promise to thy self length of days yet thou must know also that a man even at the highest pitch of health when he hath that same Fencer-like kind of strength is nearest danger in the Judgment of the best Physicians remember with all that observation of Seneca Young Men saith he have Death behind them Old Men have Death before them and all men have Death not far from them we may in a manner complain already that the great God of Battle threatens an utter ruin to all the World the Earth hath trembled the Lights of Heaven have been often darkned Rebellions have been raised Treasons have not long since been practised Plagues of late have been dispersed Winds have blustered Waters have raged and what wants there now but those two Arrows of God even Sword and Fire from Heaven for us to be consumed Is it now think you a time to buy to sell to eat to drink and to live securely in sin as they did in the days of Noah and think of nothing else is it now a time to say unto Almighty God as the Nigard doth unto his Neighbour come again to me to morrow as that drousie Sluggard doth Prov. 6. 10. Yet a little sleep a little slumber a little foulding of the hands to sleep The foolish Virgins supposed that the Bridegroom would not have come like an Owl or a Batt in the night there is time enough said they what needs all this haste but poor Fools they were excluded Oh! I cannot forbear my very Heart even bleeds within me to think of it yea all the faculties of my Soul and Body are strucken with horrour and amazement while I declare unto you how that many Thousands now are doubtless in Hell who purposed in time to have set their Houses in order but being prevented by Death are for ever condemned O here I could heartily wish with Jeremy that I had in the Wilderness a Cottage Yea I could wish with Job that I were a Brother to the Dragons and a Companion to the Ostriches whilst I think of that wish I am now uttering nay I could willingly desire with the Princely Prophet David that my Heart were full of Water and that mine Eyes were a Fountain of tears that I might weep Day and Night for the too too common Sins of this our Age in every kind Now you are in your preparations for Eternity and therefore had need to be very watchful over your selves to see that you set your Houses in order for you shall die and not live And this brings me now unto the very last thing observable in my Text and that is of the reason Negative and shalt not live set thy House c Chrysostom prying into the base Nature of Man and finding him ever out of order teacheth him a seven-fold consideration of himself First What he is by nature what he is in himself Dust and Ashes Gen. 18. 2. Secondly What is within him much sin Thirdly What is before him a burning Lake which is spoken of Isai. 30. 33. Fourthly What is above him an offended Justice Deut. 32. 16. Fifthly What is against him Satan and Sin two notorious and deadly Enemies Sixthly What is before him transitory trifle and worldly vanities And then seventhly and lastly He desires man seriously to consider what is behind him infallible Death for semel aut bis morimur omnes Some once some twice we must all die and not live You cannot like Enoch Heb. 11. 5. be translated but must suffer Death as well as other Men being common to all Whatsoever thou dost affect whatsoever thou dost project so do and so project all at once who for any thing thou knowest may at this very present depart out of this Life Hypocrates although he could not cure till Death came upon him Heraclitus who writ many natural Tracts concerning the last and general consolation of the World could not find out a Remedy or a Medicine for his Distemper but died out of hand Thus you may see how that God spares none but sends one thing or other to bring us to our long home And thus far concerning the Death of the Body shall suffice which was the Death good King Hezekiah was forewarned of Wherefore now I shall but only speak a word or two of the Soul and likewise of the Death of the Soul and Body and so conclude First as there is a Natural Death viz. the Death of the Body so likewise there is a Spiritual Death viz. of the Soul when it is deprived of those Graces which formerly God did bestow upon it for as the Soul is the light and life of the Body even so Almighty God is the light and life of the Soul When he takes his holy Spirit from us then we walk in the shadow of Death this Death is an ill Fruit of Sin therefore let us set our Houses in order But secondly As there is a natural Death and a spiritual Death so likewise there is an eternal Death called in the Ornament of Grace the second Death This Death as well as the Death of the poor Soul is lamented by God Esay 59. 2. As I live saith the Lord I desire not the Death of a Sinner but rather that he may turn from his Wickedness and live I might now likewise add a fourth Death and that is a civil Death an undoing of our Credit and honest Reputation which many Men die but this I shall leave to your consideration and so conclude O my dearly beloved Friends consider what you are all by nature What is within you What is above you What is below you What is against you What is before you What is behind you and that is infallible Death For here is not one here amongst you be he never so strong never so healthly but that within the Revolution of a few years shall be brought in spight of his teeth unto the Grave Wherefore let your Houses be dâ—…ly perfumed by a Morning and Evening Sacrifice of Prayer Praise unto Almighty God both which were appointed under the Law Exod. 29. 38. 39. And this shadowed what was to be performed under the Gospel God renews his Mercies to you every Morning and protects you from manifold dangers every Night whereunto you are subject and you be so ungrateful as to banish all his benefits out of your Memories who is every Moment so mindful of you As therefore beloved you tender the Salvation of your poor Souls look home and mourn for your Original sin steep your Eyes in Tears write Letters of â—…scomfort upon the Ground as you go let the streams of your fighs and the sweet Incense of your Prayers rise up like Mountains before the Lord of Hosts and bedewing your Cheeks with tears make your humble Confession unto God Almighty not of sin alone but of all your sins of what nature degree or height soever they be and by your unfeigned Confession so accuse your selves that you may not hereafter be accused of
my present hope is my only help for indeed such an one hath only help in this Life â—…but a Christians common Expression is this Dum Exspiro Spero Expiration is my Expectation for such an one hath hope in the Life to come when a wicked Man dies he thinks he shall live worse but a Christian when he dies he knows he shall live better he cries with the holy Apostle for one to live is Christ and to die is gain Job 19. 25. I know that my Redeemer liveth and he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth and though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God Thirdly Death was never intended to be as a privation of good but as a priviledge for good to the Believer and it is attended with these several Priviledges First Corporal and Temporal Death it serves to set out the Beauty and Excellency of eternal Life It is Gods usual method to set out one contrary by another Contraria juxta se posita magis eluâ—…escunt In War God commends Peace to us In Adversity Prosperity in Sickness Health and in Death he commends eternal Life to us As the Limner lays the Foundation of a curious Picture in a Dark Ground-work so God doth oftentimes lay the foundation of our sweetest Mercies in the greatest miseries and this he doth that his Mercies may appear more lovely in our eyes and thus he sets off the joys of Heaven by the troubles we meet with on the Earth It is said of Zeno that he was wont to eat bitter things that he might the better taste sweet and he would say sweet things were nothing worth if they were not so commended to us And so bitter Death it is but an Engine devised by infinite Wisdom and for to set out the Unspeakable sweetness of Everlasting Joys God could as easily have received all his redeemed ones into the immediate imbraces of Divine Love and Glory without letting them know what it was to be tempted to be afflicted or to die but only for the better sweetning and endearing fulness of Glory to them Secondly Deaths mortal Wound it is but preparatory to an immortal weight of Glory Death it is the midnight of all troubles and sorrows which is in Travel with a morning of everlasting Joy and Comfort Death it is the Saturday or last day of our Weekly labours which ushers in a Sabbath of eternal rest Rev. 14. 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their VVorks follow after them Here the Believer hath labour without rest but in Heaven he shall have rest without Labour Death tends indeed to a Believers perfect everlasting reign and rest The Believers Afflictions upon Earth they are fore-runners of Deliverances they are as throws to the Birth of future Comforts The Whale which swallowed up Jonah God appointed as the means of bringing himself to the Shore And so the trouble which we often times think may swallow us up it brings us to our harbour Death it lands us safely upon Glory One excellency sets out the state of a dying Christian in these Words Per Augusta ad Augusta per Spinas ad rosas per Procellas ad Portum per Mortem ad Vitam migramus Lastly Death it is as a Bridge that all Saints must walk over to the everlasting Hill of endless Peace to the perfection of Grace to the participation oâ—… Glory to the full possession of Christ. 1. Death it leads us to the perfection of Grace the believer would live that he might be more perfect but when he dies he is perfect indeed a dying life that is a dying to sin it frees us from a living Death well doing fits us for dying Holiness frames us for Happiness 2. Death it leads us to a participation of Glory the consummation of Grace is the inceation of Glory Grace that puts the Soul into a capacity of enjoying glimps of God as in a Glass darkly but glory brings the Soul ad visionem beatificam into an immediate converse with God face to face 1 Cor. 13. 12. For now we see through a Glass darkly but then face to face now I know in part but then I shall know even as I am known 3. Death it leads us into a full possession of Christ Luke 23 43. This day shalt thou be with met in Paradise so saith Paul Then shall we be ever with the Lord comfort comfort ye one another with these words to be always with Christ will be very comfortable indeed Death that deprives us of commerce with men yet it delivers us up into an immediate communion with God and Christ and the blessed Angels Saints in Heaven shall be as the Angels nay saith John now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is Death speaks the sad disjunction of the Soul from the Body and the sure and sweet Conjunction of the Soul with Christ and therefore saith Paul and every Christian when he is in a right temper I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all And thus I have endeavoured to lay open before you those Soul supporting and Soul encouraging Arguments the consideration of which makes the believing Soul so willingly and so boldly to look Death in the Face to invade Death in its own Quarters which is indeed but as a Passage or Bridg whereby the Soul is carried over unto the Mountains of Mirrh and unto the Hill of Frankincense where it shall lie down with Christ on his Green Bed of Love which is perfumed all over with the fulness of increated Glory And thus having shewed you many Arguments the Consideration of which doth much facilitate a Believers passage through Death into Glory I shall in the next place for a further Illustration of this truth present unto you the admirable carriage and department of some famous Christians since Christ his time as in Relation to their contempt of Death and earnest desiring to be with Christ in Glory and in this Relation I shall begin with Ignatius who lived while Christ was upon the Earth and so proceed to several other remarkable Instances in successive Generations Ignatius when he was sent by Trajan the Emperour to Rome there to be devoured of Lyons for his free reproving of Idolatry instead of fearing Death he thus couragiously expressed himself I wish says he that I could see those wild Beasts that must tear me in piâ—…ces I would speak them fair to dispatch me quickly and if that would not do I would incite them to it Hierom of Prague the renowned Bohemian Martyr he uttered these words with much chearfulness at his very giving up the Ghost Hanc animam in flammis affero Christe tibi freely do
of old used to lament at the Birth of their Children but rejoice at their Funeral The time will come that we must part with our Isaac's our Benjamin's nearest Friends and dearest Comforts Then remember my Text if they die in the Lord take no care for them they are Blessed they are at their Rest. But some will say Shall we meet with our Friends again departed in the Faith Yes without peradventure if we walk in ways of Obedience to the end It was David's Comfort upon the death of his Child While the Child was living he fasted and wept and lay upon the Ground but when it was dead he arose and anointed himself aad eat Bread His Reason is very strong and convincing 1. An impossibility of Recovery He shall not come to me 2. An assured Hope of meeting again in Heaven But I shall go to him He shall not come to me that would be for his loss to part with his Rest in Heaven for a restless condition on Earth but I shall go to him I have not lost him for ever we shall meet again as comfortably as Jacob and Joseph met in Egypt meet again in Heaven and never part Now you know it never troubles us to see the Sun set because we know it will rise again in the Morning it never troubles us to part with a Friend when he goes to Bed because we hope to see him again in the Morning Beloved the Death of a Friend is but like the setting of the Sun or the uncloathing of a Man when he goes to Bed there will be a glorious appearing in the Morning of the Resurrection and therefore St. Paul condemns immoderate sorrow for the dead I would not have you sorrow as those that have no hope Nature will be sorrowful but let Grace moderate the sorrow and keep it within the bounds of hope and the ground of hope is set down If ye believe that Jesus died and is risen again even so also them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is true the Scripture mention some that shall not die as they that shall be found alive at the Coming of Christ to Judgment St. Paul tells us in plain terms we shall not all sleep but we shall be changed The meaning is they shall not so sleep as to continue in the state of the dead but be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an Eye yet such a change as they shall have a dissolution and in the same moment a redintegration a real Death and a real Resurrection though no sleeping in the Grave of Corruption You see one Generation passing and another Generation coming one Friend and Neighbour drops into the Grave after another and when your turn shall be you know not This you may be assured of Death will come certainly and it may be speedily it may be suddenly What Man is he that liveth and shall not see Death Psal. 89. 48. Now I beseech you embrace and improve these few directions in order to a Pious Life and a Peaceable Death First if you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord labour for exemplary purity of Life Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom but he that doth the Will of the Father Secondly If you would live to the Lord and die in the Lord give the World a Bill of Divorcement otherwise it will clip your Wings and clog your Souls and hinder your pursuit of Heaven there is nothing in all the World that is worthy of your Affections nothing but what is transitory and unsatisfactory and therefore look on it and pass away Gregory Nazianzen speaks of a Land which had abundance of Curious Flowers in it but no Corn for Bread to satisfie the Peoples Hunger the World is very like that Land here are many Flowers which may please our Sences and our Phantasies but here is no Corn for Bread no substantial satisfying Comforts As Death should be the Subject of your Meditatâ—…on so Heaven the Center of your Affections Richarâ—… the First sometimes King of England gave charge that his Bowels should be Buried at Charron but his Heart at Roan the Faithful City the City of his Love Truely the World deserves but our waste parts we may Bury our Bowels in the Earth but our Hearts should be laid up in Heaven the Royal City the New Jerusalem That so after a troublesome Life we may have a peaceable Death and after Death a glorious Reward of Everlasting Rest in Heaven according to this voice from Heaven in the Text. Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labâ—…urs and their Works follow them I have now done with the Text and now come to address my self unto that sad occasion which hath given my present Discourse this Mourning Suit The occasion of our present meeting is to Solemnize the Funeral of our deceased Neighbour and Friend to do our last office to her Body by aâ—…ording it the benefit of a Christian and Comely Burial Concerning whom I might upon very good and warrantable Grounds enlarge my Discourse in the description of the blessedness both of her Life and Death but as the Orator said Quid opus est verbis What need is there of words when her deeds are so manifest She died the death of Moses he died leisurely God gave him notice of his Journey before-hand for his better preparation Go up to the Mount and die So departed she from the World not before she expected Death not before she provided for Death God was pleased in Mercy to give her warning before she flitted to ring her Passing-bell in her Soul many days before she died and whereas many are flattered with hopes of Life till the very Hour of Death yet she was upon a meditation of Death from the first beginning of her sickness Death was not sudden to her either in respect of Expectation or Preparation she had her Wedding-garment on and her Lamp trimmed with Faith and a good Conscience she was ready for Death and ripe for Eternity behold she is coming to the Grave and she comes as a shock of Corn from the Field in due Season Hopes of a joyful Resurrection SERMON XIII JOB 19. v. 25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And though after my Skin Worms destroy shis Body yet in my flesh shall I see God Then I shall see for my self and mine Eyes shall behold and not another though my Reins be consumed in me AS if he had thus argued He that waites by Faith in the Redeemer of the Resurrection of his Body to eternal Life after Death hath done its worst is not a wicked man or an Hypocrite as you have charged me But such is my Faith I believe in the Redeemer and I look to rise after this body is consumed and eaten of Worms to an eternal happy Life therefore
about her Neck but fourteen days before she died the Marjoram-Tree dried up the Birds 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 unwonted 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 none or very few Signs of Safety or Security What do all these things Admonish us but only this Remember O man that thou art a man think upon Eternity to which thou art hastening Go to prepare thy self thou art called to that Tribunal of God as thou didst live shalt thou be judged Sect. 20. What Answer is to be given to the Messenger of Death SAint Ambrose having received the News of his Death when his Friends bewailed him and begg'd of God to grant him a longer space of Life I have not lived as to be ashamed to lieve among you neither do I fear to die because we have a gracious God Saint Austin nothing troubled at the News of his Death He never shall be great saith he who thinks it strange that Stones and Wood fall and that Mortals die Saint Chrysostom a little before his Death in Exile wrote to Innocentius We have been these three Years in Banishment exposed to Pestilence Famine continual Incursions unspeakable Solitude and continual Death But when he was ready to give up the ghost He cryed out aloud Glory be to thee O God for all things Let a dying Christian imitate these most holy Persons and repeat these Sayings often to himself Thanks be to God Glory be to thee O God for all things I have watcht long enough among thorns labour'd long enough in Storms Now because I see the end of my Watching and my Labour Thanks be to God Glory be to God for all things For Life is tedious Death a certain gain Sect. 21. Death is better than a sorrowful Life IT is better once to Die than to be always Dying We daily Die we have lost our Childhood our Youth is gone All our Time even to Yesterday is slid away These things Gregory Nazianzene comprehending in a few words There is no good among men with which there is not something of evil mixt Riches are a Snare Poverty a Fetter Honour a meer Dream Empire dangerous Subjection troublesom Youth is the Summer of Life Grey-hairs the Sun-set of Life Matrimony a Bond Children the growing Crop of Care Fulness breeds Petulance Want begets Impatience Whatever we behold in this World is like the World in a perpetual motion Whatever seemed stable is now doubtful contending with the perpetual volubility of Day-night Labours Diseases Sorrows Pleasures and Calamities Death is most certain Elegantly St. Austin Death saith he is only certain all things else uncertain A Child once Conceived perhaps is born perhaps not but perishes in Abortion If he be born perhaps he grows up perhaps not perhaps he grows old perhaps not Peradventure he shall be Rich peradventure Poor perhaps he shall attain to Honour peradventure live Contemned perhaps he shall have Children it may be not perhaps he shall die in his Bed it may be slain in the Field But who can say perhaps he shall die perhaps not The first Book of Maccabees thus describes the Death of Alexander Then he fell sick and when he perceived that he should die Alexander had wished for several Worlds in hopes of Victory and thought with himself that he had performed Atchievements that deserved Eternal Annals Nevertheless after so many and such great Victories overcome at length he fell not only into his Bed but into his Tomb contented with a small Coffin Peter Alfonsus reports That several Philosophers flockt together and variously descanted upon the King's Death One there was that said Behold now four Yards of Ground is enough for him whom the spacious Earth could not comprehend before Another added Yesterday could Alexander save whom he pleas'd from Death to Day he cannot free himself Another viewing the Golden Coffin of the Deceased Yesterday said he Alexander heaped up a Treasure of Gold now Gold makes a Treasure of Alexander This was their Learned Contention yet all ended in this Then he fell sick and died Thus forgetful of our selves what Mountains do we raise to our selves in Thought We revolve in our Minds Immortal I wish they were Heavenly Things whilst Death surprizes us in the midst of our vast Undertakings and that which we call Old Age is but the Circuit of a few Years Wherefore do we trust to Death Behold through what slight Occasions we lose our Lives Our Food our Moisture our Watchings our Sleep are unwholesome to us without their due measure A small hurt of a Toe a light pain of the Ear a Worm in the Tooth make way for Death The little Body of Man is weak frail subject to Diseases this Air these Winds those Waters offend him Therefore let us believe the Son of Syras Death is better than a bitter Life and Eternal Rest better than continual Sickness So that it is much better to be an Inhabitant on Earth than a Pilgrim in Heaven Sect. 22. The Happiness of Death BLessed are the dead that die in the Lord even so saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them To die in the Lord is the same thing as to die a Servant of the Lord as the Scripture speaks concerning Moses Moses my Servant is dead As if God had said saith Cajetan Though he were once a Sinner and was not then my Servant nevertheless he died my Servant He so died that whatever he was or whatever he did was mine for a Servant wholly belongs to the Master And let such a Servant of the Lord sing that Song of Simeon at his death Lord now let thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word Altogether in peace and that Eternal in the beginning whereof all the Warfare of good men is at an end never more to be rekindl'd For such Servants of God die in the Lord who dying rest in the Bosom of God and so resting sweetly sleep in death Thus Stephen among so many Showers of Stones in such in the midst of the Tumult and Dinn of the Enraged Multitude slept in the Lord. Thus Moses the Servant of the Lord died by the command of God Thrice happy and blessed are such that never more shall be miserable The death of the Just saith St. Bernard is good because of its Rest better because of its Novelty best of all by reason of its Security Blessed and again thrice blessed are such for their Works follow them They
Salvation Sect. 35. The dying Person arms himself with Faith Hope and Charity THat this may be the more readily and easily done we have set down certain Forms for the Exercise of Faith Hope and Charity To Faith I do protest in the presence of God his Holy Angels and the Church both Triumphant and Militant that I believe what ever the Holy Universal Church believes and that I live and die in the Faith which the same Universal Church Profession in Union which and under her Head our Lord Jesus Christ. From which whatever is dissonant I utterly reject and abandon To Hope I have set God always before me for â—…he is on my right hand therefore I shall not fail Wherefore my heart was glad and my glory rejoiced my flesh also shall rest in hope For why thou shalt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see Corruption Thou shalt shew me the Path of Life in thy presence is fulness of Joy and in thy right hand is pleasure for evermore Psal. 16. v. 8. c. To Charity What shall I return to the Lord for all his Benefits I will receive the Cup of Death from the hand of God and call upon the Name of the Lord. I will call upon God with Praises and I shall be safe from my Enemies Into thy Hands O Lord I commend my Spirit Thou hast created me O God thou hast redeemed me thou hast sanctified me thine am I alive and dead I offer my self up entirely to thy will Jesu Son of David have mercy upon me Sect. 36. What is always to be in the thought and Mouth of a sick and dying Christian IN sickness O Christian if thou art asked how thou do'st or how is it with thee Beware of returning any other Answers but these As God will As God pleases As the Lord's pleasure 〈◊〉 So let it be done According to the â—…nd pleasure of God As it pleases God so let his â—…ill be fulfilled in Earth as it is in Heaven Nor will it be amiss to have these threefold Preâ—…ces continually in thy lips and in thy mind as â—…ell in thy Sickness as at the hour of thy â—…eath 1. Blessed be God to all Eternity 2. Have mercy on me O Lord according to thy loâ—…ing Kindness though I am not worthy of the least of â—…y mercies O God 3. Oh Lord my God I surrender my self wholly up 〈◊〉 â—…hy will let thy will be done Sect 37. Certain Precepts to be particularly observed by a dying Person FIrst Not to depend upon the Merits but with all thy Sins and Omissions to cast thy self into the Fathomeless Ocean of Divine Mercy Next To adhere stedfastly and constantly to the belief of the true Holy Church and to receive the Holy Sacrament Thirdly To forsake all the frail and passing Vanities of this Life and to unite thy self to God with all thy Soul and Affection To breath after the Land of Promise where thou may'st be able to offer up a lasting Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for all his Mercies Fourthly To offer up thy self a Living Sacrifice to the Glory of God for his great good will toward thee and to endure patiently for his sake all the pains and troubles of Sickness and the bitterness of Death Fifthly To set continually before thy Eyes the terrible Death and Passion of thy Lord Christ that so thou mayst unite thy Body and Soul with the wounded Body and afflicted Soul of Christ. But the safest way is whatever thou wouldst do in the utmost extremity of thy Sickness to begin to do that in the prime of thy Health Sect. 38. Refreshments for a dying Person COme my People enter thou into thy Chambers and shut thy Doors about thee Hide thy self for a little while till the Indignation be â—…verpast Isa. 26. 20. When I was angry I hid my Face from thee for a little season but through everlasting goodness I have pardoned thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer Isa. 54. 8. Why art thou so full of heaviness O my Soul And why art thou so unquieted within me Put thy trust in God for I will yet give him thanks for the help of his Countenance Psalm 42. 6. For we are the Children of the Holy Man and look for the Life which God shall give unto them that never turn their belief from him Tob. 2. 18. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish Mat. 1â—… 14. For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have Everlasting Life John 3 16. But if any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous And he is the Attonement for our Sins not for our Sins only but for the Sins of all the World 1 John 2. 1. Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my Word and believeth in him that sent me hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into Damnaâ—…ion but is escaped from Death unto Life John 5. 24. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6. 37. I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me yea though he were dead yet shall he live And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not dye eternally Joh. 11. 25 26. In my Fathers House are many Mansions 14. 2. If God be on our side who can be against us Who spared not his own Son but gave him for us all how shall he not with him give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen It is he that justifies who is he that condemneth It is Christ which dyed yea rather which is raised again which is also on the Right Hand of God and maketh Intercession for us Rom. 8. 31 c. For no Man liveth to himself and no Man dyeth to himself for if we live we live unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords For we know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were destroyed we should have a Building of God even a Habitation not made with Hands but Eternal in Heaven For therefore sigh we desiring to be farther cloathed with our House which is from Heaven for if that we be cloathed we shall not be found naked 2 Cor. 1 2 3. Now also Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by death For Christ is to me Life and Death is to me Advantage Having a desire to depart and be with Christ Philip. 1. 20 21. But our Conversation is in Heaven whence also we look for the Saviour who shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like his glorious Body This is a faithful saying and by all means worthy to be received that Christ Jesus came into the World to save sinners of
insomuch that notwithâ—…nding the many Rich Presents he received at the â—…nds of the Emperor he died very Poor He used to say of Piety That Godliness always enriches the Possessor The Death of ATHANASIUS AFter all the Storms that were raised up against him he died in peace at Alexandria Anno â—…risti 375 having been Bishop of that See 46 â—…ars during which time he had been in many â—…at Perils and Hazards of his Life for not only â—…shops but Emperors and Nations sought his Deâ—…ustion But God delivered him oat of their â—…nds to the Glory of his Name for his only trust â—…s in God alone which caused him often to say â—…ough Armies should Encamp about me yet I would 〈◊〉 fear The Death of HILARIUS HE Travelled to Italy and France instructing the Bishops in those parts in the Catholick â—…ith He was very Eloquent and wrote many â—…reatises in Latin also Twelve Books of the Triniâ—… Expounding the Canon containing the Clause 〈◊〉 One Substance being of sufficient proof against the Arrians He died under Valentinian and Valence Anno 355. The Death of CYRILLUS IN the midst of all his Afflictions he kept his resolution to die in the Faith He used to say concerning the benefit of Hearing Some come to Church to see Fashions others to meet their Friends yet it 's better to come so than not at all In the mean time the Net is cast out and they which intended nothing less are drawn into Christ who catches them not to destroy them but that being dead he may bring them to Life Eternal He died Anno 365. The Death of EPHREM SYRUS HE died Anno 404. He used to say concerning Perseverance The resolute Traveller knows that his Journey is long and the way dirty yet goes on in hopes to come to his House So let a Christian though the way to Heaven be narrow though it be set with Troubles and Persecutions yet let him go on till he has finished his Course with Joy for Heaven is his Home Concerning the Soul he used to say He that feasts his Body and starves his Soul is like him that feasts his Slave and starves his Wife He died Anno 404. The Death of BASIL BAsil died at Caesarea when he had sat Bishop there eight years departing this Life Anno Christi 370. At his departure he uttered these words Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit He used to say of Self-knowledge To know thy Self is very difficult For as the Eye can see all things but it self so some can discern all faults but their own Of Love Divine Love is a never-failing Treasure he that hath it is Rich and he that wanteth it is Poor Of the Scriptures It 's a Physicians Shop of Preservatives against Poysonous Heresies A pattern of profitable Laws against Rebellious Spirits A Treasury of most costly Jewels against Beggarly Elements And a Fountain of most pure Water springing up to Eternal Life The Last Sayings of GREGORY NAZIENZEN IN his Minority he joined Studies with Basil and accompanied him to Arhens and Antioch where he became an Excellent Orator There is so much Perfection in all his Writings and such a peculiar Grace that he never tires his Reader but he always dismisseth him with a thirst after more Concerning Preaching he used to say That in a great multitude of people of several Ages and Conditions who are like a Harp with many Strings it is hard to give every one such a touch in Preaching as may please all and offend none He lived under Theodosius Anno 370. The Death of EPIPHANIUS VVHen he found himself Sick he said to his Friends God bless you my Children for I shall see you no more in this Life He died Aged 115. He used to say this was his Antidote against Hatred That he never let his Adversary sleep not that he disturbed him in his sleep but because he agreed with him presently and would not let the Sun go down upon his Wrath. The Death of AMBROSE AFter Ambrose had sate Bishop about Sixteen years Death summoned him to lay down this troublesom Life for a Life more lasting Before his Death he resolved to provide a Shepherd for his Flock and for that purpose sent for one Simplicianus and ordained him Bishop in his stead after having given many Godly Exhortations to such as were about him he gave up the Ghost dying in the third Year of Theodorus Anno Christi 397. He used to say of Repentance When Gold is offered to thee thou usest not to say I will come again to morrow and take it but art glad of present possession But Salvation being proffered to our Souls few Men haste to embrace it He used to say of true Charity It is not so much to be enquired how much thou givest as with what Heart It 's not Liberality when thou takest by Oppression from one and givest it to another Of Conscience A clear Conscience should not regard slanderous Speeches nor think that they have more power to Condemn him than his own Conscience hath to clear him The Death of GREGORY NISSEN HE lived under Constantins Julian Jovian Valentinian Valence Gratian and Theodosius the Great He was President in the Council of Constantinople against the Macedonian Hereticks 492. Amongst his Similitudes he compared the Userer to a Man giving Water to one in a Burning Fever which proves prejudicial So the Userer though he seems for the present to relieve his Brother yet afterwards he torments him This Character he also gave the Userer He loves no Labour but a Sedentary Life A Pen is his Plough Parchment his Field Ink his Seed Time is the Rain to Ripen his greedy desires his Sickle is calling in his Forfeitures his Horse the Barn where he Winnows his Clients he follows his Debtors as Eagles and Vultures do Armies to prey upon dead Corps Again Men come to Userers as Birds to a heap of Corn they covet the Corn but are caâ—…cht in the Nets He died under Valentine and Valence The Death of THEODORET HE died in the Reign of Theodosius Junior not with Age but hard Studies He used to say That the Delights of the Soul are to know her Maker to consider his Works and to know her own Estate The Death of HIEROM HE died Anno Christi 422 and of his Age 91. He wrote many large Volumes being a Man of singular Chastity of great Wit slow to Anger and in Learning exceeding most of his Time His usual Prayer was Lord let me know my self that I may the better know thee the Saviour of the World An Excellent Saying he had of Christian Fortitude If my Father was weeping on his Knees before me my Mother leaning on my Neck behind my Brethren Sisters Children and Kinsfolks howling on every side to retain me in a single Life I would fling my Mother to the ground run over my Father despise all my Kindred and tread them under my Feet that I might run to Christ. Of
