persecutions into desarts mountaines and holes of the earth But they were worthy and had farre better company hauing a kind of fellowship with Christ and all the Saints that were gone before them So for the faithfull that now liue if the wicked and vngodly make no more of them then of the filth of the World and as of the of scouring of all things as the Apostles speaketh it is because they are too good to liue amongst them and too precious to be cast before swine 1 Cor. 4 13. that so treade and trample them vnder their feet And where they say away with such fellowes from the earth Math. 7.6 for it is not fitte that they should liue Christ will in his due time take them from the earth by a blessed and most sweet death Act. 22.22 to haue the company and fellowship with him his Angels and Saints and with all the holy company of Heauen and then they shall haue their desire Thirdly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of our sinnes to the end we might not offend God any more by sinning And what a miserie and bondage it is to bee in subiection to sin may appeare by the most earnest and feruent prayer of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul vvho feeling the waight and heauie burden thereof 2 Cor. 12.7.8.9 he desired God with earnest zeale and feruencie and with deepe sighes and groanes that hee might be deliuered from it And againe after the long and lamentable complaint that the Apostle made of the Law that was in his members striuing against the law of the Spirit and leading him captiue into the law of sinne hee breaketh forth into this most patheticall exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death or this body of death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 7.24.25 The Prophet Dauid also feeling the heauy waight of his sinnes maketh his grieuous complaint and mone thereof vnto God saying There is no soundnesse in my flesh Psal 38.34 because of thine anger neyther is there any rest in my bones because of my sinnes for mine iniquities are gone ouer my head as a heauie burthen they are too heauy for me If a man would inuent a torment for such as feare God and desire to walke in newnesse of life and to haue part in the first resurrection hee cannot deuise a greater torment then to be disquieted with this tyranny of sinne and with this vnquiet vnhappy Iebusite euen the rebellion and corruption of our owne flesh and this heauie weight of sinne that doth cleaue and hang so fast vpon vs. O happy therefore and blessed death that dischargeth and freeth vs from so sore combersome and cruell bondage and from further offending of him who dyed for our sins So that death freeth vs from the necessity of sinning also brings vs to bee with Christ And to desire death in this case is not a loathing to liue but a loathnesse to sinne In which case Iob desired death because of his sinnes that he might not offend â—od any more and therefore hee sayth Iob. 6.8.9 10. O that I might haue my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for euen that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off then should I yet haue comfort Now in the meane while till we can haue our desire in this case accomplished Rom. 6.12 wee must resist and striue against our sinnes that they may not raigne in our mortall bodies and let all our endeauor and care increase against our sins that the force of them may be dayly weakened their number lessened and all occasions of sinning auoyded Fourthly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the miseries calamities and troubles of this life and for the preuenting of the miseries to come And yet this holy desire must not be simple and absolute but it must bee restrained with certain respects and with these reseruations First it must bee desired so farre forth as it is a meanes to put an end to all our miseries to all the dangers of this life to all the corruption of nature and to the necessity of sinning Secondly as it is a gate by which wee enter into the immediate fellowship with Christ and of God And our desire also for these endes must keepe it selfe within these limits wherein two Caueats must bee obserued First it must not bee immoderate exceeding the golden meane Secondly it must alwayes be with a reseruation of Gods good pleasure and with an humble submission and subiection of our willes to the will of God For if eyther of these be wanting the desire of death is defectiue faulty and dangerous Death frees vs from the miseries and perils of this world abolisheth all present and preuents all future dangers and brings vs to be with Christ What man wearied with labour desires not rest what Mariner tossed vpon the seas wisheth not to come into safe harbour What traueller toiled with a tedious and perilous iorney would not willingly come to his wayes end what sicke maÌ„ accepts not health what slaue imbraceth not freedome what prisoner doth not entertaine inlargement what captiue would not welcome liberty what husbandman would be euer toyling and not at length receiue the fruit of his labour what marchant is content to liue euer in danger by sea and by land amongst Pyrats and robbers not to come at last safe home with his wealth And lastly what man hauing the reuersion of a goodly kingdome would be loath to receyue the possession of it And sure wee are all in this case by reason of the manifold miseries incident to vs in this world that wee haue good cause to wish with a holy desire to be loosed from al these miseries and to be with our Sauiour Christ and in the meane time Luk. 21.19 till we can haue our desire in this case Let patience possesse our soules Fifthly and lastly it is lawfull to desire death for the perfecting and full accomplishment of that coniunction and vnion which wee haue in Christ Iesus our head that wee might be where he is to enioy his presence For we are saith the Apostle members of his body of his flesh Eph. 5.30 and of his bones that is we are most straightly coupled to Christ by the spirituall band of our faith which vnion is most admirable For first wee are vnited to his Godhead that is not by transfusion of the diuine substaÌ„ce but by effectual working by the manhood and secondly wee are one with his manhood that is really and substantially Ioh. 15.5 as appeareth by those Similitudes by which this vnion is expressed in holy Scriptures as namely First of the Vine and branches Ioh. 3.29 Rom. 11.18 Eph. 2.20 Eph. 1.23 Secondly of the Bridegroome and the Bride Thirdly of the Oliue tree and the
died for when Death had seased his bodie he died in prayer Acts 7.59 Lord Iesus saith he receiue my spirit And in such sort as Iacob died who in the seasure of death vpon his bodie raised vp himselfe and turning his face toward his beds head leaned on the top of his staffe by reason of his feeblenesse and so prayed vnto God Which prayer of his at his death was an excellent fruit of his faith For by faith Iacob Heb. 1.21 when hee was in dying blessed both the sonnes of Ioseph and worshipped leauing vpon the top of his staffe God grant when he commeth that he may finde vs so doing that when we shall lye vpon our death-beds gasping for breath readie to giue vp the ghost that then the precious soule of euery one of vs redeemed with the most precious bloud of our sweete Sauiour Christ Iesus may passe away in a prayer in a secret and sweet prayer may passe I say out of Adams body into Abrahams bosome But heere it may be obiected that in the pangs of death men want their sences and conuenient vtterance and therefore are vnable to pray Answere The very sighes sobbes and groanes of a penitent and bleeding heart are prayers before God at such a time euen as effectuall as if they were vttered by the best voyce in the world For prayer standeth in the affection of the heart whereof the voice is but an outward messenger For God at such a time especially lookes not vpon the speech and voice but vpon the heart And therefore the Psalmist saith Psal 10.17 Psal 145.19 That God heares the desire of the humble the Lord will fulfill the desire of them that feare him What prayer maketh the little infant to his mother He weepeth and cryeth not being able to expresse what he lacketh the mother offers him the breast or giueth him some other thing Psal 38.9 Matth. 7.11 such as shee thinketh his necessitie requireth much more then the heauenly Father heedeth the desires sighes groanes and teares of his children and doing the office of a Father hee heareth them and prouideth for them Exod. 14.15 Wee reade in the booke of Exodus that the Lord said vnto Moses Wherefore cryest thou vnto me and yet as it is there said there was no voice heard Wee reade also in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 1.12.13 that Hannah continued praying before the Lord that shee spake in heart onely her lippes mooued but her voice was not heard and yet the Lord heard her heartie prayer and granted her request Yea the very teares of the children of God are loud and sounding Prayers in his eares who will as the Psalmist saith put them into his bottle Psal 56.8 and register them in his booke yea the very bloud of his Saints are crying prayers vnto him And therefore the Lord said vnto Cain Gen. 4.10 when he had slaine his brother Abel What hast thou done the voice of thy brothers bloud crieth vnto mee from the ground If thou canst not pray distinctly and orderly lifting vp thine eyes on high with Hezekiah chatter like the Swallow mourne like the Done For the sorrow of his heart did so oppresse his soule that though he remembred God and looked vp vnto him and had all his desires waiting vpon the hand of God yet he was not able to pray to God in any distinct manner like a well aduised man his praying was all out of order it was more like the mourning of a Done and the chattering of a swallow then like the holy and orderly prayers of a wise and godly man as wee may reade in the Prophecie of Esay Esa 38.14 Luke 22.62 Wee reade not in what words Peter prayed but onely that he wept bitterly let thy teares flow likewise when thy words can find no free passage Which teares of sinners S. Bernard cals the wine of Angels And as concerning the true vigor of praying S. Augustine in one place sayeth It stands more in teares then in words for instructing a certaine rich widow how to pray vnto God among other words hee hath this saying Plerumque hoc negotium plus gemitibus quà m sermonibus agitur plus fletu quà m afflatu This businesse of prayer for the most part is performed rather with groaning then with words with weeping then with speech Let God heare thy sighes and grones let him see thy teares when thou canst not shew him thy desire in words Psal 6.6 Water thy couch with teares as did the Prophet and God will gather vp and put euery drop into his bottle Thus doing when thou thinkest thou hast not prayed thou hast prayed most powerfully For as Saint Ierome saith Oratio Deum lenit lachryma cogit prayer greatly moueth God teares forceably compell him he is allured and wonne with the words of prayer to heare vs but with the teares of a contrite heart he is drawne and inforced to heare and helpe where otherwise hee would not And in this case wee must remember that God accepts affecting for effecting willing for working desires for deeds purposes for performances pence for pounds S. Chrysostome saith That prayer is the soule of our soules and in this affliction growing in thy soule because thou knowest not how to pray heare a notable comfort that the Apostle giues thee saying The spirit helpeth our infirmities Rom. 8.26 for we know not how to pray as wee ought but the spirit it selfe maketh request for vs with sighes that cannot bee expressed Where thine owne strength and wisedome faileth in this seruice of prayer vnto God there the wisedome and power of Gods spirit kindleth in thee strong desires and earnest longing after mercie and the meanings of those desires and longings God perfectly vnderstandeth and needes not be informed by thy words So that though thou canst not pray as thou oughtst to doe yet that seruice goeth forward wel while heartily thou desirest Gods fauour Esay 65.24 And it shall come to passe saith the Lord that before they call to me for ayde that is in our purpose of prayer I will answere and whiles they are yet speaking I will heare Remember that many goe to bed and neuer rise againe till they be raised vp and wakened by the sound of the last trumpet 1. Thess 4.16 If therefore thou desire to sleepe safely and securely whether in health or sicknesse goe to bed with a reuerence of Gods Maiestie and a consideration of thine owne weaknes frailty and miserie which thou mayest imprint in thy heart in some poore measure and pray thou thus and say If it bee thy blessed will to call for mee in my sleepe O Lord for Christ Iesus sake haue mercy vpon me forgiue me all my sinnes and receiue my parting soule into the heauenly kingdome But if it be thy blessed wil and pleasure to adde more dayes vnto my life then good Lord adde more amendement to my dayes and weane my mind from
