promise to thy self length of days yet thou must know also that a man even at the highest pitch of health when he hath that same Fencer-like kind of strength is nearest danger in the Judgment of the best Physicians remember with all that observation of Seneca Young Men saith he have Death behind them Old Men have Death before them and all men have Death not far from them we may in a manner complain already that the great God of Battle threatens an utter ruin to all the World the Earth hath trembled the Lights of Heaven have been often darkned Rebellions have been raised Treasons have not long since been practised Plagues of late have been dispersed Winds have blustered Waters have raged and what wants there now but those two Arrows of God even Sword and Fire from Heaven for us to be consumed Is it now think you a time to buy to sell to eat to drink and to live securely in sin as they did in the days of Noah and think of nothing else is it now a time to say unto Almighty God as the Nigard doth unto his Neighbour come again to me to morrow as that drousie Sluggard doth Prov. 6. 10. Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little foulding of the hands to sleep The foolish Virgins supposed that the Bridegroom would not have come like an Owl or a Batt in the night there is time enough said they what needs all this haste but poor Fools they were excluded Oh! I cannot forbear my very Heart even bleeds within me to think of it yea all the faculties of my Soul and Body are strucken with horrour and amazement while I declare unto you how that many Thousands now are doubtless in Hell who purposed in time to have set their Houses in order but being prevented by Death are for ever condemned O here I could heartily wish with Jeremy that I had in the Wilderness a Cottage Yea I could wish with Job that I were a Brother to the Dragons and a Companion to the Ostriches whilst I think of that wish I am now uttering nay I could willingly desire with the Princely Prophet David that my Heart were full of Water and that mine Eyes were a Fountain of tears that I might weep Day and Night for the too too common Sins of this our Age in every kind Now you are in your preparations for Eternity and therefore had need to be very watchful over your selves to see that you set your Houses in order for you shall die and not live And this brings me now unto the very last thing observable in my Text and that is of the reason Negative and shalt not live set thy House c Chrysostom prying into the base Nature of Man and finding him ever out of order teacheth him a seven-fold consideration of himself First What he is by nature what he is in himself Dust and Ashes Gen. 18. 2. Secondly What is within him much sin Thirdly What is before him a burning Lake which is spoken of Isai. 30. 33. Fourthly What is above him an offended Justice Deut. 32. 16. Fifthly What is against him Satan and Sin two notorious and deadly Enemies Sixthly What is before him transitory trifle and worldly vanities And then seventhly and lastly He desires man seriously to consider what is behind him infallible Death for semel aut bis morimur omnes Some once some twice we must all die and not live You cannot like Enoch Heb. 11. 5. be translated but must suffer Death as well as other Men being common to all Whatsoever thou dost affect whatsoever thou dost project so do and so project all at once who for any thing thou knowest may at this very present depart out of this Life Hypocrates although he could not cure till Death came upon him Heraclitus who writ many natural Tracts concerning the last and general consolation of the World could not find out a Remedy or a Medicine for his Distemper but died out of hand Thus you may see how that God spares none but sends one thing or other to bring us to our long home And thus far concerning the Death of the Body shall suffice which was the Death good King Hezekiah was forewarned of Wherefore now I shall but only speak a word or two of the Soul and likewise of the Death of the Soul and Body and so conclude First as there is a Natural Death viz. the Death of the Body so likewise there is a Spiritual Death viz. of the Soul when it is deprived of those Graces which formerly God did bestow upon it for as the Soul is the light and life of the Body even so Almighty God is the light and life of the Soul When he takes his holy Spirit from us then we walk in the shadow of Death this Death is an ill Fruit of Sin therefore let us set our Houses in order But secondly As there is a natural Death and a spiritual Death so likewise there is an eternal Death called in the Ornament of Grace the second Death This Death as well as the Death of the poor Soul is lamented by God Esay 59. 2. As I live saith the Lord I desire not the Death of a Sinner but rather that he may turn from his Wickedness and live I might now likewise add a fourth Death and that is a civil Death an undoing of our Credit and honest Reputation which many Men die but this I shall leave to your consideration and so conclude O my dearly beloved Friends consider what you are all by nature What is within you What is above you What is below you What is against you What is before you What is behind you and that is infallible Death For here is not one here amongst you be he never so strong never so healthly but that within the Revolution of a few years shall be brought in spight of his teeth unto the Grave Wherefore let your Houses be dâ—…ly perfumed by a Morning and Evening Sacrifice of Prayer Praise unto Almighty God both which were appointed under the Law Exod. 29. 38. 39. And this shadowed what was to be performed under the Gospel God renews his Mercies to you every Morning and protects you from manifold dangers every Night whereunto you are subject and you be so ungrateful as to banish all his benefits out of your Memories who is every Moment so mindful of you As therefore beloved you tender the Salvation of your poor Souls look home and mourn for your Original sin steep your Eyes in Tears write Letters of â—…scomfort upon the Ground as you go let the streams of your fighs and the sweet Incense of your Prayers rise up like Mountains before the Lord of Hosts and bedewing your Cheeks with tears make your humble Confession unto God Almighty not of sin alone but of all your sins of what nature degree or height soever they be and by your unfeigned Confession so accuse your selves that you may not hereafter be accused of
Therefore a happy end is so desired from none but God Of which I will annex a short Example First Prayer Eight Verses chosen out of the Psalms of David by St. Bernard which he is reported to have repeated every Day for a Happy Hour of Death ENlighten my Eyes that I sleep not in death lest my Enemies say I have prevailed against him Psal. 12. v. 3 4. Into thy hands I recommend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth Psal. 31. v. 6. At last I spake with my Tongue Lord let me know my end and the number of my days that I may know how long I have to live Psal. 39. v. 4 5. Shew some good token upon me for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psal. 86. v. 17. Thou hast broken my Bands in sunder I will offer to thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord Psal. 116. v. 14 15. I had no place to fly to and no Man car'd for my Soul I cry'd unto thee O Lord and said Thou art my Hope and my Portion in the Land of the Living Psal. 142. v. 5 6. Omnipotent Sempiternal God who didst prolong the Life of Hezekiah miserably imploring thee grant me thy unworthy Servant before the day of my Death so much time to live that I may be able to deplore all my Sins and may obtain from thy Compassion Pardon and Favour Omnipotent Gracious and Merciful God I most humbly beseech thee by the Death of thy Son grant me a happy and a blessed Hour when my Soul shall depart out of my Body Lord Jesu Crucified Christ by the Bitterness of the Death which thou didst suffer for me upon the Cross chiefly when thy Soul departed from thy Body have Mercy on my Soul at the last Hour who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and for ever Amen The Second Prayer For a Happy Departure MOST Merciful Lord Jesu if this be the Condition of a Dying Man if in such Dangers and Extremities my Spirit must depart out of this Life whither shall I fly but unto thee Oh my God Do thou take care of my Soul that it may not perish in that dreadful Hour Grant me I beseech thee according to the multitude of thy Mercies and by that servent Love and Grief wherewith thou who art Life it self didst die for me that I may have the Combat of Corporal Death always before my Eyes and that living I may so do as dying I would desire to have done and that I may expend my time and study in nothing more than that I may Spiritually die to my self and may mortifie all the Passions of my Sences that so after this Life I may live with thee Happy and Blessed to all Eternity The Conclusion of the first Chapter To the Reader DO this meditate upon this O Man and while thou art well learn to be sick learn to die To do both is a rare piece of Art which whether thou knowest or no it is not lawful for thee to try but when thou canst not err without the loss of Eternal Felicity We err but once in dying but that Error is never to be amended to all Eternity Therefore to abide as being still to depart But for the most part abide within thyself and search every cranny of thy Conscience Whatever thou enjoyest look upon it as the Lumber of a place where there is no Habitation Thou art not suffered to carry out any more than thou broughâ—…est in with thee Therefore act and bestir thy self Approve thy self right in the sight of God Thou art to go hence Believe that thou standest always at the Gate of Eternity Eternity is that we must look after Pleasure is short Punishment Eternal The labour is Easie the reward Everlasting Therefore we have given wholesom Instruction we have taught that Death is to be contemn'd but the thoughts of it never to be laid aside Now we will give the same Admonitions to the Sick CHAP. II. The Remembrance of Death is Recommended to the Sick Sect. 1. The Introduction and whether Sickness be an Evil CAunus is a Town in Caria in a Pestilent Air and unwholesom for the Inhabitant These People when Stratonicus the Musician and witty Man beheld he recited the Verse in Homer to them Like as the Leaves just so the People are Thereby he taunted their Icterical Yellowish and Wan Complexions But when the Caunians had given him a very rugged Entertainment for defaming their City as sickly and unwholesom Stratonicus return'd upon them again Must I not dare said he to call that a sickly place where the dead walk More wittily and more smartly than before But why do we deny and lift up our Noses We are most like to Leaves Very plainly Job Wilt thou break a Leaf saith he driven to and fro As if he had said When I am but a Leaf liable to all the Inconveniences of Life afraid of every Gust wilt thou hasten me with the wind of thy indignation I shall fall of my self without any constraint of thine Are not Men Leaves whom Sickness like dry Leaves and juiceless Flowers tosâ—…es to and fro and variously sports with Clement of Alexandria being of the same Opinion Go to said he Men of an obscure Life like the Generation of Leaves infirm Creatures Images of Waâ—… things like shadows frail unsledg'd living but the Life of one day Certainly we are Leaves shaken by every puff of wind Sometimes a little Fever what do I say Nay a little Cough a little drop falling upon the little wicket of the Throat mortifies this Leaf and throws it into the Grave But whether or no is Sickness a Benefit and Death an Evil No Mortal no it is not saith Epictetus Health well us'd is a good thing ill us'd a mischief And therefore we may reap Benefit by Sickness What dost thou say of Sickness I wil shew thee its Nature then I shall be quiet I shall think my self well dealt with I shall not flatter the Physician I shall not wish for Death What wouldst thou more Whatever thou shalt give me that will I make happy prosperous honourable to be desir'd But there are some that deny this and say Take heed of being sick 't is an ill thing To them Epictetus again That is as much as to say saith he Take heed that thou dost not feign three to be four 't is an ill thing How evil If we so think of it as we ought What harm will it do me Rather will it not do me good If therefore I so think of Poverty Sick or Troubles of Church or State as I ought is not that enough to me will it not be profitable Truth Love thee O Epictetus How agreeable are all these things to Christian Doctrine This Foundation being laid we shall here teach ye to be mindful
dye But you having shot the Gulph delight to see Succeeding Souls plunge in with like uncertainty IV. When Life 's close knot by writ from Destiny Disease shall cut or age unty When after some delays so me dying strife The Soul stands shivering on the ridge of Life With what a dreadful Curiosity Does she launch out into the Sea of vast Eternity V. So when the spacious Globe was delug'd o're And lower holds could save no more On th' utmost Bough th' astonish'd Sinners stood And view'd th' Advances of th' encroaching Flood O're topp'd at length by th' Elements encrease With horror they resigâ—…'d to the untry'd Abyss It is very desirable to know in what condition our Souls will be when they leave the Body and what is the Natâ—…re of that abode into which we must go but which we never saw into and through what Regions we must then take our flight and after what manner this will be done 'T is certain my Soul will then preserve the faculties that are natural to it viz. to understand to will to remember as 't is represented to us under the Parable of Dives and Lazarus But alas we little know how the People of the disembodied Societies act and will and understand and communicate their thoughts to one another and therefore I long to know it What conception can I have of a separated Soul says a late Writer but that 't is all Thought I firmly think when a mans body is taken from him hy Death he is turned into all Thought and Spirit How great will be his Thought when it is without any hinderance from these material Organs that now obstruct its Operations In that Eternity as one expresses it the whole power of the Soul runs together one and the same way In Eternity the Soul is united in its Motions which way one faculty goes all go and the Thoughts are all concentred as in one whole Thought of Joy or Torment These things have occasioned great variety of Thoughts in me and my Soul when it looks towards the other World and thinks it self near it can no more cease to be inquisitive about it than it can cease to be a Soul Tears FOR A Dead Husband WHen Mary came where Jesus was and saw him she fell down at his feet saying unto him Lord if thou hadst been here my Brother had not died Jo. 11. 