ship in the healthfullest body that euer was neuer had so calme a passage but that it hath had cause enough often to wish it selfe on shoare What with selfe groaning phantasies and iniected temptations how little respit or rest is here to be found Is there any Palace or Tower here so high or strong that can keepe diseases from the body how much lesse cares sorrows feares and Sathans assaults from the Soule Were there but such an Iland as some haue dreamed of heere on earth that might free our bodies or mindes from disquiet but for the space of the moment of this life how would people couet to dwell in it In the times of the late warres in Netherlands how did the Boares forsake their Farmes and flye into walled Cities for securitie from dangers What violence then should our heauenly Ierusalem suffer of our wishes and desires were it but for the sweet and amiable name of peace whereof it is denominated hauing indeed the God of Peace for the King and Keeper of it Wals many Cubits high into which no Zenacherib can shoote an arrow nor the Dragon Beast nor the false Prophet to seduce or to accuse strong gates and barres excluding all enemies and annoyances and so affording perfect tranquility to all the Inhabitants out of which they insult ten times more saferly then the Iebusites ouer the blinde and lame ouer the pale horse and his riders Death and Hell Consider and compare a little the simplicitie of the worldling with the wisdom of the Christian the happy stabilitie of the one with the wofull vncertaintie of the other at the time of their departure Euen Foxes and Hares and other such vermine fore-acquaint themselues with Muses Thickes and Burroes into which when they are chased and hunted they may repaire for safety but these fooles while they liue in health and prosperity neuer thinke of the euill day and when away they see they must goe how vnshystable are they Some of the meaner sort they take care for their winding-sheet or if richer for a marble or painted sepulchre which yet cannot preserue their bodies or names from putrifaction the superstitious sort to bee buryed in a Fryers Cowle or vnder an Alter of stone the desperater sort wishing the Mountaines might couer them from the wrath of the Lambe An harbour or receptacle for their soules they neuer thinke of whence it is that they are as loath to haue them turned out of their bodies as Hagar and Ismael to be out of doores and exposed to misery and dangers or rather as Cain to be cast as a Vagabond out of Gods presence fearing lest euery one that met him next should cut his throat for a cursed Caitiffe And indeed what else can they looke for but instantly to bee deuoured of the roaring Lyon that waites at the doore of Death to fetch away their soules into the place where there is no night nor day Onely the wise beleuer he hath prouided a Sanctuary or Citie of refuge against time of danger hath learned wisdome of the Conies who though a little nation yet wise and forecasting haue their refuge in the Rocks Christ is the beleeuers Rocke and his strong Tower his Altar and therfore he feares not what Death can doe vnto him Christ hath assured him on his word that hee shall haue all teares wiped away and the Spirit secured him that he shall rest from his labors In which regard he is so farre from lingring and hankering after a continuance in this Baca of teares this wildernes of feares that he studies rather to enter into this rest Cries out with Dauid Wo is me that I dwell in Meshek and Kedar when I think of peace there is warre at hand With Ieremy Woe is mee that I dwell with a contentious people With Elias I am weary of my life an end good Lord. Or with blessed Simeon Now Lord let thy seruant depart in peace into that land of peace heere I haue seene that there is no peace to bee had all here is vanity vexation of spirit For a minute of peace moneths of vanity for a dram of hony pounds of aloes and gall Soules here find no resting place for the soles of their feete till they come to the mount Ararat whither their works follow them where their sorrowes leaue them And so conclude with Vidus Bressius Oh that my soule had I the wings of the Doue to flie and make haste to that mountain of God and hill of tranquilitie and eternitie Thus th' one dies howling the other singing because the one knowes he changeth for the better the other for the worse the one takes Death for a gulfe of sorrow the other for a port of libertie and ease the one because he is stript for a scourging the other because hee layes off his clothes to go