so good a Master in purenesse and newnesse of life that thou mayest be made partaker thereof Psal 37.24 and pray with the Prophet that the Lord would guide thee with his counsell and afterwards receiue thee into his glory Iohn 16.24 Aske and yee shall receiue saith our Sauiour that your ioy may be full And also labour and endeauour to bring as many as thou canst to this glory Dan. 12.3 For they that be wise saith the Prophet Daniel shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse as the starres for euer and euer Lift vp your heads O yee heauenly gates and be yee lift vp yee euerlasting doores that the King of glory may bring vs in Psal 24 7. I might much further amplifie and inlarge this matter but the worke growing bigger then I thought it would I forbeare but as Painters when they haue many millions and armies of men to set downe in a small mappe vse onely to draw out some number of heads of men and set them together leauing the whole number of heads and all the other parts and lineaments to the meditation of the beholders euen so am I constrained through aboundance of matter to propound only some general heads and to leaue the amplification of them to your priuate meditations and I hope wise man will not refuse precious Iewels though they bee brought in a plaine and homely receptacle Iude 1.24,25 Now vnto him saith the holy Apostle Saint Iude that is able to keepe you from falling and to preserue you faultlesse before the presence of his glorie with exceeding ioy to the onely wise God our Sauiour bee Glory and Maiestie Dominion and Power now and for euer Amen Psal 72.18,19 Blessed bee the Lord God the God of Israel who only doth wondrous things And blessed be his glorious name for euer and let the whole earth be filled with his glorie Amen Amen To the which most blessed place of glory the Lord bring euery one of our soules at the day of our death and dissolution and that for Iesus Christ his sake to whom with God the Father and God the blessed Spirit three glorious Persons but one immortall God be ascribed all honor and glorie both in heauen and earth this day and euer Amen FINIS An admonition to the Reader ALthough the Printer hath beene very carefull yet hath he sometimes failed not onely in mis-pointing or not pointing omitting or adding sometimes a letter which the Readers iudgement and diligence must helpe but in omission or alteration of words obscuring the sence in some few places which the reader shall doe well to correct before he reade the Booke as they stand here-vnder Page 2. line 5. for causes reade cases p. 9. l. 20. r. consequence for consequently p. 15. l. 11 r. vnhappines for happines p. 22. l. 22. r. Conquerer of all Asia p. 26. l. 28. r. peasant for pleasant p. 70. r. still for skill p. 77. l. 30. r. proclus for produs p. 82. l. 26. r. faltereth for flattereth p. 101. l. 2. r. vnwholesome for wholesome p. 125. l. 5 r. waining for wayings p. 133. l. 10. of the vse of reason p. 146. l. 3. r qualmes for quauers p. ibid. l. 7. r. moderately for immoderately p. 186 l. 4. for hem r. them p. 216. l. 35. for remuneration r. renumeration p. 235. l. 4. put out with you p. ib. l. 36. r. in time of need for of need p. 238. l. 7. r see for so p. ibid. l. 14. r. shall I not p. 270. l. 3. r. winne for shunne p. 284. l. 9. r. bodily for body
and griefes thou bringest with thee there is none would stoope so low as to take thee vp from the ground Shewing thereby that the life of Kings is more vnhappie then the life of a priuate man He is subiect to claw-backes and flatterers It comming to passe oftentimes saith an ancient Father that Courtiers are found flatterers and hee is seldome without mendicant and begging Fryers about him Prou. 30.15 which are like the Horseleaches two daughters alwayes crying Giue giue As it is true that Saint Cyprian speaks Gods ordinance is not the midwife of iniquity so is it most certaine that men in authoritie by reason of flesh and bloud doe trauell in infirmitie and bring forth escapes And verily as the sinnes of Princes are neuer small so their great sins require a great and high degree of repentance They may doe wrong punish the good and fauour the bad non voluntate nocendi saith Saint Augustine sed necessitate nesciendi not with purpose to doe wrong but because they cannot come to the knowledge of the right Who could better see with his owne eyes and heare with his owne eares then Dauid yet affections sometimes dazeled his eyes and wrong intelligence his eares The wisest Gouernours that in speculation of iustice are admirable in their practise may bee quite transported They that in the Thesis are sharpe in the application are often very dul and greatest men haue greatest by asses to draw them awry Giue me leaue to produce an instance from forreine histories Vpon a time when the Bithynians before Claudius the Emperour cried against one Iunius Clio their late President desiring that now his time was come hee of all men might no more obtaine that place The Emperour not vnderstanding their desire nor hearing distinctly their words for the confused noise of the multitude demanded of those next him what the people said to whom Narcissus a familier or rather an auricular buzze of the Emperours answered like a false Eccho that the people gaue his Excellencie great thankes for their last President which was nothing so and requested to haue him appointed ouer them againe which was wholly contrary to their suite The Emperour meaning well but ill informed to gratifie them as hee thought assigned them their olde President againe And thus was the Emperour abused and the people continued vnder an Oppressor still whereas they had beene eased but for a crooked Interpreter And this aduertiseth what circumspect care the greatest men should haue to passe no matters of great importance rashly as also to cleanse their trains and houses as Dauid vowed Psal 101. but hardly could performe from all priuie slanderers deceitfull persons and lyers Now as for wicked men they alwayes liue in miserie There is no peace saith the Lord vnto the wicked the worme of conscience shal neuer die Esay 48.22 and the light of reason shall neuer be darkened as they haue forsaken God so hath God forsaken them Rom. 1.28 Iude 1.13 Iob 15.20 Isai 57.20 Prou. 13.21 Iude 14.15 and deliuered them vp into a reprobate sence that they might doe such things as be not conuenient for whom the blacknesse of darknesse is reserued The wicked man saith Iob trauaileth with paine all his daies The wicked saith the Prophet are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast vp mire and dirt Euill saith the Wiseman pursueth sinners And Enoch also the seuenth from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord commeth with ten thousand of his Saints to execute iudgement vpon all and to conuince all that are vngodly amongst them of all their vngodly deeds which they haue vngodly committed and of all their hard speeches which vngodly sinners haue spoken against him But are good men exempted in this life from misery No verily they are as it were in a continuall furnace by reason of crosses and persecutions they sustaine mocks and taunts fetters and imprisoments Who is weake and they are not weake 2. Cor. 11.29 Act. 14.22 Who is offended and they burne not Wee must saith Paul and Barnabas through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God 1. Cor. 15.19 Therefore the same Apostle saith If in this life onely we haue hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable To conclude with the saying of the Preacher Therefore the misery of man is great vpon him Eccle. 8.6 Ier. 20.18 Iob 5.6.7 And that holy man Iob saith from his owne experience Although affliction commeth not foorth of the dust neither doth trouble spring out of the ground yet man is borne vnto trouble as the sparks flie vpward And Iesus the sonne of Syrach saith Great trauell is created for euery man Eccle. 40.1.2.3.4 and a heauie yoake is vpon the sonnes of Adam from the day that they goe out of their mothers wombe till the day that they returne to the mother of all things Their imagination of things to come the day of death trouble their thoughts and cause feare of heart from him that sitteth on a Throne of glorie vnto him that is humbled in earth and ashes from him that weareth Purple and a Crowne vnto him that is cloathed with a linnen frocke Behold the miseries of mortall man behold their vanitie Thought consumeth them heauinesse harmeth them pensiuenesse possesseth them terrour turmoiles them feare putteth them out of comfort horror doth afflict them affliction doth trouble them trouble doth make them sad and heauie miserie doth humble them and at the last death doth end them How many haue died with a surfet of sorrow By the sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken A sorrowfull minde drieth the bones Therefore Iacob saith to his sonnes Prou. 15.13 Prou. 17.22 Gen. 43.38 If mischiefe befall Beniamin in the way which yee go then shall yee bring downe my gray haires with sorrow to the graue How many haue died with ouermuch feare And for feare of him the keepers saith the Euangelist did shake Matth. 28.4 and became as dead men Sophocles Dyonisius Diagoras and Chilo the Lacedemonian died with immoderate ioy O man very mortall whom ioy it selfe cannot secure from death ioy being the very friend to life For a merry heart saith the Wiseman maketh a cheerefull countenance Prou. 15.13 Prou. 17.22 a ioyfull heart causeth a good health There is but one way and that very narrow by which we came into life but there be infinite and those broad wayes which lye open for Death to inuade vs through euery member of the bodie yea through euery ioynt of the bodie Death hath found out a way to take away our life Wee that are in the last part and end of the world 1. Cor. 10.11 1. Iohn 2.18 Vpon whom as the Apostle saith the ends of the world are come and which is the last time and houre as saith Saint Iohn wee are lesse in our mariage-bed then our fathers were in the cradle The world left being a world when Adam
both man and tree fall into the bottom of that deepe pit This hungry Vnicorne is swift death the poore traueller that flyeth is euery sonne of Adam the pit ouer which he hangeth is hell the arme of the tree and slender twigge is his fraile and short life those two wormes are the wormes of conscience which day and night without intermission consume the same the hiue of hony is the pleasures of this world to which while men wholly deuote themselues not remembring their last end the roote of the tree that is the temporall life is spent and they fall without redemption into the pit and gulfe of hell If thou thus seriously ponder this thy vnstable estate I suppose thou wilt take little pleasure in ryot and dissolute liuing Giue those that are condemned to dy Nectar giue them Ambrosia giue them Manna the bread of Angells and will they tast it No they can neither eat drinke laugh or sleepe and wilt thou that art already condemned and guiltie of death perchance this very moment to be inflicted vpon thee securely addict thy selfe to drunkennesse gluttonie excesse and to al manner of riotous and intemperate liuing Remember rather the rich glutton in the Gospell Luke 16.23 who after he had pampered his body all the dayes of his life in the end Death made him a fat dish for the wormes his flesh and bones were consumed into dust but which was most terrible his soule was cast into hell the burning lake of brimstone and at this time calleth for one drop of cold water to coole his tongue which yet is denied him What adamantine and flinty heart can thinke vpon this without relenting I speake not here of the harmes and hurts that intemperance in meates and drinkes bringeth to the body for meate should be vsed as oyle put into a lampe to keepe it burning not to quench it And Galen the Prince of Physitians saith that abstinence is the whole summe or abridgement of Physicke How then can they liue long that liue by so many deaths whose bellies are sepulchers of lusts and very gulfes and sinckes of the shambles to their owne destruction For as he that allowes lesse to his body then he owes to his body kils his friend so hee that giues more to his body then he owes to his body nourisheth his enemie If the glutton did remember that God is able to come against him yea at the very disburdening of nature he would not make his kitchin his Church gurmandizing his Chamberlaine his Table his Alter his Cooke his Preacher the odours of his meate his sacrifice swearing his prayer quaffing his repentance and his whole life wanton fare Did the Drunkard but remember this that God is ready to come quickly against him yea euen in his drunkennesse he would not rise early to follow strong drink Esa 5.11 which doth trouble the head ouerthrow the sences cause the feete to reele the tongue to stammer the eyes to roule and the whole fabrick of his little world to be possest with this voluntarie madnes losse of many friends credit and time It would make too great a volume to insist vpon all other sinnes for the subduing wherof the meditation on Death is a most soueraigne remedy Are we strangers vpon earth and is our countrey in heauen and must we all dye Yea verily this necessitie thē should inforce vs to aspire to our heauenly countrey and let vs rather meete Death in our meditation thē carelesly attend it lest we be surprized by it at vnawares Before thy miserable spirit resigne ouer his borrowed mansion bethinke with thy selfe what thou art and whether thou goest the remembrance whereof will breede in thy heart sorrow sorrow remorse remorse repentance repentance