things in the world and not to be paralleld whereof the reason is hid from vs though we see the things themselues But there is a great difference betweene the destruction or annihilation and the change of nature As we beleeue the resurrection of this our flesh so is it certaine that the nature of the same flesh shall subsist and remaine in the life eternall But the condition shall be changed in as much as this flesh vile and miserable shall be made glorious and happy These are some proofes brought by Tertullian Lactantius Firmianus in his Booke of the Heauenly Reward Chap. 23. obserueth That the Pagan Philosophers who desired to discourse of the last resurrection haue confounded and soyled this Article of our faith as al the Poets haue done Pythagoras maintained that the soule did transmigrate and passe out of one mans body into anothers and that he himselfe in the Troian warre was Euphorbus Chrysippus the Stoicke hath made a better answere who in his Booke De Prouidentia discoursing of the restauration of the world addeth This being so wee see that it is not impossible that after our death at the end of the reuolutions of some ages wee may bee restored againe into the state and condition wherein we are now But as Lactantius addeth the faith of Christians is much otherwise and their hope much more certaine For they vndoubtedly beleeue the resurrection of the flesh confirmed by most sacred and inuincible proofes of the holy Scripture by the promises of God and by the motions of the Spirit which raysed vp Christ Iesus from the dead as the Apostle declares it in the eight Chapter to the Romanes saying If the Spirit of him that raysed vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raysed vp Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortall bodies because of the Spirit dwelling in you True it is that the wicked shall rise againe in their bodies but this shall not bee for any communion they haue with the body of Christ Iesus nor with his Spirit but simply by the absolute power of God who shall giue them againe their being life and motion to suffer the second death being for euer damned in their bodies and soules So then such a resurrection cannot be counted grace nor called regeneration nor a resurrection to life but a repairing to condemnation whereof S. Iohn writes these wordes in the twentith Chapter of the Apocalips Verse eleuenth c. I saw a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away the earth and the heauen and their place was no more found I saw the dead great and small standing before God and the Bookes were opened and another Booke was opened which is the Booke of Life and the dead were iudged by the things which were written in the bookes according to their workes and the Sea gaue vp her dead which were in her and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which were ion them and they were iudged euery man according to their workes And the wicked were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death And whosoeuer was not found written in the Booke of Life was cast into the lake of fire Blessed then bee God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ who by his great mercy hath regenerated vs into a liuely hope by the resurrection of Christ Iesus from the dead to obtain an incorruptible inheritance which cannot bee defiled nor fade away reserued in the heauens for vs who are kept by the power of God thorough faith to haue the saluation prepared to be reuealed at the last day wherein we reioyce being now made heauy by diuers temptations as it is meete to the end that the triall of our faith much more precious then gold which perisheth and yet is tried in the fire may turne to our prayse honour and glory when Iesus Christ shall be reuealed who speaketh thus vnto vs in the person of his Disciples in the beginning of the 14. Chapter of S. Iohn Let not your hearts bee troubled You beleeue in God beleeue also in me There are many dwelling places in my Fathers house I goe to prepare a place for you and when I shall be gone hence and shall haue prepared a place for you I will come againe and will receiue you to my selfe that where I am there may you be also Then shall be the true regeneration and restauration of Gods children when the soule emptied of all errour ignorance and malice shall be filled with new illumination perfect righteousnesse and holinesse when the body clothed with glory and immortalitie shall see death swallowed vp in victory In him there shall be no fainting decâ—ying drooping nor old age The bodies of the Saints sayth S. Augustine in the 19. chap. of his Manuel shal rise againe without blemish without deformity without corruption heauines or impediment This shall as easily be done as their felicity shall be consummated for which cause wee call them spirituall although their bodies ought still to remaine not to be changed into Ghosts and Spirits As for the corruption which now presseth downe the soule and the vices by whose meanes the flesh lusteth against the spirit such flesh shall cease to be because it could not be able to possesse the Kingdome of God In regard of the substance of the same flesh it shall not be abolished but still remaine but euerlastingly glorified For this cause S. Paul said That the body being sowen a fleshly body shall rise againe a spirituall body because there shall be so strong an vnion betweene the soule and the body that the soule making the body to liue without any supply of nourishment and hauing no more combate and striuing within vs betweene the spirit and the flesh all being then spirit we shall not feele any enemies assaults nor dangers whatsoeuer without nor within but shall be repleat compassed about saciated crowned with permanent glory Behold as touching this point of the resurrection of the flesh The beleefe of this Article encourageth all Christians but particularly wise old men patiently to beare their infirmities and maladies remembring the counsell of the Apostle S. Peter in the third Chapter of his second Epistle Seeing that so it is sayth he that the heauens and the earth must be dissolued what manner of persons ought wee to bee in holy couersation and holy workes looking for and hasting vnto the comming of the day of the Lord by whom the heauen being set on fire shall bee dissolued and the Elements shal melt with heate But according to his promise wee looke for new heauens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse Wherefore beloued seeing ye looke for such things be diligent that ye may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse Let vs strengthen this Article of the resurrection by the notable sayings of S. Paul to the Corinthians Chap. 5. of the 2. Epistle We must all appeare before the iudgement