to bed after his toile If Queene Elizabeth whiles she was a prisoner in her sisters dayes could haue been fully assured and had clearely foreseene her owne long glorious and prosperous reigne ensuing would she haue wished her selfe a Milke-maid for the present No it had bin impossible All our feares doubts arise from infidelitie and the vncertaintie or else from the deadnesse and dulnesse of our hopes To put life into which there can bee no better no other help then first to ground and root our Faith in Christ through the word and spirit And then of ten to be setting before our eyes a state condition happy aboue all that Cities Kingdoms Crownes Pearles and Iewels Marriages Feasts and all other Metaphors and Parables of Scripture doe but shaddow out vnto vs. Which supereminent and super aboundant felicity Paul that had been an eye witnes not able to describe much lesse to amplifie summes it vp An exceeding exceeding eternall weight of Glory A superlatiue transcēdent phrase such as is not to be found in all the Rhetoricke of the Heathens because they neuer wrote of such a Theame nor with such a Spirit If any of vs had but halfe the strength of Pauls Faith or life of his hope or chearefull fore-imaginations which he had of this felicitie woe could not but haue the same desires and longings for our dissolution and fruition of them If we throughly beleeued and remembred this to bee the state of our selues and dead friends would we or could we so feare for our selues or mourne for them in Blackes whiles they are in whites as Iacob for Ioseph thinking him deuoured by some euill beast when he was Lording it in Aegypt No verily but thinke of it and looke for it we would with the same affections that Children do for their playes Prentises their freedome Spouses their mariage Labourers their wages Husbandmen their Haruest Heyres their Inheritance Princes their Kingdomes Mongst many thousands I chuse to instance and end with Monicah and Augustines examples the mother vsing this speech to her sonne All that I haue desired to liue to see is that which I now see thee my sonne a Christian. And now what doe I any longer in this base and impure world And hee of his mother What cause haue I to mourne for a mother of whose happinesse I may be so well assured When I awake I shall be satisfied Write O Christ these Meditations in our hearts imprint these Patternes so fast in our memories that wee may all the dayes of our liues haue frequent fore-thoughts of our appointed change chiefely in that last and solemne day of our death when the Prince of this world will be busie and wee shall be weake let thy Comforter then bring them to minde that by faith we may ouercome and hauing the Arke of thy Couenant in eye cheerefully passe through the waters of Iorden and so take possession of that land which flowes with all varietie of delights without either end or sacietie euen so Come Lord Iesus come quickly FINIS Dr. Tayler Tho. Hawkes Beza Perbins Hall Byfield 2. Kings 19. 15. Ezek. 32.
is better The flesh saies Wilt thou shorten thy life The Spirit saies It 's nothing to an eternall life Ioyce Lewis When I beholde the ouglesome face of Death I am afrayd but when I consider Christes amiable Countenance I take heart againe The third part IOHN HVS to a Countreyman that threwe a Faggot at his head Oh holy Simplicitie God send thee better light You roste the Goose now but a Swanne shall come after mee and hee shall escape your Fire Hus a Goose in the Bohemian language and Luther a Swan Hierom of Prague Make the fire in my sight for if I had feared it I had neuer come hither while it was making he sung two Psalmes Anonymus on his death-bed Now Flegme doe thy dutie and stop thou my vitall Artery Now Death doe me that friendly office to rid me of paine and hasten mee to happinesse To a Friend of his that willed him to haue his thoughts on heauen I am there already Claudius Monerius being cauilled at by the Friers for eating a breakfast before his execution This I do that the flesh may answere the readines of the Spirit Michaela Caignoela a noble Matron seeing her Iudges look out of the windowes said to her fellow-Martyrs These stay to suffer the torment of their Consciences and are reserued to iudgement but wee are going to glory and happinesse And to certaine poore women weeping and crying Oh Madam wee shall neuer now haue more Almes Yes hold you saith shee yet once more and plucked off her Slippers and such other of her apparell as shee could with modestie spare from the fire Iames Delos to Monkes that