32. She wept indeed yet it was but for 〈◊〉 Brother and the Jews also wept vers 33. yet it was but for a common Friend But what was all that to the death of a Husband O my Husband my Husband That very name of Husband methinks would flatter me with comfort as if I might imagin that he could hear me But oh he is dead he is dead He cannot hear me he cannot behold me he cannot answer me His Ears are locked up his Eyes are closed his mouth is sealed his Soul is gone O what shall I do for my head my guide my heart my Husband Were my Saviour upon Earth again I could send one to him as Mary did who should say Lord behold he whom thou lovest is dead Dead say I 〈◊〉 O dead dead he is gone he is departed and can never be recalled But why Why can he not be called back again Did not my Jesus cause Lazarus to arise when he had been four days dead ver 39. Yes he did But what then I neither love my Saviour so well as Mary did nor I fear doth he love me so well as he did Mary or if both were so yet since Miracles are ceased I cannot so much as hope that he will call back the Spirit of my Lord my Husband Oh could he be wooed by the Tears of a sinful Woman never did any mourn so much as I would But nothing will perswade I seek but the disturbance of him whom I mourn for if I desire to call him from his eternal rest When Sarah died in Kirjath-Arba Abraham stood up from before his deceased Wife and spake unto the Sons of Heth saying I am a stranger and a Sojourner with you Give me a Possession and a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23. 3 4. Though he so tenderly affected her whilst she was living yet he would not look too long on her when she was dead It is a duty as full of humanity to interr with decency the Bodies of the dead as it is of Religion to love the Persons when they are alive Yet vain is man in this affection if he fixeth his love only on the beauty of the body This flesh which is so tender this skin which I strive to preserve both smooth and white must one day be a banquet for the loathed Worms No greater priviledge belongeth to me than did to my Husband for the time will come when I shall follow him to the Earth Had I loved only his outward form my love should now either be quite forgotten or else I should fondly desire to deny it interment But it was his body enlivened with a rich and excellent Soul which drew mine affection and commanded my desires Had that Soul and body continued their Society I had been freed from my laments but they have bid farewell till the general Resurrection and hence am I enforced to utter my complaints I weep for my loss because we are divorced But oh what conflicts then can I imagin that he had when he was not only to part from his indeared Wife but likewise his Soul was to leave this chillowed Earth Oh for him for him for my loss of him do I pay the tribute of these watering Eyes Yet these tears must not flow in too great abundance lest by them I should seem to envy his happiness Even when his body shall be layed to sleep in the grave if I mourn too much it will be justly suspected that too much I loved the worst of my Husband His Soul which was his best is now in perfection and may not be lamented his Body which is the worst and grosser part of him is now to be committed to the Earth whence it came Thither it must go to that place I must commend it otherwise my former love may be turned into loathing and that which I esteemed when it was alive I shall be forced to abhor if I keep it from the Grave O it grieveth me each minute that I think of my dearest it troubleth and perplexeth me with disturbed thoughts when I consider how frequently I loved him yet cannot enliven him But these are only the fond conceptions of an erring phantasie and tell me that I loved him more than I should or else now I would not grieve so much as I do If my love to God be so great as I pretend I shall thankfully acknowledg his Love to the departed O let it never be said that my Love was Idolatry in affecting him too much who is but dust and ashes But why sit
to come into the presence of the great and glorious God yet it shall be even this flesh and these Eyes in which I shall come into the Presence of God and and behold my Redeemer I shall be altered from what I was but I shall not be another than I was I shall be changed into a better condition but I shall not be changed into another person My qualities shall have a perfective alteration but I shall retain the same matter and be the same man A man raised glorious and immotal is what he was except his Morality and hath no more than he had except his Glory The Philosopher acknowledgeth there may be a specificial but not a numerical Restauration of that which is corrupted But Joâ—…'s Faith was clearer than Aristotle's reason He believed a Personal Resurrection Mine Eye shall behold and not another I shall not be changed into another Person whatever changes I undergo I shall be Job still the same Job Hence observe Every Man at the Resurrection shall receive the same Body that now he hath and beâ—… the same Mâ—… which now he is One of the Antients hath a large Discourse upon this subject wherein he discovers some who tho they granted the Soul immortal yet denied the Resurrection of the same Body Such were the Marcionites Basilidians and Và lentinians These â—…aith he went halves with the Sadduces in their opinion The Sadduces denied Spirits Hence Acts 23. 6. Paul perceiving that the Assembly was mixed of Sadduces and Pharisees and wisely considering that if he did but mind them of their differences between themselves they would not so strongly agree and combine against him he made his advantage of it by professing openly that he was a Pharisee And the sacred Historian tells us what the peculiar tenents of the Sadduces were v. 8. The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection neither Angel nor Spirit they denied both but the Pharisees confess both They held that there were immortal Spirits or Souls united to the bodies of Men that those bodies should arise and be reunited to the Soul They also confessed that there were Angels who are Spirits subsisting properly without Bodies Now as the Sadduces denied the Resurrection of the Body so others denied the Resurrection of the same Body These he calleth sharers or halvers in the Sadduces Opinion though not so grosly as they yet too too grosly departing from the Faith And indeed they who deny the Resurrection of the same body do by implication altogether deny the Resurrection of the body For if the same numerical Body should not rise it could not be called a Resurrection Resurrection is the rising of that which fell and the taking up of that which was before laid down So that it would be the Creation of a new Body not the Resurrection of the old if it were not the same Body And it conduceth much to the comfort of Saints and may be the terrour of wicked Men to keep close to the Faith of this Article The Apostle seems to touch it 2 Cor. 5. 10. We shall all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things he hath done in his Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad That hand which hath been doing for Christ that very Tongue which hath been speaking for Christ that whole Body which hath been moved and acted for Jesus Christ as an instrument of his Glory that shall receive the Reward As also that Hand that Eye that Tongue that Foot which hath moved and stirred against Christ that also shall be punished and receive according to the evil committed in the Body Judgment would not be exact unless as there hath been a copartnership between Soul and Body in their works so also they should be co-Partners both in reward and punishment If it be objected how can the same numerical Body rise again especially in such cases when thousands of Carcasses are mingled and their Dust promiscuously heapead together or scattered abroad When the Bodies of Men are devoured by wild Beasts and digested into the substance of Fowls and Fishes especially when the Bodies of Men are eaten and concocted into the Bodies of other Men How can these numerical Bodies rise I answer first if we will not rest in matters of Faith till we have a clear rational account of them our Faith may quickly be at a stand I answer secondly that as it is easie to make Objections against Faith so Faith hath one answer as easie as these Objections The Apostle gives it and into that all such doubts must be resolved Phil. 3. 20. For having shewed the present condition or disposition of the Spirit of Saints in the former Verse Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. He presently shewes what the future condition of the Saints Bodies shall be Who shall change our vile Bodies that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body How is this Who puts this vile Body into such a Glorioui fashion Trouble not your selves for that there is power enough to do it it is done according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself This is an answer to the hardest Objections Christ can subdue all things therefore those which are hardest There is no difficulty to Omnipotency You ask how the same Body can be restored I ask how the first body was Created Tell me how God Created Heaven and Earth out of nothing So that as the Apostle speaks Heb 11. 3. Things which are seen were not made of things which do appear How were these things done If you argue by reason you will be pos'd and gravel'd in these as wall as in that other yea you will be at a Wall and notable to answer above that which is ordinary and every day done and shall continue to be done in all the Generations of Men Solomon puts the question Eccles. 11. 5. Tell me how the Bones grow in the Womb of her that is with Child Can you tell how the Child is framed Thou canst not give an account of thy own Production nor find out the Work of God in forming the Body Therefore as to the manner how such things are done we must have recourse only to the Almighty power of God to the All-powerful God who is able to subdue all things to himself Mine Eye shall behold and not another Though my Reigns be consumed within me I touch upon the Interpretation of this Clause before as it suits with that passage vers 26. Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body and though my Reins be consumed within me Though I be totally consumed Skin without and Reins within yet notwithstanding I believe that I shall rise and see God Thus it was joined with the first Words of the 26th Verse to shew the triumph of Faith over all Difficulties that lie in the way of the Resurrection The Yearly Mourner
Charge to his Sons that when he was dead they should bury him in the Sepulchre wherein this man of God was buryed and lay his Bones close by the Bones of this Prophet When Death parts us from a Friend we shall never see him more he vanishes as it were out of our sight and we are never more to behold him or cast our Eyes upon him He is both actively and passively in an invisible State So Job mournfully speaks of himself chap. 7. ver 7 8. Oh! remember that my life is wind my eyes shall no more see good The Eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more thy Eyes are upon me and I am not What more cutting Expression what more sadning Inculcation what more provoking Incitation to Mourning can there be than the Sense of this that we shall behold the Face of our beloved Friend after his departure from us no more Were Man to Return though after never so many Years absence from his home or continuance in the Grave Were he to visit his habitation again and become the objective delight of his poor Mourning Friends and Relations it might be some alleviation to their Grief when he takes his journey to his Long home But Oh! What a prick to the heart what a stab to the Soul what a deadning to the Spirits what an inundation of Sorrow like the opening of Pandora's Box is this lamentable Thought to an ingenuous Man that he must never never never more behold the Face of this or that Relation in this Region of Mortality nor have any converse with him on this side the Bank of Eternity What Husband can think so of his Wife and not melt what Wife can have such a thought of her Husband and not faint what Parent can consider this with respect to his Child and not mourn what Child can reflect upon the impossibility of ever seeing his Father or Mother more and not be overwhelmed with grief In a word What Friend or Relation can ponder on such an eternal Farewel as is then given and not be dissolved into Tears It is the opinion of Divines That the chiefest of Saints happiness consists in Vision or in the use of the visive faculty which will then be enlarged and made glorious to perfection for they shall see the Face of God in Righteousness and be satisfied with his likeness they shall be for ever with open Face beholding as in a Glass the Glory of the Lord and be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Sure I am the Saints greatest comfort in this World consists in Vision or beholding God's Image in his People and that not only the work of his Power in their comly Features but the work of his Grace in the divine Characters of Wisdom engraven in their Souls and immediatly reflected upon in all their Actions Therefore it cannot but cause Mourning when such delightful Objects are removed out of sight and never more to be beheld And so much the more still if consider the great change and alteration Death makes in the place of the Deceased the great Vacuum there is when Man is removed and carried away to his Long home Concerning which Job excellently speaks chap. 7. v. 9 10 11. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Therefore I will not refrain my Mouth I Will speak in the anguish of my Spirit I will complain in the bitterness of my Soul Oh! It is very sad to consider what a great change one stroke of Death may make A Wife Husbandless poor Children Fatherless Servants Masterless and many Friends Comfortless And so great is the alteration in the Family that the whole House resents it and seems silently to Mourn for it There is as it were a Face of sadness in every place he was wont to be conversant in Look in his Parlour where he used to sit with his Wife and Children about him and there is nothing but a profound silence his voice is not to be heard Look at his Table where he used to sit with chearfulness eating his Bread with joy among his Relations and the dull demeanor and sorrowful posture of all the assessors do plainly yet dolefully speak Behold he is not here Look in his Shop where he used to be about his occasions and the disorder and confusion there proclaims aloud his being gone and not to be heard of In a word Look in every place where he us'd to be and you will find one mourning circumstance or other a legible Historian of his departure and being no more among them So that if you seek him you will not find him if you ask for him you will hear no news Now surely methinks the very miss of a Man in his Family the want of him in his place the great change immediately following his Departure in his Relations and in all his affairs and Concerns should be cause enough to enforce a Mourning from his Survivors if there were no other consideration and cause 'em to prepare for their own Deaths For How many have we known that were of as healthful and vigorous a Constitution as we are that by a Surfeit or an acute Feaver have in a few days been snatch'd away How many that were travelling on the same Road with us a while ago are now at their long Home lying in the Grave and should not we by their early departure learn to die It would not be tedious to us in this sense to live in Golgotha or to dwell among the Tombs when we have in them seen the End of all Men Eccles. 7. 2. We should not any more love the World nor its Enjoyments and Pleasures seeing they will vanish in the twinkling of an Eye and after all the poor satisfaction they have given us fall into the dead Sea The Passing-Bells of others loudly tell us that Man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity Psal. 39. 5. And what they have undergone will in a few days or hours more be our own Lot Though they are gone before we must tread in their steps and go the same way When that hour is come all our Friends and Acquaintance cannot hold us for we that now hear and move and speak shall fly away into a vast Expanse and not behold Man with the Inhabitants of this World any more Isa. 38. 11. As we have seen the pale Looks and have heard the last Voice of others so shall we our selves in the like manner be made Spectacles of Mortality to those that remain after us We and all our Companions must take along Farewel of each other and not meet again till the day of the general Resurrection And is it too soon to remember our Creator when we have seen many as Young as we are breathe their last And
