A SALVE FOR A SICKE MAN or A treatise containing the nature differences and kindes of death as also the right manner of dying well And it may serue for spirituall instructruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell 3. Women when they trauell of child Printed at London by IOHN LEGAT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1611. And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crovvne by Simon Waterson To the right Honourable and vertuous Lady the Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford THe death of the righteous that is of euery beleeuing repentāt sinner is a most excellent blessing of God and brings with it many worthy benefits which thing I prooue on this manner I. God both in the beginning and in the continuance of his grace doth greater things vnto his seruants then they doe commonly aske or thinke and because he hath promised ayd strength vnto thē therefore in wonderfull wisedome hee casteth vp them this heauie burden of death that they might make experience what is the exceeding might and power of his grace in their weaknes II. Iudgement beginnes at Gods house and the righteous are laden with afflictions and temptations in this life therfore in this world they haue their deaths and hells that in death they might not feele the torments of hell and death III. When Lazarus was dead Christ said He is not dead but sleepeth hence it followeth that the Christian man can say My graue is my bed my death is my sleepe in death I die not but onely sleepe It is thought that of all terrible things death is most terrible but it is false to them that be in Christ to whome many things happen farre more heauie and bitter then death IV. Death at the first brought forth sinne but death in the righteous by meanes of Christs death abolisheth sinne because it is the accomplishment of mortification And death is so farre from destroying such as are in Christ that there can be no better refuge for them against death for presently after the death of the body followes the perfect freedome of the spirit and the resurrection of the bodie V. Lastly death is a meanes of a Christian mans perfection as Christ in his owne example sheweth saying Behold I will cast out diuels and will heale still to day and to morrow and the third I will be perfected Now this perfection in the members of Christ is nothing else but the blessing of God the author of peace sanctifying them throughout that their whole spirits and soules and bodies may be preserued without blame to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now hauing often thus considered with my selfe of the excellencie of death I thought good to draw the summe and chiefe heads thereof into this small treatise the protection and consideration whereof I commend to your Ladiship desiring you to accept of it and read it at your leisure If I bee blamed for Writing vnto you of death whereas by the course of nature you are not yet neere death Salomon wil excuse me who saith that wee must remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth Thus hoping of your H. good acceptance I pray God to blesse this my litle labour to your comfort and saluation Septemb. 7. 1595. Your H. in the Lord W. Perkins Eeclesiastes 7.3 The day of death is better then the day that one is borne THese words are a rule or precept laid down by Salomon for weightie causes For in the Chapters going before he sets forth the vanity of all creatures vnder heauen that at large in the very particulars Now men hereupon might take occasion of discontentment in respect of their estate in this life therefore Salomō in great wisdome here takes a new course in this chapter begins to lay downe certaine rules of direction and comfort that men might haue somwhat wherewith to arme themselues against the troubles and the miseries of this life The first rule is in this third verse that a good name is better then a pretious ointment that is a name gotten and maintained by godly conuersatiō is a speciall blessing of God which in the middest of the vanities of this life ministreth greater matter of reioicing and cōfort to the heart of man then the most pretious ointment can doe to the outward senses Now some man hauing heard this first rule concerning good name might obiect say that renowne good report in this life affoardes slender comfort cōsidering that after it followes death which is the miserable end of all men But this obiection the Wise man remooueth by a second rule in the wordes which I haue in hand saying that the day of death is better then the day that one is borne That wee may come to the true proper sense of this precept or rule three points are to be cōsidered First what is death here mentioned secondly how it can be truly said that the day of death is better then the day of birth thirdly in what respect it is better For the first death is a depriuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne First I say it is a depriuatiō of life because the very nature of death is the absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shewe that it was ordained as a meanes of the execution of Gods iustice iudgment And that death is a punishment Paul plainely auoucheth when he saith that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And againe that death is the stipend wages or allowance of sinne Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocency by a solemne law then made in these very words In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 But it may be alleadged to the contrary that the Lord saith by the Prophet Ezechiel that hee will not the death of a sinner therefore that hee is no ordainer of death The answer may easily be made that sundry waies First the Lord speakes not this to all men or of all men but to his owne people the Church of the Iewes as appeares by the clause prefixed Sonne of man say vnto the house of Israel c. Againe the words are not spoken absolutelu but onely in way of comparisoy in that of the twaine he rather wills the conuersion and repentance of a sinner then his death and destruction Thirdly the very proper meaning of the words import thus much that God doth take no delight or pleasure in the death of a sinner as it is the ruine and destruction of the creature And yet al this hinders not
