sheweth vs his desire and in his desire sheweth vs that death and desolution is a thing to bee desired of the godly When the labourer hath wrought stoutly in the vineyard all the day and at length the euening commeth wherein he may rest hee is glad of it yea hee doth desire and wait for the comming of the euening that he may rest Our life here beneath is but as a day and a short winter day and here vpon the earth as in the Lords vineyard we are appointed to labour so the Parable of the labourers hired to worke in the vineyard Matth. 20. doth teach vs. When the euening of our daye namely death dooth come the seruant of God reioyceth that he may rest from his labour yea in wisedome hee shoulde desire the comming of it that hee might rest from his labour for death bringeth such rest The holy Ghost from heauen affirmed to Iohn the Euangelist Reu. 14.13 that they which die in the Lord doe rest from their labours and are therein blessed And a wise Poet truly saide it Est finis miseria in morte in death our miseries end When the souldier hath put on armour and lieth in Campe against the enemie hee longeth for victorie that hee may put off his armour and rest from that daungerous and painefull seruice And when that wished day is come hee reioyceth for his rest For as the King of Israel answered the king of Aram though he that girdeth on his armour boast himselfe yet he that putteth it off after victorie hath whereof to boast Now wee are all Souldiers and our life vpon the earth is a warfare So Ierome reades the first wordes of the seuenth chapter of Iob Milita est vita hominis super terram A warfare saith hee fighting against inuisible aduersaries And wee are sent into this world as the Lordes prest men vnder the Banner of Christ following him our Captaine to fight against sinne against the flesh the diuell and the worlde by dooing good workes and resisting tentations Sinne fighteth against vs and often taketh vs captiues Rom. 7.23 Paul saith I see an other Lawe in my m̄ebers rebelling against the Law of my minde and leading mee captiue vnto the law of sin which is in my members The flesh fighteth against vs striuing against the spirit as the spirit striueth against the flesh And Peter biddeth vs Abstaine from fleshly lusts because they fight against the soule 1. Pet. 2.11 The Diuell commeth fiercely vpon vs as a roaring Lyon and fighteth against vs. Eph. 6.16 beeing armed with fierie darts And the worlde dooth not loue those whom God hath choson out of the world Iohn 15.19 and the battel which we haue to maintaine against those enemies is most perillous because Eph. 6.22 wee wrastle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers against the worldly gouernours the princes of the darknesse of this world This battell endeth not till the day of our dissolution commeth then are wee freed from tentations and deliuered from sinne For Romans 6.7 the Apostle saith Hee that is dead is freed from sinne Then doe wee rest and reioyce triumphing ouer all our enemies sauing that death for a time holdeth our bodies in the dust of the earth And therefore the day of our dissolution as the end of our both painefull and dangerous warre is to be desired Hee that can discerne betweene labour with wearinesse rest with reward betweene warre with perill and victorie with ioyfull peace hee will say that the daye of death to a good man is to bee desired more then life because life is labour with wearinesse and woe with perill but the houre of death bringeth rest with reward and victorie with ioyfull peace Ciprian in a Treatise of his De mortalitate in the third section saith of life Quid aliud in mundo quam pugna aduersus diabolum quotidie geritur quam aduersus iacula eius tela conflictationibus assidius dimicatur While wee are in the world what do we but fight against the diuell and warre with continual conflicts against his arrowes and darts but of death hee saith Illa est pax nostra illa fida tranquillitas illa stabilis firma perpetua securitas Death is our peace our sure tranquilitie our stable firme and perpetual securitie When Balaam that false Prophet that loued the wages of iniquitie beeing hired by the King of Moab to curse Israel had considered that cursing could not bee the ende of Gods people but that they were heires of blessing hee pronounced these wordes Numbers 23.10 Let mee die the death of the righteous let my last end be like his The man did see his eyes beeing opened of God that the end of the righteous for the peace and happinesse thereof was to be desired The day of dissolution to a righteous man is like that day in which Ioseph was brought out of prison and stoode before Pharaoh Hee had long beene in bonds In prison hee was basely clothed as became a prisoner In the end his fetters are laid aside hee is taken out of prison he putteth off his base attire he is washed and shauen hee putteth on new apparrell is brought into the presence of the King and made a ruler throughout the Kingdome The iust mans life is like the time of his captiuitie and his death is like to his