Zuinglius and others whose labours it pleased God to succeed for the accomplishing of an happy beginning of that great work in Basil and other of the Svisse Cantons He was a person very considerable both for his Learning and Piety but for nothing more to be commended than for his Peaceable temper and Christian Moderation in those controversies with which the reformed Churches were then exercised among themselves in the business of the Lords Supper For though he was both free in declaring and constant in asserting that truth which the Lord had made known to him yet his great care was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak the truth in love and to manage the defence thereof without bitterness towards or Provocation of those that did in that point dissent from him And as he was a man studious of Peace in his life so it pleased the Lord to guard his Soul with a Peace that passeth all understanding and to fill his Heart with Spiritual and Heavenly joy when he came to dye After he had for some considerable time laboured in the Ministry of the Word at Basil it pleased God there to visit him with his last sickness in the Forty ninth year of his Age which he presently apprehended would prove mortal to him and accordingly gave warning to his Friends that they should expect no other But so far was he from being terrifyed by the approach of death that on the contrary he exprest the greatest longings after that Heavenly light and Crown of Glory which he saw ready prepared for him so soon as the earthly house of this Tabernacle should be taken down He waited not for the Consolations of others in this last conflict but was ready to Minister Consolation to all that were about him insomuch that his most Christian and comfortable End was no less for the Confirmation and encouragement of the Godly in their Holy profession than his Doctrine and blameless Life had been He was an example of dying well as he had been before of living well of which abundant testimony is given by those worthy men that familiarly and almost constantly conversed with him in these his last hours Among whom Simon Grynaeus a man whose praise is in the Reformed Churches was one who hath left us the account of the following discourse that this pious Servant of Christ made to him and the rest of the Ministers of the Church a little before his departure which alone is sufficient to justifie all that hath been before said of the frame of his Spirit upon his dying bed It is as follows § 10. You see Brethren what the business is The Lord is at hand he cometh and is now about to take me hence and therefore I was desirous to call you first and with my dearest Friends to satiate this Soul of mine with a sincere Joy in the Lord and true consolation What shall we say then in this last Embrace O ye Servants of Christ whom the same Love to their Lord the same Study and the same Doctrine hath most closely knit together Salvation is obtained It is obtained I say by Christ and we have all Confidence of the Kingdom of God Our Doctrine is certain and light is prepared for our feet It is meet that all Sorrow all fears of Life or Death all doubting and error should be banisht far away Only this my Brethren this only remains that we constantly and faithfully persevere in those footsteps of Christ which we have already entred upon by maintaining Purity of Doctrine in the first place and then by a Life in all things conformed to the true Word of God Other things he will take care of who is Mighty and of his own accord watcheth his own even Christ our Lord He will defend his own Church Let us see to it therefore Brethren that our light so shine that God the Father may be glorified in us and the Name of Christ rendred illustrious through the light of your Sincerity and holy Life See that you love one another in Truth and lead your whole Life as under the Eye and in the sight of God 'T is to no purpose to press Piety with words only The light of Truth and Holiness in Life with the true and Heavenly Spirit of the Mind are necessary if we would vanquish Satan and convert the World to our Lord Christ For O my Brethren What clouds are there arising and what a tempest draws near what alienation of men and what impiety is at the door But Brethren It behoves you to stand fast and to abide it The Lord himself will be present with you in his Concerns O that my Lot were to undergo these dangers with you and that I could often spill this Life for the Truth But however Love is undivided and the bond in Christ indissoluble all things are common to the Godly among themselves These things he uttered with respect to the common Cause of Religion And as to what concern'd himself he told them I matter not the scandal which some have imputed to me as if I had corrupted the Truth Through the Grace of God I am now going to the Tribunal of Christ with a good Conscience There it will be manifest that the Church hath not been seduced by us And of this Solemn Protestation I leave you my Witnesses which I also confirm with my last breath The next day which was the fifteenth from his first sickness he caused his Children to be brought before him and first took them by the hand then stroaked each of them and calling them by their Names said Thou Eusebius thou Irene and thou Alethea my dear Children see that you love God And because by reason of their age they were not yet capable of attending to the Charge of their dying Father the Eldest being but about three years Old he turned him to his Wife and the rest of his Relations present and said It is you that I have bound by this charge to do your Endeavour that according to my desire and what they now hear my Children may be Pious Peaceable and Faithful This he spake with allusion to the signification of their Names And their Mother with the rest signifing their acceptance of this charge he desired them to take a way the Children again The Last night he lived here being come his inward Joy did no way abate but rather increase as death drew nearer to him One of his intimate friends coming in he asked him what News he had brought his Friend told him None Why then said he I will tell you news I shall in a little time be with the Lord Christ A while after when they asked If the light did not offend him touching his breast he said Abundé lucis est Here is abundance of Light The next morning his fatal hour came on before which he prayed with an ardent Affection for the Remission of Sin repeating the 51 Psalm from the beginning to the end And then after a