but that God in a newe regard and consideration may both will ordaine death namely as it is a due and deserued punishment tending to the execution of iustice in which iustice God is as good as in his mercie Againe it may be obiected that if death indeede had beene ordained of God then Adam should haue bin destroied that presently vpō his fal For the very words are thus Whēsoeuer thou shalt eat of the forbidden fruite thou shalt certenly die Ans. Sentences of scripture are either Legall or Euangelical the law the gospell beeing two seuerall and distinct parts of Gods word Now this former sentence is legall must be vnderstood with an exception borrowed from the Gospel or the couenāt of grace made with Adam and reuealed to him after his fall The exception is this Thou shalt certenly die whensoeuer thou eatest the forbidden fruite except I doe further giue thee a means of deliuerance from death namely the seede of the woman to bruise the serpents head Secondly it may be answered that Adam and all his posteritie died and that presently after his fall in that his bodie was made mortall and his soule became subiect to the curse of the law And whereas God would not vtterly destroy Adam at the very first but onely impose on him the beginnings of the first and second death he did the same in great wisedome that in his iustice he might make a way to mercie which thing could not haue beene if Adam had perished The executioner of this punishmēt is he that doth impose and inflict the same on man that also is God himselfe as he testifieth of himselfe in the prophet Esai I make peace and create euill Nowe euill is of three sorts naturall morall material Natural euill is the destruction of that order which God set in euery creature by the creation Moral euill is the want of that righteousnesse and vertue which the law requires at mans hands that is called sin Material euill is any matter or thing which in it selfe is a good creature of God yet so as by reasō of mans fall it is hurtful to the health life of man as henbane wolfe-bane hemlock all other poisons are Now this saying of Esai must not bee vnderstood of morall euils but of such as are either materiall or naturall to the latter of which death is to be referred which is the destruction or abolishment of mans nature created The procurer of death is man not God in that man by his sin and disobedience did pull vpon himselfe this punishment Therefore the Lord in Oseah O Israel one hath destroyed thee but in me is thine helpe Against this it may be obiected that mā was mortall in the estate of innocencie before the fall Answ. The frame and composition of mans body considered in it selfe was mortall because it was made of water earth other elements which are of thēselues alterable and changeable yet if we respect that grace and blessing which God did vouchsafe mans bodie in his creation it was vnchangeable and immortall and so by the same blessing should haue continued if man had not fallen and man by his fall depriuing himselfe of this gift and blessing became euery way mortall Thus it appeares in part what death is yet for the better clearing of this point we are to consider the difference of the death of a man and of a beast The death of a beast is the total and finall abolishment of the whole creature for the body is resolued to his first matter and the soule arising of the temperature of the bodie vanisheth to nothing But in the death of a man it is otherwise For though the bodie for a time bee resolued to dust yet must it rise againe in the last iudgement and become immortall and as for the soule it subsisteth by it selfe out of the body and is immortall And this being so it may be demaūded how the soule can die the second death Ans. The soule dies not because it is vtterly abolished but because it is as though it were not it ceaseth to be in respect of righteousnes and fellowship with God And indeede this is the death of all deaths when the creature hath subsisting and beeing and yet for all that is depriued of al cōfortable fellowship with God The reason of this difference is because the soule of man is a spirit or spirituall substance wheras the soule of a beast is no substance but a naturall vigour or qualitie and hath no being in itselfe without the bodie on which it wholy dependeth The soule of a man contrariwise being created of nothing breathed into the bodie and as well subsisting forth of it as in it The kindes of death are two as the kindes of life are bodily and spirituall Bodily death is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the body as bodily life is the conujnction of bodie and soule and this death is called the first because in respect of time it goes before the second Spiritual death is the separatiō of the whole man both in body and soule from the gratious fellowshippe of God Of these twaine the first is but an entrance to death and the second is the accomplishment of it For as the soule is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule and his spirit is the soule of our soules and the want of fellowship with him brings nothing but the endles and vnspeakable horrours and pangs of death Againe spirituall death hath three distinct and seuerall degrees The first is when a man that is aliue in respect of temporall life lies dead in sin Of this degree Paul speakes when hee saith But shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while shee liueth And this is the case of all men by nature who are children of wrath and dead in sinnes and trespasses The second degree is in the very end of this life whē the body is laide in the earth the soule descendes to the place of torments The third degree is in the day of iudgement when the body and soule meete againe and goe both to the place of the damned there to bee tormented for euer and euer Hauing thus found the nature and differences and kindes of death it is more then manifest that the text in hand is to be vnderstood not of the spiritual but of the bodily death because it is opposed to the birth or natiuitie of man The words then must cary this sense the time of bodily death in which the body and soule of man are seuered asunder is better then the time in which one is borne and brought into the world Thus much of the first point now followeth the secōd that is how this can be true which Salomon saith that the day of death is better then the day of birth I make not this question to call the scriptures into controuersie which are the
