are bound and fettered death being our vnloosing Fiftly that our naturall death is but one and once which is our dismission from the earth Sixtly that the soule is immortall not dying vvith the body onely departing out of the body For the first point it is plaine that godly men dye sanctified Simeon that spoke this is dead it needes no confirmation but experience as hee that will not beleeue that the fire is hot let him put his finger to it if any beleeue not that the godly dye as well as the wicked let him looke at their Sepulchres amongst vs as Peter tels the Iewes that the Patriarke Dauid was dead and his Sepulchre was amongst them The Reasons why the godly dye are these first because they are inuolued and vvrapped in the common sincke of originall sinne with the rest of Adams posteritie and therefore they must participate of death the common punishment from which no persons orders or degrees are excepted or exempted no not infants themselues Eccles 3.1 Psal 49.10 Heb. 9.27 To explaine this It is confessed by all Diuines that GOD which is called the God of the liuing onely created life and not death which being a priuation of life was neuer in the number of those Ideaes and formes which were from all eternitie in the minde of the Creator but was brought in by sinne for which it is now imposed penarilie vpon all flesh Rom. 5.12 so Ch. 6.23 1 Cor. 15.21 From whence it is consequent that if man had not sinned man had not dyed I say not man could not haue dyed for his body being compounded of the foure Elements and so of foure contrary qualities heate cold moysture and drynesse in themselues repugnant was naturally mortall yet hee should not haue dyed if hee had not sinned but should haue beene preserued and vpheld by a speciall singular and supernaturall grace Which grace of originall Iustice being lost by originall sinne man also lost the priuiledge of immortalitie and became mortall Euen as to vse the Schoole-mens Similies a Ship vpon the Sea her saile hoist the winde blowing the waues working must needs naturally follow the motion and working of the Sea but if this Ship be tyed to an Anchor by some strong Cable shee is held fast and fixt without any far fluctuation but if this Cable be cut shee goes whither the windes and the waues driue her Or as a mans hand is subiect to be wounded by sword dagger or dart but if he haue on a good Gantlet the hand is safe which Gantlet being pluckt off or broken the hand is exposed to danger So Man being naturally mortall yet being armed with originall righteousnesse against the stroke of death being tyed and chained with the golden chaine of speciall grace should not haue moued in the naturall course of death but as soone as euer man by the instinct of Sathan tyed himselfe with the cords of sinne God tooke away that other chaine of Grace disarmed him of munition and armour and exposed him to be carryed through the swift torrent of this present life by the violence of the contrary qualities of the Elements euen into the dead Sea or Sea of Death Secondly because of the reliques and remainders of their originall sinnes and corruption which are still resident and fixed in them howsoeuer pardoned by Christ the godly must dye that so these remnants may be quite taken away and abolished and the root of old Adam absolutely stocked vp Thirdly flesh and bloud of which they partly consist cannot inherit the Kingdome of God but must first be changed 1 Cor. 15 vers 50. Fourthly that as by other crosses and afflictions so by dying they may in some sort be made conformable to their head Christ in his death and sufferings Rom. 8.29 Sixtly that the godly might haue experience of Gods power in the resuscitation and raising vp of their dead bodies Seauenthly that the godly may haue sweet and comfortable experience of the difference betwixt this mortall life and that immortall glory in the life to come which will be so much more ioyous as they shall taste their prepared ioyes through the iawes of death as Sampson did his Honie in the Lyons belly for as it is a misery to haue beene happy so it sets a better edge and relish on any mercy when it comes by an exemption from a former experienced misery euen as deliuerance was more gratefull to the Israelites after their Aegyptian yoke and as hony is more sweet to him that hath beene dyeted with Aloes so ioy in glory shall be more ioyous extracted out of the paines of life and pangs of death vnto the godly Hence let the Saints sing clap their hands and reioyce let the ioyfull shout of a King be amongst them in the sweet contemplation of the vnlimitted mercies of God towards them that whereas in Adam as they were branches of his stocke and so fruitfull in vnrighteousnesse in his sinne so indammaged and indangered by their originall corruptions besides their actuall transgressions that God might in iustice haue punished them both with the first and second death according to that menace in Paradise to our Protaplasts In that day which you eate of the forbidden fruit you shall dye the death as Augustine interprets it in that day which you forsake me by rebellion I will forsake you by my iust iudgements execution yet it hath pleased God so farre to mitigate both the guilt and the punishment of both that in and by Christ they being redeemed from that second that eternall sempiternall death of the soule the temporall death which is onely a change of a worse life for one infinitely better is so farre inflicted or rather imposed as makes for Gods glory and their owne greater good Secondly let this withall terrifie the wicked which are out of CHRIST and as yet haue no more part in him then the Diuell and Iudas by reason of their witting and willing sins by which voluntarily and frequently they crucifie him againe to themselues that if the godly must haue their teeth set on edge in dying the first death of the body for these sweet fruits which proued sower Grapes that Adam and Eue tasted in the Garden by reason of these remainders and reliques of corruption that are in them how much more shall they as they are threatned as God hath decreed and denounced drinke the dregs of Gods wrath euen to the bottome not onely in tasting the first death but the second not onely that which is the separation of the soule from the body but which separates both body and soule eternally from God at they are corrupt and fruitlesse trees twise dead so if the godly which are trees of righteousnesse planted by the riuers of Grace be pluckt vp that they may be transplanted in glory much more shall they by stockt vp by the Axe of death cut downe in wrath
make much of it Wouldest thou desire to looke vpon and gloriously to sheathe that Sword or Knife that killed thy good Father thy kinde Mother thy speciall Friend thine onely Childe This Sinne hath done or will doe Couldst thou finde in thy heart to bid those Varlets welcome that did kill the Kings of France Now canst thou finde in thy heart to entertaine and retaine that sin in thy soule which hath killed all the Kings in Christendome then perish thou by it with the rest if thou wilt not be warmed be harmed But sure to loue that sinne that not onely hath killed thy Progenitors but that labours to imbrew his hands in thy bloud to that sweetens his temptations to poyson thee that spreads his ginnes daily to trap thee that bends his bow still ready to strike thee that lyes in ambush still to surprize thee and yet to trust it and follow the lusts and commands of it to obey it is great folly but to make it thy bosome-friend to lodge it in thine owne bed to set it at Table with thee as Dauid did his treacherous Companion to carry it about with thee to suffer it to haue free accesse euery day to the Castle and best Chamber of thine heart through the dores of thy eares and the vvindowes of thy eyes and the entrance of thy mouth to acquaint it vvith all thy secrets I say it is extreame madnesse For the pleasing of sinne thou dost preiudice thine owne life temporall spirituall and eternall and displeasest GOD and wilt prouoke him to cut thee off for vvhereas other Kings destroy onely the forraine Castles and Cities of their enemies to establish their owne Crownes so GOD for sinne destroyes the Citie and Castle which himselfe hath built and made the body and soule of sinfull man Thirdly this consideration of Deaths commaund ouer euery created nature consisting of body and soule whereby all humane flesh is designed to the graue serue notably to comfort and erect the poore deiected and reiected vvormes of the world and to deiect and cast downe the high lookes and eleuated thoughts of the proud and potent for if both the one and the other consider well that as they had both one originall and beginning from the earth their foundation being from the dust and clay and that both of them ere long shall be paraleld and equalized in the graue where they shall see corruption Neyther shall the meane man too much distaste his owne estate and emulate the mighty neyther shall the proud Potentate exalt his Crest and insult ouer the poorest Peasant Alphonsus in one word resolues what it is that equalizeth the poore man with the Prince the Mechanicall with the Monarch and that is the graue some say sleepe in vvhich the poore man participates halfe his life time with the rich nay oft-times in the better share the poore Labourer soundly sleeping when Agamemnon and Assuerus are vvatching when Ieroboam and Nabuchadnezzar are troubled in their thoughts about golden Calfes and such things as they dreame and doate vpon which made Caesar vvilling to buy the bed of the indebted poore man of Rome who slept better then hee but vvhether that Deaths yonger brother Sleepe vvorke alwayes this effect or no it is as little materiall as it is vncertaine I am sure Death the elder Brother brings all states and conditions to this paritie Hence the vvitty Painters pictured it like Loues Cupid blinde and vvithout eyes hitting and hurting at randome Kings Princes Popes Prelates Lords Lownes c. vvithout difference and distinction of degrees Crownes Diadems Scepters Miters Pals Roabes Rotchets Ragges Purples and Leathren Pelts being all Ensignes of his Trophies Subtua Purpurei veniunt vestigia Reges Deposito luxu turba cum paupere mixâ—â— The rabbling rout and purpled Kings Are all alike Deaths vnderlings Yea Mors Sceptra Ligonibus aequat There Scepters and the sheep-hookes sympathize The Carter doth the Courtier aequalize This thought much possest Augustine and Bernard in their Meditations and therefore they send vs to the graues and sepulchers of the deceased to see if wee can finde any difference in their bones and munmiamized earth saue onely in the externall pompe and superficiall vernish of their Monuments nay sure there is no difference at all vnlesse as once it was said wittilie that the corrupted bones and putrified bodies of the rich being more crammed and fatted with surfetting and drunkennesse doe smell and sauour more strongly then the withered karkasse of the frugall and abstenious poore man This Consideration caused the wittie Cynicke when hee was vpbraided by Alexander what hee could finde him to doe amongst the sepulchers of the dead for indeede there was his choyse study Oh quoth hee I am here searching for the bones of thy Father Phillip of Macedon and I cannot discerne them from others An answere as sound as Satyricall as Dogmaticall as it was dogged for Victor ad Herculeas c. For though a man could conquer more then eyther Philip or Alexander in their times and could extend his conquest beyond Hercules his Pillars yet his portion of earth shall be but a few feete no greater then the meanest of his vassals when he shall mete it out with his owne dead body as Alexander himselfe was forced to confesse when by an occasioned fall hee was constrayned to imprint his body in the dust And sure if Alexander had rightly applyed to himselfe eyther Diogenes his girds at his ambition or his inclining dying condition he would neyther haue so soared ouer all the world besides liuing neyther should he haue subiected himselfe to the quipping censures of the wisest in the world dying for as it is recorded after hee was dead and his bones were put in a vessell of Gold diuers Philosophers meeting to see this dead and vnexpected dumbe show One quipt at him thus Yesterday hee that treasured vp Gold now Gold him Another thus Yesterday the world would not content him now a Sepulcher of sixe feete must containe him Another thus Yesterday hee pressed the earth now the earth presseth him Another thus Yesterday hee ruled the world now Death ouer-rules him Another thus Yesterday all the liuing followed him now hee followes all the dead and euery one had the like diuersitie of Descant the last knits vp all their censures thus Heri multos habebat subditos c. Yesterday he had many subiects now all are his equals Thus did these liuing Hares insult ouer this dead Lyon so will the meanest insult ouer thee in the like case though thy loftie lookes now ouer-toppe thine equals though thy pride trample vpon thine inferiours as Pope Alexander did on the necke of Fredericke and dare contest and contend with thy superiours therefore leaue thy hautinesse and learne humilitie doe not magnifie thy selfe against those that are mightier or aboue those that are meaner then thy selfe scorne not to sit at table with him that must lye in the same
prayed for peace and righteousnesse all his dayes so there may be peace to thy soule after thy dayes Oh make vse of that precious time that is allotted thee take it by the fore-top it is bald behinde Goe to the Pismire thou sluggard learne of the Beasts the Ant sees it will not alway be Summer the Crane and Storke thinke it will be another season the Birds take the Spring prime to build their nests store thou vp faith with her fruits chiefely Repentance from dead workes Now beginne Ars longa vita breuis Life is short but the Art of well liuing and well dying which is the Art of Arts euen that vvhich the best Master taught in the best Chaire Christ vpon the Crosse that is long therefore Nulla dies sine linea Euery day learne some line take out some lesson in this Art sing not out thy time here with the foolish Grashopper loyter not with the idle men of Belial least thou incurre Christs checke play not the fat bellyed Monke and Epicurish Abbey-lubber least thou smart for it as the Cloysterers once did in this Land in the day of the Lords visitation Learne to liue the life of grace that thy death may be gracious and precious in the sight of GOD as one of his Saints that so thou maist dye not onely naturally like a man as thou must but Christianly like a Christian man as thou oughtest which that thou maist the better doe as in other things thou contriuest how to doe well that which thou purposest to doe as thou forecasts thy building ere thou build thy iourney ere thou trauell So oft remember how thou maist dye well since thou must die and that is by liuing well whilest thou here runnest the short race of thy life A good man like a good Tree brings forth fruit tempore suo in his due time and season this Life time is tempus tuum thy time Death is tempus suum Gods time therefore begin to mend the ship of thy soule in the hauen in thy health not in the tempest of sickenesse not in the Sea of death I end my counsell as I begun this life is as short as sinfull therefore spend it well Point 2 Secondly in that Simeon here desires his departing the nature of the word signifying a loosing or an vnyoaking being a Metaphor taken from Oxen loosed out of the yoke after labour or from Prisoners set at libertie may well and warrantably administer vnto vs the consideration of the nature of that life which wee leade to be as miserable as mortall as laborious to the body as dolorous to the minde as also it may open our eyes to see something more clearely into the nature of death vvith his bounties and benefits in that it is not onely a curber of Sinne but a curer of Crosses an vnlooser from labours For the first that whether you call it a curse or a command which was imposed on the first man that in the sweate of his browes hee should eate his bread till hee returned to his earth from whence hee came Gen. 3.19 all mans seede since in their seuerall generations haue beene exposed to Doe wee not feele yet the smart of the forbidden fruit Are not our teeth set on edge by it Are not all things vnder the Sunne full of labour Are not the workes of Grace the workes of Nature painefull the actions of the body the actions of the minde the operations of the soule and spirit laborious Is it not a paine to pray a paine to repent a paine to study to contemplate to discusse to discourse to number to diuide Is it not painefull to write to indite to preach to counsell to exhort to perswade disswade vrge moue Let euery knowing man and experienced spirit speake Are not workes manuall and mechanicall painefull euen as the Arts liberall are Is it not paine to plow delue digge sow mow to work in Goale works Mettall-mines in brick and clay is an Aegyptian bondage Nay is there not onus as well as honoâ— a labour as well as an honour in euery Calling Are not Princes and superiour Magistrates Gouernours in houses Colledges and Corporations like the heauenly Bodies as much in motion and labour as in veneration Vertues vices pleasures profits riches pouertie vvanton youth couetous old age all haue their burthens What callings without their crosses from the Scepter to the Sheepe-hooke what sexe without his sorrow Whither shall a man flye 1. from Sathan tempting 2. from the vanitie of his owne heart 3. from the bitings of venemous tongues 4. and from the crosses of the world I haue oft thought if there were any place in the foure parts of the world to auoid these foure thither to flye but there it no Asilum or Sanctuarie from them or any of them vnder the Cope of Heauen These alwayes follow as the shadow the body and like proud Tâ—rquin in Rome challenge a perpetuall Dictatorship in the whole life of man What day sets ouer our head without his euill eyther of Sinne or Punishment Adam must eate his bread in his browes sweate Cunctis diebus all his dayes in heat and sweat toyling and moyling man must wearie his body and weaken his spirits till hee keepe his eternall Sabbath in Heauen Bring me the man that hath not yet drunke of the common cup of humane calamities incident to life and I shall more admire him then the Graecians did Achilles that could not be wounded I neuer read of any but Policrates who was thought to be without the Gunshotte of Fortune by the deluded Heathens yet his death was as dolorous as his life prosperous I am sure mitred Popes crowned Kings inuested Emperours tryumphant Conquerours haue seene the turning of Sesostris wheele and haue experienced so many miseries that they haue cryed out some of them Miserum est fuisse foelicem it is a miserie to haue beene happy others solus viues Vacia that the priuate life of Vacia the Romane was farre safer then their publique guilded guilefull pompe others with Cyrus and Augustus haue thought the Regall Crowne not vvorth stooping for others haue left voluntarily their Courts and Palaces for secure and penitent Cels. If wee had no moe examples of the miseries of greatnesse eyther by birth bloud command or desart then in Nabuchadnezzers deiection amongst Beasts being one of the greatest of men in Manasses his imprisonment in Sampsons grinding in the Mill in Agag hewed in peices in Adonizebecks eating crummes like a Dogge vnder his enemies Table in Alexander poysoned and left vnburied in Caesar stabbed by his pretended friends in Bellizarius a blinde Beggar after his Conquests in Baiazets Iron Cage in Socrates and Seneca's poysoning in Cleopatra's Iezabel's Agrippina's and other infamously famous Queenes and Queanes perishing to omit all the rest in this kinde it might verifie the Paradoxe that Humana vita non est vita sed calamitas Mans life is no life Vita vix
