not in some sort humour and applaud you Here I end this matter desiring God to enlarge your affections more more vnto the obedience of his word An answer to the 2. obiection concerning the generalitie of death Herein I will be briefe because indeed this sort of people are lesse worthy of further instruction who hold that this so goodly a frame of the world should not or cannot be destroyed Of whom Saint Peter speaketh thus 1. Pet. 3.3 There shall come in the last dayes mockers who will walke after their owne lusts and shall say Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers died all things continue alike vnto this day There needeth no other answer for them then that which S. Peter maketh them in the verses following let them looke to it vpon their perill This doctrine concerning the generalitie of death serueth to reproue three sorts of people The first are those who wholly or for the most part do set their loue and liking vpon the things of this world as if they were to tarrie in it for euer or as if they were to chuse they would not change this world no not for the kingdome of heauen ioying and reioycing as Amos the Prophet said Amos. 6.13 in a thing of nought like vnto the tribes of Ruben and Gad and halfe the tribe of Manasses Num. 32.1.2 who chose the towns and lands on this side Iordan because there were goodly habitations and fertile soyle rather then the townes and lands in Canaan which for the fertilitie therof was said to flow with milke and honey and for the innumerable pleasures thereof like vnto the kingdome of heauen Saint Paul blaming such and seeking to draw them vnto better choise exhorteth saying Seeke ye the things which are aboue Col. 3.1 where Christ sits at the right hand of God and set your affections on heauenly things and not on earthly The second sort who are to be reproued by the generall doctrine of death Are they who murmure much or rather do mourne too much for the deceasse of their neare friends as though God had not done well to take one and not another to take this and not that or as if death had surprised them before their time and for euer or else that death had casually lighted on thē more then others Saint Paule comforting himselfe and others concerning this complaint 2. Cor. 5.1 sayd We haue a building giuen of God that is an house whose builder and maker is God The children of God die but one Luk. 20.36 they taste not of that second death in hell as the reprobates do This once to die is but a short interiection betweene two eternities to wit election and glorification with a kingly and a kindly passage as it were by calling and iustification vnto eternall saluation Rom. 6.9 Christ died once but in that he liueth he liueth for euer So ye likewise saith the holy Apostle are dead to sinne Rom. 6.9 but aliue to God through Iesus Christ The third sort who are to be reproued by this generall doctrine of death Are those who not minding their mortalitie nor accompts which they must make do treasure vp sinne vpon sinne being driuen as it were with the swinge of their nature set on fire of hell defile their bodies and the whole course of nature resolued with themselues to vndergo any sinne so as it may bring them either pleasure or profite Alwayes saying in their hearts and many times with their tongues If we must die for sinne as Preachers say and that as well for one sinne as for a thousand why then let vs eate and drinke and be merrie while we may Salomon out of his owne experience and specially from the holy Spirit of inspiration faith of such one a after this maner Eccles 10.9 Reioyce ô thou yong man in thy youth let thine heart cheare thee walke in the wayes of thine owne heart and in the sight of thine eyes But what followeth God will bring thee to iudgement Although his Maiestie be inclined to mercie yet when he is moued to iustice it is ineuitable it is innarrable it is intollerable To that effect said Dauid as if it were in the proper person of almightie God vnto all such desperate and gracelesse wretches that do abuse his holy patience Psal 50.17 I will set thy sinnes in order to wit thy sins in the night thy sinnes in the day thy sins in thy youth and thy sins in thine age thy sins against me and thy sinnes against thy brethren I will so muster and so ranke them together so place them by rowes and in euerie ranke and row such and so many as shall seeme to be more odious shamefull and detestable euen vnto thine owne selfe And what shall follow I will teare thee in peeces that is thy torments shall be more terrible and farre more horrible to nature then as if thou wert racked tormented peece-meale These are they who although in deed sinne is too too generall yet they rifle and runne ragingly after it in a more particular manner not minding their mortalitie or at least not regarding the accompts that they must make do maligne enuie vtterly hate yea and seeke the whole ouerthrow of vs the Preachers of his holy