him but so much fauour as to see his hinder parts at his request ô then what happines is this to see the glory and maiestie of God face to face and to haue eternall fellowship with God our Father Christ our Redeemer and the holy Ghost our comforter and to liue with the blessed Saints Angels in heauen for euer Thus now the third point is manifest namely in what respects death is more excellent thē life It may be here the mind of mā vnsatisfied wil yet further reply say that howsoeuer in death the soules of men enter into heauen yet their bodies though they haue bin tenderly kept for meat drink apparel and haue slept many a night in beds of doune must lie in dark loathsome graues there be wasted cōsumed with worms Ans. All this is true indeede but all is nothing if so be it we will but cōsider aright of our graues as we ought We must not iudge of our graues as they appeare to the bodily eye but we must looke vpon them by the eye of faith and consider them as they are altered and changed by the death and burial of Christ who hauing vanquished death vpon the crosse pursued him afterward to his owne wen and foyled him there depriued him of his power and by this means Christ in his owne death hath buried our death and by the vertue of his buriall as with sweete incense hath sweetened and perfumed our graues and made thē of stinking loathsome cabbines to become princely pallaces and beddes of most sweete happie rest farre more excellent then beddes of doune And though the body rot in the graue or be eatē of worms or of fishes in the sea or burnt to ashes yet that will not be vnto vs a matter of discomfort if we do well consider the ground of all grace namely our coniunction with Christ. It is indeede a spirituall and yet a most reall coniunction And we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned to the body or soule of Christ but the whole person of man both in body and soule is ioyned and vnited to whole Christ. And when we are once ioyned to Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the spirit we shall remaine continue eternally ioyned with him and this vniō once truly made shal neuer be dissolued Hence it followes that although the body bee seuered from the soule in death yet neither body nor soule are seuered from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue drowned in the sea burned to ashes abides still vnited to him and is as truely a member of Christ thē as before This point we must remember as the foundation of all our comfort and hold it for euer as a truth For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the conditiō of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his bodie and soule were seuered each from other as far as heauen the graue yet neither of them were seuered from the godhead of the sone but both did in death subsist in his persō And therefore though our bodies and soules bee pulled asunder by natural or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shall be seuered disioyned from Christ. It wil be alleadged that if the body were then vnited to Christ it should liue and bee quickened in the graue Ans. Not so when a mans arme or legge is taken with the dead palsy it receiues litle or no heat life sense or motion from the body and yet notwithstanding it remaines still a member of the bodie because the flesh the bone of it remaine ioyned to the flesh and the bone of the body euen so may the body remaine a member of Christ though for some space of time it receiue neither sense nor motion nor life from the soule or from the spirit of Christ. Furthermore we must remēber that by the vertue of this cōiunction shal the dead body be it rotten burned deuoured or howsoeuer cōsumed at the day of iudgment rise to eternall glory In the winter season trees remaine without fruite or leaues and being beaten with winde weather appeare to the eie as if they were rotten trees yet when the spring-time comes againe they bring forth as before buds and blossomes leaues and fruit the reason is because the bodie graines armes of the tree are al ioyned to the root where lies the sap in the winter season and whence by means of this coniūction it is deriued to al the parts of the tree in the spring-time Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also in which they are turned to dust so remaine for the space of many thousand yeares yet in the day of iudgement by means of that mistical coniunction with Christ shall diuine and quickening vertue streame thence to al the bodies of the elect to cause thē to liue againe and that to life eternall But some will say that the wicked also rise again Ans. They do so indeede but not by the same cause for they rise by the power of Christ as he is a iudge to cōdemn thē wheras the godly rise againe by the vertue of Christs resurrection whereof they are partakers by meanes of that blessed and indissoluble coniūction which they haue with Christ. And the bodies of the elect though they cōsume neuer so much in the graue yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenat of grace to which because they haue right beeing dead they shall not remaine so for euer but shal rise to glory at the last iudgement Therefore the rotting of the bodie is nothing in respect and the death of the body no death And therfore also death in the old new testament is made but a sleep the graue a bed wherof the like was neuer seene wherein a man may rest nothing at al troubled with dreames or fantasies and whence hee shall rise no more subiect to weakenes or sickenes but presently be translated to eternal glory By this thē which hath beene said it appeares that the death of the righteous is a second degree to euerlasting happinesse Now then considering our coniunction with Christ is the foundation of all our ioy cōfort in life and death wee are in the feare of God to learne this one lessō namely that while we haue time in this world we must labour to be vnited vnto Christ that we maybe bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh This very point is as it were a flaggon of wine to reuiue our soules when they be in a swowne at any instant And that we may be assured that we are certainly ioyned to Christ we must shew our selues to be members of his misticall body by the daily fruites of righteousnes and true repentance And being once certainly assured in conscience of our beeing in Christ let death come when it wil