Crosse hee crossed the lusts of it in his innocent and spotlesse chastitie in being borne also of a chaste Virgin so thou if thou be a right Christian after him if one of his Church despise these terrestriall things seeke for celestiall Col. 4.1.2.3 c. tromple the Moone these momentanie things vnder thy feete vse the world as though thou vsed it not looke at it and the things of it as at a Lyon in a grate subiect not thy selfe to it be not the slaue of it come not within the reach of it it will teare thee and as the Panther and Hiena deale with Beasts by fawning deuoure thee looke at it therefore and like it as a Pilgrime a strange Country as a Traueller his Inne onely to lodge in it for a few dayes or nights alwayes be in readidesse with old Sâ—meon to depart as the Israelites were ready in a trice to depart out of Aegypt loue this life so that thou wilt willingly lay it downe as thou puttest off thy garments when thou goest to bed when GOD cals thee to sleepe in thy graue Thirdly both from these premisses vvee may gather an vse of Instruction as also from the Text wee may ground a doctrinall obseruation concerning the nature of death comfortable to the godly to whom all things yea death it selfe happens for the best chiefely if they grone vnder the Crosse for if life be so burthensome death must needes be beneficiall that vnlooseth our yoake and takes the burthen from our vveakened natures vvearyed shoulders Therfore death comes to the good man to the crossed Christian as Moses to the Israelites in Aegypt to deliuer him it comes to the godly as Pharaohs Daughter to Mâ—sos fluctuate on the waters as the Arke to Noah as Obediah to the persecuted Prophets to preserue them as the Angell to Lot in Sodome as Abraham to Lot in captiuitie as Dauid to his captiue Wiues to rescue them as the Angell to Peter in Prison to set them free as the Angell to CHRIST in his Agonie as Ionathan to Dauid to comfort them in extremitie as Iosephs Chariots to old Iacob to reioyce them nay as Gods Chariot to Elias to carry them into the place of ioy as the Angels to Lazarus to carry them into Abrahams bosome What shall I say more as Ionas his Gourd to coole Ionas in his excessiue heat like Saul to those of Mount Gilead to help them in time of distresse like the yeere of Iubilie to the Bond man like the long lookt for husband to a louing wife like newes from a farre Country like meate to the hungry and drinke to the thirstie like a messenger from GOD with this message Afflâ—xite non-affliâ—am amplius I haue afflicted thee I will afflict thee no more as God said in effect to Abraham faith Augustine thou hast had tentationem fides the tryall of thy Faith now receiue benidictionem pro fide a blessing for thy Faith blessing vs as the Angell did Iacob after we haue wrastled with the worlds woes Therefore the godly dead as the Latine beares it as is well obserued are not so much said to be dead as deliuered as remoued as redeemed from the worlds warfare Therefore Plutarch cals death Malorum remedium portus humaniâ— calamitatibus euils relieuer and calamities calmer vitae ianua saith Bernard perpetuae securitatis ingressui the gate of life and ingresse to a sempiternall securitie the onely Physitian that askes no fees not so much as thankes and yet cures all cares inward all diseases outward better then Homers Moli then the Balme of Gilead or that marueilous Linguists Mithridate yea it cures all Dat cunctis legem recipit cum paupere Regem It spareth none and yet be friends euen Kings And cures the cares of poore meane vnderlings And therefore God oft-times as our Prouerbe is takes them away soonest whom hee loues best as many Parents know that oft-times lose their Iosephs euen that child whom by the appearance of graces in them God and they loue the best the rest being left them whom they doe not so deseruedly loue Hence it is that when there were but foure in the world Adam Eue Caine Abel God tooke away Abel the best of them for hee permitted his death though Caine gaue the stroke and hee suffered the worst of them to liue still saith Ambrose as the greatest blessing to the one and for a continuated plague and punishment to the other Yea Christ himselfe the spiritual Abel whose bloud speakes better things for vs then Abels was cut downe like a flower in the prime of his yeeres at the age of three and thirtie in the midst of his age which hee might haue liued by nature though hee was beloued of his Father aboue all creatures Angels and Mâ—n Lazarus was not a little loued of Christ as the Iewes noted Iohn 11. in his resuscitation yet hee dyed young and though hee wept when hee raised him vp againe to shew his power hee wept saith Granatensit because hee was reduced and brought backe againe to the miseries of life Hence it is not altogether a Fiction in Herodotus if his Workes as they are defended are no Fables that when the Father of Leobis and Biton intreated the Gods for the greatest blessing vpon these his two Sonnes in the morning they were found both dead in their beds The like Boone was graunted to Trophomius and Agamedes that built the Delphicke Temple to Apollo the Morrall at least of all which and such like is this that to many a speedy death is better then a prolonged miserable life nay that wee neuer beginne truely to liue till wee dye Iustus non viuit c. The iust man neuer liues as hee would till he come to that place where he cannot dye Therefore let the Meditation of these things comfort vs in death and encourage vs against the terrors and feare of death I confesse as wee haue already inlarged another poynt that death is fearefull to all flesh both man and beast much more to a wicked man stout stomacks haue beene agast and turned crauens at his griefly face euen as all the Troopes of Israell were affrighted when they saw Pharaoh behinde them and the red Sea before them the two Iawes of death ready to swallow them And surely euen a resolued Christian cannot free his soule from reluctation when hee lookes onely at the corruption of the flesh the palenesse of the face the dissolution of the members the obscurenesse of the graue the lodge with wormes the solitarinesse of the sepulcher and lastly the dissipation and annihilation of euery part but when hee considers againe Natures course Gods Injunction his disposing Prouidence Christs Passion the bodyes Resurrection the freedome and exemption of the soule from her inclosing prison the Iubilie of the body from all bondage and seruitude Faith preuails and Feare flyes Euen as those that come from a Citie to a Country
Village Tradesmen or the like when their businesse is well dispatcht saith Chrisostome returne into the Citie with ioy againe so the Christian soule that comes from the new Ierusalem the heauenly Citie to traffique here in the low Countryes of this earth by the Organs of the body if it haue well executed the duties of Pietie Charitie and Christianitie to GOD and man may with ioy returne like a Ship Royall loaden with precious Marchandize from whence it came for such a man dyes not but departs From whence we slide into the third point briefely concerning the Epithite which Simeon here giues to death hee cals it a Departure From whence we may see partly into the nature of that which wee call Death it is onely a Departure a going or transmigration from one place to another Therefore vvhen Abraham speakes of his barrennesse he vseth this phrase Ego vadā absque liberis I depart this life or goe away without Children Chrysostome notes his phrase and thereupon implies Ecce iustus ille vt philosophatur c. That Abraham doth truely in that word going away philosophize and dispute of death which Basil applying to the auncient Martyres cals Migratio quaedam ad meliora c. A migration to a better habitation Philosophy cals it The priuation of all heate so Plutarch or Priuatio vitae the priuation of life so Sealiger Exercit. 307. Sect. 23. All which titles and tearmes may still hearten the Christian to confront it in the very face couragiously according to Bernards counsell Volo mortem si non effugere c. That since they cannot flye it they should not feare it Iustus mortem etsi non caue◠c. since the iust man is not cautelous to preuent it let him not be too timerous to encounter it nay rather let him enter the lists as the Persians went to battell ioyfully and with a shout since it is but a Bugbeare or a shadow without substance a Serpent without a sting a superficies no positiue thing of it selfe but the corruption of the subiect that God and Nature subiects vnto it at the worst to the worst an Executioner of a Rebell good to the godly a rewarder of a faithfull Seruant Iosephs Chariot to bring good Iacob from the Land of penurie to the Land of plentie Et qu◠non ad meliora festinet saith Cyprian in his Sermon vpon death Who will not hasten to exchange for the better Lastly me thinkes here is notably implyed the immortalitie of the Soule for what is it which departs but the soule out of the body which flyes out when Death opens the doore that held it in like a Bird out of the Cage liuing else where in pleasure or in paine in act◠seperato in a seperated act as also the Resurrection of the body may not vnfitly be concluded for in a departure betwixt man and wife friend and friend there is a constant hope of meeting againe so these two friends which liue and loue together like Ionathan and Dauid the soule and body shall meete together at the Resurrection both which poynts of Christianitie as Simeon beleeued and taught his Schollers being a great Rabbi and a Master in Israel so hee seemes to mee to allude here vnto both and to professe his faith in both To beginne with the baser part the body that it shall rise againe howeuer it be a Mysterie scoffed at because vnknowne of the Iewish Saduces scoffing Athenians Braine-sicke Philosophers stupid Stoickes hoggish Epicures disputing Peripaticians howeuer denyed by all the rabblement of these Hereticall Valentinians Simonians Carpocratians Cerdonians Seuerians Basilidians Hierarchites and all the Libertines yet it was the faith of all the Patriarkes Prophets and Apostles from the first houre that by reuelation of the Spirit or by the Word it was manifested to the Church of God it was the faith of Dauid of Daniel of of Ezekiel of Esay Iob Paul Martha Iohn the Diuine of all the Saints and so of Simeon Let these Arguments confirme thine first Christ thy head is risen hee is the first fruits of them that sleepe and the pawne that thou shalt rise being a member of his 1 Cor. 15.20 where my flesh and bloud is there shall I be saith Cassiodorus our Ioseph is in Aegypt before vs. Secondly the redemption by Christ extends to thy body as to thy soule vvhich body must rise againe else Christs Passion were fruitlesse and forcelesse Thirdly the body which like Simeon and Leui was brother here in sinning vvith the soule must in Gods equall remunerating Iustice be raised to suffer in an equall measure and proportion as it hath sinned Fourthly Gods promises which hee hath signed with the finger of his Spirit sealed with the bloud of the Lambe to the Elect of peace and Immortalitie cannot be of vigour and vertue vnlesse their bodies rise Fiftly the inseperable vnion twixt Christ and his Church should be disioyned if the body rise not Sixtly many absurdities vvould follow which Paul addes 1 Cor. 15.14.15.16.17 whither I referre you as that all preaching professing and practise of Christianitie vvere else in vaine Seauenthly if in other cases witnesses be to be beleeued then those fiue hundred Brethren mentioned 1 Cor. 15.5.6.7.8 Cephas and the twelue Iames and the Apostles Mary Magdalene Paul that testifie Christs resurrection by necessary consequence confirme ours Rom. 8.13 which depends vpon Christs Eightly these that haue beene brought to life againe after their departure eyther by the Prophets as the widdow of Sarepta's Son by Elias 1 Kings 17.22 or the Shunamites Childe by Elizeus 2 Kings 4.35 And the dead Souldier by touching Elisha's bones 2 Kings 13.21 or by the Apostles as Dorcas by Peter Acts 3.40 Eutichus by Paul Acts 20.10 or by Christ himselfe as the widdow of Naims Son Luke 7.15 Iairus Daughter Mat. 9.29 Lazarus the brother of Martha and Mary Iohn 11.44 and those which appeared in the holy Citie when Christ rose and ascended vp to heauen with him as Augustine thinkes are all Praeludia Resurrectionis types and figures of our resurrection Ninthly we haue many resemblances both in the great Booke of Nature and the little Booke of Grace in the word and in the world Isaacks suruiuing in sacrificing whom Abraham receiued in a figure Heb. 11.19 Aarons dry Rod that budded and blossomed Numb 17.8 Ezekiels dry bones that came together bone to bone flesh to flesh Ezek. 37.8.9.10 Ionas deliuery out of the Whales belly are instances in the Word In Nature the Summer liuing of Trees Hearbs Plants c. yea of Corne it selfe in their seeming Winters death when their sap is in the route these beasts as some Beares and Mice c. which sleepe all Winter and seeme to reuiue in the Spring Swallowes Bats Flyes Gnats c. which by the Sunnes heate seeme to reuiue out of their cold sowne the Arabian
Phoenix which by her selfe-burning preserues the indiuiduum of her kinde the Sea-Vrchin that rejoynes after her rending in pieces after she tastes the salt water Serpents that are renued by casting their old skinnes the Sea-Lobsters by casting their old shels the Eagle by casting her old bill Mechanicall men that renue many things that are old Image-makers that make againe their brassie pictures by marring them Bell founders that mend their mettall-worke by melting the Silke-worme that liues in the preseruation of her kinde by inclosing her selfe in her Clue and dying nay man himselfe that in his generation receiues life into his flesh bones sinewes and vitall powers from a little liquid seede that in his preseruation oft liues againe out of sownes and â—â—ances seemingly depriued of breath and life that in his augmentation eating and by naturall heate concocting and digesting the dead flesh of Goates Sheepe and Bullockes makes them his owne liuing flesh All these speake vnto my vnderstanding and confirme my Faith that though Death swallow vs that are now liuing as the Whale did Ionas binde vs as the Philistines did Sampson lay vs in our sepulchers and roule a great stone vpon vs as the Iewes did vpon Christ yet we shall come to shore againe breake these bonds as the bird the snare and we shall be deliuered vve shall flourish like Noahs Oliue tree after wee haue beene vnder the water yea these bodyes of ours subiect to diseases crushed crazed bruized distempered payned the head with Megrim the lungs with suffocations the ioynts with Gouts the stronger parts themselues with shrinking in of the sinewes these bodyes which haue borne the burthen of the day shall once with the Angels sing Haleluiah these bodies of ours I say shall rise besides these mentioned wee haue many grounds of it as first the will of God that will haue it so Iohn 6.39.40 Secondly the oath of God that it must needes be so Heb. 6.13 Thirdly we haue double Hostage for it 1 the soules of the Saints lodgers vnder the Altar Reu. 6.9.10.11 2. Their bodies lodgers in the graues as our pledges till all things be restored when they and wee shall be perfected together Heb 11.40 Fourthly the pawne of the Spirit within vs Rom. 8.11 All vvhich are so many nayles in the Sanctuary to fasten our hope Neyther shall wee onely rise but rise the same bodies for substance though altered for qualitie to our further perfection Wee shall come againe I say the same bodies in which wee haue departed hence the same bones bloud arteries skinne flesh veynes sinewes parts members Iob 19.25 Howeuer I cannot say in the same age for there shall be neyther childe nor old man saith the Prophet that is neyther weakenesse of youth nor infirmitie of age but all shall be flourishing and perfect like Adam and Eue in their Creation some say from Ephes 4 13. The consideration of our returne after our departure and of our resuscitation at the generall Resurrection for before that time none are or shall be glorified in their bodyes neyther the Virgin Mary whose Assumption is but a fiction nor Enoch nor Elias nor the body of Lazarus nor of those that rose vvith CHRIST Mat. 27.52 as Mr. Leigh proues pithily against all Papists It is a matter of singular comfort it is the Anchor of our hope the life of our Religion vvherein it differs from Paganisme and Turcisme the hand that holds vp our drooping soules in the Agonies of death Fiducia Christianoâ—um resurrectio mortuorum saith Tertullian This made the auncient Martyres goe to the stake and burning place as wee goe to our beds this is that redemption of our bodies vvhich Paul mentions Rom. 8.23 the time of our refreshing which Peter magnifies Acts 3.19 the time of our Iubilie and reioycing vyhich Esay fore-sees in the Spirit and exulteth Esay 26.19 vvhen the hungry shall be satisfied Mat. 5.6 when mourners shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 when there shall be no more griefe nor sorrow nor paine when there shall be a yeere of Iubilie an end of our iourney an accomplishing of our warrefare a cessation from labour a wiping away of teares Reu. 17. verse 17. Chap. 21.4 a putting off this mortall and a putting on of this immortall 1 Cor. 15.42 A change of our vile bodies that they may be like his glorious body Phil. 3.22 Oh be glad of this yee Saints reioyce and sing euen as the little Birds are glad when Winter casts off her rugged mantle and Summer brings his flowrie Spring as Beggars vvould be glad to put off their ragges and be clad with Regall Robes Let these comfort themselues in hope of this change and renouation whose bodies are subiected to infirmities weaknesses and maladies for then it shall cast away neuer to resume all infirmities impurities deformities tardities saith Augustine Asa shall not be gouty nor Moses stammer nor Mephibosheth lame c. let Cripples Lazars Beggars Bedlams lame Souldiers Hospitall men Spitlers and all other impotent distressed diseased persons apprehend this comfort being conuerted Christians and beleeuers Let all weake and wearyed wights vse this Meditation of the Resurrection as Iacobs staffe to rest and relye on in their passage ouer this worlds Iordan as the clifts of the rockes to the Doues and the stonie rockes to the Conies to shelter them from the feare of death the hunting Nimrod of the world for here is Medicamenâ—um vulneris c. a precious Cordiall in all thy crosses whether publique or priuate of body or minde nay Aqua vitae to reuiue thee when thou art dead sicke or sicke to death to know that the minute or the moment of thy afflictions here shall be succeeded nay exceeded with an eternall waight of glory hereafter at the resurrection of the iust 2 Cor. 4.17.18 Thus the godly Dauid Iob nay Christ himselfe the afflicted Primitiue Christians that vnder Antiochus were racked and tormented sollaced their soules in the midst of their anxeties with this melodious Meditation of the Resurrection Psal 16.9 Iob 19.25 Acts 2.26 Heb. 11.35 Which onely apprehension puls off the vizard from Death pluckes off his Lyon skinne exposeth him as an Hobgoblin or meere scarre-Crow to the godlies dirisiou Let Atheists and Epicures feare him that haue their portion in this life let Infidels and vnbeleeuers feare him vvhose hopes of any better estate are languishing and faint and perish with their soules let his name be as terrible to carelesse impenitent worldlings as the name of Tamberlaine and Zisca once to Cowards which like guiltie fellons feare the face of the Iudge but let those that haue learned Christ better and know in whom they haue beleeued entertaine it as Cornelius did Peter as the Galathians did Paul as Peter did the Angell that brought him out of Prison as that which makes the happiest exchange of a Mansion terrestiall for a Citie coelestiall a vaile of teares for mount Sion a region of death