word and others the deare children of God who runne not into the same excesse of riot and damnable behauiour but with zeale do frequent the ministerie of his word with reuerence do keepe his Sabbaths with all care do keepe themselues vnsported of the world Therefore they esteeme them not worth their societie nor worthie to liue vpon the earth Ioh. 15.19 We are not of the world therfore the world hatethvs saith S. Iohn The manifold plagues to the Egyptians the fierie Serpēts to the Israelites and the Emerods to the Philistims were not so troublesome and tedious as these heathenish Atheists prophane Iewes are to vs. We liue not as enemies in an hostile manner among them but modestly and mildly and benignly as Christian cōforters bringing peace offering reconciliation The words of our commission are of 3. emphaticall and publicke narrations The first is Benedicite blesse ye the second is Benefacite do ye good and the third is Orate pray ye Thus are we enioyned to behaue our selues amongst many other religious duties towards God and good mē yea towards our enemies Where in so euer we do faile through frailtie it is not indifferent nor iustice for them being our enemies to iudge what we should do but rather out of charity to iudge what we would do Neither is it for them to reuenge themselues vpon vs it is his holy Maicstie to whom we must answer vpon our accompt We are whatsoeuer they say bringers of peace and we are peaceable 2. King 10.17 Come see said Iehu to Iehonadab so it were to be wished that these men would zealously and religiously
death of Iesus Christ to whose holy protection I leaue you c. Newly from the Printers Presse the 3. Iuly 1612. Your Honours most humble in the Lord Edw. Vaughan TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVL SIR IOHN HARPER AND SIR PHILIP STANHOP in the countie of Darby Knights And to the worshipfull Maister Richard Hall of London Maister Humphrey Bonner of Nottingham and Maister George Abney in the said countie of Darby Esquiers MY singular selected friēds hauing published many and sundry bookes of diuinity and resolutely cōcluded with my self there to surceasse knowing this to be the enuious and maligning age in which few men shal be condignely rewarded neither yet from vniust imputations and impious calumniations freed yet for all that I was occasioned or rather as I may say violently importuned for my owne better instruction and satisfaction being more surprised with sorrow then with the losse of all the kingdomes of the world carefully to collect answers to diuers questions and obiections which did assaile my soule for and as concerning the deceasse of some such as did most nearely concerne me and exceeding dearely appertaine vnto me And hauing therewithall receiued through Gods mercie that which of all other things I most specially desired I was drawne dutifully and respectiuely to consider that my case was or might be yours and the cōmon case of all men Wherefore I tooke in hand methodically to dispose of all those dispersed collections into this booke as your Worships may see Wherin I alledge nothing but true sentences examples of holy Scriptures and that so warrantably so briefely and so plainely as that I might not seeme tedious to the wise and learned nor yet obscure to the simple and sorrowfull hearted Humbly and heartily desiring you in liew of my labor and in recompence of my loue that you wil be pleased sometimes to sequester your selues from your publike affaires yea and sometimes from your most priuate occasions for the orderly and through reading thereof Assuring you vpon my poore experience and vpon the iudgement of the best learned writers that there is nothing so effectuall in Gods word except the graces of his holy Spirit to make a regenerate man to mourn in mirth to solace in sorrow and to apprehend the right vse of all the meanes which God hath ordayned for the preseruation of life vntill the time of death doth come as the meditation of mortality with Scripture answers cōtemplatiuely to euery such question and obiection as may be raised concerning death together with deuout prayers going before and thanksgiuing following after Or otherwise a thousand to one death brings with it feare feare brings an increase of naturall torments an increase of torments brings distraction of memorie Afterwards followeth all idle dissolute and damnable speech and so from one defect vnto another an obliuiō of Christ and his kingdome as the diuell would haue it Thus I end hauing timely inough I hope forewarnd you with my hearty desires vnto his holy Maiestie to comfot you in your affliction and tribulation that you may be able and readie to comfort others to the glory of his holy name and the euerlasting comfort of your owne soules From Stretton Lefield in the countie of Darbie this 3. of Iuly 1612. Yours in the Lord Edw. Vaughan The contents In the displaying of this diuine discouerie of death is necessarily to