Death who Conquers all Conquered him for having made his Will he received the Sacrament and earnestly prayed for the Churches He on the Seventh of May Anno Christi 1562. yielded up his Spirit into the hands of his Maker dying in the 55 Year of his Age. His Funeral Solemnities were performed at the Charge of the Senate almost all the City being present He being Buried as himself desired in the Church-Yard where a stately Tomb was erected to his Memory The Death of William Farellus WHere ever he came Romish Malice attended him being so powerful in Prayer and Preaching that he gained thereby no small Congregations When he heard of Calvin's Sickness he could not satisfie himself though he was seventy years old but he must go to Geneva to visit him He surviv'd Calvin one year and odd months and died aged 76 years Anno 1553. The Death of Vergerius THE Devil stirred up many Adversaries against him especially the Friers who accused him to the Inquisitors but to avoid their Rage he went to Padua where he was a Spectator of rhe miserable Estate of Francis Spira which so wrought upon him that he resolved to go into Exile and accordingly he went into Rhetia where he preached the Gospel of Christ sincerely till he was called from thence to Tubing where he ended his days Anno 1565. his Brother being dead before him not without the suspition of Poyson The Death of Strigelius AFter his going through many Troubles he fell sick and said He hoped his Life was at an end whereby he should be delivered from the Frauds and Miseries of this evil World and enjoy the blessed Presence of God and his Saints to all Eternity He died Anno 1569 aged 44. The Death of John Brentius FAlling sick of a Fever he was endued with Patience saying That he longed for a better even an eternal Life He died Anno 1570. aged 71. was buried with much honour and had this Epitaph With Voice Stile Piety Faith and Candor grac'd In outward Shape John Brentius was thus fac'd The Death of Peter Viretus HE went to several places and carried on the Work of Reformation with Vigour and Success but Popish Malice lurked in Corners insomuch that they attempted to poyson him and laid wait for his Life He was very learned eloquent and of a sweet Disposition He died Anno 1571. aged 60. The Death of John Jewel IN his Sickness going to Preach he was desired by a Gentleman to return home the Gentleman alledging that one Sermon was better lost than by Impairng his Health to lose so good a Pastor But his reply was That it best became a Bishop to die preaching in a Pulpit That his great Master the Lord Jesus's Words might be fulfilled who says Happy art thou my Servant if when I come I find thee so doing And thus continued this good Man till his Sickness encreasing and Nature visibly decaying in him he was obliged to take his Bed and so far was he from fearing Death that he rather desired as longing to enter his Masters Joy often repearing the Words of old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation One standing by prayed for his Recovery which he hearing said I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live longer neither do I fear to die because we have a merciful Lord a Crown of Righteousnes is laid up for me Christ is my Righteousness Father let thy Will be done thy VVill I say and not mine which is depraved and imperfect this day let me quickly see the Lord Jesus And so in a certain and assured hope of everlasting Happiness he resigned his Spirit into the Hands of his Redeemer dying Anno Christi 1571. and of his Age Fifty The Death of Zegedine HE was driven by Popish Cruelty from several Places but where ever he went he took so much delight in breeding up Youth in Religion and Learning that he called it his Recreation Many hardships he endured in his Travel for being taken Prisoner by the Turks he was made an Object of their Fury for refusing to abjure the Christian Religion yet God delivered him out of all his Trouble and he died in Peace Anno 1572. aged 67. The Death of John Knox. FAlling Sick he gave order for his Coffin and being asked whether his pains were great he answered That he did not esteem that a pain which would be to him the end of all Troubles and the beginning of Eternal Joys Often after some deep Meditation he used to say Oh serve the Lord in fear and Death shall not be troublesome to you Blessed is the Death of those that have part in the Death of Jesus One praying by his Bed-side asked him if he heard the Prayer Yea said he and would to God that all present had heard it with such an Ear and Heart as I have done adding Lord Jesus receive my Spirit He ended this Life 1572. Aged 62. The Death of Peter Ramus HIS Fame grew so great that he was chose Dean of the University and Studied the Mathematicks wherein he grew exquisite The Civil Wars now breaking out he left Paris and fled to Fountain-bleau but not being safe there he went to the Camp of the Prince of Conde and from thence into Germany When the Civil Wars was ended he returned to Paris and remained the King's Professor in Logick till that horrible Massacre happened on St. Bartholomew's day wherein Thousands were slain by the bloody Papists He was then Lock'd in his own House till those furious Villains brake open his Doors and in his Study ran him thorow and being half dead threw him out of the Window so that his Bowels issued out on the Stones then they cut off his Head and dragged his Body about the Streets in the Channels at last they threw it into the River Sein Anno 1572. Aged 57. The Death of Henry Bullinger MR. Bullinger fell Sick and his Disease encreasing many Godly Ministers came to Visit him but some Months after he recovered and preached as formerly but soon Relapsed when finding his Vital Spirits wasted and Nature much decayed in him he concluded his Death was at hand and thereupon said as followeth If the Lord will make any farther use of me and my Ministry in his Church I will willingly obey him but if he pleases as I much desire to take me out of this miserable Life I shall exceedingly rejoice that he will be so pleased to take me out of this miserable and corrupt Age to go to my Saviour Christ. Socrates said he was glad when his Death approached because he thought he should go to Hesiod Homer and other Learned Menâ—…de ceased and whom he expected to meet in the other World then how much more do I joy who am sure that I shall see my Saviour Christ the Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and all Holy Men which have lived from the beginning of the World These I say I
Whitaker FAlling Sick of a Fever a Friend asking him how he did he replyed O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have not taken so sweet a sleep since my disease seized upon me But being in a cold Sweat his Friend told him That Symptoms of Death appeared on him to whom he answered Life or Death is welcome to me which God pleaseth for Death shall be an advantage to me for I desire not to live but only so far as I may do God and his Church Service He dyed Anno 1595. Aged 47. The Death of Robert Rollock HE said I bless God I have all my Senses entire but my Heart is in Heaven and Lord Jesus Why should'st thou not have it It hath been my Care all my life long to dedicate in to thee I pray thee take it that it may live with thee for ever Falling into a Slumber and awaking he desired to be dissolved saying Come Lord Jesus 〈◊〉 an end to this miserable life haste Lord and â—…arry not Then some bewailing their loss of him to them he said I have gone through all the degrees of this Life and now am come to my end why should I go back again O Lord help me that I may go through this last degree with thy assistance lead me to that Glory which I have seen as through a Glass O that I were with thee Some saying the next day was the Sabbath he said Thy Sabbath O Lord shall begin any Eternal Sabbath Then he breathed out Haste Lord and do not tarry I am weary both of nights and daies Come Lord Jesus that I may come to thee Break these Eye-strings and give me others I desire to be dissolved and to be with thee Haste Lord Jesus and defer no â—…nger Go forth my weak Life and let a better succeed One standing by said Sir Let nothing trouble you for now your Lord makes haste to which he said O Welcome Message would to God my Funeral might be to morrow Thus he continued servent in Prayer till he resigned up his Spirit unto God Anno 1598. Aged 43. The Death of Nicholas Hemingius BEfore his Death he grew Blind and much diseased desiring then to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Some time before his Death he Expounded the 103 Psalm to the admiration of all his Auditors He dyed Anno 1600. Aged 87. The Death of Daniel Tossanus DAniel Tossanus falling sick he Comforted himself with these Texts of Scripture I have fought the good fight of Faith c. Be thou faithful unto the Death and I will give unto thee a Crown of Life We have a City rot made with hands Eternal in the Heavens many other places he recited He dyed Anno 160â—… Aged 61. The Death of William Perkins HE was Born at Marston in Warwickshire and was Educated at Christ's College in Cambridge He wrote many rare Treatises which for their Excellency were Translated into most Languages All he wrote was with his Left Hand with which he stabbed the Romish Cause as one well exprest Though Nature thee of thy Right Hand bereft Right well thou Writest with thy Hand that 's Left In his last Fit a Friend standing by prayed for a mitigation of his Pains to whom he said Pray not for an ease of my Torments but for an encrease of my Patience He dyed Anno 1602. Aged 44. He was Buried at the Charge of Christ's-College with great Solemnity Dr. Mountague preached his Funeral Sermon upon this Text Moses my Servant is dead His Works are Printed in Three Volumes in Folio The Death of Francis Junius BUT being at Lions he escaped an Imminent Death which made him acknowledge God's Providence in his Miraculous Deliverance and to confirm his Belief he earnestly desired to read over the New Testament of which he gives this Account when I opened the New Testament I first met with St. John's first Chapter In the beginning was the Word c. I read part of it and was presently convinced that the Divinity and Authority of the Author did excel all Humane Writings My Body trembled my Mind was astonished and I was so affected all that day that I knew not what I was Thou wast mindful of me O my God according to the multitude of thy Mercies and called'st home thy lost Sheep into thy Fold And from that day he wholly bent himself to Pions Practices He dyed Anno 1602. Aged 57. The Death of Thomas Holland BEing Ancient he employed his Time in Prayer and Meditation and often used to sigh forth Come O come Lord Jesus thou Morning Star Come Lord Jesus I desire to be dissolved and to be with thee He dyed Anno 1612. Aged 73. The Death of James Granaeus IN the midst of his Pains he used to say As Death's sweet so to rise is sweet much more Christ as in Life so he in Death is Store On Earth are Troubles sweet Rest in the Grave I' th' last Day we the lasting'st Joys shall have He dyed Anno 1617. Aged 77. The Death of Robert Abbat ABbat drawing near his End he desired to make a Confession of his Faith but being faint and weak he referred his Friends to his Writings saying That Faith which I have published and defended in my Writings is the Truth of God and therein I die and so departed Anno 1618. Aged 58. The Death of John Whitgift THE Queen had a great Esteem for him and was pleased to be so familiar as to call him Her Black Husband at her Death he was present and administred to her what Comfort she desired when King James came to the Crown he much reverenced the Archbishop and when he fell sick King James visited him and laboured to chear him up but he had laid the Death of Queen Elizabeth so much to heart that in a few days he departed in the Lord Atno 1603. Aged 73. The Death of Theodore Beza HE often used the Apostles saying We are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good Works And that of St. Augustine I have lived long I have sinned long blessed be the Name of the Lord. Also Lord perfect that which thou hast begun that I suffer not Shipwrack in the Haven And that of Bernard Lord we follow thee by thee to thee we follow thee because thou art the Truth by thee because thou art the Way to thee because thou art the Life He dyed upon a Sabbath day when rising in the Morning he prayed with his Family and finding himself weak he desired to go to Bed again but sitting down on the Bed-side he departed without the least Sigh or Groan Anno 1605. Aged 86. The Death of William Cowper FAlling Sick he used to say My Soul is alwaies ready in my Hand ready to be offered to my God Where or what kind of death God hath prepared for me I know not but sure I am there can no evil death befall him that lives in Christ nor sudden death to a Christian Pilgrim who with Job waits every Hour for his
lived 967 years and he died O the longest day hath its night and in the end man must die The Princes of the Nations pass sentence of death upon others Well it is not long but their turn will come Semel mori once to die Many of us live where our parents lived and live of the same lands which they lived of It is not long and our Children shall do as much for us For we must go hence and be seen no more Some ride Post some Hackney pace at serius citius sooner later all arrive at the Common Inn the grave and die Some have the Palsie some the Apoplexy some a Feaver some an Ague some a Consumption some none of them yet the sick the sound they all meet in the end at the same Rendezvouz at the House of Death The Scholar thinks to delude Death with hiâ—…s Fallacies The Lawyer puts in his Demur the Prince his plea is State affairs at â—…quo pulsat pede Death knocks at all doors alike and when he comes they all go hence from their houses to their graves Joseph the Jew in his best health made his Stone Coffin be cut out in his Garden to put him in mind of his Ego abeo I go hence The Persians they buried their dead in their houses to put the whole houshold in mind of the same lot Semel mori once to die Simonides when commanded to give the most wholsom rule to live well willed the Lacedemonian Prince ever to bear in mind Se tempore brevi moriturum ere long and he must die I have read of a sort of people that used dead mens bones for money and the more they have they are counted the more rich Herein consists my richest treasure to bear that about me will make me all my life remember my end Great Sultan Saladan Lord of many Nations and Languages commanded upon his death-bed that one shall carry upon a Spears point through all his Camp the Flag of Death and to proclaim for all his wealth Saladan hath nought left but this winding-sheet An ensured Ensign of Death triumphing over all the Sons of Adam I uncloath my self every night I put off all but what may put me in mind of my winding-sheet Anaxagoras having word brought him his onely son was dead his answer was Scio me genuisse mortalem I know he was born to die Philip of Macedon gave a Boy a pension every morning to say to him Philippe memento te hominem esse Philip remember thou art a man and therefore must die We read of Philostrates how he lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against the time he came to be put into it Oh an Apprentiship of years is time little enough to make us perfect in the Mystery of Mortality Divine Meditations arising from the Contemplation of these sad and serious Sentences 1. Med. IS it not high time to make fit to die considering thy Winding Sheet lies ready for thee and the Bell tolls thee away Say with thy self My want is great my time is almost run If I make not market to day I am not sure to do it to morrow O the uncertainty of Life shall be the Alarum-Bell to give me now notice to work out my Salvation with fear and trembling O I am never so nigh my God as when I think of my end FRIEND let Death be in thy thoughts and God will be in thy heart 2. Med. Meditate since man must die Lord what danger in dying unprepared this is Maxima miseria A misery of miseries and St. Augustine gives the reason For that look how a man goeth to that prison the Grave so he goeth to the Judgment-hall to be tryed But oh Death thou Common Butcherer of human Nature after thy great stroak be struck I am not dead but asleep Blessed be thou my God who hast made my grave my bed in which after I have taken some silent rest the noise of the Archangel with his Trumpet shall awake and raise me from a Death for sin to a life of glory Death is the way we must all walk to Life Some ancient Fathers and some late Writers says the Lord Manchester have fixed upon the Love of God Some upon the Passion of Christ Some upon the Joys of Heaven Some upon Contempt of the World several others upon divers other subjects All opening that some one is to be chosen For whoso will live to himself must be at leisure for God And a wise man saith Wisdom is to be written in time of leisure Whoever is lessen'd by work he cannot tend it I being in my accustomed retiredness disengaged from publick affairs which was but seldom found it useful fruitful and delightful To bestow my thoughts upon my latter end There be four last things say the Fathers Heaven Hell Death and Judgment All subjects large enough But considering I had passed so much Employment so many Offices so long Practice in several professions I now thought it time to seize on Death before it seiz'd on me Lord teach me to number my days that I may apply my Heart to Wisdom After long meditation this I found that when Meditation had begotten Devotion then it applyed it self to Contemplation which required a settlement upon some Divine Object And what more heavenly than the thought of Immortality What so necessary as the thought of Death Herein therefore I complyed with my own desires and did so as it were weave my own windingsheet by making choice of Death for the Subject of my Contemplation We should not diffuse our thoughts into variety of Considerations but recollect them into one by Contemplation Herewith a man's soul being once affected hardly shall be obtain leave of his thoughts to return again to employments And lest I busied about many things should remain unknown unto my self for the old word is a true one Neither things read or understood profit him at all who does not both read and know himself I there applyed my self Ad meum novissimum to my last thing what man liveth and shall not see death And if after death The Righteous shall scarcely be saved we may well be fearful and had need be careful that we be not taken unprepared When I was a young Man saith Seneca my care was to live well I then practised the art of well living When age came upon me I then studied the art of dying well how to die well It is true The journey of Life appears not to busie men until the end Yet when I was most busie of all I delighted my self with this comfort that a time would come wherein I might live to my self hoping to have sweet leisure to enjoy my self at last And this I am now come to by disposing not by changing my self Lord let me be found in this posture when I come to die In the courses of my Life I have had interchanges The World it self stands upon
vicissitudes God hath interwoven my life with adversity and prosperity When I first took me to a Gown I put on this thought I desire a Fortune like my Gown not long but fit fit for my condition finding by others that a contented kind of obscurity keeps a Man free from Envy Although any kind of Superiority be a mark of envy yet Not to be so high as to provoke an ill eye nor so low as to be trodden on was the height of my Ambition But I must confess I have since had a greater portion of the World's favour than I looked for Nevertheless I never gave trust to fortune although she seemed to be at peace with me To check repining at those above me I always looked at those below me nor did any preferments so delight me or abuse me as to make me neglect preparing for my dying day And now I thank God I can say O Lord my heart is ready This I have considered that Life flows away by Hours and days as it were by drops Careful Martha was full busie about many things but was well advised by Christ There was only one thing necessary One thing have I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in his House for ever This was David's unum his one thing and God willing shall be mine Amidst these thoughts I had these things in contemplation 1. What Death was and the kinds of Death 2. Secondly What fears or joys death brings 3. Thirdly When Death is to be prepared for and How 4. Fourthly Death approaching what our last thoughts should be Of these things I thus believed That Death was but a fall which came by a Fall Our first-framed Father Adam falling in him we all fell It was not the Man but mankind Body and Soul parting BUt Oh how bitter at that time will be the parting of Soul and Body We see old acquaintance cannot part without tears What shall such intimate familiar friends do as the Soul and Body are which have lived together from the Womb with so much delight In that hour every man will make Balaam's suit O that I might die the death of the Righteous We all desire to shut up our last scene of Life with In manus tuas Domine Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit At this Hour What would a man give to secure his Soul Quid dabis pro animâ tuâ tunc qui nunc pro nihiâ—…o das illam What wilt thou give then for thy Soul to save it who dost so prodigally throw it away now for nothing This thou canst not leave behind thee that will tell thee whether thou goest and what thou shalt look for Tunc quasi loquentia tua Opera dicent Tu nos egisti Tua opera sumus Tâ—… non deseremus sed tecum iâ—…imus ad Judicium Then shall thy doings even speaking aloud say unto thee Thou hast done us we are thy works we will not leave thee but will go with thee to judgment In that day shall come into mens minds by the Divine Power in the twinkling of an Eye all their past good or evil Works Memory the Magazine of the Soul will then recount all that thou hast done said or thought all thy life long For there needs no other Art of memory for sin but misery Man is a great flatterer of himself but Conscience is always just and will never chide thee wrongfully it always takes part with God against a man's self It is a domestick Magistrate that will tell what you do at home It is well termed the pulse of the Soul therefore if you would know the true state of vour Body or Soul feel how this beats that will tell you Yet take heed you make not an Idol of your Conscience neither think as some do that it is a crime to make a Conscience of our Actions At point of death if a man will take his aim by the best men that ever lived or died that of David Ezekias yea and of Christ himself as he was man is able to amaze any man when as our Saviour Christ not many hours before he suffered said My soul is troubled and what shall I say and at the very point of Death said Father if it be thy will let this Cup pass from me When David said Save Lord for thy mercies sake For in Death there is no remembrance of thee And Ezekias wept sore when he was bid Put thy house in order for thou must die If the Patriarchs if the Prophets if the Apostles if the Martyrs if Christ himself was thus troubled at the hour of Death Wretched man that I am what shall I do We were all to seek but that Christ bids us Be of good chear for I have overcome Death Caesar Borgias being sick to death said When I lived I provided for every thing but death now I must die and am unprovided to die Previous preparation becomes a wise man But we are all deceived with this Error 〈◊〉 we think none but old men approaâ—…h to death neither experience nor age can work upon us so death that it may more easily sâ—…rprise us shrowds it self under the very name of life He that sâ—…es the Basilisk before he be seen of it avoids the poyson See Death before it comes you shall not feel it when it comes We pray daily Lord Give us this day our daily Bread whilst it is called to day We should remember Life is but a day 't is bâ—…t a day not an age Wherefore saith Solomon Talk not of to morrow for thou knowest not what to morrow will bring forth A man saith Luther lives forty years before he knows himself to be a fool and by that time he sees his folly his Life is finished So men die before they begin to live To die well is too busie a work to be done well on a sudden Deferring as well as presuming makes many men implicite Atheists It was a sweet Speech and might well have become an Elder Body which a young innocent Child of my own used in extremity of sickness Mother what shall I do I shall die before I know what death is I beseech you tell me what is Death and how I should die Now of the way to die well HE that would end his days well must spend them well 'T is no great matter to live all do as much but few die well But Death faâ—…s sad and heavy upon such Are little known at home abroad too much Man is ready to die before he lives but therefore he liveth a time in the world that he may die betime to the world His Years come to an end as a Tale that is â—…old His days deceive him for they pass as a shadow by moon-shine then appearing longest when they draw nearest to an end Job saith My days are swister than a Post they flee away and see no good The art of dying well is better learnt by Practice than by Precept Unto
behind us our Servants on our right hand our Wives and Children on our left hand our Friends and in the midst our selves so that as St. Paul says Heb. 9. 27. No one can escape him So that you may see as Job saith man's time is appointed his months determined and his days which are but few upon Earth numbered yea and as our Saviour Christ says his very last hour is limited He was made of the mould of the Earth and therefore thither shall he return and as all have one entrance into Life the like going out shall they have to death Naked came we into this most miserable World and naked shall we return again If Adam had not eaten of the forbidden Fruit we had never known what Sin had been and so by consequence Death which is a thing that now cannot by any means be avoided before that we knew what sin was we had strong Houses But ever since God let 's us dwell in thatch'd Cottages and clay Walls every Disease like a storm is ready to totter us down In old time men us'd to live long but now many are thrust out of house and harbour at less than an hours warning yea and even in their infancy at their first coming into the world as this poor innocent Child was and not only for their own faults for their own transgressions but for their Parents In the Third of Gen. you may find mans Exodus and that is thou shalt die Ever since Old Adam our great great great Grandfather neglected his Duty towards God Death the lodge of all mens lives comes with insensible degrees upon the sons of men it 's impartial hand is always destroying no Wisdom can appease no Policy can prevent nor any earthly Riches redeem us from the Grave semel aut bis morimur omnes some once some twice we must all die we have an old Statute for it that this earthly Tabernacle must suffer corruption and therefore the Poet sings sweetly Post hominem vermis post vermen foetor horror Sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo As man came from the Earth so thither shall he return and become a habitation and food for Worms If any had been exempted from the fatal and general sentence of Death then without all question our most blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ had been who for our Sins and for our insufferable Iniquities suffer'd the sharpest death imaginable even to die upon the Cross who was equal to the Father touching his God-head Now seeing that this ever blessed Virgins Son Lion of the Tribe of Judah and harmless Lamb of God did suffer an ignominious Death to redeem us from Eternal Death let not us be unwilling for our own good to lay down our lives and to part without sorrow and grief with our dearest Friend or Relation but rather let us take up a full resolution when any of our Friends although never so near and dear unto us be departed and say with David now he is dead now he ceaseth to breath and now he hath taken a farewell of the Elements wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back again Good Christians can with patience embrace this Life yet in their best meditations they do commonly wish for Death they honour all that contemns it but cannot endure or heartily love any that is afraid of it this makes many naturally love a Souldier and honour those tattered and contemptible Regiments that will die at the command of a Sergeant For a Pagan there may be some motives to be in love with Life for a Christian to be amazed at Death I see not how he can escape this dilemma that is too sensible of this Life or careless of the Life to come If a Wife put forth her Child to Nurse and the Nurse having kept it long enough she taketh it home again can the Nurse or any other have any cause to complain so the cause stands between God and our Souls If God having inspired into these mortal Bodies of ours that which is immortal come and take it to himself lest it should come to harm can any one have any reason to Complain As seed unless sown in the Ground cannot bring forth so we until that Death come and we be laid in the Ground cannot expect our consummation and bliss with Gods Saints in his Kingdom of Glory Death freeth the godly from the Tyranny of Satan from Sin from the World from the Flesh and from eternal Damnation placing them with Christ for evermore in Heaven the Center of all good wishes where instead of Earthly Bodies they shall be cloathed with unspeakable Glory and all this holy David was not Ignorant of which made him as soon as his dearly beloved Son had taken his Farewell of this inferior Orb say Wherefore should I fast seeing my Child yea my precious Jewel has changed his Life out of a miserable world into a Kingdom where pleasures ineffable are to be had for evermore but now c. And this brings me now unto the Third thing considered in my Text which is the manner of his mourning and that was how he spun away his time in weeping fasting and praying for his dear child so long as he was alive he did not as Priamus did for his Son Hector Fast Weep and Pray after his Death or as many do now adays only in outward shew altering their Garments No his was far otherwise it was real true and hearty sorrow not countenanced in the least with a heavy look or with a solemn sigh blown from deceitful lungs No his was a Weeping Watching Mourning and Fasting Grief he was sequestered from all Worldly contentment imprisoning his Body from all the pleasures of this mortal Life ever making his bed to swim and watering his couch with tears He mourned as one for his only Son eating ashes like Bread and mingling his Drink with weeping still weeping wailing and crying as one that had parted with his dear Mother Psalm 35. 14. or as a virgin girded with sack-cloath for the husband of her youth Joel 11. 8. Nature being we are Members of one Body thinking the mishap of other men to be our own through the mutual compassion of Christ's Body makes us desirous to live together so long as is possible therefore was it possible for David to refrain from tears when he took his farewel of one Child part of his own Body No he could not forbear crying until he began to consider with himself that he was dead and that the Death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord and the day thereof better to them than the day of their birth being then and not before as Saint John Says Revel 14. 13. they rest from their labour then yea then and not before he could rise change his cloaths wash his hands and break his fast Now such I say if they will mourn ought to be your manner that is so long as your friends
with all alacrity and chearfulness of Heart you may endure all things for Christs sake Fourthly you must get your selves furnished with Humility Virtue which when the Lord of Heaven beholds it in you which caused him to sink into your Hearts Fifthly you must get your selves furnished with Hope of Everlasting Faith and Salvation And then sixthly and lastly with Faith which is an evidence of things not seen thus you must get your selves set in order c. And thus far of the matter of this Admonition and earnest Exhortation Now I should come to the Reason which is twofold affirmative and negative Affirmative thou shalt die and Negative and not live Set thy House in order for thou shalt die and not live Now of these severally and first of the reason affirmative thou shalt die Now there are three kinds of Death First the Death of the Body which is a natural Death Secondly the Death of the Soul which is a Spiritual Death And then thirdly and lastly the Death both of Body and Soul which is Eternal Death But that which good King Hezekiah was warned of was but only the Death of the Body which according to the Statute Law Decreed in that High Court of Parliament of Heaven all Men shall once taste of no Man can escape it for so saith St. Paul it is appointed unto all Men that they shall once die to all once to many twsce for there is a second Death and that is truly a Death because it is Mors Vitae the Death of Life the other rather a Life because it is Mors Mortis the Death of the Death after which there shall be no more Death Now as Job saith Mans time is appointed his Month determined and his day numbered yea and as Christ Jesus the Worlds Saviour saith his very last hour is limited he was made of the Mould of the Earth he shall return again to the Earth And as all have one Entrance into Life the like going out shall they have to Death Nothing we brought in nothing we shall carry out Naked come I out of my Mothers Womb and naked shall I return A Change then shall come which of the wicked is to be feared of the godly to be desired and of all people to be daily and hourly expected Remember them that have been before you and that shall come after you that this is the Judgment of the Lord over all Flesh to taste of Death All Men shall once die for as much as all have sinned and been disobedient unto the Laws of God This Death of the Body is not a dying but a departing a transmigration and Exodus of our Earthly Pilgrimage unto our Heavenly Home yea a passage from the Valley of Death unto the Land of the Living Although our Souls and Bodies are separated for a while yet shall they meet again in the receptacle of Blessed Saints and Angels with much joy and receive an incorruptible Crown The Body is a Prison to the Soul and Death a Goal-delivery that frees the poor harmless Soul of those Grievances which formerly it did endure Length of days is nothing unto us but much grief and Age the duance of long Imprisonment wherefore if that you would but seriously consider this you might find Death to be rather a Friend than an Enemy and by consequence rather to be desited than shun'd as Simeon did as it is evident Luke 2. 29. saying Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy Word which by some is used thus Now Lord I hope that thou wilt suffer me to depart in peace and keep my poor Immortal Soul no longer within the small circumference of this Mortal Body The Thief upon the Cross laid down his Life most joyfully because he saw Christ and did stedfastly believe that he should pass from a place of pain and misery unto a Paradise of Pleasure and so did St. Stephen Acts 7. 56. The Royal Preacher King Solomon lest that his Son should be deprived of such Happiness doth by an Emphatical Irony disswade his Son from those youthful Lusts and sensual Pleasures whereunto he feared that he should naturally be addicted and that by the consideration of that dreadful account he was to give unto God at the great and terrible day of the Lord desiring him most earnestly not to let his House stand out of order but ever to remember his Creator in the days of his youth for old Age will come saith he and then thou shalt not be so fit by reason of much weakness and infirmities Or else Death may seize upon thee For Dust shall return unto the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccles. 12. 7. In a moment yea at the twinkling of an Eye when once this Tyrant Death comes it will sweep us all away It is the Custom among us here to let Leases one two or three Lives but God lets none for more than one and this once expired there is no hopes of getting the Lease renewed he suffers Man sometimes to dwell in his Tenement threescore Years and ten Psal. 90. 10. Sometimes to fourscore but secures none far from home and that for several Reasons First to bridle our curiosity left that we should search after things too high for quae supranos nihil ad nos those things that are above us are nothing to us Secondly to try out patience whether that we will put our whole trust and confidence in him although we know not the time of our departure and dissolution and then thirdly to keep us in continual watchfulness for if that we should know when Death would come with a Habeas Corpus to remove us it would make many more careless than they are though indeed the best of us are careless enough Here Men do know the date of their Leases and the expiration of the Years but Man is meerly a Tenant at will is put out of Possession at less than an Hours warning Wherefore now while it is said to day set your Houses in order seeing that you must die and not live It is not sufficient at the last Hour of Death to say Lord have mercy on me or Lord into thy hands I commend my Soul But even in all our Life-time yea and especially in our youth we must strive ever to set our Houses in order for we shall die and not live Samson was very strong Solomon very wise and Methusalem lived many years yet at last they with many more were brought to Mother Earth If it seem pleasant unto you at the present to let your rotten and ruinous Houses stand out of order yet with all remember what the Prophet saith The day of Destruction is at hand and the times of perdition make haste to come on Art thou a young Man in the April of thine Age and hast thou thy Breasts full of Milk and doth thy Bones run full of Marrow as Job speaks and thereupon dost