therefore the soules of Abraham Isaack and Iacob are liuing stil though they be dead themselues Secondly was not Enoch translated that he should not see death Gen. 5.24 Heb. 11.17 then Enochs soule still liues Thirdly had not Daniels prayer beene an ignorant and friuolous wish as some note praying for Nabuchadnezzar Oh King liue for euer Dan. 2.4 If the life of his soule had not beene the obiect of his wish Fourthly doth not Elias pray that the soule of his Hostesse Childe may returne againe into him therefore it was not dead and extinct it is no matter where it was it is as absurd to say that it was in Limbo puerorum as Papists doe as that the soule of Lazarus and Iairus Daughter was in Purgatorie suppose it were in heauen it was liuing where euer it was euen as the soules of Moses and Elias were liuing and gaue motion to their bodies being vpon the Mount with Christ Fiftly Christ promiseth Paradise to the penitent Theefe Luke 23. the very day of his dissolution of which hee had liuery and seasure and present possession in his liuing soule for his dead body hung all that day vpon the Crosse Sixtly Lazarus dying was carryed into Abrahams bosome what was carryed his Soule Luke 16.22 as the wicked Angels fetcht the soule of the secure Churle to Hell Luke 12. verse 20. Seauenthly Iohn saw the soules of those vnder the Altar that were killed for the Word of Christ Reu. 5.6.9 All which with infinite moe being so many Arrowes shot against Atheisme doe euince that the soule is immortall and that the spirits of the iust here with old Simeons after their departure from the body returne to God that gaue them Eccles 12.7 A truth that the very Heathen saw by the light of Nature as appeares by their Writings by Antiochus his Epistle to Lisius wherein hee thinkes his dead Father translated to the Gods 2 Mach. 11. ver 23. Plato in his Timeo Tully in his Diuinations and in his Booke of the sleepe of Saeipio Pithagoras and the Pithagoreans Thales Milesius Hermes Euripides in his Tragedies Plutarch in his Consolatory Epistles Seneca in his Booke of immature death yea the Poets in their fictions of the Elizean fields and the like ayme all at this more like Christians at least Christian Philosophers and Poets that the Heauens are aeterna animaruÌ„ domicilia the eternall mansions of good soules departed Let vs beleeue this by the light of the Word which they saw by the poore sparke of Nature and let the thought of it still encourage thee which is the Naile that I driue at in all this discourse to looke Death boldly in the face since to the godly it is but Titulus sine re a bare title without any subsisting a bare name a blancke without a Seale good saith Bernard to the good in regard of rest better in regard of securitie best of all as the way to life and immortalitie being as Ambrose cals it alledged by Pontanus the birth day of thy eternitie the repayrer of thy lifes ruines not abolishing but establishing thy best being Therefore Summum nec mâ—tâ—â—as diem c. Feare not thy last fate rather desire it with Paul because it is but thy dissolution be thankfull for it with Simeon because it is but thy departure waite for it with Iob because it is thy changing then feare it or fret at it with the naturall and morrall men of the world For why should that eyther feare thee or fret thee that cannot hurt the best the greatest part of thee If the gold be saued who regards the losse of a rotten purse If the Pearles within be preserued who cares for the breaking of an old chest If the costly Marchandize and loading of the ship be safe what Marchant respects the ruines of a rotten Barge If the liuing soules be not indangered nor the best of the stuffe endammaged wee care not so much for the burning of an old house wee respect not the losse of the Cradle if the childe be safe the mangling of the cloaths if the body be vnwounded Now that which the Gold is to the Purse the Pearles to the Châ—st the Wares to the Ship the good Wines to the Caske the Honie to the Hiue the Housholder to the House the Childe to the Cradle the Body to the Garments that is the Soule to the Body as much more eminent and excellent as the thing contained exceedes the continent If death doe fetter the Body and free the Soule where is the losse what is the crosse Secondly is the Soule immortall and the Body mortall then execrable is the folly of the multitude and lamentable is the dotage of all sorts from the highest to the lowest that spend misspend their yeeres dayes strength vvit vvealth and all their Tallents in pleasing contenting satisfying and fulfilling the desires of the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof in decking adorning feeding and pampering this sluggish Asse this rotten Carrion the body which perhaps shall take vp his Inne in the earth to morrow and be meate for wormes in the meane space neglecting and not regarding the soule which is to liue for euer Oh how many millions of men and women to euen amongst common Christians may be arraigned accused and conuicted of this folly and dottage that in other things are politique Galliâ—'s and plotting Iezabel's yet in this are witty fooles in preferring the Purse before the Gold the Caske before the Wine the Hiue before the Hony the Body before the Soule How many spend yeeres and moneths nay all their precious time in hawking hunting whoring carding dicing c. in scraping and gathering yealow dust together in doing workes morrall or sinfull their owne workes or the Diuels how many in doing nothing or doing euill or as good as nothing How many women spend many dayes and houres in tricking and trimming the painted sepulchers of their soules I meane their bodies in a Glasse who neuer considering how the glasse of their time runnes spend not a moneth in a yeere a weeke in a moneth a day in a weeke an houre in a day in the publique or priuate worship of GOD in looking into the Glasse of Gods word prayer meditation c. How many Citizens and Countrimen of all sorts spend the vvhole sixe dayes in catering and purueying for the body who grudge God his Sabbaths for the prouision of their soules such men eyther they thinke they haue no soules or that their soules shal die with their bodies like the beasts liuing like Libertines and Epicures as their faith is like the Saduces which denied any Spirit or Resurrection or soules immortalitie as Iosephus testifies of them Oh we had need cry to such deluded franticke men and tell them that they haue soules and soules immortall to raigne with GOD or to be plagued with the Diuels after their departing out of the body His hoped Pacification In these words In peace
NOW followes the last part of this holy Hymne Simeons Quletâ—s est or his Pacification God suffering him to depart in peace Caluin and Bucer renders Simeons minde thus Nunc libenter sedato quieto animo moriar Lord now I depart willingly with an appeased heart and a setled soule since I haue seene thy Christ From whence I gather that a good man that liues piously alwayes dyes peaceably It appeares here in Simeon so in the rest of the Saints as in Abraham to whom it was promised Gen. 15.15 that hee should goe vnto his Fathers in peace and should be buryed in a good age which promise was plentiously performed to Abraham for he yeelded the spirit dyed in a good age an old man and of great yeeres Gen. 25.8 So Isaack the Sonne of Promise gaue vp the ghost and dyed peaceably being old and full of daies Gen. 35.29 Neither was the death of good Iacob that preuailing Israel discrepant to his holy life for he dyed quietly making an end of his charge vnto his Sonnes hee pluckt vp his feete into his bed and gaue vp the ghost Gen. 49.33 After the like manner was the death of chaste and mercifull Ioseph Gen. 50.26 of penitent and patient Iob after hee had seene his sonnes and his sonnes sonnes euen foure generations Iob 42.16 Of zealous and sincere Dauid 1 Kings 2. after hee had counselled and charged his Sonne Salomon to walke in the wayes and Statutes of the Almightie Of Moses the faithfull Seruant of the Lord who dyed when his eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated though he were an hundred and twentie yeeres old God himselfe being present at his death and buriall So Ioshuah that couragious Leader of Israel Iosh 24.29 Aaron the Lords Priest who dyed before the Lord in the Mount Hor Numb 20.28 Eleazar Aarons Sonne Iosh 24.33 Samuel the Lords Prophet 1 Sam. 25.1 with all the rest of Gods Children Patriarkes Prophets Iudges Kings Martyres Confessors the learned Lights of the Church such as Ambrose Augustine c. as they haue liued holily they haue dyed happily of which in their seuerall Histories they haue giuen demonstrations most of them if not all in these three particulars First that they were gathered to their Fathers in a mature and full age full of yeeres reaped like a Ricke of ripe Corne into the Lords Barne taken like mellow Apples from the Tree of life in which full age Abraham Isaack Iacob Ioshuah Iob with the rest before mentioned as also the Patriarkes before the Floud which out-liued them with others of the faithfull did blessedly yeeld their spirits and quietly slept in the Lord which blessing of long life being the promise annexed to that fift Commandement of Obedience is peculiarly incident to the godly rather then the wicked whose sinnes as the Iuie kils the Oake ordinarily abbreuiate their dayes or if any of the faithfull dye young or in their middle age before they haue attained to the yeeres of their Fathers eyther by a naturall dissolution as Iosias or by a violent death as the auncient and moderne Martyres eyther they are taken away from the euill to come as Augustine was immediately before the siege of Hippo by the Gothes and Vandals or else because they are ripened already in grace and come to that maturitie which GOD in his fore-seeing wisedome knowes they would or could attaine to and so are fitted for glory or else they testifie the truth here to others confirmation Gods glory and their owne consolation Secondly the Elect vsually haue their wishes and the fruition of their desires ere their departure to the great satisfaction of their soules the contentation of their hearts the corroberation of their faith and the sealing pledge of Gods speciall loue vnto them thus Simeon ere his death had CHRIST in his armes which was the desire and longing of his heart So Abraham saw Christs day before his death in the spirit and reioyced what did old Israel so long after in the whole world except the sight of Shiloh the Messias in the flesh as to see his darling Ioseph which longing of his the Lord satisfied at the full ere his death for his dying eyes did not onely see Iosephs face but his seede Ephraim and Manasses Gen. 48.11 What did Moses desire more then the fruition of Canaan the promised Land Now euen before the Lord shut his dying eyes the Lord tooke him vp into a mount and as a rellish and a taste of his fauour gaue him a sight of Canaan Deut. 34. ver 1.4 In what could Dauids heart be more setled then to see his Throne setled in Salomon his Sonne which his desire was accordingly accomplished for his eyes did see what his heart desired for which hee blessed God 1 Kings 1.48 And the like ordinarily fals out as many aged Christians at this very day can bring in their experienced probatum est as many that are fallen a-sleepe before them could haue testified how the Lord hath heard their requests and granted the desires of their soules in these and these particulars before their deaths Thirdly the godly expresse the hidden ioy and inward peace which they finde within their soules by their seasoned and sanctified words of grace which they breathe out as a sweet Perfume from holy hearts to the refreshing of others vpon their sicke beds with which they vsually winde vp the thread of their life words so good so gracious that they are worthy to be writ in Letters of Gold and for euer to be remembred as they are recorded in the sacred Cannon and collected by holy men from the Saints of latter times For example vvhat a sweet gratulatory speech is this of Simeons in his farewell to the world Lord now lettest thou thy Seruant depart in peace c. Euery word hauing his waight and Emphasis Ponder the last Sermons that Moses and Ioshuah and Samuel these faithfull Seruants of the Lord made immediately before their deaths vnto the Israelites Gods chosen people how zealously they perswade to the seruice of the true God disswade from Idolatrie and false Gods enumerate Gods speciall mercies exhort to obedience dehort from rebellion against God and their Superiours proclaime the promises to the obedient pronounce mercies to allure denounce iudgements to terrifie the disobedient blessing GOD by gratulatory Songs for his benefits and blessing the people in their Tribes Deut. 32. ch 33. Iosh 12. 1 Sam. 12. and a man shall see the peace they had in their hearts by the grace of their lips The last words of Iacob were blessings and prophecies Of Ioseph were admonitions and cautions the one to his Sonnes the other to his Brethren Gen. 49. Gen. 50. The last words of Dauid were his charge to Salomon his Son concerning Gods worship and the gouernement of his Kingdome 1 Kings 2. vers 3.4.5.6 c. The last words of Steuen the first Martyr after CHRIST were prayers for his
the Tyde is past and the Sea is rough therefore prepare a medicine before the wound Sero Medicina paratur Heare not the voyce of the Serpent Eritis sicut Dij you shall be like Gods to puffe you vp with pride but feare and beleeue the voice of God Moriemini yee shall dye like men for this death prepare betimes now is the acceptable time now is thy time thy day thy houre thy visitation now the voyce cals Christ knockes the Angell moues the waters Moses and the Prophets perswade the shortnesse of thy life multitude of thy sinne difficultie of repenting thy Houre-glasse running time spending thy former fruitlesse liuing danger of deferring death approaching all vrge moue pleade for a conuerted soule a holy heart a renued life that thou maist dye a blessed death finde a ioyfull resurrection and inioy a happy glorification Lastly to conclude this Text for this time and so this Worke hauing exceeded my purposed and proposed breuitie let mee onely offer vnto your considerations this meditation that there is a direct and a certaine method and rule as of liuing so of dying well so plaine so perspicuous that some haue vvrit vvhole Tractaites of this subiect from whose Haruest I will not be ashamed to gleane something as Ruth out of the field of Booz and insert their eares into this Garland borrowing some few grounds of him whom I heard as a Master out of Moses Chaire liuing and reuerence dying If any therefore demaund in this great and maine poynt of all poynts what course hee is to take that with old Simeon he may die in peace for Resolution of this case of Conscience I say that to dye well there are two things requisite A preparation before death and A right disposition in death This Preparation is two-folde generall and speciall generall is that whereby a man prepares himselfe to dye throughout the whole course of his life to this the Scripture continually exhorts when it inioynes vs straitly to watch and pray to awake from sleepe to prepare to meete the Bridegroome to be in a readinesse euery day like Souldiers that expect their Generall against the second comming of CHRIST to Iudgement not to haue our hearts oppressed with surfetting and drunkennesse and the cares of the world least that day come vpon vs vnprouided as the theefe vpon the carelesse housholder as the snare vpon the Bird as the Floud vpon the old world as fire vpon Sodome as desolation vpon Ierusalem A thing that stands vs all much vpon as a dutie not to be omitted First because of that vncertaine certaintie that is in death certaine for the matter as before we haue proued vncertaine both in respect of the Time when which none knowes whither morning euening midnight or Cocke crow in Winter Summer Spring or Autumne Secondly in respect of Place for none knowes where whether at home or abroad by Sea or by Land in his bed or in the field Dauid dyed in his bed Ionathan in the field the deceiued Prophet and Amasa in the high-way Abner at the Court Icarus Helle Aegaeus by Sea from whom the Aegean and Icarian Sea and Hellespont were named three Popes Iohn the first Iohn the foureteenth and Caelestine the fift dyed in prison nay some haue dyed in the very Priuies as Arius and Heliogabalus two Monsters and there had Saul dyed had not Dauid spared Therefore Mors omni loco te expectat tu expecta eam since Death expects thee in euery place expect thou it Thirdly for the Manner no man knowes how hee shall dye whether of a naturall or violent death Iosias was shot by the Archers and dyed Eglon was thrust in at the fift rib so was Abner so was the late French King some sodainely as Fabius the Romane Gandericus the Vandall some of a lingring disease some of a burning Feauer some of a colde Collique some this way some that according to the phrase Vt moriar scio nescio vbi quomodo quando I am assur'd to die yet doe not know The way that leads to death when where or how Therefore wee are speedily to prepare for this iourney of death since it must be gone and wee know not how soone we shall be inforced to trauell in other matters morrall the Axiome may beseeme the most politique Deliberandum est diu quod perficiendum semel that wee should determine that deede with deliberation which wee purpose to put in execution but in this weightie worke the lesse wee are in demurring and the more in action and doing the better it is to learne to dye is Ars Artium an Art of Arts which all the Schooles of the Gentiles could not teach without Theologie great Rabbies in humanitie are meere Ideots in this heauenly Science It stands vs in hand then euery day as the Pythagoreans in Philosophy to be proficients in this Mysterie for therefore is the last day vnknowne that wee should prepare our selues euery day and the rather because our last day is the inchoation of our perpetuated sorrow or solace the day of our Marriage with the Lambe or of our massacring vvith the roaring Lyon Vt in illo die Mors inueniet Dominus iudicabit as the Tree fals so it lies as death at that day shall leaues vs so shall Iudgement finde vs many changes and conuersions from euill to good but at that day there is no change no conuersion Nulla remissio nulla redemptio no remission no redemption If Death finde vs barren Trees so it cuts vs downe so Hell-fire burnes vs in that Tophet prepared of old If death ceaze vpon vs impenitent sinners as it did on Cain and Iudas so Iudgement findes vs so Hell holds vs so the vncleane Spirits torment vs there wee shall continue more millions of yeeres then be Atoim or moates in the Sunne then Bees in Hybla then there were Locusts in Aegypt nay moe then there be Sands on the Sea-shore pyles of Grasse on the Ground or Starres in the Heauens in such exquisite torments that Perillus his Bull Diomedes his wilde Horses Maxentius his tying the liuing to the dead till they dye with stincke and Famine the French Burning-Chamber Spanish Inquisition tearing with Lyons boyling in Oyle pinching vvith burning Pincers and the like are pleasing Baths cooling Harbors and refreshing recreations in comparison neuer to be relieued neuer to be released not to be ransomed vvith thousands of Goates and Rammes with riuers of Oyles not with all the Masses Trentals Dirges c. and trumpery of Romish Superstition nay not with all the Prayers of the Saints in earth or heauen nay if Noah Dauid and Daniâ—l should intreate if the Virgin Mary should mediate if all the Angels should supplicate eyther the remission of their sinnes or intermission of their sorrowes and plagues it were bootlesse and fruitlesse Oh then how much doth this mature and preparatorie repentance concerne euery soule that by it the vnion being made
