Saint Bernard calls it Againe by that parable in the Gospell of the Labourers Mat. 20.1 c. that were called into the Vineyard at seuerall houres in the day doe many wicked men take great incouragement to neglect the time of their calling repentance because they that were called in the last houre were accepted and rewarded equally with those which came in the first houre of the day But shew me which of those labourers being called did refuse to come It seemeth rather vnto mee that hereby they should learne without delay to repent when they are called to repēt at what time soeuer it be for he is not bound to vs but we to him Hee that saith when the wicked man turneth from his wickednesse that he hath committed Ezech. 18.27 and doth that which is lawfull and right shall saue his soule aliue doth say also It is good for a man that he beare the yoke in his youth Lam. 3.27 for old age is like to flint you may breake it before you can soften it In youth sinnes are few and feeble but by continuance they grow to be as strong as Giants and increase into mightie armies And where Salomon said before to the yong man Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Eccles 12.1 in the same verse hee also sheweth the reason of the same and therfore saith Before thy euill dayes come and yeares approach wherein thou shalt say I haue no pleasure in them These are the reasons for which Salomon would haue his yong man not to put off in the age of youth which is most prime and teachable the remembrance of his Creator and his repentance and they are taken from the many infirmities and withdrawings that are to be found in old age when youth is abused As much as if Salomon should haue said Well my sonne thou art now yong lustie and actiue of good apprehension and sharpe conceit indued with fresh and strong faculties of wit and remembrance thy feete are nimble thy sight is good and thy hearing perfect now therefore serue God and repent whiles thou mayest the time will come when thou wilt be old weake and sickly dull in apprehending and of bad capacitie and remembrance without good legges to bring thee to Church without a good eare to heare at Church and either without eyes or darke-sighted and not able to reade long nor to see a good letter but thorow spectacles Then it will bee too late to doe any good seruice to God thy Creator This I take to bee the Wisemans meaning in these words which teacheth vs that old age is no fit time wherein to begin repentance and godlinesse when the greene and fresh age of youth hath beene consumed in vanities The Israelites are complained of by the Lord in Malachy Mal. 1.8 that they offered the blinde for sacrifice and the lame and sicke for a hallowed thing And if yee offer the blinde for sacrifice is it not euill and if yee offer the lame and sicke is it not euill Offer it now vnto the Gouernour will he be pleased with thee or accept of thy person saith the Lord of Hostes He that would not haue a beast while he had no eyes in his seruice would haue thee while thou hast eyes to serue him the sicke and the lame were no good offerings then Leu. 22.20 as being forbidden in the Law and be they good ware now in the sicke and lame bodie of a man that hath desperately put off his repentance and turning to God till he can neither draw winde nor legge Moses knew this and therefore bore this burden yong and whiles his legges were able to beare him for the text saith Heb. 11.24 That when he was come to age he refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter that is would not liue in delicacies while he had strength to liue vnto God Ioseph also in his beautie and faire person turned his backe to his tempting Mistresse Gen. 39.10.12 and his face to the Lord hee would not put off to serue God till olde age had made wrinckles in his faire face and his skinne withered Iosiah a good King 2. Chro. 34.3.4.5.6 in the eight yeere of his raigne and sixteenth of his age when he was yet a childe began to seeke after his God the God of Dauid his Father and in the twelfth yeere of his raigne and twentieth of his age made a famous reformation What So soone and so yong So saith the Scripture and so it was without controuersie For Gods children take the good dayes of youth for good duties and not the euill dayes of sickly and saplesse old age as commonly the children of the world doe Samuel serued God in his minoritie 1. Sam. 3.19 and grew in spirit as he shot vp in yeeres he was a good man and the better because a good yong man And Timothy from a child did know the holy Scriptures 2. Tim. 3.15 as the Apostle Saint Paul witnesseth for him The reasons why we must thus begin to repent betimes are these viz. First repentance as it can neuer come too soone where sinne is gone before so it must needs with much adoe and not without some speciall worke of God ouertake so many sinnes of youth and manhood so farre and much before it Secondly old age is full of wearinesse and trouble and where we haue elbow-roome in youth we cannot turne vs in old age perhaps we shall neither heare nor see nor goe nor sit without paine and torment in all parts and is this say you a fit condition of life and time of age to serue God in But say that the