the Devil and so judge your selves that you be not judged of the Lord. In a word that you may escape all those torments which by reason of sin are incident both to Body and Soul seeing the night is far sâ—…ent and the day is at hand while you have time set you Houses in order for you shall die and not live THE EJACULATION GOod Lord let us be always setting our Houses in order that we may be really willing and truly fit to die when Death shall seize us Let us be always a preparing for our last Change for it is the living only who are in a capacity to praise Thee The Grave into which we are all going is a place of silence where there is no praying to Thee nor praising of Thee neither are any that go-down thither capable of securing their eternal well-fare in the Grave there is no Preaching nor hearing there we shall be altogether insensible of the actings of God and be altogether uncapable of acting any thing for God Oh! that we therefore who are within a few steps of our long and last home might seriously consider what a vain thing it is to dream that we shall ever enjoy our worldly Relatives or that we shall ever possess our worldly accommodations What need have we then to be setting our Houses in order for 't is certain we shall once die and how soon we know not Oh then let your Thoughts Words and Actions be such as may best become dying persons seeing all that would dye comfortable must set their Houses in order beâ—…re they depart Look on every day as your last SERMON IX JAM 4. 14. What is your Life It is even a Vapour that appeareth for a little time and ufterward vanisheth away THere is nothing that doth evidently set before Mens Eyes the Deceits of the World and the vanity of things present as doth the due consideration of the uncertainty shortness and frailty of Man's Life for all humane Pride and the whole glory and pomp of the World having Man's Life for a stay and foundation can certainly no longer endure the same Life abideth so that Riches Dignities Honours and such like howbeit a Man may enjoy them for a small space on Earth yet do they never continue longer with him than unto the Grave The consideration whereof together with this present occasion offered have caused me amongst all other places of Holy Scripture to make choice of these words which I have now read unto you in which as in a most bright shining Glass we may behold both the frail Constitution of Man's Nature as also the short continuance of his Life here on Earth it being but a Vapour and What is your Life This whole Chapter containeth four Dehortations the first is from Lust unto the fifth Verse the second from Pride to the Tenth the third from speaking evil of our Neighbour to the Thirteenth the last from Presumption of words to the end of the Chapter to disswade from which sin he useth two arguments especially the first is drawn Ab incertitudine rerum from the uncertainty of things and that 's contained in the words immediately going before my Text the second is drawn á Vanitate Vitae from the vanity of Man's Life and that 's set down in the words of my Text. Which words contain two general parts a Question and an Answer What is your Life There 's the Question the Answer followeth in the next It is even a Vapour c. First of the Question What is your Life Wherein observe that Life is twofold for there is a Created Life and there is an Increated Life the laâ—…ter is only to be found in God the former is a quality in the Creature whereby it liveth and moveth and acteth it self Now Created Life is twofold Spiritual and Natural Again Spiritual Life is twofold sometimes it is taken for the Life of Grace which God's Children only do enjoy in the Spiritual Kingdom of Christ in this World which by way of excellency is called the Life of God not so much for that it is from God as also all other kinds of Life are as because God liveth in them that are his and approveth this Life in them And it is called for the same respect the Life of Christ because Christ liveth in his through a super-natural Faith and Spirit and they live unto God and conform their Life unto his Will And it is called a new Life a Christian Life and a renewing of the Mind Will and Affections This Life is opposed to Death in Sin and to the old Man Sometimes it is taken for the Life of Glory whereby the Soul being jopned again to her Body shall lead a Life which the Apostle calleth Spiritual not in respect of the Substance but of the qualities 1 Cor. 15. 44. whereby the Faithful shall live for ever and it is laid up in Christ and the end of the World shall be disclosed and which is opposed to the second Death and it is called Eternal Life Thus much of the Spiritual Life Now the Natural Life also is twofold for either it may be taken generally for the Life of all Creatures whereby they live move and have their being or more particularly for the Life of Man which natural Life in Man is the act and vigour of the Soul arising from the conjunction of the Body with the Soul this Life is given by God continued by Meats and Drinks and other necessary helps and ended by Death this is the Life properly meant in this place It is even a Vapour c. A Vapour according to the Philisophers is a thin fume extracted out of the Earth by the Sun in the night time but in the morning or afore it is scattered with the Wind or dispelled with the Sun or else if the Sun do not appear in his Brightness it falleth away of it self to the Earth from whence it came or was drawn by the heat of the Sun Such as is the nature of a Vapour even such is the Life of Man for he is extracted out of the Earth by the Sun of Righteousness and he either perisheth before he seeth the Sun or else in the Morning of his Youth or if he escape the mid and noontide of his growth yet at the last he falleth away by Age to the Earth from whence he was taken The Text thus explained we may observe these Points of Doctrine for our Instruction The first is the Frailty of our Constitution in these words It is even a Vapour Secondly the Shortness of our continuance Which appeareth for a little time Thirdly The vanity or nullity of our Life after Death in these words And afterward vanisheth away First Of the Frailty of our Constitution the Apostle doth not compare the Life of Man to Silver or Gold or Iron or Brass which are durable Substances or some Body that is Corpus perfecte mixtum that is perfectly mixed or compounded of the four Elements but to
the Table seest before thee many and sundry sorts of Meats a Friend of thine secretly admonisheth thee that among so many dainty Dishes there is one Poysoned what in this Case wouldst thou do which of them darest thou touch or taste of wouldst thou not suspect them all I think though thou wert extremely hungry thou wouldst refrain from all for fear of that one where the Poyson is It is made manifest unto thee already that in one of thy seventy Years thy Death lieth hidden from thee and thou art utterly Ignorant which year that shall be how then can it be but that thou must suspect them all and fear them all O that we understood the shortness of our Life how great Profit and Commodity should we then receive by the Meditation thereof Thirdly and lastly the vanity and nullity of our Life after Death intimated in these words And afterward vanisheth away The whole Course of Mans Life is but a flying Shadow a little spot of time between two Eternities which will quickly disappear the same Earth which we now so negligently tread upon may suddainly receive us into her cold Imbraces Well may Life then be said to be vanishing away Though now we are in perfect Health yet before to morrow some dear Friend or other may passionately follow our Hearse to the Grave Our time past is like a Bird fled from the Hand of the owner out of sight and our present time is vanishing away and on Earth we have no abiding But here consider if Life be so vanishing and uncertain a thing then 1. This reproveth those that Squander away their precious time as if their abode on Earth would be too long to prepare for Eternity if they did not mispend it half but it is time for us to cry out The time past is more than enough to have wrought the Will of the Flesh 1. Pet. 4. 3. or as it is Rom. 13 14. 'T is high time to awake out of Sleep 2. If Life be thus vanishing then be not over solicitous as to future Events but willingly submit to a Divine Providence be not so much concerned for to Morrow do not cumber your selves with too much Provision for a short Voyage 3. If Life be thus short and vanishing then do much work in a little time shall we loose any of that time which is so fleeting and so uncertain And thus I have briefly shown you the frailty of the Life of Man and the profitable use we might make of this Consideration That our Life is but a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and afterward Vanisheth away 4. If Life be so short and uncertain then look upon every day as your last so did the Apostle Paul who said I die daily as there is nothing more certain than Death so there is nothing more uncertain than the time of Death We are all Tenants at Will and therefore the great Landlord of Heaven and Earth may turn us out of our Clay Houses when he pleaseth It was a worthy Custom of a Roman Emperor that would have his Man come every morning to his Bed-side and pronounce these Words Remember thou art a dying Man certainly such are justly to be reproved who look upon Death as at a great distance from them It is a common saying of some that they thought no more of such a thing than of their dying day surely it argues a very wicked frame of Heart to be so forgetful of Death when 't is that we are to expect every minute and know not but each day that comes may be our last THE EJACULATION GOOD Lord what is the Life of Man is it not like unto a Vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Is it not like unto a Bubble which quickly swelleth to a considerable bigness and as quickly sinketh again Is it not like unto the Grass which groweth up and flourisheth in the Morning but is cut down before the Evening come Oh Lord though Life be sweet yet common experience shews that it is short and as our Life is shoâ—…t in it self though we should live to the very outside of the strength of Naeture so will it seem much shorter if it be compared with Eternity it self And yet as short and as uncertain as our Life is we have a long work to dispatch before we go away from hence and be seen no more we have a great way to go by a setting Sun a great Race to run by a short Breath and if Life be but as a Vapour how little reason have we then to squander away precious time Yea how great reason have we to redeem the time that is past and to improve every â—…nch of the present time Let us remember that we have no continuing City here and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come Good Lord therefore do thou make us to know our end and the measure of our days what it is that so we may be throughly convinced how frail we are Dying Christian. SERMON X. Being the last Sermon this Author Preacht at Grafham in Huntingdonshire Beloved Brethren THE Lord hath set it home upon my Heart ever since I came amongst you earnestly to desire and to pray for the Salvation of your Souls it hath been no small Encouragement to me to lay forth my weak endeavours in the Ministry when I consider that he which converteth a Sinner from the Errour of his way shall save a Soul from Death and hide a multitude of Sin James 5. 20. To save a Soul from Death is so glorious an Imployment that herein I cannot chuse but rejoice with the Apostle when I see the word of the Kingdom working effectually in any Soul I bless God every day without ceasing that he hath given me a full proof of my Ministry in the Hearts and Consciences of some even in this place since I came among you so that I may say with Paul 1 Cor. 9. 2. and they indeed are and shall be unto me and I unto them a Crown of rejoicing at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and on their behalf I pray that their Faith may grow exceedingly and that their Love unto Jesus Christ and unto all Saints may every day more and more abound and I commend them unto God who is able to keep them from falling and to present them faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding Joy As for others I am jealous over them with a Godly Jealousie as the Apostle speaketh continually praying that they may not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ but that they may hold fast the mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience Some indeed there are that cause me secretly to groan in my Spirit and my Heart I even bleed over them and I do pity them in the Bowels of Jesus Christ fearing least they should like the five foolish Virgins fall asleep and hereafter endeavour to enter into
Glory when the Door is shut But now dearly beloved being come to Preach my last Sermon amongst you I request you all both good and bad to attend with double diligence to what shall be spoken unto you from that sweet portion of Scripture which you find recorded PHILIPIANS I. XXIII For I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better IN these Words are these two Parts First a Declaration of St. Pauls desire For I am in a streight between two having a desire to depart Secondly an Inclination of the ground of it which was this because he might be with Christ the word signifies solvere Anchoram to loosen the Anchor or to cut the Cable that the Ship may sail after While St. Pauls Spirit was tied up by the Flesh he desired it should be loosened by Death that it might Sail after into Glory Spiritual Desires they are always quickest and strongest whensoever they are nearest the perfect enjoyment of their desired Object Christ. As the motion of every natural Body is quickest and strongest the nearer it comes to the Center so the nearer fulness of Glory the more fervent the Soul is in its desires after Christ. Sirs my Text is usually the dying Expression of a living Saint for when a believer draws near to his End he sings most sweetly like the Swan and earnestly cries out Make haste my beloved he having a desire to depart to be with Christ evermore upon a dying Bed a Christians Pulse beats strongest Heaven-ward We groan as being in a great straight knowing to depart is far better much more better as if he should have said Oh! there is no comparison between the enjoyment of God in the State of Grace and the enjoyment of God in a State of Glory And here methinks I hear the dying Christian joyfully breathing out his earnest and longing desires for a Dissolution in the very words of a late Grave and Serious Poet who in an Heavenly Rapture and sweet Extasie of Spirit spake in the following manner viz. VVhy lingrest thou bright Lamp of Heaven why Do thy Steeds tread so slowly on must I Be forc'd to live when I desire to die Lash thou those Lazie Jades drive with full speed And end my slow-paced days that I may feed VVith Joy on Him for whom my heart doth bleed Post blessed Jesus come Lord flee away And turn this Night into the brightest Day By thine approach come Lord and do not stay Take thou Doves-Wings or give Doves Wings to me That I may leave this World and come to thee And even in thy glorious presence be I like not this vile VVorld it is meer dross Thou only art pure Gold then sure 't is loss To be without a Throne t' enjoy a Cross. VVhat though I must pass through the Gates of Death It is to come to thee that gav'st me Breath And thou art better Lord than Dung-hill-Earth VVhen shall I come Lord tell me tell me when VVhat must I tarry Threescore years and Ten My Thirsty Soul cannot hold out 'till then Come dearest Saviour come unlock this Cage Of sinful Flesh lovingly stop the Rage Of my Desires end thou my Pilgrimage Give me a Place on High to Sit and Sing Anthems of Praise to thee mine only King Whose ratling Sounds may make the Heavens Ring But here I know the timerous Soul will object against this truth and say Oh how can the Christian so earnestly-desire to be with Christ in the fulness of Glory were it indeed but a short step into Glory or were the way strewed with Roses and Flowers and with all thè Spices of the Merchant it might be so but there is a Lion in the way as Solomon speaks in another case there is Death the King of Fears that stands frowning upon the Soul at the last cast when the Soul is upon its very Entrance into Christ his prepared Mansions of eternal Glory and therefore it were more desirable to dwell safely upon the Earth in a sensible Heaven made up of the greatest worldly profits and the most delightful creature Comfort rather than to venture over the terrible mountain of Death the very Epitomy of all Discouragements into the doubtful possession of those invissible Depths of spiritual Glory which the Scripture tells us is only attainable after this Life I answer that by nature of this Objection you may presently know the name of the Objector It comes from off a carnal heart and fully speaks the temper an Epicurean Will that is against leaving its carnal interest in the Earth for uncertain interest in Heaven But Death though it be an intervening Cloud which seems to darken or cast a mist upon the Lustre and Comfort of a believers spiritual injoyment in God yet it doth but seem to do so and indeed it doth not at all extinguish the earnest desires of a serious lively Christian after Christ in the fulness of Glory and that especially when the believing Soul looks upon Death under these Considerations First that to die is no worse a thing than to tread in the very steps of Jesus Christ we might indeed have been afraid to die if Jesus Christ had not first stept into the cold grave before us but if we will shew our selves true Soldiers unto Christ our Captain we must not fear to venture where he hath broken the way before us Now Christ hath died that he might by his Death procure the Death of Death and that he might free Believers from the fear of Death the sting being taken out of it Secondly Death is only ordained to refine and not to ruine Nature Death ends our sins and miseries and not our life as it may be made out unto you by this following Illustration those Trees which seem dead in the Winter yet they revive in the Spring because the Body and the Arms of the Tree they are joyned to the Root where the Sap lies all the Winter and by means of this conjunction the Root it conveys life unto all the parts of the Tree And the Bodies of Believers they have the Winter to when as they are turned into the Dust but their Life it is hid with Christ at last they are revived and raised up into Glory Now here you may observe the great difference of Tempters according to the various Complexions of Mens Spirits the Atheist he dares not die for fear of being put out of his being and the profane Person he dares not die for fear of exchanging his present bad being for a worse but the Believer he earnestly desires to die that besides this present temporal being he might enjoy a future eternal well-being Indeed to a wicked Man the best had been not to have been and this next best were to live long it was ill with him that ever he was born and wors that he must die A Carnal Mans continual cry is this Dum Spiro Spero I love to live for
I burn for the sake of Christ. Oecolampadius lying upon his Death Bed and a certain Friend coming to him Oecolampadius asked him what news unto whom his Friend answered I know none but says he I can tell you some good news nam ego subito cum Christo regnabor I shall suddainly be with Christ upon his Throne Melanchton a little before his Death he would often say capio ex hac vita migrare propter duas causas primum ut frurar desiderato conspectu filii Dei deinde ut liberer ab immunibus Theologerum odiis I desire to die to injoy a sight of Jesus Christ c. But what need I tell you of the resolute and undaunted Carriage of Christians in former ages we need look no further than upon the carriage of Christians in latter Ages Casper Obevian the famous Lawyer lying upon his Death Bed he would often say O Lord let not my journey be long deferred ere I be with thee I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ he had rather depart this Life and take but one Feast in Glory than take many fees and still live in this miserable World Strigelius the learned Suetzer falling sick he would often say Seperare se finem vitae suae ad esse He hoped this Sinful Life was now at an end that he might injoy God perfectly Grinaus the learned Helvetian died with these words in his mouth O praeclarum illum diem cum ad illud animarum concilium Caelumque profiscar Oh fairest day when I shall make a journey to Heaven that convocation of Souls should I but relate the dying Speeches of Mr. Rollock the learned and devout Scotch-man they would melt any Heart that shall hear them he breathed out these words with his Life I Bless God says he I have all perfect Sences but my Heart is in Heaven And Lord Jesus why shouldst thou not have it it hath been my Care all my Life time to devout it unto thee I pray thee therefore take it that it may live with thee for ever Come Lord Jesus put an end to this sinful miserable life haste Lord tarry not come Lord Jesus and give me that life for which thou hast redeemed me Nay further that I might Christians leave your Spirits in this sweet temper of contemning Death and desiring to be with Christ in Glory where I should much rejoice and indeed earnestly pray that I might meet you all I shall yet mind you of some remarkable instances in this kind even in our own Nation Mr. Cooper that famous Champion for the Truth when he was brought to be burnt at the Stake in Queen Mary's days and there having a box set before him with a pardon in it as soon as he perceived so much he cried out If you love my Soul away with it if you love my Soul away with it Dr. Taylor when he was brought to Hadly in Suffolk to suffer Martyrdom for his Profession of Christ the History says he was as merry in his going from London as though he had been a going to some Banquet or Bridal And when he was brought unto the place of Execution he kissed the Stake uttering these Words Now I am even at home Lord Jesus receive my Soul into thy Hands Before Mr. Bradford was Martyr'd his dear Wife came running into his Chamber and said Mr. Bradford I bring you heavy news for to morrow you must be burned your Chain it is now a buying but when Mr. Bradford had heard these Words he lifted up his Eyes to Heaven and said I thank God for it I have looked for this a long time this news comes not to me suddainly but as a thing that I waited for every day and hour the Lord make me worthy of it And when he was brought into Smithfield to be burnt where there was another young Man to suffer with him he turned himself to the young Man and said Be of good Comfort Brother for we shall have a merry Supper with the Lord Jesus Christ this Night Bishop Jewell lying upon his Death-bed he would often say Now Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace break off all delays Let me this day quickly see the Lord Jesus And observe further one standing by him and praying with Tears that the Lord would be pleased to restore this Godly Bishop unto his former Health he over-hearing of him seemed to be very much offended and replied thus I have not lived so that I am ashamed to live any longer neither do I fear to Die because I have a merciful Father And now truly Friends out of the tender Affection which I bear unto all your Souls I could heartily wish that this might be the dying Language of you all that you might every one be able to say from a good and clear Conscience at last I have not lived not so that I am ashamed to live longer neither do I fear to die because I have a merciful Father And further I do protest in the presence of God with Saint Paul in the 4th to the Phillip at the first Verse That it is my greatest joy and richest Crown if that ever since I came among you I have spoken any thing leading to mutual Love and Peace And if all my pains and endeavours among you in much weakness have taken any effect upon any of your Spirits to win you unto a love of Christ that so you may be holy here and happy hereafter I shall sincerely rejoice But I shall say no more at this time but only conclude with the words of Saint Paul Phill. 4. I pray mark the words for they will be the last I shall speak among you Verse 1. My Brethren dearly beloved and longed for my joy and crown so stand fast in the Lord my dearly beloved Verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I sâ—… Rejoice Verse 5. Let your moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at hand Verse 6. Be careful for nothing but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God Verse 7. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus Verse 8. Finally Brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely whatsoever things are of good report if there be any Virtue and if there be any praise think on these things Verse 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do so I have received them from Christ those things do and follow And the God of Peace shall be with you THE EJACULATION GOOD Lord let our Souls be filled with breathings and pantings after Grace and Glory Let us be ever willing with St. Paul to depart and to be with Christ. Let us dayly look and long to be in Heaven where we shall sit down in the same Throne with our
sooner felt his hand but he put forth his sting and stung the young Man to Death Are Stones thus endued with anger Where then is not Death if Lions of Stone can kill In the same manner died the young Hylas who was kill'd by a Viper that lay hid in the Mouth of a Bears resemblance in Stone What shall I mention the Child kill'd by an Isicle dropping upon his Head from the Penthouse Of whom Martial laments in the following Verses Where next the Vipsan Pillars stands the Gate From whence the falling Rain wets Cloak and Hat A Child was passing by when strange to tell Upon his Throat a frozen drop 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 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 swear 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
and made a vast slaughter Remember the Lot of the Ten Virgins There was a Call in the middle of the Night and they that were prepared were admitted to the Nuptials but the drowsie Sleepers were excluded Dost thou remember the Folly of the Gluttonous Servant His Lord came unlookt for and at an Hour when he least thought of him Hast thou considered the good Father of his Family He wakes at all Hours that at no time the House-breaker may get in Dost thou remember thy Saviour He was Born at Midnight And probable it is that he will come at Midnight to the last Judgment of the World Therefore watch and believe every day thy last Sect. 47. VVe are to trust in God HE whom God assists though in the midst of the Waves of the enraged Sea he shall be able to withstand the Storm with a Couragious Heart Let Troubles surround him let Sorrows overwhelm him let the Devil roar and grin a Soul that trusts in God need never be afraid Though Hell be moved and the World tumble fearless he shall behold the Ruins he shall rise a Victor and like the Marpesian Rocks contemn the vain threats of the Ocean Thus Job thus David behaved themselves Job speaking to God with a firm Confidence in him Set me saith he by thy side and let the hand of whomsoever fight against me He provokes and Challenges the Camp of the Enemies of God let come who will he is ready to meet them But saith David though I walk through the midst of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Behold a strong Faith Though I am in the extremity of danger though wrapt in the horrid darkness of Eternal Night and that Death stood nearer than the shadow to the Body trusting only in the presence of God I will despise all those Terrors Most certain I am that in his presence there is a most safe and impregnable Refuge For because the Lord is my Aid I will not fear what Man can do unto me The Lord is my Light and my Health Whom shalt thou fear If Armies were Encamped against me my Heart shall not be afraid Though I were to withstand the power of a whole Battel my Confidence should be in God VVe are to trust in God so much the more by how much the less we can trust to our selves He ranges his Army under the Enemies VValls who trusts in God To trust in God is to be above all Enemies Sect. 48. VVhen it shall please God TO a Blessed Life a long Series of years contributes nothing neither is Life to be reckoned by years or wrinkles but by just performances But that When disgusts the most part of Mortals They know they are to die and are willing to die but not yet They are willing to pay Nature her Debt but not yet They desire to be loos'd from the Chains of the Body but not yet So ingeniously do we poor Mortals rave We desire an end of our Miseries but not yet we would be Blessed and Happy but not yet We would and we would not die We are unjust to complain at the same time that we are miserable and that our Miseries are at an end There is no reason to grieve or weep when we cease to be what we were unwilling to be Is it because thou wouldst have many steps to thy Death that thou buildest thy self so high a Gibbet and is it because thou wouldst take a slow prospect of thy Funeral that thou desirest so many years Alas thou art to go either to day or to morrow Tobias the worthy Son of a most worthy old Man but old himself attain'd to the Ninety ninth year of his Age. Yet when Ninety nine years were expir'd in the fear of God they Buried him with joy Could Tobias in our judgment Exposlulate with God or complain Why Lord dost thou now break off my Life Why didst not thou permit me to make up the full hundred What other Answer would God return It so pleas'd me Now die and reckon all thy past years as clear gain Therefore we must die when it pleases God not when it pleases Tobias Raguel or Ananias But I know what deceives many When Death knocks we believe the Exactor comes before his time Fools then 't is time when it pleases God Wherefore do ye delay Wherefore do ye pretend immature Age Wherefore do ye expect a Truce Wherefore do ye think upon delay Thou were ripe for Death long before But grant thee thy own time thou wilt be never the more ready or the more prepar'd After all thou wilt desire delay the more thou stay'st perhaps the less prepar'd Delay has made many the worse 'T is a bad preparation for Death to be unwilling to die He has perform'd half of the Act who now is willing The desire of Death is to be shaken off and thou art to learn that it matters not when thou sufferest whatever it behoves thee to suffer How well thou hast lived is the main business not how long and often it happens well when there is no delay Therefore lay all hankering thoughts aside and thus resolve with thy self whatever God pleases let that be done Sect. 49. VVe must have recourse to God in all things ALas poor miserable Creatures alas insipid Fools When we are ill we take our flight over the whole Orb with the wings of our Thoughts We beg petty Comforts from things Created with an ignominious Beggery VVe call Friends and Enemies to our aid we implore the help of all only God we pass by or at least apply our selves to him last of all VVhat madness is this to desire help from those that cannot afford it not to desire it from him who alone can give it us Therefore whenever and as often as thou art ill let thy first Groans thy first Prayers thy first Complaints be put up to God Open thy Cause to God declare to him all thy Sufferings VVhere dost thou fly about the VVorld and beg at the Cottages of Beggars VVherefore dost thou bow in vain to every Coach that whirls by thee Throw thy self at the Door of that only Rich Person who can free thy Soul from its necessities Thus did Moses who in all Cases of Doubt and Extremity had recourse to the Tabernacle where he consulted God himself Thus was Joshua deceived by the Gibeonites because he would not consult God before-hand Apply thy self to God in thy Afflictions and upon all other occasions The Woman that was troubled with an Issue of Blood for twelve years and had suffered many things of many Physicians at length came to the Physician of Physicians from whom alone she obtain'd that Cure which she could not have from many in twelve years It is a main matter to know from whom thou expectest a kindness It is an Argument of extream Poverty to beg from Beggars Sect. 50. VVE have said that recourse must be had to God in every thing
Therefore a happy end is so desired from none but God Of which I will annex a short Example First Prayer Eight Verses chosen out of the Psalms of David by St. Bernard which he is reported to have repeated every Day for a Happy Hour of Death ENlighten my Eyes that I sleep not in death lest my Enemies say I have prevailed against him Psal. 12. v. 3 4. Into thy hands I recommend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of Truth Psal. 31. v. 6. At last I spake with my Tongue Lord let me know my end and the number of my days that I may know how long I have to live Psal. 39. v. 4 5. Shew some good token upon me for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psal. 86. v. 17. Thou hast broken my Bands in sunder I will offer to thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and will call upon the Name of the Lord Psal. 116. v. 14 15. I had no place to fly to and no Man car'd for my Soul I cry'd unto thee O Lord and said Thou art my Hope and my Portion in the Land of the Living Psal. 142. v. 5 6. Omnipotent Sempiternal God who didst prolong the Life of Hezekiah miserably imploring thee grant me thy unworthy Servant before the day of my Death so much time to live that I may be able to deplore all my Sins and may obtain from thy Compassion Pardon and Favour Omnipotent Gracious and Merciful God I most humbly beseech thee by the Death of thy Son grant me a happy and a blessed Hour when my Soul shall depart out of my Body Lord Jesu Crucified Christ by the Bitterness of the Death which thou didst suffer for me upon the Cross chiefly when thy Soul departed from thy Body have Mercy on my Soul at the last Hour who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost for ever and for ever Amen The Second Prayer For a Happy Departure MOST Merciful Lord Jesu if this be the Condition of a Dying Man if in such Dangers and Extremities my Spirit must depart out of this Life whither shall I fly but unto thee Oh my God Do thou take care of my Soul that it may not perish in that dreadful Hour Grant me I beseech thee according to the multitude of thy Mercies and by that servent Love and Grief wherewith thou who art Life it self didst die for me that I may have the Combat of Corporal Death always before my Eyes and that living I may so do as dying I would desire to have done and that I may expend my time and study in nothing more than that I may Spiritually die to my self and may mortifie all the Passions of my Sences that so after this Life I may live with thee Happy and Blessed to all Eternity The Conclusion of the first Chapter To the Reader DO this meditate upon this O Man and while thou art well learn to be sick learn to die To do both is a rare piece of Art which whether thou knowest or no it is not lawful for thee to try but when thou canst not err without the loss of Eternal Felicity We err but once in dying but that Error is never to be amended to all Eternity Therefore to abide as being still to depart But for the most part abide within thyself and search every cranny of thy Conscience Whatever thou enjoyest look upon it as the Lumber of a place where there is no Habitation Thou art not suffered to carry out any more than thou broughâ—…est in with thee Therefore act and bestir thy self Approve thy self right in the sight of God Thou art to go hence Believe that thou standest always at the Gate of Eternity Eternity is that we must look after Pleasure is short Punishment Eternal The labour is Easie the reward Everlasting Therefore we have given wholesom Instruction we have taught that Death is to be contemn'd but the thoughts of it never to be laid aside Now we will give the same Admonitions to the Sick CHAP. II. The Remembrance of Death is Recommended to the Sick Sect. 1. The Introduction and whether Sickness be an Evil CAunus is a Town in Caria in a Pestilent Air and unwholesom for the Inhabitant These People when Stratonicus the Musician and witty Man beheld he recited the Verse in Homer to them Like as the Leaves just so the People are Thereby he taunted their Icterical Yellowish and Wan Complexions But when the Caunians had given him a very rugged Entertainment for defaming their City as sickly and unwholesom Stratonicus return'd upon them again Must I not dare said he to call that a sickly place where the dead walk More wittily and more smartly than before But why do we deny and lift up our Noses We are most like to Leaves Very plainly Job Wilt thou break a Leaf saith he driven to and fro As if he had said When I am but a Leaf liable to all the Inconveniences of Life afraid of every Gust wilt thou hasten me with the wind of thy indignation I shall fall of my self without any constraint of thine Are not Men Leaves whom Sickness like dry Leaves and juiceless Flowers tosâ—…es to and fro and variously sports with Clement of Alexandria being of the same Opinion Go to said he Men of an obscure Life like the Generation of Leaves infirm Creatures Images of Waâ—… things like shadows frail unsledg'd living but the Life of one day Certainly we are Leaves shaken by every puff of wind Sometimes a little Fever what do I say Nay a little Cough a little drop falling upon the little wicket of the Throat mortifies this Leaf and throws it into the Grave But whether or no is Sickness a Benefit and Death an Evil No Mortal no it is not saith Epictetus Health well us'd is a good thing ill us'd a mischief And therefore we may reap Benefit by Sickness What dost thou say of Sickness I wil shew thee its Nature then I shall be quiet I shall think my self well dealt with I shall not flatter the Physician I shall not wish for Death What wouldst thou more Whatever thou shalt give me that will I make happy prosperous honourable to be desir'd But there are some that deny this and say Take heed of being sick 't is an ill thing To them Epictetus again That is as much as to say saith he Take heed that thou dost not feign three to be four 't is an ill thing How evil If we so think of it as we ought What harm will it do me Rather will it not do me good If therefore I so think of Poverty Sick or Troubles of Church or State as I ought is not that enough to me will it not be profitable Truth Love thee O Epictetus How agreeable are all these things to Christian Doctrine This Foundation being laid we shall here teach ye to be mindful