are in Christ who are freed from the whole curse of the law And therefore the holy Ghost saith Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours whereby is signified that they which depart this life being members of Christ enter into euerlasting happines of what death so euer they die yea though it be sudden death Againe I say that sudden death is not euill in all respects for it is not euill because it is sudden but because it commonly takes men vnprepared and by that means makes the day of death a blacke day and as it were a very speedie downe-fall to the gulfe of hell Otherwise if a man be readie prepared to die sudden death is in effect no death but a quicke and speedie entrance to eternal life These obiections being thus answered it appeares to bee a manifest truth which Salomon saith that the day of death is better indeede then the day of birth Now I come to the third point in which the reasons respects are to be considered that make the day of death to surpasse the day of mans birth they may al be reduced to this one namely that the birth day is an entrance into al woe and miserie whereas the day of death ioyned with godly and reformed life is an entrance or degree to eternal life Which I make manifest thus Eternall life hath three degrees one in this life when a man can truely say that hee liues not but that Christ liues in him and this al men can say that repent and belieue and are iustified sanctified haue peace of conscience with other gifts of Gods spirit which are the earnest of their saluation The second degree is the ende of this life when the bodie goes to the earth the soule is carried by the angels into heauē the third is in the end of the world at the last iudgement whē body soule reunited do ioyntly enter into eternal happines in heauē Now of these three degrees death it selfe being ioyned with the feare of God is the second which also containeth in it two worthie steps to life The first is a freedome from all miseries which haue their ende in death For though men in this life are subiect to manifold dangers by sea and land as also to sundry aches paines aad diseases as feauers and consumptions c. yet when death comes there is an end of al. Again so long as men liue in this world whatsoeuer they be they doe in some part lie in bondage vnder originall corruption and the remnants thereof which are doubtings of Gods prouidence vnbeliefe pride of heart ignorance couetousnes ambition enuy hatred lust and such like sinnes which bring forth fruits vnto death And to bee in subiection to sin on this manner is a misery of al miseries Therfore Paul whē he was tempted vnto sinne by his corruptiō cals the very tēptation the buffets of Satan and as it were a pricke or thorne wounding his flesh and paining him at the very heart Againe in an other place wearied with his owne corruptions he cōplaines that he is sold vnder sinne and he cries out ô miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death Dauid saith that his eies gushed out with riuers of teares when other men sinned against God how much more then was he grieued for the sinnes wherewith he himselfe was ouertaken in this life And indeede it is a very hell for a man that hath but a sparke of grace to be exercised turmoyled and tempted with the inborne corruptions and rebellions of his owne heart and if a man would deuise a torment for such as feare God and desire to walke in newnes of life he can not deuise a greater then this For this cause blessed is the day of death which brings with it a freedome from all sinne whatsoeuer For when we die the corruption of nature is quite abolished sanctification is accomplished Lastly it is a great miserie that the people of God are constrained in this world to liue conuerse in the companie of the wicked as sheepe are mingled with goats which strike them annoy their pasture and muddie their water Hereupon Dauid cried out Woe is me that I remaine in Meshech and dwell in the tents of Kedar When Elias saw that Ahab and Iesabel had planted idolatrie in Israel and that they sought his life also he went apart into the wildernesse and desired to die But this misery also is ended in the day of death in as much as death is as it were the hand of God to sort and single out those that be the seruants of God from all vngodly men in this most wretched world Furthermore this exceeding benefite comes by death that it doth not only abolish the miseries which presently are vpō vs but also preuēt those which are to come The righteous saith the Prophet Esay perisheth and no man considereth it in his heart and mercifull men are taken away and no man vnderstandeth that the righteous is taken away from the euill to come Example of this we haue in Iosias Because saith the Lord thine heart did melt and thou hast humbled thy selfe before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against this place c. beholde therefore I will gather thee to thy fathers and thou shalt be put in thy graue in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the euill which I will bring vpon this place And Paul saith that among the Corinthians some were a sleepe that is dead that they might not bee condemned with the world Thus much of freedome from miserie which is the first benefit that comes by death the first steppe to life now followes the second which is that death giues an entrance to the soule that it may come into the presence of the euerliuing God of Christ and of all the Angels and Saints in heauen The worthinesse of this benefite makes the death of the righteous to bee no death but rather a blessing to bee wished of all men The consideration of this made Paul to say I desire to be dissolued but what is the cause of this desire that followes in the next words namely that by his dissolution he might come to be with Christ. Whē the Queene of Sheba saw all Salomons wisdome the house that he had built and the meat of his table and the sitting of his seruants the order of his ministers and their apparel c. she said Happie are thy men happy are these thy seruants which stand euer before thee and heare thy wisdome much more then may wee say that they are ten thousand fold happie which stand not in the presence of an earthly king but before the King of kings the Lord of heauen and earth and at his right hand inioy pleasures for euermore Moses hath bin renowned in all ages for this that God vouchsafed