be obserued these foure generall heads of instruction approued by many sentences and holy examples of Scriptures viz. First the Generalitie of death to wit how inuincibly death reigneth ouer all the generation of mankind no place exempted no time priuiledged nor any person vpon any occasion fauoured Secondly the sundrie sorts maners and kinds of death that is to say how diuersly and how many wayes death seizeth vpon all people with the seuerall reasons thereof Thirdly the timelinesse of death relating by particulars the day the houre the moment and point of time in which almightie God hath decreed that euerie the generation of mankinde shall die so that no man by the diligent vse of the meanes can lengthen his life nor any man by the negligent vse of the meanes shall shorten his life Fourthly the memorabilitie of death that is to say the commemoration and religious solemnization which the liuing ought to haue for their dead with foure principall and Christian respects THE GENERALITIE OF DEATH DEath hath dominion ouer all mankind not all together as they are innumerable but one after another in their appointed time To which purpose the iust man Iob by the holy influence of Gods diuine Spirit said not onely of himselfe but also of all others Iob. 30.23.24 Surely I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all the liuing Salomon the wisest man then in all the world hauing duly considered of mans abode in this life said Eccles 6 6. Man shall be couered with darkenesse if he liue an hundred yeares twise told and shall not all go into one place Saint Luke speaking by the same spirit sets downe the diuine speech of Saint Paul to the Athenians among which he doth plainely relate the maner of mans creation in this wise Act. 17.26 God hath made of one bloud all mankind to dwell on the face of the earth As if he had said by a vulgar phrase of speech Where there is a contagion or an infection it goes through that familie because they are of one nature and of one bloud euen so he meant that all the generatiō of mankinde being of one bloud and of one flesh shall all taste of one death Saint Paul in his exhortation to the Corinthians for their enduring affliction and to liue well 2. Cor. 5.10 said We must all appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ as if he had said There is no helpe nor hope we must all die Iosua a man exceeding victorious and full of magnanimitie and Christian courage yet being prepared to die in his exhortation to his people points vnto himselfe saying Iosua 23.14 Behold I enter into the way of all the world as if he had said Maruell not my brethren at me who must needs depart this life the like must be your lots your posterity The wise womā of Tekoha amongst many other emphatiticall speeches which she vsed to Dauid the king in the behalfe of Absolon his sonne said vnto him We must all die 2. Sam. 14.14 and we are as water spilt on the earth which cannot be gathered neither doth God spare any person As Dauid said 2. Sam. 11.25 The sword deuoures as wel one as another euen so it may be said of all people that death seizeth one manner or other vpon euerie man without exception Furthermore Gen. 5.28 the ten holy Fathers who liued euery man almost his thousand yet died Deut. 2.3 Iosua 8.9.10.11.12 We may speake of diuers by examples as of Moses Iosua the most valiant most victorious warriours
be a performance and a seisure vpon Gods promises for the perpetuall good of his Saints after death which in this life can not be obtayned and also for the ineuitable destruction of the wicked With the godly Esai 23.18 saith Esai shall be ioy and gladnesse slaying of oxen kiling of sheep eating flesh and drinking wine reioycing and triumphing By which words is meant all spiritual heauenly plenty of immortal melodies and vnspeakable alacrities the father ioying and reioycing in the sonne and the sonne in the father and both the father and the sonne in other the Saints in the Angels and specially in the Lambe Christ Iesus The same Prophet continueth his speech as being halfe rauished with the meditation thereof in the behalfe of his fellow brethren who saith Awake thou that sleepest in the dust Esai 25.9 in that day men shall say Lo this is our God we haue waited for him he will saue vs we will reioyce and be ioyfull in his saluation Againe the Lord himselfe speakes by the same Prophet Esa 26.19 The dead men shall liue euer with my body shall they arise awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust Saint Paul said to that effect 1. Cor. 5.10 We must all appeare before the iudgment seate of Christ that euerie man may receiue the things which he hath done in his body As it was with Christ the head so is it with his members Except the wheate corne die and fall into the ground it abideth alone but if it die it bringeth much fruite Concerning the seisure of Gods iudgments vpon the wicked according to Gods promises these ioyes these