there fell Where while the Boy his cruel Fate bemoan`d The tender point straight melted in the wound Would Chance have us adore her lawless will Or tell where Death is not if drops can kill Thus has Death infinite Accesses then nearest when it is least thought of Sect. 20. An Antidote against sudden Death HEre Reader though out of order I will give thee three Prayers as Examples made against sudden Death It is at thy choice every day to make use of one or all cordially and sincerely They are designed so many it being but reason that we should fall three times at the Feet of Christ when we beg so great a Boon For this we must know that in this respect there can be no Man too cautious or too provident The first Prayer MOst Merciful Lord Jesu by thy Tears by thy Agony and Bloody Sweat by thy Death I beseech thee deliver me from sudden and from unexpected Death The second Prayer O Most Gracious Lord Jesu by thy most sharp and ignominious Stripes and Coronation by thy most hitter Cross and Passion by all thy Tender Goodness most humbly I beseech thee that thou wouldst be pleased not to permit me to depart out of this Life by a sudden death without receiving my viaticum for Heaven The third Prayer O My most Loving Jesu O my Lord and God by all thy Labours and thy Pains by thy precious Blood by those Sacred Wounds of thine by those thy last Exclamation upon the Cross O my sweetest Jesu my God my God why hast thou forsaken me by that loud cry of thine Father into thy hands I recommend my Spirit most earnestly I beseech thee that thou wilt not take me hence in haste Thy Hands O my Redeemer made me and formed me throughout O do not suddenly cast me headlong Grant me I beseech thee time of Repentance grant me an Exit happy and in thy favour that I may love thee with my whole Mind that I may praise and bless thee to all Eternity Nevertheless O merciful Jesu all things are in thy power nor is there any one who can resist thy will My Life depends upon thy nod that must end when it is thy pleasure Neither do I desire my most gracious God but that my will should be conformable to thine In whatever place at whatever time by whatever Disease thou art pleased to call me home thy will be done All these things I commit to thy Goodness and to thy Divine Providence I except no place or time no sort of Death though never so ignominious This only one thing I beg of thee O Christ my God that I may not die an unexpected and sudden Death Nevertheless not mine but thy will be done If it so pleases thee that I must die a sudden Death I do not repine Let thy will be done in all things O God For I hope and trust through thy great Mercy for the sake of which I make this only Prayer that I shall die in thy favour and grace wherein if I depart not sudden death can separate me from thee For the Just Man though prevented by Death shall be happy There is no Death can be unexpected to him whose Life has been always provident Wherefore if I have not space and time which is only known to thee O God wherein to commend my self to thee behold I do that now and as submissively and as ardently as I am able I send up my Prayer to Heaven to thee Have mercy on me O God according to thy tender loving kindness thy will be done O Lord in Heaven and in Earth into thy hands I commend my Spirit Thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth Let all Created Beings bless and praise thee O God In thee O Lord have I put my trust let me not be confounded for ever Sect. 21. The Days of Mans Life are few and evil HOW old art thou Threescore And how many art thou Seventy And how many art thou Fourscore Ah! my good friends where are your years Where are thy Sixty Where hast thou left thy Seventy Where wilt thou find thy Fourscore Wherefore dost thou number thy lost years Elegantly answered Laelius that Wise Man to a certain person saying I am Sixty years of Age. Thou callest these Sixty answered he which thou hast not Neither what is past nor what is to come is thine We depend upon a point of flying Time and it is the part of a great Man to have been moderate The Egyptian Pharaoh asking the Patriarch Jacob how many are the years of thy Age the old man answered The days of the years of my Pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years few and evil Hear ye O Tantalus`s that thirst after extent of fading Life and know that ye are but Pilgrims not Inhabitants nor are ye Pilgrims for a long Journey neither Your Life is both short and evil Short because perhaps to be ended before this very Hour that we divide with Death No man but must know it to be evil that enjoys it It affords us Brambles sooner than Roses to be trod