Erasmus also saith that it is but a Parable whereby Rich Men may learn to be merciful to their poor Brethren that they may speak for them in the day of Vengeance and Wrath. Many Writers there are also that rather aiming at the Arguments and Observations herein have not set down their Judgments whether it be a Parable or History Therefore it might seem Wisdom in me to suspend my judgment also herein especially since Marlorat saith Parum refert ut tam sit Parabola an Historia modo summam doctrinam teneant lectores It greatly skilleth not whether it be a Parable or History so that we duly consider the Doctrine herein But because it is requisite that I also shew my Opinion I will return my Verdict according to my Evidence And therefore in naked truth I find and hold that it is a Parable And my Reasons are these two First because our Saviour in the beginning of this Chapter doth relate a Parable of the Rich Man that had a Steward c. therefore he continueth in this Chapter to open his mouth in Parables according to the Prophet I will open my mouth in Parables and shew dark sentences of old time Secondly because the Rich Man cryed out of Hell unto Abraham and Abraham answered the Rich man which needs must be understood Parabolically For the Damned in Hell cannot see nor hear the Saints that are in Heaven neither by reason of the distance of place and also because of many Sphears and Orbs that are betwixt Heaven and Hell neither shall they see nor know what is done there And again Abraham's throat is dry and cleaveth to the Roof of his Mouth Therefore he cannot speak so loud as to be heard out of Heaven into Hell Therefore it is but a Parable Secondly let us consider what his Apparel was Purple and fine white as some will have But we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although some take it for fine Flax yet let it here be understood of Silk There was a very great difference betwixt the Apparel of John the Baptist and this Man John's Rayment was Camels Hair with a Leathern Girdle about his Loins which did Argue Repentance and Mortification in him but this Rich Mans Apparel was Purple and fine Silk whose outward Apparel did argue the Pride at his Heart The outward Habit for the most part resembles the inward Habit and condition of the Mind Pride as saith one is grounded in the Heart of Man a Vice most loathsom to God hateful to Men and hurtful to the Soul But let us consider the third Circumstance in the Life of the Rich Man to wit what his Dyet was Deliciously every day And here we see what the Children of this World delight in namely in fulness of Meat who neglecting the serving of God have given themselves to serve Bacchus and Venus Hence one noteth A gluttonous Person eateth more for Pleasure than Necessity So did the Rich Man so did our first Parents it was not through need or necessity that they did eat of the forbidden Tree but through Wantonness Pleasure and Idleness Gluttony is a flattering Devil and a pleasant sin and a sweet Poyson which whoso useth hath not the use of himself which who so hath not hath no sin for he is all sin it self Besides it hath an especial effect for it doth as Gregory saith generate Lust. To be short it was Gluttony that caused our Parents to transgress It was Gluttony that caused Lot to commit Incest It was Gluttony that made Esau to sell his Birth-right It was Gluttony and Drunkenness that caused Nabal's Death It was Gluttony that lost Belshasars Kingdom Be not thou desirous of dainty meats saith Solomon For he that loveth Banqueting shall be Poor and he that delighteth in Wine shall not be Rich. But let us a while leave this Rich Man and consider the second that which is the Life of the Beggar There was also a certain Beggar named Lazarus c. And here observe these things 1. That the Saints of God are a poor contemptible People There was a certain Beggar If you understand the word Beggar to hold forth outward Poverty or scarcity in outward things such are Saints of the Lord for they are for the most part a poor despised contemptible People but if you Allegorize and Interpret it thus they are such as beg earnestly for Heavenly food this is also the spirit of the Children of God and it may be and is a truth in this sense though not so Naturally gathered from this Scripture 2. That he was laid at his Gate full of Sores These words hold forth the Distempers of Believers saying he was full of Sores which may signifie the many Troubles Temptations Persecutions and afflictions in Body and Spirit which they meet withal while they are in the World And also the Entertainments they find at the hands of those ungodly ones who Live upon the Earth Whereas it is said he was laid at his Gate full of Sores Mark he was laid at his Gate not in his House that was thought too good for him but he was laid at his Gate full of Sores From whence Observe that the Ungodly World do not desire to entertain and receive the poor Saints of God into their Houses If they must needs be somewhere near unto them yet they shall not come into their Houses Shut them out of Doors if they will needs be near us let them be at the Gate And he was laid at the Gate full of Sores 2. Observe that the World are not at all touched with the afflictions of God's Children for all they are full of Sores a despised afflicted tempted persecuted people the World doth not pity no but rather labour to aggravate their Trouble by shutting them out of Doors sink or swim what cares the World they are resolved to disown them they will give them no Entertaiment if the lying in the streets will do them any good if hard Usage will do them any good if to be disowned shut out of Doors rejected of the World will do them any good they shall have enough of that but otherwise no Refreshment no Comfort from the World And he was laid at his Gate full of Sores Poor Lazarus What lying at a Gate and full of Sores too Would not this Rich Man afford thee some out-house to lie in to shroud thee from Storms and Tempests no would not his servants pity thee no would not his Children speak for thee no Would not his Wife intreat her Husband for thee no Hadst thou ever done them any wrong no But Lazarus it may be thou art stout and often-times Beggars will be chusers thou perhaps wouldest have some great Alms or Copy-hold some Farm of this Rich Man no Or thou wouldest have some delicate Meat no. Many Dishes no Or thou wouldest sit at the Table with his Sons and Servants no no What is it then that thou dost desire
vicissitudes God hath interwoven my life with adversity and prosperity When I first took me to a Gown I put on this thought I desire a Fortune like my Gown not long but fit fit for my condition finding by others that a contented kind of obscurity keeps a Man free from Envy Although any kind of Superiority be a mark of envy yet Not to be so high as to provoke an ill eye nor so low as to be trodden on was the height of my Ambition But I must confess I have since had a greater portion of the World's favour than I looked for Nevertheless I never gave trust to fortune although she seemed to be at peace with me To check repining at those above me I always looked at those below me nor did any preferments so delight me or abuse me as to make me neglect preparing for my dying day And now I thank God I can say O Lord my heart is ready This I have considered that Life flows away by Hours and days as it were by drops Careful Martha was full busie about many things but was well advised by Christ There was only one thing necessary One thing have I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in his House for ever This was David's unum his one thing and God willing shall be mine Amidst these thoughts I had these things in contemplation 1. What Death was and the kinds of Death 2. Secondly What fears or joys death brings 3. Thirdly When Death is to be prepared for and How 4. Fourthly Death approaching what our last thoughts should be Of these things I thus believed That Death was but a fall which came by a Fall Our first-framed Father Adam falling in him we all fell It was not the Man but mankind Body and Soul parting BUt Oh how bitter at that time will be the parting of Soul and Body We see old acquaintance cannot part without tears What shall such intimate familiar friends do as the Soul and Body are which have lived together from the Womb with so much delight In that hour every man will make Balaam's suit O that I might die the death of the Righteous We all desire to shut up our last scene of Life with In manus tuas Domine Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit At this Hour What would a man give to secure his Soul Quid dabis pro animâ tuâ tunc qui nunc pro nihiâ—…o das illam What wilt thou give then for thy Soul to save it who dost so prodigally throw it away now for nothing This thou canst not leave behind thee that will tell thee whether thou goest and what thou shalt look for Tunc quasi loquentia tua Opera dicent Tu nos egisti Tua opera sumus Tâ—… non deseremus sed tecum iâ—…imus ad Judicium Then shall thy doings even speaking aloud say unto thee Thou hast done us we are thy works we will not leave thee but will go with thee to judgment In that day shall come into mens minds by the Divine Power in the twinkling of an Eye all their past good or evil Works Memory the Magazine of the Soul will then recount all that thou hast done said or thought all thy life long For there needs no other Art of memory for sin but misery Man is a great flatterer of himself but Conscience is always just and will never chide thee wrongfully it always takes part with God against a man's self It is a domestick Magistrate that will tell what you do at home It is well termed the pulse of the Soul therefore if you would know the true state of vour Body or Soul feel how this beats that will tell you Yet take heed you make not an Idol of your Conscience neither think as some do that it is a crime to make a Conscience of our Actions At point of death if a man will take his aim by the best men that ever lived or died that of David Ezekias yea and of Christ himself as he was man is able to amaze any man when as our Saviour Christ not many hours before he suffered said My soul is troubled and what shall I say and at the very point of Death said Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me When David said Save Lord for thy mercies sake For in Death there is no remembrance of thee And Ezekias wept sore when he was bid Put thy house in order for thou must die If the Patriarchs if the Prophets if the Apostles if the Martyrs if Christ himself was thus troubled at the hour of Death Wretched man that I am what shall I do We were all to seek but that Christ bids us Be of good chear for I have overcome Death Caesar Borgias being sick to death said When I lived I provided for every thing but death now I must die and am unprovided to die Previous preparation becomes a wise man But we are all deceived with this Error 〈◊〉 we think none but old men approaâ—…h to death neither experience nor age can work upon us so death that it may more easily sâ—…rprise us shrowds it self under the very name of life He that sâ—…es the Basilisk before he be seen of it avoids the poyson See Death before it comes you shall not feel it when it comes We pray daily Lord Give us this day our daily Bread whilst it is called to day We should remember Life is but a day 't is bâ—…t a day not an age Wherefore saith Solomon Talk not of to morrow for thou knowest not what to morrow will bring forth A man saith Luther lives forty years before he knows himself to be a fool and by that time he sees his folly his Life is finished So men die before they begin to live To die well is too busie a work to be done well on a sudden Deferring as well as presuming makes many men implicite Atheists It was a sweet Speech and might well have become an Elder Body which a young innocent Child of my own used in extremity of sickness Mother what shall I do I shall die before I know what death is I beseech you tell me what is Death and how I should die Now of the way to die well HE that would end his days well must spend them well 'T is no great matter to live all do as much but few die well But Death faâ—…s sad and heavy upon such Are little known at home abroad too much Man is ready to die before he lives but therefore he liveth a time in the world that he may die betime to the world His Years come to an end as a Tale that is â—…old His days deceive him for they pass as a shadow by moon-shine then appearing longest when they draw nearest to an end Job saith My days are swister than a Post they flee away and see no good The art of dying well is better learnt by Practice than by Precept Unto