the Beastes doe suour the earth and desire nothing but that which is earthie and of the earth Man on the contrary as the wisest of the Heathens especially Plato and Cicero in diuers passages of their writings doe obserue hath a diuine and heauenly soule which being enfranchised and deliuered out of the prison of the bodie returneth to the place of his originall And the more generous the mind of man is the more he lusteth after and desireth heauenly thinges meditating and looking for a better state and condition then he enioyeth in this present life From thence it commeth to passe that he despiseth losses and troubles calamities wounds and death it selfe holding it a great honour to yeeld vp his soule in some valiant and vertuous exployt and enterprise for the seruice and safetie of his Countrie to the end to goe to the other life where good men haue their reward Salust sayth that the vertuous effectes and suffringes of the minde are no lesse immortall then the soule it selfe which to vs is common with God but the body assimilateth and a greeth with the beastes Another reason hath strongly perswaded the auncient Philosophers to beleeue the immortality of mans soule That God should seeme otherwise vniust if he should suffer the vau-neantes treacherous dissolute to prosper in the world after to escape his vengeance and good men who are industrious and imploy themselues to preserue humane societie should vtterly perish in death without hope of rest at the end of their trauailes and of ioy after so many disquiets and griefes of minde and of a crowne at the end of so many thousand fought battailes and combatts Vndoubtedly prophane persons who are bold to thinke and affirme the soule of man to bee mortall doe abolish as much as in them lyes all pietie and religion they ouerthrow all vertuous and laudable actions and enterprises and as S. Ambrose very well sayth in his exposition of the worke of the six dayes they are madd-men Furthermore what is more avers preposterous and ill beseeming then to haue a straight body and a crooked soule alwayes groveling and stooping to the earth never lifting or rouzing vp it selfe toward heauen her true dwelling place But as God our creator hath plainly instructed vs in his word touching the originall end and soueraigne good of man It is also from the same word that wee must gather the infallible doctrines which we doe handle Mans soule was not composed of the elements nor fabricated or formed of the dust of the earth but the Lord God inspired it and endowed it with diuers gifts Little children doe obtaine even a soule of God their creator to wit a reasonable soule not of the seed of their fathers and mothers but by the singular fauour and benefit of him whom the Apostle Hebr. 12. calleth the Father of spirits and not without cause For although that he be the father of our bodies yet notwithstanding he created not our soules by corporall helpes but hath placed them in our bodies as excellent lampes and lights as Salomon speakes of them Prov. 20. 7. We call them immortall for two reasons first by reason of their essence which is spirituall and originarie or primarie from God the giuer of it Secondly in regard of the grace peculier to the children of God for so much as we haue communion with Iesus Christ the eternall Word of the Father the Prince and author of life This immortall and eternall life is the true happie life and so much to be desired so much recommended in the Scripture whereof Saint Paul sayth The just shall liue by faith Rom. 1. 17. Also who beleeueth in me hath eternall life Iohn 6. 47. And the Apostle sayth Iesus Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortalie vnto light thorough the Gospell 2 Timoth. 1. 10. For although the soules of the wicked in regard of their essence sense and motion be immortall neuerthelesse they suffer death in as much as they are depriued of the iustice light beatitude and glorious life of God vpon which cause the wicked who triumph and braue it for a while in the world are called dead and after this present life it is sayd that they goe into condemnation and into eternall death because the state wherein they are then to be and remaine in perpetuall torments deserueth rather the name of death then life Prophane people talke they know not what in obiecting vnto vs that neuer any came from the other world as they babble and prattle to tell newes of them O the greatest fooles and idiots among people O silly sotts will they be still madde miserable and more brutish them beasts who beleeue nothing but what they see with their eyes and touch with their hands According to their babble they ought to giue ouer to beleeue that they doe participate of reason seeing they doe not see their soule Let them giue ouer to beleeue that our friends dwelling remote and farre from vs doe liue and are at their ease and content desiring to see vs againe and that because wee see them no more But to proceed it is not simply true that neuer any returned from the other life on the contrary the Histories of the Old and New Testament doe furnish vs with examples of men and women of young striplings and damsells raised againe from death The Prince of our faith the head of all Christians our Lord Iesus descending from heauen to assume our humaine nature in earth hath tould vs ample and gladsome newes of the state of heauen and of life eternall His ascension to heauen in bodie and soule is an assured pledge that we also shall ascend into heauen in our bodies and soules S. Paul caught vp into the third heauen where he was informed of the high and deepe mysteries and secrets of God from thence came to tell vs afterward many particularities of the Church Christ Iesus is in heauen and we shall liue there For although that death dissolue the bodie into dust from whence it was taken death cannot let the soule to returne to him that gaue it And when we die young and old let vs after the example of Christ Iesus and of Dauid recommend our soules to God rendring them into his hands as into the handes of a most faithfull keeper and gardian of them And let vs say with S. Stephen Lord Iesus receiue my soule being well assured that at the same houre when it shall be fit for vs to goe out of this present life we haue part in that gracious promise of the sonne of God made to the sinner conuerted Verely I say vnto thee that this day thou shalt be with me in Paradize This is the sweete voyce which still ought to be sounding in the heart of the wise Vieillard to the end that being at the poynt to leaue this world as his age plainely shewes him his conscience doe not smite and checke him to be a prophane person and a contemner
of God to be obdurate and hardened in his sinnes and that Sathan bawle not in his eares that seeing thou hast delighted in nothing but to satisfie thy lustes to follow thy affections and desires that thou art an hypocrite a lyer murderer an vncleane person in effect that thou hast loued nothing but the world that thou hast not carried the name of a Christian but to liue in all carnall licentiousnesse renouncing the guide-ship of the spirit of truth and holinesse thou shalt speedily be with me in hell Wise old men lift vp your thoughts to the meditation of this doctrine of the Resurrection of our bodies and of the immortalitie of mens soules ioyning to it the last Article of our Faith to say in feruour and ioy of spirit I beleeue the life euerlasting CHAP. XX. The conclusion of the Worke with a serious Exhortation to Old and Young Also two prayers for wise old men WHat resteth more but to wish that that which hath beene spoken vpon so worthie a Subiect in the former chapters may be carefully pondered and thought vpon by old men who haue any sence or feeling of their condition before God who are not vngratefull for his benefites and who aspire to a perfect renovation I was willing to abridge my Discourse knowing that a short speech suteth to old men who loue to talke heare reade and that practised precepts doe better fit them then much talke and discourse Seeing then that they haue but a little way to goe it is reason that they speake many things in few words remembring what the wise man hath sayd so long agoe in his first Chapter of his Ecclesiastes That there is no ende in making many Bookes and that so much studie is but a wearinesse which we put our selues to I grant that it