deliuerie While wee liue the soule is inclosed in the bodie as in a prison and is clothed with the flesh as with filthie garmentes and is clogged with sinne as with fetters of yron and brasse and is cumbred with iniuries and tentations more greeuous and noysome then the hunger colde and noysome sauour of the prison But when the houre of dissolution commeth the prison is broken and wee are deliuered Wee put off the ragges of the flesh and are clothed with white we are loosed from the fetters of sinne we are washed in the blood of Christ wee are admitted into the presence of God and are made togither with Iesus Christ heires of a heauenly kingdom And therefore as Ioseph desired to bee deliuered and had cause to riot when that daye came euen so may the righteous desire their dissolution they haue cause to reioyce when the day thereof draweth nigh The death indeed of the wicked is very fearefull and by all meanes to be auoided if it could bee auoided For their death is like the euening to the slothfull seruant when his Maister will examine his daies worke It is like the comming home of the Lorde to the vnprofitable seruant that had wrapped his Tallent in a napkin and buried it in the ground hee was called to account and because he had beene idle Mat. 25.26 his Talent was taken from him and giuen to an other and after sharpe rebukes hee was cast into vtter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth It is like the fearefull assises and day of goale deliuerie vnto the malefactor who being brought from the prison
of the heauenly Ierusalem hath no neede of the Sun neither of the Moone to shine in it for the glorie of God did light it and the Lambe is the light of it Then necessarily it must giue much more true content and delight and bee a greater happinesse to bee and abide with Christ to see his glory then to be abide in Salomons Court and to see his glory Yea so happy a thing it is to be with Christ behold his glory that when hee was transfigured vpon the Mountaine and had onely two of the Saints in company with him Moses Elias and they conferring with him of no pleasant discourse but of his death that hee should shortly suffer at Ierusalem yet the view of that short glorie was so excellent in Peters iudgement that though hee and his two fellowes were open to the checke of all weather on the mountaines top and were not themselues inlightened and glorified with that glorie yet was hee so wholly surprised and rauished with the sight of it that hee would gladly there haue made his continual abode to haue had libertie still to behold the same saying in the 17. of Matthew 4. verse Master it is good for vs to be here if thou wilt let vs make here three Tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias Consider still the circumstances of that glorie of Christ which they then sawe and compare it with the reuealed circumstances of the present glory of Christ which the soules of the faithfull now after dissolution doe see in heauen and it will appeare that though it were a good thing and a signe of great fauour to bee admitted to see that glorie of Christ vppon the mountaine yet it is as my text dooth call it Multo magis melius much better best of all and the full fruit of infinite fauour to be with Christ after dissolution and to be admitted in heauen to behold his present glorie The Lord Iesus for his owne part did then shine in glorie his face as the Sunne his garments as the light So that Peter doth call it in his second Epistle 1. chapter 16. verse Maiestie honour and glory yet putting a difference betweene that and another which he calleth excellent glory From whence that voyce came saying This is my welbeloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased But Iesus was then vpon an earthly mountaine vpon Mount Tabor he was not then vpon Mount Sion which Iohn in the Reuelations saw And he was accompanied onely with two of his Saints wanting the honorable traine of an hundred fortie and foure thousands hauing his Fathers name vpon their fore-heads and with heauenly musicke attending him vppon that mountaine And the glory of Iesus in that open and solitary place was short Peter heard Moses Elias talking with him of his death that should shortly follow at Ierusalem Peter also that beheld that glory was as slenderly accompanied with Iames Iohn and in a sort diuided from the fellowship of the Saints And he was also cloathed with mortalitie and in himselfe still full of frailtie and infirmitie and yet hee was astonished at the view of so great glorie But now is Iesus in heauen sitting at the right hand of God cloathed with maiestie and glorie Now is hee accompanied and attended by armies of Saints and Angells Now is his glorie constant and shall neuer more admit any eclips The Saintes that now come vnto him by putting off their bodies in death they put off mortalitie corruption frailty and all infirmitie they are brought by Angells into the societie of Saints and Angells as the Apostle to the Hebrewes speaketh in the 12. chapter the 22. verse Ye are come vnto