forcible working of the holy Spirit like a great gale of winde be able to blow thee home on the sodaine yet art thou not sure to haue it And doest thou thinke seeing thou wilt not repent know God in youth that hee will know thee at these yeeres and in this case and state And wilt thou bestow on Satan the beautie strength and freshnesse of youth offer to God the wrinkles weaknesse and foule hew of old age or when thou hast giuen away the flower of thy youth to Gods enemie wilt thou offer to God who will haue the first and deserues the best the dregges and leauings To all such I say if you will not know God in your youth hee will neuer know thee for ought that thou knowest when thou art gray-headed If as hath beene said thou wilt not giue him the yong and sound and that which is without blemish he will neuer take in good part the old and sicke and euill fauoured which no man will giue to his friend nor dare offer to his prince If thou wilt not when thou art quick-witted when thou art come to the yeares of dotage he will not If thou wilt not heare him in his day thou shalt crie in thy day that is in the euill day and shalt not bee
miseries incident to the seueral ages of man are from the first comming vp vpon the stage of this world to the last act of going downe Eccles 1.14 in al parts of the life full of vanitie and vexation of spirit For the first entrance is our infancie when wee are in our nurses armes and doth not that begin with teares and feares And is not all that time vnhappie sauing that we want reason that is the vse thereof to apprehend that happinesse When we come out of our nurses armes to goe in their hands or to goe by our selues in our next age doe we not weepe long vnder the rod falling into the subiection of a teacher Amongst the ancient Romanes this was their manner and custome for their youth They let their children suck vntill they were two yeers old till they were foure yeeres old they let them play till sixe they taught them to reade till eight to write till ten they learne the Grammer When a boy was once ten yeeres old he was set straight way to some good trade and occupation or else sent to the warres which was a thing the Romanes gloried in most to bee good souldiers In all which ages they sustained great miseries being all this time vnder Tutors and Gouernours When we come out of the prison of boyes and girles and are set at some more libertie in a yong mans life are wee not tossed as vpon a sea of vnquietnesse sailing betweene reason and passion as between two contrary waters and crosse winds Then commeth perfect age or mans age and what haue wee heere but blastes and stormes of greater vnrest then in any age before From one trauaile we passe to another neuer ending but changing our miseries And when we come to old age and haue liued so long that we are come to dotage is there any thing in these ages exempt from miserie and trauaile that is vnder the Sunne Surely our infirmities do then come vpon vs in multitudes yea so loade vs with their waight and number that they make vs to bowe and goe double vnder them vnto the earth And can there be any comfort in these diseases as I may call them and dayes of euill wherein doe meete and flocke together so many vultures of life the weakenesse of infancie the seruitude of childehood the sicknesse of youth the cares of mans age All which come againe and come all together as many stormes vpon one poore old ruinous house that is sore shaken alreadie by death violently to ouerthrow it for euer Heere the excesse and ryot of youth is exercised with gouts palsies and sundrie fearefull aches the watching and cares of manhood are punished with losse of sight of hearing and of sence except the sence of paine There is no part of man which death in that age of yeares doth not take in hope to be assured of him as of a bad pay-master which greatly feareth and would gladly put off his dayes of payment And therefore it bringeth him low in all parts that he may haue power in none to auoid his Creditor and end so neere And touching the miseries incident to the seuerall ages of man the Prophet Ieremie crieth out How is it that I came out of the wombe to see labour and sorrow Ier. 20.18 that my dayes should be consumed with shame How much more cause haue we miserable creatures to crie out of our calamities and miseries who were conceiued and borne in sinne seeing the Prophet complained so much 51.5 Ier. 1.5 being sanctified in his mothers wombe O vaine miserable and vnhappie men before we sinne we are straite fastened to sinne and before we can offend wee are fast bound with offence Consider O man from whence thou camest blush whither thou goest and feare where thou liuest We are begotten in vncleannesse brought foorth with paines and throwes and nourished in darknesse Wee begin our tragedie with nakednesse and weeping we continue with paine and vexation and take our farewell with sorrow and miserie Our beginning is lamentable our continuance wretched and our departure grieuous The whole life of man is beset and incountred with three capitall enemies Paine Care and Sorrow Paine pincheth vs Care consumeth vs and Sorrow endeth vs. There is no age of man free from affliction calamitie