is so especially when we let goe the bridle and giue way and head to such curious and infinite disquisitions bawlings and controuersies vnworthie the age and qualitie of old men For otherwise Salomon himselfe confesseth that the wordes of the wise are as goades and that the maisters who make huge volumes are as nayles and stakes faste driuen in vp to the head For the Church likewise is the parke or folde wherein the flockes of the chiefe sheepheard of Soules are gathered to keepes and conteine them in their obedience and dutie by the declaration of sound doctrine vttered with a liuely voice and set downe in print and writing If this compyled Volume and Librarie of many Maisters and Doctors may serue to young and old to my selfe who am freed from the errors and aberrations of young age and who am growing old if the yeare commonly called Climactericall ought to be held for the threshold of old age I shall haue well spent and imployed some houres of my leasure Whatsoeuer successe it hath I first inuite yong men who betimes ought to lay foundations of a comely and settled old age to remember themselue that men haue occasion to hope well of them when they see them soberly and constantly frequent the company and are conuersant with wise old men are aduanced to places of charge in the Common-weale or are imployed in the seruice of the Church or are well seene or experienced in domesticke affaires Those which see young men thus carefull cannot but greatly reioyce and assure themselues that after their times humane societie will bee mainetained and kept intire in good case and state and that her breaches and decayes shall finde men who indeede will bee able to lay their helping handes to it A young Orator should haue his witt furnished with argument enough if hee would amplyfie and discusse the euills and miseries which doe compasse vs about and would purpose and set foorth the good thinges and commodities which wee want Whence doe proceed so many miseries God hath taken away from vs many wise old men many true Fathers and men alwayes affected and forward to procure whatsoeuer was for his glory and the Common-weale Let posteritie iudge more soundly then wee of what wee doe want Wee doe not launce this impostume It is but too much sayd if we say that almost all young and old are the slaues of pride of dissolutnesse of auarice of vanitie in fine borne to the seruitude slauery of vices and to the hatred of vertues What doth this seruitude beget and bring foorth Another so lamentable as nothing more Young men open your eyes to the end that your fathers mothers families may take true comfort in your vertuous proceedinges that your countrey may receiue honourable seruice from you resemble as the Prophet sayth in the Psalme 127. Arrowes shot out of a strong bowe Speake in the assemblies and common counsells for pietie iustice temperance and stoutly procure the suppression of vice and the aduancement of vertue Let yong men be such as the Apostle commandeth Titus 2. 6. to wit sober minded to the end that according to their vsuall wishes and desires they may be strong of body and minde well respected well willed esteemed and commended with all the priuiledges and immunities whereof the dissolute and vicious haue no part And what madnesse is it not to be willing to be imployed alwayes in doing that which they ought willingly and cheerefully to doe Let yong men be such able men that they may ouercome the malignant one as the most wise and welbeloued Disciple of the Lord requires them to be in the second Chapter of his first Epistle Aboue all I pray them that to crowne their age with true prayse they be sober that they respect ancient men bearing with the lumpishnesse and sowernesse of those who haue done them many good turnes and seruices and who are still able to helpe and further them much For hardly can yong age decay and wrong it selfe more then in appearing vngratefull sullen churlish and insolent to aged persons I come now toyou venerable and reuerend old men beseeching you in the name of the Lord our common Father to thinke that your vndoubted prayse peace felicity assured health consisteth in this That you bee according to the Apostles doctrine sober graue meeke sound in the fayth abounding in charitie patience and wisedome The Emperour Iustinian in a certaine Edict addressed to Christians sayth That the first degree of saluation consisteth in an open confession of the true fayth The knowledge of true and comfortable Antiquitie consisteth according to Saint Iohn in the second Chapter of his first Epistle In this if the Fathers know him who is from the beginning Let wise old men profit in such knowledge and let them not be weary to goe on and be forward schollers therein euen vntill with vnspeakeable ioy they behold the glorious face of the Ancient of dayes and bee entertained in his heauenly Pallace Honour is the nutriment of old men so also is hope yea that hope which maketh not ashamed the assured hope of a better state and condition and that taste which wee haue euen of
the caske or those who beholding the ecclipse would mainetaine the Sun to be alwayes darke But the holy Scripture speaketh otherwise of these things as also the wiser heathen people to wit that instead of taxing and finding fault with our life because of some discommodities and troubles are in it wee are on the contrary to acknowledge the excellent benefits which by it are bountifully communicated and bestowed vpon vs by our Creatour and heauenly Father who thereby putteth vs in minde that the glory of man doth not consist so much in the strength faire outside and feature of the body as in the endowments and gifts of the minde As also that nature is not to be blamed nor found fault with nor vnder her name the true God who created her and is the author of her essence and being seeing that as Chrysostome declareth in an excellent Homilie of his No man takes harme but by and long of himselfe And it is agreeable to nature that as the Ivie by winding it selfe about trees doth drinke vp their sap and makes them to die so old age killes all those whom shee doth louingly embrace in her armes So Ouid saith Old age eates the iron and makes it decay And Marble pillars to moulder away And Horace vpon the same theame addeth Of the dismall day that doth threaten with death Things vitall feele the smart and things without breath It is a wonder saith Cicero also if old men bee troubled with infirmities seeing young men cannot priuiledge themselues from them but are often enough feeble and weake The Sunne that riseth in the morning doth set at night there is not any thing that doth increase and flourish but it doth decrease wither and waxe old But to come neerer to our purpose let vs first discouer and lay open the remote causes of old age then those that are neerer and more inherent and naturall and let vs shew that they are not all of a peece and of one sort Those wee call the remote causes of old age which are supernaturall and which proceed from the disobedience of Adam and Eue and from the sentence pronounced against them by the Lord God For so long as God was mans friend the skie ayre and earth were so beautifull to behold that a fairer prospect could not be desired and man himselfe knew and perceiued how proportionably his bones and ioynts were set together and how exquisitely and perfectly hee was fashioned framed and made as well in body as in soule But man taking vpon him boldly to transgresse Gods commandement and to reuolt from his obedience had this punishment for his boldnesse and