humilty humility godly affection and loue to God-ward And here assure thy selfe that nothing in all the world can inforce a man sooner to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present euill life then the due consideration of his owne infirmities the certaine knowledge of his mortality and the often and continuall meditation and remembrance of his last gaspe death and dissolution when as a man then becommeth no man For when once he beginneth to wax sicke and still by sicknes groweth more sickly then doth a wretched man despaire of life hauing onely his paine griefe in remembrance His heart doth quake his minde is amazed with feare his sences vanish quite away his strength decayes his carefull brest doth pant his countenance is pale neither willing nor able to call for mercy his fauor out of fauor his eares deafe his nose loathsomely foule and sharp his tongue furred with phlegme and choller quite flattereth and faileth his mouth vnseemely froathing and foming his body dyeth and rots at length his flesh consumes his shape his beautie his delicacy leaue him and he returnes to ashes and in stead and place of these succeede filthy wormes as one sayth elegantly Next after man doe wormes succede then stincke in his degree So euery man to no man must returne by Gods decree Behold here a spectacle both strange and dreadfull and assure thy selfe that there is neither skill nor meanes of art nor any kinde of learning that can be more auaileable to quaile the pride of man conuince his malice confound his lusts and abate his worldly pompe and vaine-glorious vanity then the often remembring of these things For in all the world there is nothing so irksome nothing so loathsome and vile as the carcasse of a dead man whose sent is so tedious and infectious that it may not lodge and continue in a house fower dayes but must needs be cast out of doores as dung and deepely buried in the mould Ioh. 11.39 for feare of corrupting the ayre Then blush for shame thou proud peacocke who in death art so vile and wormes meat and shortly shall become most loathsome carrion Thinke therefore vpon these things and thou shalt receiue great profit thereby When the Peacocke doth behold that comely fanne and circle of the beautifull feathers of his taile hee jetteth vp and downe in pride beholding euery part thereof but when he looketh downe seeth his black feete with great misliking he vaileth his top-gallant and seemeth to sorrow Euen so many know by experience that when they see themselues to abound in wealth and honor they glory much are highly conceited of themselues they draw plots and appoynt much for themselues to performe for many yeares to come This yeare say they we will beare this office and the next yeare that afterward we shall haue the rule of such a prouince then wee will build a pallace in such a Citty whereunto wee will adioyne such gardens of pleasure and such vineyards and the like And thus they make a very large reckoning before hand with the rich man in the Gospell Who if they did but once behold their feete that is if they did but see how fast they stoope toward death Luk. 12.16
all which meanes the Lord brings vs to mortification which be the little Deathes that thereby we may be the better armed and prepared for the great death when it commeth to endure the same with more ease For wee must learne to giue intertainment to the Herbengers seruants and messengers of Death that we may the better intertaine the Lord and Master when he commeth This point that blessed martyr Saint Bylney well considered who oftentimes before his burning and martyrdome did put his finger into the flame of a candle not only to make triall of his abilitie in suffering but also to arme strengthen and prepare himselfe against greater torments and paines in his death which hee did suffer with the more ease And thus you see the fourth dutie which we must in any wise learne and remember because otherwise wee cannot be so well able to beare and endure the pangs of death well except we be first well schooled nurtured and trained vp by inuring our selues to die through the sundrie afflictions and trials of this life The fift and last duety of our generall preparation is set downe vnto vs by the Preacher who saith Eccl. 9.10 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 wisdome in the graue whither thou goest Therefore if any man be able to doe any good seruice or office either to the Church of God or Common-wealth or to any publike or priuate person let him doe it with all speed and with all his might lest by Death he bee preuented He that hath care thus to spend his dayes shall with much comfort and peace of conscience end his dayes Thus much of the generall preparation for death Now followeth the perticular preparation for Death and this is in the time of sicknesse and in the right and true manner of making this particuler preparation are contained three sorts of duties one concerning God another mans selfe and the third our neighbour The first concerning God is to seek to be reconciled vnto him in Christ and by Christ though wee haue bin long since assured of his fauour all other duties must come after in the second place and they are of no value or effect without this Touching the duties which hee is to performe to himselfe they are two-fold the one concerning his soule the other his body The dutie concerning his soule is that he must arme and furnish himselfe against the immoderate feare of present death and the reason hereof is very plaine because how soeuer naturally men feare Death through the whole course of their liues more or lesse yet in time of sicknesse when death approacheth this naturall feare bred in the bone will most of all shew it selfe euen in such sort as it will astonish the sences of the sicke partie And therefore it is necessarie that we should vse some meanes to strengthen our selues against the feare of Death which meanes are of two sorts Practise and Meditation Practise that the sicke man must not so much regard Death it selfe as the benefits of God whiâ—h are obtained after death He must not fixe his minde vpon the consideration of the pangs and torments of death but aâ—l his thoughts and affections must bee vpon that blessed estate that he is to enioy after death He that is to swim ouer some great and deepe Riuer must not looke downeward to the violent running of the streame but if he would prâ—uent feare hee must cast his eyes to the bancke on the further side to the which place he is to passe and euen so he that drawes neere vnto death must looke as it were ouer the waues of death and directly fixe the eyes of his faith vpon the eternall life and happinesse The meditations which serue for this purpose are principally three the first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the Death of euery man much more of euery child of God is not onely foreseene but also appoynted by God Yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his owne sinnes is laid vpon him by God who in this respect may bee said to be the cause of euery mans death Acts 4.28 The Church of Ierusalem confessed that nothing came to passe in the Death of Christ but that which the foreknowledge and eternall counsell of God had appointed therefore also the Death of euery member of Christ is foreseene and foreordained by the speciall decree and prouidence of God I adde further that the very circumstances of Death as the time place and manner the beginning of the sicknesse the continuance the end of it euery fit in the sicknes and the pangs of Death are set downe particularly in the counsell of God For vnto the Lord saith the Psalmist belong the issues of Death Psal 68.20 The carefull consideration of this one point will bee a notable meanes to arme vs against all feare distrust and impatience in the time of sicknes as also of our Death The second meditation is to be borrowed from the excellent promise that God hath made to the death of the righteous which is this Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Reue. 14.13 this the Author of truth that can not lye hath spoken Now then let a man but throughly consider this that Death ioyned and accompanied with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioyned with it and it alone will be a sufficient meanes to stay the rage of our affections and all immoderate feare of Death The third meditation is that God hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence to his seruants in their sicknes and at their death And the Lord doth manifest his presence three wayes The first is by moderating and lessening the paines and torments of sicknes and Death and hence it comes to passe that to many men the sorrowes and pangs of sicknes and death are nothing so greiuous and troublesome as the crosses and afflictions which they suffer in the course of their liues The second way of Gods presence is by an inward and vnspeakeable comfort of his holy spirit as Saint Paul saith We reioyce in tribulation Rom. 5.3.4 but why is this reioycing Because saith he the loue of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost 2 Chro. 2.5 which is giuen vnto vs. Againe this Apostle hauing in grieuous sicknesse receiued the sentence of Death saith of himselfe that as the sufferings of Christ did abound in him so his consolation did abound through Christ Here then we doe see that when earthlie comforts doe faile the Lord himselfe drawes neere vnto the bed of the sicke and as it were doth visit them in his owne person and ministreth vnto them from aboue refreshing for their soules with his right hand hee holds vp their heads Can. 2.6 and
nothing where I loued nothing and I haue my whole portion when I haue Christ my onely loue and ioy with me Let vs not therefore build where we cannot long continue but let vs make our provision for that place where we may liue and remaine for euer It is wisdome then in euery one to labour to be fitted for this passage Let vs be prepared for this iourney as Chrysostome saith for we haue neede of much prouision because there is much heat much drought much solitude no Inne no resting place no place of aboade there is nothing to be bought by him who hath not taken all things here Heare what the Virgins say Mat. 25.9 goe yee rather to them that sell but going they found not What ought we then to doe Euen that we doe not so labour for the things of this life from which we must be taken and which we must leaue behind vs but for those things which concerne a better life which we may carry with vs not for those things which shall haue either finem tuum vel finem suum as Bernard speaks an end of thee if thou haue not an end of them Either shall they be taken from vs as they were from Iob Iob 1. Luke 12.20 or else we from them as the rich man was from his substance and wealth but for those things which we may carry with vs and â—…ay either bring vs to or adorne vs where wee must bee perpetually euen for euer It were a very foolish part and sencelesse practise for strangers when they are in exile or farre from their owne Countrey in a forren soile where they are sure either to be called by their owne Prince or cast out by the prince of the Countrey to lay out all their wealth vpon some land there neuer prouiding for that which they may carry with them to their Countrey for to adorne them when they come there especially if the so imploying of themselues and their estate be a meanes to keepe them from enioying the happines of their Countrey yea a cause why they shall be cast into prison or plunged into miseries So is it meere madnesse for vs to imploy all our care and spend our time and indeauours for this life and things pertaining to it and the body which wee found here and must leaue here and being here from home strangers in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 absent from the Lord and our owne land as the Apostle speaketh whence we know we shall be called either by a naturall or violent death ordinary or extraordinary taken away by God or thrust out by the cruelty of man neuer prouiding for that which must adorne vs there or further our passage yea procure our entrance specially when such things and the care for them which was ioyned with the neglect of so great things even of so great saluati n shall procure misery and punishment where the other would procure mercy and happinesse here these things are left behinde vs those other goe with vs of these we shall giue an accompt of those there wee shall reape a reward as Chrysostome saith Luk. 16.2 We must therefore imitate strangers who prouide for their departure and store themselues with such things as are both portabâ—e and profitable and may stead vs in our passage and possession of our Countrey so must wee prouide for things spirituall and store our selues with them which we shall onely carry with vs and cannot bee â—aken from vs and shall bee onely commodious to vs when wee come to our Countrey Chrysostome sayth he that is indued with vertue hath such a garment which as moaths cannot so neither can Death it selfe hurt And not without cause for the vertues of the minde take not their beginning from the earth but are fruits of the spirit They are then eternall riches and we shall be eternall by them and though Death dissolue body and soule and destroy our present being in this life yet as Iustine Martir