called him proud Heretike Alas here I get nothing but shame I expect indeed preferment hereafter Madam la Glee to one Chavique that vpbraided her for denying the Faith Your cursed faith is not worthy the name of Faith she put on her Bracelets For I goe said she to my Spouse Marlorat to friends that called him deceiuer If I haue seduced any God hath seduced me who cannot lye Castilia Rupea Though you throw my body downe of this steepe hill yet will my soule mount vpwards againe your blasphemies more offend my minde then your torments doe my body Christopher Marshall of Antwerpe I was from eternall a sheepe destined to the slaughter and now I go to the Shambles Gold must bee tried in the fire Vidus Bressius If Gods Spirit saith true I shall straight rest from my labours my soule is euen taking her wings to slie to her resting place The Duke of Wittemberg and Luneburgh Many haue beene mine errours and defects in Gouernment Lord pardon and couer all in Christ. Picus Mirandula If Christes Death and our owne were euer in eye how could wee sinne Death is welcome not as an end of trouble but of sinne Martin Luther Thee Oh Christ haue I taught thee haue I trusted thee haue I loued into thy handes I commend my spirit O ecolampadius to one asking if the light offended him not I haue light enough here laying his hand on his breast And to the Ministers about him Let the light of your liues shine as well as your Doctrine Francisco Varlute Paul and Peter were more honourable members of Christ then I but I am a member they had more store of grace then I but I haue my measure and therfore sure of my glory Peter Berger I see the Heauens open to receiue my Spirit And beholding the multitude at the stake Great is the Haruest Lord send Labourers Iohn Mallot a Souldior Often haue wee hazarded our liues for the Emperour Charles the fifth and shall wee now shrinke to dye for the King of Kings Let vs follow our Captaine Iohn Fillula to his fellowes By these Ladders we ascend the heauens now begin wee to trample vnder seet Sinne the World the Flesh and the Deuill Thomas Calberg to the Fryers willing him to repent at the last howre I beleeue that I am one of those Workemen in Christs Vineyard and shall presently receiue my penny Robert Ogners Sonne to his Father and Mother at the stake with him Beholde millions of Angells about vs and the Heauens open to receiue vs. To a Fryer that rayled Thy Cursings are Blessings And to a Noble man that offered him Life and Promotion Doe you thinke mee such a foole that I would change eternall things for temporary To the people We suffer as Christians not as Theeues or Murderers Constantine being carried with other Martyrs in a Dungcart to the place of Execution Well saith he yet are we a precious odour and sweet sauour to God in Christ. Fran Sanromanus a Spaniard Worke your pleasures on my bodie which you haue in Chaynes your Captiue but my soule is euen already in heauen through Faith and Hope and vpon that Caesar himselfe hath no power Ioan the Marshals wife of France to her Husband at the Stake with her Bee of good cheere our Wedding was but a shadow an earnest and Contract of that solemne and blessed Marriage which the Lambe will now consummate Anne Audebert of Orleance Blessed bee God for this wedding girdle meaning the Chaine My first Marriage was on the Lordes day and now my second to my Spouse and Lord CHRIST shall bee on the same Iohn Bruger to a Fryer offering him a wooden crosse at the Stake No saith hee I haue another true Crosse imposed by Christ on me which now I will take vp I worship not the worke of mans hands but the Sonne of God I am content with him for my onely Aduocate Martin Hyperius Oh what a difference there is betwixt this and eternall fire who would shun this to leape into that Augustine of Hannouia to a Noble man perswading him to haue a care of his soule So I will saith he for I presently will lay downe my body to saue my Conscience whole Faninus an Italian kissed the Apparitour that brought him word of his Execution To one reminding him of his Children I haue left them to an Able and Faithfull Guardian To his friends weeping That is well done that you weepe for ioy with mee And to one obiecting Christes agony and sadnesse to his cheerefulnesse Yea saith hee Christ was sad that I might be merry He had my sinnes and I haue his merit and righteousnesse And to the Fryers offering him a woodden Crucifix Christ needes not the helpe of this piece to imprint him in my minde and heart where hee hath his habitation George Carpenter All Bauaria is not so deare to mee as my wife and children yet for Christes sake I will forsake them cheerfully Adam Wallacke a Scot to a tempting Fryer If an Angel should say that which thou doest I would not listen to him is the Fire ready I am ready Let no man be offended no Disciple is greater then his Master Iohn Burgon to his Iudges asking him if hee would appeale to the high Court Is it not enough that your handes are polluted with our Blood but