church of the Iews the kingdome of heauen is amongst you Now this first degree of life is when a man can say with Paul I liue not but Christ liues in me that is I finde partly by the testimonie of my sanctified conscience and partly by experirience that Christ my redeemer by his spirit guideth and gouerneth my thoughts will affections and all the powers of bodie soule according to the blessed direction of his holy will Now that we may bee able truely to say this we must haue three gifts and graces of God wherein especially this first degree of life consists The first is sauing knowledge whereby wee do truly resolue our selues that God the father of Christ is our father Christ his sonne our redeemer the holy Ghost our coÌ„forter That this knowledge is one part of life eternall it appeares by the saying of Christ in Iohn This is life eternall that is the beginning and entrance to life eternall to knowe thee the onely God and whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ. The second grace is peace of conscience which passeth al vnderstanding and therefore Paul saith that the kingdome of heauen is righteousnesse peace of conscience and ioy in the holy Ghost The horrour of a guiltie conscience is the beginning of death destruction therefore peace of conscieÌ„ce deriued froÌ„ the death of Christ is life and happinesse The third is the regimeÌ„t of the spirit whereby the heart and life of maÌ„ is ordered according to the word of God For Paul saith that they that are the children of God are led by the spirit of Christ. Now seeing this is so that if we would liue eternally we must begin to liue that blessed and eternall life before wee die here we must be carefull to reforme two common errours The first is that a maÌ„ enters into eternall life when he dies and not before which is a flatte vntrueth Our Sauiour Christ said to Zacheus This day is saluation come to thy house giuing vs to vnderstand that a man theÌ„ begins to be saued when God doth effectually call him by the ministery of his Gospel Whosoeuer then will be saued when he is dying dead must begin to be saued while he is now liuing His saluation must beginne in this life that would come to saluation after this life Verily verily saith Christ he that heareth my word and beleeueth in him that sent me hath eternall life namely in this present life The second error is that howsoeuer a man liue if when he is dying he can lift vp his his eies say Lord haue mercie vpon me he is certainely saued Behold a very fond foolish conceit that deceiues many a maÌ„ It is al one as if an arrand thiefe should thus reason with himselfe and say I will spend my daies in robbing and stealing I feare neither arraignment nor execution For at the very time wheÌ„ I am to be turned off from the ladder if I doe but call vpon the iudge I know I shall haue my pardon Behold a most daungerous and desperate course and the very â—ame is the practise of carelesse men in the matter of their saluation For a man may die with Lord haue mercy in his mouth perish eternally except in this world he enter into the first degree of eternall life For not euery one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into heauen but he that doth the will of the father which is in heauen The fourth dutie is to exercise and inure our selues in dying by little and little so long as we liue here vpon earth before we come to die indeede And as meÌ„ that are appointed to run a race exercise themselues before in running that they may get the victory so should we begin to die now while wee are liuing that we might dywel in the end But some may say how should this be done Paul giues vs direction in his own example when he saith By the reioycing which I haue in Christ I die daily And he died daily not onely because he was often in danger of death by reasoÌ„ of his calling but also because in all his dangers troubles hee inured himselfe to die For when men doe make the right vse of their afflictioÌ„s whether they be in bodie or minde or both and doe with all their might indeauour to beare them patiently humbling themselues as vnder the correction of god then they begin to die wel And to doe this indeede is ro take an excellent course He that would mortifie his greatest sins must begin to do it with small sinnes which when they are once reformed a maÌ„ shal be able more easily to ouercome his master-sins So likewise he that would be able to beare the crosse of all crosses namely death it selfe must first of all learne to beare smal crosses as sicknesses in bodie and troubles in minde with losses of goods and of friends and of good name which I may fitly tearme little deaths the beginnings of death it selfe and we must first of all acquaint our selues with these litle deaths before we can be able to beare the great death of all Again the afflictions and calamities of this life are as it were the harbingers and puruiers of death and we are first to learne how to entertaine these messengers that when death the Lord himselfe shall come wee may in better manner entertaine him This point Bilney the martyr well coÌ„sidered who oftentimes before he was burned put his finger into the flame of the candle not onely to make trial of his abilitie in suffering but also to arme and strengthen himself against greater tormeÌ„ts in death Thus ye see the fourth duty which ye must in any wise learne and remember because we cannot be able to beare the pangs of death well vnles we be first well schooled and nurtured by sundrie trialls in this life The fifth and last dutie is set downe by Salomon All that thine hand shall finde to doe doe it with all thy power And marke the reason For there is neither worke nor inuention nor knowledge nor wisedome in the graue whither thou goest To the same purpose Paul saith Doe good to all men while ye haue time Therfore if any man be able to doe any good seruice either to gods Church or to the Common-wealth or to any priuate man let him doe it with all speede with all his might lest death it selfe preuent him He that hath care thus to spend his daies shal with much comfort and peace of conscience end his life Thus much of generall preparation Now followeth the particular which is in the time of sicknes And here first of all I will shew what is the doctrine of the Papists and then afterward the truth By the popish order and practise when a man is about to die he is enioyned three things First to make sacramentall confession specially if it be in any mortall sinne secondly to