I am going Accordingly the Lord bringing to their mind many choice Scriptures apt for the occasion they by turns proposed them to him And he received them with great joy adding So it is and Amen Often also he would pronounce himself the last words of that Portion of Scripture which they were rehearsing to him as in Psal 36. How excellent is thy loving kindness O God! Therefore do the Sons of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings Thou wilt abundantly satisfie them with the fatness of thy House and make them to drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasures which last sentence he rehearsed himself in the French Metre And the same he did from Psal 65. 4. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Courts We shall be abundantly Satisfied with the goodness of thy House even of thy holy Temple § 36. Then his Son said I am sorry that we are alone I am not alone said he God is with me Be you then an Evangelist to your self said his Son forasmuch as you have received the Ministry of Reconciliation deliver the tidings of peace to your own Soul That I do saith he my Soul believes Then fear nothing He that believes in Jesus Christ shall never perish He added But shall have Eternal Life While prayers were making for him in this last Combat with the pains of Death at the end of almost every sentence he would interpose some word or words expressing the sence of his mind with respect to those petitions As thus O great God send thy Spirit of Consolation he is already come and give unto thy Servant the sense of thy love that he hath done Give unto him the Garment of Salvation he hath given it All is well enter therefore thou good Servant into the Joy of thy Lord he calleth thee At which words he raised up himself and stretched forth his Arms Also O Lord strengthen more and more the Faith of thy Servant in this last agony let him see let him hear thy voice let him raise up himself and take hold on Eternal Life Yea I am of good Comfort Let us go to the Throne of Grace that we may obtain Mercy It is done Leave therefore with a joyful mind this body to the Earth and yield up thy Spirit into the hands of God who hath given it Take hold of the Shield of Faith yea put on the whole Armor of God I have it Then he began himself to recite those words I have fought a good fight c. And when one had repeated what follows and came to those words which God the righteous Judge will give he added He will do it And when one said Behold the last moment of deliverance O God give Wings unto thy Servant open thy Paradise unto him Let him be received unto the beholding of thy Face He added With the Spirits of just men made perfect Let him receive the white Stone and the hidden Manna and let him bear his part in that New Song which none understands but he that sings it To which he said Amen! In these last Moments there came in some of his Friends who were witnesses of his happy Departure But the Ministers above named viz Lydius and Hulsius came too late to hear him speak any thing Howbeit a short Prayer was made for him after which when he had abode a while with his Eyes fixed and his hands lift up towards Heaven One of the standers by said I am perswaded this man doth already enjoy the Vision of God whereupon he earnestly endeavoured to utter the Word Yea And almost in the same moment sweetly breathed forth his Soul about half an hour after Nine of the Clock on Saturday morning being Jan. 7. After he had lived seventy eight years six Months and five dayes AN APPENDIX WHEREIN A CHRISTIAN 's Triumph over Death is Illustrated by some more memorable Examples § 1. THE Jewish Masters have a saying recorded in their Talm. Hierosol which * Buxt Adag Hebraic Buxtorf thus translates Non facienda sunt Monumenta justis sc defunctis Verba ipsorum sunt monumenta ipsorum That is Monuments are not to be erected to the Righteous when deceased Their Words are their Monuments They need not the help of Art to perpetuate or to embalm their Names who have lived and dyed eminent Examples of Piety and Holiness For they shall be had in everlasting remembrance The Memory of the Psal 112. 6. just is blessed but the Name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10. 7. As for that worthy and holy person whose triumphant passage thro' Death into the Joy of his Lord we have already had a Relation of It may be questioned whether his most fruitful and learned works while he lived or his gracious speeches and demeanour when he dyed have contributed most to the Eternizing of his Name But it is beyond all Question that both the one and the other have raised unto him a Monument Aere perennius and as in both he hath been an eminent Instrument of Glorifying God in the World and strengthening the Faith of his Brethren so his Name will be remembred with Honour and Thanksgiving to God on the account of both from Generation to Generation We have beheld in him what Bernard tells us he saw in dying Gerardus viz. Hominem in morte exultantem insultantem morti i. e. A man greatly rejoycing in death and insulting over death which teacheth us that the Apostles holy Triumph O death 1 Cor. 15. 55. where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory is no vain flourish of words or empty Speculation but a Truth sealed to in the Experience of a Christian who with a Joy unspeakable and full of Glory can joyn with him in the Agonyes of Death in his following Song of Praise Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory thro' our Lord Jesus Christ Ver. 57. In such instances as these we have a very valuable Evidence of the Truth and Excellency of the Christian Religion and the Certainty of a future State and blessed Immortality Those things must needs be real in themselves whose Efficacy is so great upon the Soul of a man in such an hour Death is no Fancy neither can Fables with what Art or Cunning soever they are devised relieve a man against the bitter pangs of it The proud boasts of the Atheist and Debauchee are soon quelled by this King of Terrors the very thought of whose approach surprizes them with Consternation and guilty fears But the lively hope of Pardon in the Blood of Christ the Smiles of a reconciled God and foretastes of heavenly Joy make the true and sincere Christian more than a Conqueror in this Conflict He can fear no evil because God is with him whose presence makes his Sick-bed easie and gives him Prospect of the greatest Gain in the loss of this Temporal Life He can say as the