of Death in Sickness and not to be afraid of his coming Sect. 2. The sick Person to his Friends To Sickness To the beginning of a Mortal Disease To Death To Christ our Lord. To his Friends Hence with your unseasonable mourning This is not a place for Wailing but for Prayer But I depart early from you Early take heed ye mistake not I was ripe for death as soon as I was born yea before I was born What I was when born I know a weak frail body liable to all Reproach the Food of Sickness the Victim of Death Behold who e're thou art take Hope or Substance to Morrow not to be or else to be elsewhere To Sickness Must I then now be sick The time is come for me to try my self The couragious Man does not shew himself either in Battel or at Sea There is a Courage also in the Bed of Sickness Shall I leave a Feaver or that me We cannot always continue together Hitherto I enjoyed Health now my business is with Sickness Sickness I know is the first Messenger of Death I believe St. Gregory for that who truly and piously The Lord knocks saith he when by the anguish of Sickness he declares the approach of Death to whom we presently open if we receive him with Affection The very Fables teach me to receive this first Messenger of Death with a contented Mind They relate how that an old Man lay sick and when Death was ready to snatch him away the sick-man desired that he would defer the fatal blow awhile till he made his Will and prepared such other things as were necessary for so long a Journey To whom Death Fond Banquet for the Grave said he couldst thou not prepare in so many Years that hast had so many warnings from me already To whom the old Man I take thy Truth to witness I never had any warning from thee To whom Death reply'd Now I find old men will lye A hundred nay a thousand times I have admonished thee when I took away not only thy equal in years but also young Men Children Infants while thou lookst and wepst But I appeal to this Truth forgetful old man did I not forewarn thee when thy Eyes grew dim thy Hair waxed grey thy Ears grew deaf all thy proud Senses defective and thy whole Body wasted These were my Messengers these knockt at thy Doors but thou wouldst not be spoken with thou wert often and daily warn'd I can stay no longer come and go along with me He ill prepares himself for Death who prepares so late To the beginning of a mortal Distemper When I consider my Life the multitude of my Sins the small number of my Deeds good God I am pinn'd up and in streights on every side But it is better for me to fall into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are manifold than to live and multiply my years and my sins What I should be thou Lord knowest full well Perhaps I should fall from thy Graee should I live longer ' Death thou art at hand take me away so that I may preserve the Favour of my God or rather so that the Favour of God may preserve me which is the only thing O Christ Yesu which I beg of thee and through thee To Death Why with a slow Consumption cruel Death Dost thou deprive me slowly of my Breath Such preparation needs not for my end Strike quickly then for I will ne're contend Why shouldst thou spend thy Quiver on my head When one poor single blast will blow me dead For what is man A batter'd and leaking Ship that will split with one dash without the force of a Tempest the Body of man consisting of infirm and fluid parts comely in the outward Lineaments not able to endure Cold Heat or Labour that consumes and wastes of it self fearing its own nourishment the plenty or want whereof is frequently the ruine of it to himself only a profitable and vitious nourishment nicely to be looked after and preserved A life enjoyed at pleasure liable to a thousand Diseases and without Diseases devour'd by it self Do we admire at this once dying wherein thou mayst find private and concealed Deaths His smell his taste his weariness his watching the humours of his Body his meat and drink to man are deadly To Christ. I would not die but live he seeks to live That in thy love O Christ to die doth strive I do not stand in fear of those things which thou O God dost appoint for me I follow thee O merciful Father I follow thee And wherefore should I refuse when thou callest me nearer to thee 'T is much better for me to be dissolved and be with Christ. This is that which I desire For Christ is life to me and Death is gain Sect. 3. An Antidote against Grief WHerefore art thou troubled wherefore art thou perplexed Thou art in the hand of God and he takes care of thee But thou art afflicted and sick What evil can that be which proceeds from the Fountain of Goodness God would have thee to be his own and therefore shuts thee up and retains thee within the Lattices of Sickness least thou shouldst go astray from Heaven A little Bird weary of the Cage desires liberty but while it is in the Cage is both lov'd and sed by its Master While she is at liberty who can believe her free from the Fowler or from the Snare Thus believe me it is a great thing to be the Captive of the Lord thy God it is to be lookt upon as a great Favour to be bound a little while to be cut and wounded by him that will spare thee to Eternity Sect. 4. Not always Draughts of Sweetness GOD sometimes O sick Man gives the Cups of bitterness thou drankst the sweet Liquor while thou wert in health VVhy dost thou make Faces why dost thou refuse the Cup Think upon that of Job Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil Ingrateful Mortals we know not the Benefits we receive but by losing them Thou wilt be a good Valuer of lost Health for the future Thou mayst remember also that when thou wert in health thou didst often recreate thy self beyond the bounds of Sobriety Now therefore let me perswade thee chearfully to take this bitter Cup and bear this punishment imposed upon thee for thy former Ryots Formerly at at the Latin Festivals when the Chariot-Drivers strove for Victory they that overcame drank Wormwood Do thou now drink that thou mayst overcome He undeservedly Metheglin sips That to the bitter will not lay his lips Sect. 5. The contempt of Death is a Christian Generosity NO Man ever govern'd his Life well but he that contemned it VVe are not so silly but that we understand we must one day die yet when Death approaches we hang back we tremble we lament But would not he appear to thee a very Fool that should weep because he had not lived
look after Heaven Sickness intangles the Body in a thousand Miseries but frees the Soul from as many 'T is the saying of St. Paul Though our outward Man perish yet the inward Man is renewed day by day Hence though Sickness seem evil nay the worst of Sufferings it then becomes the best when it renders the Sick Person more holy Many when they feel the pain correct the crime A sick Soul seldom inhabits but in a healthy Body Sect. 12. The Sickness of the Body is the Salvation of the Soul SIckness exhorts to Parcimony disswades from Lust and is the Mistress of Modesty Do thou lay aside all Care whatever happens to the Body thou art safe to the Mind be in health For the sickness of the Body has been of great advantage in many to the health of the Soul That sublime person rais'd from nothing from the Water below elevated to the Stars who keeps the Keys of Heaven whose only shadow expell'd the Distempers and Diseases of the Body being once ask'd why he suffer'd his own Daughter to lye under the Oppression of a violent Disease made answer It is convenient for her How knowest thou but that it may be as convenient for thee The same Person when he found his Daughter might be safely Cur'd recover'd her and made her fit to Cure others Do thou also take care that thy health may do thee good and perhaps thou shalt recover Lastly take care of thy Soul above all things and offer it up to the Heavenly Physician to be Cur'd And as to what remains hope if not for what is needful for yet for what is convenient fot thee Sickness is a very unpleasant Companion but a faithful which often pulls ye by the Sleeve and admonishes thee of thy condition A faithful Admonisher is a most certain fafeguard in danger If the Sickness be remediless be silent and rejoice for that thou shalt be the sooner free from a loathsom and ruinous Prison Most excellent was the saying of Gregory Nazianzene A sick Soul is near to God Sect. 13. Sickness admonishes us of Eternity HOW great a Benefit is this that the Miseries of this present Life by a short Experience should admonish us of Eternity Therefore let the sick person labour to avoid infinite Miseries while so impatiently endures the Bitternesses here let him learn by pains not long lasting to avoid pains Eternal which neither Pothecary nor Physician no Drug nor Herb not Death it self can Cure There are several ways to Death but but one to Eternity Anaxagoras dying in a Foreign Countrey when his Friends ask'd him whether he would be carried back into his Countrey There is no necessity said he and added the reason for the way is wide enough every where to the Infernal Shades This answer may as well be fit those who are Travelling up to Heaven O happy and profitable Flame of a Fever because short O dreadful Funeral Piles of Hell because Eternal Some Remedies are made out of some Poysons and oft-times a small and present pain admonishes us to prevent the approach of Excessive pains that threaten to twinge us And that which was troublesome became profitable Thus every Disease the more it perplexes and torments us the more it admonishes us of Eternity either in perpetual Joy or Misery Let the healthy take care let the sick be mindful whither they go Pleasure and Sorrow here are bounded within very narrow limits All the Felicity of Mortals is Mortal and within the same bounds are all Miserie 's restrained For bright Eternity no limits knows So that an Age of Time a Tittle shows Sect. 14. Therefore is Death to be desir'd I Have said Infirmity of Body is often to be desired to the end thou maist be the sooner a Freeman and a Victor This did he desire who said Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities For my strength is made perfect in weakness therefore have I delectation in Infirmities As a good Sword may be often in a bad Scabbard so in weak and sickly Body oft-times lyes hid a stout and couragious Mind That strength is to be desired which neither Time nor Fortune decays A sick person is not fit to carry Burthens or for digging and delving but to exercise his patience and maintain and increase his Faith So a Shipboard the stronger Row but the more prudent stand at the Helm Life is like a Ship tossed with the Waves of Business and the Sea of the World it has its Oars and its Helm If thou canst not perform the meaner Offices apply thy self to the more noble The true and generous strength of Man is in his Soul The Body the Soul's House how strong or how weak it is is nothing to a Guest of a few days If the House fall there 's a necessity of removing somewhere else and being hence excluded that necessity carries us unto a perpetual Mansion Strength is perfected in weakness so that although it seem so bad yet is that evil so much the rather to be desiâ—…d as being the prevention of a greater The condition of most is then most prosperous when most infirm and weak Sect. 15. What is to be read in Sickness ZEm the Son of Demius having consulted the Oracle to know how he might lead the best Life had this answer given him If he made himself of the same colour with the dead that is if he conversed with the dead Or as Suidas expounds it if he read the writings of the Ancients To dwell among Books being to live among the dead And this familiarity with the dead is the best Life But it is the same madness to lay before the Sick whole Libraries and huge Volumes as to set before them full Meals of Flesh. A little Broth or a small Sallet must serve them so a little Book is enough for them for several Months However still something is to be read to the Sick if the Disease and Pain will give leave but they are to be read as they eat What they eat they do not presently swallow but chew first So what they read they must not carelesly pass over but they are to consider and as it were to weigh every little sentence Otherwise to read is to neglect But let the Sick Mans only Book be Christ Crucified Let him read that Book continually wherein he will find as many Comforts as Words and Wounds Sect. 16. In Sickness we are often to pray SO I say we must always pray in sickness Neither is this a thing of any great difficulty to a sick person For either with his Tongue if he have strength enough may he pronounce his Prayers to God Or if his Tongue be numm'd or that his voice be intercepted by weakness a suppliant Mind is to be lifted up to Heaven while the Body lyes quiet but only for some ardent groans that distinguish these private Colloquies with God in Sickness But there is also a sort of Sickness that does
thou hast lost all thy time What if I prove Sick Thou shalt be honestly Sick Who shall Cure thee God I shall lye hard But as a Man I shall not have a convenient House 'T is an inconvenience to be Sick What shall be the issue of the Disease Nothing but Death Therefore dost not thou believe that the Fountain of all Evil is the chief mark of a degenerate and dastardly Mind is not so much death it self as the fear of Death Therefore exercise thy self against it make use of whatever thou hearest or readest as weapons to Encounter it So shalt thou know there is no other way for Man to gain his own Liberty 6. From how many Evils art thou freed by Death To die is to shut up the Shop of all Miseries Excellently well said Pliny That is the condition of Life that Death becomes the Heaven for the best of Men and the chief benefit of Nature And therefore let every one provide himself of this as one of the principal Cures for his Mind that of all the Benefits which Nature affords Men there is none better than a seasonable Death Caesar in Salust affirms Death to be a Cessation from Misery to the afflicted and no Torment Therefore the Wise Man always considers what manner of Life he led and not how long For Nature provided us a place to Lodge and Sojourn in but not to inhabit lends us the use of Life like that of Money are not payable at a certain day Why then dost thou complain if she call it in when she pleases since she lent it upon that condition 7. The Prison Doors are set open by Death and dost thou fear to go forth Rather rejoice Hitherto thou wert a Captive now thou shalt be free How foolish a thing it is to depend upon Hope or Happiness and be afraid to go at large to that which always remains and to change for a moment of dying a perpetual Immortality The Prison is open haste thee to a better place 8. Death is the way yea it is the Gate that leads us into our Countrey to Eternal Life to Immortal Joy For Death is not so much the end of Life as the beginning of Life Learnedly said St. Bernard The Just Man dies but securely whose death as it is the Exit out of this present Life is the Entry into a better But thou wilt say To live long how pleasant a thing it is but how uncertain is it whether Divine Grace will not forsake thee before thy Sin And who is there that has not often reason to be afraid for his perseverance which no holiness of Life can merit 'T is a Gift and given gratis Therefore he that desires this Gift let him reconcile himself to the Giver 9. But the Reason of Reasons is the Will of God whose Eternal pleasure it was that thou shouldst yield to Nature at this time in this place and through this Disease What wouldst thou more It was Gods will it so seem pleasing to God This is that will that can will no evil Therefore the Son of Syrack gives this advice Humble thy self afore thou beest sick and while thou maist sin shew thy Conversation But all these Reasons I do shortly sum up thus 1. The Death of Christ. 2. The Grace of God 3. The Invitation of the Saints 4. Examples of those that were before us 5. The Things to be feared 6. The end of all Evils 7. Enlargement out of Prison 8. Entrance into Paradice 9. The will of God Sect. 3. Therefore Death is not to be fear'd THerefore do willingly O Christian which otherwise thou wouldst be forc'd to do unwillingly VVhat is done by a willing Mind becomes light and ceases to be necessity where the will takes place The wise Man is so instructed as to consent to what he cannot withstand Therefore I am secure and fear nothing Nature a most kind Parent never made any thing terrible 'T is only the Error of Men that makes Death formidable VVe are afraid of Death not because it is evil but because it is not known to Men. If thou art revolving any thing sublime in thy Mind if thou art rearing any high or lofty structure despise those low and poor mistakes of the Vulgar and admire those Precepts whose imitation leads thee the true way to Glory VVe have innumerable Examples of those that die happily and cheerfully Rather imitate him among the Ancients that made this Dialogue between himself and the Minister of Death Thou shalt die Since the Fall 't is the Nature not so much the punishment of Man Thou shalt die Upon this condition I came into the VVorld Thou shalt die 'T is the Law of Nations to repay what has been borrow'd Thou shalt die Life is a Pilgrimage when thou hast travell'd as far as thou hast design'd thou must return home again Thou shalt die I thought thou wouldst have told me some News I came for this purpose As soon as I was Born Nature set me my Bounds VVhy should I be offended Thou shalt die 'T is a vain thing to fear what I cannot avoid He that stays the longest cannot fly it Thou shalt die I am not the first nor the last many went before and many shall follow Thou shalt die VVhat wise Man ever took it amiss to be set at Liberty VVhatever begins must end Thou shalt die It is not grievous because but once to be suffered They are Eternal Pains that torment Now is Death less to be fear'd than formerly For then the Gate of Heaven being not so open all Men bewail'd for this Noctes atque Dies c. Both day and night stands ope th' Infernal Gate Of swarthy Dis But now we can Sing Both day and night to Zealous Faith and Hope The splendid Gate of highest Heav'n stands ope So that it matters not how terrible and threatning Death appears 'T is the most inconsiderable what he desires of us He never thought of Death that liv'd well nor loses any thing who gains all things Sect. 4. How the Holy Men do desire yet fear Death LET us behold Paul saith Gregory how he loves what he seeks to avoid How he avoids what he loves He desires to die and yet fears to be spoil'd of his Flesh. Why so because though the Eternal Victory over-joy him yet the present pain disturbs him And though the Love of the Recompence overcome him yet he cannot be unsensible of the twitches and pangs of Torment For as a Couragious Souldier just before the Battel palpitates trembles looks pale yet is still instigated by his Anger So a Holy Man seeing the approach of his Suffering is shaken by the weakness of his Nature fears the approach of Death and yet rejoices to die And because there is no passage but through Death therefore trusting he doubts and doubting trust rejoicing he fears and fearing rejoices Because he knows he shall not attain the Garden of Repose unless he get over the Hill that lyes
between David shew'd his fear of Death when he cry'd out Lord take me not away in the midst of my Age. Neither was Abraham Jacob nor Elias free from that fear though it were but moderate Arsenius a Man of a Hundred and Twenty years of Age after he had served God Five and Fifty years being ready to depart the World began to be afraid and to shed Tears which his Friends admiring And dost thou Father cry'd they fear death To whom he Verily said he ever since I have taken upon me Religious Orders I have always been afraid of this Hour To which purpose Seneca spake very perspicuously Therefore saith he the stoutest Man while he is putting on his Arms looks pale and the fiercest Souldiers knees tremble a little at first Charles the Fifth in all Warlike Expeditions most Couragious in all Dangers most undaunted yet when he put on his Armour before a Battel was always wont to look pale and quiver for fear but after his Arms were on like an Armed Giant breathing nothing but a Lion-like Valour like an Iron Giant he flew upon the Enemy Thus the best of Men desires and fears Death But it is better to die with Catâ—… than to live with Antony He overcomes death who dextrously suffers himself to be overcome by Death Sect. 5. An Ill Death follows an Ill Life AS the Tree when it is cut falls which way it bends So which way we bend when we live that way we fall when we die It would be a strange thing that a commendable death should conclude an ill-spent Life A Courtier of King Kenred who studied more to please his Lord than his Saviour Christ when he came to die he did not so much seem to neglect as to delay the care of his Soul But at length seeing the Devils triumphing about him with a List of his wicked Actions in despair he expir'd When the Impious Chrysaurius desir'd respite respite but till Morning he expir'd with a denial Thus Jezabel and Athaliah thus Benhadad and Belshazzar thus Antiochus and thousands of others as they liv'd so they ended their days Sect. 6. A good Death follows a good Life MOST truly said St. Austin That is not to be thought an ill death which St. Ambrose gives us this Rule A sincere fidelity and a discerning foresight Or Charity with Prudence and Prudence with Charity Thirdly Sole care of Salvation This is the one thing necessary St. Austin ten days before he died admitted no body to see him but the Physician and the person that brought him sustenance and that at set Hours All the while employing himself in Prayers Groans and Tears leaving this Rule behind him That no Man ought to depart hence without a worthy and competent Repentance Fourthly To Receive the Sacrament In this Affair delay is always dangerous Fifthly An Entire Resignation of thy self to the Divine Will All Men perhaps cannot shew an undaunted Spirit but all Men can shew a willing Mind Therefore let the sick Patient often repeat those words of the Lord Christ Even so O Father for so was it thy good pleasure He cannot well miscarry that so effectually reconciles himself to his Judge Sect. 7. How to recover Time lost WHoever he be that desires to recover his lost time let him remove himself from all time and place and betake himself to that Now of Eternity where God lives In God all things lost are to be found Let Man plunge himself into God in this manner Most Eternal God O that I had liv'd as purely as obediently as holily from the beginning to the end of the World as all those Men did who best pleas'd thee in the practice of all manner of Vertues in continual Miseries and Afflictions Oh that I might be able to bear thee that Love wherewith all the Blessed and all thy Holy Angels bear thee For all that I can do and more is due to thy Mercy and Love But now O Lord have Mercy upon me according to thy Knowledge and thy good Pleasure He recovers his lost Hours who sincerely grieves for having lost them Sect. 8. A short Life how to be prolong'd A Man of an upright Mind is to live not as long as is convenient but as long as it behoves him Wisdom cries out though he was soon dead yet fulfilled he much time For how has he not fulfill'd all times who passes to Eternity For as much time as he has spent not in Series of Years or Number of Days but in Devotion and an unquenchable desire of profiting in Piety so much does he deservedly claim of true Life For he retains in Vertue what he lost in time And therefore an unwearied study of profiting and a continual going forward to perfection is reputed for perfection Sect. 9. There is an End of all Things but of Eternity 'T IS the Sence of St. Gregory all the length of the time of this present Life is known to be a point and has its end Which the same Gregory confirming 'T is but little all that has an end For whatever tends to a Non-Entity by the course of time ought not to seem long to us Those very moments that seem to delay it drive it on St. Austin is more plain All this time saith he I do not mean from to day till the end of the World but from Adam to the end of the World is but a drop compar'd to Eternity All things else have an end but Eternity has none There is nothing in the World but has an end Banquets Balls Pleasure Laughter have all an end but Eternity has none Wherefore then do we set our Minds upon vain things Nothing but what is durable will delight a great Mind Whatever had a beginning shall have an end only Eternity has no end Why boasts the fond vain-glorious World Whose Joys are transitory Like to the Potters brittle Ware Is all her Pomp and Glory Ah! where is Solomon the Wise Or Sampson strong in Fight Where is the lovely Absalom Or David's dear Delight What is beceme of Caesar now VVith all his Trophies around VVhere 's Aristole Tully where In Learning so profound So many Men of Might and Fame VVith all their Honour won In the short twinkling of an Eye Are vanish'd all and gon The fleeting Banquet of our Joys Swift as our shadows run In the short twinkling of an Eye Thâ—… are vanish'd all and gone Sect. 10. The Consideration of a Dying Man SAith the Master of Patience Job The waters pierce through the very stones by little and little and the Floods wash away the Gravel and Earth so shalt thou destroy the hope of Man Thou prevailest still against him so that he passes away Thou changest his Countenance and puttest him from thee Job c. 14. v. 19 20. How few Ceremonies God uses when he would send a Man out of this into another World He changes his Countenance and commands him to be gon VVhen death is at hand the whole Face is
eyes said Cast me not off O Lord now in my old Age when strength faileth me A while after he said He hath afflicted me sore but he will never never cast me off Being desired to arm himself with faith and a stedfast hope in God's Mercies against the Temptations of Satan He said I am wholly Christ's and the Devil has nothing to do with me and God forbid that I should not now have experience of the sweet Consolation in Christ. Then with a smiling Countenance gave up the Ghost and was interred nobly by the King's Commandment But in Q. Mary's time his Bowels being taken up they were burnt with Fagius's He died Anno Christi 1550. The Death of Gasper Hedio HE preached vigorously against Masses Indulgences and Auricular Confession and wrote many Books against them What time he could spare from his Ministerial Function he employed in writing Commentaries and Histories until the year of his Death which was Anno 1552. The Death of Oswald Myconius AFter the Death of Oecolampadius he was made chief Pastor in Basil where voluntarily laying down his Divinity Lectures upon some grudges the University had against him he inclining to Luther's Opinion about the real presence in the Sacrament he wholly applied himself to his Pastoral Office He died Anno 1552. aged 64. The Death of George Prince of Anhalt HE was a great Divine Learned in the Law and skilful in Physick he conserred with Camerarius about the mutation of Empires their Period and Causes about Heavenly Motions and the effects of the Stars The last Act of this Prince his Life expressed his Piety using frequent Prayer for himself and all the Princes of that â—…amily he often pondered upon these Texts God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. No Man shall take my Sheep out of my Hands Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest He died Anno 1557. aged 47. The Death of Justus Jonas HE employed himself much in Disputations about Religion in defence of the Truth and in School Divinity Several Churches were reformed by him and committed to his charge He was a Man of an excellent Wit great Industry and Integrity of Life joined with Piety and one whom Luther and most of the famous Men of that Age highly esteemed He died Anno 1555. aged 63. The Death of John Rogers HE was hurried to Newgate On the fourth of Febraary the Keeper told him he must prepare for Execution at which not being at all concerned said Then if it be so I need not tie my points Before he went to the Flames he was carried before Bonner Bishop of London who earnestly persuaded him to recant and live but he utterly refused life upon such conditions exhorting such as stood about him to repent and cleave fast to Christ. As he came out his Wife with Nine small Children about her and one sucking at her Breast waited to see him of which he took his leave bidding them trust in the Lord and he would plentifully provide for them After which he went couragiously to the Stake and with admirable patience embraced the Flames being the first that sealed his Testimony with his Blood during the Reign of that bloody Queen suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 1555. The Death of Laurence Saunders DUring his Imprisonment he wrote to his Wife and Friends in this manner I am merry and I trust I shall be so maugre the Teeth of all the Devils in Hell Riches I have none to bestow amongst you but that Treasure of tasting how sweet Christ is to hungry Consciences whereof I thank my Saviour I do feel part that I bequeath to you and to the rest of my Beloved in the Lord. They offered to release him if he would Recant to which he replied That he did confess Life and Liberty were things desirable but that he would not murther his Conscience to save his life but by God's Grace said he I will abide the worst Extremity that Man can do against me rather than do any thing against my Conscience And when Gardiner threatned him with Death he said Welcom be it whatsoever the Will of the Lord be either life or death and I tell you truly I have learned to die but I exhort you to be ware of shedding innocent blood for truly it will cry aloud against you After a Year and three Months Imprisonment he was brought to the Stake which he embraced and afterwards kissing said Welcom Cross of Christ welcom everlasting life The Fire by the malice of his Enemies being made of green wood put him to exquisite Torments but he endured them with a Christian patience as being well assured when his fiery Tryal was at an end he should receive a Crown of Life that fadeth not away One thing I shall not think amiss to insert When the Nation was in fear of Queen Mary's bringing in Popery Mr. Saunder's being in company with Doctor Pedleton and seeming to be much dejected Pedleton said What man there is much more cause for me to fear than for you for asmuch as I have a big and fat Body yet will I see the utmost drop of this Grease of mine melted away and this Flesh consumed with Fire before I will forsake Jesus Christ and his Truth which I have professed Yet when Queen Mary came to the Crown he turned Apostate The Death of John Hooper BEing come to the County of Gloucester where he suffered he was received by the Sheriff who with a strong Guard conveyed him to the place of Execution being met by thousands of people who bewailed his Condition and sent up their Prayers to Heaven that he might be enabled to bear his Sufferings patiently many of them weeping to see so Reverend a Person fall into such misery but he comforted them and told them That he was unworthy who refused to suffer reproach or death for the sake of the Lord Jesus who refused not for our sakes to suffer a shameful and ignominious death upon the Cross. And hereupon he began to exhort them to be stedfast in their Faith but the Popish Varlets would not suffer him to proceed Then he addressed himself to the Sheriff saying Sir my request to you is that I may have a quick Fire which may soon dispatch me and I will be as obedient as you would wish I might have had my life with grrat advancement as to temporal things but I am willing to offer my life for the Testimony of the Truth and trust to die a faithful Servant to God and a true Subject to the Queen Then kneeling down he continued in servent Prayer for the space of half an Hour with an exalted and chearful Countenance and then rising up suffered them to fasten him to the Stake where such was the malice of his Enemies that they had prepared green Wood yet beâ—…re the Fire was kindled a Pardon was offered if he would Reâ—…ant but he cried out
conveyed into Smithfield where he no sooner came But he fell on his Knees and with a loud Voice cried I will pay my Vows in thee O Smithfield then rising up he kissed and embraced the Stake saying Shall I disdâ—…n to suffer at this Stake when my Lord and Saviour refused not to suffer a most vile Death for me Having poured out his Soul to God he â—…ered himself to be bound with the Chain and when the Fire was kindled he commended his Spirit into the Hands of the Father of all Spirits and patiently gave up the ghost suffering Martyrdom Anno Christi 1555. and of his Age about Forty Nine The Death of Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury THE Popish Doctors frequently visited him in Prison and used all the Arguments they could to persuade him to a Recantation but he absolutely resolved for a considerable time but at last through humane Frailty and desire of Life he did subscribe to a Recantation The good Bishop being soon greatly afflicted and troubled in his Conscience for what he had done burst out into a flood of Tears and after his Speech came to him he lifted up his Hands towards Heaven saying O Lord forgive me this great Sin against thy Holy Name which through the weakness of the Flesh I have unadvisedly committed And then addressing himself to the People he desired them for Jesus Christ sake to pray for him that God would pardon his Sins and especially that of his Recantation But said he This right hand that signed so wicked an Instrument shall first perish in the Flames Then they pulled him down and hurried him away to the Fire which was made in the same place where Ridley and Latimer had suffered stopping his Mouth left he should any more speak to the People who were not a little grieved to see the Primate of England cast down from all his Honours and in the end so barbarously mis-used When he came to the Stake he fell on his Knees and Prayed but was interrupted by the Papists who followed him with his Recantation saying Have you not signed it Have you not signed it Then he was tied to the Stake his Cloaths being first put off and the Fire being kindled to him some time before it came at his Body he stretched forth his right Hand and held it in the Flames till it fell off without any more than once drawing it back And after having recommended his Spirit into the hands of our merciful Redeemer the Lord Jesus he died like a Lamb ending his Life with the same Meekness as he had lived suffering Martyrdom for the sake of the everlasting Gospel Anno Christi 1556 and of his Age 72. The Death of Conrade Pellican HE was born in Suevia and educated at Zurick He was a candid sincere and upright Man free from Falshood and Ostentation He departed this Life upon Easter-day Anno 1556. aged 78. The Death of John Bugenhagius HE was born at Julin near Stetin in Pomerania being well educated in Grammar Musick and other liberal Sciences He used great diligence and industry in converting many to the Truth drawing near to his end he often repeated this Portion of Scripture This is life eternal to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent He died Anno Christi 1558. aged 73. The Death of Philip Melancthone HE was sent for by the Elector of Saxony to Lipsich to examine those that were maintained by the Elector to study Divinity In which he used great Diligence and after he returned to VVitterberg and fell sick of a Fever of which he died Sickness daily increased yet he so far strove against the power of his Disease that he would often rise to his Study The last Words he spake were to his Son-in-Law Doctor Pucer who when he asked him what he would have he replied Nothing but Heaven therefore trouble me no more with speaking to me After this he lying silent whilst the Ministers prayed by him he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1560. and in the sixty third year of his Age having been a constant Preacher of the Gospel for the space of 42 years The Death of John Lascus HE was a man of an excellent Wit and Judgment and took great pains to have composed that difference in the Churches about Christ's presence in the Sacrament though it did not succeed The King of Poland had such an esteem for him that he used his Adâ—…ice in Affairs of great importance He died Anno 1560. The Death of Augustine Marlorat MArlorat was taken and carried before the Constable of France who after several Examinations condemned him of High-Treason which was to be drawn upon a Sledge and to be hanged upon a Gibbet before our Ladies Church in Roan his Head to be stricken from his Body and set upon a Pole on the Bridge of the said City which Sentence was accordingly executed Anno 1562. aged 56. The Death of Peter Martyr BEing worn out with Travel and daily Study he after a while fell sick when calling together the principal Pastors of the Châ—…rch he made to them an excellent Confession of his Faith concluding This is my Faith and they that teach otherwise to the withdrawing Men from God God will destroy them And so taking his Leave of all his Friends after having made his Will he gave up the Ghost Anno Christi 1562. and of his Age Sixty-two The Death of Amsdorsius HE was born in Misnia of noble Parents and educated at Wiâ—…temberg He was recommended by Luther to instruct several Churches at Mâ—…gdeburg Goslaria and Naumberg where he carried on the great Work of Reformation He having attained to 80 years of Age died Anno. 1563. The Death of Wolfangus Musculus MUsculus being destitute at Strasburg some Fortifications were mending where he hired himself a Labourer to work by the Day comforting himself with this Dystich A God there is whose Providence doth take Care for his Saints whom he will not forsake Much Popish Malice he met with but God delivered him from their Revenge At length being seized with a violent Fever he died Anno 1563. and of his Age 66. The Death of Hyperius HE was born at Ipres in Flanders of noble Parents and was well educated His Care was great in reforming the Church and abolishing the Popish Fooleries out of the Service of God and and to establish a holy Scriptural and Ecclesiastical Discipline And in these Employments having worn out himself a Catarrh and Cough seized him complaining also of pains of the head breast and sides which often were so great as made him sweat as if he had been seized wish a Fever He died Anno 1564. aged 53. The Death of John Calvin CAlvin being settled in pastoral Charge of Geneva he continued to Confute Hereticks Papists and stirrers up of Sedition to heal Breaches and Division being Couragious even in the worst of times and as an Undaunted Champion of Christ not to follow his Standard till