dying well three Things are most requisite First To be often meditating upon Death Secondly To be dying daily Thirdly To die by little and little The first step of dying well OFten meditation of Death brings a man to die in ease for it alleviates pains expels fear eases cares cures sins corrects death it self The very Thought of Eternity will make easie and pleasant all things we suffer in a miserable Life How can we be said not to die when we live among the dead We live with so many deaths about us as we cannot but often think of dying Every Humour in us engenders Diseases enough to kill us so that our Bodies are but living Graves and we die not because we are sick but because we live And when we recover from sickness we escape not sickness but the disease All this life is but a death of an hour Familiarity with Death a soveraign Cordial against Death THerefore be acquainted with Death betimes for through acquaintance death will lose his horror like unto an ill Face though it be as formidable as a monster yet often viewing will make it familiar and free it from distaste walk every day with Joseph a turn or two in thy Garden with death and thou shalt be well acquainted with the face of death but shalt never feel the sting of death Death is black but comely Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his bones came to lye in it Some Philosophers have been so wrapt in this contemplation of Death and Immortality that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it as if a fair death were to be preferred before a pleasant life This is well for Nature's part and Moralists think this enough for their part to conceive so But Christians must go farther and search deeper They must try where the power of death lyes They shall find that the power of every man's death lyes in his own sin That death never hurts a man but with his own weapons It always turns upon us some sin it finds in us The sting of Death is sin Pluck out the sting death cannot hurt us The way to die well is to die often Let a man often and seriously think of dying then let him sin if he can said Picus Mirandula In Sardis there grew an Herb called Appium Sardis that would make a Man lie laughing when he was deadly sick Such is the operation of sin Beware therefore of this Risus Sardonicus laughter of Sardis We count it a fearful thing for a man to be author of his own death but a sinful life slays the soul. and so while we live we kill or lose our better life The Commandment that says Thou shalt not kill especially forbids the murthering of our own Souls And herein is our happiness though we live in sin yet we die without sin Therefore to me Death is welcome not as an end of troubles but of sin Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth The Second Step To be dying daily THE second step to dying-well is to die daily Methinks O my Soul it is but yesterday since we met and now we are upon parting neither shall we I hope be unwilling to take our leaves for what advantage can it be to us to hold out longer together Are we not assured that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Why therefore O my Soul shouldst thou be loth to part upon fair terms Thou O my Soul to the possession of that happy Mansion which thy dear Saviour hath from all Eternity prepared for thee in his Father's house and thou O my body to that quiet repository of the grave till ye both shall happily meet in the blessed Resurrection of the Just. I die that I may not die I die daily saith Saint Paul So many days as thou livest reckon so many lives for he that disposeth all his days as one life can neither wish nor fear to morrow The old saying is a good saying Do that every day which thou wouldst do the same day that thou diest 'T is an excellent thing to make all we can of life before Death To die by little and little the third step THE third step to dying well is to die by little and little Naturally we are every day dying by degrees the faculties of our minds the strength of our bodies our common senses are every day decaying by little and little every sin is more than a disease and a wicked life makes a continual death Impie vivere est diu mori To live wickedly is to be long a dying Therefore saith the good Man We are killed all the day long He that useth this course every day To die by little and little to him let Death come when it will it can neither be terrible nor sudden If we keep a Courser to run a Race we lead him daily over the place to acquaint him by degrees with all things in the way that when he comes upon his speed he do not start or turn aside for any thing he sees So let us inure our souls and then we shall run with boldness the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our salvation To die by little and little is first to mortifie our lesser sins and not to say with Lot Is it not a little one There be also a sort of little deaths sickness of body loss of Friends and the like Use these in their kind and you may make them kindly helps to dying well Every change is a certain imitation of Death Let a man go out as he came into the World which was first by a life of Vegetation then of Senâ—…e afterwards of Reason To die daily is this daily to attend upon and exercise that great duty of Mortification according to our solemn Vow and Covenant made to God at our Baptisâ—… which Vow and Covenant we renew at our first coming to the holy and blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Alas how few do consider or understand this great duty of Mortification and fewer practise it And yet this above all others is the Grace which fitteth and prepareth us for Death this Grace putteth us into the possession of Life Spiritâ—…al and by perseverance in it into life Eternal Rom. 8. 13. But if ye live after the flesh that is after the appetites lusts affections of the flesh ye shall die But I bless God I have nothing to do with the World nor the World with me Riches Pleasures honours transport me not affect me not nor am I dejected and afflicted with poverty common pains sicknesses disgrace or scorn Christ liveth in me and I in him therefore I humbly thank the power of his grace I can die as willingly as I can go out of one Room into another For
Glory when the Door is shut But now dearly beloved being come to Preach my last Sermon amongst you I request you all both good and bad to attend with double diligence to what shall be spoken unto you from that sweet portion of Scripture which you find recorded PHILIPIANS I. XXIII For I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better IN these Words are these two Parts First a Declaration of St. Pauls desire For I am in a streight between two having a desire to depart Secondly an Inclination of the ground of it which was this because he might be with Christ the word signifies solvere Anchoram to loosen the Anchor or to cut the Cable that the Ship may sail after While St. Pauls Spirit was tied up by the Flesh he desired it should be loosened by Death that it might Sail after into Glory Spiritual Desires they are always quickest and strongest whensoever they are nearest the perfect enjoyment of their desired Object Christ. As the motion of every natural Body is quickest and strongest the nearer it comes to the Center so the nearer fulness of Glory the more fervent the Soul is in its desires after Christ. Sirs my Text is usually the dying Expression of a living Saint for when a believer draws near to his End he sings most sweetly like the Swan and earnestly cries out Make haste my beloved he having a desire to depart to be with Christ evermore upon a dying Bed a Christians Pulse beats strongest Heaven-ward We groan as being in a great straight knowing to depart is far better much more better as if he should have said Oh! there is no comparison between the enjoyment of God in the State of Grace and the enjoyment of God in a State of Glory And here methinks I hear the dying Christian joyfully breathing out his earnest and longing desires for a Dissolution in the very words of a late Grave and Serious Poet who in an Heavenly Rapture and sweet Extasie of Spirit spake in the following manner viz. VVhy lingrest thou bright Lamp of Heaven why Do thy Steeds tread so slowly on must I Be forc'd to live when I desire to die Lash thou those Lazie Jades drive with full speed And end my slow-paced days that I may feed VVith Joy on Him for whom my heart doth bleed Post blessed Jesus come Lord flee away And turn this Night into the brightest Day By thine approach come Lord and do not stay Take thou Doves-Wings or give Doves Wings to me That I may leave this World and come to thee And even in thy glorious presence be I like not this vile VVorld it is meer dross Thou only art pure Gold then sure 't is loss To be without a Throne t' enjoy a Cross. VVhat though I must pass through the Gates of Death It is to come to thee that gav'st me Breath And thou art better Lord than Dung-hill-Earth VVhen shall I come Lord tell me tell me when VVhat must I tarry Threescore years and Ten My Thirsty Soul cannot hold out 'till then Come dearest Saviour come unlock this Cage Of sinful Flesh lovingly stop the Rage Of my Desires end thou my Pilgrimage Give me a Place on High to Sit and Sing Anthems of Praise to thee mine only King Whose ratling Sounds may make the Heavens Ring But here I know the timerous Soul will object against this truth and say Oh how can the Christian so earnestly-desire to be with Christ in the fulness of Glory were it indeed but a short step into Glory or were the way strewed with Roses and Flowers and with all thè Spices of the Merchant it might be so but there is a Lion in the way as Solomon speaks in another case there is Death the King of Fears that stands frowning upon the Soul at the last cast when the Soul is upon its very Entrance into Christ his prepared Mansions of eternal Glory and therefore it were more desirable to dwell safely upon the Earth in a sensible Heaven made up of the greatest worldly profits and the most delightful creature Comfort rather than to venture over the terrible mountain of Death the very Epitomy of all Discouragements into the doubtful possession of those invissible Depths of spiritual Glory which the Scripture tells us is only attainable after this Life I answer that by nature of this Objection you may presently know the name of the Objector It comes from off a carnal heart and fully speaks the temper an Epicurean Will that is against leaving its carnal interest in the Earth for uncertain interest in Heaven But Death though it be an intervening Cloud which seems to darken or cast a mist upon the Lustre and Comfort of a believers spiritual injoyment in God yet it doth but seem to do so and indeed it doth not at all extinguish the earnest desires of a serious lively Christian after Christ in the fulness of Glory and that especially when the believing Soul looks upon Death under these Considerations First that to die is no worse a thing than to tread in the very steps of Jesus Christ we might indeed have been afraid to die if Jesus Christ had not first stept into the cold grave before us but if we will shew our selves true Soldiers unto Christ our Captain we must not fear to venture where he hath broken the way before us Now Christ hath died that he might by his Death procure the Death of Death and that he might free Believers from the fear of Death the sting being taken out of it Secondly Death is only ordained to refine and not to ruine Nature Death ends our sins and miseries and not our life as it may be made out unto you by this following Illustration those Trees which seem dead in the Winter yet they revive in the Spring because the Body and the Arms of the Tree they are joyned to the Root where the Sap lies all the Winter and by means of this conjunction the Root it conveys life unto all the parts of the Tree And the Bodies of Believers they have the Winter to when as they are turned into the Dust but their Life it is hid with Christ at last they are revived and raised up into Glory Now here you may observe the great difference of Tempters according to the various Complexions of Mens Spirits the Atheist he dares not die for fear of being put out of his being and the profane Person he dares not die for fear of exchanging his present bad being for a worse but the Believer he earnestly desires to die that besides this present temporal being he might enjoy a future eternal well-being Indeed to a wicked Man the best had been not to have been and this next best were to live long it was ill with him that ever he was born and wors that he must die A Carnal Mans continual cry is this Dum Spiro Spero I love to live for
there is no Patience if Constancy be wanting But one will say it is not two three four or five Weeks that I have layn thus Another will say this is the sixth the tenth the fixteenth Month that I have layn in this miserable Condition Others will cry they have been visited ten thirteen or more Years Persevere I beseech ye persevere and reserve your selves for a Celestial amendment The patient Man continues though he has been afflicted for many more years It is but a point of time saith he that this Sickness has held me when I consider Eternity Happy was that Servant who has the Great Gregory for his Applauder who from his Childhood to his Infancy being afflicted with the Palsie so that he could not list his Hand to his Mouth yet by hearing could remember all the Bible by Heart and while he lay all that time a dying continually had in his Mouth that one Sentence Thanks be to God To him all the Calamitous Days of his Sickness seemed nothing to Eternity The blessed Lydwick a Virgin of Schiedam lay sick eight and thirty Years contesting with a strange variety of all sorts of Maladies In those eight and thirty Years she scarce eat so much Bread as would suffice a strong Man for three Days and hardly took the rest of three Nights Yet in this croud of Miseries her continual Prayer was O kind Jesu have mercy vpon me Coleta another Virgin had sustained an incredible burthen of Pain and Misery for above fifty Years she hardly slept one Hour in eight Days Upon Festivals and Sundays her Pains augmented and sometimes she laboured under Distempers of Mind as well as Sickness of Body Yet in the midst of all she would still cry out I desire to be a Theatre and Stage for all sorts of Diseases to play their parts that so I may become a grateful Spectacle to God and Angels She might have said with St. Bernard My Labour is but the labour of one Hour in respect of Eternity yet if more I value it not through my extream love Therefore my sick Friend if thou numberest the Days and Years of thy Sickness call them a Moment If thy Patience and Constancy out-vye them hope for the Eternity of the blessed The Labour is small the Pain short the Recompence eternal Sect. 52. THat as well the Healthy as the Sick may put in practice and bring forth what they have determined in their Minds we have added the following Prayers 1. Prayer To be said by the Healthy the Sick and them that lie a dying OH my sweetest Lord Jesu Christ in the Union of that Charity whereby thou didst offer thy self to the Father to die I offer thee my Heart that thy good Will and Pleasure may be satisfied upon me and by me Sweet Jesu I make choice of and desire thy good Pleasure though Adversity Sickness and Death press hard upon me and commit my self entirely to thy most faithful Providence and thy most holy Will For I hope and beseech thee that thou wilt direct me and what-ever belongs to me to thy Glory and the Salvation of my Soul 2. Prayer For the preservation of Conformity with the Divine Will LOrd Jesu Christ who for thy Glory and our Salvation dost intermix Joy and Sadness and permittest for our profits Prosperity and Adversity I return thanks to thy Goodness that thou wert mindful of me and hast visited thy unprofitable Servant with this small Affliction I implore thy Favour that I may reap the Fruit and Advantage of this Visitation of thine and that I may not be hindred by my Impatience or Ingratitude What thou art able to do I humbly beg of thee to remove this present bitter and troublesom Cup from me as thou didst listen to the Tears of King Hezechia and didst miraculously raise him from his Bed of Sickness Yet not my will but thine which is just and holy be done In thy Hands is all the Authority of Judging and Determining concerning thy Children Neither is there any one that better knows than thee what Physick is most convenient for the cure of our Diseases O my most loving Father Reprehend Chastise and Afflict me here that thou mayst spare me hereafter I know thy Rod doth profit many when thou dost Chastise thy beloved Children and that then dost purge and try thy Elect before thou dost Crown