and miserie And to begin againe with the miseries of infancie behold in his birth intollerable is his mothers paine and infinite are the infants calamities who commeth into the world crying and weeping poore and naked weake and miserable without speech without knowledge or strength no sooner is the babe borne but straight is hee bound hand and foote and cast into a cradle as into a prison prefiguring the seruitude hee is to suffer In his childhood he beginneth to warre with the lacke of reason and to fight against his owne folly not knowing what hee is where hee is whence nor for what hee came into the world Now must he be kept vnder the feare of the rod and learne some Liberall Science or some Mechanicall Arte or Trade whereby to maintaine his fraile life hereafter if hee continue it Then commeth youth rash head-strong voluptuous ventrous foolish prodigall passionate In this age he commeth into great dangers fighting against the desires of the flesh against fond affections and vaine imaginations which cause the minde to wauer and bee inconstant and to bee carried away with sundrie phantasies In this age hee becommeth a drunkard a gamester a quarreller a loose liuer and oftentimes to be cast into prison to bee hanged and to lose all that hee hath and to be a great griefe vnto his parents Gen. 42.38 in causing them thereby to end their dayes in sorrow in the sence and feeling whereof the Prophet crieth vnto God saying Psal 25.7 Remember not the sinnes of my youth Afterward as he hath to encounter with manhood to which age is incident the charge of wife children the maintenance of family and care of posterity He that is maried saith the Apostle careth for the things that are of the world 1. Cor. 7.33 how he may please his wife Sometimes he is besieged with a desire and carking care and couetousnesse somtime with feare to lose his goods and other infinite such vanities and afflictions Then lastly commeth old age stealing on vnperceiued yea gray haires saith the Prophet are heere and there vpon him Hos 7.9 Ioel 1.2 yet hee knoweth it not In this age man receiues many incurable wounds as baldnesse bleared eyes deafe cares wrinckled browes stinking breath trembling hands faint spirits leane cheekes corruption of stomacke with like miseries innumerable which neuer leaue to wound the bodie disquiet the minde and torment the conscience And thus are wee tossed all the dayes of our life with griefe compassed with cares and ouerwhelmed with miseries and calamities And therefore Plato well obserued that a man is Arbor inuersa a tree turned vpward his haire of his head the root the
a thousand in an houre a life of nothing this Prophet measureth it with a short span Behold saith he Psal 39.15 thou hast made my dayes as a hand-breadth The valiant Captaine Iosua being now resolued to die Ioshua 23.14 calleth death the path that all must treade Behold saith he this day I enter into the way of all the world So holy Dauid being readie to die calleth death the way of all the earth Experience taught the very Heathen thus much 1. King 2.2 One night tarrieth for all men and wee must all tread the path of death This present transitorie life is called a pilgrimage Gen. 47.9 a path a trauell and a way because it continually plieth to an end for as they which are carried in coaches Eccle. 40 1. or saile in shippes finish their voyage Psal 1.1 though they sit still and sleepe euen so euery one of vs albeit we be busied about other matters and perceiue not how the course of our life passeth away being sometime at rest sometime idle and sometime in sport and daliance yet our life alwaies wasteth and wee in posting speed hasten toward our end The way faring man trauelleth apace and leaueth many things behinde him in his way He seeth stately towers and buildings he beholdeth and admireth them a while and so passeth from them afterward he seeth goodly fields meadowes flourishing pastures and pleasant vineyards vpon these also he looketh a while he wondereth at the sight and so passeth by then hee meeteth with fruitfull orchards greene forrests sweete riuers with siluer streames and behaueth himselfe as before At the length he meeteth with deserts hard rough and vnpleasant wayes foule and ouergrowne with thornes and bryers heere also he is inforced for a time to stay he laboureth sweateth and is grieued but when he hath trauailed a while hee ouercommeth all these difficulties and remembreth no more the former griefes but alwaies he is trauelling till hee comes to his iourneyes end euen so it fareth with vs one while wee meete in our way with pleasant and delightfull things another while with sorrowes and griefes but they all in a moment passe away Furthermore in high waies and foot-pathes this commonly we see that where one hath set his foote there soone after another taketh his steppe a third defaceth the print of his predecessors foote and then another doth the like Neither is there any who for any long time holdeth or continueth his place And is not mans life such Aske saith Basil the fields and possessions how many names they haue now changed In former ages they were said to be such a mans then his afterwards anothers now they are said to bee this