rebellion inflicted vpon him that within doores or touching his inward man he was not so well fortified with the spirit of God as he was before and abroad without doores or touching his outward man all his former blessings became curses as appeares by that which is contained in the sentence pronounced against him presently after his fall For where before he had liberty hee was made a bondslaue all the paines hee was put to in that pleasant garden of Eden whereof he was owner was onely to trim it and keepe it handsome which was an easie worke to the hard labour hee was put to afterward his sleepe and rest was disquieted with wearisomnesse and discontentments the Elements and all other creatures and things ordained for the necessity of this life and which before willingly offered and did their seruice vnto him were after his fall subiect to vanity and corruption and began to bee enemies and to proclaime open warres against this wretched Apostata man For the skie was troubled with tempests and stormes the ayre was infected with noysome vapours the earth brought forth thornes thistles hurtfull and venemous hearbes and the tame and wilde beasts stood with their seuerall weapons ready drawne to encounter and make head against him Man being then inuironed with the dreadfull wrath of God combred with so many euills and miseries and hauing so many ambushes and traines laid for him which hee was to passe and make a lane thorough it was impossible but that hee should by little and little waste his vitall spirits and consume his strength grow old and speedily come to his death if God of his meere good will to him had not eased his sorrowes and troubles and mitigated his afflictions prolonging the date of his yeares and letting some liue so long as it seemeth good vnto him Dauid lamenting this miserable condition of his saith in the extreame anguish of all his heauinesse and troubles There is no health in my flesh because of thine indignation My bones neuer leaue asking because I haue offended thee O Lord Psal 38. 4. And in another place he saith My dayes are as a shadow which vanisheth away and I am as a withered leafe ashes haue beene my bread and I haue mingled my drinke with teares because of thine anger and heauy displeasure and because hauing aduanced mee to great honour thou hast cast mee downe as low as the dust Psal 102. 10. 11. 12. Many yeares before Dauid Iob complaines That his dayes were like the dayes of a hireling moneths of vanity were giuen him for his portion painefull nights were appointed vnto him his flesh was clothed with wormes his skin was chapt and shrunke away and his daies passed away as swiftly as a Weâ—vers shittle Iob 7. 1. c. Briefly as Saint Cyprian saith in his Treatise of the vertue of patience this obligatory decree Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne doth binde vs vnder hatches and keepes vs chained in hold vntill death be abolished and we made partakers of a better life Thus much touching the remote causes of old age Now followes the naturall and inherent causes of old age As young men die vnwillingly so on the contrary old men fall of themselues into their graues like fruits that are ripe and according to the course of nature all things that are old doe by little and little decline and giue way to death Which caused some Diuines to be of opinion that our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ among other reasons would not die of any disease or of old age that hee might not seeme to bee driuen and turned out of the world perforce by this naturall infirmity which doth threaten all the children of Adam As for that which is extraordinary peculiar and not so much according to nature wee may read examples thereof in Isaiah 40. Chap. 30. 31. The young men are weary and faint yea the lustiest young men doe stumble and fall flat to the ground but those that waite and depend vpon the Lord doe renew their strength their wings doe spread as the wings of an Eagle they shall runne and not be weary they shall walke and not be feeble and faint And the same Prophet foretelleth in the 65. Chapter concerning the restauration of the Church which is spiritually to bee vnderstood That hereafter there shall be in
layes in the graue more children and men of fiue and twentie and thirtie yeares old then those that bee older and young men are commonly sooner infected then old Let vs then giue ouer vnwisely to obiect vnto old men and to vpbraide them with their calamities and miseries seeing that the youngest men feele more which doe put them to more paine and torment Whereas old men are reproched that they haue giuen ouer Tennys-play reuellings dancing dallying courting leaping vaulting and hoyting and gallopping vp and downe as the wise Barzillay saith when hee requested King Dauid to giue him leaue to leaue the court and to liue quietly at home by himselfe 2. Sam. 19. So it is that old men are distasted and weary of such sports and delights and on the contrary are glad and greatly reioyce that they are free from the desires and lusts of young men which doe tyrannize ouer them and it is a great ioy of heart vnto them that being altogether vnapt to exercise the vanities and sensuall delights and pleasures of the world they haue the more leasure and vacant time to imploy themselues to mortifie their carnall lusts and affections and to meditate vpon the life to come Good God what a wrong doe wee doe to our selues to insert and put into the catalogue and bedroll of our euills and afflictions things which doe bring health vnto vs and are very necessary documents and instructions vnto vs There are no people more miserable then those who foolishly boast They know not what sorrow and misery meanes nor neuer had any The euills of the world are euills because men thinke them so but indeed and in truth they are not euills As for example our bodily infirmitie men that are truely wise and religious make a good and profitable vse of it Wee will take for our second example the approch and comming of death which the neerer it comes to vs the neerer we shall be to our Port and the sooner wee shall be within the kennyng and discouery of our true countrey Thirdly death it selfe is the end of our life and the beginning of our happinesse which all good men wish for Let vs then abandon the company of those idiots who when old age is farre off from them wish and desire it and when it is come neere and almost at them reuile and condemne it CHAP. VIII Foure causes propounded by Cicero of the miseries of old age reduced to two to wit the miseries of the body and of the minde THere is no day houre minute or moment of our life which doth not put vs in minde that we are mortall and it is a brutish stupiditie and sencelessenes both in yong and old men to promise to themselues to morrow But why doe wee refuse to liue according to the conditions agreed vpon when wee came into the world to wit to leaue life in youth or in age when death cals vs and bids vs to take our leaue of it And whence is it that wee beare so impatiently that which cannot be shunned or avoyded What moues vs to look for knotts in Bull-rushes and to make doubts and difficulties in so plaine a case We doe but peruersly blame and accuse the iudge of the world when we speake of old age saying it is miserable in regard it makes vs vnseruiceable men and vnfit to mannage and meddle with worldly affaires enfeebles our bodies putts vs beside and barres vs almost of all pleasures being moreouer the next neighbour to death Cicero in his Dialogue of Old-age putteth such