upon And yet still will ye loyter and delay in these Bushy and Thorny places So forgetful of your Countrey Famous is the Sentence of St. Gregory This Life is the way to Heaven But most of the Travellers are so taken with the pleasantness of the way that they had rather walk slowly than come quick to their Journeys end Oh most miserable Franticks We are taken with Flowers and pick up little glittering Stones but neglect immense and unbounded Treasures We scrape together the filth of the Earth and the froth of Caverns forgettful what great and real Treasures we lose while we labour after such as are false Miserable and vain Creatures What has a Pilgrim to do with Flowers and Pibbles if he return not to his Countrey What matter is it if he leave those behind if he come to his Countrey To labour in this way to be wearied to sweat to endure all inconveniences is to be looked upon as the chiefest point of Gain For thy Countrey will please thee so much the more by how much the more ungrateful thy Exile was Sect. 22. How a Young Man may Die an Old Man AS we may meet with old Men not old Men but Children so we may meet with young Men not young Men but stricken in years Barlaam the Hermit an old Man of Seventy years when Jehosaphat the King asked him how old he was answered Forty five at which when the King admired he reply'd that he had been absent from his Studies Twenty five years as if those years which he had spent upon the Vanity of the World had been quite lost So Similius being Buried in the Cares of the Court and living rather for his Emperors sake than for his own caused this Inscription to be put upon his Tomb. Here lyes Similius an old Man of Seven years of Age. The Book of Samuel relates of Saul that
Circumstances 1. What became of his Body being dead It was Honourably Buried because of his great Substance 2. What became of his Soul It went to Hell He being in torments lift up his Eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his Bosom Of these successively And first in the life of the Rich man we noted what this Rich Man was whether there was indeed any such man or no Wherefore here may a Question arise whether this be a Parable or History The Writers hereof do not agree Marlorat saith Quanquam quibusquam haec simplex Parabola esse videtur tamen quia his Lazari nomen exprimitur rem gestam narrari probabile Some are of that mind that this is a Parable yet because saith he Christ twice expresseth the name of Lazarus it argueth that he spake of a thing that was so done indeed Likewise saith Franciscus Lambertus Credendum magis esse historiam exemplum verum quà m Parabolam It must be believed that this is rather a History and a true Example than a Parable But Theophilactus is of a contrary opinion who saith Parabola haec est non vera historia This is a Parable and no History Erasmus also saith that it is but a Parable whereby Rich Men may learn to be merciful to their poor Brethren that they may speak for them in the day of Vengeance and Wrath. Many Writers there are also that rather aiming at the Arguments and Observations herein have not set down their Judgments whether it be a Parable or History Therefore it might seem Wisdom in me to suspend my judgment also herein especially since Marlorat saith Paruâ— reâ—ert ut tam sit Parabola an Historia modo summam doctrinam teneant lectores It greatly skilleth not whether it be a Parable or History so that we duly consider the Doctrine herein But because it is requisite that I also shew my Opinion I will return my Verdict according to my Evidence And therefore in naked truth I find and hold that it is a Parable And my Reasons are these two First because our Saviour in the beginning of this Chapter doth relate a Parable of the Rich Man that had a Steward c. therefore he continueth in this Chapter to open his mouth in Parables according to the Prophet I will open my mouth in Parables and shew dark sentences of old time Secondly because the Rich Man cryed out of Hell unto Abraham and Abraham answered the Rich man which needs must be understood Parabolically For the Damned in Hell cannot see nor hear the Saints that are in Heaven neither by reason of the distance of place and also because of many Sphears and Orbs that are betwixt Heaven and Hell neither shall they see nor know what is done there And again Abraham's throat is dry and cleaveth to the Roof of his Mouth Therefore he cannot speak so loud as to be heard out of Heaven into Hell Therefore it is but a Parable Secondly let us consider what his Apparel was Purple and fine white as some will have But we read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although