fearefully such finde themselues deluded when their soules awake worse then Ionas in the Tempest euen in a gulfe of fire and brimstone How would it awaken and arouse vs to fore-see Death and Hell in their shapes and to fore-appoint our selues throughlie not against the first Death which wee cannot but against the second wee may if we get our part in the first resurrection This Text mee thinkes speakes to euery sicke man bound on his bedde with the Cords of Death as Dalilath to Sampson vp and arise for the Philistims are at hand Death is at the doore and behind the doore the Fiends waight to fetch away thy soule Bellarmine is of opinion that one glympse of Hell were enough to make a man not only turne Christian and sober but Anchorite and Monke to liue after the strictest rule that can be I am of beliefe that Gods spirit cooperating a thorow meditation of it might be a meane to keep one from it For a man to wish to haue a sight of it or that one might come thence make report of the vntolerable and vnutterable paines of it is superfluous superstitious if it should be granted yet being not Gods ordinance and allowance it might goe without his blessing and doe one no good Thy best course is well to ponder what wee that are Gods Ministers report of it out of Moses the Prophets Christ and the Apostles descriptions And if God meane thee any good our warning may doe thee some good Popish writers are too bold in making Maps of Heauen and Hell as if they had surueyed them and their regions and inhabitants but most I thinke are one the other hand to breefe and summarie in their meditations and writings To paint it in it owne natiue colours is impossible or by any contemplation to comprehend the horror of it Shaddowes and parables the Scripture vseth by which thou mayest and oughtest to helpe thy coniectures and to worke on thy affections withall after this or the like manner Heere God hath allowed thee on his earth a pleasant habitation commodiously situate in a good Ayre richly decked with furniture compassed with delightfull Gardens Orchards and Fieldes where thou hast liberty to walke and ride at thy pleasure How would it trouble thee to thinke of being layd vp all thy life in some streight and loathsome prison by this consideration how ill thou wilt brooke to be cast into a dolefull disconsolate Dungeon to lye in vtter darkenesse blacknesse of darkenesse in eternall chaines in little ease for euer Heere a great part of thy contentment is to liue among good Neighbours with a louing wife with cheerefull companions and loath thou art at any time to bee long in the house of mourning to bee among melancholy malecontented complayning feeble or brawling people in Hospitals or Bridwels or Bedlams How will then thine eares indure to be tyred with continuall howling scritching and gnashing of teeth to liue among Dogges Enchanters vncleane Birds reprobate Spirits worse then so many Toades Tygers or Serpents Here if thy Father should in displeasure bid get thee out of sight or thy Prince banish thee his court and presence as Dauid did Absolon for some offence thou wouldest take it heauily how shall thine eares tingle to heare God say depart out of my presence Goe thou cursed into the lake prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Here thou shrinkest to thinke of the gout collick stone or strangurian shiuerest to heare of the strappado the racke or the Lawne how then wilt thou beare vniuersal tortures in all the parts of thy body exquisite anguish and paines such as of which the pangs of child-birth burnings of materiall fire and brim stone gnawings of chestwormes drinkes of Gall and Wormwood are but shaddowes and to which they are all but sports and fleabitings euen to the torments thy body shall suffer for it sinnes against the Creator But hast thou euer here in this world tasted of a troubled spirit of the griefe and feares of a wounded Conscience possessed with bitter things strucken and pierced with the venom of Gods arrowes feares of the Almighty by these thou mayst make the best gesse how it wil fare with thy soule when God