the mounts Sion and to the Citie of the liuing God the celestiall Ierusalem and to the company of innumerable Angells and to the congregation of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God the Iudge of all and to the spirits of iust and perfect men and to Iesus to Mediator of the new Testament And while thus accompanied they behold the glory of Christ themselues shall bee transformed into glory Our iudgement esteeming of this happinesse to be with Christ may be directed and helped something by our wordes in recounting this happinesse But yet neither can our wordes expresse nor our heart fully conceiue the great happinesse that the Saints of God finde when departing from vs they come vnto the Lord Christ Is not the naturall childe glad to be with his father and doth he not therein find content Is not the louing wife satisfied to bee in company with her kinde husband and dooth not that please her minde Is not a true hearted and faithfull friend glad to enioy the companie of a true hearted and faithfull friend and doe not they being met reioyce togither Euen so the Christian soule that loueth the Lorde Iesus will desire to bee loosed and to bee with Christ for it knoweth that to be best Such to be the desire of a true holie soule euen by death to come vnto him rather then by still liuing here to be kept from him may appeare by the words of priuate meditation that Augustine vseth in the first chapter of his Soliloquia saying Cur faciem tuam abscondis forte dices non videbit me homo viuet Eia Domine moriar vt te videā videam vt hic moriar nolo viuere volo mori dissolui cupio esse cū Christo mori desidero vt videā Christum viuere renue vt vivam cum Christo O Domine Iesu accipe spiritum meum vita mea suscipe animam meam gaudium meum attrahe cor meum That is why doost thou hide thy face Thou wilt say perhaps no man shall see me and liue Come on then Lord let mee die that I may see thee Let mee see thee though I die here Oh I desire not to liue I desire to die I long to bee loosed that I may bee with Christ I wish to die that I may see Christ I refuse to liue that I may liue with Christ O my Lorde Iesus receiue my spirite O thou my life receiue my soule O thou my ioy drawe my heart vnto thee Those which were present with this man in the time of his sicknesse and houre of his death know with what constant desire he waited for and desired his dissolution therefore desiring to die that hee might be with Christ therfore desiring to be with Christ because he knew it to be best of all That the power of faith and true knowledge of Iesus Christ hadde wrougth in him that he preferred Iesus Christ before al things before life riches friends whatsoeuer knowing that to bee with Christ was more then all Blessed be God that is wonderfull in those that beleeue And let vs by such examples bee moued to treasure vp faith in Christ The Apostle saith in his Epistle to the Philippians 3. chapter 17. verse Looke on them which walke so as they haue vs for an example The Apostle himselfe was the example He desired to be loosed that he might be with Christ which is best of all This man walked so for hee desired to bee loosed that he might be with Christ knowing that to be best of all Let vs looke vpon him and while wee haue time helpes let vs lay hold on faith that knowing death to bee the gathering of vs vnto Christ and that companie of Christ to be the highest happinesse wee may with quiet and glad mindes put off our flesh when the day of our dissolution commeth and may rest in the Lord as this our Brother doth Laus Deo Amen FINIS
THE BEST CHOYCE A Funerall Sermon Published at the desire of some of the friends of the Dead Psal 116.15 Right deare in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints LONDON Printed for C. B. dwelling at the Swan in Pauls Church-yard 1607. THE BEST choyce A Funerall Sermon Philip. 1.23 Desiring to be loosed and to be with Christ which is best of all THis Text that I haue chosen being considered as it standeth here related is but a part of a sentence For in this verse with the 22. going before and the 24. following the Apostle consulteth of two things set before him whether hee maye choose not of any inconstant lightnesse neither of any discontentment but because he seeth in either thing good cause to desire it The two things whereof he consulteth whether to choose are life and death in which consultation most men would quickly resolue For many desire life with any conditions as Augustine truly affirmes in one of his Sermons saying Longam vitam etiam malam pene omnes volunt habere all men welnie desire a long long life though euill and troublesome The commoditie of life for which the Apostle can bee content to choose it is the profitable seruice that hee might doe to the Church This he mentioneth as drawing his desire after life in the 24. verse saying Neuerthelesse to abide in the flesh is more needefull for you Where note by the way what it is should make thee desirous to liue in this world onely to profit others and to do the office of a good seruant