am sure to see and to partake with them in Joy why then should not I be willing to dye to enjoy their perpetual Society in Glory And then with Tears told them That he was not unwilling to leave them for his own sake but for the sake of the Church Then having written his Farewel to the Senate and therein admonished them to take Care of the Churches and Schools and by their Permission chose one Ralph Gualter his Successor he patiently resigned up his Spirit into the Hands of his Redeemer dying Anno Christi 1575 and of his Age 71. The Death of Edward Deering DRawing near his end his Friends requested something from him for their Comfort and Edification The Sun shining in his Face he replyed There is but one Sun in the World nor but one Righteousness and one Communion of Saints if I were the most excellent of all Creatures in the World if I were equal in Righteousness to Abraham Isaac and Jacob yet had I reason to confess my self to be a Sinner and that I could expect no Salvation but in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ for we all stand in need of the Grace of God and as for my Death I bless God I feel and find so much inward Joy and Comfort in my Soul that if I were put to my Choice whether to die or live I would a thousand times rather chuse Death than Life if it may stand with the Holy Will of God He dyed Anno 1576. The Death of Peter Boquinus THE Popish Party being incensed against him sought all means to destroy him so that he was forced to fly to Heidelberg where upon a Lord's Day visiting of a Sick Friend he found his Spirits fail and said Lord receive my Soul and so quietly departed Anno 1582. The Death of Abraham Bucholtzer HE was full of Self denial Humble and an Enemy to Contentions He used often to meditate upon Death and used this Expression it hath always formerly been my Care in what Corner soever I have been to be ready when God called to say with Abraham Behold my Lord here I am but now above all other things I should be most willing so to answer if he would please to call me out of this miserable Life into his Glorious Kingdom for truely I desire nothing so much as the happy and blessed Hour of Death He dyed Anno 1584. Aged Fifty Five The Death of Gasper Olevian A Mortal Sickness seized upon him and preparing himself for Death he expressed to a Friend That by that Sickness he had learned to know the greatness of Sin and the greatness of God's Majesty more than ever he did before The next Day he told John Piscator That the day before for four Hours together he was filled with ineffable Joy so that he wondered why his Wife should ask him whether he were not something better whereas indeed he could never be better For said he I thought I was in a most pleasant Meadow in which as I walked up and down methought that I was besprinkled with a Heavenly Dew and that not sparingly but plentifully poured down whereby both my Body and Soul were filled with ineffable Joy To whom Piscator said That good Shepherd Jesus Christ led thee into fresh Pastures Yea said Olevian to the Springs of Living Waters Then repeating some Sentences out of Psalm 42. Isa. 9. Matth. 11. c. he said I would not have my Journey to God long deferred I desire to be dissolved and to be with my Christ. In his Agony of Death Alstedius asked him Whether he was sure of his Salvation in Christ c. He answered Most sure and so gave up the Ghost Anno 1587. Aged 51. The Death of John Wigandus HIS strength decaying he fell sick and preparing for Death he made his own Epitaph In Christ I liv'd and dy'd through him I live again What 's bad to Death I give my Soul with Christ shall reign So praying he resigned up his Spirit to God who gave it Anno 1587. Aged 64. The Death of John Fox MR. Fox together with his Wife and some others went to Antwerp and so to Basil which was then a place of free reception of poor distressed Fugitives who were forced to leave their Countreys for the sake of the Lord Jesus and his Everlasting Gospel And here he undertook to correct the Press and at such leisure times as he could spare he wrote part of the Acts and Monuments of the Church a Work Famous to all Posterity And in this station he continued till the death of Queen MARY whose death he had a little before foretold Upon certain notice of which he with several Pious and Learned Men returned into England and were kindly received by Queen Elizabeth where Mr. Fox prosecuted his Work begun at Basil and so laboured therein that he soon brought it to a period He finishing this great Work in Eleven years space searching all the Records himself He now growing in years and by reason of his former Hardships his great Study Travel and Labour he was reduced to a very weak Condition he laid down the troublesome Cares of the World to prepare himself for Death He resigned up his Spirit into the Hands of the Father of all Spirits dying Anno Christi 1587. in the 70th year of his Age. The Death of George Sohnius HE was full of Humility Piety and Patience falling sick he bore it with much Patience and with servent Prayer often repeated O Christ thou art my Redeemer and I know that thou hast redeemed me I wholly depend upon thy Providence and Mercy from the very bottom of my Heart I commend my Spirit into thy hands and so dyed Anno 1589. Aged 38. The Death of James Andreas THE year before his death he would say He should not live long That he was weary of this Life and much desired to be dissolv'd and to be with Christ which was best of all Falling sick he sent for James Heerbrand saying I expect that after my death many Adversaries will rise up to asperse me and therefore I sent for thee to hear the Confession of my Faith that so thou mayest testifie for me when I am dead and gone that I dyed in the true Faith The night before he dyed he slept partly in his Bed and pâ—…rtly in his Chair The Clock striking Six in the Morning he said My Hour draws near When he was ready to depart he said Lord 〈◊〉 thy hands I commend my Spirit He dyed Anno 1590. Aged 61. The Death of Hierom Zanchius ZAnchy being grown old had a liberal Stipend setled upon him by Prince Câ—…ssimir and going to Heidleberg to visit his Friends he fell sick and quietly departed in the Lord Anno 159â—… aged 75. The Death of Anthony Sadeel HE sell sick of a Pâ—…urisie which he Prophetically said would be Mortal and withdrawing himself from the World he wholly conversed with God He dyed Anno 1591. Aged 57. The Death of William
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 Hands 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 the Lord Guilford Dudley was conveyed to a Scaffold on Tower-Hill where he penitently ended his Life his Head and Body being laid in a Cart all bloody was brought to the Chappel and exposed to the Sight of this sorrowful Lady a Spectacle more dismal than the kneenest Axe of her Death And now her own part is to be acted upon a Scaffold erected upon the Green within the Tower where being mounted with a chearful Countenance she looked upon the People and with great Constancy directed her self after this manner That she was come thither to die for an Offence which was committed by a Device not of her own seeking then wringing her Hands and protesting her Innocency she desired them to take notice that she died a good Christian and requested their Prayers Then kneeling down she repeated in English the 51 Psalm after which her Gentlewoman helped her off with her Gown and the Hangman on his Knees asked her forgiveness which she forgave him freely and prayed him to dispatch her quickly Looking upon the Block and kneeling she said Will you take it off before I lay it down No Madam replied the Executioner then she tied a Handkerchief before her Eyes and feeling for the Block said What shall I do Where is it Where is it Being guided she laid her Head upon the Block and giving the Sign she said Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Then receiving the Fatal Blow she ended this Life Anno 1554. Aged 16. Her Death was much lamented but did not go unpunished for the Judge which passed her Sentence shortly after fell distracted crying out continually Take away the Lady Jane from me The Lady Jane Grey had a curious Vein in Poetry In her Troubles she composed these Lines Think nothing strange which Man cannot decline My Lot's to Day to Morrow it may be thine If God protect me Malice cannot end me If not all I can do will not defend me After dark Night I hope for Light This Epitaph was also made on her My Race was Royal sad was my short Raign Now in a better Kingdom I remain The Death of Sir Philip Sidney SIR Philip lay for the space of 25 Days enduring his Pains with admirable Patience and at length resign'd up his Spirit into the hands of his Redeemer October 16. Anno 1586. Upon him was made this Epitaph Apollo made him wise Mars made him stout Death made him leave the World Before his Youth was out The Death of Galeacius Carracciolus SIckness the Harbinger of Death seizing upon him which proceeded from abundance of Rheum this was produced by his long and wearisome Journeys which he had formerly taken by Land and Sea for his Conscience sake His Physicians despairing of his Cure he wholly sequestred himself from all Worldly Cogitations and taking his Farewell of his Wife and Friends saving He would lead them the way to Heaven Then he desired God to receive him and acknowledge him for his own and so quieâ—…ly departed 1592. Aged 74. The Death of Katherine Bretterg ONce she took the Bible in her hand and joyfully kissing it said O Lord 't is good for me to be afflicted that I may learn thy Statutes The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and sâ—…ver Then she desired her Husband to be ware of Popery and to let her little Girl be brought up in the Fear of God saying So shall I meet her in Heaven whom I must now leave behind me on Earth Once she was very dull in Prayer and when she came to Lead us not into Temptation she said I may not pray I may not pray for Satan interrupts me yet her Friends left her not till she had gained the Conquest She repeated often We have not received the Spirit of Bondage to fear again but the Spirit of Adâ—…tion whereby we cry Abba Father The Verse of Psalm 13. ult she often repeated chearfully Many Pious Meditations she used but the last was this My Flesh and my Heart faileth but God is the Strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever He that preserveth Jacob and defendeth his Israel he is my God and will guide me unto Death Then she departed this life without any motion of Body May ult Anno 1601. Aged 22. The Death of John Lord Harrington Baron of Exton FRom the First-Day of his last Sickness he apprehended the approach of Death and so readily prepared himself for it he made Confession of his Sins and oft confessed his Faith and undoubted hope of Salvation in Christ and when Death approached he breathed out O my God when shall I be with thee And in the midst of these longing Desires he departed Anno 1613. Aged 22. The Death of Phillip de Mornay Lord of Plessis Marley BEing displaced from his Government of Samur he betook himself to a Private Life and made his Will for the peace and good of his Family being seiz'd upon by a continual Fever and no hopes of Recovery he would often say I fly I fly to Heaven and the Angels are carrying me into the bosome of my Saviour then would he repeat the words of Job I know that my Redeemer liveth I shall see him with mine eyes and I feel I fell what I now speak He dyed in the 74th Year of his Age. The Death of John Bruen of Bruen-Stapleford in the County of Chester Esquire FAlling Sick the morning before his Death divers Friends took their leaves of him and hearing some make motion of Blacks he said I will have no Blacks I love no Proud nor Pompous Funeral neither is there any cause of Mourning but of rejâ—…icing rather in my particular Immediately before his Death lifting up his hands he said The Lord is my portion my help and my trust his blessed Son Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Redeemer Amen Even so saith the Spirit unto my Spirit therefore come Lord Jesus and kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth and embrace me with the Arms of thy Love into thy hands do I commend my Spirit O come now and take me to thy own self O come Lord Jesus come quickly O come O come O come So his
Spirit fainting he yielded up the Ghost in January Anno 1625. Aged 65. The Deaths of the KINGS and QUEENS of England since the Reformation to this present The Death of King Henry the VIII KING Henry being grown Fat fell into a languishing Fever and by Will appointed his Successor and Council did on the 28th of January 1547. in the 56 Year of his Age and 38 of his Reign leaving Issue by Queen Jane Prince Edward by his first Wife Katherine of Spain the Lady Mary and by Ann of Bullen the Lady Elizabeth who all Successively came to the Crown The Death of King Edward VI. ABout three hours before his Death his Eyes being closed thinking that none heard him he made this Godly Prayer Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched Life and take me amongst thy Chosen howbeit not my VVill but thy VVill be done Lord I commit my Soul to thee O Lord thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee yet for thy Chosens sake send me Life and Health that I may truly serve thee O my Lord God bless thy People and save thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy Chosen People of England O my Lord God defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and my People may praise thy Holy Name for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake Then turning his Face and seeing some by he said Are you so nigh I thought you had been further off Many servent Prayers he made but his last Words were these I am faint Lord have Mercy upon me and take my Spirit and so committed his Pious Soul into the hands of his Heavenly Father He died July 6. 1553. in the Seventeenth Year of his Age. He Reigned Six Years Five Months and Eight Days he was the one and Fortieth Sole Monarch of England and was Buried at VVestminster The Death of Queen Mary HER Husbands absence and the disappointment of proving with Child brought her into a Sickness whereof she died November 17. 1558. having Reigness 5 Years and 4 Months Cardinal Pool dying the day before but sometime before she declared to him That if when she were dead they would look into her Heart they would find Callis her great Distemper In her Reign there suffered 5 Bishops 21 Divines and in all 277 Persons The Death of Queen Elizabeth 1594. LOpez a Jew Physitian to the Queen was Executed for attempting to Poyson her In 1600. the Earl of Essex having incurr'd the Queens Displeasure in Ireland and more by scandalous Speeches and a kind of open Rebellion at his House in London being condemned by his Peers is Beheaded On the 24th of March 1602. died Queen Elizabeth having Reigned above 44 Years in as Troublesome times as any yet full of Honour and most happy in the Love of her People She was Interred in Henry the Seventh's Chappel at VVestminster The Death of King James the First THis King was Interred at VVestminster with great Solemnity his Queen was Ann Daughter of Frederick the Second King of Denmark by whom he had two Sons Henry and Charles and three Daughters Elizabeth Mary and Sophia the two last dyed young The Death of King Charles the First HE was led through the Park to the Seaffold before VVhite-Hall where having declared that he died a Martyr for the Laws and Liberties of his People he made a Confession of his Faith asserting that he died a true Son of the Church of England then he betook himself to his private Devotions and so patiently submitted his Royal Head to Martyrdom from the hand of a disguised Executioner His Body was put into a Black Velvet Coffin and afterwards wrapt in Lead was on the 7th of Feb. following Interred at St. George's Chappel at VVindsor in the same Vault with King Henry the 8th in presence of the Duke of Richmond Dr. Juxon and others but the manner appointed in the Liturgy could not be obtained to be used nor had he any Epitaph affixed but only on the Sheet of Lead ou a thin Plate fastned on the Breast this plain Inscription King Chaales 1648. The Death of King Charles the Second ON Monday Feb. 2. 1684. the King was seiz'd with a violent Fit of an Apoplexy which deprived him of his Senses but upon speedy Application of Remedies he returned to such a Condition as gave some Symptoms of his Recovery till VVednesday Night and then the Disease was so violent that he lay in a languishing Condition until Friday Feb. 6. and then expired He had Reigned Thirty six Years and Seven Days and was in the 55th Year of his Age. He was Interred in Henry the Seventh's Chappel being the Forty-sixth Sole Monarch of England The Death of Old Mr. Eliot of New-England WHILE he was making his Retreat out of this evil World his Discourses from time to time ran upon The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Theme which he still had Recourse unto and we were sure to have something of this whatever other Subject he were upon On this he talk'd of this he pray'd for this he long'd and especially when any bad News arriv'd his usual Reflection thereupon would be Behold some of the Clouds in which we must look for the coming of the Son of Man At last his Lord for whom he had been long wishing Lord come I have been a great while ready for thy coming At last I say his Lord came and fetched him away into the Joy of his Lord. He fell into some Languishments attended with a Fever which in a few days brought him into the Pangs may I say or Joys of Death And while he lay in these Mr. Walter coming to him he said unto him Brother Thou art welcome to my very Soul Pray retire to my Study for me and give me leave to be gone meaning that he should not by Petitions to Heaven for his Life detain him here It was in these Languishments that speaking about the work of the Gospel among the Indians he did after this Heavenly manner express himself There is a Cloud said he a dark Cloud upon the Work of the Gospel among the poor Indians The Lord revive and prosper that Work and grant it may live when I am dead It is a work which I have been Doing much and long about But what was the word I spoke last I recal that word My Doings Alas they have been poor and small and lean Doings and I 'll be the Man that shall throw the â—…st Stone at them all It has been observed that they who have spoke many considerable â—…hings in their Lives usually speak few at their Deaths But it was otherwise with our Eliot who after much Speech of and for God in his Life-time uâ—…tered some things little short of Oracles on his Death-bed which 't is a thousand pities they were not more exactly regarded and recorded Those Authors that have taken the pains to Collect Apophthegmata Morentium have not therein been unserviceable to
But yet for me I am a younger brother too to this man who dyed now and to every man whom I see or hear to die before me and all they are ushers to me in this School of death I take therefore that which thy servant Davids Wife said to him to be said to me If thou save not thy life to night to morrow thou shalt be slain 1 Sam. 16. 11. If the death of this man work not upon me now I shall die worse than if thou hadst not afforded me this help For thou hast sent him in this Bell to me as thou didst send to the Angel of Sardis with Commission to strengthen the things that remain and that are ready to die Apoc. 3. 2. That in this weakness of body I might receive spiritual strength by these occasions If I mistake thy Voice herein if I over-run thy pace and prevent thy Hand and imagin Death more instant upon me than thou hast bid him be yet the Voice belongs to me I am dead I was born dead and from the first laying of these mud-walls in my conception they have moldred away and the whole Course of Life is but an active death Whether this voice instruct me that I am a dead Man now or remember me that I have been a dead Man all this while I humbly thank thee O Lord for speaking in this Voice to my Soul When Invited to the House of Weeping Reflect and say DUty obliging me to perform the last Office of Love to my Friend I will surely follow his Corps to the Grave that in such a Spectacle as in a Glass I may behold my own Mortality for tho I always carry about me the Symptoms of Mortality and the marks of Death yet have I hitherto lived as if I should never die In small Villages where Instances of Mortality are very rare there the inward thoughts of their Hearts seem to be that they and their Houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all Generations In Populous Towns and Cities there the commonness takes away the sense of Mortality And oh how sad is it to behold the unsuitable Carriage of the generality of Christians at Funerals those opportunities are usually spent in unprofitable Chat in Mirth in Eating and Drinking and that sometimes to Excess and thus the House of Mourning is turned into the House of Mirth and Feasting But Lord grant that this may not be my practice when I come to the House of Mourning where my Friend now lyes dead Let my Eyes affect my Heart that I may seriously mind the present instance of Mortality and be affected with such Meditations as these Lord this Tragedy that is now acting on my deceased friend must ere long God knows how soon be acted on me my Breath is ready to perish the Earth is gaping for me yet a little while and I shall be carried down into the Chambers of Death Lord teach me so to number my days that I may apply my Heart unto true Wisdom As thou art walking along to the House oâ—… Weeping seriously meditate on Ruth 1. Ver. 17. WHere thou dyest will I dye and there I will be buried the Lord do so to me and more also if ought but Death part thee and me Where thou dyest will I dye Here Ruth supposeth two things 1. That she and her Mother in Law should both dye It is appointed once to dye 2dly That Naomi as the eldest should die first For according to the Ordinary custom of Nature it is the most probable and likely that those that are most stricken in years should first depart this life Yet I know not whether the Rule or Exceptions be more general and therefore let both Young and Old prepare for Death the first may die soon but the second cannot live long And there will I be buried Where she supposed two things more first That those that survived her would do her that favour to bury her which is a common courtesie not to be denyed to any It was an Epitaph written upon the Grave of a Begger Nudus eram vivus mortuus ecce tegor 2dly She supposeth they would bury her according to her instructions near to her Mother Naomi Observation As it is good to enjoy the company of the Godly while they are living so it is not amiss if it will stand with convenience to be buried with them after death The old prophets bones escaped a burning by being buried with the other Prophets and the Man who was tumbled into the grave of Elisha was revived by the virtue of his Bones And we read in the Acts and Monuments That the body of Peter Martyr's wife was was buried in a dunghil but afterwards being taken up in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth it was honourably buried in Oxford in the grave of one Frideswick a Popish-she-Saint to this end that if Popery which God forbid should over-spread our Kingdom again and if the Papists should go about to untomb Peter Martyrs Wifes Bones they should be puzzled to distinguish betwixt the Womans body and the Reliques of that their Saint so good it is sometimes to be buried with those whom some do account pious though perchance in very deed they be not so The Lord do so to me and more also To ascertain Naomi of the seriousness of her intentions herein Ruth backs what formerly she had said with an Oath lined with an execration If ought but Death See here the large extent of a Saints love it lasts till Death and no wonder for it is not founded upon Honour Beauty wealth or any other finister respect in the party beloved which is subject to Age or Mutability but only on the Grace and Piety in him which Foundation because it always lasteth the love which is built upon it is also perpetual Part thee and me Death is that which parteth one Friend from another Then the dear Father must part with his dutiful Child then the dutiful Child must forget his Dear Father then the kind Husband must leave his constant Wife then the constant Wife most lose her kind Husband then the careful Master must be sundred from his industrious Servant then the industrious Servant must be sundred from his careful Master Yet this may be some comfort to those whose Friends death hath taken away that as our Disciples Yet a little while and you shall not see me and yet a little while and you shall see me again So yet a little while and we shall not see our Friends and yet a little while and we shall see them again in the Kingdom of Heaven for not mittuntur sed 〈◊〉 we do not forego them but they go before us When thou art enter'd into the House of Weeping fall down on thy knees and say OH Lord our God in thee and by thee we live move and have our Being As thou didst at the first breath into Man the Breath of Life and he became a living Soul so when thou
shalt be pleased to command that Breath again out of Mans Body then will he presently become a dead Carkass and so short is the Life of Man that many times he doth but cry and Die yea sometimes his Mothers Womb doth prove his Tomb so that he doth not once cry to tell the World that he did once Live Neither is the Thread of Mans Life at any time spun so strong but at one word of thy Mouth it is soon snapt in two Seeing therefore we do but Live to Die we beseech thee Oh blessed God let us Die to Live let us live well that so we may die well let Death never surprize us unlooked for or unprepared nor let it ever seize upon us in an unconverted unregenerate State Good Lord let us not so live as to be ashamed to live any longer or to be afraid to look grim Death in the Face when it comes to separate our Souls from our Bodies and to summon them to make their appearance before the great Judge of the Quick and Dead Let us with thy Servant Job Wait all our appointed time untill our Change doth come Seeing it will be our greatest Wisdom to wait for Death which always waits for us and to expect that at all times which will come at some time and may come at any time Let us Pray and Preach and Hear and so spend our time as those who know and consider that all they do they do it for Eterninity and we shall never have but one Cast for Eternity Heaven and Glory is here to be won or lost for ever Blessed God thou hast taught us in thy Word that it is better to go to the House of Weeping than to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and thou hast said That the Living will lay it to heart Oh Lord we are this day come to the House of Mourning and Weeping and we have seen the end of one yea of many of our Friends and Acquaintance within a short space of time and in the Death of our Friends we may read our own Death and yet shall not we who are leâ—…t behind them in the Land of the Living lay these awakening instances of Mortality to heart shall we hear and see daily our nearest and dearest Relations giving up the Ghost and departing out of this into another World and yet shall we once think that we shall ever live to enjoy the Pleasures of this present evil World But seeing Lord this World is a dying World and all its glory is a dying Glory let our Minds and Hearts therefore be set upon the Glory of Heaven which is a never fading Glory Oh! did we believe and consider how much better a Believers future Estate will be than his present State is then should we think that Time is too long before we do and that Eternity will be too short when we shall enjoy our gracious Redeemer upon his Throne of Glory Let us ever live as those that have one Foot in the Grave already Thousands and Millions yea innumerable Millions of Thousands are gone to their Graves before us and do we think that we that are but enlivened Dust animated Shadows dying Lumps of Clay can keep our Bodies from being a Feast for Worms or our Souls from seeking new Lodgings in another World Oh! let us therefore every day be looking into our Graves and familiarize Death unto our Thoughts before it comes let us consider how many signal Admonitions thou dost daily give us of our approaching end Is not every Distemper and Sickness of Body as it were a little Death and a fair Warning to put us in mind of our last Change The Grey Hairs which are here and there upon our Heads the deep wrinkles which are engraven upon our Foreheads the loss of Teeth the Dimness of Sight our Deafness in Hearing our Palsie-hands our feeble trembling Limbs and the frequent Sight of seeing Friends laid out in their Winding Sheets for Dead and carried to their Houses of Clay the silent Grave are Circumstances and Symptoms serving to remind us that the time draws near wherein we must die and that our departure is at hand Let us therefore live as dying Men and let us die as Living Christians let us set our House and our Heart in order remembring the Text It is appointed for all Men once to Die but after this the Judgment The Mourners being all come first sing the following Psalms and after that Read part of 1 Cor. Chap. 15. to bring your minds into a serious frame Psalm 39. I Said I will look to my ways for fear I should go wrong I will take heed all times that I offend not with my Tongue verse 2 As with a bit I will keep fast my mouth with force and might Not once to whisper all the while the wicked are in sight verse 3 I held my Tongue and spake no word but kept me close and still Yea from good talk I did refrain but sore against my will verse 4 My Heart waxt hot within my breast with musing thought and doubt Which did increase and stir the fire at last these Words burst out verse 5 Lord number out my Life and days which yet I have not past So that I may be certify'd how long my Life shall last verse 6 Lord thou hast pointed out my Life in length much like a Span Mine age is nothing unto thee so vain is every Man verse 7 Man walketh like a shade and doth in vain himself annoy In getting goods and cannot tell who shall the same enjoy verse 8 Now Lord sith things this wise do frame what help do I desire Of truth my help doth hang on thee I nothing else require The Second Part. verse 9 From all the sins that I have done Lord quit me out of hand And make me not a scorn to Fools that nothing understand verse 10 I was as dumb and to complain no trouble might me move Because I knew it was thy work my patience for to prove verse 11 Lord take from me thy scourge and plague I can them not withstand I faint and pine away for fear of thy most heavy hand verse 12 When thou for sin dost Man Rebuke he waxeth wo and wan As doth a Cloth that Moths have fret so vain a thing is Man verse 13 Lord hear my suit and give good heed regard my Tears that fall I sojourn like a stranger here as did my Fathers all verse 14 O spare a little give me space my strength for to restore Before I go away from hence and shall be seen no more Psalm 90. Ver. 3 4 5 6 10 11. THou grindest Man through grief and Pain to dust or clay and then And then thou say'st again Return again ye sons of Men. verse 4 The lasting of a thousand years what is it in thy sight As yesterday it doth appear or as a watch by night verse 5 So soon as thou dost scatter them then
discourse was in hand he was but dull Company he had little to say but if the Conference were Heavenly he was as upon the Wing as a fish in the Water and a Bird in the Air c. He would often say with pious Dod come enough of the World now let us talk of Heaven If it be here objected that he was in his younger years of a vain and slight conversation I answer First Divine Love rideth in greatest triumph when it hath the greatest sinners following it as it's Captives Secondly Some in the Church of Corinth that did heartily close with Christ were before their Conversion very Vile and Wicked see 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. Such were some of you but ye are washed c. But Thirdly This blessed Saint would to his dying day acknowledge his former vanity to his own shame and the lifting up of the Riches of free grace and mind what the Apostle saith 1 John 1. 9. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness I shall now close up all with a word or two by way of Caution and that First Though this stroke of God be just matter of weeping and sorrow yet you must take heed of a murmuring Spirit You have cause to be displeased with your selves and your sins but not with God because God takes away nothing but what he first gave The Person and gifts of this Saint were given unto you by the Lord he hath taken nothing but his own Learn therefore to say with Job Chap. 1. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Secondly Though you are to weep under this stroke yet take heed of mourning as those without hope without hope I say 1. With respect to him his happiness is unquestionable Your loss is his gain He is taken up into glory and hath there communion with God He is now where God is served adored and glorified with one heart and with one consent Secondly Weep not without Hope with respect to your selves as if God were not able to make up this loss I remember a Relation of a Lady from whom it pleased God to take an only Son that sometime after a Friend coming to visit her and bemoaning this her sad loss she breaks forth into these expressions I profess saith she God can never make me amends for the taking away of that Son A dreadful speech it was take heed my friends of this Spirit It 's true your loss is great but God is able to supply it and that either First By causing the Spirit of Elijah to fall upon Elisha by anointing and raising up of some other to head and feed you in the room of this his Servant Or 2dly He can feed you himself without a Minister God can fill up the room of Ministry and Ordinances Indeed let God be absent and there 's nothing can fill up his Room It 's not Husband Wife Children Estate Liberty Pastors Ordinances c. can supply the want of God But now let God be present and that is above and more than all Lastly Such strokes should teach us all to provide for death God takes away our Leaders and we must follow them Those that would not follow the Counsel and advice of this pious Divine while living must follow him to the Grave now dead to the Grave we must all go and the Lord knows how soon Of what import therefore is it that we all manage matters so while we live as that when we come to die we may die in peace and in full assurance of Eternal Life Our present Time is but a dressing Room for Eternity let us therefore perform every thing with this Proviso That I may die well I am so to buy sell and converse with Creatures that I may die well I am so to hear pray read receive the Sacrament have Communion with the Saints as that I may die well die in peace all is to be done in order to dying well Such Death may wound but never can destroy Their House of weeping proves an House of joy Death parts the dearest Friends WHen a man goes to his Long Home all the pleasure in his Society is dead with him nothing remains of it but the remembrance which serves only to aggravate and heighten the Grief of the Surviver 'T was a true saying of one Aura secunda bonus socius A good companion is as a prosperous Gale carrying a Man pleasantly and with comfort through the Tempestuous Sea of this World And again Bonum sodalitium optimum solatium Good Company is the best solace Indeed suitable Society is the comfort of Life the improvement of Parts the joy of the Intellect the only distinguishing Priviledge that gives the Preference to Men above Beasts Take away this and what happiness is it to be a Man or what is humane Life any thing to be accounted of But when Man is dead there can be no more delight in him or comfort received by Society with him There is no converse in the shades below no interlocution in those gloomy Regions The Grave is a silent Hoâ—…se where the Eyes of all the Inhabitants are closed in the Dust and their Mouths filled with cold Clay And therefore this should cause Mourning in the Streets when we see a man going to his Long Home especially if he was a Friend or Relation because we shall never have the opportunity of enjoying any pleasant hours with him more We must then bid farewel to all discoursing upon any Subject to all advising about any difficulties to all profiting by any Polemick Notions started and improved in an amicable way In a word we must bid an eternal Adieu to any pleasure or satisfaction we received in communing with him for we shall enjoy no more of it for ever Oh! surely this cannot but cut deep in a generous Soul this cannot but greatly wound a spirit whose thoughts are drained from the dross of Plebeian Conversation that has any esteem at all for the advantages of a rational Life Upon this account it was that the old Prophet in Bethel lamented over the man of God which came from Judab who was slain by a Lion as he rode upon an Ass in the High-way He bitterly bewailed and mourned for his Death crying out Alas my Brother As if he had said I have been extreamly refreshed by thy company in hearing the Word of the Lord from thy mouth concerning the destruction of the Priests that burn Incense upon the Altar and the pulling down the House of Jeroboam Oh! How have I been strengthned in my Courage confirmed in my Faith and the more resolved in the Ways of God by this thy Prophecy But now thou art gone I shall never have any more of this profitable and spiritual Discourse with thee This made him weep over his torn Carcass and bitterly lament his untimely Fall and to give a solemn
we that now mourn for others know not how soon our Friends may do the same for us and celebrate our Funerals When God took away many others that we knew he might at the same time or before have taken away you or me and why do we survive their Death but that we may set our House in Order The time is coming when Riches and Honour Health and Beauty Credit and Reputation among men will be of no value nor will Gold and Silver the Idols of this be currant in the next World We should not therefore be like those young people that are only serious in the House of Mourning or when they see their Friends carried to the Grave but in the next vain Company suffer the Impressions of their Mortality to wear off again We must be always sober in our Conversation as not knowing when we our selves shall be gone only this we may know that as the Years we have already lived are soon past so will those that are to come with the same swist motion pass away The longest Life here on Earth is but as a moment if compar'd with the future Eternity 'T is as a flash of Lightning to the whole Element of Fire just seen and then vanish'd The Last Sigh MY dearest Children ye whom I love in the tender and yerning Bowels of Affection draw near and attend to the words of your dying Mother who am now sighing out my last breath A weak Woman ye see I am but yet sinful I am which peradventure ye see not O weep not my pretty ones do not pierce and break my troubled heart with your sad laments I must die my little ones and go to a better place whither ye I hope shall one day follow me We came not together into the World nor shall we go together out of it In vain do ye shed those Tears of Sorrow for although Nature teacheth you to bewail my departure yet Grace will teach you to moderate your Mourning My Heart even bleeds to leave you behind me fearing lest ye will forget the Commandments of your God I should be sorry to have just cause to say unto you as Moses did to the Levites yet I will put you in mind of his words Behold said he while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death Deut. 31. 27. I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt your selves and turn aside from the way which I commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days because ye will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands vers 29. But I am persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation though I thus speak Heb. 6. 9. O my dear ones hearken unto the words which I shall say They must be my Legacy unto you Hear me with patience and treasure up in your memories the last Speech of your Fainting your dying Mother How dear ye cost me before ye had life and what Pangs and Torments I suffered for you before ye were heard or seen in the World ye cannot imagine nor I express Yet all was forgotten for joy that ye wâ—…re born Joh. 16. 21. and hoping that ye would add unto the Qâ—…ire of Saints To this purpose I have laboured and taken care for the nourishment both of your Souls and Bodies and for your sustentation so much as in me lay from the Breast to this instant O what sad and perplexed thoughts have I had for you in the day times and how many hours have I borrowed from my sleep in the nights to think what would become of you if ye should not be obedient to the Commandments of my God! To the same God they are best known O how often upon my knees have I prayed for your happiness and wept and mourned when ye have done what ye ought not To him is it best known to whom I now am going Sometimes when ye have offended I was enforced to correct you but each stripe which ye received did cut me into the heart In many things ye failed because ye were young and in many things I failed too because I am a weak and a sinful Woman If at any time ye thought that I did not my Duty take heed that hereafter ye remember it not to my dishonour Ponder in your minds that curse which wretched Ham the Father of Canaan received from Noah when he saw his Nakedness and told his Brethren Cursed said Noah be Canaan a servant of servants shall he be to his Brethren Gen. 9. 25. But because Shem and Japhet took a Garment and laid it upon their Shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their Father and their faces were backward and they saw not their Fathers nakedness vers 23. Therefore he said Blessed be the Lord God of Shem and Canaan shall be his servant vers 26. God shall enlarge Japhet and he shall dwell in the Tents of Shem and Canaan shall be his Servant v. 27. Consider with your selves that I am your mother Whatsoever imperfections ye have discovered in me do in some kind reflect even upon your selves for as your Bodies were mine so my Credit and good Name you must account to be yours But I cannot think that ye will need more Advice for this which even Nature it self should teach you to practise My time is but short my Speech beginneth to fail me I will not trouble you with much although something more I must say unto you which I hope ye will remember when I shall sleep in the Dust. Your first and chiefest Duty must always be for the service of your God If ye will daily observe the benefits which he sendeth you ye cannot chuse but thank him daily for his Blessings Let it be your care to ground your actions upon his written Law Undertake nothing which is not warranted by his Word and go forward in nothing by unlawful means or to a bad intent Begin all in him and continue in him and end in him and he himself will be your Reward If ye always preserve Religion in your hearts ye will always have quietness and content in your minds First make him your God and then distrust not his Providence no nor his love and compassion while ye remain his Children In whatsoever vocations ye shall lead your lives be sure that ye be conscionably industrious and laborious in them and then leave the event and the blessing to his good pleasure I would fain have you be his Children much more than ye are mine for ye have nothing from me but your sin and corruption but from him you must expect both grace and glory If therefore ye strive to bless and magnifie your God ye may be sure that your God will both bless and glorifie you his Children Remember that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no Sorrow with