them My Heart is prepared O God my Heart is prepared when and how thou pleasest to submit to thy Paternal Rod and that my Patience should be tried by Affliction In thee have I put my trust O Lord let me never be confounded I submit and commit my self entirely to thy most holy Will Though thou slayest me yet will I not cease to hope in thee thou Fountain of Life My desire is in thy hands 3. Prayer For Patience MOst Omnipotent God thou knowest how vile and frail this work of thy Hands is how it is shaken by the least blast of Wind and vanishes again into dust so that there is nothing wherein I can trust to my own strength who in the Contest of the Flesh against the Spirit feel so many Commotions of Anger Impatience Pusillanimity Diffidence and Mistrust upon the slightest Assault of Sickness Therefore I implore thy Help most Heavenly Physician thy Divine Physick which is Patience For Patience is the chief of Consolation in the most bitter of Sicknesses Grant me I beseech thee O Lord with a present and contented Mind I may be able to endure Joy and Sorrow sweet and sowre as proceeding only from thy Paternal Providence because thou directest all things for the tryal and profit of thy Children Let thy Spirit I beseech thee teach me through whose Comfort and Assistance there is nothing too hard for us to perform that I may know how to possess my Soul in Patience till Death Thou art a God who considerest the stings of Affliction under which we labour Yet I though I have not yet resisted to the shedding of my Blood yet against my will I have had the Experience of the weakness of the Flesh and force of contending Nature Therefore Lord help my imperfection so much the more that both my strength may be perfected in Infirmity and that I may be able sincerely to testifie that thy Rod and thy Staff they have Comforted me 4. Prayer Containing a Resignation of a Mans Self to the Will of God O Love ineffable O most sweet Jesu my God and Christ shouldst promise me the best of worldly favours or what I my self would desire I would beg of thee the utmost of what I now suffer This I beg a thousand times over that thy will may be fulfilled and satisfied upon me and by me in all things 5. Prayer After Receiving of the Sacrament GLory be to thee O Christ who out of thy goodness hast been pleased to visit and refresh my sick Soul Now let thy Servant O Lord depart in peace according to thy Word Now I hold thee O
grows a Worm which afterwards comes to be a Bird of the same Nature Aâ—… plain Symbolum of the Resurrection Mirmeius the Roman Orator a great Antagonist of the Christians see saith he how for our comfort all nature points out our Resurrection The Sun sets and rises the Stars fall and return Flowers decay and reflourish the withered Trees recover their Vendure Seeds return their several species Thus the Body deceased like Trees in Winter cover their Vigour with a feigned dryness We are also to expect the Spring of the Body I know that my Redeemer Lives and that I shall rise again at the last day Sect. 29. The hope of Heaven WHat wouldst thou What desirest thou Wouldst thou live And wouldst thou not die So live then that thou mayst once live happy For to live and not to live happily is a kind of death or the way to death In Heaven thou shalt live never to die Therefore thou shalt live happily for thou neither shalt nor canst suffer pain because there is none there There thou shalt enjoy thy Wishes nor canst thou 〈◊〉 be put out of possession Eat O ye Cant. 5. 1. Friends drink and be merry O ye beloved This Banquet has no end St. Austin cries out O sempiternal Life and tempiternally blessed where joy without sorrow rest without labour dignity without fear health without sickness life without death happiness without calamity where all good things perfect in charity The Gates of Jerusalem shall be built of Saphyrs and Smarayds and of precious Stones the whole Circuit of her Walls The Streets of the City shall be pure Gold transparent as Glass and through her Villages shall Allelujahs be sung Therefore blessed are they that dwell in thy house they will be alwaies praising thee I believe verily to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living Sect. 30. Sighs to Heaven Exod. 35. SHew me thy Glory Shew me all thy vers 18. Good Isa. 61. 3. When wilt thou give unto them that mourn beauty in stead of ashes joyful Ointment for sighing pleasant rayment for a heavy mind Job 6. 8 9. 10. O that I might have my desire and that God would grant me the thing that I long for O that God would begin to smite me That he would let his hand go and take me clean away Then should I have some comfort yea I would defie him in my pain that he would not spare for I will not deny the words of the Holy One. Job 7. 2. For as a bond-servant desireth the shadow and as the hireling would fain have the reward of his work Psalm 15. 1. Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle who shall rest in thy holy place Psalm 27. 45. One thing have I desired of the â—…ord which I will perform even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to visit his Temple Psalm 42. 1 2. Like as the Hart desireth the Water-brooks so longeth my Soul after thee O God My Soul is a thirst for God yea even for the living God When shall I come to appear before the presence of God Now when I think thereupon I pour out my heart by my self I went by with the multitude and brought them forth to the house of God Psalm 55. 6. O that I had wings like a Dove for then would I fly away and be at rest Psalm 60. 9. Who will lead me into the strong City Ps. 65. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and receivest unto thee he shall dwell in thy Court. Ps. 73. 1. Truly God is loving unto Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Vers. 24. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee Vers. 25. My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psalm 84. 1. O how amiable are thy dwellings thou Lord of Hosts Vers. 2. My Soul hath a desire and longing to erter into the Courts of the Lord V. 10. For one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand years Psalm 116. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living Psalm 120. 5. My Soul hath long dwelt among them that be Enemies to peace Psalm 122. 1. I was glad when they said unto me we will go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 138. 1. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembred thee O Sion Ver. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's Song in a strange Land If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand finger forget her cunning Ps. 142. 9. Bring my Soul out of prison that I may give thanks unto thy Name Which thing if thou wilt grant me then shall the righteous resort unto my company I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ. Sect. 31. An Abstract of the Comforts against Death FIrst Death kills our familiar Enemy the Body There is no mischief more pestilential than a Bosom-Enemy The Flesh lusteth contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit contrary to the Flesh Gal. 5. 17. These are contrary one to another 2ly Death breaks the Door of the Prison wherein we are lockt up But as old Prisoners many times long acquaintance with the place detains us not unwilling in the midst of our Fetters and Sufffferings But the best of Kings desired to be delivered out of Custody 3ly Death eases us of a vast Burthen for why a corruptible Body is heavy to the Soul and the Earthy Mansion keepeth down that Understanding that museth upon many things No man can swim with this Burthen 4ly Death puts an end to our Pilgrimage What is Mortal Life saith St. Gregory but a way Consider my Friends what it is to be aweary upon the way Our present Life is full of pain a perpetual strugling and yet we cannot forsake it without Tears 5ly Death brings us out of all Danger The most Fortunate Man that lives is subject to many Dangers and Danger is hardly avoided without danger He has only escaped all Dangers who is out of this Life 6ly The necessity of Death Nobly said the wise Roman There is no greater comfort in Death than Death it self He would not live that would not die Death carries with it an impartial and unvanquishable Necessity For the first part of Impartiality is Equality 7ly The Death of Christ. To the Contemplation of this St. Paul exhorts us Let us saith he run with patience unto the Battel that is set before us Looking unto Jesus the Captain and Finisher of our Faith who for the Joy that was set before him endured the Cross. To the Members of this Head this is the greatest Consolation For that the Members should not fear Death the Head endured the utmost violence of Death The Author of Life by dying set open the Gates of Heaven Why do we fear to die
whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1. 15 But he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24. 13. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2. 10. These Fountains refresh and cool the hot Baths of death he shall happily swim therein who plunges himself over Head and Ears in these Rivolets Sect. 39. The Sighs and Prayers to God proper for a Dying Person ENlighten my Eyes O most merciful Jesu that I sleep not in death Left my Enemies say I have prevailed against him Psal. 13. 3 c. Lord Jesu Christ Son of the Living God Lay thy Passion Cross and Death between thy Judgment and my Soul O Lord Jesu Christ remember not our old Sins but have mercy upon us and that soon for we are come to great misery Psal. 79. 8. Sweet Lord Jesu Christ for thy glories sake and for the Effectual Vertues sake of thy Sufferings cause me to be written down among the number of thy Elect. Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for there is no Man righteous in thy sight I worship thee O Christ I bless thee because thou hast redeemed the World by thy Sufferings Saviour of the World save me who by thy Cross and Blood hast redeemed me O most merciful Jesu I beseech thee that with thy precious Blood which thou didst shed for Sinners that thou wouldst wash away all my iniquities O Blood of Christ purifie me let the Body of Christ save me let the Water from Christs side wash me let the Passion of Christ comfort me O kind Jesu hear me hide me between thy Wounds Permit me not O merciful Jesu to be separated from thee in this my Hour of death call me command me to come to thee that I together with thy Saints may praise thee to all Eternity Cast me not from thy Countenance nor take thy Holy Spirit from me Sect. 40. At the Moment of Death NOW Lord according to thy good pleasure deal mercifully by me and command my Spirit to be received in peace Sound into the Ears of my Mind those sweet words this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Now let thy Servant depart in peace because mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation O Jesu Jesu Jesu permit me to enter into the number of thy Elect. O Jesu Son of David have mercy upon me O Lord Jesu make haste to help me O Lord Jesu receive my Soul Sect. 41. The true Confidence of a Dying Person in God HEre I confidently aver with St. Bernard Let another pretend to Merit let him boast of enduring the heat and burthen of the day my desire is to adhere to God and to put my hope in the Lord. And though I am conscious to my self that such was the naughtiness of my pass'd Life that I deserve to be forsaken of God yet will I not cease to relye upon his Immense Goodness and to hope that as hitherto his most Holy Grace has afforded me strength to endure all things so the same will still uphold me and enable me to finish my course Therefore this one thing I beg of thee O God that thou wilt never suffer me to distrust of thy Goodness though I know my self to be weak and miserable Yea though I should perceive my self in that Terror and Consternation ready to fail like St. Peter upon one blast of Wind let me remember him let me call upon Christ Lord make me whole Then O then shalt thou stretch forâ—…h thy Hand and save me from sinking But if thou sufferest me to go farther yet with Peter to run headlong into denial then such is my hope that thou wâ—…t look upon me with an Eye of Mercy and Compastion as thou lookest upon Peter and grant me a now Confirmation of Eternity This I am certain of that unless the fault be mine the Lord will not forsake me I acknowledge that saying of St. Austin God may save some without good works because he is Good but he condemns none but for their evil works because he is Just. And therefore I commit my self to him with a full hope and confidence in him If he suffer me to perish for my Sins yet his Justice shall be magnified in me Yet I hope and most certainly hope that his most merciful Goodness will most faithfully preserve my Soul so that his Mercy rather than his Justice shall be praised in me Nothing can happen to me against the will of God Whatever he pleases to whom ever it seem ill is still the best to me VVhatever pleases thee that will I that will I O God Sect. 42. The Last Words of Dying Persons AUgustus the Emperor dy'd with these words in his Mouth Live mindful of our Nuptial Knot and so farewel How much more holily would these Christians do that direct their last words to the Beginning and Creator of all things Dyonisius the Areopagite being condemned to lose his Head with a Christian Generosity contemning the Reproaches of the Spectators Let the last words of my Lord upon the Cross said he be mine in this World Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Basil the Great lying at the last period of Life after he had piously instructed his own Friends breathed out his Soul with these last words Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit St. Bernard upon his Death-bed Oh Christian said he despair not of this Infirmity Christ has taught thee what thou oughtest to say in all the dangers of death whom to fly to whom to invoke in whom to hope Therefore do thou so behave thy self that at the hour of death thou maist be able to say In thee Lord have I trusted let me not be confounded to Eternity Therefore let the last words of a dying Person be directed to God All his Prayers Wishes Desires and last Hopes must ever tend to him Let the dying Person say from the bottom of his Heart To thee Lord I turn my face to thee I direct my Eyes Sect. 46. Let the dying Person imitate the Penitent Thief in Golgotha LOrd remenber me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Happy Thief who in the School of Christ had learnt more in three Hours than the Unhappy Iscariot in three years Lord God! How great is the Abyss of thy Judgments Thy Friends and Kindred are silent thy Disciples forsake thee the Angels appear not Where are those thousands fed by this Crucified Lord Who of all that multitude speaks one word for so great a Benefactor Yet the Thief against his Companion pleads the Cause of Christ and justifies his Innocency take off all Scandals from him and convicts the Multitude of Murther Nor was the Son of God asham'd of such an Advocate but rather applauded him Nor was the happy Rhetorician wanting in his Cause But we truly said he are righteously punished for we receive according to our deeds but this Man hath done nothing amiss Oh how truely may I say the same of