spake for himselfe and others to their persecutors you may kill â—s but you cannot hurt vs so Death may kill vs but it cannot hurt vs whilest it comes expected and prouided for it will be to our great commoditie and aduantage And thus shall Death when it commeth be lesse hurtfull as a tempest before-hand expected Death is compared to the Basiliske which if shee see before shee be seene is dangerous but if a man first descrie the Basiliske the Serpent dieth and then there is no feare So if Death be not seene and prouided for before-hand there is great danger but if it be seene and prouided for the danger is past before their death come And they who with the glorified Virgins wait for Christ in the life of the righteous Mat. 25.10 are alwaies prepared for Death when it knocketh to open vnto it and what is a prepared death but a happie death and what followes a happie death but a happie life neuer to die againe Such go in with Christ to his mariage and haue euerlasting life Let vs not therefore forget heauen for earth the soule for the bodie and heauenly ioyes for earthly toyes one moneth or day for one houre or minute let vs not depriue our selues of that euerlasting happinesse that shall neuer bee taken from vs if we prepare our selues for it O that men would be wise to vnderstand know what Acts 1 7. that the great and generall day of Iudgement cannot be faâ—re off as that likewise of their owne death that they might in time prepare themselues for the same And although this day cannot be knowne of mortall men For it is not for you saith our Sauiour to know the times and seasons Mark 13.32 which the Father hath put in his owne power and is vnknowne to the Angels and to the Sonne as he is man yet neuerthelesse they must know that this day cannot be farre off As Daniel searched and found out by the bookes of Ieremiah not only the returne but the time of the returne of Israel to their owne land from their captiuitie So by the studie of the Scripture ought they to search and so may they come to know the time of their returne from their exile on earth to their countrie in heauen And though they cannot finde the particuler day or yeare yet shall they finde it to bee most certaine and in short time to be finished Man should be wise to vnderstand and know the reasons of the certainty of this day of Iudgement they are these First it is the will and decree of God For the Apostle saith And the times of this ignorance God winked at Acts 17.30.31 but now coÌ„mands all men euery where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giuen assurance vnto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now the will and
how well would they reward him But the children of God reioyce at the newes of Death to shew their obedience to it and their ioy is according to the ioy of haruest as the Prophet speaketh and as men reioyce when they deuide the spoyle Isa 9.3 And they may say of Death when it commeth as the people triumphantly somtime spoke of the day of King Dauids coronation Psal 118.24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will reioyce and be glad in it And they may call Death as Iacob did the place where he came Mahanaim because there the Angels of God met him when hee was to meete with his cruell brother Esau Gen. 32.1.2 euen so when the children of God are to meete with cruell Death the Lord will send his holy Angels Hebr. 1.14 who are all ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heires of saluation to carrie them into Abrahams bosome Tell one of our gallants in his sicknesse that Death is come for him 2. King 9.20 and that his driuing is like the driuing of Iehu comming furiously toward him he hath the Athenian question presently ready What will this babler say Acts 17.18 But this newes comming to the childe of God in his sicknesse hee may be talked withall for he hath learned with Samuel to say Speake Lord for thy seruant heareth 1. Sam. 3.10.18 and to say with Ely It is the Lord let him doe as seemeth good to him and with Dauid to say Heere am I let him doe to mee 2. Sam. 15.26 as seemeth good to him Now the reason of this great difference betwixt the wicked and the godly why they are thus diuersly affected vnto Death is this the wicked enioy their haue-best in this life but the godly looke for their good and are walking toward it And if it should be demanded when a wicked man is at his best the answere is the best is euill enough and that his best is when he comes first into the world for then his sins are fewest his iudgements easiest they goe astray as soone as they are borne saith the Psalmist Psal 58.3 It had beene good for him therefore that the knees had not preuented him but that he had died in the birth Nay it had beene good for him Iob 3.11.12 as our Sauiour Christ said of Iudas which betrayed him if he had neuer beene borne Mat. 26.24 For as a Riuer which is smallest at the beginning increaseth as it proceeds by the accession of other waters into it till at length it be swallowed vp in the deepe So the wicked the longer he liueth he waxeth euer worse and worse 2. Tim. 3.13 deceiuing and being deceiued saith the Apostle proceeding from euill to worse saith Ieremy till at length he be swallowed vp in that lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Ierem. 9.3 Reuel 19.20 And this the Apostle expresseth most significantly when he compares the wicked men to one gathering treasure wherein he heapes and treasureth vp wrath to himselfe against the day of wrath and the reuelation of the righteous iudgement of God For euen as the worldling who euery day casteth in a peece of money into his treasure in few yeeres multiplies such a summe the particulers wherof he himselfe is not able to keepe in minde but when hee breaks vp his chest then he finds it in sundry sorts of coyne whereof he had no remembrance Euen so and worse it is with thee O impenitent sinner who not only euery day but euery houre and minute of time multiplyest thy transgressions and defilest thy conscience hoording vp one euill work vpon another To what a reckoning thinkest thou shall thy sins amount in the end though thou forgettest them as thou dost cōmit them Rom. 2.5 yet the Apostle telleth thee that thou hast laid them vp in a treasury and not only so but that with euery sinne thou hast gathered a portion of wrath proportionable to thy sinne which thou shal◠perfectly know in that day Psal 50.21 wherein the Lord shall breake vp thy treasure and open the booke of thy conscience and set thy sinnes in order before thee But if you wil aske when the children of God are at their best I answere praised be God our worst is away our good is begun Iohn 7.6 our best is at hand As our Sauiour said to his kinsmen so may we say to the worldlings Your time is alwayes but my time is not yet come the children of God are not at their best now it is in the working onely wee were at our worst before our conuersion For our whole life till then was a walking with the children of disobedience in the broad way that leads to damnation and then were wee at the worst when wee had proceeded furthest in the way of vnrighteousnesse because then we were furthest from God Our best began in the day of our recalling wherin the Lord by his word and holy Spirit called vpon vs and made vs turne our backes vpon Satan and our face toward the Lord and caused vs to part company with the children of disobedience amongst whom wee had our conuersation before then we came home with the penitent forlorne to our Fathers family but they went forward in their sins to iudgement That was a day of diuision betwixt vs and our sinnes in that day with Israel we entred into the borders of Canaan into Gilgal and there we were circumcised Iosua 5.9 and the shame of Egypt was taken from us euen our sinne which is our shame indeed and which we haue borne from our mothers wombe The Lord grant that wee may keepe it for euer in thankfull remembrance and that we may count it a double shame to returne againe to the bondage of Egypt to serue the Prince of darknesse in bricke and clay that is to haue fellowship any more with the vnfruitful workes of darknes but that like the redeemed of the Lord Psal 84.7 we may walke from strength to strength till wee appeare before the face of our God in Sion For heere wee are not at our best but our best is to come Now our life is hid with the Lord and wee know not yet what we shall be 1. Iohn 3.2 but wee know when hee shall appeare we shall be like him the Lord shall carry vs by his mercy and bring vs in his strength to his holy habitation hee shall plant vs in the mountaine of his inheritance Exod. 15.13 euen the place which he hath prepared Isa 35.10 and the Sanctuary which he hath established Then euerlasting ioy shall be vpon our heads and sorrow and mourning shall fly away from vs for euer Therefore for this cause we must first indeuour that our death be voluntary for to die well is to die willingly Secondly we must labour that our sinnes die before vs. And thirdly that wee bee alwayes
heard Yea God hath told thee as we haue said before Because I haue called and you refused you shall call vpon me Prou. 1.24.28 and I will not answere you A dolefull and heauie doome for a dying man It is too late to sow when thy fruite should be in and no time to leaue sinne when sin must leaue thee Luke 16.24 Heb. 12.17 Mat. 25.11.12 Diues prayed but was not heard Esau wept but was not pitied The foolish Virgins knocked but were denied By which fearefull examples it appeareth that it will be too late to call for mercie after this life when the gates of mercie will be shut vp and repentance comes too late For if wee through our negligence and carelessenesse ouerslip this opportunitie which the Lord in mercie offereth vs we cannot recouer it afterward although wee seeke it with teares which we find truely verified by the fore-alledged fearefull examples Esay 59.2 For your iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God and your sinnes haue hid his face from you that hee will not heare It is therefore the surest and safest way and better by many degrees for the saluation of our soules to leaue our sinnes now in our youth and now to repent in our health then hereafter alas when it may be too late The holy Ghost in the Scriptures pointeth vs to the present time and exhorteth vs to make that the time of our repentance and vpon this Theme many of the holy men of God spent their Sermons Looke in Esay Ieremie and the rest and you shall euer finde that they beate vpon this present time Esay 55. Ier. 35. Heb. 3. Psal 95. Ioel. 2. Now turne vnto the Lord now whiles it is called to day to day if yee will heare his voice this is the accepted time and therefore wee may not come for it many yeeres hence being promised to day Iniquitie did then abound as now it doth and procrastination was euer dangerous and therefore they iudged no doctrine so fitte as often to vrge repentance without all delay So that now euen now is the time of repentance euen now whilst he calleth now whilest he speaketh now whilst hee knocketh now let vs take vp this day and make it the ioyfull day of our repentance For ioy shall be in heauen saith our Sauiour in the Gospell Luke 15.7 ouer one sinner that repenteth Therefore let vs now say this shal be my day of repentance I will deferre it no longer and so let vs repent from day to day euen to our dying day and then whosoeuer shall continue so repenting to the end hee shall surely and vndoubtedly be saued Mat. 24.13 Now for conclusion of this duetie of repentance marke heere how happily we fall vpon repentance God grant repentance to fall vpon vs. It is a grace when it fals vpon a sinfull soule that makes the Diuels murmure Luke 15. and vex themselues in hell and the good Angels reioyce in heauen This is that which makes the eternall Wisdome content to forget our iniquities and to remember them no more then if they had neuer beene and this is Magnaspongia as Saint Augustine calles it the great spunge that wipes them all away out of the sight of God this speakes to mercy to seperate our sinnes from the face of God to binde them vp in bundles and drowne them in the sea of obliuion this is that mourning Master that is neuer without good attendants teares of contrition prayers for remission and purposes of a mended life This makes Mary Magdalen of a sinner a Saint Zacheus of an extortioner charitable and of persecuting Saul a professing Paul Repentance is the Supersedeas that dischargeth all bonds of sinne Behold the office of repentance shee standeth at the doore and offers her louing seruice entertaine mee and I will vnloade thy heart of that euill poyson and returne it to thee emptie though it were full to the brimme Peccasti poenitere millies peccasti millies poenitere millies poenitet adhuc etiam poenitere Hast thou sinned repent hast thou a thousand times sinned why then a thousand times repent hast thou repented a thousand times I say despaire not but still betake thy selfe to repentance If you welcome repentance knocking at your dore from God it shall knocke at Gods doore of mercy for you It askes of you amendment of God forgiuenesse Receiue it therefore and imbrace it The fourth dutie is to die in prayer for when it shall please God in the weaknesse of our bodies to giue vs a remembrance of our mortality and our end let vs pray