like cases and answering them denyes that wise old men are idle bodies and as for those which make it their recreation and take pleasure to be ignorant and to sit still and doe nothing they are vnworthie the worthie name of Old men and deserue rather to be called Idolles and Statues which artificially are moued by vises gynnes Great and important affaires are not effected by the strength nimblenesse and agilitie of the bodie but by counsell authoritie iudgement and example And as Salust sayth in Iugurth the minde is the guide chiefe Captaine and conductor of mens actions and liues But seeing that Old men haue alwayes beene esteemed to be endued with sound counsell wisedome grounded vpon long experience by reason whereof all those that haue eminent places of charge in the Church and Common-weale are wont to bee called Senators and Elders Why shall we thinke them lither idle persons who direct and prescribe vnto others what is to be done and how and in what order and manner things are to be done and though they sit still themselues yet the whole burthen of the businesse lyes vpon them Euen as wee see Pilots of Ships who without much troubling themselues or stirring from their places sit quietly at the sterne and holding the Rudder in despite of boystrous windes and waues doe cond and carry their Ships laden with men and merchandize safely to their vnlading port And this is the cause why in euery well gouerned Common weale old men are had in great reuerence and honour which they iustly deserue and young men frequent their company and are conuersant with them to benefit themselues by their counsels and instructions On the contrarie wise old men are no gybing and iesting Buffones who with their armes a crosse take pleasure to trifle out the time and to idle it at home in their houses but they meditate imagine and contriue and are alwayes doing one good deed or other teaching good lessons as they grow old and growing old as fast as they teach them not that they would seeme men of knowledge themselues but that others by reaping the fruits of their labours might feelingly perceiue that true pietie and vertue are the guides of their actions Concerning the weaknesse of their bodies as young men content themselues with a proportiall and competent strength and affect not to be so strong as Bulls Cammells or Elephants so old men for their part are content with that condition which it pleaseth God to lay vpon them and fancie not to be so strong as they were in their youth It is very decent and fit that a man obserue and giue way to his owne nature attempting nothing aboue his owne strength but to doe as much as he can and no more Therefore Milo of Cretona made himselfe a ridiculous spectacle who being growne old and beholding his withered armes wept dolefully complaining that they were starke dead Whereupon Cicero vseth these words Doth the vertue and honour of a man lie in his armes It is not rather a mature wisedome which makes him renowned to his dying day Old age doth not by and by so weaken a man but that by diuers exercises wherewith he may invre his bodie and minde and by ordering himselfe well in his drinking eating sleeping by giuing himselfe ease vacancie and rest and not tyring himselfe and spending his spirits with much labour and studie he may keepe himselfe from bending in the hammes
with a deuout zeale and courage But let vs yet come neerer and according to our proiect and purpose let vs see what helpe and comfort Philosophie and faith doe yeeld and afford vs against our naturall frailtie While we are in this world wee cannot haue freedome and ease from all our affections perturbations and passions nor from all sense of our miserie Then seeing it is so let vs at least take a course to moderate them and with patience to beare our condition which we shall easily doe if we call to minde what our sinnes doe deserue and how great the wisedome and goodnesse of God is in turning our aduersities and troubles to be profitable and wholesome medicines and helpes vnto vs. Let vs then first acknowledge in our originall and naturall frailtie that which is remarkable and to be obserued in all the children of Adam S. Bernard sayth in one of his Sermons vpon the Canticles Man being aduanced and raised to honour is become as a brute Beast he dwelt in a garden and had a pleasant dwelling and very delightfull was not pressed with any care or annoyances wanted nothing was surrounded with sweet smelling flowers with fruits pleasing to the taste was crowned with glory and honour was supervisor and Lord ouer all the workes which his Creator had made But his chiefest excellency consisted in this that he was created after the Image of God was a companion with the Angelles and with all the companies of the hoste of Heauen But hee hath changed this glorie and is become like to the Beastes O lamentable and woefull change That man a trimmer of a garden of pleasure Lord of the earth a cittizen of Heauen a domestique of the Lord God of hostes an heire of heauenly happinesse by a suddaine change is become naked miserable poore like to the beastes which with a bridle we awe and keepe vnder Now as man is come naked out of his mothers belly so shall hee returne to the earth carrying nothing with him of all his labour and trauayle For to draw some comfort from that which hath beene spoken let vs now and then ponder and weigh with our selues that it is our fault and misdoinges hath brought these euils and miseries and others much more grieuous and heauie vpon vs that we must not blame God but our owne disobedience Then let vs consider in God such a mercie as doth easily swallow vp all the miseries of this present life in as much as he turneth and changeth them to medicines profitable to vs. To which purpose S. Augustine said vpon the exposition of the Psalme 22. Man knows that God is a Phisitian that affliction is a remedie procuring his saluation and not a punishment effectuating his damnation When a remedie is sought for the Phisitian brings a searing iron and fire thou cryest thy Phisitian heares well enough thy roarings and clamours but he heares not to doe as thou wouldest haue him to doe but to heale thee Behold according to S. Paul in the fift Chapter of the Epistle to the Romaines how the Phisicke workes Tribulation brings forth patience and patience experience and experience hope Let vs then haue before our eyes this molehill of earth whereof the bodie is kneaded and made and the grace of the holy Ghost proceeding out of the most hidden treasures of Gods loue whose will it hath bin that this vile masse of earth should bee a vessell of his glory Let vs make reckoning of it in as much as our bodies so sayth the Apostle 1 Cor. haue beene made members of Iesus Christ temples of the holy Ghost Let vs not be lesse considerate and ingrate then the incredulous and prophane Gentiles who haue so deepely considered the frailtie viletie miserie of our originall as Lactantius in the second booke of his Institutions Chap. 12. collects out of the first booke of Ciceroes lawes that they haue acknowledged that this wretched poore liuing creature in whom is seene such wisedome prudence wit memory a large and deepe vnderstanding and reason was created of the high God to be eleuated and aduanced to an excellent state and condition Although then other liuing creatures devoid of reason seeme better prouided and armed touching the bodie then man Some being very swift of foote as Hares Does and Stagges others armed with sharpe clawes and hornes as Lyons and Bulles others dight trimmed