some take it for fine Flax yet let it here be understood of Silk There was a very great difference betwixt the Apparel of John the Baptist and this Man John's Rayment was Camels Hair with a Leathern Girdle about his Loins which did Argue Repentance and Mortification in him but this Rich Mans Apparel was Purple and fine Silk whose outward Apparel did argue the Pride at his Heart The outward Habit for the most part resembles the inward Habit and condition of the Mind Pride as saith one is grounded in the Heart of Man a Vice most loathsom to God hateful to Men and hurtful to the Soul But let us consider the third Circumstance in the Life of the Rich Man to wit what his Dyet was Deliciously every day And here we see what the Children of this World delight in namely in fulness of Meat who neglecting the serving of God have given themselves to serve Bacchus and Venus Hence one noteth A gluttonous Person eateth more for Pleasure than Necessity So did the Rich Man so did our first Parents it was not through need or necessity that they did eat of the forbidden Tree but through Wantonness Pleasure and Idleness Gluttony is a flattering Devil and a pleasant sin and a sweet Poyson which whoso useth hath not the use of himself which who so hath not hath no sin for he is all sin it self Besides it hath an especial effect for it doth as Gregory saith generate Lust To be short it was Gluttony that caused our Parents to transgress It was Gluttony that caused Lâ—t to commit Incest It was Gluttony that made Esau to sell his Birth-right It was Gluttony and Drunkenness that caused Nabal's Death It was Gluttony that lost Belshasars Kingdom Be not thou desirous of dainty meats saith Solomon For he that loveth Banqueting shall be Poor and he that delighteth in Wine shall not be Rich. But let us a while leave this Rich Man and consider the second that which is the Life of the Beggar There was also a certain Beggar named Lazarus c. And here observe these things 1. That the Saints of God are a poor contemptible People There was a certain Beggar If you understand the word Beggar to hold forth outward Poverty or scarcity in outward things such are Saints of the Lord for they are for the most part a poor despised contemptible People but if you Allegorize and Interpret it thus they are such as beg earnestly for Heavenly food this is also the spirit of the Children of God and it may be and is a truth in this sense though not so Naturally gathered from this Scripture 2. That he was laid at his Gate full of Sores These words hold forth the Distempers of Believers saying he was full of Sores which may signifie the many Troubles Temptations Persecutions and afflictions in Body and Spirit which they meet withal while they are in the World And also the Entertainments they find at the hands of those ungodly ones who Live upon the Earth Whereas it is said he was laid at his Gate full of Sores Mark he was laid at his Gate not in his House that was thought too good for him but he was laid at his Gate full of Sores From whence Observe that the Ungodly World do not desire to entertain and receive the poor Saints of God into their Houses If they must needs be somewhere near unto them yet they shall not come into their Houses Shut them out of Doors if they will needs be near us let them be at the Gate And he was laid at the Gate full of Sores 2. Observe that the World are not at all touched with the afflictions of God's Children for all they are full of Sores a despised afflicted tempted persecuted people the World doth not pity no but rather labour to aggravate their Trouble
it to be something shall we think that he cannot raise up again that which now is after that it hath fallen Far be it from us Beloved to think so but rather let us stedfastly believe that he that made us of nothing is as able to restore us from nothing For what though this may seem strange unto us as indeed it is a matter very wonderfull the Budding of Arons Rod Numb 17. 8. was very admirable but the raising of our Bodies is more wonderfull yet let us remember that it is God that doth this Consider the Author saith Augustine and take away the doubt Fifthly the Justice of God requireth that it should be so For it is a special part of Gods glory to shew forth his mercy on the godly and his Justice upon â—he wicked in rewarding them according to their works as the Apostle saith God will reward every man according to his works to them that by continuance in welldoing seek glory and honour and immortality Life eternal but unto them that disobey the truth that be contentiouss and obey unrighteousness shall be indignation and wrath Rom. 2. 