betwixt Christ and their soules their sinnes being washt away in the bloud of the Lambe the Lord at that day may freely accept them and seeing no iniquitie in Iacob nor transgression in Israel may couer their offences and not impute their sinnes to their deserued condemnation In omitting or pretermitting of which dutie wee may iustly blame and exclaime against wicked and secure worldlings that neuer thinke of this waightie worke till by sicknesse they be summoned to their dissolution then with the vnrighteous Steward they beginne to shuffle and bussle a little to make all straight in some superficiall and hypocriticall Repentance like Ahab Which preparation of theirs for their Passe-ouer out of this world is at that time very preposterous because then all the senses and powers of the body are occupyed about the paines and troubles of the disease Besides Physitians to be consulted with Friends to be conferred with Houshold affayres to be set in order a Will to be made order taken how debts must be eyther paid or receiued neighbours comming to visit oh how doe they diuide how distract the sicke party Is that a fit time of this preparation When so many Irons are in the fire it is likely this great one will coole much lesse is it conuenient to deferre it till the houre of death as is the practise of carnall and carelesse men imagining that if they haue but time to say God forgiue me Lord haue mercy on mee with the Publican but especially to runne ouer the Lords Prayer and the Creede which they vse in ignorance and superstition as Popish Charmes without any faith feruencie and feeling they holde themselues cocke-sure of saluation though their preparation be not so good as the Iewes for their Passeouer as a Christians is or ought to be for his ordinary hearing the Word and receiuing the Sacrament Doe not these men presumptuously thinke like blinde Bayards that they haue God and his Grace and his Mercie at commaund that they can repent when they list the contrary experience whereof improues their folly discouers their delusions and shewes that they build on the sand and rest on a broken staffe for was there not a time when Esau sought the blessing with teares and found it not Would not Iudas faine haue repented as appeares by his hypocriticall confession Mat. 27.3.4.5 and yet a Halter was all the comfort he got Would not Antiâ—chus Epiphanes had mercy when notwithstanding his expired life ended in miserie Would not the foolish Virgins haue entered the Bridegroomes Chamber when it was past time but were excluded And doth not the Lord threaten that many shall seeke to enter in at the straite gate but shall not be able Why so Because they seeke too looke when the time of grace is past And indeede it is iust with God to reiect them in aduersitie that haue reiected him in prosperitie not to heare when they call though they howle on their beds like Wolues that would not heare when hee called by his Word and the motions of his Spirit to forget them in death that would not remember him in life to harden those that would not be softned Consider with thy selfe what reason there is to the contrary is it reason that God should accept the Winter of thy life thy barren and frozen soule when thou hast offered vp the Spring Summer and Autumne of thy yeeres to Sathan that he should receiue the euening Sacrifice when Mammon or Lust hath had the morning that he should be pleased with thy lees and dregs when thou hast giuen the best wine of thy bloud to the Diuell will hee pledge Sathan in such a cup will he take the refuse and offals and leauings of Sinne It is possible hee may I doe not limit the vnbounded Ocean of his mercy but it is not probable hee will Make it thine owne case wouldest thou entertaine an old decrepit Seruant that is able to doe thee little or no seruice and giue him great wages that hath spent his youth and strength in the seruice of thine enemie I trow not Will any Generall admit of a lame Souldier past seruice that hath serued all his life against him in his enemies Campe will God admit thee into his seruice entertaine thee into his Campe receiue thee into his House reward thee in his Kingdome when thou hast spent the prime of thy yeeres in the seruice nay in the seruitude and slauery of Sathan I say as Augustine said to such a deferrer as thou Non dico saluabitur non dico damnabitur I will not say thou shalt be saued I dare not determine thou shalt be damned I leaue thee in the hands of God that hath thee as the Potter hath the Clay as the Smith his Iron as the Carpenter his Wood as the Creator his Creature to harden or soften thee to make thee a vessell of honour or dishonour to glorifie himselfe in his Mercy in thy conuersion or in his Iustice in thy confusion But thy heart tels thee and Sathan tels thy heart that thou maist repent at thy last houre Thou maist indeed if God will but to driue thee from this false holde it is not likely thou shalt repent truly and sincerely It is said Iudas repented in his death so the Word is Mat. 27. verse 3. hee had a Legall sorrow in him yet hee is called a reprobate for all that it is too true that Poenitentia sera raro vera late Repentance is seldome true Repentance It is commonly as sicke and weake as is the partie it is not voluntarie and free as that is which brings saluation 2 Cor. 7.10 but vsually constrained and extorted by the feare of hell and other Iudgements of God for crosses and afflictions and sicknesse will cause the grossest Hypocrite that euer was to stoope and buckle vnder the hand of God as did Pharaoh twise and to dissemble Faith and Repentance and euery other Grace of God as did Ahab as though they had Gods graces as fully as any of Gods Seruants whereas they are altogether destitute of them naked and blinde like the Laodiceans And that such repenters commonly counterfeite it appeares by this demonstration True Repentance is a turning to God so the Word cals it Ioel 2.12 an auersion from sinne which is his Terminus à quo a conuersion to God Terminus ad quem so most Diuines hold it Now where is the turning from sinne in such repenters They forsake not sinne but sinne forsakes them they leaue their euill wayes because they must leaue the world they leaue sinne in action but hugge it still in affection if they had a new Lease of their liues they would beginne new sinnes Nay Si nunquam morirentur nunquam peccare desinerent If they should neuer dye they would neuer desist from sinne as appeares in the practise of these pretended repenters for if God doe recouer them from their sicke-beds and take his hand off them doe
they goe their wayes and sinne no more Iohn 5.14 Nay doe they not returne to their former bias Canis ad vomitum like Dogges to their vomit againe and Swine to their wallowing insomuch that though the world say they are mended yet Christians can see no amendement in them but they keepe their worst wine vnto the last and their end is worse then their beginning Yet for all this which hath beene said the Theefe on the Crosse stickes much on the stomackes of many Why may not they liue as ill as hee did and yet deferre their repentance till the last and be saued as hee was I haue vnloosed this knot before But to giue still further satisfaction First it may be nay it is likely the Theefe was neuer called before that time so much as outwardly that hee neuer heard Christs Sermons before then that hee saw him which thou doest or maist doe in this light of the Gospell therefore if hee had dyed impenitently hee should haue beene more excused then thou Secondly as his example is extraordinarie so it is particular now particulars are not to be vrged for a generall practise Thirdly his example is singular wee haue no moe late repenters saued but hee We haue him indeede saith Augustine that we should not despaire if wee doe deferre and yet wee haue but onely him him and no moe in the whole Scripture that we should not presume You know his other fellow-theefe that liued as hee did dyed not as hee did but impenitently scoffingly and desperately so haue all other obdurate wicked ones dyed as we haue proued out of the Word If then Sathan and Nature perswade thee still to liue in sinne thou maist repent at last with the good Theefe and so be saued thinke that it is more probable thou shalt dye impenitently with the bad Theefe if thou continue thy courses and so be damned Thou knowest amongst many Traytors the King pardons some but for one that is pardoned an hundred are deseruedly executed were it not folly to attempt treason vpon hope of pardon because some one is pardoned amongst many but it is greater folly to liue impenitently till death because one Theefe was in that case saued when as wee haue instanced in Cain Iudas Herod c. and an hundred moe that as they liued in iniquitie dyed in impenitence and now are damned eternally Therefore to conclude let mee heate thy heart a little and inflame thy affections to prepare speedily for thy dissolution to take time before thee it is bald behinde to worke whilst it is day ere the night of death comes harden not thy heart any longer but to day heare his voyce that cals thee as it did Samuel and Dauid to awake and to seeke his face Cry not with the Crow Cras Cras to morrow to morrow but this day with Noahs Doue come into the Arke yet Ionas cryes in the streetes Ionas 3.4 yet the Angell stayes Sodomes flames Gen. 19. yet the weather is fayre to build an Arke in Gen. 7.5 yet the Prophet cryes Oh Iudah how shall I intreate thee Hos 6.4 yet the Bridegroome tarries and stayes the Virgins leasures Mat. 25.7 yet the Apostle beseecheth for Christs sake that thou wouldest be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.20 Oh therefore prepare oyle betimes vvith the wise Virgins enter whilest the gate is open seeke the Lord whilest hee may be found call vpon him whilest hee is nigh waite for thy Masters comming with the good Seruant build the Arke ere the Floud come prepare thy soule ere Death come this is thy time thy day tempus tuum Death is Gods day tempus suum and his time Now is the time to repaire the Ship of thy soule in the Hauen but the tempestuous Sea of Death is no fit time the breach is to be made vp in the time of peace not in time of warre Now make peace in the day of peace with the God of peace that with old Simeon thou maist dye and rest in peace and remaine in glory Thus much for preparation Now the manner of this Preparation consists in some particulars which wee meane to prosecute The first whereof is Meditation Memento mori must be euery mans Motto a point that as the Scripture inâ—oynes so the Saints haue practised and the Heathens haue approued this principle that Toâ—a hominis vita mortis meditatio the whole life of a man ought to be the meditation of death the best Schollers that euer were in the Schoole of Christianitie haue beene taken vp in this thought Adam was no sooner created but God his Schoolemaster catechizeth him in this point of death hee cals him Adam rubra terra red earth hee casts him into a sleepe the Image nay as the Cynicke cals it the Brother of death hee tels him if hee sinne hee shall dye the death When hee had sinned he fore-warnes him that hee shall returne to his dust from which hee came hee makes him garments of Beasts skinnes that had dyed for sacrifice to shew him that hee was mortall like those Beasts whose skinnes hee woâ—e hee sets him to dig and tyll the Earth to put him in minde both of the dustie matter whereof hee vvas made and into which hee and all his posteritie must be dissolued Adam it seemes tooke out these Lessons and taught them his Children for though hee called his eldest Sonne Possession yet hee called his Brother Abel Vanitie when hee had more experience of the vanities of life and life it selfe In this Meditation the Patriarkes were wonderously taken vp the very forme and fabricke of their Mansions not dwelling in seiled houses as wee doe though they were both greater men and of greater meanes but in Tents and Tabernacles such as they vse in the warres ready vpon all occasions to be remoued euen like the Boothes in Sturbbish-Faire shew that they did constantly ponder of their owne remouals nay their tongues expressed the abundant thoughts of their hearts in this kinde Abraham confest himselfe but dust and ashes Gen. 18.17 Iacob acknowledgeth his life a Pilgrimage Ioseph giues order for the buriall of his bones Gen. 50. The greatest purchases which wee reade the Patriarkes made or that euer they spoke of was onely a place to bury their dead in Moses so thought of his mortalitie that hee makes a Psalme wherein he both acknowledgeth mans frailtie and inferres this Petition pathetically that the Lord would teach him and the Israelites to number their dayes which Psalme the auncient Fathers vsed in forme of a Prayer Iob waites till his changing come Iob 10.14 Dauid makes no other reckoning of himselfe then of a Pilgrime Psal 120.3 and Peter accounts his continuance here but his abode in a tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.3 Oh that such thoughts did possesse vs they would make vs more familiar with Death and it more welcome vnto vs for Iacula praeuisa minus faeriunt Darts fore-seene doe the lesse harme Oh how many sinnes would they cut
possesse vs that are now liuing of our ineuitable dying that it may worke in vs the same effects that it did in them Oh let vs thinke of it in our prosperitie in our pleasures let vs meditate of it in our Orchards in our Gardens as did Ioseph of Aramathia who Iohn 19.41 had his Sepulcher in his Garden euen the place of his recreations let vs thinke of it in our beds those Embleames of our graues in our Closets in our Cloisters in our Walkes and Galleries that so remembring it in euery place expecting it at euery houre it may not come vpon vs vnprouided as the storme vpon the Marriner as the enemie vpon the drowsie Centinel as Dauids Companie vpon the drunken Amalekites as the politique Graecians vpon the secure Troyans Death is like the Basiliske it hurts not if it be spyed betimes if Death spye vs first it kils vs as the Basiliske doth the Traueller if wee spye it first wee kill it as the Traueller doth the Basiliske as Ambrose makes the Application and therefore as Aristotle writes of two Fountaines the one whereof if a man drinke it makes him laugh so much till he dye if of the other it both hinders laughter and preuents death these two fountaines are the Remembrance and the Obliuion of death the last is like poysoned water to kill vs the first like strong distillatorie waters to reuiue vs. Yet alas for all this who thinkes of death there is such a generall crust of Securitie growne ouer this Land that it is to be feared wee are exposed to the same dangers that Ierusalem was the cause of all whose plagues was shee knew not her visitation she remembred not her end Lament 1.9 Oh how few number their dayes that they may apply their hearts vnto wisedome How few thinke of their ends till sicknesse end them till Death say to them as GOD to Ezekias Thou must dye and as the Prophet to Ahaziah Thou shalt not come downe from thy bed to which thou art gone vp 2 Kings 1.4 How few looke into hell ere they leape into it How many Arithmeticians are in the world that number all things but their dayes their corne cattle sheepe stocke money wares and the like that are as wise Serpents in euery thing excepting in fore-seeing their death How many like carelesse debters still runne into the debts and arrerages of former sinnes with GOD their patient Creditor neuer thinking of the day of account the strictnesse of the Iudge the closenesse of the Prison the Serieant at their backes Death ready to arrest them How many sleepe out their time like Salomons sluggard How many cry Soule take thine ease eate drinke and be merry singing to the Tabret and the Harpe stretching themselues vpon their Iuory Couches saying like these Epicures which Tertullian blames in his Bookes of the Soule Oh Death what haue we to doe with thee trouble not thou vs and wee shall not trouble thee yea though wee haue so many Monitors euery day in all the things of Nature the Sunne setting ouer vs the graues vnder vs though wee see many Tombes euen in our Churches and Monuments as the word signifies to admonish vs Crosses and Sicknesses Deaths summons that tell vs Death is approching vellicat haec aures atque ait en venio yet neuerthelesse as the sight of one obiect or colour takes away the eye from beholding another the thought of the world and the lusts thereof takes away the thought of death And as Absolon carryed on his Mule whilest hee hung by the haire of the head was thrust through three times by Ioab so our soules being carryed here vpon our flesh vvhich Augustine Hugo and Luther call the Asse of the soule whilst our thoughts are climing and fixt vpon the high Tree of Honour Pleasure Preferment Death like Ioab comes and kils vs with a triple Dart that wee see not Time past present and to come neuer thinking of these darts till wee feele them no more then the fish of the hooke till it hold her yea though wee see daily wiser wealthier holier healthfuller and younger then our selues goe to their graues yet this thought still raignes in vs that we shall not dye till we be old as Seneca notes Non patemus ad mortem c. yea euen such as thinke they shall be happy after death thinke little of the day of death Tantum vim habet carnis animae dulce consortium saith Augustine such force hath that sweet consort betwixt the soule and the flesh But it is more which Tully notes that there is no man so old but hee thinkes hee may liue one yeere longer though hee vse his third foote when one of his other feete is in the graue already and this makes euen old so encline in their thoughts and desires vnto the Marriage-bed who in the course of Nature haue but a few steps into their graues yea to associate themselues with such young yoake-fellowes that if Sophocles were liuing hee would blush once againe for shame to see them and Cato should haue more matter to laugh at then to see an Asse eate Thistles in which we verifie Christs prophesie that as in the dayes of Noah wee marry and are marryed neuer thinking of death till the Floud come This makes such an invndation of sinne as delights Sathan who takes as great delight to steale away our hearts from the thought of Death as Absolon did to steale away the hearts of the people from his Father Dauid for he knowes full well that if wee should thinke of Death wee should not practise sinne hee knowes that as the Serpent when shee stops the one eare with her taile the other with the earth shee will not harken to the voice of the Charmer so the Lords Doues that are as wise as Serpents laying their eares to the earth remembring their mortalitie will not be deluded with the charmes of his temptations he knowes that his hooke bayted with riches will not be bit vpon if a man remember himselfe breuis incertique huius iteniris of this his short and vncertaine iourney hee knowes hee will not sinne that knowes after death hee shall inherit Serpents and Wormes For which cause when hee would haue vs to sinne hee hides the griesly head of Death casting the scumme and mist of some deceiuing pleasure before our eyes as they say Iuglers doe in their trickes shewing vs onely sinnes pleasure as the Panther shewes his pleasing spots to the Beasts to deceiue hiding his head that hee may deuoure vs. Therefore to conclude this Part as our Sauiour Christ said Remember Lots Wife as Nazianzen saith to oppressors Remember Naboths Vineyard so I bid those that are terrigenae Brutigini the sonnes of the earth Remember their earth nay God wâ—isheth thee to remember thy earth Oh that they were wise saith God of Israell and woul'd remember the latter things Deut. 32.29 Oh that wee