shall powre al the vials of his wrath into a vessell of his fury and vexe the soule in his sore displeasure scourge thee with the rods of scorpions make thee drunk with the gall of Aspes and Cockatrices make thy mind heauy vnto the death holding it euer in those Agonies which made his owne Sonne sweate cloddes of water and blood Oh how fearefull a thing is it to fall into the handes of God who is a consuming fire Thinke of it whiles there is hope you that forget God Heauen and Hell least you come there where there is no redemption no hope of ease or end which is that that makes Hell Hell indeed For if all these paines might haue an end were it after million and millions of yeares as many as there bee sands in the Sea shore yet mightest thou nourish some miserable comfort of a release in the long runne But this night hath no day this Ague no intermission his death no death to end it withal Here thou wouldest be loath to lye on the Racke from morning to night to be wroung with the Collick for a few dayes or hours to be haunted with a Quartan from Michael to Easter Oh then adde eternity to insupportable torments and let thine eares tingle and thine hart melt to think of it Were it not for hope in small pressures wee say heart would burst Oh then this word euer and euer if thou couldest duly belieue and consider it how would it breake that hard heart of thine which knowes not how to repent nor cares to preuent the wrath to come What thinkest thou are these things tales and fables is Hell but a name and word a scarbug for to keepe fooles in awe Hath not God thinkest thou a day of reckoning a prison and power to punish Rebels and Traitors or are not his punishments like to his Iustice infinite and eternall Know these things to be as true as God is truth saue that they are short of the truth it selfe Why dost thou not then take thy soule apart and ruminate of these things by thy selfe iudging thy selfe here that thou mayst not bee condemned in the world to come Art thou afraid of a melancholy fit and fearest thou not this gulfe and whirlpoole and sorrow Art thou not loath to bee tormented before thy time and fearest not to bee tormented time without end I wonder how the soules of wicked men and vnbelieuers goe not out of their bodies as the Diuels out of demoniaks rending raging tearing and foaming I wonder how any can dye in their wits that die not in the faith of our Lord Christ. Verily if these things moue thee not thou art in a worse plight then Foelix and Baltashar yea the verie Diuels themselues who belieue them yea
quake and tremble to thinke of them How faine would I snatch thy soule out of this fire Vndoubtedlie know that if this warning doe thee no good it is because thou art of old iustlie ordained to perish in thy impenetency and to bee a fire-brand in these euerlasting flames Now on the contrarie if thou beest a vessell of mercie and honour it will doe thee no hurt but driue thee to Christ in whom there is no condemnation who onelie is perfectlie able to saue and deliuer thee out of this Lake If thou be est alreadie in him it will cause thee to reioyce in thy Lord and Sauiour who hath deliuered thee from the feare of two such enemies that now thou mayst with the Ostrich in Iob despise the horse and his rider and triumph by Faith ouer Hell and Death O Death where is thy sting Oh Hell where is thy victorie Death is to men as he comes attended To Diues he comes followed with Diuells to carrie his soule to Hell To Lazarus with troopes of Angels to conuey him to Abrahams bosome So that we may in earnest say that Death is the Atheists feare and the Christians desire Diogines could iestingly call it The Rich mans enemie and the Poore mans friend This this is that which makes death so easie so familiar and dreadlesse to a belieuer he sees Death indeede but Death is not Death without Hell follow him and Hell he sees not but onely as escaped and vanquished and therefore is said not to see Death Now sayes the belieuer comes death and the Prince of this world with him but he hath no part in mee all the bitternesse and teares of death lye in the feare of Hell which thanks be to Christ hath nothing to do with me nor I with it and therefore I taste not of death now comes Gods Sergeant pale death whom I know I cannot auoyde but this I know he comes not to arrest me to carry me to prison but only to inuite me to a feast attend and conuey me thither Let such feare him as are in debt and danger mine are all discharged and cancelled he comes with his horse to take vp me behind him and