among thy fellow seruants The commoditie of death for which hee wisheth that is the fellowshippe of Christ in heauen so to be obtained This hee mentioneth as drawing his desire after it in the wordes of my Text saying Desiring to bee loosed and to bee with Christ which is best of all Where note I pray you what is the hope desire of the godly in their death namely to be gathered to their Sauiour If wee consider these wordes apart singled from the rest of the Epistle they containe a perfect instruction concerning the death of true beleeuers wherein are these three things First that death is a thing of the godly to be desired in these words Desiring to be loosed Secondly that the godlie are gathered by death into the companie of Iesus Christ in heauen which is the thing that maketh their death to be so much to be desired in these wordes and to bee with Christ Thirdly that the fellowship of Christ which the godly obtaine after death is the greatest happinesse that can bee desired or obteined in these wordes for that is best of all This Text I haue chosen at this time for this reasō We are come togither to cōmit to the groūd the bodie of a seruāt childe of God who with all his hart desired to be dissolued Who desired his dissolution with the same reason for which the Apostle desired it namely that hee might be with Christ and desired this fellowshippe of Christ with the same iudgement with which the Apostle desired it because hee knew that to be best of all By the handling of this text you shal see the wisedom of of his choice and his desire and so I hope bee drawen with desire and iudgement to wait for the day of your dissolution that you also may bee gathered to Christ which is best of all Desiring to be loosed eis to analusai for so the Apostle describeth death to bee an vnbinding and loosing of man that the soule set at liberty from the fetters of the flesh may return to his Creator freely Which it cannot doe so long as it is shackled here in the body And this description of death is most conuenient both to confute all Sadduces and also to instruct vs howe to iudge rightly of death Euery childe of man is compounded of these two parties of an humane body that is as the house and dwelling and of a reasonable soule that is the tenant dwelling there So are wee taught in the historie of the first mans creation Gen. 2.7 The Lord Gad made the man of the dust of the ground there is the body the house of clay and hee breathed in his face the breath of life That is saith Tremelius Animam vitalem elementari corpori inspirauit by inspiration hee placed a liuing soule in his elementarie bodie and the man was a liuing soule so soone as these two partes beeing ioyned together the man liueth And that which we cal death is no thing else but the dissoluing of this composition and the seperating of these two parts that the soule may be loose and at liberty to returne vnto God as Salomon describeth death in Ecclesiastes 12.7 Dust returneth to earth as it was and the spirit returnes to God that gaue it Death is not the destruction eyther of the whole man or of any part of him as many suppose that say in the Booke of Wisedome 2.2 Wee were borne at all auenture and hereafter wee shall bee as if wee had neuer beene For the breath is a smoke in our nosthrills and the words are a sparke raised out of the heart which being extinguished the bodie is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as the soft aire Thus foolish men thinke that in death they perish and come to nothing and die as the beasts doe And of this opinion in the Church of the Iewes were the absurd Saduces who beleeued no resurrection to come of the body and therefore thought that the body perished in death And they beleeued that there was no spirit seperated from flesh no such inuisible and spirituall creature and therefore thought that the soule perished in death Their absurd opinion is recorded in Acts 23.8 The Sadduces say that there is no resurrection nor Spirit nor Angel But we beleeue and teach contrarie to all Sadduces both the immortality of the soule remaining after death and also the resurrection of the flesh at the last day For the soule of Lazarus being dead ascended to a place of comfort Luk. 16.22 And all that are in the graue which is the receptacle of our dead bodies shall at the last daye heare the voyce of Christ sending forth his Archangel with the sound of a Trumpet and they shall come forth to iudgement Ioh. 5.28 So that neither body nor soule in death perisheth and ceaseth to bee and death is no destruction of man but the loosing of the Spirrit out of the prison of the flesh and a dissoluing of man into his parts as the Apostle here speaketh desiring to bee dissolued Wherein it behoueth no man to bee an agent to loose himself as they which lay violent hands vpon themselues but we must all be patients and wait vpon God till he that tied the knot of life in thee vntie the same The Apostle to bee with Christ desired not to lose himselfe but to be loosed Desiring to be loosed The Apostle in these words