and sheltered with feathers and wings as Birds and Fowles yet notwithstanding this is done by the exquisite prouidence of God as Chrysostome notes well That all the power and strength of man should be in the soule and that man should be so much the more strong in God as he is more weake and naked without This mystery and secret long agoe was acknowledged by Dauid and all wise old men to teach the younger ought to remember it Thou hast sayth he speaking to God put thy strength in the mouth of little children and sucking babes Surely in this first age sustained gouerned guarded and protected by a speciall wisedome and admirable power of the Creator he seemes to lay as the first foundations of his power and might to make them manifest to them that haue any vnderstanding thereby to quell and confound with shame the enemies of his name Atheists and prophane persons which dare contest and contend against him In the Psalme 22. the Prophet strengthened by his owne experience sayth assuredly O God thou art hee which drewest me out of my mothers belly thou gauest me assurance and safetie at my nurses brest I haue been in thy custodie tuition and charge from the wombe thou art my strong God from my conception And in the Psalme 139. Thou hast possessed my reines from the time that I was lapped vp and couered in my mothers wombe I will celebrate and prayse thee for that I was made in so strange and wonderfull a manner Thy workes are wonderfull and my soule knowes it right well The good proportion and setting in order of my bones was not hid from thee when I was made in a secret place and curiously fashioned beneath in the earth Thine eyes did see me when I was as a formelesse embryon all these things were written in thy booke before they were O mighty God how precious then vnto me are the considerations of thy workes and how great is the number of them will I take vpon mee to count them they are more in number then the smallest sands These are the holy meditations of Dauid So then casting our eyes to the ground vpon this little heape of earth whereof our bodies are formed wee learne to hang downe the head and bowe downe the crest and to abate more then three parts of our pride and selfe conceit On the contrary lifting vp our eyes to heauen from whence our soules tooke their beginning and where the great Father of spirits dwelles we haue cause giuen vs to reioyce and occasion with all alacritie and readinesse to trample vnder our feete all
no tormentes nor tortures canne quell or dismay their stoute minde nor no Bug-beare or terror is gastly or horrid enough to fray and affright them The Lord hauing made a couenant with his Church which here on earth is compounded of all sorts of people hath giuen vnto it two strong propps of hope to wit his spirit and his true word This spirit is called the spirit of wisedome vnderstanding counsell power knowledge of sanctification veritie consolation life faith grace The word is called the word of life of saluation of the grace of God of our reconciliation with the father of Heauen A word testifying that all thinges were giuen vs necessary to life and pietie by the knowledge of him who hath called vs by his owne power and glorie by which are giuen vnto vs great and pretious promises that by them wee which are regenerated by the holy Ghost and the word should be made partakers of the diuine nature being deliuered and freed from the concupiscences and corruptions of the world Whosoeuer hath not this spirit of Iesus Christ and trusteth not in the promises of God a midd all his babble and prattle of the contempt of death and the benefit of old age is still in doubt hath feeble hands trembling and staggering knees haltes feedes himselfe with the winde and not with any assured consolation But the iust doe liue by faith are strengthened and vpheld by it which makes them reioyce all wayes in the Lord who sanctifies them preserues whole and entire their mind soule and bodie vnblameable vntill the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ CHAP. XV. An aduise to wise old men conteining the summarie and substance of their dutie vntill their last gaspe IT should remaine now to treat of death and the certaine remedies against it But before we enter therein we will propound to our wise Vieillard an aduise drawne and taken out of the volumes of sacred Philosophie to leade him more easily on to that whereunto he aspires But it behooueth those who are almost at their wayes end more heedfully to consider both the way they haue gone and are to goe for their further encouragement to their dutie Behold then what I pretend to remember to whomsoeuer being in old age will vouchsafe to hearken to him who is drawing neere vnto it It is reason that the grace of God witnessed in so many sortes so many yeares and sealed in our Baptisme at our first entrance into the world and into the Church when we haue rightly apprehended in whom we are dead and in whom quickned doe cause vs to wish a continuall sense and feeling of our adoption by his spirit speaking to vs by his word and witnessing with our spirit that we are the sonnes of God This sense and feeling doth engender or beget an excellent desire an earnest devotion a firme resolution to yeeld him obedience all our life long but more at the dissolution and end of our life then at the beginning which is devoide of knowledge conscience experience wisedome plunged and drowned the greater part of tyme in ignorance selfe opinion insolencie and ribauld and lasciuious impudencie Now then it behooues so soone as we feele the motions of this grace that our hearts be replenished with a sincere and liuely affection to obey God not according to our worldly sense but following the rule which he himselfe doth propose and set downe vnto vs. Touching this affection it is commended vnto vs by generall and speciall reasons The generall reasons are that our God is holy and that we his people cannot cleaue vnto him except we bee holy likewise then as members belonging to Iesus Christ our head and redeemer we ought to be made conformable to him imitating his life which is called the obedience to God his Father euen to the death of the crosse The speciall reasons are First that God is our Father Secondly that Christ hath washed vs by his precious bloud and incorporated vs into him Thirdly that this our head is ascended vp into heauen Fourthly that we are the temples of the holy Ghost Fiftly that our bodies be predestinated to the last resurrection and our soules to immortalitie both of them to euerlasting glorie Whereupon it followes that it is horrible ingratitude not to be willing to obey the will of our heauenly Father that it is madnesse to returne to the filthinesse from which we haue beene so dearely and preciously cleansed and purged that it is detestable iniquitie to wish and to will the members of Iesus Christ to bee ioyned to Sathan and to the world that is but reason for euer to burie all earthly affection to aspire to a better life to be by a liuely faith set in the heauenly places and to feele and taste of life and euerlasting glory that we must not grieue him which dwelleth in vs our counsellor guide and comforter That it is good reason to preserue our selues immaculate and pure euen vntill the day of our Lord. Hauing treated of our affection let vs speake of the rule thereof declared in such wise and so expressely in the law of God to make vs yet to see as the soule and mayne of all that his good pleasure hath beene to forme and fashion our manners by a most exact manner and order and which