to fetch me to my fathers ioyes to a Paradice as full of pleasures as he carries the wicked to a prison full of paines Pharaohs Baker and Butler were sent for out of prison the one to promotion the other to execution hee that had the ill Dreame expected the Messenger with horror the other longed for him with comfort The latter is my case therefore though I be reasonably wel in this world as a child at board yet home is home therefore will I waite till this pale horse comes and bid him heartily welcome and with him the Angels of my Father who haue a charge to lay my body in a bed of rest and to bestow my soule vnder the Altar as it followes in the next seale which is so pleasing a vision that we neede no voice or preface such as we had in the former inuiting vs to Come and see the very excellency of the obiect it self is of force enough to draw and hold the eies of our minds vnto it The second Sermon VERSE 9. And when hee had opened the first Seale I saw vnder the Altar the Soules c. WHen Death hath bin viewed in the palest and Hell in the blackest colors that may be yet if wee haue Faith enough to see Soules in their White roabes vnder the Altar there is comfort enough against the horror of both enough to enable the belieuer to despise and trample ouer them â—ooth In the opening of this fifth Seale I hope to finde more sollid Antidotes more liuely Cordialls against the feare of Death then in all the dead and drie precepts of Bellarmines doting Art of dying For this part of the vision was shewed Iohn of purpose to sweeten the harshnesse of the former that his spirit grieued and amazed with the sight of the calamities and mortalitie vnder the persecuting Butchers rather then Emperours might yet be relieued and refreshed with a sight of the blessed estate of such as died either in or for the Lord. Wherein was proposed to his sight and to our consideration these seuerals First the immortall subsistence of soules after their seperation from the body Secondly their sure and secure condition vnder the Altar Thirdly their dignity and felicitie clothed with white robes Fourthly their compleate happinesse at the last day when the number of their bretheren shall be accomplished Of all these Christ meant Iohn should take notice and al beleeuers by his testimony to their full consolation First Iohn being in the spirit could see spirits men indeed clad in flesh can hardly imagine how a soule can haue existence out of the flesh Eagles can see that which Owles cannot so is that visible and credible to a spirituall man which to a naturall is inuisible incredible And yet euen natures dimme eyes haue beene cleere enough to see this truth Nature I say pure and meere nature not only the Platonists and other learned ones who resolutely concluded it and aptly resembled it to the distinct being of the waggoner after the breaking of the Coach the swimming out of the Mariner in the wreake of the ship the creeping of the snayle out of the shell the worme out of the case not vnto the learned Grecians and ciuilized Romans But euen the rudest Scythians and vnlettered Sauages yea though there bee many Languages and sundrie Dialects in the world yet is and hath this euer been the common voyce of them all That soules die not with the body And howeuer the bodies resurrection hath to them been a Problem and Paradoxe yet is the soules eternitie an inbred instinct sucked from natures breast or rather an indelible principle stamped in the soules of men by the finger of God And indeed to right reason what difficulty or absurditie is there in it What lets mee to conceiue a being of it in the Ayre in the Heauen or in any other place as well as in the compasse of my body is not one substance as capable of it as another Can it liue in the one and not in another Hath it not euen whiles it is in the bodie thoughts motiues passions by it selfe of it owne different from the body many crosse and contrarie to the disposition of the body chearefull ones when that is in paine or melancholie Cholericke ones when that is flegmaticke Doth it waite vpon the body for ioy sorrow anger and the like doth it not more often begin vnto it Not to speake of Martyres innumerable who haue beene exceedingly pleasant in the middest of torments as if they had beene spirits without flesh How many auncient stories and dailie examples haue wee of chereful minds in distempered pained languishing dying bodies Reason will then conclude that the Soule may well be and be sensible after death without the body which euen in the body can bee wel