6. But in this Life God rewardeth not men according to their doings and therefore Solomon speaking of the estate of all men in this world â—aith All things come alike unto all and here is the same condition to the Just and Unjust c Ecclesiast 9. 2. Nay which is more here the Wicked flourish and the Godly are afflicted The Ungodly have hearts ease and all things at will whereas the Godly are oppressed with all kind of miseries and are as sheep appointed for the slaughter It remaineth therefore that here must needs be a Resurrection after this Life that the righteous man obtain a reward of Gods free mercy and the wicked Man be justly condemned â—â— everlasting pain and misery Lastly it is apparent from the Resurrection of Christ For he arose not fâ— himself as a private man but in our rooâ— and steed and for us and if he the heaâ— be risen then the members also muâ—â— needs rise again For we are united kint unto him by the bond of his spirit and his Resurrectioâ— is a sure pledg of our Resurrection â— being risen as the first fruits of them thâ— sleep see 1 Cor. 15. 20. â—o come then â—â— some use and application The first Use of Confutation This may serve in the first place â—â— confute the Adversary and gainsayer â— this Truth and Doctrine The Atheist scoff at the Resurrectioâ— to come esteeming death to be the lâ—â— end of all things The Philosophers couâ—â—ed it a strange thing and hard to â—â— believed Let Paul preach of the Resuâ—rection to come and he shall be countâ—â— but a babler for his pains see Acts. 1â— 18. he shall be esteemed and reputed â—â— Festus no better than a madman see Acâ— 26. 24. The Saduses they denyed the Râ—surrection to come Hymenaeus and â—hilaetus not discerning the spiritual Reâ—â—rrection from the body said The Resurâ—ection was past already see 2 Tim. 2. 18. The Thiliasts abusing that place Rev. â—0 5. Dream of a Resurrection but for a â—â—ousand years During which time they â—magin that Christ shall raign with the â—aints here on earth in great pleasure and â—elights All which are justly confuted â—â—om this very place The second Use of Instruction Secondly this should teach us not to â—ourn immoderately for the dead as men â—ithout hope since when Christ comes again â—e will bring them with him see 1 Thess 4. â—4 This should teach us also to strengthen â—ur faith in this Article of Christianity â—ere being nothing that seems more imâ—robable to the eye of humane reason â—en that the body should be raised again â— life after it hath lain along time rotten â—nd putrified in the grave 3. And that we may be fully assured â—ereof we must do three things 1st We â—ust pray to God for his spirit as the pledg â—it 2dly We must labour for a true and lively faith in Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life and in whom whosoever believeth he shall not dye John 11 26. 3dly We must be sure of the firsâ— Resurrection that the Body be dead iâ— respect of sin and the Soul be raised up tâ— a lively care of newness of life Shall we believe that they will raise our bodies anâ— shall we doubt whether he will give us fooâ— and rayment and bring us out of danger and distresses far be it from us Buâ— rather let us believe his promiss though there be never so greâ—t unlikelyhood oâ— the accomplishment in respect of outward means and apearance Thus diâ— Abraham the Father of the faithful Rom 4. 18. and so must we also if we would bâ— reputed the true children of Abraham The third Use of Consolation Thirdly this may serve to comfort uâ— against the natural fear of Death for â—â— there be a Resurrection of our bodies aâ—ter this life then Death is but a passage or middle way from this life to eternaâ— life If a begger should be commanded tâ— put off his old rags that he might be cloathed with rich and costly garments would â—e be sorry because he should stand naked â— while till he were wholy to be stript â—f his rags No suerly Well thus doth â—od when he calls a man to death he â—ds him put his old rags off him and â—orruption and be cloathed with the rich â—obe of Christs righteousness and imâ—ortal glory 2. Cor. 5. 1. Your mortal Bodies Doct. 2. In that the Apostle sayth â—at the Lord shall quicken our morâ—al bodies that is the same that now â—â—e mortal by reason of sin I note in the â—ext place to our comfort That the same â—odies that now we carry about with us shall â—â— raised up and none other for them the â—â—me I say in substance and the same in â—umber Sim. For as the wheels of a Clock being â—ken in sunder and the joynts thereof â—ade clean when it is joyned and set â—ogether again is the same in number so â—â—all the Essence and substance of mans â—ody be all one which though disolved â—â—all again be joyned together of God â—nd shall rise again the infermities thereof â—eing done away The Lord keepeth all the bones of the Saint saith David there shall not one of them bâ— broken Psal 34. 