mans and in short time to come they shall be called I cannot tell whose possessions and why so Because mans life is a certaine way wherein one succeedeth and expelleth another Behold the seates of States and Potentates of Emperors and Kings how many in euery age haue aspired vnto these dignities and degrees and when they haue attained them after much trauell labour and waiting in short time they are compelled to giue way to their successors before they haue well warmed their seats Yesterday one raigned to day he is dead another possesseth his roome and throne to morrow this man shall die and another shall sit in his seat None as yet could therein sit fast they all play this part as on a stage they ascend they sit they salute they descend and sodainly are gone The Apostle Paul in respect of the celeritie and swiftnesse of life compareth it to a race What is our life 1. Cor. 9.24 saith Saint Augustine but a certaine running to death Our life while it increaseth decreaseth our life is dying our death is liuing The traueller the longer he goeth on his iourney the nigher he is to his iourneyes end the children of Israel the longer they wandred from Egypt the nigher they were to the promised land so euery mortall man the longer he liueth the nigher he is to his iourneyes end Death Time and Tide stay for no man No bridle so strong that can keepe in our galopping daies He that runneth in a race neuer stayeth til he come at the end therof so euery mortall wight will he nill he neuer stayeth till death the end of his race stayeth him Iob 9.25 Iob 7.6 Iob 9.26 The mirrour of patience Iob by name compareth the race of man to the swift daies of a poste saying My dayes are swifter then a poste yea swifter then a weauers shittle they are as the motion of the swiftest shippe in the sea and as the Eagle that flieth fast to her prey 2. Pet. 1.14 The Apostle Peter compareth our time to a Tent or Tabernacle pitched in the field soone vp Psal 90.9.10 soone downe Our yeares are spent saith the Psalmist as a tale that is told yea our life is quickely cut off and wee are soone gone 1. Chro. 29.15 Dauid a little before his death offering with his Princes for the building of the Temple freely confesseth that they were strangers vpon earth as all their forefathers were their daies like a shadow and that heere was no abiding for them Isa 40.6.7 The Prophet Esay rebuking and checking mans forgetfulnesse doth crie out and say All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the field the grasse withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it surely the people is grasse the yong grasse as the olde and flourishing as a flower Grasse growes soone and soone decayes The poore who in respect of their base condition in this world are compared to the grasse the noble and rich in respect of their fresh and flourishing shew are resembled vnto the flower to both which sorts noble and ignoble rich and poore there is no difference in death vnlesse as Ambrose saith the body of the rich being pampered with ryot and varietie of meates shall yeeld the more loathsomâ— smell The grasse and the flower are made by many meanes to wither and wee by many more meanes are brought to our end The flower of the field may bee by such as passe by willingly plucked vp or negligently troden on an hungrie beast may deuoure it a worme may eat it or make it to wither as it did the goard of Ionas Ion. 4.7 The winde may blow it downe the lightning may burne it the Sunne may scortch it or at least-wise the nipping winter will marre it The like may be said of vs hunger may famish vs abundance of meat and drinke may quench our naturall heate with surfetting and drunkennesse the ayre can infect vs the water can poison vs the fire can burne vs the beasts can deuoure vs wars can dispatch vs plagues can consume vs diseases can kill vs and a thousand other things can destroy vs. For Alexander the Great was poisoned by his owne Taster Antiochus of
the Poet saith Sleepe is the kinsman of death Quid est somnus saith one nisi breuis mors What is sleepe but a short death Et quid est mors nisi longus somnus What is death but a long sleepe By beds the Scripture vnderstandeth the places where the Lord bestoweth the bodies of his seruants after their death whether fire or water or the paunches of wild beasts or the chambers of the earth sea or ayre and these are called beds because they shall rest quietly in them as in their beds till the morning bell or loud trumpet of the last great day warning all flesh to rise shall raise them And therefore it is such an vsuall thing in the Scriptures so soone as men dye to say they fall asleep because therby is meant that they are laid in their beds of peace and they are called beds of rest to put difference betweene these beds of our nights sleepe and those of our sleepe in death for heere be our beds neuer so soft or well made we often take no rest by reason of some distemper in our bodies or fancies in our head but in these sleeping places Psal 4.8 which are called beds of rest wee may lay vs downe saith the Psalmist and sleepe in peace because the Lord our life being our keeper will make vs dwell in safetie Indeed in it owne nature the graue