thou first steppest into Eternity What sayest thou Oh my Soul are the things of time only or chiefly to be minded And are the precious things of Eternity utterly to be forgotten or disregarded Hath the infinitely wise and gracious God only given thee opportunities and abilities to desire and hasten thy eternal ruin And hast thou no time capacity understanding or will to work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling Canst thou once suppose thou shalt ever be an Inhabitant upon the Earth Or is the Earth with the sensual delights thereof which thou must certainly forego more valuable than Heaven with its fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Or if thy judgment be clear in this case why doest thou no more think upon love and long to be dissolved and to be cloathed upon with that house which comes down from Heaven Will the enjoying of sinful pleasures or empty lying vanities for a few minutes recompence the loss of Heaven it self Can any thing be counted an advantage when the Soul loseth God and it self in the getting of it Or can any thing be had upon Earth that will hold ever Awake Oh my drowsie Soul and let thy Conscience and Conversation no longer contradict one the other If thou judgest Heaven to be Heaven indeed and one moments Communion with God more worth than ten thousand Worlds then let thy Conversation be new in Heaven that thy Conscience may not hereafter witness against thee Or tell me plainly Oh my Soul Dost thou pretend that thou art really willing to go to Heaven and yet art unwilling for the present through thy weakness of Faith to leave this Earth with all the sensible comforts of it Or doth thy natural timorousness or unpreparedness put a check to the vehemency of thy Desires Or what is it that thou so much stickest at Is there a Lion in the way Wouldst thou not be detained one day one minute or moment longer from drinking thy fill at the Fountain of Living Waters and yet art afraid to pass over that narrow darksome Bridge of Death which leadeth thereunto Indeed Death is the King of Fears but yet a Serpent without a Sting may safely be put into thy Bosom Thou art then willing to be with thy glorious Redeemer upon the Throne only the sad Thoughts of giving up thy tender Flesh to be meat for the Worms that something startles thee But weigh the matter well canst thou be for ever happy and not be with Christ Or canst thou be whereChrist is and not die Well then welcom death tho' not for thine own sake yet for his sake whose Messenger thou art and who hath sent thee to fetch me home to himself with whom I shall be as soon as ever I am but parted from thee Then I shall with joy look back upon thee O sad Messenger and triumph over thee saying Oh Death where is thy â—…ing Oh Grave where is thy Victory But thanks be unto God who hath given me the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh Death though thy looks be terrible and thy last gripe painful yet is thy Message comfortable and I was more afraid than hurt For I see though thou leadest me through a dark Entry yet it is my Fathers House And as soon as I had passed from thee or ever I was aware my Soul made me like to the Chariots of Aminadib So come Lord Jesus come quickly He 's carry'd by Angels into Abraham's Bosom Sermon II. Luke XVI 32. And it came to pass that the Beggar died and was carryed by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom The whole Parable runs thus THere was a certain Rich Man which was cloaâ—…ed in purple and sine Linnen and fared sumptuously every day And there was a certain Beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his Gate full of sores and desiring to be sed with the crumbs which fell from the Rich Man's Table moreover the Dogs came and licked his Sores And it came to pass that the Beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's Bosom The Rich Man also died and was buryed And in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his Bosom c. Dearly Beloved In my Discourse upon these words I will not be over tedious but with as much brevity as I can I will unfold some of the weighty Truths contained therein And the Lord grant that they may be of general use to all persons that shall either read or hear them These words have Relation unto the precedent Verses in this Chapter wherein our Saviour Christ from the thirteenth to the seventeenth verse reproveth the Covetousness of the Pharisees by shewing unto them that no man can serve two Masters that is God and Riches All these things heard the Pharisees which were covetous and they mocked him Whereupon he aptly and fitly taketh occasion to relate this Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Hearken therefore now and I will speak of a great Rich Man that flourished here on Earth as a learned Divine observes In all pomp and abundance that shined in courtly purple Robes that was cloathed in Byssus and fine Silk and fared deliciously that was lodged softly that lived pleasantly But understand what became of this Rich Man his years being expired and his days numbred and his time determined he was invited to the fatal Banquet of black ugly Death that maketh all men subject to the rigour of his Law his Body was honourably buried in respect of his much Wealth but what became of his Soul That was carried from his Body to dwell with the Devils from his purple Robes to burning Flames from his soft Silk and white Byssus to cruel pains in black Abyssus from his Palace here on Earth to the Palace of Devils in Hell from Paradise to a Dungeon from Pleasures to Pains from Joy to Torment and that by hellish means damned Spirits into the infernal Laks of bottomless Barathrum where is wo wo wo And where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth Mat. 25. The wicked shall be turned into Hell and all the people that forget God Psalm 6. Hearken also of a certain poor Beggar clothed in rags with miseries pained pained with griefs grieved with sores sorely tormented unmercifully condemned lying at this Rich Mans Gate desiring to be refreshed but with the Crumbs that fell from the rich Man's table the dogs had more pity than this rich man on this distressed creature for they came to visit him they came to comfort him they came and licked his sores Well his time being also determined he went the way of all flesh and death was the finisher of all his miseries and griefs Vita assumpsit mortem ut mors vitam acciperet He died once to live for ever And what became of his soul it was carried from his body to his Master from a House of Clay to a house not made with hands from a wilderness to a Paradise
dying well three Things are most requisite First To be often meditating upon Death Secondly To be dying daily Thirdly To die by little and little The first step of dying well OFten meditation of Death brings a man to die in ease for it alleviates pains expels fear eases cares cures sins corrects death it self The very Thought of Eternity will make easie and pleasant all things we suffer in a miserable Life How can we be said not to die when we live among the dead We live with so many deaths about us as we cannot but often think of dying Every Humour in us engenders Diseases enough to kill us so that our Bodies are but living Graves and we die not because we are sick but because we live And when we recover from sickness we escape not sickness but the disease All this life is but a death of an hour Familiarity with Death a soveraign Cordial against Death THerefore be acquainted with Death betimes for through acquaintance death will lose his horror like unto an ill Face though it be as formidable as a monster yet often viewing will make it familiar and free it from distaste walk every day with Joseph a turn or two in thy Garden with death and thou shalt be well acquainted with the face of death but shalt never feel the sting of death Death is black but comely Philostrates lived seven years in his Tomb that he might be acquainted with it against his bones came to lye in it Some Philosophers have been so wrapt in this contemplation of Death and Immortality that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it as if a fair death were to be preferred before a pleasant life This is well for Nature's part and Moralists think this enough for their part to conceive so But Christians must go farther and search deeper They must try where the power of death lyes They shall find that the power of every man's death lyes in his own sin That death never hurts a man but with his own weapons It always turns upon us some sin it finds in us The sting of Death is sin Pluck out the sting death cannot hurt us The way to die well is to die often Let a man often and seriously think of dying then let him sin if he can said Picus Mirandula In Sardis there grew an Herb called Appium Sardis that would make a Man lie laughing when he was deadly sick Such is the operation of sin Beware therefore of this Risus Sardonicus laughter of Sardis We count it a fearful thing for a man to be author of his own death but a sinful life slays the soul. and so while we live we kill or lose our better life The Commandment that says Thou shalt not kill especially forbids the murthering of our own Souls And herein is our happiness though we live in sin yet we die without sin Therefore to me Death is welcome not as an end of troubles but of sin Into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of Truth The Second Step To be dying daily THE second step to dying-well is to die daily Methinks O my Soul it is but yesterday since we met and now we are upon parting neither shall we I hope be unwilling to take our leaves for what advantage can it be to us to hold out longer together Are we not assured that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Why therefore O my Soul shouldst thou be loth to part upon fair terms Thou O my Soul to the possession of that happy Mansion which thy dear Saviour hath from all Eternity prepared for thee in his Father's house and thou O my body to that quiet repository of the grave till ye both shall happily meet in the blessed Resurrection of the Just. I die that I may not die I die daily saith Saint Paul So many days as thou livest reckon so many lives for he that disposeth all his days as one life can neither wish nor fear to morrow The old saying is a good saying Do that every day which thou wouldst do the same day that thou diest 'T is an excellent thing to make all we can of life before Death To die by little and little the third step THE third step to dying well is to die by little and little Naturally we are every day dying by degrees the faculties of our minds the strength of our bodies our common senses are every day decaying by little and little every sin is more than a disease and a wicked life makes a continual death Impie vivere est diu mori To live wickedly is to be long a dying Therefore saith the good Man We are killed all the day long He that useth this course every day To die by little and little to him let Death come when it will it can neither be terrible nor sudden If we keep a Courser to run a Race we lead him daily over the place to acquaint him by degrees with all things in the way that when he comes upon his speed he do not start or turn aside for any thing he sees So let us inure our souls and then we shall run with boldness the race that is set before us looking to Jesus the Author and finisher of our salvation To die by little and little is first to mortifie our lesser sins and not to say with Lot Is it not a little one There be also a sort of little deaths sickness of body loss of Friends and the like Use these in their kind and you may make them kindly helps to dying well Every change is a certain imitation of Death Let a man go out as he came into the World which was first by a life of Vegetation then of Senâ—…e afterwards of Reason To die daily is this daily to attend upon and exercise that great duty of Mortification according to our solemn Vow and Covenant made to God at our Baptisâ—… which Vow and Covenant we renew at our first coming to the holy and blessed Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Alas how few do consider or understand this great duty of Mortification and fewer practise it And yet this above all others is the Grace which fitteth and prepareth us for Death this Grace putteth us into the possession of Life Spiritâ—…al and by perseverance in it into life Eternal Rom. 8. 13. But if ye live after the flesh that is after the appetites lusts affections of the flesh ye shall die But I bless God I have nothing to do with the World nor the World with me Riches Pleasures honours transport me not affect me not nor am I dejected and afflicted with poverty common pains sicknesses disgrace or scorn Christ liveth in me and I in him therefore I humbly thank the power of his grace I can die as willingly as I can go out of one Room into another For
rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them think you if they had always hardned themselves against his ministry before Think with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are took away we may have cause to thank God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and society the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death Death separates a Man from his Friends For alas Death doth not only part a mans body and soul a mans self and his wealth but it parteth a man from his friends from all his worldly acquaintance from all those that he took delight in upon earth Death makes a separation between husband and wife see it in Abraham and Sarah though Abraham loved Sarah dearly yet Death parted them Let me have a place to bury my Dead out of my sight Gen. 23. It parteth Father and Child how unwilling soever they be see it in David and Absolom Oh Absolom my son would God I had died for thee and Rachel mourned for her Children and would not be comforted because they were not It parteth the Minister and the people see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samuel in the case of the Ephesians at the parting of S. Paul sorrowing especially when they heard they should see his face no more It parteth those friends who were so united together in love as if they had but one soul in two bodies see it in the separation that was made by death between David and Jonathan that were so knit together in their love that he bewaileth him Woe is me for my brother Jonathan 2 Sam. 1. 9. This is necessary consideration for us that live that we may learn to know how to carry our selves towards our worldly friends and how to moderate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldly comforts Look upon every worldly thing as a mortal as a dying comsort Look upon Children and friends as dying comforts Look upon your estates as that that hath wings and will be gone Look upon your bodies that now you make so much of as a thing that must be parted from the soul by death and that ere long See what advice the Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7. 19. the time is short saith he therefore let those that marry be as if they married not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thy self the very next time that any death is spoken of it may be mine or as Saint Peter speaks to Saphira after the death of Ananias The feet of those that have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out also Again this Doctrine serves to reprove that sinful laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondness and with too great excess and distemper of affection look upon their dead friends as if God could never repair the loss nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not be comforted David mourneth and will scarce be comforted Oh Absolom my son my son would God I had died for thee What is all this but to look on friends rather as Gods than men as if all sufficiency were included in them only Men look on their friends as Micah did upon his Idol when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith he and what have I more Judg. 8. 24. This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends to mourn as men without lâ—…pe Secondly there is taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering and unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may be a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some appearent token of Gods judgment on such a one If they see another die with some extremity of torment and vehement pains certainly there is some apparent evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in a worser case than others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteen men upon whom the Tower in Siloe fell think you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Luke 13. 4. Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Eccles. 9. 2. Learn to judge righteous judgment to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sickness having his understanding and memory continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with clear and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2. 29. What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetness of their death make thee in love with the goodness of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitful and profitable life The main business that a man hath to do is to make sure of himself in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith he He made no matter how he went out but how he carried himself in the world And truly this is the great Question that every man should put to his soul. I must out of the world how have I lived when I was in the world had GOD any glory by me had men any good by me have I furthered my account against the day reckoning that I may give it up with joy But now he is Dead wherefore should I Fast Sermon IV. 2 SAM xii 23. But now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me HEre you have a large Description of that incomparable Love which our princely Prophet David that good King of Israel did bear towards his Son who was no sooner visited with
that the sad sorrowful news was told him of his dearly beloved Sons death then in a rage he put all out of the Room where he was and fell upon his knees with wet-shod Eyes still wringing his hands and wishing heartily that God had been pleased to take him instead of his son Absalom that precious Jewel of his I say that Abraham the Father of the Faithful could not have taken it out worse he could not have been more sorrowful if that his dear Son Isaac had been offered nor our old Grandsire Adam the Father of the Living for his slain Son Abel than holy David that good King of Israel did here for these two Sons of his but especially for Absalom 'T is true so long as the sweet Babe was alive still striving and strugling in his sight daily and hourly for Death which like that Serpent Regulus by no Charms can be charmed he took on most grievously but when he had yielded up the Ghost when Death Gods special Bailiff had arrested him with a Habeas Corpus then he could leave off sorrowing and resolve fully with himself to fast no longer So long as it was alive saith he in the former Verse I had hopes that God would hear my Prayer be gracious unto me and prolong his days here with me in this habitable Orb but now it hath pleased almighty God to take unto himself my dear Child out of this miserable world wherefore should I fast wherefore should I take on thus sadly being all is in vain No I will not do it I will not be guilty of such a great Offence for now he is dead wherefore should c. Daniel that holy Prophet was of such a tender disposition that he wept and mourned full three weeks together not suffering himself to eat any pleasant thing Dan. 10. 2. Esau wept for the loss of his Blessing and Joash for Elisha being ready to die Job wept and mourn'd for such as were in sorrow trouble or any other adversity and for his own afflictions and so did Isaiah with the good Prophet Jeremiah for the misery of the Israelites to come Jer. 13. Naomi wept and mourn'd most dolefully departing from her Country and so did Nehemiah for Jerusalem's misery Elisha did mourn and weep bitterly seeing the evil which Hazael should do to the Israelites Children and so did the Women for their harmless Children slain by Herod Luk. 23. 28. Insomuch that their cry penetrating the clouds and knocking at Heavens gate did enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts And to preceed Abraham mourned and wept bitterly for his Wife being deceased Abigail for Uriah her loving husband David for Saul Abner and Jonathan the Egyptians for Jacob seven days Jacob for Joseph supposing him dead Joseph for Jacob being dead Jeremiah for Josiah with great Lementation and the Israelites for Moses and Aaron thirty days But holy David here in my Text took a better course who as soon as his child was departed left off sorrowing saying Now he is dead wherefore should I mourn c. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans bids us weep with them that weep Rom. 12. 15. And for the dead 1 Thess. 4. 13. but not as others sorrow which have no hope We must not weep and mourn immoderately lest with Samuel we be reproved when he lamented overmuch for Saul but moderately as St. Paul that blessed Apostle did for Epaphroditus Phil. 2. 27. They mourn moderately do nothing contrary to the Word of God For Almighty God by whom Death is inflicted would have the nature thereof to be such that it should bring Tears and sorrow not only unto them which die but unto those also of whom they that die are beloved Who but a man of a stony heart in the mourning Troop accompanying his loving Neighbours deceased Son unto his Grave dying in the Spring of his Youth even at that Age when he was most able to comfort his dearest Friends even her that brought him into the World or in the Winter of her Widowhood when she did most want him could refrain from mourning and weeping Children are walking Images of their tender Parents even Flesh of their Flesh and Bone of their Bone the Wealth of the poor man and the Honour of the Rich it must then be one step unto Weeping Cross when any Parents lose their Children St. Ambrose in his book concerning Naboth ch 5. makes mention of a Tragical Accident How that in his time there was a poor man in extream necessity constrained to sell one of his Sons in perpetual Bondage that he might hereby save the rest from a present Famine who calling all his dear Children unto him and beholding them as Olive Branches round about his Table could not resolve which he might best spare his eldest Son was the strength of his Youth even he that called him first Father and therefore not willing to part with him his youngest Boy was the Nest-chick the dearly beloved of his mother and therefore not willing to part with him a third most resembled his Progenitors having his Fathers Bill and his mothers eye therefore not willing by any means to part with him one was more loving than the rest and another more Diligent so that the good Father in conclusion among so many could not afford to part with any Nay it is almost Death to some to part with any of their Children but for a Year or two although that they go but a little way and may return when they will Therefore could David be thought blame-worthy to mourn for his Child whom he could not see till he went to him but now he is dead c. And this brings me now unto the second thing considerable in my Text which is the Person whom David that good King wept and mourned for thus dolefully and that was for his Son an innocent Babe who was no sooner born into this miserable World but visited with a mortal Disease and so cut off for the Life of Urias in his Infancy The Life of his Son Ammon was not satisfaction sufficient nor of his dearly beloved Son Absalom nor yet the Life of his Son Adonijah but also this poor harmless Creature must suffer together with them now he is dead It is enacted by Almighty God in the high Court of Parliament in the Kingdom of Heaven unto all men that they shall once Die and therefore says David Psalm 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his Soul from the Hand of the Grave There are two sorts of Deaths Corporal which is either natural or violent or Eternal Death which is called a Spiritual Death or the second Death The first being only a Separation of the Soul from the Body with all the evils that attend thereon this sweet Child suffered Death is like an Archer making man his Butt who when he shooteth pierceth in this manner following In shooting over us he wounds our Ancestors
dilated into so Many millions seeing our Souls are Immortal nature cannot nor will Almighty God destroy wherefore David that Princely Prophet and good King knowing this and being fully perswaded that his Child was gone to Heaven and that he should follow left off his Doleful mourning rised from his law and lamentable lodging chang'd his cloaths washed his hands went to prayer and brake his long fast ever cheering up himself knowing that he should quickly follow as you may see here by his own words read unto you But now he is dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me The EJACULATION GOod Loâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 â—…re is no returning from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assist us by thy divine Grace to improve every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time before we go down 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 aâ—…d â—…e seen no more Is it true thaâ—… our Dear and Piâ—…s Relations that are dead and goâ—… wiâ—… never return to us again Then let us prepare to folloâ—… them to an happy Eternity Good Lord now seeing all this is reaâ—…ytrue let us live as men and women thâ—…t have already one fooâ—… in the Grave Oh let the death of others shew the 〈◊〉 of our own Bodies and the many Grey-hairs that are here and there upon our head put us in mind of our winding-sheet and of the day of judgment which is approaching very swiftly towards every one of us Let the daily instances of our dying Relations take such a living Impression upon our hearts as may deaden them towards all objects on this side Heaven Good Lord let us all be all for Heaven let all our thoughts be Heavenly thoughts let all our speeches be Heavenly speeches and let all our Actions be Heavenly Actions and let all thine ordinances prove Heavenly ordinances to us ever drawing up our Hearts from Earth to Heaven seeing we must quickly return to Dust Good Lord ' it is a vain Imagination for any Man to think that he can be happy without God who is the Author of all happiness or to think that finite and sensual objects can satisfie infinite and spirtual desires or to think that Temporal uncertainties are more valuable and more desirable than an interest in Jesus Christ and Eternal Glory What Joy what inexpressible Joy will a good Conscience afford us when we come to be arrested by the cold hands of Death when we come to make our beds in the silent Grave We must needs confess it is contrary to Reason and much more inconsistent with Grace that we should prefer Earth before Heaven Yea there is as little Reason for it that we should endeavour to grasp so much of the Creature into our handâ—… when as one Death-Gripe will soon cause us to let go our fastest hold of Created Injoyments Oh! therefore why should we go about to build a nest for our selves among the Stars when we have seen so many of our dearest Aâ—…quaintance and nearest Relations carried to the Grave before us and there made a Feast for the Worms to feed upon Good Lord therefore do thou make us to know our End and the measure of our Days what it is that so we may be throughly convinced how frail we are let us remember that we have no continuing City here and therefore it will be necessary for us to seek one that is to come Let us not spend our flying Daies in meer Impertinences but let us look after that Eternal Inheritance which will never fade away O! let us all improve our Time and Talents for God that when our Bodies return to the Grave from whence there is no coming back our Souls may go to God that gave them Bury my Dead out of my sight SERMON V. GEN. xxiij 4. Give me a possession of a Burying place with you that I may bury my Dead out of my sight THis is the conclusion of all Flesh they were never so dear before but they come to be as loathsom and intollerable now When once the Lines and Picture of Death is drawn over the Fabrick of Man or Woman's Body as it is said here of Sarah all their Glory ceaseth all their good Respect vanisheth away their best Friends would be fainest rid of them even Sarah that was so goodly and amiable in Abraham's sight must now out of his sight he must bury his dead out of his sight But Abraham as the Father of faithful men and a Pattern to all loving Husbands in all Ages ensuing doth not this till such time as the dead Sarah groweth noysom to all that look upon her As long as he could by his Mourning and Lamentation prosecute her without offence to his Eyes and danger to his Health he did it but now the time is come when Earth must be put to Earth and Dust must return to Dust. There is no place for the fairest Beauty above Ground when once God hath taken Life and Breath from it it must go to its own Elements and to the Rock and Pit from whence it was hewen thither it must return After he had performed this perhaps he mourned three or four Days for his Wife he knew this Mourning must have an end he knew that he must commit her to the Ground Therefore when he had thus moderated himself as first to shew by his Sorrow that he was a loving Husband and then to shew in the ceasing of his Sorrow that he was a wise man and a faithful Christian He cometh to desire a possession of burial Give me What A possession of burial First A possession He would have it so conveyed as no man might make claim of it but that it should be for him and his for ever Therefore it was as it were a Church-yard that he begged such a one as was capable and had sufficient scope and room for his whole Posterity in the time to come Give me a possession a burying-place Here is the end why he would have this Possession A strange kind of Possession Behold Abraham see how he beginneth to possess the World by no Land Pasture or carable Lordship The first thing is a Grave So every Christian must make his Resolution The first Houshold-stuff that ever Seleucus bought in Babylon was a Sepulchre-stone a Stone to lay upon him when he was dead that he kept in his Garden Give me a Burying Place to Bury my Dead Behold he calleth here Sarah his Dead he calleth her not Wife though it is said after in the Text that Abraham buried Sarah his Wife yet that is in repesct of the time of her life when they lived together and in respect of the former Society and Converse they had but now he speaks to the point she is no more his Wife but his Dead My Dead Yet notwithstanding though she was not Abraham's Wife yet she was Abraham's Dead This must teach a Man after he is freed by remaining for the Dead A Man is bound to lament and sorrow for
of your base weak and frail Flesh you are a Clod of Earth are so still and in the end shall become nothing else but a Coffin of Earth under ground Thy Grave shall be thy House and thou shalt make thy Bed in the Dark Thou shalt say to Corruption thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and Sister Our Flesh dissolveth into Filthiness Filthiness into Worms and Worms into dust so our Flesh which is Dust thar is nothing returns into nothing that is Dust at last And thus I have shewed you at large how we are said to be Dust and likewise how we shall at last return thither again Wherefore now to be brief to put a Period to all Remember what you are and Meditate Daily and Hourly upon what you shall be lest that Death like a Thief steal upon you as it doth upon many now-a-days For Meditation is like Gunpowder which in a Mans hand is Dust and Earth but if you put Fire thereunto it will overthrow Towers Walls and whole Cities A light Remembrance and a short Meditation of what you are is like that Dust which the wind scattereth away but a quick lively Memory and enflamed Considerations of your own wretched Estates will blow up the Towers of your Pride cast down the Walls of your Rebellious Nature and ruine those Cities of Clay wherein you live As the Phoenix Fannowing a Fire with her Wings is renewed again by her own Ashes so shall you become new kind of Creatures by remembring what you have been are and what you shall be that you are but Dust and shall return unto Dust again Moses casting Ashes into the Air made the Iâ—…chanters and their Inchantments to vanish The Ashes scattered by David put the King out of doubt and made it appear unto him that that was no God which he adored Job came forth from his Ashes in better Estate than he was before And as Joseph came out of Prison from his torn and fattered Rags and had richer Robes put upon him so you from out of these your Ashes shall be stript of the Old Man and put on the New The forgetfulness of other things may be good sometimes but of your selves what you are and shall be never This will require a continual Remembrance therefore this cannot be to often inculcated Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return THE EJACULATION GOod Lord we confess that Man is but a Worm of Yesterday his Production was out of the Dust and must thither return in his ultimate Resolution for as we have heard Dust we are and unto Dust we shall return Let us therefore alwaies be in a readiness for our last Change seeing we know not how soon the silent Grave may involve us under its Wings where we shall lie in Obscurity till the last Trumpet shall sound at the Morning Day of the Resurrection Arise ye Dead c. Good Lord though now we appear 〈◊〉 living Objects of thy Favouâ—… yet we know not how soon the Scene may be altered for this very Day we now breath in may be the last we shall ever count and so many waies may the Thread of our frail Lives be snapt asunder that we cannot promise our selves an Hours time upon Earth a little Stone from the House-top as we pass in the Streets a slip of our Foot or the slumbling of our Horse a sudden mischance among a Million that may befal us which we know not of may reduce us to our first Original and leave us a pale Carkass to be Sacrificed to the gaping Grave Oh let us often therefore consider where will be our Eternal abode when the black Attire of our Funeral is over and all our Weeping Friends gone to their several Houses and Homes Let us often think how meanly-and poorly Clad we shall enter into our Coffins with only one poor Shrowd and othâ—…r Dresses fitted to cover us and whaâ—… will become of our rich Attire our haughty Deckings our over-curious Trimmings in the Grave whither we are all agoing And when we are Arrested by the cold Hands of Death how Pale and Wan to all shall we seem Even ready to nauseate our Spectators Good Lord let such Thoughts as these keep us humble and keep down all proud aspiring Thoughts that shall at any time arise in our corrupted Hearts For 't is true Dust we are and unto Dust we shall return Job xxiv 20. The Worms shall feed sweetly on him THat is the Grave shall be no securer to him than to others there the Worms shall feed upon all men and they shall feed sweetly on him or it shall be a kind of sweetness and pleasure to him to have the Worms feeding on him which is no more then what Job said upon the same Argument Chap. 21. 23. The Clods of the Valley shall be sweet to him In these words you have Job describing the state of a Dead man laid in the Grave he tells you the Worms shall feed sweetly on him After Job had but spoke of Man's Conception in the Womb he next tells you of his Corruption by the Worm so suddainly doth a man step out of the Cradle into the Coffin that sometimes there is no space between them both The Worms shall feed sweetly on him Those that have formerly fed upon their Sweet-meats the time hasteneth when the Worm shall feed sweetly on them As all Wooden Vessels are liable to be Worm-eaten though they be never so euriously wrought so will the neatest Body the finest Face be shortly a Worm-eaten Face The Design of the Expression and of the Context being to convince us of the certainty of our Deaths and the uncertainty of our Lives I shall conclude this Subject with telling you That no person can seem so brave and youthful at the present but for â—…ught any thing he knows he may the next Hour be a Banquet for the Worms to feed upon Prepare to follow SERMON VIII ISAIAH 8. 38. Set thy House in order for thou shalt dye and not live Dearly Beloved IAm now about to speak of that which will shortly render me unable to speak and you are now about to hear of that which will also shortly make you uncapable of hearing any more and that is Death It will be but a little while before Death will cause both the Speaker to be Dumb and the Hearer to be Deaf Oh that I might therefore this day speak with that seriousness unto you as considering the time draws on apace when I shall be Silenced by Death and never more have an opportunity to speak one word unto you And Oh! that you might Hear this day with that diligence and reverence as considering that after you are once Nailed down in your Cossins and Covered with the Dust you will never hear one Sermon more or one Exhortation or one word more till you hear these words pronounced by the great Judge of the Quick and Dead Surgite Mortui venite ad