were wise euen in this particular oh how should vvee auoid many snares of Sathan that preuailes ouer vs euen by our securitie in this kinde And therefore Quos viu â—ntes blanditijs decipit c. whom hee deceiâ—es by fraud liuing hee deuoures by force dying Oh how should wee be prepared for the second comming of CHRIST if wee had but an eye to the pale Horse and him that sits thereon Apoc. 6.8 Oh that wee had but the wisedome of the Cocke that eating his meate hath euer an eye vpwards to looke at the Eagle or the Hawke Oh that wee as wee looke downewards with the eye of Reason to the things of this life would with the eye of Faith looke vp for the comming of Christ who as hee rose like a Lion is ascended like an Eagle and will descend againe to iudge vs then should wee be fitted with the good Seruant come when he will come to entertaine our Master with ioy Mat. 24.23 But alas woe be to the secure world vvee neither thinke of Iudgement generall nor speciall after death or in death sometimes indeede deede wee can say wee are all mortall but ex vsu magis quam sensu as some pray it is a word rather of custome then feeling wee seeme to be a little more moued when wee follow a Funerall then wee weepe and waile and cry out This is the end of all flesh but as soone as wee are at home the most we doe is a carnall fruitlesse mourning for the dead wee make no spirituall vse of it to dye to any sinne in which as some compares vs wee are like to Swine who when some one in the Heard is bit with a Dogge all flocke about and gruntle but presently it is forgot they fall againe to wallowing and rooting or like little Turkies and Chickens who if the Kite or Buzzard swap and catch one all the rest with their dammes are in an vprore but instantly they fall againe to feeding so when Death that deuouring Dog that rauening Kite that preyes vpon all flesh snatcheth away any of our Friends and Neighbours wee complaine and exclaime of lifes breuitie the worlds vanitie wee mourne and pretend mortification vvee lament and seeme to repent but within few dayes all is drowned in the Leth of Obliuion wee forget Death as Nabuchadnezzar forgot his Dreame wee fall againe to our former sinfull securitie and so wee continue till vvee dye excaecati insoporati impraeparati excecated insoporated vnprepared God reforme this and teach vs as Dauid prayes Psal 38. the number of our dayes and make vs vvise to saluation Besides this Meditation which wee make a part of preparation to the attaining of this peaceable departure other duties are to be adioyned some whereof are to be performed in health some in sicknesse some in the immediate summons of Death it selfe of all which briefely in these subsequent directions First let him that will die in peace liue by Faith Hab. 2.2 let him not content himselfe with an Historicall Faith such as the Diuels haue Iames 2.14 nor with a Ciuill Faith such as mortall men haue and as the Heathens haue nor with an Implicite Generall Faith which the Papists haue euen the Coblers Faith to beleeue as the Romish Church beleeues for alas all these kindes of Faith bring no more peace and comfort to the soule in any extremitie then cold water to a man that is in a sowne And therefore many men are deceiued which thinke they shew themselues exquisite Christians and haue enough to saluation if to their Pastor or others in their sicknesse they can repeate and render their Faith according to Gods Word and the Articles of the Creede with a renunciation of all points of Poperie of Heresies and Superstitions for alas this generall illumination this knowing Faith which onely swimmes in the braine without a particular applying Iustifying Faith which workes by Loue and brings forth the fruits of Prayer Repentance godly Sorrow for sinne Zeale Sanctification new Obedience c. neuer heates the heart nor comforts the conscience nor hath the answere of any sound peace from God Oh therefore labour for a Iustifying sauing Faith for a speciall and an applying Faith such as Paul preacht to the conuert Iaylor Acts 16.31 Phillip to the baptized Eunuch Acts 8.37 such a Faith as is commended in the auncient Patriarkes and Primitiue Worthies Hebrewes the eleauenth Chapter such as CHRIST commended in the Centurion Mat. 8.10 and the Canaanitish woman Mat. 15.28 such as Thomas had after his incredulitie calling Christ his Lord and his God Iohn 20.28 such as Paul had when hee profest that he liued euen by Faith in Iesus is Christ Gal. 2.20 such as Simeon here had Oh get Christ into thy heart by Faith as this good old man had him in his Armes and in his heart and thy death shall be peaceable like his Secondly if thou wilst die in peace repent speedily of thy fore-past and present sinnes for sinne hinders all true peace There is no peace to the wicked saith my God twise for surenesse in expresse words Esay 48. verse 22. so Chap. 57.21 Iniquitie makes a diuision and seperation from God Esay 59.2 euen in life much more in death for then the soules of the wicked goe to Hell Psal 9.16 much more in Iudgement Mat. 7 23. Where there it plaine and palpable whoredome discouered there can be no peace betwixt man and wife all sinne is whoredome and sinners are called Adulterers and Adultresses Iames 4. verse 4. they are spiritually and corporally polluted by the Flesh the World the Diuell for which cause rebellious Israel and Iudah are compared to Whores and Harlots Ier. 3. v. 8.9 c. Now if any wicked soule should aske with a desire of resolution as the two Messengers of Iehoram and as Iehoram himselfe asked Iehu Is it peace Is it peace 2 King 9.18.19 Is there peace or shall there be peace betwixt God and my soule I resolue him roughly from God as Iehu did Iehoram verse 22. What peace What hast thou to doe with peace since thou wantest Grace the inseparable companion of Peace 2 Tim. 1.2 What hast thou to doe with peace whilst the whoredomes of thy Mother Iezabel and her witchcrafts are great in number whilst the pollutions of that whorish Iezabel thy vncleane soule are daily increased whilst thy Treasons and Rebellions against thy God which as Samuel tels Saul are like the sinne of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 are with an obdurate and obstinate heart continued Was there any peace to Absolon though a Sonne when hee was a Traytor against his Father Can there be any to thee not a Sonne of God but a slaue of Sathan rebelling against the Father of Spirits Had Zimri peace saith Iezabel to Iehu that slew his Master 2 Kings 9.31 Zimri was a Traytor and slew Elah as hee was drinking till hee was drunke in the house of Arza his Steward an vsuall end for drunkards
1 Kings 16.9.10 Iezabel argues well Can Traitors haue peace looke to it Iehu thou art a Traytor against Ahab sure Traytors seldome or neuer dye in peace Witnesse Absolon Sheba Adoniah our English Traytors Romanized Semenaries treacherous Conspirators Lopus Squire Titchburne Babington Parry c. our late Powder-plotting Pioners the French Rauillack millions moe which being like Ioab men of bloud haue come to their ends as is said of Tyrants cum caede sanguine with bloud and slaughter Oh then how canst thou a worme of the earth a wretched man because a vvicked man liuing in treasonable sinnes with a heart as hard as the neather-Milstone rebelling against so great so glorious so potent so powerfull a God once hope that euer thy gray haires shall come to the graue in peace or that thy soule after her flitting shall rest in Abrahams bosome the place of peace Can a man haue peace in Rome and be opposed against the Pope the vsurping Herod that supposed earthly God as his flattering Parasites call him oh then canst thou dust and ashes be opposed on earth against the mightie Iehouah the God of heauen Christ that opened the eyes of the blinde open thine eyes to see and thy heart to beleeue as hee did Lydia's Acts 16.14 and giue thee at last a resolution to breake off thy sinnes by repentance Dan. 4.84 the enemies of thy peace least God breake thee like a Potters vessell and teare thee in pieces whilst there is none to deliuer thee Psal 50.22 Oh sue for pardon for thy sinnes seeke for peace to him which is the Prince of peace Esay 9.6 seeke for peace by him and his merits which was ordained to be thy peace and to worke thy reconciliation Câ—l 1.20 so thou shalt shut vp the last period of thy life vvith inward peace and goe to keepe an eternall Sabbath with him that is the God of peace Thirdly that thou maist die peaceably invre thy selfe to dye daily and that after this manner First euery day mortifie some sinne nip some Serpent in the head crucifie euery day some corruption set vpon thy lesser sinnes and so get ground of thy greater sinnes as in particular leaue thy dangerous and damnable custome of swearing and blaspheming by these degrees first breake off thy Ciuill Oathes as in swearing by thy Faith Troth Christendome c. Secondly then set vpon thy Ridiculous and Childish Oathes as by Fay Fakins Trokins Bodikins Slid Sounds Cocke and Pye with the like whereby thou seekest to mocke and deceiue God who will not be mocked Gal. 6. Thirdly then invre thy selfe to leaue thy Superstitious Oathes as by the Masse Rood Crosse by our Lady and by Popish Saints c. Fourthly so proceede against thy Heathenish and Idolatrous Oathes in swearing by the Creatures as Laban and Iezabel by their Idols Gen. 31.53 1 Kings 19 verse 2. as by men by S. Peter and by S. Iohn c. by the Heauens the Earth by Fire Sunne the Light Meate Drinke Money c. or by the parts of thy body as Hands or the like or by thy Soule all condemned Mat. 5. ver 34. Iames 5.12 And so with a courage set vpon thy impious horrible fearefull damnable blasphemous Oathes as by the Lord by God the eternall God by Christ by Iesus and such like or by the parts and adiuncts of Christ by tearing his Humanitie as the Iewes did his body by diuiding him as the Souldiers did his garments Mat. 27.35 in blasphemie by his Death Passion Life Soule Bloud Flesh Heart Wounds Bones Sides Guts Armes Foote Nayles c. of all which I tremble and quake to thinke write and speake though thou makest no more scruple of such Hell-bred Oathes then of thy ordinary words so deale with all other sinnes of which thy soule is as full as a Serpent is full of venome and a Toade of poyson Crucifie them by degrees and dye to them daily else thou dyest for euer if thou dye 〈◊〉 in them By this course thou shalt take away the sting of Death which is Sinne for the strength of Death is Sinne 1 Cor. 15. euen as the strength of Sampson laid in his hayre Iudg. 16.17 which sinne when it is subdued Death it selfe is as easily conquered as weakened Sampson was by the Philistines verse 21. yea it can doe thee no more harme then a Dragon Viper or angry Waspe which haue lost their stings Secondly dye daily to the world loue it not nor the things of it that so thou maist more happily dye out of the world and more hopefully entertaine thoughts of a better world And in this case doe as Runners vse who oft runne ouer the Race before they runne for the Wager that so they may be better invred and acquainted when they come to try their abilitie or as is said of Belney the Martyr that being to suffer by fire many dayes before he would hold his hand a pretty while in the flame so to prepare himselfe to sustaine the paines of Martyrdome which he was to vnder-goe Thirdly dye daily by invring thy selfe to take Crosses and Afflictions patiently as sickenesses in body troubles in minde losse of goods of friends and of good name c. which indeede are little deaths euen pettie deaths not onely Prologues of death but Preparatiues to death for which cause GOD sends them to his children more then to the wicked euen to weane them from the world and prepare them for death as the Nurse weanes the Childe from the Teate by doing bitter Aloes vpon it and sure he that beares Crosses most patiently is well prepared to dye peaceably as appeares by S. Paul 1 Cor. 15.31 who by making good vse of afflictions dyed daily it holding commonly that Mors post crucem minor est Death is lesse dolorous after the crosse Fourthly pray seriously for a peaceable departure it is confirmed by examples of all ages and experience of all Gods Seruants that hee that prayes well speedes well Iacob and Abrahams Seruant had Gods blessings vpon their Iourneyes as an effect of their Prayers Gen. 24. Gen. 27. Thou shalt finde Gods presence euen in that houre of the last iourneying of thy soule from her earthly Mansion to her heauenly Country if thou pray for this grace particularly and effectually therefore as thou oughtest to pray continually for other things so euen in health and prosperitie pray frequently and feruently 1. That God would make this backeward repugnant and nilling nature of thine willing to her dissolution 2. Prepare thy vnprepared soule 3. Subdue thy corruptions 4. Purge out the drosse of thy sinnes 5. Giue the patience to kisse his correcting Rod when hee whips by sicknesse or diseases 6. Succour thee in thy last and greatest conflict 7. Support thy weaknes 8. Aide thee against Sathans force and fraud 9. Strengthen thy Faith 10. Renew thy decayed graces 11. Giue thee the power and comfort of his owne Spirit 12. Not
Latomus and Hoffmeister haue tryed it in their despayring deaths so the inioying of a good conscience is the greatest ioy Hugo cals it the Temple of Salomon the Field of Benediction the Garden of delight the treasurie of the King the house of God the habitation of the holy Ghost the Booke sealed and shut to be opened in the day of Iudgement the very thing saith Ambrose that makes a blessed life yea and I may adde withall a blessed death for to vse the words of Bernard as hee prepares a good dwelling for God whose Will hath not beene peruerted nor Reason deceiued nor Memory defiled so God prepares a dwelling for him that is pure in heart and soule Psal 15.1.2 and in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32.2 Of which blessed mansion they haue some taste euen in death that keepe a good conscience in life Hence is it that the godly take there deaths patiently like sheepe sing ioyfully like the Swanne as Martyres haue done at the stake and as did our good Simeon when the wicked dye like Swine repiningly like the Hiaena ragingly Naturalists write that the warme sweet bloud recoyling to the heart of the Swanne tickleth her with such a secret delight that it makes her sing euen in her death Contrariwise when the Hiaena is in dying the blacke and distempered bloud gathers to her heart which makes her sad and mournefull This is worth applying the conscience of holy actions so warmes the hearts of Gods Seruants with that inward ioy that they dye singing their Hosanna's tryumphing and reioycing in spirit but the consciousnesse of wicked wayes and workes of darknesse oathes vncleannesse profanenes c. like streames of blacke bloud recoyles backe vpon and clogs the hearts of the Sonnes of Belial which makes them dye as wofully and cursedly as they haue liued retchlesly and wickedly oh therefore good Readers who euer you are Ministers or Lay-men keepe a good conscience I intreate you with God and with man in all your wayes and walkings in your courses callings functions and tradings that in your deaths you may shew your selues the Lords Sheepe the Lords Swannes like Simeon not the Diuels Swine and Hels Hiaena's Now thou art to be directed in some dueties in thy sicknesse the probable summoner of thy death for though God onely know when death is nearest he hauing as the keyes of the heauens and the keyes of the heart so the keyes of the earth and of the graue of life and of death 1 Sam. 2.6 yet it is probable that life is nearest expiring when sickenes is approaching as the wals are nearest ruine when the Cannon is laid to batter them Now these Directions I referre to these three heads First respect God secondly thy selfe thirdly others In respect of God first renue thy former repentance seeke earnestly to be reconciled to God in CHIRST get more assurance of the Mercy Fauour and Loue of God towards thee gather together all thy spirituall forces striue and wrastle couragiously against Diffidence Distrust Infidelitie and Despayre like an actiue runner shew some brunts as it were of inward strength euen when thou seest the Goale and art nearest the end of thy race Now for strengthening thy Faith and renuing thy Repentance the better take this course First when Sickenesse or Infirmitie ceazeth on thee consider that it ariseth not from 1. Chance 2. Fortune 3. Rawnesse of Weather 4. Ill Ayre 5. Bad Dyet 6. Catching of cold or the like which are eyther no causes at all or else onely secondarie but by an immediate prouidence Secondly search out the cause for which God afflicts thee and thou shalt by the light of the word and of thine owne conscience find that the cause is thy sin other causes there may be as CHRIST shewes in the case of the blinde man who neyther sinned nor his Parents Iohn 9.2 As 1. tryall of Faith 2. of Patience as in Iobs case 3. exciting to Prayer and Repentance as in Ezekias case Esay 38.1 4. to preuent sinne to which Nature and corruption inclines 5. the Humiliation of pride 6. manifestation of the workes of God oft cause the Lord to visit euen his owne sonnes with sicknesses and diuers diseases but in Gods reuealed will sinne is the ordinary cause as appeares Deut. 28.21 Leut. 26. c. Sinne caused the Aegyptians Botches Exod. 9.10 the Philistines Emerods 1 Sam. 5.6 the Widdow of Sarepta's Sonnes sickenesse 1 King 17.18 and therefore when CHRIST cured the bodies of his Patients hee first remits the sinnes of their soules so remoues the cause Mat. 9.2 Iohn 5.14 as in the blinde man and the sicke of the Palsie Thirdly when thou hast felt thine owne pulse and laid the finger on the right cause which is sinne then by examination of thine owne hart find out what speciall sin causeth thy present scourge oh search thy selfe thorowly Zeph. 2.1 examine thy soule narrowly Psal 4.4 Play the selfe Constable make priuie search in euery roome within the house of thy heart for thy secret sinnes as for priuie Traytors Fourthly when thou hast found them out confesse them bring them to the strict barre of Gods Iustice arraigne them nay be thy selfe a Witnesse against them yea a Iudge to condemne them as Paul prescribes the Corinthians in the like case 1 Cor. 11.30.31 and as Dauid practised in his owne particular Psal 32.5 Fiftly supplicate and intreate the supreame Iudge of Heauen that may condemne thee or repriue thee to pittie thee and pardon thee Ieremy and Hosee will direct thee how to put vp thy supplications in forma pauperis as a poore penitent and what words to vse that will plead and preuaile for pardon Lam. 3.40.41 Hosee 6.1 Dauid sets thee an holy President most beseeming thy imitation who when hee was sicke at least vpon the occasion of his sickenes penned speciall Psalmes of repentance as namely Psal 6. the 22. the 38. the 29. which I prescribe to be read of thee repeated and applyed with Dauids heart also as spirituall Physicke 1. to purge the ill humours of thine heart 2. to quicken thy dulnesse 3. to excite thy deadnesse 4. to inflame thy desires 5. to comfort thy conscience 6. to strengthen thy faith 7. to prepare thee to Prayer reade seriously the History of Christs Passion recorded Luke 22.23 Chap. the 29. Psalme the 42. Psalme the 51. Psalme the 143. Psalme the 14. Chapter of Iob the 11. the 14. the 17. Chapter of Saint Iohn Ecclesiastes Chap. 1. Dan. Chap. 9. Romanes Chap 8. the 7. Chap. of the Apocalypse 1 Cor. 15. Chap. these will giue thee some holy heate Thus thou hast the true preparatiues in thy sickenesse in respect of God they are the more worthy remembrance because so few follow them for alas how many that haue liued long in the bosome of the Church are so farre from renuing their Faith and Repentance that when they lye sicke and are drawing to