little pause and breathing he renewed his prayer in these words Christ Jesus save me which were the last he uttered and then sweetly breathed forth his pious Soul into the bosom of his Redeemer He changed this Life for an Heavenly on the first day of December in the year 1531. And as Mr. Rollock professed upon his death-bed that he had laid up nothing of this World in his Life so it is observed of this good man That he made no Will because he had nothing to dispose of So far were these first Reformers from seeking great things for themselves Riches profit not in the day of wrath but Righteousness delivereth from death Pro. 11. 4. To be rich towards God to have Luk. 12. 21 an Heart filled with Grace and Spiritual Comfort and the testimony 2 Cor. 1. 12 of a good Conscience that with simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the World will prove the best portion when we come to dye and afford such ease to us upon a sick bed as all the Treasure under Heaven cannot procure the like § 11. The Jewish Writers from that Passage of the Psalmist Psa 41. 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness have a Proverbial saying in Tract Nedar to this sence Majestas divina sedet ad caput lecti aegrotantis i. e. The divine Majesty sitteth or abideth at the sick mans beds-head His sick bed is turned into a Sanctuary by the Gracious presence of God with him This we have seen verified in the former Examples and shall yet meet with a further Confirmation of in the experience of Joachimus Curaeus Curaeus a Learned and Pious Doctor of Physick in Germany and a Zealous Protestant who finished his course in the year 1573. being the Forty first currant of his age He was a person that esteemed Religion to be his greatest concern while he lived and continually exercised himself in a diligent and serious practice thereof And as he would by no means be diverted from working out his own Salvation with fear and trembling by fervent Prayer and all manner of Holy Conversation in the World so it pleased God when he called him out of the World to afford him such an abundant Enjoyment and sence of his love in Christ as carryed him through the Agonies of death with a more than ordinary Triumph and rejoycing In his last hours it was most convincingly manifest that Christ had given unto him a large draught of that water of Life which was in him a well of water springing up unto Eternal Life from which blessed Fountain he poured forth abundant Consolations to all that were with him in that Conflict if so happy a departure and so sweet a sleep as death was made to him may yet be called a Conflict When he found his sickness had prevailed over Nature so far as that his dissolution must needs be hastning on he wholly applyed himself to ardent Prayers and Supplications unto God making use of that exercise for the ease and support of his Soul in sickness which had been his delight and Comfort in his health And several times in one day causing his his Wife and Children to come to him he did with an inexpressible Zeal and Affection exhort them to Piety and Virtue and then in a solemn manner recommended both them and his last charge to them to the blessing of God who in this also heard the Prayers of his Servant and raised up two of his Sons after him to be eminent examples both of Piety Virtue and Learning in their Generation thereby making good his word That the Generation of the upright shall be blessed § 12. Being taken away in the midst of his years at that age which was the ripest for Service he would often repeat the mournful complaint of Hezekiah I have cut off like a Weaver my life c But then his perfect acquiescence in the will of God and rejoycing in his Salvation was as frequently exprest in the following words which are some of those holy sayings which plentifully issued from his pure Heart in this last sickness viz. I am broken O Lord but it satisfies me that thy hand hath done this not the Devil The Body indeed suffers because of Sin but thou Comfortest my Soul with a most sure Hope and expectation of eternal Life I believe O Lord I believe but do thou help mine unbelief I have received a Message of death but I will wrestle with thee O Lord Jesus after the Example of thy holy Pilgrim Jacob untill the Morning beams of thy light break up arise and shine upon me neither will I let thee go unless thou bless me and my Soul be saved Therefore O Jesus Christ thou wilt bless me and save my Soul giving unto me a Believer Remission of Sins Righteousness and Life Come Lord Jesus and let all that love thee say Come And he that loves thee not let him be Anathema Maranatha Thou knowest O Lord who art the searcher of Hearts That I love thee And thou lovest me yea thou lovest me in Truth and art my Redeemer by thy Merit and Efficacy Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit for thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of Truth And then reflecting upon the time of his sickness for he dyed January 21. he proceeded in further expressions of his assured Confidence in God and inward Joy through the lively hope and foretast of the blessings of that Kingdom he was going to after this manner I shall be with thee in the beginning of this new Year I shall be satiated with the sight of thee O Lord I shall drink with thee at thy Table the New Juice of Eternal Joy even in thy Fathers house where there are many Mansions there is a place for me also and there shall I sit at thy Table Refresh me O Son of God with thy Spirit and with thy quickening presence I come unto thee Jesus Christ Receive thou me according to thy Promise which is the only repast and Recreation of my Soul Iam meum pectus ardet conspectu vitae eternae cujus verè sentio in me initia i. e. Now doth my Heart burn through the sight of Eternal Life the Beginnings of which I truly feel in my self And this is Life Eternal to know thee the true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent Through thy goodness I have learned and I have taught others rightly to acknowledge thee Do thou again acknowledge me O Son of God and embrace me with thy Saving Grace even with thy Holy Spirit do thou present this Soul to thy Eternal Father who will readily receive it from thy hand My desire and rejoycing is to come unto him and because I am not yet come all delay seems long unto me O thou Sun of Righteousness light me into Eternal light and Righteousness I desire with thine Apostle to be