to God for grace that we may spend the time of our sicknesse in reading Gods word and comfortable bookes in godly conference in holy meditation and in feruent prayer to the Lord first for patience in thy sicknesse secondly for comfort in Christ Iesus thirdly for strength in his mercy and fourthly for deliuerance at his good pleasure yea endeuour as much as thou canst to die praying For when thou art in the depthes of miseries and at it were at the gates of death there is a depth of Gods mercie who is readie to heare and helpe thee for misery must call vpon mercie and Prayer is the chiefest thing that a man may present God withall For by prayer we are oftentimes in spirit with the blessed Apostle rapt vp into the third heauens 2. Cor. 12.2 where we that are otherwise but wormes walke with the blessed Angels and euen contâ—nually to our very end talke familiarly with our God And hence it is that holy men and women in former times could neuer haue enough of this exercise Nazianzen in his Epitaph for his sister Gorgonia writeth that shee was so giuen to prayer that her kneâ—s seemed to cleaue vnto the earth and to grow to the very ground by reason of her continuance in prayer Gregorie in his Dialogues writeth that his Aunt Trasilla being dead was found to haue her elbowes as hard as horne which hardnesse shee gate by leaning to a deske on which shee vsed to pray Eusebius in his Historie writeth that Iames the brother of our Lord had knees as hard as Camels knees benummed and bereaued of all sence and feeling by reason of his continuall kneeling in prayer Hierom in the life of Paul the Ermite writeth that he was found dead kneeling vpon his knees holding vp his hands lifting vp his eyes so that the very dead corps seemed yet to liue and by a kinde of religious gesture to pray still vnto God O how blessed was that soule without the body when as that bodie without the soule seemed so deuout O would to God that we likewise might be so happie so blessed as this holy man was that wee might depart hence in such sort as he did nay in such sort as our Sauiour Christ did who died in prayer Luke 23.46 Father saith he into thy hands I commend my spirit and in such sort as Stephen
done and neither for the error committed by man let vs hate man whom God made nor for the man that is Gods worke loue the sinne that man hath committed And againe here note we must hate none in respect of his creation but in respect he peruerteth the vse of his creation for they beare the Image of God which is louely but they deface and scratch it out to their owne damnation so that we must hate not virum but vitium the wickednesse of the man and not the wicked as he is man The kinds of death as we haue heard in the first Diuision are three-fold Naturall Spirituall Eternall but they may be reduced into two only as the kinds of life are that is bodily and spirituall Bodily death is nothing else but the separation of the soule from the body as bodily life is the coniunction of body and soule And this death is called the first because in respect of time it goes before the second Spirituall death is the separation of the whole man both in bodie and soule from the gratious and glorious fellowship of God Of these two 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 bodie so God is the life of the soule and his Spirit is the soule of our soules Againe this spirituall death hath three distiâ—ct and seuerall degrees The first is when it is aliue in respect of temporall life and yet it lies dead in sinne Of this degree the Apostle speakes when he saith 1. Tim. 5.6 Shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while shee liueth and this is the estate of all men by nature who are said to be dead in sinne Ephes 2.5 The second degree is in the very end of this life when the bodie is laid into the earth then the soule descends into the place of torments Luk. 16.22.23 as the soule of the rich man in the Gospell The third degree is in the day of Iudgement when the body and soule at the resurrection of the last day meete together againe and shal goe to the place of the damned there to bee tormented for euer And this is called by the name of the second death Mat. 25.41 which doth belong onely to the Reprobate Hauing thus found the nature differences and kinds of death it is more then manifest that that place of the Preacher is to be vnderstood not of the spirituall death but of the bodily death because it is opposed to the natiuitie and birth of man The words then must carry this sence The time of bodily death in which there is a separa ion of the soule of man from the body either naturall or violent being called a bodily or worldly death is better to the childe of God then the time in which one is borne and brought into the world Now followeth the second point and that is how this can bee true which the Preacher saith That the day of ones death is better then the day of birth I make not this question to call the Scriptures into controuersie which are the truth it selfe but I doe it to this end and purpose that we might without doubting or wauering bee resolued of the truth of this which the Preacher heere auoucheth for the comfort of all the children of God at their death For there may be sundrie reasons brought to the contrary of this which the Preacher heere auoucheth Therefore let vs now handle the questions reasons and obiections which may be alledged to the contrary which all may be reduced vnto sixe heads The first is taken from the opinion of wise men who thinke it the best thing of all neuer to bee borne And the next best to die quickly as soone as he is borne For Cicero an Heathen man and renowned for his eloquence and learning complaines that nature hath brought man forth into the world not as a mother but as a stepmother with a body naked weake and sickly and with a minde distracted with cares deiected with feares faint with labours and addicted to lusts and pleasures And hence grew this coÌ„mon speech amongst the Gentiles related by Aristotle repeated by Cicero and Plutarch and fathered vpon Sylemus by all three That the best thing in the world was not to be borne at all and the next best to die soonest Now if it be the best thing in the world not to be borne at all then it is the worst thing that can be to die after a man is once borne Answ There be two sorts of men the one that liue and die in their fins the other that doe vnfainedly repent and beleeue in Christ the one goates the other sheepe the one good the other euill Now this sentence and speech of those Heathen men may be truely applied auouched to the first sort of whom we may say as our Sauiour Christ said of Iudas Mat. 26.24 It had beene good for that man that he had neuer beene borne But the saying applied to the second sort is most false For to them that in this life turne to God by true and vnfained repentance the best thing of all is to be borne because their birth is a degree of preparation vnto all ioy and happinesse and the next best for them is to die quickly because by death they doe enter into the possession and fruition of the same ioy and happinesse for their birth is an entrance into it and their death the accomplishment of the same And this was the cause that made Baalam so desirous to die the death of the righteous and to wish that his last end might be like theirs Num. 23.10 And therefore in this respect the Preacher in this place preferres the day of death before the day of birth vnderstanding thereby that death which is ioyned coupled and accompanied with a godly life and this is called the death of the righteous The second obiection is taken from the testimonies of the holy Scriptures and namely these Rom. 6.20 1. Cor. 15.26 Death saith the Apostle is the wages of sinne Death is an enemie of Christ Death is the curse of the Law Gal. 3 13. Hence it seemes to follow that in and by death men receiue their wages and payment for their sinnes and so thereby the day of death is become the dolefull day in which the enemie preuailes against vs for that he which dieth is cursed Answ We must distinguish heere of death it must be considered two wayes first as it is in it selfe in his owne nature secondly as it is altered and changed by the death of Christ Now death by it selfe considered is indeed the wages of sinne the enemie of Christ and of all his members and the curse of the law yea the verie suburbs and gates of hell and so it is still vnto the wicked yet in the second respect it is not so for by the vertue of the death of
of a good life but vsed the meanes of flight onely to preuent violent and hastie death till the houre appointed should come that they were to giue their spirit in peace into the hands of him that made it and because such vntimely death was enemy to the good they had to doe and course they were to finish therefore they went aside by flying for some time and till the time of their departure come that they might doe the good to which they were appointed and finish the course for which they were sent For if a remouing or flying for thine ease in this respect may be effected by shifting thy place that may both be desired and vsed without sinne Isaak sent his sonne Iacob away from his brother Esau when Esau in his anger had sworne to slay him Dauid fled from the hand and iauelin of Saul and shifted for himselfe by remouing from place to place and conuayed all his fathers house into the land of Moab from Sauls reach The Lord Iesus oftentimes withdrew himselfe from the rage of the Iewes and he gaue his Disciples a rule for times of persecution saying When they persecute you in this city Mat. 10.23 flie into another And many honest men haue remooued their habitations to auoide euill neighbours and free themselues from beeing troubled by hem But where it is againe alledged that Christ himselfe prayed against the cup of death for the further satisfying of this point I answere further two wayes First that hee prayed without sinne against it seeing that in his supplication of teares and much feare hee submitted to his Fathers will alwayes Mat. 26.39.42 Neuerthelesse said he not as I will but as thou wilt And againe O my Father if this cup may not passe away from me except I drinke it thy will be done Also death was not to him as it is to vs for to vs the sting of it is conquered and the force broken but to him it was in full power he felt the sting of it and wrastled with the force of it in soule and bodie Secondly I say as was said before that it was not meerly a bodily death though vnsubdued saue where himselfe subdued it that he trembled at but by the burthen of our sinnes which he was to vndergoe in which hee beheld the whole There he saw his Fathers countenance turned against him and there knew that he must beare his wrath because he bare our sinnes And besides Christ feared death beeing cloathed with our flesh to shew that he tooke our infirmities Isay 53.4,5,6 and bore our sorrowes and was perfect man And so death may in some case be feared and at sometime prayed against but euer vnder the correction of Gods will For the rod of death turned into a serpent made Moises feare Exod. 4.3 and the best haue moderately declined and shrunke at the stroke of death when it came in some tempest and who doth not dread all Gods terrors whereof death is one and feare that which is the punishment of sinne and curse of sinners and decline that which is the ruine and destruction of humane nature and shrinke at that which hath made the strongest the wisest the greatest the richest to fall downe flat before it Therefore the feare of death thus reproued is not the naturall feare of it which is in all but the seruile feare of it proper to euill doers and common to those who can haue no hope in death because they neuer cared to liue till they were compelled to die The fourth obiection is that those who haue beene reputed to be of the better sort of men haue oftentimes miserable ends for some end their dayes despayring some rauing and blaspheming some strangely tormented It may therefore seeme that the day of death is the day of greatest woe and miserie To this I answer first of all generally that wee must not iudge of the estate of any man before God by outward things whether they be blessings or iudgements whether they fall in life or in death For as the Preacher saith Eccles 9.1.2 No man knoweth either loue or hatred by all things that are before them all things come alike to all and the same condition is to the iust and to the wicked and to the good and pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Againe the Preacher saith Eccles 8.14 There is a vanity that is done vpon the earth that there be iust men to whom it hapneth according to the work of the wicked and there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the worke of the righteous Secondly I answere to the particulars which be alleaged in this manner First for despaire it is true that not onely wicked and loose persons despaire in death but also godly and penitent sinners who often in their sicknesse testifie of themselues that beeing aliue and lying in their beds they feele themselues to bee as it were in hell and to apprehend the very pangs and torments of it and I doubt not for all this but that the child of God which is most deare vnto him may through the gulfe of desperation attaine to euerlasting life and happinesse Which appeares to bee so by Gods dealing in the matter of our saluation For all the workes of God are done in and by their contraries In the creation all things were made not of something but of nothing cleane contrary to the course of nature In the worke of redemption God giues life not by life but by death And if we consider aright of Christ vpon the Crosse wee shall see our paradise out of paradise in the midst of hell for out of his own cursed death hee brings vs a blessed life and eternall happinesse Likewise in our effectuall vocation when it pleaseth God to conuert and turne men vnto him he doth it by the meanes of the preaching of the Gospel which in reason should driue men from God for it is as contrary to the nature of man as fire to water and light to darknesse For the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 1.21.22.23.52 After that in the wisdome of God the world by wisedome knew not God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue For the Iewes require a signe and the Greekes seeke after wisdome but we preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling block and vnto the Greekes foolishnesse And yet for all this though it be thus against the nature and disposition of man it preuailes with him at length and turnes him vnto his God it hee belong vnto him Furthermore when God will send his owne seruants vnto heauen he sends some of them a contrary way euen as it were by the gates of hell For our way to heauen is by compasse euen as the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt into the Land