their deaths they must be catechized as Christ did Nicodemus and Philip the Eunuch euen in the maine doctrines of Faith and Repentance like as some new conuerted Pagans were in the Primitiue Church There be few Ministers acquainted vvith visiting the sicke but they shall finde that men that haue beene vnder the meanes twentie thirtie or fortie yeeres doe at the end of all beginne to inquire as the Iewes of Peter Acts 2. and the Iaylor of Paâ—l Acts 16. what they should doe to be saued not yet knowing the meanes and the way to saluation which argues the great securitie of our age and contempt of God oh take thou heede betimes vse all good meanes before-hand that thou maist be able in sickenesse to put in practise these spirituall exercises of Repentance and Inuocation The second branch of the sicke mans preparation concernes himselfe and that eyther his soule or his body for the soule First the sicke partie must arme himselfe against the feare of death and feeling of sicknesse Death is very fearefull to all men euen to the godly as one obserues well in Dauid for all who though hee were neyther daunted with Sauls malice nor the Philistines hatred nor Absolons Treason nor Achitophels treachery nor in grapling with a Lyon nor in fighting with a Beare nor incountring Goliah yet when Death beganne to close vvith him and lay holde on him then hee cryes out Oh I am troubled aboue maesure Oh spare mee a little Psal 6.3 39.13 Therefore thus incourage thy present feeling and greater feare First that sicknesse and so death is the rod of a Father not the whip of a Iudge the correction not destruction of a Sonne Heb. 12.6 Secondly since it is the Lord say with Eli Lâ—t him doe what seemes good 1 Sam. 3.18 His will be done on mee in mee and by mee on me in suffering in me by his grace working by me in obeying Thirdly Christ thy high Priest and Intercessor is euen touched with a fellow-feeling of all thine infirmitiâ—s Heb. 4.15 Fourthly against deaths feare 1. consider the estate of thy life which life is but a vanishing Vapour Iames 4.14 a Weather-cocke which turnes at euery blast a Waue which surgeth at euery storme a Reede blowne vvith euery winde a Warfare as doubtfull as dangerous feare not the vanishing of a Vapour the turning of a Weather-cocke 2. Consider thy body as a body of sinne Rom. 7.24 the soules prison the mindes iayle the spirits cage no Bocardo dungeon sincke puddle pit is so noysome to the body as it selfe is to the heauenly inspired soule Now since death is the leauing of this body of sinne as Augustine cals it it is not to be eschewed but imbraced saith Chrisostome Other incouragements I leaue to their due places The second dutie which concernes the soule is this thou must set in order thy soule reconciling and recommending vnto God this desolate darling of thine after the manner afore said for as the sickenesse of the body oft comes from the sinne of the soule so the curing of the one oft procures the health of the other but if thy sicknesse be to death by this course 1. thou shalt dye more quietly 2. more comfortably 3. giue good example to thy visitors 4. leaue a comfort to thy suruiuing Friends Now for the performance of these things the better others ought to assist thee as others brought the sicke of the Palsie to CHRIST Marke 2. Iames tels thee that the Elders of the Church must be sent for Iam. 5.14 which Elders were not onely Apostles but auncient men endued with the spirit of Prayer and gift of Miracles a gift which not onely many Parents had but euen Christian Souldiers saith Tertullian de corona militis c. 11. In these times S. Iames his rule still holds though then those gifts cease yet make thou choyse of such Christians as haue the spirit of Admonition Exhortation Prayer c. for to their prayers for thee a blessing is promised Iames 5.15 their prayers if they be feruent may preuaile for the restoring of thy spirituall life or corporall health as the prayers of Elias Elizeus Paul and our Sauiour Christ preuailed for whom they prayed but chiefely send for thy Minister or some faithfull Preacher for hee will play the part of a spirituall Physitian 1. hee can vnrip thy vlcers search thy sores better then thou thy selfe 2. set before thee thy sinnes 3. cast thee downe by the Law 4. raise thee vp by the Gospell 5. comfort 6. direct 7. instruct thee 8. speake a word to thee in due season from God 9. be thy mouth to speake from thee and for thee to God 10. pronounce thy pardon on earth vvhich shall be ratified in heauen vpon tryall of thy Repentance Iohn 20.23 The practise of the world and worldlings is condemnable in this case for alas instead of sending for knowing and zealous men which could comfort them with such consolations wherewith they themselues haue beene comforted 2 Cor. 1.4 and in some measure restore them Gal. 6.1 they send for their carnall friends entertaine and welcome profane men that come to visit them from whom they receiue as much comfort as Iudas did of the Scribes and Pharisies when hee was in despayre Mat. 27.3.4 First eyther they say nothing to them like Iobs friends that were silent seauen dayes Iob 2.13 and in silence looke vpon them like a Deere at gaze Secondly or else they speake to little or no purpose saying to the sicke partie they are sorry to see him in such a case they would haue him take that which themselues want a good heart and be of good courage and comfort but wherein and by what meanes they cannot tell Others more vainely and profanely that they doubt not but hee shall doe well enough and recouer and that they shall be merry and drinke and carouse together as they haue done before c. and they will pray for them if they will when alas all their prayers are nothing else but the Apostles Creede or the tenne Commandements and the Lords Prayer vttered without Faith Feeling and Vnderstanding and this is the common comfort that sicke men get of their neighbours and friends when they come to visite them alas we may say as Iob of his friends miserable comforters be they all Secondly herein many men are also culpable 1. that they eyther send not for a Minister at all 2. or else for such a one as is as good as none a cloud without raine a dry pit without water such a one as wants the tongue of the learned to speake to him or the heart of the humble to pray for him vnlesse in saying as they say some set prayers which good Sir Iohn is as farre from truely praying as the sicke Patient is from profiting by them Or thirdly if they send for a Minister it is preposterously when it is too late in some maine exigent
for Physicke for if any of these simple soules be in any extremitie by sicknesse or diseases or their Wiues Children c. euen as they doe also like beasts for their beasts and Cattell such a Wise-man such a Wise-woman such an old Hag such a white Witch such a shee-Diuell must be sent to Alas what is this but to runne from the God of Israel to the God of Ekron from Samuel in Ramoth to the Witch at Endor from the Riuers of Samaria to the Waters of Damascus from the liuing to the dead from God to the Diuell What is this but to fall downe and worship the Diuell to sacrifice to him with the poore Virginians and the Heathenish Sauages Oh Atheisticall Sots is there not a God in Israel Therefore take thou heede of this cursed course and Satanicall practise in thy sicknesse for alas to runne a whoring afrer such is not the way to cure thee but to kill thee for this haynous sinne vsually prouokes the Lord to plague the practisers of it euen with death it selfe as the Lord himselfe threatens that hee vvill purposely set his face against those that worke with Spirits c. yea and that he will cut them off to from amongst his people Leuit. 20.6 So the Lord verified this threat in Ahazia for because hee did seeke to Baalzebub and not to the God of Israell in his sicknesse God sends Elias directly to tell him that for that cause hee should not come downe from his bed but should dye the death as indeede hee did 1 Kings 1.6 So Saul was slaine notwithstanding that he went to the Witch at Endor 1 Sam. 31. Oh that our common people would reade and remember this that in stead of getting helpe by such Satanicall meanes as thy vse they prouoke the Lord as Paul tels the Corinthians in another case of receiuing the Sacrament vnworthily 1 Cor. 11.29.30 to plague them eyther with further diseases or else with death it selfe as hee did Saul and Ahazia Secondly suppose thou shouldest get help it is by the Diuels meanes and who vvould goe to such a filthy Physitian Thirdly if by this meanes thou be relieued thy soule is a thousand times more preiudiced the cure of thy body is the curse of thy soule thou procures the health of the one by the sicknesse of the other so thy salue is worse then thy sore therefore when Sathan and his Instruments can helpe thy health so much as Superstition and Idolatrie in seeking to them hinders thy saluation then I shall say to thee as Elizeus to Naaman Goe in peace euen to the house of Rimmon Others there be that vse other meanes which haue no warrant of which kinde are those that vse any manner of Charmes or Spels or that hang about their neckes Characters and Figures eyther in Paper Wood or Waxe c. which are all vaine and superstitious because neyther by creation nor by any ordinance in Gods word they haue any power to cure diseases for words doe onely signifie Figures can but onely represent Indeede I confesse there are some things that haue some vertue in them being hung about the necke as white Peonie in this kinde is good against the Falling-sickenesse and Wolfes-dung tyed to the body is good against the Collicke so there are many the like which haue not their operation by Inchantment but from an inward vertue but all Amulets and Ligatures c. which worke not by some virtuall contract must needes haue their power from the Diuell The last dutie which must be done in sicknesse is relatiue concerning others of which briefely euen as wee haue spoke of those that concerne God and our selues Others I call eyther our Enemies or our Friends those without vs or our owne Families First to thy enemie thou must be reconciled forgiue him and desire to be forgiuen of him thou art now about not to offer a Lambe or a Bullocke as in the Leuiticall law but thy selfe thy body thy soule a sacrifice to GOD Rom. 12.1 Oh then first be reconciled to thy God ere thou offer thy gift Mat. 5.23 Now if the party whom thou hast iniured eyther be absent or present and vvill not relent yet thou in seeking peace hast discharged thy conscience and God will accept thy will for the deede Secondly if thou hast wronged any man by any manner of Iniustice whatsoeuer secretly or openly thou must make restitution euill gotten goods must be restored be they gotten by Vsury Oppression Extortion keeping the pawne the pledge or by any sinister meanes whatsoeuer the LORD strictly inioynes it Leuit. 6. vers 1.2.3.4 Zacheus practised it Luke 14. The Law of Nations and of Nature approues it and the very Law that is writ within vs doth presse and vrge it The practise of the world is against both these rules for alas are there not many whose malice is like coales of Iuniper vnquenchable The throwing of dust amongst buzzing Bees makes them quiet but the summons to their dust causeth not some to leaue their waspishnesse they carry wrath boyling within their breasts as in a Furnace euen to Tophet the fire and Furnace of Hell neuer purposing to forget nor forgiue nay wishing that their very spirits could torture and torment their enemies after their dissolution And for restitution how few be there that once dreame of it much lesse determine it in which case they come farre short of Iudas who at his desperate death would restore those thirtie pieces which hee got in life with the price of bloud Mat. 27.4.5 In which those men doe not onely preiudice their owne soules but their Children also and posteritie euen in earthly things in leauing to them riches wrongfully got which bring deseruedly the curse of God vpon all the rest of that estate which they bequeath vnto them according to the phrase De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres Goods euill got who ere enioy them Helpe not the third heyres but annoy them like that coale of fire which the rauenous Eagle carryed to her nest which set all the rest of the nest on fire Thirdly thou must haue a speciall care to prouide for the peace welfare and prosperitie of those that are committed to thy charge that it may goe well with them after thy death The Magistrate after the example of Moses Ioshua and Dauid must prouide for the godly and peaceable estate of that Towne Citie or Common-wealth ouer which hee is set that pure Religion may be maintained outward Peace established ciuill Iustice executed c. The Minister as much as he can when he is in dying must cast to prouide for the continuance of the good estate of that Flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made him Ouer-seer Thus our Sauiour himselfe the chiefe Shepheard had a care of his Flocke ere hee left them hee moderates the mourning of the Daughters of Ierusalem giues Commission to his Disciples to teach all Nations Mat.
Lords Tribunall vvhither it is approaching that so as it is said of the Doue and the Eagle that when they haue plunged their vvings in the water they are better fitted for their flight thou plunging thy selfe into the troubled Bethesda poole of thy repentant teares distilling from the Limbecke of a remorcefull heart thy soule may take the wings of a Doue and flye out of the Cage and Coate of thy body to her eternall rest in Abrahams bosome Now with Simeons heart sing Simeons Song now awaken all thy powers to praise the Lord so as in singing wee ascend to higher notes thy soule leauing the earth of thy body shall with the Larke mount still higher and higher nay it shall be carryed vp on the wings of wayting Angels till it be transcendent amongst the Quires of those heauenly Hierarchies that sing continuall Halleluiah's vnto the once incarnate now deified Lambe euen Simeons Lord that sits vpon the throne To whom with the Father and the eternall Spiriâ— a Trinitie in Vnitie and Vnitie in Trinitie as his due and our duty from the ground of our hearts and soules be ascribed all Honour Glory Power Maiestie and Mercy of vs and all Churches now and for euermore Amen Necessary Incouragements and Comforts against the grieuances of seuerall Crosses Because that many are too much deiected and disconsolate at the death of their friends Parents for Children Children for Parents Husbands for Wiues and Wiues for Husbands Brother for Brother and Friend for Friend mourning like Rachel for her Children and will not be comforted let these Motiues moue thee to take truce with thy teares and not to sorrow as did the Heathens without hope 1 KNOW and acknowledge that it is GOD that hath taken away thy friend the pleasure of thine eyes thy Wife or the like therefore as God said to Ezekiel in the like case Mourne not nor weepe neyther let thy teares runne downe cease from sighing and make no mourning for the dead Ezek. 24.16.17 Murmure not as did the rebellious Israelites when their Brethren were taken away Numb 16.41 Kicke not against the pricke Act. 9.5 resist not God with a stiffe and vncircumcised heart Act. 7.51 but like an obedient childe imbrace the stroke of thy Father and kisse the rod. 2. The Saints of God haue beene patient spectators of the deaths of as neare and deare friends as any thou hast parted withall whose Patience in this crosse I propound vnto thee to imitate as Iames propounds Iobs Patience to be imitated in euery crosse Iames 5.11 Thus Adam and Euâ— saw the death of their sonne Abel Gen. 4. Noah the destruction of the whole world by the Deluge Gen. 7. Abraham of Terah his Father Gen. 11.32 so of his deare Wife Sarah Gen. 23.2 Lâ—t of his Wife Gen. 19 26. Isaack of his Mother and of Abraham his tender Parents Gâ—n 25.8.9 Iacob of his Father Isaack Gen. 35.29 of his beautifull and beloued Rachel Gen. 35.19 Thus when Aaron saw his two sonnes Nadab and Abihu deuoured with fire from the Lord hee held his peace Leuit. 10.2.3 Iob blessed God as well when his Children were slaine as his goods imbezeled Iob 1.21.22 for Eli lamented the losse of the Arke rather then the slaughter of Hophni and Phinees for which his Daughter in-Law also was more moued then for the death of her Husband 1 Sam. 4. v. 18.19.20.21.22 Dauid more bewayled the spirituall death of the soules of Ammon and Absolon then the corporall deaths of their bodies thy dying in their sinnes of Incest and Treason 2 Sam. 14.14 Lastly the Virgin Mary and Iohn the Disciple stood by the Crosse of Christ in his Passion onely with compassion without that outward lamentation which Christ condemned in the Daughters of Ierusalem and in them immoderate mourning in all Mat. 27.56 Luke 23.28 which particulars chiefely the last as Ambrose applyed them in his Funerall Oration of Valentinian the Emperour so they must be laid to heart in our application and imitation in euery Funerall 3 If hee dyed in the Faith of Christ hee is translated like Enoch from this life to a better from this vaile of misery to eternall glory hee is a Citizen of Heauen an inheritor of a Kingdome Sorrow not for his triumph he is gone to possesse a Crowne in Glorification which was granted him in Predestination promised him in Vocation 4 Hee is blessed being dead in the Lord Apoc. 14. 5 Hee is returned home to his Fathers house hee is gone to his better friends euen to the companie of innumerable Saints and Angels and to the Spirits of the iust Heb. 12.22.23 Mat. 22.30 Reu. 15.11 Mat. 8.11 1 Thes 4.17 6 Hee is inseperably vnited vnto GOD the chiefe and perfect Good first whom to see is Tranquillitie secondly whom to rest in is Securitie thirdly to enioy is Felicitie Being incorporated into that Citie first whose King is Veritie secondly the Lawes Charitie thirdly the Dignities Equitie fourthly the Life Eternitie in which hee shall be sempeternally blessed ioying in and inioying first a certaine Securitie secondly a secure Tranquillitie thirdly a safe Iocunditie fourthly happy eternitie fiftly an eternall felicitie 7 He is now married vnto his Bridegroome CHRIST to whom his soule was contracted in earth and the Marriage-feast is now solemnized in Heauen now thy mirth not thy mourning becomes a Marriage Hos 2.19 Mat. 22. Phil. 1.23 Iohn 12.26 17.24 Luke 33.43.46 Reu. 7.17 8 Consider that his warre-fare is now at an end his iourney is finished and his worke is accomplished if GOD had had any more worke for him to haue done hee should haue liued longer for as God sweepes away the wicked when they are at the height of sinne as hee did Er and Onan Gen. 38. the Sodomites Hophni Phinees and Absolon so the godly in the height of Grace 9 He was here a Pilgrime and a stranger as were the Patriarkes Abraham Isaack Iacob Dauid and the rest now he hath hoyst vp sailes hee is gone home into his owne Country therefore why shouldest thou grieue at his happy voyage and safe arriuall 10 Thou hast not lost him but left him hee is not dead but departed nay as Christ said of Iairus his Daughter and Lazarus thy Friend thy Damzâ—ll thy Daughter be it hee or shee is not dead but sleepeth and as Martha beleeued there shall be a time when they shall waken Now what mother grieues that her vnquiet childe sleepes and takes the rest many weepe because their Children will not or cannot sleepe few because they doe sleepe 11 Hee shall be restored vnto thee againe at the Resurrection of the iust euen in his body Psal 17.15 Iob 19.25 Iohn 5.29 as his soule is now immediately gone to God as did the soule of Lazarus Luke 16.22 of Stephen Acts 7.69 of the penitent Theefe Luke 23.43 yea of CHRIST himselfe verse 46. where it remaines in ioy Mat. 25. v. 21. 23.