serues as a commentarie of all that is contayned in the sayd Law That is that wee should renounce our selues to the end to be fit to apply and frame our selues sincerely and wholly to serue God because we are not our owne but Gods Whereupon it followes that a Christian be he young or old and the old is more bound to this dutie then the yong because God hath vpheld and supported him long hath bestowed many blessings and benefites on him and a blessed life whereinto hee is nowe entring ought to search and learne out what God willeth and approueth briefely whatsoeuer serueth to the advancement of his glorie Those which are of an other minde are styled and tearmed by the voyce of truth vngracious hypocrites vngratefull reprobates All these licentious and inordinate humours S. Paul in his Epistle to Titus comprehendeth vnder the word Impietie To which hee opposeth the duties of Christians marshalled and ranged vnder the three excellent giftes of the holy Ghost in the regenerate to wit sobrietie iustice and pietie And in this sacred triangle is included the renouncing of our selues And the Apostle not without cause hath begun with temperance which especially concernes vs which moderates our lustes and desires banishing and driuing away sensuall carnall worldly and vncleane and filthie affections much more their detestable effortes and effectes It is shee which doth fashion and frame vs to a true square rulle and order as well in the moderation of our wishes and dreames of worldly houour and greatnesse as of our inordinate beastly concupiscences suggested by the vncleane spirit In the violent pursuite seeking and hunting after proud vsurping sacrilegious detayning and miserable possessing
seat of Christ that euery man may receiue according to what he hath done in his body be it good or euill Knowing then the terror of the Lord we perswade men to the faith and wee are made manifest to God And that which he sayth at the end of the fourth Chapter of the first to the Thessalonians This we say vnto yee by the word of the Lord that wee which shall liue and remaine to the comming of the Lord shall not preuent them which sleepe For the Lord himselfe with a shout with the voyce of the Archangell and with the Trumpet of God shall descend from heauen and those which are dead in Christ shall rise first afterward wee which shall bee aliue and remaine shall bee caught vp with them also in the cloudes to meete the Lord in the ayre and so shall we euer be with the Lord. O how great occasion haue young and old who read these things to thinke vpon and consider their consciences Let vs adde some lineaments of the immortalitie of mans soule not that wee thinke that any good man doth call in doubt this truth but because we cannot too much fortifie young nor old against the bloudie scoffings execrable blasphemies of Epicures Atheistes with whom the earth is couered in these latter tymes Many auncient Philosophers as Pythagoras Pherecydes the Platonistes and the Stoickes haue set forth many sayinges of the immortalitie of the soule as much as they could learne out of the Schoole of Nature And yet as Lactantius declares it in his 7. booke of Diuine Institutions seeing they were ignorant wherein the soueraigne good of man doth consist vnlearned in the doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles they apprehended not any thing of the truth of this Article but by vncertaine opinion and coniecture rather then by assured knowledge Yea which is worse some of them first Dicaearchus then Democritus and after them Epicurus haue disputed against the immortalitie of soules Cicero himselfe who otherwise doth eloquently harang and pleade this cause in the first booke of his Tusculane questions hauing examined diuers opinions is at a demurr doubt euen to say that it belongs to some god to scan and to see which of all these diuers opinions are maintained sayth he because these diuers opinions are maintained by learned men we cannot well coniecture which of them all is to be receiued But as Lactantius sayth wee to whom God manifesteth his truth need not to coniecture But the source and spring of error vpon this poynt is that those who haue questioned the certaintie of the immortalitie of the soule haue stood too much vpon their owne conceiptes and vnderstanding judging false and incomprehensible whatsoeuer was out of the reach of their apprehension Their reasons are well set forth and fitly confuted in the second and third Chapter of the Booke of Wisedome as it followeth The wicked haue falsely imagined with themselues our life is short and full of vexation and in the death of man there is no recouery and it was neuer knowne that any returned from the graue For we are borne at aduenture and shall be as if we had neuer beene because the breath of our nostrilles is as smoake and our wordes as a sparke rising vp out of our heart which being extinguished our body is turned into ashes and our spirit vanisheth as soft ayre Come then and let vs frolicke it with the pleasures that are present chearefully vsing the creatures and our youth let vs fill our selues with the best wine and with parfumes c. It is added also after The wicked haue thus erred and gone astray because their wickednesse hath blinded them and they haue not vnderstood the mysteries of God nor hoped for the reward of holines and haue not discerned what is the reward of the soules that are faultlesse For God created man to be incorruptible hauing made him to be an Image of his owne nature and likenesse but thorough the enuie of the Deuill death is come into the world and those which hold on his side proue it But the soules of the righteous are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them In the sight of the vnwise they seemed to die their end was grieuous At their departure from vs they seemed vtterly destroyed but they are in peace They suffered paines before men their hope was full of immortalitie hauing beene lightly or in few things punished they shall be plentifully rewarded because God hath proued them as gold and hath found them worthie of him They shall judge the Nations and shall haue dominion ouer the people and their Lord shall raigne for euer Those which trust in him shall vnderstand the truth and the faithfull shall remaine with him in loue For grace and mercy is to his Saints and he hath care of his elect But the vngodly shall be punished for their very imaginations who haue made no reckoning of the righteous and haue rebelled against the Lord. For wicked is he who despiseth Wisedome and Discipline their hope is vaine their labours helpe them not and their workes are vnprofitable From these words we gather that the abhominable opinion of the mortalitie of the soule openeth the windowe to error and letteth goe the raynes to all impietie and dissolution Whereunto doth sort and agree the scoffing speeches of Epicures and prophane ones to elude and shift off the judgments of God denounced vnto them of which Esaiah in the 22. Chapter and Saint Paul in the 15. Chapter of the 1. to the Corinthians make mention Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we shall die Let vs be frolicke and merry we haue but one day more to liue This is the reckoning of these clamourers and brawlers who deafe and trouble our eares with their discourses and reasons Moreouer this Text of the Booke of Wisedome discouereth the prophanenesse of these sensuall and carnall men to proceede from this that they judge of the soule of man according to their grosse imaginations to wit that it is no other but a respiration a breath and vapour of smoake not considering there is great difference betweene the effect and the cause that is betweene respiration which proceedes from the lunges and is conveyed to the nostrills or to the mouth and the soule it selfe which is that essentiall spirit which formeth man yea doth many thinges without the adiument and helpe of the bodie witnesse her speculations deepe imaginations profound meditations shee being neuer idle and without motion when the bodie is faste a sleepe and stirres not Although then that respiration ceaseth the naturall faculties of the heart and lunges being suffocated and leauing their office the soule created to the image of God is not stifled and abolished so as there is great difference betweene it and the soules of Beastes which being formed with the bodies of the same matter that the bodies are doe perish also as the bodies and with them whereof it is that