the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the Body according to that he hath doae whether it be good or bad ISAIAH xxxviii Set thy House in Order for thou shalt Die and not Live MANS Body before that dismal Conquest we all deplore as well as the Poor Soul was conditionally Immortal and so to this very day had ever continued if it had not been for the damnable Sin of Disobedience committed by Adam and Eve our First Parents But this was no sooner Gained than Lost and the time of Mans Life ever since hath been as a Point the Substance of it ever flowing the Sense obscure and the Whole Composition of the Body tending to Corruption If that you should live three hundred years or as many thousand of years yet with all remember this that at the last you shall be compelled by Death Gods all-resting Bailiff to lay down these rotten ruinous and clay-decaying Tabernacles of yours for Dust you are and unto Dust you shall return and peradventure you shall not have a good warning before hand as the good King Hezekiah had here but be thrust out of House and Harbour in less than an hours warning For Death which will put a period to every Mans days 2 Tim. 4. 7. is like a Sergeant sent from above upon Action of Debt at the Suit of Nature mounted upon his Pale Horse will come on unawares rap at your Doors Alight Arrest you all and carry you bound Hand and Foot into a Land as dark as Darkness it self from whence you shall be summoned at the last dreadful Audit to the Bar of Justice in the high Court of Heaven when your Bill shall be brought in how that you have ever Rebelled and most notoriously transgressed against the Lord of Hosts both in Thought Word and Deed and have ever spun away our time as tho' that Death which is the end of all flesh would never follow wherefore to the intent that Hezekiah that good King might be made more certain of his fatal Destiny occasioned by our first Parents and have the less account to make at the great and terrible day of Doom when Christ Jesus the Worlds Saviour shall descend from Heaven which is the center of all good wishes with his Heavenly Host of blessed Angels riding in Pomp and great Majesty upon the Wings of the Wind with the loud sounding Trumpet of God and the all tearing Voice of the Arch-Angel to judge both the quick and Dead God sent unto him the good Prophet Isaiah to incounter with him and to put him in mind of his mortal Song The whole verse runs thus In those days was King Hezekiah sick unto Death and Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amoz came unto him and said unto him thus saith the Lord. Set thy House in order for thou shalt die and not live These words as they distribute themselves do consist of 〈◊〉 Principal and Essential Parts First of an Admonition or earnest Exhortation Set thy House in Order And then secondly of a sound and undeniable Reason which is threefold Affirmative and Negative First Affirmative for thou shalt Die and the Negative and not Live Set thy House c. Now of these in their due order severally and first of the Admonition or earnest Exhortation Set thy House in Order in which you have these three things regardable First the Reason warning which was Almighty â—…od by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah as is made manifest in express termes in the former part of the Verse And Isaiah the Prophet the Son of Amoz came unto him and said unto him thus saith the Lord. Secondly the Person warned or exhorted which was none other but even good King Hezekiah and by him all other And then thirdly and lastly the matter of the Exhortation and that was to Set thy House in Order Now of these which shall have the first place in my Discourse shall be of the Person exhorting and that was God Adam who had attained unto the state of Perfection in his Life and Conversation relying wholly upon Natures first intentions never so much as once dream'd of Death which is a Separation of Soul and Body or any Alteration until Almighty God unto whom all hearts are open no secrets hid seeing his corrupt and base nature came unto him and told him plainly and roundly to his face how that he was but Dust and Ashes and thither should return again Gen. 3. 19. Thus Almighty God by the mouth of Moses the Faithful was ever warning the Israelites being ever a most stiff-necked and rebellious Generation of their Mortality Deut. 32. 21. saving They have moved me to Jealousie with that which is not God they have provoked me to Anger with their Vanities And I will move them to Jealousie with those which are not a People I will provoke them to Anger with a foolish Nation for a fire is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest Hell and shall consume the Earth with her encrease and set on fire the Foundation of the Mountains I will heap mischief upon them I will spend my Arrows upon them they shall be burnt with hunger and devour'd with burning heat and with bitter Destruction I will also send the Teeth of Beasts upon them with the poyson of Serpents of the Dust and to raise this Blister the higher the Sword without and Terrour within shall destroy both the Young Man and the Virgin the suckling also with the Mâ—…n of Gray Hairs vers 25. Thus Almighty God did threaten them if that they would not set their House in Order and repent that he would bring them to the Dust again wherefore Moses being a true Mirror of pity out of his most tender Love and boundless Affection towards them all in general lest that Almighty God should send forth his sharp piercing Arrows and give them mortal Wounds in his heavy Wrath and cruel Anger cries out most bitterly by way of Exclamation saying O that they were wise then would they understand this and consider their latter end Thus the Father of Spirits and Lives having out of a Chaos or nothing created all and fashioned Man after his own Image seeing his corrupt and base Nature too inclinable unto all sorts of Wickedness by a sudden Metamorphosis transforms him into what he was again just like the Cat in the Fable which when she would not change her manners having all her members made after the form of a Woman according to hearts desire was turned into a Cat again Thus fâ—… concerning the first particular Circumstance the Son warning even Almighty God by the mouth of Isaiah the Prophet wherefore now to breviate my Discourse in fewer Words lest that I should be too prolix in the prosecution I shall proceed unto the second thing subservient to this Explication and that is the person warned or here to set his House in Order which was none other but even Hezekiah that good King
travelling through the Ages of Childhood Youth and Old Age in one day In the Morning it is hatch'd at Noon it flourishes in the Evening it grows old and dies But this is more to be wonder'd at in that winged Creature that it makes no less provision for one little day than if it were to live the Age of a Crow or a Raven To this little Animal the Life of Man is most fitly to be compar'd It inhabits by the River of gliding Time But more fleet than either Bird or Arrow And often only one day determines all its Pomp oft-times an Hour and as often a Moment Wherefore then do we think of Years and Ages frequently no longer had then Flowers or the shadows of Flowers or then any thing if any thing can be more short and fading than those Flowers It is a wonder greatly to be admir'd that this swift Brevity of Life should be divulg'd by all the Prophets be confirm'd by the Writers of all Ages and yet that miserable Men should be deaf to all their Exclamations Ezechias cries out by Isaiah the Prophet From the Morning till the Evening thou shalt conclude my days The Royal Psalmist cries out My days have past away like a shadow Josiah the King cries out Man springs up like a Flower and is trod down and vanishes like a shadow Behold Man is like a Bubble all thy Life is the flight of a shadow Canst thou then dream of any Mansion or Abiding place here Wherefore dost thou covetously scrape together wherefore dost thou scrape and rake as if to live the Age of Nestor Death is at thy Back Thou shalt go hence before thou fear'st thy departure unless thou art afraid betimes Make haste Eternity is at hand Sect. 6. The same is deliver'd with greater Confirmations THE Life of no Man is otherwise than short but the shortest of all is their Life who forget what is past neglect the present and are in no fear of the future Most excellent is the saying of Job they that saw him shall say where is he Like a fleeting Dream he shall not be found yet Dreams are vain and nothing swifter than flight he shall pass away like a Nocturnal Vision My days saith he were swifter than the Racer they fled away and saw no good this said the most Wealthy of Men. They took their flight like Birds carrying Apples like an Eagle flying to his prey Because we are of yesterday and understand nothing because our days are like a shadow upon the Earth Truly our days are but a shadow upon the Earth and there is no delay We Banquet and Revel and there is no delay We indulge to sleep and snore till Noonday and there is no delay Prodigal of our time we go to Plays and invent voluptuous ways of Idleness and yet there is no delay Our years pass glide and fly away No Man has so much the â—…avour of Heaven as to promise himself to Morrow Thus while we dream we pass to Eternity either the Celestial or the Infernal It was an excellent saying of Suidas Olâ—… Mortals but of one little day that only know the present not foreseeing future things consider that Eternity to which ye are going Sect. 7. The Hope of Long Life and VVishes are vain WHat shall I do said the Rich Man in his Heart because I have not room for 〈◊〉 Fruits of my Land I will do this I will pull down my Barns and Build bigger Miserable Soul alas Thrice miserable Wilt thou inlarge thy Barâ—… To Morrow the Grave shall be thy Habiration Oh that it prove not Hell This Night thy Soul shall be taken from thee and who shall inherit what thou hast scrap'd together Thy Vertue if thou hadst any thy Vices shall go with thee Neither shalt thou take with thee any otherCompâ—…nions hence Most like the Fate of this Rich Man was that of Senecio in Seneca who considering this fleeting Life of ours which we enjoy at Mercy Every day saith he every hour shews us what nothingâ—… we are and by some new Argument still admonishes us of our frailty while they compel us covetous of Eternity to look after death Senecio Cornelius a Roman Knight a Man of extream â—…rugality no less careful of his Patrimony than of his Body when he had sate all day till night by his friend sick a Bed beyond all hopes of recovery when he had Suppâ—…d well and cheary was taken with a violent Distemper the Quinsey scarcely retained his Breath within his contracted Jaws till Morning so that he deceas'd within a few hours 〈◊〉 he had performed all the Duties of a sound and healthy Man He that turn'd and wound his Money both by Sea and Land He that left no sort of Gain untry'd in the very Flood of his Prosperity in the very Torrent of his overflowing heaps expir'd Thus it happens that when men most spend their time in toyl they spend their last Breath Like the Winds that when they blow most vehemently loose their force most quickly then allay'd when they have rag'd most furiously The most admirable Job almost by way of complaint interrogates the Deity And dost thou so soon cast me down Learnedly Tertullian and truly thus saith he The Sailing Ships free from the Capherean Rocks not tost by Tempests nor tumbl'd by the vast Waves but steering with a flattering gale making swift way on a sudden with one shâ—…g loose all their hopes of safety No other are the Shipwracks of Life and the Calm Events of Death How stupid a thing then is to dispose of Age We are not then Lords of to Morrow How great is the madness of those that commence long hopes I will buy I will build I will sell I will appoint I will bear honours and then I will repose my old Age in seisure But all things believe me are uncertain to the Fortunate No Man can promise himself any thing of what is to come What we enjoy slâ—…ps through our hands that very Hour a chance may happen and disappoint all We propose to our selves long Voyages and tedious stays e're we return to our Countrey Affairs of War and Council slow Actions prolix Business a long Series of Toyl Labour and Employment We begin Suites hoping the long Life of Nestor and the Fortune of Metellus When in the mean time Death is at our Elbow and from the Precipice of Life throws us headlong into the Sea of Eternity Sect. 8. Man is Dust. REmember Man that thou art Dust and to Dust shalt return This sad Verse our Mother the Church repeats when she covers the Heads of her Children with Dirt and admonishes â—…s of our Mortality at the same time when we least think of it Herein the Church imitates the Eagle Who when she would encounter the Hart shakes the dust which she has gather'd upon her Wings into the Hart's Eyes and fixing her Taloâ—…s between his Horns she claps his Head with her Wings till he fall headlong
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 he was the Son of one year when he began to Reign but that he Raigned Two years over Israel Saul at the beginning of his Reign was as free and Innocent from all wickedness as a Child of one year old but he continued in this purity but one year though he Reigned Twenty years in all Many attain to old Age betimes and before they are old But the most of Men never who when they are old yet retain the Vices of Children still so that they die Children of a hundred years of Age. The Happiness of Life consists not in the length or extent thereof but in the use of it And it may often happen that he that has lived long has not lived at all Wherefore there is nothing more infamous than a childish old Man who has no other Argument to prove his long Life but his Age. Elegantly St. Ambrose concerning St. Agnes Infancy was reckoned in her year but a vast Age of mind The Oracle of Divine Venerable old Age is not lasting nor to be computed by number of years But the Senses of men are grey and old Age is an immaculate Life And therefore the Manners rather than the Hairs of men are to be esteemed Venerable Only he is worthy of more reverence who is old betimes An honest Life is the best old Age. Yet you will say a man so early dead might have proved a great Man and serviceable to his Countrey Rather which is more to be feared he might have become like others Behold young men whom Luxury drives into all Vice over whose Head there passes not a day without some signal Crime Therefore he is taken away left Evil should change his Intellect or lest a Fiction should deceive his Soul Whoever comes to the Extremity of his Fate he dies an old Man Oft-times in a long Life the least thing to be considered is that he has lived 'T is much more glorious to be old in Vertue than in time He has lived long enough who has said well He has sought well that overcomes Sect. 23. A PARADOX Whoever will has liv'd long enough A Short time of Age is long enough to live well saith Tully No man dies so soon who intends not to live better than he has done A Beardless Youth has numbered years enough who has lived to Vertue and Eternity for which he was Born Has he not spoke enough that can perswade with one word or a nod Has he not said enough who arrives happily at his Port. But best of all he that soonest attains it So that death prevent not our Meditation the swifter the more happy it will be But I saith the Macedonian King in Curtius who number not my years but my Victories if I number the Gifts of Fortune have lived long enough How much more truely he who Consecrates all his Life to God and only studies to serve and please his Master faithfully may say I who count not these years wherein I serve God but my desires if I rightly compute the Benefits of my God have lived long enough So it is most certainly he lives a Hundred yea a Thousand years yea Ages themselves and serves God whoever sincerely and cordially desires to serve his God so long were it permitted him so long to live For God accepts the will for the deed With whom to intend a pious Action is oft-times as much as to have performed it So he may be a Martyr and expend his Blood with a Christian Valour though he die in his Bed So a Man may live long and act and suffer couragiously for Christ whoever earnestly desires to live to that end There is no man that dies not at his day whoever dies by the Decree of the Divine Will Sect. 24. You are to Die to Die AUgustus the Emperor Peragia being taken punished abundance of the Citizens and to those that 〈◊〉 his pardon or desired to excuse themselves he only made this short answer Moâ—…iendum est You are to die Thus he caused three Hundred to be slain like Victims upon an Altar Built to Julius Caesar. Justin and Irenaeus most noble Writers among the Ancients smartly observe that after the Sentence of Death pronounced against Adam that never any Mortal according to Gods Kalender live a whole day For as the Prophets and Apostles testifie one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as one day But no man lived a thousand years therefore no Man ever lived a whole day Thou art to die Though thou hast attained nine hundred years and upward thou art to die This is most certain from Divine Oracle from Human Reason and Experience Divine Oracles six hundred times proclaim Moriendum est You are to die Reason it self by evident demonstrations convinces that whatever is composed of contraries is liable to Corruption and therefore Thou art to die Experience the Mistress both of Fools and Wise Men pointing to the vast heaps of the Dead perswades our Eyes that never yet any one of all the number of Mortals could escape the power of death Thou art to die is clearer than the Sun Thou art to die Does any Thunder from Heaven more loudly pierce our Ears like this Sentence Thou art to die Here no Man must be deaf will they nill they they are forced to admit these dreadful sounds This thunder pierces their unwilling Ears Thou art to die whether in the favour or in the wrath of God Aeschylus of old Death said he is the only Goddess among all the rest that regards not Bribes nor admits the least particle of sweet hope Wherefore wisely Seneca Let us afflict our selves saith he with this thought Let us repeat this often to our selves Thou art to die When It is better thou shouldst not know that Death is the Law of Nature Death is the Duty and Tribute of Mortals then to be paid when it is exacted Wherefore laying all other things aside meditate upon this alone that thou maist not fear the name of Death Make that by frequent Contemplation familiar to thee That if it should so happen thou maist be willing to meet it Sect. 25. The Remembrance of Death is variously to be renewed 1. THey say that the Skull dryed in a Furnace and beaten to powder and mixed with Oil cures a Gangrene or a Cancer To grinde
any time why not now Death calls upon all Men alike Thither we must all come sooner or later of that we are certain we doubt not of that thing but of the time VVhat then Does not he seem to be the most fearful and imprudent Creature of all who with so much earnestness desires the delay of Death Would not he be the Laughing-stock of others who being Condemned among many should beg to be the last Executed Yet this is the Folly we are guilty of We think it a great happiness to die last The Capital Punishment is destined to all and by a most just determination Now what matters it whether we go out first or last out of this Life as Men go out of a Theater We must depart it then at any time why not now To day perhaps Death spares us That 's nothing to Morrow he will be with thee The Sword will seize thee a Stone waits for thee a Fever lyes in Ambush Thou art never nor in no place safe There 's a necessity of going If then to Morrow why not to Day If at any time why not now Sect. 44. Why Death is Terrible DEath is the same to all Men but the Wages by which it happens are various One expires while he is feeding another slumbering falls into an Eternal Sleep another in the act of Impiety extinguishes Here one drops by the Sword another Drowns in Water another Fires consumes Some by the sting of Serpents die while others are Buried in the sudden fall of Ruins Others by the Contraction of their Nerves are tortured to Death Others are cut off in their Youth others in their Cradles Sometimes an Infant comes into the World to take its farewel of Life The Exit of some is milder of others harsher But how mild and gentle Death may seem to be however it brings something of Horrour with it and that for this reason because it seems to deprive us of many Happinesses and to take us from that plenty to which we are accustomed This love of our selves and desire of self-preservation is the Chain that clogs us There is also a natural fear of darkness to which Death is thought to be our Conductor which has engaged the Wits of many to augment the Terrours of Death But that which most augments the fear of Death is this that present things we know whither we are to go we know not and therefore are afraid Therefore is the Mind to be enured by much Exercise that it may not be afraid of that Eternity into which we are to enter Eternity is that we are to think upon day and night as they that would bring themselves to endure hunger must enure themselves to fasting by little and little So the Soul that is to be translated from this inconstant World to a stable Kingdom must accustom it self to endure Eternity Let it every day salute the Gate of Eternity every Moment believe that it waits there Whatever it acts let it act for Eternities sake and only observe this one form of action I read I write I paint I meditate I watch I speak and all for the sake of Eternity Whoever aspires to Eternal Triumphs let him learn to Combat Eternity Sect. 45. Death is sudden but beautiful CHaeremon as Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis witnesses while he sits while he works while he acts as a healthy person dies So sitting so working he was found but dead Vertue can beautifie any sort of Death Philemon a Comedian contested with Menander perhaps not his Equal yet his Emulator This Person recited upon the Stage a play that he had newly made But when he was moving the more sprightly Affections in his third Act a sudden shower scattered the Auditory Thereupon he promised the rest the next day The next day a vast multitude met together in so much that the Theater was thronged but no Philemon came Some blam'd the slowness of the Poet others excused him But at last tyred with expectation and sending to seek him the Messengers found him dead in his Bed His Book was in his Hand and his Eyes fix'd upon his Book So that the Messengers stood a while astonished at so sudden an Accident and the Miracle of so lovely a Death Returning to the people they related that they expected Philemon had finished his last act at Home leaving the World to give him their last farewel and plaudite to his Friends a sad occasion of Mourning and Lamentation For that now a Noble Poet having put off the Mask of Life his Bones and not his Verses where to be read If we look at this present Life the most wish'd for death is to die not fearing death But much more desireable is it to die in action and to be busie at our work that death it self may not prove idle It was the wish of Cyprian the Martyr to be slain for the sake of God while he was discoursing of God It is a high Encomium for any Man that not only the Devil but neither Death himself should find him idle Sect. 46. VVe must watch and pray BEcause ye know not at what Hour the Son of Man will come The Romans watched in their Arms yet sometimes without their Shields that they might have nothing to lean upon to invite them to sleep It is thy duty to watch O Man and to watch armed Ardent Prayers to God are the true Arms of Christians The Shield that encourages sleep is the vain hope of a longer Life The frequent Cries of the Roman Souldiers in their Watches were Wake wake Mars wake Thus they encouraged one another to constancy in watching The Heaven it self day and night waking and incessantly toyling admonishes thee to watch Dost thou grow deaf or art thou falling asleep Hear the voice of Christ watch and pray According to the relation of St. Mark Christ made a Sermon in the Conclusion whereof he thrice repeats these words first Take ye heed watch and pray Secondly Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh at even or at midnight whether at the Cock-crowing or at the dawning lest if he come suddenly he find ye asleep Lastly And that I say unto you I say unto ye all watch With the same Admonitions and by the Mouth of St. Matthew he cries to us Watch ye therefore for ye know not what hour the Lord doth come And again Watch ye therefore because ye know neither the day nor the hour The same he repeats upon Mount Olivet Watch and pray lest ye enter into Temptation Upon the same Text he preaches in St. Luke Watch ye therefore at all times praying The same watch ye how often doth St. Paul reiterate These claps Thunder upon us to shake off all sleepiness and drowsiness from us We are deaf yea dead indeed if these loud Exhortations will not wake us Whoever thou art that sleepest in Vice awake Thou knowest the Fate of the Egyptians The slaying Angel enter'd Egypt
suffering Christ than he who begins to hate those things for which Christ suffered Sect. 24. The Sick man's Bed THE Sick-mans Bed burns though upon Sardanapalus's Down or the Roses of Smyndyrides is may be soft Smyndirides a young man famous for his Effeminacy finding that the tender Feathers hurt his Skin would needs try whether he could lie any softer upon a Bed of Roses and yet that fragrant and soft Lodging was too hard for his delicate and tender Sides because the Feathers had wheal'd his Skin the Night before A Sick-man though he lay upon Hare's-wool or Partridge Feathers would think he lay hard But he is to be pardon'd his Pains cause him to complain But we can shew you Beds much more uneasie Laurence the Martyr had a beginning Gridiron for his Bed After him Vincentius the Martyr and many others This was a hard and uneasie Bed indeed yet Love made it soft and easie The Persians formerly inflicted a most severe Punishment upon the Persians which was called Scaphismus for the Christian that was to be tormented was layd upon his Back between two hollow pieces of Wood with his Head Hands and Feet out For his Food he had Honey and Milk poured into his Mouth against his will Thus in the Day-time he was exposed to the heat of the Sun with his Eye-lids distended upward and downward His Head Hands and Feet were also at the same time anointed with Honey which brought infinite swarms of Flies and Wasps to feed upon his bare Flesh so that the Corruption extending to the enclosed parts engendred Worms which together with the Flies and Wasps made a tedious Banquet upon his miserable Carcase And this Torment was the Martyr forced to endure sometimes fifteen sometimes seventeen and sometimes more Days together Consider this Bed O Sick man this miserable and tormenting Lodging of a suffering Martyr How gentle are thy Pains to his How soft is thy Bed to this How is thy Disease a matter of nothing to these Torments Be silent therefore and preserve thy Patience He that is a Companion of the Cross shall be a Companion of Paradise It was an excellent Saying of the blessed Salvianus To me it seems to be a kind of health for a man to be only sometimes in health Sect. 25. The Garden of Christ is the delight of a Sick-man WHen Jesus had spoken these words he went forth with his Disciples over the Brook Kedron where was a Garden into which he entred and his Disciples John 18. v. 1. Enter this Garden O Sick-man all the Saints invite thee Here shalt thou hear things to be admir'd and see things more wonderful In this Garden Joy it self began to grow sad My Soul is exceeding heavy even to death tarry ye here and watch I beseech thee let these words concern thee O sick Man Tarry here a while and watch with thy Lord. The Spirit is ready but the Flesh is frail O Father if thou wilt remove this Cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done Yet the third time he reiterates this Prayer Father if this Cup cannot pass from me unless I drink it thy will be done In these streights O Christ there is no Man living that can mitigate the least of thy pains None that can supply thy place that can give the least word of Consolation to thy Sorrows Thy chiefest Friends forsake thy Disciples more forward in their Tongues than Hearts renounce thee a little before prepar'd to be bound and die with thee anon seeking which way to save themselves by flight Only thou alone O Christ watchest prayest thou dost both labour and sweat O happy Garden be purpled by thy Lord and studded as it were with the starry drops of his Blood Thou heardst those groans and sobs those sighs intermix'd with Tears those Prayers interrupted with deadly Moans privy to the Sorrows that overwhelmed Christ to the Sleep that seized his Disciples Others talk of the Gardens of Adonis and Alcinous they were Trifles wild Fields overgrown with Brambles compared to thee The Elysian Fields are nothing in respect of thy Dignity Nor should I err to say thou wert a Paradise more happy than the first O happy Earth that drankest the Blood of thy Lord on which before ne're fell so precious a Dew But Oh Earth didst not thou blush to be prest with so Sacred a weight to be sprinkled with so noble a Liquor Yes certainly thou didst begin to blush be-scarleted with that most precious Vermillion when the new Gardener had watered thee with his Distilling Purple From this Gardener let the sick Man learn to pray In this Garden to gather Posies is to join together several Acts of Patience Sect. 26. Christ's Bed among the Olives THere is no more effectual Comfort to a sick Man than that Bed of Christ in the Shades of Olivet But Oh! 't is very hard and full of pain Behold and attend No sooner was Christ entered into the Garden but he began to fear look pale be troubled groan display his sadness confess his heaviness betray his Anguish in his Countenance to desire Companions in his watching and his prayers often to go and return to and fro from his Company yet no comfort or quiet could he find And then behold again how he falls upon his Knees how he intreats the wrathful Father how he interrupts his words with sighs and begs that the Cup may be removed yet not desiring his own but the will of the Father to be done How he wiped off the trickling Sweat from his bloody Cheeks In this Fatal Bed of Earth O Spectacle to be bewailed of Men Even to be lamented by the Angels themselves And his Sweat was like drops of Blood trickling down to the ground Thus Christ wept and lamented with his whole Body the Tears and those bloody ones burst forth every where Such haste did the Divine Love make to our Salvation that by Bands seemed to him to be delayed the Scourge and Pillâ—…r to be tardy and the Thorns and Nails to tarry too long the very Cross it self seemed to be deferred So God loved the World O immense Love for the fulfilling whereof one Death was not enough which before Death caused Life it self to die so that the most Loving Jesus was constrained to perish Limb by Limb to consume Drop by Drop and by the slow distilling of his Blood to breath out his Soul several ways And yet he loved more than he suffered and more he desired to endure than Humane Nature was able to bear Death seemed to him the slightest of his Punishments nor was it enough for him to die once in Golgotha unless he had died before in Gethseman It had been a small thing for him to have expired between Thieves had he not reaked before with bloody Sweat to shew how he had been Scourged O Christ As yet the Roman Executioner does not appear the hooked Wyre does not yet tear thy Flesh. The great Nails are
shouldst fear and wish for death and which is more that thou shouldst never know thy condition nor when thou wert safe Besides that every thing of future is uncertain only that we are certain to decay for the worse the Journey to Heaven is more easie when we have dismissed our Thoughts from worldly Conversation For so they become lighter and freer from Dregs Great Genius's never covet a long stay in the Body they long to be gone they hardly brook these narrow they desire to wander through sublimity and take a prospect from above of things below Therefore it is that Plato cries out The Soul of a wise Man always leans towards Death This it desires this it meditates upon covetous of higher Objects And how clear is that of Plato concerning a better Life He saith he that spends his Life in the study of Wisdom seems to be the person who will die with confidence full of good hope that he shall obtain great rewards if he die This the Ancients saw in the dark and thou canst not see it by the light of the Sun What then my sick Friend do the things of the Earth trouble thee Shortly thou shalt inhabit Heaven Thither aspire and whatever miseries thou feelest thou wilt feel them the less Sect. 30. True Hope is a Blessed Life I Do not for this make use of either Poets or Philosophers 'T is a serious thing I will drink to thee out of the Fountain of Divine Eloquence Therefore lay aside thy sadness and with a certain hope say with the Doctor of the World I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Wherefore art thou afraid O Man of short hope hear the Son of Syras Who feareth the Lord standeth in awe of no Man and is not afraid for the Lord is his hope and strength Blessed is the Soul of him that feareth the Lord in whom putteth he his trust and who is his strength The Eyes of the Lord have respect untâ—… them that love him he is their mighty protection and strong ground a defence for the health a refuge for the hot of noon day a succour for stumbling and a help for falling He setteth up the Soul and lightneth the Eyes he giveth health life and blessing The Kingly Prophet how Câ—…uragious is he how undaunted having a prospect of his own Funeral I will lay me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that makest me dwell in safety What that safety is he expresses in another place For thou hast been my hope and a strong Tower for me against the Enemy I will dwell in thy Tabernacle for ever and my trust shall be under the covering of thy wings But thou wile say my Impatience makes me hope ill Here I will help thee again Cry with David Thou art my hope even from my youth Frequently this King cry'd out God is my Salvation God is my Hope and also exhorts others to do the same Trust in him O ye people pour out your hearts before him Wherefore dost thou not follow him that goes crying so loudly before thee Say therefore from thy Soul O think upon thy Servant according to thy word wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust The same is my Comfort in my Trouble And with Jeremy the Prophet I nevertheless obediently followed thee as a Shepherd and have not taken this Office upon me uncalled Thou knowest it well Be not thou terrible unto me O Lord. For thou art he in whom I hope when I am in peril Hear him in another place Leave off from weeping and crying with-hold thine Eyes from Tears for thy labour shall be rewarded c. Job is most confident in this Though he slay me I will trust in him The same he utters upon the brink of Death After darkness I hope for light Was there ever saith the Son of Syrach any one confounded that put his trust in the Lord Whoever continued in his fear and was forsaken Or whoever did he despise that called faithfully upon him For God is Gracious and Merciful He forgiveth sins in the time of Trouble and is a defender of all that seek him in the Truth And Hosea Therefore hope still in thy God for whoever put their trust in God are not overcome Besides That the Lord is good unto them that put their trust in him and to the Soul that seeketh after him The good Man with stilness and patience expecteth the health of the Lord. Truly saith Nahum the Lord is Gracious and a strong hold in the day of Tribulation and knoweth them that trust in him And we also know saith St. John that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And every Man that has this hope in him purgeth himself even as he is also pure Hope therefore most firmly in the Goodness of God and thou shalt walk before the Lord in the Land of the Living Sect. 31. Tranquility proceeds from true Hope TUrn again O my Soul into thy rest for the Lord hath rewarded thee Art thou wearied with so many sorts of Labour behold the Lord is at hand and he will put an end to all thy Labours The beginning of thy rest is Sickness and Death Cease therefore O my Soul to be willing to be miserable and to consume thy self with so much turmoiling Painful Beginnings thou wilt say 'T is very true But thou knowst that no days are less quiet than those that are next to rest No days less Holidays than those that precede Festivals So it is with thee But thy rest shall be Eternal The preparation tires thee shortly the Paschal without end shall follow Go to then and expend a little Labour and Grief By and by thou shalt behold the Gate not that which leads out of this Life but that which leads to Eternity Then hadst thou but begun to labour it would prove sufficient if he for whom thou labourest think it so Therefore O my Soul dismiss vain things to vain people and turn thee to the Lord who hath rewarded thee His Mercies toward thee hath been innumerable thou maist sooner number the Sand of the Sea than them by which he designs to open thee the way to Heaven Bernardus Clarevallensis recommended this particularly to his Friends to cast the Anchor of their hope in the safe Bay of Divine Mercy Therefore let that Verse of the Psalmist In thee O Lord. have I put my trust let me never be put to confusion Sect. 32. Comfort in Pain THen should I have some comfort yea I would desire him in my pain that he would not spare for I will not deny the words of the Holy One. With this Comfort therefore while my pains do burn me I will warm my Zeal and recollect my Courage when the Excess of my