Son and Holy Spirit O Sacred Trinity which art without beginning and in whom there is no division receive the Soul of thy Servant in peace who is put to death for thy Cause and Gospel After which he submitted his Head to the stroaks of the Executioner Suffering Anno Christi 96 and of his Age 110. The Death of JUSTIN Martyr AFter his having painfully preached the Gospel in many Countreys he came to Rome where he had many Contests with the Philosophers and Sages and was at last by the procurement of one Crescens Condemned and accordingly Beheaded Anno Christi 139. and as Epiphanius has it under the Reign of Adrian some time before he Prognosticated his death So fell this Faithful Labourer in Christ's Vineyard He used to say Thaet which the Soul is in the Body that are Christians in the World For as the Soul is in and not of the Body so Christians are in but no part of the World And also It is best of all not to sin and next to that to amend upon the Punishment Furthermore Tâ—…t it is the greatest slavery in the VVorld to be subject to ones Passions The Death of IRENAEUS THis Holy Man being taken with several of his chief Friends they were led to the top of a Hill on which were placed Crosses on one Hand and Idols on the other and they put to their Choice either to embrace the Idols and Live or be Crucified Upon which they joyfully chose the latter suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 182. and of Irenaeus his Age 60 or as some will have it 90. He compared the Hereticks and Schismaticks to Aesop's Dog that lost the Substance of Religion whilst they gaped too earnestly after the Shadow Concerning the Vanity of Earthly things he said VVhat profit is there in that Honour which is so short-lived as that perchance it was not Yesterday neither will be to Morrow And such Men as labour so much for it are but like Froth which though it be uppermost yet it is unprofitablest The death of TERTULLIAN HE died Anno Christi 202. and of his Age 63. He used to say of Repentance If thou beest backward in thoughts of Repentance be forwards in thoughts of Hell the burning flames whereof only the tears of a penitent Eye can extinguish Of Satans Power If the Devils without Christs leave had no power over the Gadarens Swine much less have they power over Gods own Sheep Of Faith We should not try Mens Faith by their Persons but their Persons by their Faith Of forgiving Offences It 's in vain to come to the God of peace without peace or to pray for the remission of our Sins without forgiving others We must not come to make an Atonement with God at his Altar before we have made an Atonement with our Brother in our Hearts The Last Sayings of CLEMENS ALEXANDRINUS AFter the death of Pontenus Clemens succeeded him in that Office from whence he received the Name of Alexandrinus He was Famous for all manner of Learning and was ordained Presbyter in Alexandria where he propagated the Christian Faith His Sayings were these Such as adorn themselves with Gold and think themselves bettered thereby are worse than Gold and not Lords of it as all that have it ought to be Out of the depth and bowels of the Earth hath God discovered and shewed Gold unto Men and they have made it the occasion of all Mischief and Wickedness Gold to many Men is much dearer than their Faith and Honesty And the love of it makes Man so Covetous as if they were to live here for ever The Death of ORIGEN HE died in the Reigns of Galluâ—… and Volusianus Anno Christi 220. â—…nd of his Age 69. Concerning Gods Providence he used to say That Gods Providence hath ordained all things for some end and purpose He made not Malice and though he can restrain it yet he will not for if Malice were not Vertue would not have a Contrary and so could not shine so clear For the Malice of Joseph's Brethren was the Means whereby God brought about many admirable works of his Providence The death of St. CYPRIAN CYprian said to his Exocutioner Do whatever 〈◊〉 shall be in thy power and thereupon he putting 〈◊〉 his Cloaths delivering them to his Deacons â—…idding them give his Executioner five Twentyâ—…ces of Gold for the kindness he was to do him â—…express he freely forgave him Then pulling a â—…il over his Eyes he kneeled down and had his â—…d sâ—…itten off with a Sword suffering Martyrâ—…m for the Testimony of his Lord and Master â—…o 259. and in the 70 year of his Age as some â—…e it He used to say of Charity Let not that sleep â—…n thy Treasury that may be profitable to the Poor â—…of the Heart and Tongue Two things never wax old in Man The Heart ever imagining new Cogitations the Tongue ever uttering the vain Conceptions of the Heart Of Resignation That which a Man must necessarily part with it 's Wisdom for a Man to distribute it so that God may Everlastingly reward him Of Pride Women that Pride themselves in putting on Silk and Purple cannot lightly put on the Lord Jesus Christ. â—…gain They which Colour their Locks with Yellow and Red begin betimes to Prognosticate of what Colour their Hair shall be in Hell Again They which love to paint themselves in this World otherwise than God Created them may justly fear that at the Resurrection their Creator will know them Of Alms-deeds He that gives an Alms to the Poor offers a sweet-smelling Sacrifice unto God Of Injuries All Injury of Evils present is to be neglected for the hope of good things to come Twelve Attributes he said was in the Life of Man viz. A Wise Man without good works an Old Man without Religion a Young Man without Obedience a Rich Man without Alms a Woman without shamefac'dness a Guide without Vertue a Contentious Christian a Poor Man that is Proud a King that is Unjust a Bishop that is Negligent People without Discipline Subjects without Law The Last Sayings of ARNOBIUS HE was a Famous Professor of Rhetorick in Sicca a City in Africa after his Conversion he applied himself to some Bishops with great earnestness to be Baptized and admitted into the Church When he was Master to Lactantius he used this Expression That Persecution brings Death in one hand and Life in the other for while it Kills the Body it Crowns the Soul He lived under Dioclesian between 300 and 330. The Death of EUSEBIUS HE lived to a good old Age. for the most part in Peace and Tranquility Dying Anno Christi 340. He used to say That Moses wrote the Old Law in dead Tables of Stone But Christ writ the perfect Documents of the New Testament in Living Souls The Death of LACTANTIUS HE was a Man of great Parts both Morally and Divinely Wise he was always Liberal for â—…hatsoever he received he again distributed it to â—…ch as were in want
with a Christian Zeal If you love my Soul away with it and then three Iron Hoops being brought to fasten him to the Stake he said If you had brought none of these I would have stood patiently and thereupon he took one of them and put it about his middle When the Reeds were set up he embraced and kissed them putting them under his Arms where he had two Bags of Gunpowder The Fire being kindled he continued three quarters of an Hour in praying and crying out O Jesus thou Son of David heve mercy upon my Soul Thus fell this blessed Martyr in the bloody Persecution under Queen Mary Anno Christi 1555. The Death of Rowland Taylor THE Night before his being carried to Hadly to be burned his Wife Children and Servants were permitted to come to him with whom he prayed very servently and gave them all his Benediction The next Morning the Sheriff received him and by the way he was greatly solicited by the Sheriff of Essex to Recant To which he only answered Well I perceive that I now have been deceived my self and shall deceive many in Hadly of their Expectations At which the Sheriff told him It was a gracious Saying and desired him to explain it hoping he intended to Recant Why said Doctor Taylor I did propose to my self once that I should have been buried in Hadly Church-yard in which I now see I shall be deceived and as for my deceiving of others of their Expectations is that I being a man of a Corpulent Body might have fed many Worms who now must be content without me Bing come within two Miles of Hadly a great number of people came to meet him greatly lamenting the state into which he was fallen but he comforted them saying Be patient as for me I thank God I am almost at home and have not past two Miles more to go over before I come to my Father's House When the Fire was kindled he extended his Arms toward Heaven and with a Voice ravished with Joy continued saying Most merciful Father of Heaven for Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake receive my Soul into thy Hands till one with a Halbert beat out his Brains Thus died this blessed Martyr Anno 1555. The Death of John Bradford VVHhen he came to Newgate several came to visit him to whom he gave Ghostly Consolation and the next Morning the Sheriff came and conveyed him together with a Youth of about 18 years of Age to Smithfield where the Stake was prepared When he came at the Stake he kissed it as likewise a Faggot that he took up and then falling flat upon his Face in token of Humility he prayed for a good space till the Sheriff ordered him to rise putting off his Raiment he was together with the Youth fastned to the Stake when as he cried with a loud Voice Repent O England of thy Sins beware of Idolatry beware of false Antichrists take heed they do not deceive thee Then turning to the young Man who was an Apprentice to a Merchant in London he said be of good comfort Bothers for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord this Night And then embracing the Reeds he said Strait is the Way and narrow is the Gate that leadeth unto everlasting life and few there be that find it The Fire being kindled he held his Hands in the Flames and with a Christian patience suffered the burning without so much as stirring the Body dying a Glorious Martyr in the Bloody Year Anno 1555. The Death of Nicholas Ridley AFter his Degradation he was delivered in order to his Execution At Supper-time his Keepers Wife weeping to think he must suffer the the next day he comforted her saying I pray be patient and chearful as I am for by this Grief you express 't is plain you love me not and with a chearful Countenance invited them all to his Wedding saying To Morrow I shall be married And when some offered to watch with him he refused their kindness saying That he should fleep as well that Night as ever he did in his life When the Morning was come the Sheriff and others came with a great Guard to convey him to the place of Execution also Dr. Latimer who was Condemned with him Dr. Ridley dressed himself in his Episcopal Garments and shaved himself as if he had been going to an Earthly Wedding Upon his way he looking behind him espied Dr. Latimer coming after and called to him with a chearful Voice saying O Brother are you there Yes said Dr. Latimer I have after you as fast as I can Then turning to Dr. Latimer at the place of Execution he embraced him and bid him be of good comfort For said he God will either asswage the heat of the Fire or give us strength to endure its Fury with patience And so going to the Stake he kissed it then kneeled down and prayed for a good space when rising up and being about to speak to the people the Popish Locust run and stopped his Mouth When the Smith was knocking in the Staple that fastned the Chains he said I pray thee good Fellow drive it in fast for the Flesh will have its course The Fire being kindled he stood in the Flame a long while before he died by reason of the ill making of the Fire and then saying Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Lord receive my Soul he gave up the ghost suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 1555. One thing is worthy of Note and may be counted a Prophecy which was this Dr. Ridley then Bishop of London long before King Edward's death as he was crossing the Thames in a Boat the Wind arose so high that all that were with him were in fear of present drowning but he comforted them saying Fear not for this Boat carries a Bishop that must be burned and not drowned The Death of Hugh Latimer WHen he was brought to the Stake he looked with a chearful Countenance not being dismaied at the approach of Death After he had prayed awhile he unstripped himself and said to Bishop Ridley Brother be of good comfort and play the Man for I trust by God's Grace we shall this Day light such Candle Candle in England as shall never be put out adding That he knew God was Faithful and would not suffer him to be tempted above what he was able to bear Then embracing Dr. Ridley he was bound to the Stake and the Fire kindled then he cried with a loud Voice O Father of Heaven receive my Soul and stroaking his Face with his Hand he gave up the ghost dying a glorious Martyr at Oxford Anno Christi 1555. The Death of John Philpot. WHen he came to Newgate he was put into a place by himself and had word brought him the next Morning that he must suffer when with a cheerful Countenance he replied I am ready God grant me strength and a joyful Resurrection And after having retired awhile to pray he came forth and was