preparations and these exultations are turned vnto weeping and gnashing of teeth Then saith Esai Esa 23.9 that the noise of them that reioyce endeth intimating the wicked then their mirth ceasseth they shall not eat and drinke with mirth 24.8.26.21 and good things shall be bitter vnto them Lo then the Lord commeth out of his place to visite the inhabitants of the earth The earth shall disclose her bloud and shall no more hide her slaine Then the Lord hath decreed to staine the pride of mās glorie and to bring into contempt all them that be glorious vpon earth Here the glorie of the wicked endeth and euen here the glorie of the godly beginneth as by the example of Diues and Lazarus And as Abimelech hauing fought against the city Sechem fiercely and exceedingly wrathfull he slue all the people that were therein left none aliue and afterwards in signe that it should neuer be inhabited he sowed salt in it euen so is the Lord in his wrath against the wicked of the world at that day The fifth reason why all men must die It is drawne from the matter or substance whereof man was made to wit of earth and therefore subiect to perishing earth cannot continue long out of its spheare whence it was exhausted Earth how cunningly and how curiously soeuer it be built as earth vpon earth it will descend and presse downward according to the nature thereof vnto the place whence it came and by little and little in short time much wil come to nothing According to the which God said vnto Adam Thou art dust Gen. 3.19 and into dust thou shalt returne Man is built vpon a bad foundation Iob. 4.19 therfore Iob said that the soules which came from heauen do dwell in houses of clay and their foundation is in the dust which shall be destroyd before the moath Eccles 3.20 And Salomon said that the spirit shall returne to God that gaue it The sixth reason why all men must die It is drawne from the matter or substance whereof the woman was made or for her immediate conuersion from one substance to another to wit from earth to flesh which being rightly considered in it selfe is a matter or substance lesse durable and more momentanie then the former For flesh how fine soeuer it be in it selfe and how curiously or costly so euer it be preserued yet if it be not vsed and taken in season it will putrifie and become exceeding noisome of it selfe specially the flesh of a woman for by how much more excellent braue beautifull she is in the constitution of her body then the man by so much the more foule filthy stinking her body will become shortly after she is dissolued following therein the nature of other pure and purified creatures which in their time and right vse are much to the prayse of God and to the comfort of man but being abused or not vsed as they ought are the most vile and the most venimous things of all others The flesh of beasts are good for men and the flesh of men good for something but the flesh of women when they are dead is good for nothing Iob therefore being borne of a woman said of him selfe of all others of that kinde My flesh is meate for wormes Job 7.5 my flesh is clothed with wormes and filthinesse Man both by father mother is a stigmaticall note a word of disdaine or an appellation of anger therefore Dauid saith What is man that thou art mindfull of him Ye are all but men the sons of men S. Paul said O wretched man not ô wretched Apostle nor ô wretched Christian but ô wretched man the cause of his wretchednesse was in him selfe a man miserable because a man The seuenth reason why all men must die It is drawne from the vigour and virility of mans nature which being growne vnto the height declineth fadeth and falleth It weareth waneth like the Moone and like Nabucadnezzars image Dan. 3.31.32.33 which being raised from the earth to iron from iron to brasse from brasse to siluer and from siluer to gold the head and highest perfection then it declined it returned and abated from gold to siluer from siluer to brasse from brasse to iron and from iron to earth euen to that indeede whence first it came When nature is quite decayed thē the body extinguisheth as in the example of that renowned man Dauid 1 King 1.1.2 King of gods peculiar people he was so old that he died when nature was quite worne out of him This is also variably to be proued euen by the nature of naturall things which hauing their licour moisture or iuice dried and worne away do decay and perish presently To which purpose God said by the mouth of the Prophet Esai in part touching the desolation of Israel They shall be as an oake Esai 7.30 whose leafe falleth and as a garden without water So likewise saith Iob interrogatiuely Can a rush grow without dirt Iob. 8.11 or can grasse grow without water As if he had said Take dirt water away then neither the rush nor the grasse but will presently wither and come to nothing Saint Peter likens mankind to the flower of the field 1 Pet. 1.24 and to grasse which being growne to the