others within the Church with sodaine Iudgements for their blasphemous Heresies nay euen his owne people with the plague of three-score and ten thousand men for the mistrust of Dauid his Seruant that God which neuer suffered sinne to goe vnpunished in Iustice if it were not pardoned in Mercy he that sees no iniquitie in Iacob nor no sinne in Israell in couering the transgressions of his Children and remitting the eternall punishment to the penitent in respect of their soules yet there are causes sufficient for him some secret some reuealed 1. Both in respect of God 2. of his Church 3. of the wicked and 4. of thy selfe that he should exercise thee with temporall afflictions here as he did Dauid as with sickenesse diseases c. Therefore as the Israelites found out Achan the Theefe the cause of their plague the Marriners Ionas the cause of their storme whom they punished condignely so finde thou out by a diligent search thy Achan thy Ionas thy speciall sinne which occasions this blast and storme of sickenesse put Achan to death crucifie that sinne cast Ionas into the Sea drowne it or wash it in a floud of teares as did Peter and Ezekias and CHRIST will wash thy wounds vvith his bloud he will recouer thy soule and restore thy sicke body if it be good for thee or renue thy state in a heauenly mansion prouided for thee Depend vpon God for the issue haue recourse vnto him by Faith in the first place looke vpon the brazen Serpent as soone as euer thou art wounded and thou shalt be healed and helped eyther thou shalt be deliuered from this crosse as was Ezekias or haue patience to indure it as had Iob or a happy issue in it as had Dauid but runne not in the first place to the Physitian vvith Asa 1 Chron. 16.12 nor to Charmers Witches and Coniurers as did Ahazia to Baalzebub the God of Ekron 2 Kings 13. as Saul to the Witch of Endor least thou perish as hee did least thou pay the Diuell thy soule as our ignorant superstitious common people doe for curing thy body the wages that hee requires least thy medicine be worse then thy disease but Returne vnto the Lord hee hath spoyled thee and hee will heale thee hee hath wounded thee and he will binde thee vp Hos 6.1 5 God inflicts lesse vpon thee then thy sinnes deserue though thy paine be great for as wee are all by nature sinfull Psal 51.4 Corrupt and abhominable and gone out of the way Psal 14.3 Psal 53. all offending in many things Iames 2.3 so he might condignely pay thee the wages of thy sinnes death damnation Hell fire Rom. 6.23 Rom. 21.8 for indeede it is the mercy of God that wee are not vtterly consumed because his compassions faile not Lament 3.22.23 Hee hath not dealt with thee after thy sinnes nor rewarded thee after thine iniquitie Psal 103.10 6 God afflicts thee not so much as hee might and could for as thou hast sinned in euery part in thy tongue in thy head thy eyes thy feete Rom. 3.13.14.15 as euery member hath beene made a weapon of vnrighteousnes to fight against God Rom. 6.13 so hee could racke and rent torture and torment thee in euery member euen as hee will deale with the reprobates in hell Doth thy head ake with the Shunamites childe 2 Kin. 4. ver 18. hee could make thy heart ake to he could scorch thy tongue like the rich Gluttons Lukâ— 16 24. burne thee within thy bowels as hee did Aâ—tiochus c. Is one member distressed hee could smite thee with boyles from the crowne of the head to the sole of thy foote as hee did Iob Iob 2.7 Therefore it is kindnesse to punish one part when all haue offended 7 The Saints and Seruants of God haue indured greater extremities then as yet thou wast euer invred vnto thou hast heard as of the patience so of the paines of Iob thou hast not felt a Flea's biting in respect of him and yet there was peace to him at the last Iob 42. ver 17. Looke vpon the Patients of Christ that heauenly Physitian in the Gospell one good woman troubled with an issue of bloud twelue yeeres long which had spent all shee had vpon the Physitians yet at last cured An other woman vexed with a spirit of infirmitie eight and fiftie yeeres that was bowed together and could not lift vp her selfe in any wise yet loosed by CHRIST from her disease A man that vvas diseased eight and thirtie yeeres lying at the poole of Bethesda yet at the voyce of Christ rose vp tooke vp his bed and walked How long thinke you was Lazarus pined with hunger wanting crummes payned with vlcers wanting comforts reiected of men his best Physicke the Dogs tongues ere hee were carryed by the Angels into Heauen Luke 16. I might instance in the Creeple that was lame from his mothers wombe that sate at the gate of Salomons Temple called Beautifull and in that other impotent Creeple at Lystra which were both of them healed and helped the one by Peter and Iohn the other by Paul and Barnabas Acts 14.8.9.10 In Aeneas that kept his couch eight yeeres sicke of the Palsie yet in the name of Christ made whole Acts 9.33.34 In him that was blinde from his birth Iohn 9.2 In those two blinde men that cryed after Christ Mat. 9.27 All which by faith receiued their sight from him that is the light of the world So in those whose Sonnes and Daughters were dispossessed of those tormenting Spirits wherewith from their Cradles they were possessed Marke 9.21 verse 25. Luke 9.42 Mat. 15.22 with all the rest of the halt blinde dumbe maymed c. that were cast downe at IESVS his feete and healed Mat. 15.30.31 If I should set before you in order Dauids suffrings in this kinde you would wonder who though hee were a King a Priest and a Prophet a man after Gods owne heart yet indured dira dura hard and harsh pressures GOD so tempered his cup that hee occasionedly cryes out that by reason of his outward and inward sorrowes there was no health in his flesh no rest in his bones his wounds stincking through corruptnesse his loynes filled vvith sore diseases no sound part in his body his flesh trembling within him and the terrours of death comming about him his heart panting his eyes dimmed his strength failing euery way so perplexed that his extremities cause him not onely to cry and call and complaine and groane but euen to roare and bellow out like an Oxe pricked in the bitternesse of his soule Psal 55.4.5 Psal 38.2.3.4.5.6.7.8 c. yet for all that so freed so comforted after that his heart was filled with ioy and his mouth with laughter that hee broke sorth into prayses vnto his God vvith ioyfull songs for his deliuerance Apply this Mithridate of these examples to thine owne ruptures Did
plentie ebd to pouertie Iob 1. 2. and did flow againe to plenty Iob 42. So the Disciples of Christ were indifferent prosperous till Christs death after which they vvere in stormes Luke 22.35.36 So Ieremy for eighteene yeeres had comforts in his Ministry but after whips imprisonments and pouertie thou art not exempted from drinking of these cups neyther needest thou feare to pledge the Saints FINIS To the READERS FRiendly Readers these Errours with others whether in words or syllables in misse-quoting or wrong pointing of some places which haue past the Presse in my absence by reason of the close writing of my Copie I pray you censure fauourably and correct friendly Also I desire you to take notice that as I haue added more then I did preach some Historicall Amplifications from pag. 273. to 278. as also from pag. 305. to pag. 318. so I haue left out the Merginall Quotations as needlesse for the vnlearned that neyther read nor regard them as for the learned I referre them to Zwinger his Theatrum humanae vitae Lonicer his Theatrum Historicum Grosij Historicae Tragicae Osiander his Epitome of the Centuries Textor his Officina Diogenes Laertius Valerius Maximus Fulgosus c. From all whom I haue epitomized these Histories as they from others ERRATA PAge 60. line 20 for Bolserus read Bolsecus p. 123. l. 23. for dispertment r. disportment p 133. l. 13. for Segor r. Sâ—or p. 169. l. 17. for renijs r. remis p. 182. l. 8. for Licinus r. Licinius p. 283. l. 12. for Cressus r. Cresus p. 314. l. 11. for Gods r. God ibid. l. 28. for Oreseence r. Crescence p. 456. in mergine for Heidou r. Chambers FINIS To a hominis vita mortis meditatio Gen. ch 1. ch 2. ch 3. Gen. 4.1.2 Gen. 3.19 Gen. 18.17 Gen. 24 63 Gen. 37.35 Gen. 47 9. Gen. 50 25 Gen. 18 9 Gen. 23.4 5. Psal 90.12 Iob 10.14 Psal 120.3 Psal 49.1.2.3 Phil. 2.23 2 Pet. 1.3 Iohn 11.15.16 Mat. 17. v. 4. v. 9. Deut. 32.49 Act. 7.56 Luke 16.22 Acts 17.11 Heb. 3.2.5 Luke 2.25 Zanc. de sacr Scrip. See the Iewes Talmud in the Treatise Iomach cap. Tereph Bâ—calphi See Morneyes truenesse of Religion Pag. 500. Mâ—lton in Yorkeshire Dente Thaeâ—ino Aristotle apud Val. Max. lib. 7. c. 2. Also see Mr. Vauhams and Mr. Tukes Bookes of the same subiect Printed Anno 1506 Textâ—r in Epistola ante suam Officinam Gen. 47.9 Eph. 5.16 De vitae breuitate sic Epistola 1. ad Lucil. Sermone ad Schol. Luke 21.18 Nihil agendo aliter agendo male agendo Seneca Rom. 12.13 Prou. 21.17 Mat. 12.36 Iob 6.12 Mat. 26.41 Quod caret alterna requies durabile non est Arist in Eth. Iohn 11.35 Luk. 19.41 See Mr. Perkins in Cases of Conscience Dearing in Hebraeos in initio Aquinas 22â— q 168. Psal 9.17 Luke 16.24 Gal. 6.10 Mat. 20.1.2 Plutarke Lu. 19.13 2 Cor. 6.2 Ioh. 9.4 Pro. 6.6 Dion Carthus in opusculo 1 Sam. 13. Dion Carthus Susturâ—a de Barl c. 18. Hier. in Aggeum cap. 1. Luke 12.38 Iohn 3.8 Luke 3 9.10 1 Kin 21 v. 19. v. 27.28 Acts 24.26 2 Kin. 1.13 Psal 90.12 Eccl. 1.40 Iohn 19.41 In Apocryph Dan. c. 14. Lam. 1.9 See the last Sermon in Simeon his desired Pacification Cramba bis cocta B. B. Expostulat Rom. 6.21 Psal 2.10 Iames 1.5 1 King 3.6.7 Verse 7. Ver. 8. c. Ezech. 18.23.32 Esa 55.6.7 1 Tit. 2.1.1 Act. 10.34.35 Psal 90.12 Mat. 26.41 1 Pet. 4.7 Iohn 3.15.1 18.36 Iohn 10.29 Rom. 8.1 Ver. 35. Ver. 38. Esa 57.1.2 2 Chron. 34.28 a Why we are to pray against sodain death Rom. 14.4 b The fearfull estate of the wicked by sodain death c Gen 7.21 d Gen. 19.24 e Dan 4.30 f 2 Mach. 9 5.6.7 g Act. 12.23 h Luke 12. Rom. 5.12 Obser Mat. 17.14 Numb 20.12 Gal. 3.10 Iames 2.10 Mat. 5.19 Ver. 13. Gen. 15.15 Phil. 1.21 Iohn 11 1â— Iob 1.21 Ester 6.1 1 King 19.4 1 Cor. 15.55.56.57 Osee 13.14 Ezech. 37.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Reue. 20.11 12 13 Luk. 34.32 1 God cals for thy soule 2 The sting of death is taken away 3 Ionas 4.2 Exod. 34. God is present at thy death Pro. 14.32 Iames 2.23 4 Death is no death to the godly Vita vix vitalis Somnus Imago mortis Frater mortis Homer 5 Wee shall know and inioy our friends in glory a Gen. 1.15 Numb 27. Deut. 32. Gen. 2.23 Mat. 17.4 6 Death frees from sinne and from thy soules enemies Theophrastus 7 It deliuers from the euils present and to come 8 It secures thee from the fight with Sin to triumph with God a Deu. 44.45 b Iudg. 10.10 Iudg. 3.8 c Exod. 14. 9 It frees thee from conuersing with the wicked Psal 31.15 Gen. 19.16 22.23 10 It frees thee from corrupting by the wicked Gen. 42.15 Gen. 12. Gen. 20. 11 It secures thee from the malice of the mightie 13 It cleares thy good name Iames 3.6 Psal 31.20 Esay 58.8 Iosh 1.2 Heb. 3.2 Deut. 34.10 11 Num. 11.1 Psal 78. Num. 16.3 and 41.42 Acts 26.28 Ier. 18.18 Ier. 20.7.8.10 Acts 12.23 Prou. 10. Psal 112.9 a Mat. 27.24 b ver 19. c Luke 23.48 d Mat. 27.54 e Mat. 25 4 f ver 51.53 g Iob. 15. ch 22.33.34 14 It tries and declares thy graces 15 It is the good inheritance of the godly and the horrour of the wicked Acts 7.60 1 Kings 2. v. 1. to 11. Gen. 48. Gen. 49. Gen 25.8 Iob 42.17 Luke 2. Vide cent Magd. sic Grin in Apotheg morientiuâ— Eccles 2.16 2 Chron. 35 23 Ar. in probl de cruce Mat. 27.3 2 Mach. 9.13 Luk. 23.43 Psal 66 2â— Phil. 2.12 Iohn 1.47 Psal 41 1. Luk. 16.22 16 In death desire Christ as hee by death desired thee Mat. 10.38 and 16.21.17 22.23 Luk. 18.31 Iohn 4.32 Ioh. 18.4.7 Gen. 18.2 Ioh. 19.30 Gen. 8.8 Esay 53. a Eph 5.21 Ose 2.19 b Ephe. 5.30 c Ioh. 15.5 d Ioh. 15.6 Iam. 5.11 17 Death is the common Inne of all flesh where thou shalt be refreshed Esay 38.2 Numb 27.13 Plus exempla quam praecepta Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis a 2 Sam. 15.31 Ch. 23. 1 Kin. 2.10 b 2 Chro. 31.1.2 c Chro. 34.3.4 d Chr. 15.8 e 1 King 22.41 f Gen. 25.8 g Gen. 9.28.29 h Gen. 5.27 i Iob 42.17 k Psal 22.4 Cantiâ— Cygnea Redargution Psal 45.1.2 Iames 5.13 a Acts. 16.21 b Luke 2.69 c Mat. â— 21 d Gen 3 15 e Gen. 15.5.17.6 Gen. 12.3 Gal. 3.8 f Act. 3.24 g Deut. 1.15 and 7.37 Vse h Iohn 6.56 Heb 11.13 i Esay 53. ch 5â— ch 55. k Ierâ—4 â—4 5 l Esay 9.6 a 1 Cor. 15. Ch. 5.41 c Dan. 3.23 d Luke 2.14 e Reu. 5.11.12 f Luke 2.10 g Esay 9.6 Redargution h 1 Sam. 15 i Daniel 5. Sibilaâ— mâ— ropulus c Horace k Gen. 38. l Pro. 7.7 m Ier 5 8. n Pro. 6.32 o Pro 7.22 p Pro. 6.32 q Gesner Plinie