20. And the holy man Job is bold to say my self shall see him and mine eyes shaâ— behold him aud none other for me Job 1â— 27. see also concerning this Matter iâ— 1 Cor. 15. 25. Reas 1. Because God hath consecrateâ— bodies of the faithful to be temples untâ— himself 1 Cor. 3. 17. 2 Because Christ whose members wâ— are and to whose body our bodies shalâ— be conformed recieved again that body which he carried about with him Johâ— 2. 19. 3 Because every one shall bear in hiâ— body that which he hath done be it gooâ— or evil 2 Cor. 5. 10. 4 The justice of God requireth it shoulâ— be
Syllogisme is the Conclusion the Conclusion of Life Death But the Conclusion is either true or false according to the Nature of the Antecedents so is Death good or bad as the Life before was good or bad Thus St. Paul severely prononnces saying Whose end shall be according to their VVorks 2 Cor. 11. 15. Memorable is the Death of that Holy Martyr Felix who being led to Execution rejoicing to himself with a loud Voice I have said he preserved my Virginity I have kept the Gospels I have preached the Truth and now I bow my Head a Victim to God There is a Relation of one who died suddenly in his Study and was found with his Finger pointing to that Verse in the Book of VVisdom câ— 4. v. 7. which says Though the Righteous be overtaken with Death yet he shall find rest pretious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of his Saints whether slow or suddain The Copious St. Bernard being near his end Because saith he I cannot leave you great Examples of Religion yet I commend Three things to your Observation which I remember observed by my self 1. I less believed my own than the Judgment of another 2. Being injured I never sought Revenge 3. I never would offend any Person Gerard the Brother of St. Bernard upon his Death-Bed broke out into that Davidean Rapture Praise the Lord in Heaven Praise him in the Highest Where is thy Victory O Death Where is thy Sting O Grave Gerard through the midst of thy very Jaws passes not only securely but joyfully and triumphantly to his Country He cannot die ill who has lived well Sect. 16. As we Live so shall we Die The weary Huntsman in his rest all Night Dreams of new Sports and of his past Delight IN the same manner those things that pleased us in our Health we are delighted with at our Deaths Antiochus miserably afflicted the Jews and Maximinâ—s the Emperour had designed the utter Exterpation of the Christians At length they both fell into a most lamentable Disease and when they saw no other way the one besought the Jews the other the Christians to pray to their God for their Recovery Like Esops Crew which being taken desperately sick cautioned his Mother as she sate by him not to weep for him but rather pray ro the Gods for his Recovery To whom she replied O my Son which of the Gods dost thou think will be propitious to thee that has robbed the Altars of every one of them Therefore as we live so we die so are we reprieved and condemed so destined to Heaven or to Hell Sect. 17. A good Death to be desired I Pray God my Soul may die the Death of the Righteous and that my last end may be like his cried the Prophet Balaam How much more rightly had he wished Let my Soul live the Life of the Just that it may also die the Death of the Just 'T is a Ridiculous thing to desire a good Death and flie a good Life 'T is a Labour to live well but a Happiness to die well he that refuses to pass the Red Sea must not think to eat Manna He that loves the Egyptian Servitude shall never reach the Land of Canaan Piously and Elegantly St. Bernard Oh that I may fall saith he frequently by this Death that I may escape the Snares of Death that I may not feel the deadly Allurements of a Luxurious Life that I may not besot my self in sensual Lust in Covetousnes Impatience Care and Trouble for worldly Affairs This is that Death which every one ought to wish for who designs a Life that shall never know Death Before Death to die to Sin and Vice is the best Death of all Sect. 18. Sleep the Brother of Death PAusanias relates that he saw a Statue of Night in the shape of a Woman holding in her right Hand a little white Boy sleeping in her left a little black Boy like one that were a sleep The one was called Somnus Sleep and the other Lethum Death but both the Sons of Night Hence it is that Virgil calls Sleep the Kinsman of Death Gorgias Leontinus being very old was