leaned on the toppe of his staffe by reason of his feeblenes and praied vnto God which praier of his was an excellent fruite of his faith Iobs wife in the middest of his affliction said vnto him to very good purpose Blesse God and die I knowe and graunt that the words are commonly translated otherwise Curse God and die but as I take it the former is the best For it is not like that in so excellent a familie any one person much lesse a matrone and principall gouernour thereof would giue such lewde and wretched councell which the most wicked man vpon earth hauing no more but the light of nature would not once giue but rather much abhorre and condemne And though Iob call her a foolish woman yet he doth it not because shee went about to perswade him to blaspheme God but because shee was of the minde of Iobs friends and thought that he stood to much in a conceit of his owne righteousnes Now the effect meaning of her councell is this blesse God that is husband no doubt thou art by the extremitie of thine affliction at deaths doore therefore begin now at length to lay aside the great ouerweening which thou hast of thine owne righteousnesse acknowledge the hand of God vpon thee for thy sins confesse them vnto him giuing him the glorie pray for the pardon of them ende thy daies This counsell is very good and to bee followed of all though it may be the applying of it as Iob well perceiued is mixt with follie Here it may be alleadged that in the pangs of death men want their senses and conuenient vtterance and therefore that they are vnable to pray Ans. The very sighes sobs and grones of a repentant and beleeuing heart are praiers before God euen as effectuall as if they were vttered by the best voice in the world Praier stands in the affection of the heart the voice is but an outward messenger therof God lookes not vpon the speech but vpon the heart Dauid saith God heares the desire of the poore againe That he will fulfill the desires of them that heare him yea their very teares are loud and sounding praiers in his eares Againe faith may otherwise be expressed by the Last wordes which for the most part of them that haue truly serued God are very excellent and comfortable and full of grace some choise examples whereof I will rehearse for instructions sake and for imitation The last words of Iacob were those whereby as a Prophet he foretolde blessing and curses vpon his children and the principall among the rest were these The scepter shall not depart from Iuda and the lawgiuer from betweene his feete till Shilo come and O Lord I haue waited for thy saluation The last wordes of Moses are his most excellent song set downe Deut. chap. 32. and the last words of Dauid were these The spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue the God of Israel spake to me the strength of Israel said Beare rule ouer men c. The words of Zacharias the son of Iehoida when he was stoned were The Lord looke vpon it and require it The last words of our Sauiour Christ when he was dying vpon the crosse are most admirable and stored with aboundance of spiritual grace 1. To his father he saith Father forgiue them they know not what they doe 2. to the thiefe Verily I say vnto thee this night shalt thou be with mee in paradise 3. to his mother Mother behold thy son and to Iohn behold my mother 4. and in his agonie My God thy God why hast thou forsaken mee 5. and earnestly desiring our saluation I thirst 6. and when he had made perfect satisfaction It is finished 7. and when bodie and soule were parting Father into thy hands I commend my spirit The last words of Steuen were 1. Behold I see the heauens open and the sonne of man standing at the right hand of God 2. Lord Iesus receiue my spirit 3. Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Of Polycarpe Thou art a true God without lying therefore in all things I praise thee and blesse thee and glorifie thee by the eternall God high Priest Iesus Christ thine onely beloued Sonne by whome and with whome to thee and the holy spirit be all glorie now and for euer Of Ignatius I care not what kinde of death I die I am the bread of the Lord and must be grounde with the teeth of lyons that I may be cleane bread for Christ who is the bread of life for mee Of Ambrose I haue not so led my life among you as if I were ashamed to liue neither doe I feare death because we haue a good Lord. Of Augustine 1. He is no great man that thinkes it a great matter that trees and stones fall and mortall men die 2. Iust art thou O Lord righteous is thy iudgement Of Bernard 1. An admonition to his brethren that they would grounde the anchor of their faith and hope in the safe and sure port of Gods mercie 2. Because saith he as I suppose I cannot leaue vnto you any choise examples of religion I commend three to be imitated of you which I remember that I haue obserued in the race which I haue run as much as possibly I could 1. I gaue lesse heed to mine own sense reason then to the sense and reason of other men 2. When I was hurt I sought not reuenge on him that did the hurt 3. I had care to giue offence to no man and if it fell out otherwise I tooke it away as I could Of Zwinglius when in the field he was wounded vnder the chin with a speare O what hap is this go to they may kill my bodie but my soule they cannot Of Oecolampadius 1. An exhortation to the ministers of the Church to maintaine the puritie of doctrine to shewe forth an example of honest and godly conuersation to be constant patiēt vnder the crosse 2. Of himselfe Whereas I am charged to be a corrupter of the truth I weigh it not now I am going to the tribunall of Christ and that with good conscience by the grace of God and there it shall bee manifest that I haue not seduced the Church Of this my saying contestatiō I leaue you as witnesses and I confirme it with this my last breath 3. To his children Loue God the father turning himself to his kinsfolks I haue boūd you saith he with this contestation you which they heare and haue desired shall doe your indeauour that these my children may be godly and peaceable and true 4. to his friend comming vnto him What shall I say vnto you Newes I shall be shortly with Christ my Lord. 5. beeing asked whether the light did not trouble him touching his breast there is light enough saith he 6.