age Euseb lib. 7. cap 20. Theod. lib. 1. c. 14. Sabellicus lib. 5. c. 4. Euagrius lib. 1. c. 7. Anno 1553. Euseb lib. 10. c. 8. Eus lib. 3. c. 13. Oros lib. 7 c. 11. Eus lib. 9. Vide Zonaram annalium lib 2. Eus lib. 8. Cent. 1. c. 12. Hist Eccles Vse 2. Of Redargution Numb 22. Gal. 6.6 An ill life is the vsuall Prologue to a Tragicall death The vaine hopes of vvicked men It is hard to leaue the custome of sinne None can repent when hee will Aug. Doctrine There is a way laid downe in the word to a blessed death * Mr. Perkins Mr. Sutton in his Booke Learne to Dye Death is certaine yet vncertaine * Lampridrus Seneca Heb. 9.27 The pains of hell are without remission or redemption Esay 30. Numb 22. Psal 32.1 Repentance is not to be deferd till sicknesse or death â— Kings 21. Plurimis intensis minor ad singula senâ—us The danger of deferring discouered Reu. 3.18 Gregorie The theefes repentance vpon the Crosse examined Exhortat Meditation of death is a principall part of preparation to die in peace Psal 90.12 Effects of deaths meditation Eccl. 12.3 â— Augustine Lib. 3. De orig Monich Mat. 17. Exhortat â—nuaâ—unâ— vrbem somtio vinoque sepultum Et risum impedit mortem Expostulation Monumentum quasi monens mentem Ad Mart. Lib. de gratia noui Test De paup amand Greg. in Mor. The life of Faith brings peace in Death See D. Mosse his Sermon of the Faith of Diuels Repentance the meanes of peace with God Three wayes how to dye daily First dye to sinne How to leaue the damnable custome of Swearing Secondly dye to the world Thirdly Beare crosses patiently Fourthly Prayer oft preuailes for a peaceable departure a Lu. 18. 1. Eph. 6.18.18 Things to be prayed for that death may be prosperous A good conscience in life brings peace in death a Seruus in Mustell b Lib. de moribus c Hugo lib. 2 de anima cap. 9. d Lib. 2. de officijs e Bern. in Serm. f Cicero lib. 1. Tuscul quaest Sixe causes of sickenes besides our sinnes Fiue duties to be done in sicknes What Scriptures are fittest to be read of a sicke man D. Maxeys Sermon on the Agonie of Christ Laboraui in gemitu meo Short furnitures against the feeling of sickenesse and feare of death b Super Iohan. c Super Mat. 11. 4. Reasons why the sicke man should set his soule in order d 1 King 17 17 e 2 Kin. 4.31 f Act. 20.10 g Ioh. 11.14 10. Reasons why the sicke must send for his Minister The small comfort that a sicke man gets from carnall visitors The Minister is to be sent for before the Physitian Vbi deâ—iniâ— Theologus ibi incipiâ— Medicus Galen lib. 1. de arte curat c. 6. The lawfull vse of Physicke plainely proued h Forrest de vrin Indicijs lib. 3. Lang. lib. 2 Epist 41. i See Heidon against Iud. â—sâ—ro Sâ— Hâ—iâ— is preserâ—atiue against the poyson oâ—â—pâ—osed prophesies What to doe in taking Physicke 5. Rules obseruable in the vse of physick Earnest inuectiues against such as in extremities seek to Witches and Charmers with disswasiues from such Idolatry Against seeking to Witches Charmers in sicknes k Galen lib. 6. 10 de simpl Medic. Reconciliation with enemies restitution in wrongs in sicknesse to be practised Deut. 31.1 Iosh 25. 1 King 2. Magistrates Ministers and Masters must prouide for the good of their charges euen after their death l De moderatione in disputat serâ—anda m Gen. 17. n Gen 27. o Luke 23.46.52 Ioh. 19.27 Luke 23.43.34 5 Reasons why a sick man must make his Will Rom. 16 1â— 4. Maine rules in making all Wils p Lib. 2. de rep polit q Lib 2 c. 8 A christian carriage prescribed euen in the houre of death * Ier. 31.16 a Crimina doluit non exitis filiorum Amb. b Stanâ—em lego stentem non lego Ambr. in orat suneb Gen. 5. Luk 12 3â— Augustine Prosper c Heb. 11.9 10. Cha. 13.14 d Gen 47 9. e Psal 39.14 * Amici mortui non amissi sed praemissi Bern. f Iohn 11.11 g Verse 2â— h 1 Cor. 2.9 i Mat. 25.46 Iohn 3.16.36 1 Thes 4.17 2 Tim. 2.10 2 Cor 4.17 k 2 Sam. 12 23 l Gen. 2.23 m Mat. 17.4 n Gen. 46.29.30 Mors non interitus sed introitus non obitus sed abitus o Rom. 7.14 p Gen. 37.28 q Rom. 6 23 r Gen. 3.16.17.18.19 s Lu. 16.25 Iudg. 1.7.8.9 t Gen 3.19 Heb. 9. vlt. u Pro. 26.6 Quod generatur corrumpitur Quod oritur moritur Seriuâ— aut citius metam properamus ad vnam Solamen misoris socios habuisse doloris 1 Cor. 7.16 x Ioel 2.12 13. v. 17. y 1 Sam 7.6 Esay 38.3 Mark 9 24 Mat. 26.75 Luke 7. z 2 Cor. 7.10.11 a Luke 8.21 b 1 Sam. 30 6. c Mat. 10 37.38.39 d Deus meus omnia e Psal 18.1 f Exod. 20. g Pro. 4.23 h Gen. 29.30 Ch. 35. v. 18 i Gen. 37.4 v. 23.24 Ch. 39. k 1 Kin. 1.6 l 2 Sam. 12.3 m Ier. 31.16 n Luke 8.59 o Luke 7.13 p Luke 23.28 q Acts 14. v. 12.13.14.15 Apoc 19.10 Reu. 14.7 Acts 10.25.26 r Gen 50. v 3. v. 10. s Gen. 23.2 t Deut. 34.8 u Numb 20 29. x 2 Chron. 35.24 y 1 Sam. 25 1. z 2 Sam. â—8 33 a 2 Sam. 1.11.12 b Numb 16 33. c Acts 1.25 d 2 Sam. 18 33. a Exod. 7. Exod. 8. b 1 Sam 5.9 c Esay 38. Eph. 2.4 Exod. 34.6 Ioel 2.13 Ionas 4.2 Heb. 12.7 1 Cor. 10. d Ioh. 5.14 c Psal 30.6 f Numb 16 49 g Numb 24 3.12 h Exod. ch 8 Ch. 9. Ch. 10 Ch. 12 14 i 1 Sam. 5.9 k 2 Chron. 26.19 l 2 Kin. 5.27 m 1 Sam. 6 19. n 1 Cor. 11.36 o 2 Chr. 16.10.11.12 p Sueton. q Spart lib. 2. c. 12 r Euseb lib. 7. cap. 3. s Ruffinus Niceph. c. t 2 Sam. 24. u Numb 23 21. x Ps 32.1.2 y 2 Sam. 12.10.11 z Iosh 7.24 a Ion 1.15 b Zeph. 2 1. c Mat. 26. d Esay 38.3 e Iohn 14.2.3 f Mum. 21. Iohn 3.14.15 g Esa 38.21 22. Luk. 8.43.44 Luke 13.11.12.13 Iohn 5.5.6.7.8 Acts 3.2 v. 6. Acts 14. v. 8. Iohn 9. v. 6.7 Mat. 9. â— 29. Psal 22. Esay 53. Non debent sub spinoso capite membrae esse mollia * Gen 3.18.19 Quod medicina corpori hoc morbus animae a Heb. 12. b Luke 15. c Ier. 5.8 d Prou. 7.7 e Verse 22. f Verse 27. g Ezek. 16. h Pro. 23.29 i Esay 5.11 k Mat. 26.15 l Pro. 21.17 Iohn 9.3 m Esay 38.9.10 c. n 2 Kings 5.15 Iohn 9.17 Mat. 8. Luk. 17.16 Mat. 22. a Iob 5.13.14.15.16.17.26.27 See Psal 22.6.7.8.12.13.14 Psal 69.21.22 applyed to Christ b Luke 22.57.58 c Gen. 9.22 2 Sam. 6.20 g Psal 9.10 Psal 51.17 h Iâ—sh 1.5 Heb. 13.6 i Luke 22.43.46 k Mat. 4.11 l Iohn 18.5 m Act. 1.16 v. 25. n Psal 41.9 Ioh. 13.18 o Gen. 40.23 a Gen. 47.27 b Mat. 25.33.34 Psal 37.3 v. 18.19 Ponder well Psal 49.6.7.8.9.11.12.13.14 19.20 reade it all and apply it so Iob chap. 5. Esay 1.4 Vide Chrisost hom de Diuite Lazaro 4 hom 13. in 2 Cor. a Psal 37.17 b Rom. 8.28 Mat. 25. c Esay 1.13 14 Ier 7.10.11 Prou. 28.9 Psal 51.16 vor 7. d Gen. 4.5 f Eâ—od 17.3.4.5.6 g Iudg. 15.18.19 h Psal 8.6.7.8 i Reuel 3.17.18 k Iohn 6.48 58 l Iohn 4.14 m Luke 12.32 n Rom. 8.17 o Iam. 2.6 Animus est qui bene imperat matrimonio virginitate Chrys p Osea 13.6 Prou. 30.8 q 1 Kin. 2 1. r Eph. 5.5 Col. 3.5 1 Tim. 6.17 s Lu. 7 8.14 t 1 Tim. 6.9 v Mat. 19.23.24 x Ioh. 12.8 y Eccl. 11.1 Luke 14.12 z Mat. 19.21.22 a Mat. 4.20 21.22.23.24 b Mat. 25.14 c. 29.30 Luk. 19.12 13. c. Prou. 10.3 c Ps 113.7 d Gen. 41.14 e Gen. 43.1 Chap. 47.11 f Psal 105 16 17.18 g Ver. 39.40 h Marke 6.35.42 i Iohn 21.9 k Ioh. 13.26 l Exod. 16 15 m Exod. 17 6. n Iudg. 15.19 o 1 King 17 6. Ch. 19.5.6 Deut. 8.3 p Marke 6. Luke 9.13 q 1 King 17 14. Dan. 1.12.13 r Iudg. 7.5.6 s 1 Sam. 14 13 14. t 1 Sam. 17 50 u Iudg. 15.15 x Heb. 1.1 y Verse 2. z Psal 2.8 a Psa 50 10 Heb. 10 34 1 Sam. 21.3.4 b Luk. 2.24
off as Hercules did the heads of Hydra which are the onely weakeners of our Faith wounders of our soules workers of our vvoes and disturbers of our dying peace Therefore saith the Wise-man Remember thy end and thou shalt neuer doe amisse For as the Bird directs her selfe by her taile flying and the ship it directed by her stearne sayling to auoid the Rockes so is a Christian conformed and confirmed in an happy course preserued from the Soule-splitting Rockes of sinne by the thought of death First it mortifies from the world hee easily contemnes all that thinkes hee must dye saith an olde Hermite for what cares a condemned malefactor that fits himselfe for his euery houres expected execution for thousands of Gold and Siluer Secondly it curbes the pompe and glory of the world for what cares old Berzillas for all the pleasures of Dauids Court when the keepers of his house his hands tremble his legs these strong men bowe themselues when his eyes the windowes of his body waxe darke when his eares the daughters of Musicke are abated when the Grashoppers or bended shoulders are a burthen and his teeth the Grinders cease hee thinkes rather of returning to Gilead and dying in his owne Country then of Ierusalems Court 2 Sam. 19. Thirdly it curbes pride Quid superbis puluis cinis saith Bernard Oh how can dust and ashes be proud meditatio mortis c. the meditation of death is the nayle of the flesh which fixeth all the proud lusts thereof to the wood of the Crosse What Peacocke can be proud when hee lookes at his blacke feete the earth from whence he is and whither hee tends Therefore euen amongst the Heathens saith Caelius Rodiginus when their Emperours were crowned as a counter-poyson against pride they were carryed vnto the Sepulchers of dead men and there it was demanded of them what one should be made for them So Climachus reports of that good Basil that the very day wherein with great ioy and applause he was propounded Doctor and Pastor to the people as an Antidote against pride hee made one to tell him thus Pater sepulchrum tuum nondum est perfectum Father thy sepulcher is not yet finished The like thoughts amongst others Augustine vsed when hee found himselfe tickled with secret pride with the applauses of the people for his exquisite Sermons Fourthly it is a meanes of temperancie and a restrainer of intemperancie and a curber of Carnalitie and Epicurisme Hence it was that the auncient Aegyptians as Heroditus reports in their Gemalia and Feasts of great and Noble-men there was the portraiture of a dead man in wood which was round like a Globe had to euery guest to behold with this Motto writ on it In hanc intuens pota oblectate talis post mortem futurus Beholding this vse merry glee For as this is so thou shalt bee Hence it is that Augustine as hee would haue a man alwayes to thinke vpon these quatuor nouissima foure last things Death Iudgement Heauen Hell so chiefely in their Festiuals and meetings wherein Sathan chiefely beguiles men as hee did Adam and Eue by eating And sure amongst other things this made that Cinicke Philosopher so abstinent because hee was continually amongst tombes and Sepulchers but sure the meditation of their Tombes and Sepulchers caused Paulâ—s Symplex Macariu Pambo and other Hermites in Hospinian to be so abstenuous euen to a maruell if not to a miracle I wish the Tricongij Biberij and Heliogabuli I meane the Epicures and Belly-gods that eate and drinke till there be as little Grace in their Soules and Wit in their Pates as their be Wines in their Pots that they would drinke out of an earthen vessell with Agathocles or looking vpon a Deaths-head as is the fashion in some Countryes or that a dead mans skull were presented vnto them the first dish at their Table as it is in the Court of Prester-Iohn or at least that if the picture of Death which I haue seene in the bottome of some cups will not yet that the sight of the dead creatures before them might call vnto them as Phillips Boy to Phillip Memento te esse mortalem Oh Epicurish Glutton remember thou art mortall or that they would ponder the voyce which S. Ierome alwayes imagined euen when hee was eating and drinking Arise you dead and come to Iudgement Perhaps these thoughts vvould make them put their kniues to their throates as Salomon speakes and damme vp the gulph of their inordinate appetites Fiftly this thought would worke in vs contentation in euery estate as it did in Iob who in the midst of his afflictions comforts himselfe with this consideration Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne The thought of this that wee shall carrie nought away with vs but a Coffin or a winding sheete should keepe vs within compasse of too eager pursuite in purchasing or impatiencie in parting with this vnrighteous Mammon Sixtly this thought of death is a notable meanes and spurre to further our Repentance it will cause vs if any thing not onely with Ezekias and Achitophel to set our houses in order but our hearts to for what so hastned the repentance of Niniuie as the beliefe and thought of Ionas his Sermon it was time for them to bestirre themselues when they had but forty dayes to liue So when Elias tels Ahab that the Dogges shall eate him and Iezabel hee makes some superficiall shew of repentance So the third Companie of fiftie with their Captaine that came by violence to fetch Elias when they saw the two other Captaines with their fifties consumed with fire they seeme to relent and deale with the Prophet by intreatie If then meditation of death haue such force both in the godly and wicked both in Christians and Pagans to incite to vertue restraine vice curbe couetousnesse cure pride bridle lust moderate murmuring keepe in intemperancie procure repentance cause mortification and doe euery way so correct a vicious life and so direct a happy death since of all other Meditations this strengthens the minde as of all other meates bread strengthens the body since it is as needfull to a good life as wings for Birds sailes for Marriners tailes for Fishes to swimme wheeles for Coaches to runne as Climachus makes the comparisons since you see the holy Patriarkes Abraham Iacob Ioseph Iob Moses Dauid nay I may adde our Sauiour CHRIST who was most frequent in discourse with his Disciples of his death his Passion his houre his crucifying nay euen then when hee was transfigured in glory hauing two dead men with him Moses and Elias and talking of his death when hee came from the Mount as appeares in the Euangelists did so oft thinke of death since the Saints after Christs death Augustine Ierome Basil Bernard the deuout Hermites nay euen Ethnicke Kings and Philosophers made such good vse of this Meditation as we haue proued then let the thought