vnder the burthen therof account that bondage more intollerable and worse subiection then can bee to the most barbarous and cruell tyrant in the world from whose tyrannie hee that should set vs free must needs bee welcome Which death and onely death can doe What great cause haue we then with all willingnesse to embrace death and be greatly comforted when it appproacheth But death doâ—h yet much more for vs then all this for it not onely frees vs from all euills euen sinne but puts vs also into actuall and peaceable possession of all good things and bringeth vs to that good place where if there were any place for any passion we would be offended with Death for not bringing vs thither long before And though the bodie rotte in the graue or bee eaten of wormes or deuoured by beasts or swallowed vp by fishes or burnt to ashes yet that will not be to vs a matter of discomfort not-onely because as wee haue heard before they are at rest and doe sleepe in peace in their beddes till the last day but also if wee doe well consider the ground of all grace as namely our vnion and coniunction with Christ our head it is indeede a spirituall and yet most real coniunction and vnion For we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned and vnited to the body or soule of Christ but the whole parson of man both body and soule is vnited and conioyned to whole Christ For we are vnited wholy to whole Christ who is not deuided euen according to both natures 1. Cor. 1.13 1. Cor. 3.21 by which hee is wholy oure but after this good order as first to be vnited to the manhood and then by the manhood vnto the Godhead of Christ And when we are once ioyned and vnited to whole Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the Spirit we shal so abide and remaine eternally ioyned and vnited vnto him And this coniunction and vnion being once truly made can never afterward be dissolued Hence it followes that although the bodie bee seuered from the soule by death yet neither the soule nor body are seuered or sundred from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue or howsoeuer else consumed abide still ioyned and vnited vnto Christ and is then as truly a member of Christ as it was before death For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the condition of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his body and soule were seuered and sundered for the time the one from the other as farre as heauen and the graue yet neither of them were sundered from the God-head of the Sonne but both did in his Death subsist in his person Euen so though our bodies and soules bee pulled in sunder by naturall or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shal be pulled or disioyned from Christ the head but by the vertue of this coniunction and vnion shall the dead body howsoeuer it bee wasted and consumed arise at the last day to eternall glory For although the dead bodies of Gods Saints are often mingled with the bodies of beasts foules fishes or other creatures that deuoure them yet as the Goldsmith by his art can feuer mettals and extract one mettall out of another euen so God can and will distinguish these dusts of his Saints at the last day of the glorious resurrection In the winter season the trees remaine without fruit or leaues and being beaten with the winde and weather they appeare to the eye and view of all men as if they were withered and rotten dead trees yet when the spring time comes they become aliue againe and as before doe bring forth their buds blossoms leaues and fruits the reason is because the body grayne and armes of the tree are all ioyned and fastened to the roote where all the sappe and moisture lies in the winter time and from thence by reason of this coniunction it is deriued in the spring to all the parts of the tree Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also and this iâ— in death in which time they are turned into dust and so remaine for a time dead and rotten Yet in the spring time that is at the last day at the resurrection by meanes of the misticall coniunction and vnion with Christ his diuine quickning vertue shall streame and flow from thence to all the bodies of his elect and chosen members and cause them to liue againe and that to life eternall For the bodies of Gods elect being the members of Christ though they be neuer so much rotten putrified and consumed yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenant of grace to which because they haue right being dead they shall not remaine so for euer in their graues but shall arise againe at the last day vnto glory And by reason of this vnion and coniunction with Christ we gaine the prayers of the Saints yet liuing with vs the loue of the Saints glorified before vs the ministrie of Angels working for vs grace in earth and glory in heauen And in Christ our gaine is such as that we shall haue all losses recompenced all wants supplied all curses remoued all crosses sanctified all graces increased all hopes confirmed all promises performed all blessednesse procured Satan conquered death destroyed the graue sweetened corruption abolished sanctification perfected and heauen opened for our happy entrance And as for death it selfe we are to consider that it is chiefely sinne that makes it so terrible vnto vs for in it selfe and by it selfe it is the wages of sinne and the reuenging scourge of the angry God but vnto those that beleeue in Christ it is changed into a most sweete sleepe For although the regenerate those that beleeue in Christ doe as yet carry about the reliques of sinne in their flesh from whence also the bodie is dead that is to say subiect to death Rom. 8.10 for the sinne that dwelleth in it yet the spirit is life for righteousnesse that is because they are iustified from sinne by true faith in Christ and resist the lusts of the flesh through the Spirit therefore that sinne which yet remaineth in the flesh is not imputed vnto them but is couered with the shadow of the grace of God Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soule doth not die in them but doth rather begin to which death is constrained to doe as it were the office of a midwife So that now we are deliuered from sinne in Christ that it cannot hurt vs nay it is conuerted to our owne profit and therfore death hauing her strength from sinne is not to bee feared sith sinne the sting of death is ouercome What need wee feare the snake that hath lost her sting shee can only hisse and make a noyse but cannot hurt and therefore wee see that many hauing taken out the sting
death is of no continuance it is buried in its own birth it vanisheth in its own thought and the paine is no sooner begunne but is presently ended Though the flesh bee weake and fraile yet the spirit is strong to encounter the crueltie of Death and to make it rather a kinde kisse 1. Cor. 4.16 then a cruell crosse We faint not saith the Apostle for though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renued day by day Our Sauiour Christ said at his death and last farewell Iohn 17.1 Father the houre is come glorifie thy Sonne that thy Sonne also may glorifie thee Is there glory in death and is death but an houre It is of no long abode that abideth but an houre and little doe I doubt but that in that houre the soule is more rauished with the sight of God then the bodie is tormented with the sence of death Nay I am further perswaded that in the houre of my death the passion of mortalitie is so beaten backe with impression of eternitie that the flesh feeleth nothing but what the soule offereth and that is God from whom it came and whither it would as Saint Augustine saith with as great hast as happinesse And therefore whether you please to define or diuine of death what it is if it bee rightly broken into parts and passages the elect of God shall finde it a very easie passage euen as it were but a going out of prison a shaking off of our giues an end of banishment a breaking off our bands a destruction of toile an arriuing at the hauen a iourney finished the casting off an heauie burthen the alighting from a madde and furious horse the going out of a tottering and ruinous house the end of all griefes the escape of all dangers the destroyer of all euels Natures due Countries ioy and heauens blisse And from hence doe flow those sweete appellations by which the holy Ghost which is the Spirit of truth doth describe the death of the godly in saying that they are gathered or congregated to their people that is to the company of the blessed and triumphing Church in heauen to come to those which haue deceased before them in the true faith or rather haue gone thither before them So that the holy Ghost vseth a most sweete Periphrasis of death as speaking of the death of Abraham Gen. 25.8 Then Abraham gaue vp the ghost and died in a good old age Gen. 35.29 Gen. 49 33. Numb 20.24 Num. 27.13 an old man and full of yeeres and was gathered to his people And of the death of Isaac And Isaac gaue vp the ghost and died and was gathered vnto his people and so likewise of Iacob of Moyses of Aaron c. It is but the taking of a iourney which we thinke to bee death it is not an end but a passage it is not so much an emigration as a transmigration from worse things to better a taking away of the soule and a most blessed conueying of it from one place to another not an abolishing for the soule is taken from hence and transposed into a place of eternall rest it is a passage and ascension to the true life it is an out-going because by it the godly passe out of the slauerie of sinne to true libertie euen as heretofore the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt into the promised land And as S. Peter termes it it is a laying downe of the tabernacle 2. Pet. 1.14 2. Cor. 5.4 for so he stiles our bodies And as S. Paul termes it it is an vnclothing or putting off of it and a remouing out of the bodie from a most filthie lodging to a most glorious dwelling They are said to be loosed from a port or from a prison and to come to Christ Phil. 1.23 seeing they are led out of the Inne of this present life to the heauenly Countrey and out of the dregs of wicked men to the most blessed societie of Christ and his Saints in heauen They are loosed by death out of the bonds of the bodie for euen as cattell when they haue discharged the labour of the whole day at last about the euening are set free and as they which are bound in prison are loosed from their fetters so the godly are led foorth by death from the yoke of their labours and sorrowes of this life and out of the filthie prison of sinne and by a wonderfull and most sweet translation are caried to a better life Out of all which it clearely appeareth Phil. 1.21 how truely the Apostle hath called the death of the godly aduantage seeing it is aduantage to haue escaped the increase of sinne aduantage by auoyding worse things to passe to better from labour and daunger to perfect rest and security and which is all in all to eternall blessednesse All which appellations of death doe teach vs to be so farre from beeing afraid of it that we ought willingly to welcome it as the easie and ioyfull messenger of our happy deliuerance and not sing loth to depart as all worldlings doe who tremble at the very name of it And thus I passe from the facility of dying to the felicitie of dying of which I may say as Sampson did of his riddle Out of the eater came meate Iudges 14.14 and out of the strong came sweetnesse Now the meat that commeth out of this eater and sweetnesse that proceedeth forth of this strong one is a cessation of all euill and an indowment of all good and by this doore we haue an easie and readie passage to all blessednesse and happinesse where God and with him all good is Man that is borne of a woman saith Iob hath but a short time to liue Iob 14.1 and is full of misery O sweet death that turneth time into eternity and misery into mercie so graciously hath our Sauiour done for vs making medicines of maladies cures of wounds and salues of sores and to his children producing health out of sicknesse light out of darknesse and life out of death Psal 27.13 This made Dauid to daunce in the midst of all his affliction and calamitie when he said I should verily haue fainted vnlesse I had beleeued to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing This hath supported the soules of Gods Saints in the seas of their sorrowes when they thought vpon the day of their dissolution wherein they should be made glorious by their deliuerance For as our Sauiour Christ tooke his flight from the heauen to the Virgins wombe from her wombe to the world from the world to the crosse from the crosse to the graue from the graue vnto heauen againe Euen so from the womb wee must follow his steppes and tread the same path that he hath traced out for vs. Iohn 14.6 I am the way saith our Sauiour the truth and the life He is the way without wandring the truth without shadowing the life without