taken ill In his Sickness he was visited by a Friend who finding him fall'n asleep when he waked asked how he did To whom Gorgias made answer Now Sleep is about to deliver me to his Brother Whoever thou art O Christan before thou layst thy self to Sleep examine thy Conscience and wipe away the stains and spots that defile it There are many who have begun to sleep and die both together and ended their Lives before they had stept out of their Sleep The Brother of Death is to be feared and not only cautiously but chastly to be fallen into He that sleeps not chastly shall hardly wake chastly Sect. 19. The fore-runners of Death THE fore-runners of Eternity is Death the fore-runners of Death are Pains and deadly Symptoms One deadly Symptome if we believe Pliny in the height of Madness is Laughter in other Diseases an unequal Pulse But the Eyes and the Ears shew most undoubted Prognosticks of Death Experience teacheth us that when sick People talk of going Journeys and endeavoured to escape ouâ— of their Beds when they pull and pick the Blankets they are near Death Augustus the Emperor a little before he expired suddainly terrified complained that he was carried away by Forty young Men. Which saith Suetonius was rather a Presage than a sign of any Delirium for so many Pretorian Souldiers when he was dead carried him to his Funeral Pile When Alexander went by Water to Babylon a sudden Wind rising blew off the Regal Ornament of his Head and the Diadem fixt to it This was lookt upon as a Presage of Alexander's Death which happened soon after In the Year of Christ 1185. the last and most fatal end of Andronicus Commenus being at hand the Statue of St. Paul which the Emperour had caused to be set up in the great Church of Constantinople abundantly wept Nor were these Tears in vain which the Emperour washt off with his own Blood Barbara Princess of Bavaria having shut her self up in a Nunnery among other things allowed her for her peculiar Recreation she had a Marjoram-Tree of an extraordinary bigness a small Aviary and a Gold Chain which she wore about her Neck but fourteen days before she died the Marjoram-Tree dried up the Bâ—rds the next Night were all found dead and after that the Chain broke in two in the middle Then Barbara calling for the Abbess told her that all those Warnings were for her and in a few days after died in the Seventeenth Year of her Age After her death above twenty other Virgins died out of the same Nunnery Several other Presages there are that foretold the death of Princes and great Men As the uuwonted Howlings of Dogs the unseasonable noise of Bells the Roaring of Lions c. Therefore said Pliny The Signs of Death are innumerable and that there are
and the Streams of that Jordan between us and our Canaan run furiously but they stand still when the Ark comes Let your Anchor be cast within the Veil and fastned on the Rock Jesus let the End of the Threefold Cord be buckled to the Heart so shall you go through He died Anno 1619. The Death of Andrew Willet GOing from London his Horse threw him and by the Fall broke his Leg which was presently set by a Bone-setter and being confined to his Bed he would meditate upon Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery Isaiah 38. especially on the 9 10 13 and 15 Verses Hearing a Bell Toll he peradventure had apprehensiors of Death which oceasioned him to discourse with his Wise concerning Death and our blessed Hopes after Death and the mutual Knowledge the Saints have of one another in Glory Then he repeated the first Verse of the 146 Psalm and said it was a most sweet Psalm but stirring to ease himself he fell into a Trance his Wise crying out he looked up and used these last words Let me alone I shall do well Lord Jesus and so departed Anno 1621. Aged 59. The Death of David Pareus AT Aâ—villa he wrote his Body of Divinity which having Finished he said Lora now let thy Servant depart in peace because he hath Finished that which he desired He earnestly besought God that he might lay his Bones at Heidleberg which not long after he returned thither safely where he was received with much joy but his former Disease of a Catarrh returning upon him being sensible of approaching Death he frequently opened his Mind to Henry Alting and others and so quietly departed Anno 162â— Aged 73. His Works are in 3 Volumes The Death of Robert Bolton MR. Bolton falling sick of a Quartane-Ague and finding himself weaker and weaker he Contemplated upon the four last things Death Judgment Heaven and Hell and being asked if he could be content to live if God would permit him He said I grant that Life is a great Blessing of God neither will I neglect any means that may preserve it and do heartily desire to submit to God's Will but of the two I infinitely more desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ When the Pangs of Death were upon him he breathed out I am now drawing on apace to my dissolution hold out Faith and Patience your Work wiâ—l quickly be at an end He died Anno 1631. Aged Threescore The Death of William Whately IN his Sickness he comforted himself with that Promise Psalm 41. 