he rehearsed the whole one fiftie psalme with deepe sighes froÌ„ the bottome of his breast 7. a litle after Saue me Lord Iesus Of Luther My heauenly Father God and father of our Lord Iesus Christ God of all comfort I giue thee thanks that thou hast reuealed vnto me thy son Iesus Christ whom I haue beleeued whom I haue professed whome I haue loued whome I haue praised whome the Bishop of Rome and the whole companie of the wicked persecuteth and reuileth I pray thee my Lord Iesus Christ receiue my poore soule my heauenly father though I be taken from this life and this bodie of mine is to be laid downe yet I know certeÌ„ly that I shall remaine with thee for euer neither shall any be able to pull me out of thy hand Of Hooper O Lord Iesus son of Dauid haue mercie on me and receiue my soule Of Annas Burgius Forsake me not O Lord least I forsake thee Of Melancthon If it be the will of God I am willing to die and I beseech him that he will graunt me a ioyfull departure Of Calvine 1. I held my tongue because thou lord hast done it 2. I mourned as a doue 3. Lord thou grindest me to powder but it suffiâ—ceth me because it is thy hand Of Peter Martyr that his body was weake but his minde was well that hee acknowledged no life or saluation but only in Christ who was giuen of the father to bee a redeemer of mankinde and when hee had confirmed this by testimonie of Scripture he added This is my faith in which I will die and God will destroy them that teach otherwise This done he shooke haÌ„ds with all and said Farewell my brethren and deare friends It were easie to quote more examples but these fewe may bee in stead of many the summe of al that godlymeÌ„ speake in death is this Some enlightned with a prophetical spirit foretell things to come as the Patriarkes Iacob and Ioseph did and there haue bin some which by name haue testified who should very shortly came after them and who should remaine aliue and what should be their condition some haue shewed a wonderfull memorie of things past as of their former life and of the benefits of God no doubt it was giuen them to stirre vp holy affections and thanksgiuing to God some againe rightly iudging of the change of their present estate for a better doe reioyce exceedingly that they must be translated from earth to paradise as Babylas Martyr of Antioch when his head was to be chopped off Returne saith he O My soule vnto thy rest because the lord hath blessed thee because thou hast deliuered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my feete froÌ„ falling I shall walke before Iehoua in the land of the liuing And some others spake of the vanity of this life of the imaginatioÌ„ of the sorrowes of death of the beginnings of eternall life of the comfort of the holy Ghost which they feele of their departure vnto Christ. Quest. What must we thinke if in the time of death such excellent speeches bewanting and in stead thereof idle talke be vsed Answ. We must consider the kinde of sicknesse whereof meÌ„ die whether it be more easie or violent for violent sicknesse is vsually accompanied with frensies and with vnseemely motions and gestures which we are to take in good part euen in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case Thus much of the first duty which is to die in faith the second is to die in obedience otherwise our death cannot be acceptable to God because wee seeme to come vnto God of feare and constraint as slaues to a master and not of loue as children to a father Now to die in obedience is when a man is willing readie and desirous to goe out of this world whensoeuer God shall call him and that without murmuring or repining at what time where and when it shall please God Whether we liue or die saith Paul we doe it not to our selues but vnto God and therefore mans dutie is to be obedient to God in death as in life Christ is our example in this case who in his agonie praied Father let this cup passe froÌ„ me yet with a submission not my will but thy will be done teaching vs in the very pangs of death to resigne our selues to the good pleasure of God When the prophet tolde king Ezechias of death presently without all manner of grudging or repining hee addressed himselfe to praier We are commanded to present our selues vnto God as freewill offerings without any limitation of time and therefore as well in death as in life I conclude then that we are to make as much conscience in performing obedience to god in suffering death as wee doe of any conscience in the course of our liues The third dutie is to render vp our soules into the handes of God as the most faithfull keeper of all This is the last duty of a Christian and it is prescribed vnto vs in the example of Christ vpon the crosse who in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of bodie soule drewe on said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and so gaue vp the ghost The like was done by Steuen who when he was stoned to death said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And Dauid in his life time beeing in daunger of death vsed the very same words that Christ vttered Thus we see what be the duties which we are to perform in the very pangs of death that we may come to eternall life Some men will happily say If this be all to die in faith and obedience and to surrender our soules into Gods hands we will not greatly care for any preparatioÌ„ before-hand nor trouble our selues much about the right manner of dying well for we doubt not but that when death shall come we shall be able to performe all the former duties with ease Answer Let no man deceiue himselfe by any false perswasioÌ„ thinking with himselfe that the practise of the foresaid duties is a matter of ease for ordinarily they are not neither can bee performed in death vnles there be much preparation in the life before Hee that will die in faith must first of all liue by faith and there is but one example in all the whole Bible of a man dying in faith that liued without faith namely the thiefe vpon the crosse The seruants of God that are indued with great measure of grace do very hardly beleeue in the time of affliction Indeed when Iob was afflicted hee said Though the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him yet afterward his faith beeing ouercast as with a cloude he saith that God was become his enemy that he had set him as a marke to shoote at sundrie times his faith was oppressed with doubting and distrust How then shall they that neuer liued by faith nor inured