how deckt with stars as with sparkling Diamonds What would wee say if wee could see into it Mat. 17.1 and behold though with Peter Iames and Iohn at a glance or blush superficially the goodly pauement of heauen within whose floore is of gold and wall about it garnished with precious stones Mat. 4.8 And what is a kingdome here where all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them were shewed in the twinkling of an eye Luke 4 5. as it is in the Gospel if there were not hope of a better kingdome where all shall be kings and reigne with Christ eternallly And they which here haue reigned as kings vpon the earth shall lose nothing but gaine immeasurably by the change yea kings and queenes which haue beene nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the Church of God as the Prophet speaketh when they come thither Isay 49.23 shall cast away their Crownes as Elias 2. King 2.13 when hee went vp by a whirlewind into heauen let his cloake or mantle fall from him and they shal repent nothing there saue that they came no sooner thither and when they shall compare their earthly and heauenly kingdomes together they shall say as S. Peter said of the mount Mat. 17.4 bonum est esse hic It is good to be here in heauen but for the earth they shall bee as loth to looke backe vnto it as Moyses to goe backe into the land of Egypt For their pallaces shall then seeme prisons their golden chaines golden fetters their crownes crosses and all their earthly honors but burdens and vexations But when they shall looke vpon the face of God they shall say to him with triumph as it is in the Psalme With thee is the well of life Psal 16.11 in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore Thirdly if Adams paradise and garden was so delightsome and pleasant how pleasant and glorious is Gods owne seat of his owne residence He spake it with a wondring tongue whose heart could not comprehend so infinite an excellencie in saying as we haue heard before How glorious things are spoken of thee O thou city of God! Psal 87.3 For though in the letter this worthy Prophet spake of that earthly heauen which he confessed to be in the material tabernacle because of Gods presence and the godly exercises of Gods people performed there yet his meaning was vnder the cloud of the phrase to direct Gods children to a higher tabernacle and house of greater glory then that which was earthly and vnder the doome of time Againe saith the blessed Apostle 2. Cor. 3,7,8,9,10,11 If the ministration of death written and ingrauen in the stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to bee done away how shall not the ministration of the spirit bee rather glorious For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glorie For euen that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glorie that excelleth For if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious And if the preaching of the Gospel whereby God giueth his quickening spirit working the life of grace in his elect be glorious then much more shall the true professors of the Gospel be made partakers of farre greater glorie in the kingdome of heauen Againe wee doe reade in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 18.23 that when Dauid was perswaded by Saul by the meanes of his seruant to become the Kings sonne in law it is there said by Dauid Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the Kings sonne in law seeing that I am a poore man and lightly esteemed Then if it be accounted a great honor and glory to be a sonne and childe to an earthly King much more honorable and glorious it is to be the sonne and childe of the King of heauen Behold saith Saint Iohn what manner of loue the Father hath bestowed vpon vs 1. Iohn 3.1 that wee should bee called the sonnes of God Which glorie all the tongues of men and Angels as wee haue heard before can in no wise expresse as witnesseth the blessed and glorious Apostle Saint Paul himselfe who was in it 2. Cor. 12.1,2,3,4,5 and saw it and therefore he saith I knew a man in Christ aboue foureteene yeeres agoe whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the bodie I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught vp into the third heauen and heard vnspeakable words which it is not lawfull or possible for a man to vtter So great and infinite are the glory and ioyes of the kingdome of God as they cannot enter into vs and therefore it is appointed that we must enter into them Therefore it is said Matth. 25.21 Well done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord. Now if the Queene of Sheba as we heard before pronounced the seruants of King Salomon happie 1. King 10.8 for that they stood continually before him and heard his wisdome then much more happy are the Saints and seruants of God who doe continually with his holy Angels stand and behold the glorious presence of one which is greater then King Salomon Matth. 18.10 euen the God of glory himselfe In which respect Saint Ambrose on his death bed said We are happie in this that we serue so good a Master Yea happie is the people saith the Psalmist that is in such a case Psal 144.15 yea happie is that people whose God is the Lord. Yea blessed and happie are all those which so liue in this world that departing hence they may be assured to come into so glorious a place and presence Wee see by experience when a Country-man hath beene trained vp sometime in the Court he forgetteth his clownish kinde of life and becommeth a Courtier let vs therefore leaue the speeches habite fashion and manners of this wicked world wherein we liue and inure our selues with the customes and course of the Court of heauen let all our thoughts words and communication testifie that in spirit wee are alreadie there Let my minde saith Augustine muse of it let my tongue talke of it let my heart loue it and my whole soule neuer cease to hunger and thirst after it In the meane time till thou come into this glorious place and presence aske of God by heartie and faithfull prayer to giue thee grace entirely and from the bottome of thy heart both to vnderstand and desire the ioyes and glory thereof and so to be affected and rauished with the delight thereof that euer and euery where thou mayest be stirred vp to serue
Christ it ceaseth to bee a plague or punishment and of a curse is made vnto vs a blessing and become vnto vs a friend and a passage or middle way betweene this life and eternall life and is become as it were a little wicket entrance or doore whereby we passe out of this world into heauen And then in this respect this saying of the Preacher is most true for in the day of birth men are brought forth and borne into the vale of misery but afterward when the children of God goe hence hauing death altered vnto them by the death of Christ they enter into eternall life and happinesse The third obiection is taken from the example of most worthy men who as it should seeme haue made their prayers against death Mat. 26.39 as our Sauiour Christ We reade when our Sauiour Christ was borne it was a ioyfull time at whose birth there was great ioy and mirth Simeon and Anna Luke 2.10.13.28.38 Luke 19.41 Marke 16.10 Luke 23.28.45 Matth. 27.51 yea and the Angels of heauen did sing and they bid the Shepheards sing because they brought them glad tidings of great ioy which should be vnto all the people But when our Sauiour Christ suffered death then it seemed that it was a dolefull time for then there was as much lamentation and weeping Our Sauiour Christ himselfe wept whom we reade to haue wept three times at the destruction of Ierusalem Iohn 11.35 at the raising of Lazarus and in his agony the disciples wept the daughters of Ierusalem wept Heb. 5.7 the Sunne was darkened the vaile of the Temple was rent the stones were clouen in sunder Yea all these and all sencelesse creatures in their kind did weepe and lament the death and passion of their maker And so it should seeme that our Sauiour Christ prayed against death on this manner Psal 6.4.5 Father if it be thy will let this cup passe from me Wee reade also that the Prophet Dauid prayed against death Returne O Lord saith he deliuer my soule O saue me for thy mercies sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee in the graue who shall giue thee thankes Againe Esay 38.1 wee reade that King Ezechiah prayed against death for when the Prophet brought him word from the Lord that hee should die and not liue this good king at this newes wept very sore and prayed for further life Now by the examples of these most worthy men yea by the example of the Sonne of God himselfe it should seeme that this should not be true which the Preacher doth heere auouch That the day of death should bee better then the day of birth but rather that the day of death should be the most dolefull and terrible day of all Answ We are heere to vnderstand that when our Sauiour Christ prayed in this sort as we haue heard he was in his agonie and he then as our Redeemer stood in our roome and stead to suffer and endure all things which wee our selues should haue suffered in our own persons for our sins if he himselfe had not vouchsafed to suffer for vs and therefore hee did not pray simply against the bodily or naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse for he feared not death it selfe which is the separating of soule and bodie but the curse of the Law which went with death as namely the vnspeakeable wrath and iudgement of God which was due for our sinnes The first death troubled him not but the first and second ioyned together Therefore the Author to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 5.7 That Christ in the daies of his flesh wheâ— he had offered vp prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares vnto him that was able to saue him from death that he was heard in that he feared By which place it appeareth that Christ did not pray simply against the naturall death but against the cursed death of the Crosse which was the second death Concerning Dauids praying against death we are to vnderstand that when he made that sixt Psalme hee was not onely sicke in bodie but also perplexed with the greatest temptation of all in that hee wrastled in conscience against the wrath of God as appeares by his owne words For hee there saith Psal 6.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thy anger c. Wherein wee may see that he prayed not simply against death but against death at that instant when hee was in that grieuous temptation for at other times he had no such feare of death And therefore in another Psalme he saith Psal 23.4 Yea though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I wil feare none ill c. Wherefore he prayed against death onely in that sixt Psalm as it was ioyned with apprehension of Gods wrath as our Sauiour Christ did Lastly touching king Hezekiah wee are to vnderstand that he prayed against death not onely because hee desired to liue and to doe seruice to God in his kingdome but also it was vpon a further and more special regard because when the Prophet brought him this message of death he was then without issue hauing none of his owne body to succeede him in his kingdome But then it wil be obiected What warrant he had to pray against death for this cause Answ His warrant was good for God had made a particular promise vnto Dauid and his posteritie after him 1. King 2.4 that as long as they feared him and walked in his commandements with all their heart and with all their soule there shal not faile thee saith he a man on the throne of Israel Now this good king Hezekiah at the time of the Prophets message of death remembring what promise God had made to Dauid and to his seed and how that he for his part in some poore and weake measure had kept the condition in that he had walked before God with an vpright heart and had done that which was well pleasing and acceptable in his sight as he himselfe saith in the same place Isay 38 3. therefore hee prayed against death not for that he feared it but he desired to haue issue of his own to succeed him according to the Lords promise to his seruant Dauid Which prayer of his was so well accepted of God that hee gaue him his request and added vnto his daies fifteene yeeres and three yeeres after God gaue him Manasses Isay 38.5 Againe beside these examples it will be further obiected that the godly haue feared death 1. Kings 19.30 or esse why did Eliah flie from it in the persecution of Iezabel and Christ teach his to flie it in the persecutions of men Mat. 10.23 and Christ himselfe as we haue alreadie heard did pray against the bitter cup of it in his agonie Mat. 26.39 and before his apprehension Answ Those Saints did not nor were to flie from death as it is the end of life and a most blessed end