is rather an house of perdition then a bed of rest but being altered to the Iewes in promise to vs in performance by Christs graue who was buried in the earth to change the nature of it it is made to vs a chamber of rest and bed of downe These titles which are thus giuen vnto death is a sweete comfort to the children of God against the terrors of death for the graues of the righteous which by nature are the houses of destruction and chambers of feare are by Christ and the graue of Christ made vnto them chambers of safetie and beds of rest Christ by his buriall hath consecrated and perfumed our graues making them which were prisons to hell gates to heauen At night we take our chambers and lye downe in our beds so when death comes which is the end of life as the night is of the day we goe to the chambers of the earth and there lye downe in our beds till the day of refreshing which is the day of rising come that commeth from the Lord. This is a confutation of that phansie that hath so long deluded the simple world which is that dead bodies walke after their death and appeare vnto men For how can that be when the bodies of Gods children rest in their beds so soone as the breath departeth and the bodies of the wicked are in their prisons till the day of assise Whereof if any make a question let him open their graues and see And seeing the soule returneth not after it hath left the body how can the body walke that wanteth a soule or the soule be seene if it should walke which hath no bodie Phil. 1.23 or if death be a loosing of our soules from our bodies how can there be any death when soule and body are not parted and when the man is not dead but liueth But this phansie came from Pythagoras and is but a Philosophers dreame told by him to the world which was that the soules of men departed did enter into the bodies of other men good soules into good and bad into bad mens bodies The world then beleeued him and since that time Satan who can turne himselfe into all formes did in the dark night of Popery to deceiue that ignorant age change himselfe into the similitude of some person that was lately or had beene long dead and was beleeued by such a transformation to be the partie man or woman that hee resembled So entred the error that spirits did walke and that dead bodies came out of their graues and haunted sundry houses in the night which were not the bodies of the dead but the Diuell in those bodies or shapes as it is to be seene in Samuels counterfeit shape raised by the Witch at Endor 1. Sam. 28.14.15 And this error as it deceiued the blinde world and somewhat troubled the seeing Mat. 14.26 so is it still in the mouth and faith of credulous superstition at this day But God hauing giuen eyes to vs to see his truth Act. 12.15 and the light of iudgement to discerne it let vs not walke in so great darknesse as they that know not the truth nor whither they goe But the especiall drift of the holy Ghost in the holy Scripture by entitling death by the names of bed of peace of rest of sleepe and such like being all names of singuler commoditie and benefit is for the singuler comfort of all Gods children signifying vnto them thereby that they shal feele no bitternesse in death but rather ioy and reioyce in their deliue ance as if they were going to their beds and their liues are not lost but their bodies sleepe as in a bed most sweetely vntill the resurrection How sweete is peace to them which haue bin long troubled with warres and tedious contentions how pleasant is the bed rest and sleepe to them that haue ouerwatched themselues The Laborer is glad when his taske is done the traueller reioyceth when he commeth to the end of his iourney the Mariner is happie when after a dangerous voyage he arriueth in his harbour All men shunne paine and desire ease abhorre danger and loue securitie It were madnesse then for a godly Christian to feare so aduantagious a death and to wish for continuance of such a wretched life Tertullian hath a most excellent and elegant saying That saith he is not to be feared which sets vs free from all that is to be feared and that is death which putteth an end to all feares and miseries But the true Christian hath yet a farre greater benefit by death for it doth not only put an end to euils of paine but also to the euils of faults not onely to the punishment for sinne but to sinne it selfe Now the euils of faults are farre worse then the euils of paine yea the least sinne is more to be hated abhorred and shunned then the greatest punishment for sinne How comfortable then and welcome should death be vnto vs that endeth not only our sorrowes but also our sinnes As long as we liue heere and beare about vs these earthly and sinfull tabernacles we daily multiplie our transgressions and rebellions against our gratious God and sustaine fierie conflicts and continuall combates in our very bosomes O bondage of all bondages to be in bondage vnto sinne The Gentile that apprehended vice only as a morall euil could say that men being in bondage to their lustes were more cruelly handled by them then any slaues were by most cruell tyrants and monsters how much more then should we that feele sinne as a spirituall euill and groane