1 2. Blessed is he that considereth the poor the Lord will deliver him in the tâ—me of trouble the Lord will strengthen him upon the Bed of languishing c. A little before his death a Friend prâ—ying with him That God wold be pleased if his Time were not expired either to restore him or put an end to his Pains He lifting up his Eyes towards Heaven one of his Hands in the close of that Prayer gave up the ghost shutting his Eyes as if he was fallen into a soft Slumber Anno 1639. Aged 56. The Death of Anthony Wallaeus HE was much troubled with the Stone in the Kidneys and Hypocondraical Wind which still encreasing upon him he called his Family and exhorted them to fear God then taking his leave of them he fell asleep out of which he never awaked only strived a little when his Pains came upon him so on the Sabbath-day at a Eleven of the Clock he resigned up his Spirit to his Maker Anno 1639. Aged 66. The Death of Henry Alting HE sell fick at Groning of a Catarth and Feaver accompanied with great Pains in his Back and Loins which caused often Faintings The day before his death he sang the 130th Psalm with great Fervency In the Evening he blessed his Children and exhorted them to fear God and to persevere in the Truth of the Gospel Being sensible of the time of his Departure by his Prophetick Spirit he accordingly died about Three of the Clock August 25. Anno 1644. Aged 57. The Death of Frederick Spanhemius HIS last Sermon he preached aâ— Easter upon Phil. 3. 24. Who shall change our vile Body that it may be like his glorious Body c. He prayed earnestly to God to continue his Blessings to his Family and never suffer them to be seduced to Popery he prayed likewise that in the Pains of Death he might with all his Soul breath after God and migh before-hand have some taste of the Glory of Heaven Having ended his Prayers his Voice and Strength failed him and so about Sun-setting he quietly departed and slept in the Lord 1649. Aged 49. The Death of Sir John Oldcastle HE was sent for before the Council when the Bishop proffered to absolve him he replied He had never trespassed against him and therefore had no need of his Absolution When they told him unless he would recant they would condemn him as a Heretick He bid them do as they thought best for said he I am at a Point that which I have written I will stand to it to the death Then kneeling down he lifted up his Hands towards Heaven and said I shrive me here unto thee O Eternal and Ever-living God in my frail Youth I offended thee O Lord by Pride Covetousness Wrath Vncleanness and many Men have I hurt in my Anger and committed many other horrible Sins for which good Lord I ask thee forgiveness And so with Tears in his Eyes he stood up and turning to the People he said Lo good People for breaking God's Laws and his holy Commandments they never yet accused me but for their own Laws and Traditions they bandle me most cruelly and therefore they and their Laws by God's promise should be utterly destroyed Then they proceeded farther to examine him but he returned such Answers to their Questions as made many wonder at his Wisdom yet they proceeded to read the Bill of Condemnation against him as a Heretick After which he lifting up his Eyes towards Heaven said Lord God Eternal I beseech thee of thy Infinite Mercy to forgive my Persecutors After that he was sent to the Tower The Sentence against him was That like a Traytor he should be drawn through the Streets of London to the Gallows in St. Giles in the Fields and there hanged and afterwards burnt upon the Gallows as he hung The Death of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex HIS Enemies durst not bring him to a Tryal but procured an Act of Attainder whereby he was Condemned before he was Heard yet the King after his death repented this Haste and wished he had his Cromwell alive again Being mounted the Scaffold he made an humble Confession and begged the Prayers of all those which were present then in a pious Prayer he recommended himself into the Hanâ—s of the Almighty and at one Blow his Head was severed from his Body Anno 1541. The Death of the Lady Jane Grey THE Morning before her Exit from this World her Husband