him to be released and if your selfe belong to God it is best for you also at this time to loose him best I say in the wisdome of God and to some end although not so in your owne reason which seeth not so farre and in all respects best Now thinke with your selfe thus much if you had done good to one and pleasured him much and all the friends he hath or any of them should crie out for it would it not grieue you surely it would grieue you so much the more by how much that vnthankefull dislike should be more vehement and last long So it is with God and therefore see what you doe and whom you moue to anger The Apostles words are plaine All things worke for the best vnto them that feare God if you beleue it and also thinke of your dead friend and your selfe God the holy Ghost who cannot lye concludeth that the same was best both for him and you which now is come to passe When good is done we should not grieue and when the best is done much lesse should we grieue for God calleth him out of this life when he is at his best if he be good that hee turne not to euill if euill that hee waxe not worse Away then with sorrow and sowre lookes and let the Lord for his mercie receiue your thankes from faithfull content and not murmuring and repining from vnbridled affections not onely good is done but the best euen the very best by the best that onely knowes what is best and it should appease and satisfie you God is no lyer neither can he be deceiued but if one houres life might haue been better either for him or you then is not the best done and then the Apostles words are not true but that were wicked once to imagine so Therefore no longer life would haue profited him or you but the very best is done blessed therefore be God for his goodnesse euer Fourthly I consider what the same Apostle saith in another place I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all And I aske of you whether your selfe do not the like as you are able if you doe not you are yet ouer earthly and further in loue with this wicked and sinfull world then you should be If you doe it why then grieue you that your friend hath obtained that which you desire this will seeme rather enuie then loue in you to conceiue dislike for ones well doing What againe if your friend wish as the Apostle doth long before he obtained his request and now the Lord hath granted what he so heartily wished this is mercie to be reioyced for and not any miserie to bee wept for A true friend acknowledgeth a debt for the pleasuring of his friend and is not mooued with anger or griefe for the same stay then your teares if you will bee iudged a friend and neither grudge to God the companie of his child nor to the child the presence of his God because this is wicked Thinke of the glorie company immortalitie and ioy and comfort with the blessed Trinity and all the hoste of heauen that now your friend enioyeth thinke of the woes and miseries in this wretched vale of teares from which he is freed and then iudge you if the Apostle say not true that it is best to be loosed and to be with Christ If this best bee now at this instant fallen to your good friend by Gods good mercie blesse God for it and comfort your self that your friend enioyeth such endlesse ioy and comfort and thereby shall you shew your selfe a friend indeed and all that are godly and wise cannot but thinke well of you Againe the Apostle saith 2. Cor. 5.6.8 That we know that whilest wee are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord therefore we loue rather to remoue out of the bodie and to dwell with the Lord. From which absence from God your friend is freed and by presence and dwelling with God he is now blessed a true cause and a great cause as hath beene said of good content Then doe not you prouoke the Lord with vnthankfull teares sighes and groanes but stay that course which offendeth greatly and tread the steppes of all such as vpon the like occasion haue walked rightly by their discreet mourning Who are euer patient and moderate in sorrow repressing and ruling their affections and gaue them not a loose reine and so ought you Againe in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians it is said I would not haue you ignorant brethren concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not 1. Thess 4.13 as they which haue no hope Reade the place and examine your owne course whether you hope or no. First that your friend is well and then that Almightie God will supply his want to you some other way for both these are necessarie our friends are our comforts if they be good But if I tie God to them and thinke all is gone when they are gone where is my hope what pleasure to God so to trust in him that I trust more in my friends and cry out when they goe how shall I doe how shall I liue what ioy can I now haue Is this hope is this trust is this faith fie that euer affections and passions should carie any good child of God so far from his dutie and from true knowledge I say againe our friends are our comfort while the Lord lendeth them and when our friend returneth to his earth yet the Lord is in heauen where he euer was if I haue lost my father to be my father mother sister friend yea all in all to me whatsoeuer I want Therefore while he liueth which is and shall bee for euer I cannot be friendlesse though my friends die or depart from me but that either for one he will raise me vp another or himselfe supplie the place which is best of all Mourne not then I pray you as one without hope but hearken vnto the Apostle and shew foorth your faith hope and obedience vnto God to the glorie of God and your owne praise Againe wee read in the booke of Leuiticus Leuit. 10.3 that the sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu were slaine by the Lord in his anger for their sinnefull presumption in offering vp strange fire which the Lord commanded them not which was a fearefull sight and spectacle to the fathers eyes to see two sonnes at once and in such sort dead Yet what did Aaron I pray you marke the text I will saith the Lord bee sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified And Aaron saith the holy Ghost there held his peace And what an example is this if any thing may mooue you to stay your affections for the death of your friends Againe it is said in the booke of the Reuelation And I heard a voyce from heauen Reu. 14.13
saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Your friend is dead in the Lord and therefore blessed will you then weepe and lament for him his workes follow him and the Lord in mercie hath crowned his obedience according to his promise and will you looke awry at it God forbid Againe consider with your selfe that your friends walk with God and are gone to their heauenly Father in peace they are gathered vnto their people they are not dead but sleepe and their flesh resteth in hope they are gone the way of all flesh and doe now behold the face of God in heauen and what cause of sorrow is this to any friend that loueth them If your friend were discharged and released out of prison and miserie and preferred to the palace of an earthly prince and to his Court to his great and exceeding ioy and content would you shewe your loue and contentment toward him in bewailing the same how much lesse then should you lament his preferment into Gods euerlasting Court and kingdome to his vnspeakable ioy and comfort Thus may you gather many places of holy Scripture and on this sort meditate on them For sweet is the word of God against all sorrowes and griefes and by name against this But it may happily be obiected it is your child that is dead and it died before it could well be baptized this grieueth me more then otherwise it would and so you feare your childs estate Answ God forbid that we should either speake or think so seeing the Lord neuer said so but contrariwise the Scripture witnesseth that they are in the Couenant of God and so in state of saluation so soone as they are borne and Baptisme doth not make them Christians that were none before but is the Sacrament the seale the signe the badge of them that are Christians before Besides it is not the want of the Sacrament that depriueth a man of Gods fauour for the children of the Israelites were not circumcised all those fortie yeeres which they liued in the wildernesse the reason whereof was because they were euer to remoue and iourney whensoeuer the pillar of the cloud that was their guide ascended and went forward Numb 9.18 c. so that they were alwaies to attend vpon the cloude both night and day not knowing when it would remooue and therefore could not circumcise their children in the wildernesse as yee may read Iosh 5.2 c. but it is the contemning or despising of the Sacrament that depriueth men of Gods fauour when they make no more account of it then Esau did of his birth-right Gen. 25.32 then Ahaz did of the Lords helpe Esay 7. and it is also the neglecting of it when God offereth time and opportunitie that we might haue it Againe the Lord neuer said that whosoeuer died vncircumcised or vnbaptized should be wiped out of the booke of life but hee hath said Gen. 17.12.14 that whosoeuer contemneth or carelesly neglecteth the Sacraments shal be cut off from among his people And so read you the notes vpon that seuenteenth chapter of Genesis and I hope they shall content you for this matter God is not tyed to the Sacrament nor euer was The contempt hurteth but not the want when it is against your will Obiect Happily your child was of ripe yeeres and withall so toward that it could not be but that he should come to some great place and preferment if he had liued both for the good of himself and his friends and that he in his youth and the flower of his age should thus bee taken away is a great losse say you Answer True it is that the losse is great in respect of the world but what is that if we consider God God is also able to supplie all that some other way if we take it well This is apparant that what good or preferment could haue come to him any way or to his friends if he had liued the Lord for some purpose as yet happily hidden hath preuented but yet his arme is not shortened as I said to doe vs good some other way but it might perhaps prooue otherwise contrarie to our expectation if he had liued longer and then it would haue beene a great griefe vnto vs. But admit that it would haue beene as you hope if he had liued longer yet he is more highly preferred euen to the highest heauens and to the presence of God and this no earthly preferment can match And except we be wholy earthly our selues we cannot but sauour this and not let his youth grieue vs for no youth nor age is too good for God when he is pleased to take them A foole or a child seeing a goodly cluster of grapes thinketh it pitie to put them into the presse to deface them but he that is wise knoweth that thereby the liquour which is in them is preserued and that this timely gathering is a meanes to keepe them from corruption So we thinke sometime Oh it is great pitie such a one should die so soone so towardly a youth so good a creature can hardly be spared but God in his wisedome knoweth it to be good And if he cut off the life of that good and godly king Iosiah as it were in the middle of the stemme 2. Kings 22.20 doubtlesse it is for this cause that his eies may not see the manifold euils to come If you will be ruled to weigh things with reason you may well see mercie euen in this timely death for many are the perils both of bodie and soule that young men auoid when they are taken hence false doctrine heresies errours and many grieuous sinnes wounding the very conscience with a biting worme that euer gnaweth publike calamities and ruine of state many priuate miseries great and grieuous which no man can thinke of beforehand more bitter to good men then any death from all which this happie deliuerance in time of youth doth free your child and set him safe that you shall neuer mourne with him nor for him that way And herein we haue Dauid an example of godly fortitude who hauing a child sicke did while it liued afflict his soule besought God for the child and fasted and wen◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lay all night vpon the earth and would not be comforted Thus while there was hope of remedie he gaue way to the sorrow of his heart 2. Sam. 12.16 but when Dauid perceiued that the child was dead then he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himselfe and changed his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and after came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eate His sorrow ended when he once saw there was no hope of enioying any longer the companie of his child Now this course seemed vnto