conveyed into Smithfield where he no sooner came But he fell on his Knees and with a loud Voice cried I will pay my Vows in thee O Smithfield then rising up he kissed and embraced the Stake saying Shall I disdâ—…n to suffer at this Stake when my Lord and Saviour refused not to suffer a most vile Death for me Having poured out his Soul to God he â—…ered himself to be bound with the Chain and when the Fire was kindled he commended his Spirit into the Hands of the Father of all Spirits and patiently gave up the ghost suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 1555. and of his Age about Forty Nine The Death of Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury THE Popish Doctors frequently visited him in Prison and used all the Arguments they could to persuade him to a Recantation but he absolutely resolved for a considerable time but at last through humane Frailty and desire of Life he did subscribe to a Recantation The good Bishop being soon greatly afflicted and troubled in his Conscience for what he had done burst out into a flood of Tears and after his Speech came to him he lifted up his Hands towards Heaven saying O Lord forgive me this great Sin against thy Holy Name which through the weakness of the Flesh I have unadvisedly committed And then addressing himself to the People he desired them for Jesus Christ sake to pray for him that God would pardon his Sins and especially that of his Recantation But said he This right hand that signed so wicked an Instrument shall first perish in the Flames Then they pulled him down and hurried him away to the Fire which was made in the same place where Ridley and Latimer had suffered stopping his Mouth left he should any more speak to the People who were not a little grieved to see the Primate of England cast down from all his Honours and in the end so barbarously mis-used When he came to the Stake he fell on his Knees and Prayed but was interrupted by the Papists who followed him with his Recantation saying Have you not signed it Have you not signed it Then he was tied to the Stake his Cloaths being first put off and the Fire being kindled to him some time before it came at his Body he stretched forth his right Hand and held it in the Flames till it fell off without any more than once drawing it back And after having recommended his Spirit into the hands of our merciful Redeemer the Lord Jesus he died like a Lamb ending his Life with the same Meekness as he had lived suffering Martyrdom for the sake of the everlasting Gospel Anno Christi 1556 and of his Age 72. The Death of Conrade Pellican HE was born in Suevia and educated at Zurick He was a candid sincere and upright Man free from Falshood and Ostentation He departed this Life upon Easter-day Anno 1556. aged 78. The Death of John Bugenhagius HE was born at Julin near Stetin in Pomerania being well educated in Grammar Musick and other liberal Sciences He used great diligence and industry in converting many to the Truth drawing near to his end he often repeated this Portion of Scripture This is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent He died Anno Christi 1558. aged 73. The Death of Philip Melancthone HE was sent for by the Elector of Saxony to Lipsich to examine those that were maintained by the Elector to study Divinity In which he used great Diligence and after he returned to VVitterberg and fell sick of a Fever of which he died Sickness daily increased yet he so far strove against the power of his Disease that he would often rise to his Study The last Words he spake were to his Son-in-Law Doctor Pucer who when he asked him what he would have he replied Nothing but Heaven therefore trouble me no more with speaking to me After this he lying silent whilst the Ministers prayed by him he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1560. and in the sixty third year of his Age having been a constant Preacher of the Gospel for the space of 42 years The Death of John Lascus HE was a man of an excellent Wit and Judgment and took great pains to have composed that difference in the Churches about Christ's presence in the Sacrament though it did not succeed The King of Poland had such an esteem for him that he used his Adâ—…ice in Affairs of great importance He died Anno 1560. The Death of Augustine Marlorat MArlorat was taken and carried before the Constable of France who after several Examinations condemned him of High-Treason which was to be drawn upon a Sledge and to be hanged upon a Gibbet before our Ladies Church in Roan his Head to be stricken from his Body and set upon a Pole on the Bridge of the said City which Sentence was accordingly executed Anno 1562. aged 56. The Death of Peter Martyr BEing worn out with Travel and daily Study he after a while fell sick when calling together the principal Pastors of the Châ—…rch he made to them an excellent Confession of his Faith concluding This is my Faith and they that teach otherwise to the withdrawing Men from God God will destroy them And so taking his Leave of all his Friends after having made his Will he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1562. and of his Age Sixty-two The Death of Amsdorsius HE was born in Misnia of noble Parents and educated at Wiâ—…temberg He was recommended by Luther to instruct several Churches at Mâ—…gdeburg Goslaria and Naumberg where he carried on the great Work of Reformation He having attained to 80 years of Age died Anno. 1563. The Death of Wolfangus Musculus MUsculus being destitute at Strasburg some Fortifications were mending where he hired himself a Labourer to work by the Day comforting himself with this Dystich A God there is whose Providence doth take Care for his Saints whom he will not forsake Much Popish Malice he met with but God delivered him from their Revenge At length being seized with a violent Fever he died Anno 1563. and of his Age 66. The Death of Hyperius HE was born at Ipres in Flanders of noble Parents and was well educated His Care was great in reforming the Church and abolishing the Popish Fooleries out of the Service of God and and to establish a holy Scriptural and Ecclesiastical Discipline And in these Employments having worn out himself a Catarrh and Cough seized him complaining also of pains of the head breast and sides which often were so great as made him sweat as if he had been seized wish a Fever He died Anno 1564. aged 53. The Death of John Calvin CAlvin being settled in pastoral Charge of Geneva he continued to Confute Hereticks Papists and stirrers up of Sedition to heal Breaches and Division being Couragious even in the worst of times and as an Undaunted Champion of Christ not to follow his Standard till
am sure to see and to partake with them in Joy why then should not I be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory And then with Tears told them That he was not unwilling to leave them for his own sake but for the sake of the Church Then having written his Farewel to the Senate and therein admonished them to take Care of the Churches and Schools and by their Permission chose one Ralph Gualter his Successor he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the Hands of his Redeemer dying Anno Christi 1575 and of his Age 71. The Death of Edward Deering DRawing near his end his Friends requested something from him for their Comfort and Edification The Sun shining in his Face he replyed There is but one Sun in the World nor but one Righteousness and one Communion of Saints if I were the most excellent of all Creatures in the World if I were equal in Righteousness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob yet had I reason to confess my self to be a Sinner and that I could expect no Salvation but in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ for we all stand in need of the Grace of God and as for my Death I bless God I feel and find so much inward Joy and Comfort in my Soul that if I were put to my Choice whether to die or live I would a thousand times rather chuse Death than Life if it may stand with the Holy Will of God He dyed Anno 1576. The Death of Peter Boquinus THE Popish Party being incensed against him sought all means to destroy him so that he was forced to fly to Heidelberg where upon a Lord's Day visiting of a Sick Friend he found his Spirits fail and said Lord receive my Soul and so quietly departed Anno 1582. The Death of Abraham Bucholtzer HE was full of Self denial Humble and an Enemy to Contentions He used often to meditate upon Death and used this Expression it hath always formerly been my Care in what Corner soever I have been to be ready when God called to say with Abraham Behold my Lord here I am but now above all other things I should be most willing so to answer if he would please to call me out of this miserable Life into his Glorious Kingdom for truely I desire nothing so much as the happy and blessed Hour of Death He dyed Anno 1584. Aged Fifty Five The Death of Gasper Olevian A Mortal Sickness seized upon him and preparing himself for Death he expressed to a Friend That by that Sickness he had learned to know the greatness of Sin and the greatness of God's Majesty more than ever he did before The next Day he told John Piscator That the day before for four Hours together he was filled with ineffable Joy so that he wondered why his Wife should ask him whether he were not something better whereas indeed he could never be better For said he I thought I was in a most pleasant Meadow in which as I walked up and down methought that I was besprinkled with a Heavenly Dew and that not sparingly but plentifully poured down whereby both my Body and Soul were filled with ineffable Joy To whom Piscator said That good Shepherd Jesus Christ led thee into fresh Pastures Yea said Olevian to the Springs of Living Waters Then repeating some Sentences out of Psalm 42. Isa. 9. Matth. 11. c. he said I would not have my Journey to God long deferred I desire to be dissolved and to be with my Christ. In his Agony of Death Alstedius asked him Whether he was sure of his Salvation in Christ c. He answered Most sure and so gave up the Ghost Anno 1587. Aged 51. The Death of John Wigandus HIS strength decaying he fell sick and preparing for Death he made his own Epitaph In Christ I liv'd and dy'd through him I live again What 's bad to Death I give my Soul with Christ shall reign So praying he resigned up his Spirit to God who gave it Anno 1587. Aged 64. The Death of John Fox MR. Fox together with his Wife and some others went to Antwerp and so to Basil which was then a place of free reception of poor distressed Fugitives who were forced to leave their Countreys for the sake of the Lord Jesus and his Everlasting Gospel And here he undertook to correct the Press and at such leisure times as he could spare he wrote part of the Acts and Monuments of the Church a Work Famous to all Posterity And in this station he continued till the death of Queen MARY whose death he had a little before foretold Upon certain notice of which he with several Pious and Learned Men returned into England and were kindly received by Queen Elizabeth where Mr. Fox prosecuted his Work begun at Basil and so laboured therein that he soon brought it to a period He finishing this great Work in Eleven years space searching all the Records himself He now growing in years and by reason of his former Hardships his great Study Travel and Labour he was reduced to a very weak Condition he laid down the troublesome Cares of the World to prepare himself for Death He resigned up his Spirit into the Hands of the Father of all Spirits dying Anno Christi 1587. in the 70th year of his Age. The Death of George Sohnius HE was full of Humility Piety and Patience falling sick he bore it with much Patience and with servent Prayer often repeated O Christ thou art my Redeemer and I know that thou hast redeemed me I wholly depend upon thy Providence and Mercy from the very bottom of my Heart I commend my Spirit into thy hands and so dyed Anno 1589. Aged 38. The Death of James Andreas THE year before his death he would say He should not live long That he was weary of this Life and much desired to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ which was best of all Falling sick he sent for James Heerbrand saying I expect that after my death many Adversaries will rise up to asperse me and therefore I sent for thee to hear the Confession of my Faith that so thou mayest testifie for me when I am dead and gone that I dyed in the true Faith The night before he dyed he slept partly in his Bed and pâ—…rtly in his Chair The Clock striking Six in the Morning he said My Hour draws near When he was ready to depart he said Lord 〈◊〉 thy hands I commend my Spirit He dyed Anno 1590. Aged 61. The Death of Hierom Zanchius ZAnchy being grown old had a liberal Stipend setled upon him by Prince Câ—…ssimir and going to Heidleberg to visit his Friends he fell sick and quietly departed in the Lord Anno 159â—… aged 75. The Death of Anthony Sadeel HE sell sick of a Pâ—…urisie which he Prophetically said would be Mortal and withdrawing himself from the World he wholly conversed with God He dyed Anno 1591. Aged 57. The Death of William
Spirit fainting he yielded up the Ghost in January Anno 1625. Aged 65. The Deaths of the KINGS and QUEENS of England since the Reformation to this present The Death of King Henry the VIII KING Henry being grown Fat fell into a languishing Fever and by Will appointed his Successor and Council did on the 28th of January 1547. in the 56 Year of his Age and 38 of his Reign leaving Issue by Queen Jane Prince Edward by his first Wife Katherine of Spain the Lady Mary and by Ann of Bullen the Lady Elizabeth who all Successively came to the Crown The Death of King Edward VI. ABout three hours before his Death his Eyes being closed thinking that none heard him he made this Godly Prayer Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life and take me amongst thy Chosen howbeit not my VVill but thy VVill be done Lord I commit my Soul to thee O Lord thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosens sake send me Life and Health that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy Chosen People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and my People may praise thy Holy Name for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake Then turning his Face and seeing some by he said Are you so nigh I thought you had been further off Many servent Prayers he made but his last Words were these I am faint Lord have Mercy upon me and take my Spirit and so committed his Pious Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father He died July 6. 1553. in the Seventeenth Year of his Age. He Reigned Six Years Five Months and Eight Days he was the one and Fortieth Sole Monarch of England and was Buried at VVestminster The Death of Queen Mary HER Husbands absence and the disappointment of proving with Child brought her into a Sickness whereof she died November 17. 1558. having Reigness 5 Years and 4 Months Cardinal Pool dying the day before but sometime before she declared to him That if when she were dead they would look into her Heart they would find Callis her great Distemper In her Reign there suffered 5 Bishops 21 Divines and in all 277 Persons The Death of Queen Elizabeth 1594. LOpez a Jew Physitian to the Queen was Executed for attempting to Poyson her In 1600. the Earl of Essex having incurr'd the Queens Displeasure in Ireland and more by scandalous Speeches and a kind of open Rebellion at his House in London being condemned by his Peers is Beheaded On the 24th of March 1602. died Queen Elizabeth having Reigned above 44 Years in as Troublesome times as any yet full of Honour and most happy in the Love of her People She was Interred in Henry the Seventh's Chappel at VVestminster The Death of King James the First THis King was Interred at VVestminster with great Solemnity his Queen was Ann Daughter of Frederick the Second King of Denmark by whom he had two Sons Henry and Charles and three Daughters Elizabeth Mary and Sophia the two last dyed young The Death of King Charles the First HE was led through the Park to the Seaffold before VVhite-Hall where having declared that he died a Martyr for the Laws and Liberties of his People he made a Confession of his Faith asserting that he died a true Son of the Church of England then he betook himself to his private Devotions and so patiently submitted his Royal Head to Martyrdom from the hand of a disguised Executioner His Body was put into a Black Velvet Coffin and afterwards wrapt in Lead was on the 7th of Feb. following Interred at St. George's Chappel at VVindsor in the same Vault with King Henry the 8th in presence of the Duke of Richmond Dr. Juxon and others but the manner appointed in the Liturgy could not be obtained to be used nor had he any Epitaph affixed but only on the Sheet of Lead ou a thin Plate fastned on the Breast this plain Inscription King Chaales 1648. The Death of King Charles the Second ON Monday Feb. 2. 1684. the King was seiz'd with a violent Fit of an Apoplexy which deprived him of his Senses but upon speedy Application of Remedies he returned to such a Condition as gave some Symptoms of his Recovery till VVednesday Night and then the Disease was so violent that he lay in a languishing Condition until Friday Feb. 6. and then expired He had Reigned Thirty six Years and Seven Days and was in the 55th Year of his Age. He was Interred in Henry the Seventh's Chappel being the Forty-sixth Sole Monarch of England The Death of Old Mr. Eliot of New-England WHILE he was making his Retreat out of this evil World his Discourses from time to time ran upon The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Theme which he still had Recourse unto and we were sure to have something of this whatever other Subject he were upon On this he talk'd of this he pray'd for this he long'd and especially when any bad News arriv'd his usual Reflection thereupon would be Behold some of the Clouds in which we must look for the coming of the Son of Man At last his Lord for whom he had been long wishing Lord come I have been a great while ready for thy coming At last I say his Lord came and fetched him away into the Joy of his Lord. He fell into some Languishments attended with a Fever which in a few days brought him into the Pangs may I say or Joys of Death And while he lay in these Mr. Walter coming to him he said unto him Brother Thou art welcome to my very Soul Pray retire to my Study for me and give me leave to be gone meaning that he should not by Petitions to Heaven for his Life detain him here It was in these Languishments that speaking about the work of the Gospel among the Indians he did after this Heavenly manner express himself There is a Cloud said he a dark Cloud upon the Work of the Gospel among the poor Indians The Lord revive and prosper that Work and grant it may live when I am dead It is a work which I have been Doing much and long about But what was the word I spoke last I recal that word My Doings Alas they have been poor and small and lean Doings and I 'll be the Man that shall throw the â—…st Stone at them all It has been observed that they who have spoke many considerable â—…hings in their Lives usually speak few at their Deaths But it was otherwise with our Eliot who after much Speech of and for God in his Life-time uâ—…tered some things little short of Oracles on his Death-bed which 't is a thousand pities they were not more exactly regarded and recorded Those Authors that have taken the pains to Collect Apophthegmata Morentium have not therein been unserviceable to