Daniel calles him The Ancient of dayes not that therefore it is lawfull to represent God in the shape of an old man with a great long white beard as many ignorant folke doe which neuer read Moses nor the Prophets and which are ignorant of the nature and essence of the true God But that wee should conceiue this incomprehensible Maiestie to bee nothing else but wisedome a venerable supremacy and greatnesse of estate and a perfect sanctitie Secondly wee are taught to reuerence old men to honour their persons to rise vp with great respect to these white heads and beards and to shew thereby that we acknowledge in this their old age the stampes and prints of God as Moses exhorts vs in the 19. Chap. Leuit. v. 32. which we recite to the same end and purpose as wee haue done other sayings and sentences before whereunto wee adde this of a wise Elder who writ Ecclesiasticus in the third Chapter of which booke hee sayth My sonne helpe thy father in his age and grieue him not so long as hee liueth when his vnderstanding faileth him haue patience and beare with him and dispise him not but honour him as much as thou canst For the good intreaty of thy father shall not bee forgotten but shall bee a fortresse for thee against thy sinnes The women of Bethlehem are friendly and kind to the good old Naomi for that her daughter in law Ruth had borne a sonne to Boaz. This say they may bring life againe to thee and lenghthen thy dayes and cherish and comfort thine old age Ruth 4. 15. God by his Prophet Isaiah reprochet the Babilonians that they were cruell and vnmerciful to the Iewes and laid a very heauy yoke vpon them Chap. 47. 6. Also these wicked people were as hammers which the iust Iudge of the world vsed to breake in peeces the old and the young as Ieremie speakes in the 52. Chapter Vers 22. whence proceeded those woes and alasses of the Prophet in his Lamentations 4. Chap Vers 16. They reuerenced not the face of the Priests nor had compassion of the Elders And in the fift Chapter following Vers 12. The Princes are hanged vp by the hands and they reuerence not the face of the Elders That which Ezechiel proposeth in the 9. chap. v. 6. is most feareful and it sufficeth vs to marke and obserue it that our wise Vicillard doe thereby take heed On the contrary in Zachariahs dayes there being a question and demurre concerning the reestablishment of the people and of the fauours that God was minded to bestow vpon them Zachariah declares in the 8. Chapter Vers 4. That the God of hostes sayd thus There shall old men and women dwell in the streetes of Ierufalem and euery man haue his staffe in his hand for very age But Isaiah in the third Chapter Vers 2. and 5. putteth for signes of the terrible iudgement of God to Ierusalem That the old men shall be taken away and destroyed that the childe shall exalt himselfe and presume against the auncient and the abiect and vile against the honourable If in these times there bee any presage of the decay and ruine of Churches and Common-weales it is that the number of wise old men is very smal that the age of the worthies and renowned men is vanished and past That those that are children in yeares and vnderstanding are percht vp and set vp in the places of the experienced valiant and learned An extreame misery which we cannot sufficiently describe and lament But as good fruit when it is ripest and mellow is most delicate and pleasant to the taste and as the last draught contenteth the thirstie person In like sort pleasure seemes to reserue her dainties to the last and for the last seruice and messe So likewise wee say that old age hath in it I know not what that is notable and more excellent then other ages and the sayings of the auncients as the singing of swannes are daily excellent monitors and admonitions to vs. If wee listen to the last wordes of the Patriarches Moses Ioshua Dauid and giue them the hearing wee shall in them finde an ample proofe heereof Such Histories are familiar to wise old men and it is much better to read them in themselues then heere to recite them What illumination of Gods spirit is reuealed and manifest in the sayings of infinite Martyrs especially of such as were old euen from the Apostles time till now It is matter for a greater booke then this small Tractat or Manuel In the second booke of the Maccabees Chap. 6. It is spoken of Eleazar one of the chiefe Scribes an aged man who being pressed and instantly solicited to feigne and make semblance to adhere and obey to the superstitions of the Heathens vpon an honest and vpright minde worthy his age the excellency of his yeares the honour of his gray hayres his good conuersation from his childhood and chiefly Gods holy law suddenly required that hee might bee led to the place of execution adding these words worthy of memory It becommeth not our age to dissemble least many yong persons diffident and wauering that Eleazar being fourscore and tenne yeares old was gone and yeelded to prophane ceremonies thorough mine hypocrisie and dissimulation for a smal moment of a caduque and transitory life might bee seduced and I bring a malediction and curse and a staine and reproach to mine old age for though I should bee deliuered from the torments of men yet could I not escape the hand of the Almightie neither aliue nor dead Wherefore manfully changing and giuing vp this life I shall shew my selfe such as mine age requireth and meriteth And I shall leaue a notable example for such as be young to die willingly and couragiously for the venerable and holy lawes To this worthy old man let vs ioyne the constant Martyr Polycarpus a Disciple of S. Iohn the Apostle and of the Church of Smyrna in Asia As he was brought to the torturing fire the Proconsul hauing most earnestly solicited him to recant and renounce his faith with promise of libertie I haue said this wise old man and constant Martyr these fourescore and sixe yeares serued Iesus Christ and all this time he did me no outrage nor hurt how should it then be possible to bring me to bee of the minde to blaspheme my Sauiour and King I will neuer doe it If you feigne and pretend you know not my qualitie I would haue you to know that I am a Christian Many other words of admirable constancie were then vttered by this reuerend old man who being armed with inuincible courage presently suffred death for the name of the Lord. These two examples shall suffice to shew that the neerer wise old men are vnto death be it easie or violent the greater is their courage the neerer are they to the kingdome of Heauen And still as their bodies growe weake the holy Ghost doth fortifie and strengthen them in such sorte that