themselues to beleeue bee able in the pang of death to rest vpon the mercie of God Againe he that would die in obedience must first of all leade his life in obedience hee that hath liued in disobedience can not willingly and in obedience appeare before the iudge when hee is cited by death the sergeant of the Lord he dies indeed but that is vpon necessitie because he must yeeld to the order and course of nature as other creatures doe Thirdly hee that would surrender his soule into the hands of God must bee resolued of two things the one is that god can the other is that God will receiue his soule into heauen and there preserue it till the last iudgement And none can be resolued of this except he haue the spirit of God to certifie his conscience that he is redeemed iustified sanctified by Christ and shall bee glorified Hee that is not thus perswaded dare not render vp and present his soule vnto God When Dauid said Lord into thy handes I commend my spirit what was the reason of this boldnesse in him surely nothing else but the perswasion of faith as the next wordes import for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth And thus it is manifest that no man ordinarily can performe these duties dying that hath not performed them liuing This beeing so I doe againe renew my former exhortation beseeching you that ye would practise the duties of preparation in the course of your liues leading them daily in faith and obedience and from time to time commending your selues into the hand of God and casting all your workes vpon his prouidence They which haue done this haue made most happie and blessed endes Enoch by faith walked with God as one that was alwaies in his presence leading an vpright and godly life and the Lord tooke him away that he should not see death And this which befell Enoch shall after a sort befall them also that liue in faith and obedience because death shal be no death but a sleepe vnto them and no enemie but a friend to bodie and soule On the contrary let vs consider the wretched miserable endes of them that haue spent their daies in their sinnes without keeping faith a good conscience The people of the old world were drowned in the flood the filthy Sodomites and Gomorrheans were destroyed with fire from heauen Dathan and Abiram with the company of Core were swallowed vp of the earth Core himselfe as it seemes by the text being burnt with fire wicked Saul and Achitophel and Iudas destroy themselues Herod is eaten vp of wormes and gaue vp the ghost Iulian the Apostata smitten with a dart in the field died casting vp his blood into the ayre blaspheming the name of Christ. Arius the hereticke died vpon the stoole scouring forth his very entralls And this very age affoards store of like examples Hoffemeister a great Papist as he was going to the councill of Ralisbone to dispute against the defēders of the Gospel was suddenly in his iourney preuented by the hand of God and miserably died with horrible roaring and crying out In the Vniuersitie of Louaine Guarlacus a learned Papist falling sicke when he perceiued no way with him but death he fell into miserable agonie and perturbation of spirit crying out of his sinnes how miserably he had liued and that hee was not able to abide the iudgement of God so casting out words of miserable desperation saide his sins were greater then they could be pardoned and in that desperation ended his daies Iacobus Latromus of the same vniuersitie of Louaine after that he had beene at Bruxels and there thinking to doe a great acte against Luther and his fellowes made an oration before the Emperour so foolishly and ridiculously that he was laughed to scorne almost of the whole court then returning frō thence to Louaine againe in his publike lecture he fell into open madnesse vttering such wordes of desperatiō and blasphemous impietie that other Diuines which were present were faine to carie him away as he was rauing and to shut him into a close chamber From that time to his very last breath he had neuer any thing else in his mouth but that he was damned and reiected of God and that there was no hope of saluation for him because that wittingly and against his knowledge he withstood the manifest truth of Gods word Crescentius the Popes Legat and Vicegerent in the councell of Trent was sitting all the day long vntill darke night in writing of letters to the Pope after his labour when night was come thinking to refresh himselfe he began to rise and at his rising behold there appeared to him a mightie blacke dogge of an huge bignesse his eyes flaming with fire his eares hanging low downe well neare to the grounde which beganne to enter in and straight to come towardes him and so to couch vnder the boord The Cardinall not a little amazed at the sight thereof somewhat recouering himselfe called immediately to his seruants which were in the outward chamber next by to bring in a candle and to seeke for the dogge But when the dogge could not be found there nor in any other chamber about the Cardinall thereupon stricken with a sudden conceit of minde immediately fel into such a sicknesse whereof his Physitians which he had about him could not with all their industrie and cunning cure him and thereupon he died Steuen Gardiner when a certaine Bishop came vnto him and put him in minde of Peter denying his master answered againe that he had denied with Peter but neuer repented with Peter and so to vse M. Foxes words stinkingly and vnrepentantly died More examples might be added but these shall suffice Againe that we may be further induced to the practise of these duties let vs call to minde the vncertentie of our daies though we now liue yet who can say that he shall be aliue the next day or the next houre No man hath a lease of his life Now marke as death leaues a man so shall the last iudgement finde him and therefore if death take him away vnprepared eternall damnation followes without recouerie If a thiefe be brought from prison either to the barre to bee arraigned before the iudge or to the place of execution he will bewaile his misdemeanour past and promise all reformation of life so be it he might be deliuered though he be the most arrant thiefe that euer was In this case we are as fellons or theeues for we are euery day going to the barre of Gods iudgement there is no stay or standing in the way euen as the ship in the sea continues on his course day night whether the marriners be sleeping or waking therefore let vs all prepare our selues and amende our liues betime that in death wee may make a blessed ende Ministers of the Gospel doe daily call for the performance of this dutie but where