Bishop standing by said Now we commit thy Soul to the Devil but Huss lifting up his Hands and Eyes to Heaven said Into thy Hands Lord Jesus I commend my Spirit which thou hast redeemed with thy most precious Blood Then they Burnt his Books at which he with a joyful Countenance said to the People Think not good People that I die for any Heresie or Errour but through the hatred and malice of mine Adversaries As he lifted up his Face in Prayer the Cap fell off whereupon a Souldier put it on again saying He should burn with his Masters the Devils whom he had served Then rising up said Lord Jesus assist and help me that with a constant and patient mind by thy most gracious help I may bear and suffer this Ignominious Death whereunto I am Condemned for the preaching thy most Holy Gospel As they were binding him to the Stake with a Chain he said with a merry Countenance That he would embrace that Chain for Christ's sake who for his sake had been bound with a far worse When the Fire was kindled he began to sing with a loud Voice Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God have mercy upon me The which after he had repeated three times the flame stopped his Breath his Heart being afterwards found they roasted it upon a Stake and gathering up his Ashes they cast them into the Rhine He suffered Martyrdom Anno Christi 1415. The Death of Hierom of Prague HIS Enemies passed Sentence upon him after which they put a Paper about him painted with red Devils to make him odious to the People as likewise a Paper Mitre on his Head which he took very patiently saying Our Lord Jesus Christ when he suffered Death for me did wear a Crown of Thorns upon his Head and for his sake I will wear this Cap. As he went to the place of Execution he sung Psalms and coming to the place where John Huss was Burned he upon his Knees put up his Prayers to Heaven after a while they bound him to the Image of John Huss Carved in Wood which they had set up instead of a Stake and there with admirable patience he sustained the sury of the Flames when at the giving up the Ghost he with an Audible Voice said This Soul of mine in flames of Fire set free O! Christ my Saviour now I offer thee The Death of Martin Luther FAlling Sick he soon grew exceeding weak yet putting his trust in God he supported himself to Comfort his Friends beyond measure Insomuch that the day before his Death he dined and supped with Melancthone and the rest of his Accomplices But after Supper his Pain increasing he retired to pray and then went to Bed and slept till Midnight but being awakened by the Pain and perceiving his Life near at an end he called his Friends about him and said I pray God to preserve the Doctrine of the Gospel amongst us for the Pope and the Council of Trent have grievous things in hand After which he prayed and earnestly desired of God that he would defend his Church against the Pope and all his Adherents When he was about to die Justus Jonas and Caelius bid him be constant and persevere in the Faith he had taught and held to the last To which he answered Yea and soon after gave up the Ghost dying Anno Christi 1546. He was a Man of great Temperance and Abstenence oftentimes had the Papists hired Ruffians to kill him but they had never the power to do it the Devil one time appeared to him as he was walking in his Garden in the shape of a huge Boar but he so flouted him that he soon vanished He was wont to say God would give Peace to Germany during his Life but woe to them that should live after him The Death of Zuinglius ZUinglius being the foutâ—…h time run in with a Spear he fell down upon his Knees and said Well they can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul When the Soldiers came to strip the slain Zuinglius was found alive lying upon his Back with his Eyes up to Heaven whereupon they asked him if he would have a Priest to Confess him to which he answered No they then bid him call upon the Virgin Mary which he refusing they thrust him in with a Sword and so expired without fetching a Groan as soon as they knew it to be him they cut his Body in four pieces and burnt it the next day his Heart was found unperished by the Fire tho' the rest of his Body was consumed Before this Battel a Comet appeared which he said Prognosticated his Death and declared it openly in his Sermons Fourteen days before he fell in Battel He was slain in the year 153â—… The Death of Oecolampadius AN Ulcer broke cut in his Oâ—… Sacrum that he was forced to keep his Bed and though all means was used for his Cure he told 'em his Disease was Mortal and said I shall be presently with the Lord. Then putting his hand to his heart said Here is abundance of Light Next Morning he repeated the 51 Psalm and presently after said O Christ save me and so fell asleep in the Lord Anno 1531. aged 51. The Death of John Frith HE was condemned to be burnt as an Heretick When he came into Smithfield he with an undaunted Courage went to the Stake no sooner fastened but the fire was kindled He continued till the last with such Constancy and Patience that many were converted and began to pray to God to receive his Soul but Dr. Cook forbidding them saying They ought to pray for him no more than they would for a Dog which uncharitable Expression made many blame him He suffered Martyrdom Aano Christi 1531. He wrote many Treatises some were burnt during the Reigns of King Henry the Eighth and Queen Mary and some were saved by Providence for on Mid-summer Eve Anno 1626. A Cod-Fish being brought into Cambridge Market when it was cut up these Writings of John Frith were found in its Belly wrapt in Canvas which were afterwards Printed to the rejoicing of all good Christians viz. A Preparation for Death A Preparation to the Cross. The Treasure of Knowledge A Mirror to know your self A Brief Instruction to teach one willingly to die and not to fear Death Which Treatises preserved by such a special Providence have no doubt prov'd very useful The Death of Thomas Bilney HE Preached the Gospel till the Bishop of Norwich imprisoned him who would have persuaded him from his stedfastness but upon refusal he received â—…entence of Condemnation The day before his Execution eating heartily he said I imitate those who have a ruinous House to dwell in yet bestow cost as long as they may to hold it up Then discoursing about Fire he put his Finger in the Candle and said I find by Experience that Fire is hot yet I believe though the Stubble of my Body be wasted my Soul will be purged At his
Execution the fire being kindled he lift up his Hands crying Lord I believe so yielded up his Spirit unto God Anno 1531. The Death of William Tyndal THE English Merchants at Antwerp hearing of his Imprisonment became suitors for his Deliverance but Philips with his Money prevailed beyond their Entreaties Being at last brought to his Answer although his Enemies could lay nothing to his Charge yet the Attorney proceeded to condemn him and delivered him to the Magistrates to execute him When brought to the Stake he cried with an audible voice Lord open the Eyes of the King of England then being strangled fire was set to the Wood and he consumed to Ashes Anno Christi 1536. Within a short time after the Judgment of God overtook Phillips who betrayed him insomuch that he was eaten up with Lice The Death of Bertholdus Halerus HE was born in Helvetia 1502. and from his Child-hood much addicted to Learning Several Disputations he held with the Helvetians especially with Eccius the Pope's Champion In his time Popery was extinguished in many places and shortly after he died with an immature Death Anno 1536. aged 44. The Death of Urbanus Regis ON Sunday in the Evening he complained of a pain his Head yet was chearful and went to Bed early in the morning rising out of his Bed he fell upon the Floor and seeing his Wife and Friends mourning he comforted them and commended himself to his Maker and within three hours he died May 23. Anno 1541. He often desired God he might die an easie and sudden Death wherein God answered his Desires He wrote several Treatises which his Son Ernest digested together and Printed at Norenburg The Death of Caralostadius HE underwent great Afflictions by Printing some of his Books concerning the Lord's Supper the Senate of Zurick forbidding their People to read them but Zuinglius exhorted them first to read and then to pass judgment on them saying Caralostadius knew the Truth but had not well expressed it He went to Basil where he taught ten years and there died of the Plague Anno 1541. The Death of Capito HE went to several places as Strâ—…burg where he met with Bucer whose Fame spread so far that the Queen of Navarre sent for 'em so that France oweth the beginning of her Reformation to Capitâ—… and Bacer He was prudent eloquent and studious of Peace the better part of his time he employed in Preaching and giving wholsome Advice to the Churches 〈◊〉 length returning home in a general Infection he dyed of the Plague Anno 1541. aged 63. The Death of Leo Judae HE Translated part of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew but the work being so Laborious and being Aged he dyed before he had finished it Anno. 1542. aged 60. Four days before his Death sending for the Pastors of Zurick he made a Confession of his Faith concerning God the Scriptures the Person and Offices of Christ concluding To this my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ my hope and my salvation I wholly offer up my Soul and Body I cast my self wholly upon his mercy and grace c. And so recommended to God the Senate and People of Zeriâ—…k The Death of George Spaladius HE was born at Noricum and brought up in Learning especially in the knowledge of Humane Aâ—…rs wherein he profited so much that the Elector of Saxony made him one of his Privy Council He continued in his Office till the time of his Death which fell-out Anne 1545. aged 63. He wrote many Treatises but especially a Chronicle from the beginning of the World to his time The Death of Myconius IN several Countries he preached the Gospel sincerely and purely though to the hazard of his Life at last he fell into a Consumption and wrote to Luther That he was sick not to Death but to Life He dyed Anno 1546. aged 55. The Death of John Diazius FInding he could not pervert his Brother Diazius from the Truth he acted the Hypocrite and told him he was in love with his Doctrine then he would have persuaded him to go into Italy Spain Rome and Naples and there privately spread his Doctrine but John Diazius refusing his Brother then took leave of him in order to his Journey but privately he and the Cut-Throat stayed at a Village and purchased a Hatchet of a Carpenter then going disguised the Villain pretended to bring Letters from his Brother which whilst John was reading the Executioner struck the Hatchet into his Temples upon which he died immediately The Murtherers were afterwards apprehended but by the practice of Papists who highly applauded the Fact and to hinder the current of Justice they pretended the Emperor would have the hearing of the Cause himself Six years after Alphonsus hanged himself about the Neck of his own Mule a fair reward for so foul a Fratricide The Death of Gasper Cruciger HE was a Man of great Learning very Religious and delighted much in Luther's Books and Doctrine He often contemplated the Foot-steps of God in Nature saying with St. â—…ul That God was so near unto us that he might almost 〈◊〉 felt with our Hands Considering the Vicissitude or Earthly Things he often repeated this Verse Besides God's love nothing is sure And that forever doth endure In his sickness he caused his young Daughters to repeat their Prayers before him and then himself prayed fervently for the Church and those his Orphans concluding I call upon thee with a weak yet with a true Faith I believe thy Promises which thou hast sealed to me with thy Blood and Resurrection c. He spent the few days which remained in prayer and Repentance and so quietly ended his days November the 16th Anno 1548. aged 45. The Death of Matthias Zellius HE was not only famous for Learning but for other Christian Vertues especially Modesty Temperance and Charity having a special care of the Poor for being invited to Supper by one of his Colleagues and seeing much Plate was offended and went his way without eating but afterwards so far prevailed with him that he sold his Plate and was more open-handed to the poor he dyed 1548. aged 71. The Death of Vitus Theodorus HE often disputed with his Papistical Adversaries and overthrew all their Arguments at length he was called to be a Pastor at Norimberg his own Country where he preached the Gospel with great Zeal and Eloquence to the great Advantage of his Auditors he dyed Anno. 1549. The Death of Paul Fagius FAgius died of a burning Feaver or as some say was poysoned by the Papists so that Anno 1550. he was intombed at Cambridge from whence in the Reign of Q. Mary the Papists having condemned him for a Heretick took his Bones and burnt them The Death of Martin Bucer IN his Sickness Learned Men came to visit him especially Doctor Bradford who one day taking leave of him to go preach told him he would remember him in his Prayers whereupon Bucer with tears in his