die a thousand Deaths for thee If my strength fail whither I cannot creep with my Hands and Feet thi her my Desires shall flie and convince thee of the readiness of my Will and Affection But will these eager Desires open the Gate of Heaven to me Should I actually perform all these good Intentions and suffer what the most devout of men have suffered for thy sake shall I be worthy of the sight of God I know for all this I am unworthy How then shall I make my way to Heaven O Infinite Goodness if thou hast not Compassion upon me I am forlorn There is but one Sanctuary one Refuge from this just Indignation Thy Mercy Lord that is a vast and immense Ocean Into this Ocean into this Gulph I throw my self headlong out of a certain hope that in those Waters I shall be safe from the Flames of Hell I cry out therefore with David Have mercy on me O God according to thy mercy According to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my iniquity But in the utmost of my Extremities in the last hour of my Life when my Soul is departing out of this Tabernacle let all my Sighs and Gaspings repeat this wholesom Prayer Have mercy on me O God according to thy Infinite mercy Sect. 48. The sick Patient Covenants with God THat great and almost the last Ornament of the African Church Fulgentius conspicuous for his Learning and Sanctimony seventy days before his Death continually cried out Lord give me first Patience then Pardon This the holy man used as a Buckler against the violence of his Sickness Yea the more vehemently his Grief assail'd him the more vehemently he cried out Patience Lord patience Aâ—…e that Pardon This is a most sweet way of Covenanting with God neither to desire Wages before Labour nor Triumph before Victory nor to shake off the Yoak of Death without Pain Thus as Death is a Punishment to the Wicked so to the Righteous it is a Bridge and entry that leads to Eternity So true it is that Death commands the unwilling but serves and obeys the Willing Sect. 49. Thanks be to God should be the continual Song of the sick Patient SAint Cyprian when he heard Galerias the Proconsuls Sentence read to him It is our pleasure that Thuscius Cyprianus die by the Sword gave no other Answer but Thanks be to God Saint Laurence Roasted upon a Gridiron cried out Thanks be to God Euplius the Martyr who was Beheaded with the Gospel hanging about his Neck often repeated these words God be thanked Truly said Saint Augustin What better thing can we bear in our Minds or utter with our Lips or express with our Pens than Thanks be to God! Nothing can be more quickly said more gladly heard nor more acceptably understood than Thanks be to God who has endued thee with so much Faith In Adversity saith Saint Chrysostom the Wicked curse the Christians give thanks When we please God we shame the Devil For at the same time thou givest Thanks God eases thy Pain and the Devil departs There is nothing more holy than the Tongue which in Adversity Gives God â—…hanks Tertullian commending Job That good man said he upon the recâ—…it of all his bad â—…idings still used no other expression but Thanks be to God John Avila the most skilful Teacher of the Inward man was wont to say That in Calamities and Afflictions one Thanks be to God was worth more than six thousand in prosperity and health For in Prosperity to give Thanks is common to all men but in Adversity particular to the Righteous Therefore O my sick Friend so frame thy Mind and Tongue that the worse it is with thee the more readily thou mayst say Thanks be to God Then shalt thou be said to imitate thy Crucified Lord when thou shalt have the Courage in the midst of thy Sorrows to say Let Troubles vex me Grief torment me Want Oppress me Thanks be to God Let my Pains rage my Torments multiply Thanks be to God These Ejaculations penetrate Heaven This is Musick most pleasing to God To this St. Paul exhorts us In all things give thanks in Sickness in Health in Want in Plenty in Adversity in Prosperity In all things give thanks For many times Sickness Want a comfortless Condition loss of Dignities are a greater benefit of God then of all things flowing according to thy wish In no pains at no time let the Sick-person think it a burthen for the Sick-person to cry Thanks be to God So much the more noble is thy Patience so much more graceful thy Giving of thanks by how the more vehement thy Disease and Pains are Sect. 50. The true Confidence of a Sick-man in God TO Die is a serious business And we may well demand of the Patient Wilt thou commit thy self to the Cast of Eternity Thou art going a long aâ—…d unknown Journey and whither wouldst thou To this the sick Patient does best to answer that does not murmur I am grived I am compelled But rather replies with a chearful Mind willingly freely I resign my Spirit to God Thus I commit my sef to Eternity Thus glady to God Let the Healthy be of this mind of the number of which rightly said one I have already begun to die now I die I waste and am consumed now I travel to Eternity And because the Mercy of God knows no end therefore I travel undauntedly In the O Lord I have put my trust Let me never be put to confusion And though the Sacred Scriptures afford me a thousand Instances I will not despise the Light of Reason which enlightned the wise Roman For what the ancient Heathen thought of Death and our passage from Death into Eternity he thus teaches us When that Day shall come which shall seperate this mixture of Divine and Humane I will leave this Body where I found it and return my self to God Nor am I now without him though detained by this Ponderosity of Earth These delays of Mortal Age are but a Prelude to a better and a longer Life As we are Nine Months in the Mothers Womb before we are sent forth into this Place so by that space of time between our Infancy and old Age we are prepared for another Birth of Nature Another Original attends us another Condition of Life That Interval fits us to brook the Brightness of Heaven therefore let us undauntedly expect that pâ—…remptory Hour not the last to the Soul but to the Body That Day which thou art afraid of as thy last is the Birth-day of thy Etrnity These Thoughts will suâ—…er nothing abject nothing sordid to reside in thy Mind These Thoughts command us to approve our selves to God to prepare our selves to God to propose Eternity to our selves of which he that has a true Hope and Confidence shall not fear those numerous Hosts when awakened by the trembling Sound of the last Trumpet Sect. 51. Constantly COnstantly I beseech thee Constantly
there is no Patience if Constancy be wanting But one will say it is not two three four or five Weeks that I have layn thus Another will say this is the sixth the tenth the fixteenth Month that I have layn in this miserable Condition Others will cry they have been visited ten thirteen or more Years Persevere I beseech ye persevere and reserve your selves for a Celestial amendment The patient Man continues though he has been afflicted for many more years It is but a point of time saith he that this Sickness has held me when I consider Eternity Happy was that Servant who has the Great Gregory for his Applauder who from his Childhood to his Infancy being afflicted with the Palsie so that he could not list his Hand to his Mouth yet by hearing could remember all the Bible by Heart and while he lay all that time a dying continually had in his Mouth that one Sentence Thanks be to God To him all the Calamitous Days of his Sickness seemed nothing to Eternity The blessed Lydwick a Virgin of Schiedam lay sick eight and thirty Years contesting with a strange variety of all sorts of Maladies In those eight and thirty Years she scarce eat so much Bread as would suffice a strong Man for three Days and hardly took the rest of three Nights Yet in this croud of Miseries her continual Prayer was O kind Jesu have mercy vpon me Coleta another Virgin had sustained an incredible burthen of Pain and Misery for above fifty Years she hardly slept one Hour in eight Days Upon Festivals and Sundays her Pains augmented and sometimes she laboured under Distempers of Mind as well as Sickness of Body Yet in the midst of all she would still cry out I desire to be a Theatre and Stage for all sorts of Diseases to play their parts that so I may become a grateful Spectacle to God and Angels She might have said with St. Bernard My Labour is but the labour of one Hour in respect of Eternity yet if more I value it not through my extream love Therefore my sick Friend if thou numberest the Days and Years of thy Sickness call them a Moment If thy Patience and Constancy out-vye them hope for the Eternity of the blessed The Labour is small the Pain short the Recompence eternal Sect. 52. THat as well the Healthy as the Sick may put in practice and bring forth what they have determined in their Minds we have added the following Prayers 1. Prayer To be said by the Healthy the Sick and them that lie a dying OH my sweetest Lord Jesu Christ in the Union of that Charity whereby thou didst offer thy self to the Father to die I offer thee my Heart that thy good Will and Pleasure may be satisfied upon me and by me Sweet Jesu I make choice of and desire thy good Pleasure though Adversity Sickness and Death press hard upon me and commit my self entirely to thy most faithful Providence and thy most holy Will For I hope and beseech thee that thou wilt direct me and what-ever belongs to me to thy Glory and the Salvation of my Soul 2. Prayer For the preservation of Conformity with the Divine Will LOrd Jesu Christ who for thy Glory and our Salvation dost intermix Joy and Sadness and permittest for our profits Prosperity and Adversity I return thanks to thy Goodness that thou wert mindful of me and hast visited thy unprofitable Servant with this small Affliction I implore thy Favour that I may reap the Fruit and Advantage of this Visitation of thine and that I may not be hindred by my Impatience or Ingratitude What thou art able to do I humbly beg of thee to remove this present bitter and troublesom Cup from me as thou didst listen to the Tears of King Hezechia and didst miraculously raise him from his Bed of Sickness Yet not my will but thine which is just and holy be done In thy Hands is all the Authority of Judging and Determining concerning thy Children Neither is there any one that better knows than thee what Physick is most convenient for the cure of our Diseases O my most loving Father Reprehend Chastise and Afflict me here that thou mayst spare me hereafter I know thy Rod doth profit many when thou dost Chastise thy beloved Children and that then dost purge and try thy Elect before thou dost Crown them My Heart is prepared O God my Heart is prepared when and how thou pleasest to submit to thy Paternal Rod and that my Patience should be tried by Affliction In thee have I put my trust O Lord let me never be confounded I submit and commit my self entirely to thy most holy Will Though thou slayest me yet will I not cease to hope in thee thou Fountain of Life My desire is in thy hands 3. Prayer For Patience MOst Omnipotent God thou knowest how vile and frail this work of thy Hands is how it is shaken by the least blast of Wind and vanishes again into dust so that there is nothing wherein I can trust to my own strength who in the Contest of the Flesh against the Spirit feel so many Commotions of Anger Impatience Pusillanimity Diffidence and Mistrust upon the slightest Assault of Sickness Therefore I implore thy Help most Heavenly Physician thy Divine Physick which is Patience For Patience is the chief of Consolation in the most bitter of Sicknesses Grant me I beseech thee O Lord with a present and contented Mind I may be able to endure Joy and Sorrow sweet and sowre as proceeding only from thy Paternal Providence because thou directest all things for the tryal and profit of thy Children Let thy Spirit I beseech thee teach me through whose Comfort and Assistance there is nothing too hard for us to perform that I may know how to possess my Soul in Patience till Death Thou art a God who considerest the stings of Affliction under which we labour Yet I though I have not yet resisted to the shedding of my Blood yet against my will I have had the Experience of the weakness of the Flesh and force of contending Nature Therefore Lord help my imperfection so much the more that both my strength may be perfected in Infirmity and that I may be able sincerely to testifie that thy Rod and thy Staff they have Comforted me 4. Prayer Containing a Resignation of a Mans Self to the Will of God O Love ineffable O most sweet Jesu my God and Christ shouldst promise me the best of worldly favours or what I my self would desire I would beg of thee the utmost of what I now suffer This I beg a thousand times over that thy will may be fulfilled and satisfied upon me and by me in all things 5. Prayer After Receiving of the Sacrament GLory be to thee O Christ who out of thy goodness hast been pleased to visit and refresh my sick Soul Now let thy Servant O Lord depart in peace according to thy Word Now I hold thee O
above all things and resign my self up fully to his holy will Most absolute prepared to be well to be sick to live or die when it shall please the Lord. The will of God be done Unless every Christian so order his Life and his last Actions he is to be thought to have lived ill and to have died worse The last Hour consumates Death but is not the cause of it which was preceded by a good Death For nothing makes Death ill but what follows Death Good Seed brings a good Harvest The Highway to a good Death is a good Life I may not unfitly compare Life and Death to a Syllogisine The end of a 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 ch 4. v. 7. which says Though the Righteous be overta ken with Death yet he shall find rest pretions 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 Sâ—…ing 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—… 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 â—…o 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 â—…at 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 Just 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 Vicâ—… 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 Somâ—…us 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 slept 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 out 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
follow them as Children follow their Parents as Servants follow their Masters as Scholars follow their Teacher and Souldiers their Captain They follow them to the Tribunal of God to the Court of Heaven as Peers follow their Prince whither these Noble Servants are only admitted Sect. 23. The Farewel of a dying Person to the living which are to go the same way THere are many things of which it behoves me to Repent of Vertue often neglected and Time ill spent How much did it become me to have been more patient more submissive more studious of daily Death How small a Spark of Divine Love did glow in me Pity me O God pity me according to thy great Mercy Spare a Sinner O Infinite God through the Passion and Blood of thy dear Son But I have also offended you both in Word and Deed Pardon me you find me both Confessing and Sorry and deny me not this Provision for my Journey the pardon of all my Transgressions Let not your Vertue decrease by my Example which was always bad You have before your Eyes the Lives of the Saints to which yours must conform Enable their Patience Submission and Obedience to the utmost of your power I also return you thanks for your Pains for your Assistance for your Advice and for your Love God the inexhaustible Fountain of Goodness and the Immense Ocean of Love recompence your Affection God is certainly most Liberal to those that Commit themselves to his most holy Providence Obedience is a most Noble Vertue Patience is absolutely necessary Submission is a most excellent Vertue and Contempt of our selves Poverty is a Vertue belov'd of Christ Charity is the Queen of Vertue Yet above all the Vertues Faith in God seems to me to have something singular and most excellent and a Plenary Resignation of a Man's self to Divine Providence which the holy Scripture so commends and which is continually in the Mouth of the Kingly Prophet and which Christ endeavours to inculcate into us by so many Arguments drawn from Flowers c. little Birds The Vertues of this Faith and the Tranquility that attends it he only knows and finds who in every thing as well small as great most perfectly trusts in God and confines himself to rely upon his Providence and Will Neither do I believe there is any man who had this Hope and Trust in God but that strange and hidden Mysteries befell him Therefore let us trust in God and commit our selves wholly to his Will and Protection I whom ye here see am cited to the Tribunal of God to give an Account of Sixty Years All my Deeds Words and Thoughts are open to this Judge Nothing is concealed from him All my Lifes Actions shall receive their definitive Sentence How I tremble for it is a terrible thing to stand in Judgment before God But in this Extremity there is that which comforts me Therefore though I am a wicked Servant my Lord is Gracious and Infinitely Good who will acknowledge his Servant though he have been bad And now God be with you all that Survive Farewel all you that are to follow me in your order Sect. 24. The last Admonitions of Dying People AS the Sun towards his Setting shines often forth more pleasantly So Man the nearer he is to Death the wiser he is Hence those Admonitions of dying People which Wisdom has so much applauded â—…yrus being about to die My Son said he when I am dead close up my Body neither in Silver nor in any other Mettal but return its own Earth to the Earth again His last Words were Be grateful to your Friends and you will never want the Power to punish your Enemies Farewel my dear Son and tell these my Words to your Mother also Wisely saith Thcophrastus upon his Death Bed Many fine and pleasant things doth Liâ—… impose upon us under the pretence of Glory then the Love of which there is nothing more vain Hither may be referred the saying of Severus the Emperor I was all things but nothing avails Constantius Father of Constantine the Great upon his Death-Bed as he was resigning his Empire to his Son with a wonderful Chearfulness Now said he do I almost esteem Death above Immortality I leave a Son Emperor Here is the Man that after 270 years has wiped away the Tears of the Christians and avenged the Cruelty of Tyrants Christ was truly in Arms with Constantius Lewis King of France gave these his last Admonitions to his Son Beware my Son that thou never commit any deadly Sin rather suffer all manner of Torments First chose such about thee as will not be afraid to tell thee what thou art to do and what to beware To thy Parents give all Obedience Love and Reverence Ferdinand the Great King of Castile falling sick of his last Sickness caused himself to be carried to the great Church in all his Royal Robes where putting off all his Royal Ornaments and as it were restoring God his own he put on a Haâ—… Cloth and casting himself upon the Ground with Tears in his Eyes Lord said he the Kingdom which thou gavest me I return to thee again seat me I beseech thee in Eternal Light Charles King of Sicily spoke these Words Oh the Vain Thoughts of Men Miserable Creatures we are delighted with Honour heap up Treasure and neglect Heaven O the happy Fate of the poor who content with little Sleep in Tranquility What does now my Kingdom what do all my Guards avail me I might have been Miserable without all this Pomp. Where is now the power and strength of my Empire The same necessity involves me as hampers the meanest Begger Of so many Thousands of Clyents Servants and Flatterers there is not one that will or can accompany to the Tribunal of God Go Mortals go and swell your Breasts with great Thoughts to Day or to Morrow ye must die Farewel Earth would I could say welcom Heaven Nor must we forget the most Holy and Opulent of Kings the Son of the Hebrew Nation David who being near Death I saith he am going the way of all the Earth and then turning to his Son But thou my Son Solomon said he Keep thou the watch of the Lord thy God that thou walk in his Ways and keep his Statutes and Precepts If thou seek the Lord thou shalt find him but if thou forsakest him he shall cast thee off to Eternity A terrible Exhortation and enough to have pierced a Heart of Adamant Thus Death devours all cuts off Kings lays Nations wast and swallows the People up deaf to Prayers Riches Tears not to be overcome by any humane force Only the wise Man dies contented the Fool murmurs at his departure Sect. 25. Christ is invited ABide with me O Lord for it draweth toward Night and the day is far passed The day of my Life hastens towards Night and there is no Joshua to stay the Sun or prolong the Day But as the Sun is daily
buried under ground yet every Morning revives so I and all that live shall go to the Earth but we shall return from the Earth clearer than the Sun it self Therefore O Christ O my most Gracious Saviour abide with me behold it draweth towards Night My Eyes my Ears all my Senses fail me but do thou I beseech thee not fail me O most loving Jesu and all the rest I most willingly abandon Begon all other things I dismiss and give ye leave My Creator is with me it is enough It is well with me But that thou may'st tarry with me till Night even till Death still I cry abide with me O Lord for it draweth towards Night Sect. 26. The dying Man is encouraged WHen thou hast not the convenience of reading much behold a few Verses not a little useful to ease thy Troubles and confirm thy mind Consider that St. Cyprian whispers these Words into thy Ears When we die we pass to Immortality Nor can we attain to eternal Life unless we depart from hence Neither is this an Exit but a Passage and a flight to Eternity after the short Conclusion of a Temperate Race How preposterous how perverse a thing it is when we desire that the Will of God should be done when he calls us forth of this World that we should not streight be obedient to his Will We strive we struggle and like head-strong Servants we are haled into the presence of God with Sadness and Sorrow forc'd rather by Necessity than won by the tie of our Obedience and is it reasonable we should be honoured by him with Celestial rewards to whom we go unwillingly Wherefore do we desire and pray that the Heavenly Kingdom may come when our Earthly Captivity so much delighteth us Wherefore do we so earnestly wish for the fulfilling of Christs Kingdom when we had rather serve the Devil here then raign with Christ there Then shall the Servants of God injoy Peace and a calm and quiet Rest when freed from the troubles of this World when having vanquished Death we come to immortality When to see Christ it shall be our joy when we can have no joy but by seeing Christ. What blindness of mind what madness is it to be in love with the Oppressions Pains and Tears of this World and not rather to make haste to that joy which can never be tak'n from us Death is therefore the Hav'n of all Mortals O happy Shore O secure Port wherein none but the obstinate can Shipwrack Sect. 27. Faith in the Resurrection THis Flesh of ours now lives though shortly to return to its Clay to its mouldring Dust to be the Food of Fish Locusts Ants. and poysonous Vermin And yet after all this the same Flesh shall rise and the Butcheries of Executioners and the Coats of Martyrs shall be crown'd Neither do thou dream of any Flesh than the former unless thou canst imagine God unjust to give the reward to any other than that which has won the Prize or that he should receive another to his Heavenly Rest than that which won the Prize The same Soul in all things which in this Flesh fought the good fight stood stedfast learnt God put on Christ sowed the hope of Salvation the same shall reap The same Flesh that with the Soul ran through the whole Order of Life endured bled with the same Soul its Companion shall reap the reward Lazarus was the same after he had been four days in the Sepulchre as before The same the Son after the Mothers Tears were tried up as before The same was Christ after his being entombed as before Neither does any aid of Sepulture deprive God of his Omnipotency or put a stop to his Goodness The same was the Tongue of the Rich Man that was fed with-Banquets and that which was scorched in the Infernal Flames and begg'd to be relieved by the Finger of the more happy Begger the same Flesh shall be rewarded or punished according to its Merits Is not God able to enliv'n the Clay with the same breathing of his Spirit as formerly He that formed the Muscles the Bones the Nerves the Veins the Marrow out of the same Clay Can he not form the same out of the same again Is there a necessity that what perishes once should always Perish By what Law Behold that I may not stumble thee with any higher Philosophy behold thy Universal returning Order of all things that is a testimony and argument of returning Man Summers and Winters revolve Springs and Autums have their turns The light of Sun and Stars return with the morning Splendor or the natural Darkness had obscured Thou wouldst think the Vine dead and the Branches only fit for the Fire yet we see them revive again and thicker clad than before and what the cold Kills the heat of Summer restores more Beautiful as if decay it self paid use Not that these things in all things prove the Reparation of Human Life but lead us to it Wouldst thou have more signal Arguments We have a pledge in Christ in whom we Usurp Heaven and the Kingdom of God Wouldst thou have it in Man The mortified and putrified Flesh of Lazarus wise Flesh. Moses and Elias made known to the Apostles demonstrated that the same Habit and Condition of Body is still preserv'd in Glory And the departed Souls delivered out of the Prisons of this Flesh and returned to their own pure Light and Substance yet desire nothing more than to be clad with this refin'd Clay and in the former Matrimonial Society to continue a Life with the same Flesh never to be dissolved that they which endured together may injoy the same equality of Glory like Christ their Captain who ascended Flesh and Bone into Heaven a Pledge and Argument of our future Purity Therefore let us not be sad When the old House falls a fairer will rise in the stead He not only believed without a Cause but lived for no Cause that thought himself born to Perish Sect. 23. The hope of Resurrection our greatest Comfort JOB almost buried in the Grave of innumerable Calamities yet with a vast alaerity of Mind I know saith he that my Redeemer Lives and that I shall rise out of the Earth at the latter day and shall be covered again with my Skin and shall see God in my Flesh when I my self shall see and mine Eyes shall behold and none other for me This my hope is laid up in my Bosome Christ also as it were returning an Answer to Job I am the Resurrection and Life saith he whoever believeth in me though he be dead shall live There will most certainly come a day that will restore us to Light and therefore ought to depart contentedly 'T is reported that there is a Bird in the East Indies called Semenda which being sensible of her approaching Death fetches Wood into her Nest sings sweetly and by the clapping of her Wings sets it a Fire where being consumed out of the Ashes
whom I am chief 1 Tim. 1. 15 But he that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved Mat. 24. 13. Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Rev. 2. 10. These Fountains refresh and cool the hot Baths of death he shall happily swim therein who plunges himself over Head and Ears in these Rivolets Sect. 39. The Sighs and Prayers to God proper for a Dying Person ENlighten my Eyes O most merciful Jesu that I sleep not in death Left my Enemies say I have prevailed against him Psal. 13. 3 c. Lord Jesu Christ Son of the Living God Lay thy Passion Cross and Death between thy Judgment and my Soul O Lord Jesu Christ remember not our old Sins but have mercy upon us and that soon for we are come to great misery Psal. 79. 8. Sweet Lord Jesu Christ for thy glories sake and for the Effectual Vertues sake of thy Sufferings cause me to be written down among the number of thy Elect. Enter not into judgment with thy Servant O Lord for there is no Man righteous in thy sight I worship thee O Christ I bless thee because thou hast redeemed the World by thy Sufferings Saviour of the World save me who by thy Cross and Blood hast redeemed me O most merciful Jesu I beseech thee that with thy precious Blood which thou didst shed for Sinners that thou wouldst wash away all my iniquities O Blood of Christ purifie me let the Body of Christ save me let the Water from Christs side wash me let the Passion of Christ comfort me O kind Jesu hear me hide me between thy Wounds Permit me not O merciful Jesu to be separated from thee in this my Hour of death call me command me to come to thee that I together with thy Saints may praise thee to all Eternity Cast me not from thy Countenance nor take thy Holy Spirit from me Sect. 40. At the Moment of Death NOW Lord according to thy good pleasure deal mercifully by me and command my Spirit to be received in peace Sound into the Ears of my Mind those sweet words this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Now let thy Servant depart in peace because mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation O Jesu Jesu Jesu permit me to enter into the number of thy Elect. O Jesu Son of David have mercy upon me O Lord Jesu make haste to help me O Lord Jesu receive my Soul Sect. 41. The true Confidence of a Dying Person in God HEre I confidently aver with St. Bernard Let another pretend to Merit let him boast of enduring the heat and burthen of the day my desire is to adhere to God and to put my hope in the Lord. And though I am conscious to my self that such was the naughtiness of my pass'd Life that I deserve to be forsaken of God yet will I not cease to relye upon his Immense Goodness and to hope that as hitherto his most Holy Grace has afforded me strength to endure all things so the same will still uphold me and enable me to finish my course Therefore this one thing I beg of thee O God that thou wilt never suffer me to distrust of thy Goodness though I know my self to be weak and miserable Yea though I should perceive my self in that Terror and Consternation ready to fail like St. Peter upon one blast of Wind let me remember him let me call upon Christ Lord make me whole Then O then shalt thou stretch forâ—…h thy Hand and save me from sinking But if thou sufferest me to go farther yet with Peter to run headlong into denial then such is my hope that thou wâ—…t look upon me with an Eye of Mercy and Compastion as thou lookest upon Peter and grant me a now Confirmation of Eternity This I am certain of that unless the fault be mine the Lord will not forsake me I acknowledge that saying of St. Austin God may save some without good works because he is Good but he condemns none but for their evil works because he is Just. And therefore I commit my self to him with a full hope and confidence in him If he suffer me to perish for my Sins yet his Justice shall be magnified in me Yet I hope and most certainly hope that his most merciful Goodness will most faithfully preserve my Soul so that his Mercy rather than his Justice shall be praised in me Nothing can happen to me against the will of God Whatever he pleases to whom ever it seem ill is still the best to me VVhatever pleases thee that will I that will I O God Sect. 42. The Last Words of Dying Persons AUgustus the Emperor dy'd with these words in his Mouth Live mindful of our Nuptial Knot and so farewel How much more holily would these Christians do that direct their last words to the Beginning and Creator of all things Dyonisius the Areopagite being condemned to lose his Head with a Christian Generosity contemning the Reproaches of the Spectators Let the last words of my Lord upon the Cross said he be mine in this World Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit Basil the Great lying at the last period of Life after he had piously instructed his own Friends breathed out his Soul with these last words Lord into thy Hands I commend my Spirit St. Bernard upon his Death-bed Oh Christian said he despair not of this Infirmity Christ has taught thee what thou oughtest to say in all the dangers of death whom to fly to whom to invoke in whom to hope Therefore do thou so behave thy self that at the hour of death thou maist be able to say In thee Lord have I trusted let me not be confounded to Eternity Therefore let the last words of a dying Person be directed to God All his Prayers Wishes Desires and last Hopes must ever tend to him Let the dying Person say from the bottom of his Heart To thee Lord I turn my face to thee I direct my Eyes Sect. 46. Let the dying Person imitate the Penitent Thief in Golgotha LOrd remenber me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Happy Thief who in the School of Christ had learnt more in three Hours than the Unhappy Iscariot in three years Lord God! How great is the Abyss of thy Judgments Thy Friends and Kindred are silent thy Disciples forsake thee the Angels appear not Where are those thousands fed by this Crucified Lord Who of all that multitude speaks one word for so great a Benefactor Yet the Thief against his Companion pleads the Cause of Christ and justifies his Innocency take off all Scandals from him and convicts the Multitude of Murther Nor was the Son of God asham'd of such an Advocate but rather applauded him Nor was the happy Rhetorician wanting in his Cause But we truly said he are righteously punished for we receive according to our deeds but this Man hath done nothing amiss Oh how truely may I say the same of
my self I justly now dye I receive according to my Deeds but my God and my Lord did nothing that he should dye and dye in so much Torment And therefore may I truely use this Prayer Lord remember me because thou art come into thy Kingdom And because thou art now in thy Kingdom look upon me weeping in this Exile and admit me going hence into thy Kingdom This I beg of thee for the sake of thy Scourgings thy Thorns thy Cross and through thy Torments and thy Death Therefore what remains but for me to throw my Soul into his Bosom who alone considers its Pains and Sufferings He knows what conduces to the Salvation of Souls I wait for thy Salvation O Lord. Sect. 47. A Heliotropian Receit against all Sickness and Death THE Heliotrope is a Flower which as we find by daily Experience turns it self with the Sun from East to West and doing the same even in cloudy VVeather and in the Night for want of the Sun contracts and shuts up the Beauty of its Colours Let the will of Man always wait upon Divine Pleasure continually turning and winding it self to the beck of Sacred Power though the VVeather be cloudy Nor can any day in all the life of Man be more cloudy than the day of our death Then let the dying Person with fix'd and stedfast Eyes like the Heliotrope turn himself to his only Sun This let our Saviours words teach us Even so O Father for so was it thy good pleasure After this manner my dear dying Friend speak altogether In all things to be done to be avoided to be endured and born according to thy Lords Example always say Even so O Father even so always submitting thine to the most holy VVill. Even so O Father even so both now and for evermore Philip the second King of Spain groaning under the pains of a desperate Disease was wont continually to repeat these words of our Saviour Father not mine but thy will be done And one time among the rest as the Passion of Christ was read to him while the Chirurgeons were Lanching open an Aposthume he caused the Reader to stop at these words So highly did that great King value this Heliotropian Receit as well in Health as in Sickness This Heliotrope cures Sickness Death and all sorts of Diseases He is far from Destruction who in his will is so near to God THE Fatal Moment VVHen we dye our Everlasting state is to be determin'd After Death the Judgment The moment of our departure hence will pass us over to the Righteous Tribunal of God It will make us either to shine with the Angels above or to set with the Devils It will either fix us in a joyful Paradise or in an intolerable state of Woe So that we may say with Nieremberg How many things are to pass in that Moment In the same is our Life to finish our Works to be examined and we are then to know how it will go with us for ever and ever In that Moment I shall cease to Live in that Moment I shall behold my Judge in that moment I must answer for all my publick and my secret Actions for all that I have ever thought or spoke or done for all the Talents the Time the Mercies the Health the Strength the Opportunities and the Seasons and Days of Grace that I have ever had for all the Evil that I might have avoided for all the good I might have done and did not and all this before that Judge who has beheld my ways from my Birth to the Grave before that Judge who cannot be deceiv'd and who will not be impos'd upon Little can he that has not been brought near to Death and Judgment know what Thoughts the Diseased have when they are so Little very little does a Soul in Flesh know what it is to appear before the Great God This is so great and so strange a thing that they only know it who have receiv'd their final Sentence but they are not suffer'd to return to tell us how it is or what passes then and God sees it fit it should be concealed from us who are yet on this side the Grave But who does not tremble to think of this mighty Change and of this Moment that is the last of Time and the beginning of Eternity that includes Heaven and Hell and all the Effects of the Mercy and Justice of God Who does not tremble when he considers that Infinite and Holy Majesty before whom the Angels cover their Faces that considers his Omniscience and his Greatness and the mighty Consequences of that Sentence how sudden it is and how irresistible and that it is an irrevocable Decree and by a Word of this mighty Judge we live or dye for ever It is no wonder if the thoughts of it make us shrink and quiver It is a greater wonder that when some or other whom we know are almost every week going to such a place and state as this we who are not yet Cited to the Bar are no more concerned and use no more endeavours to be ready for it Oh my Friends when you come to the Borders of the Grave when you are within an Hour or two's distance from your Final Judgment and your unalterable state what a mighty Change will it cause in your thoughts and your apprehensions You will then know and feel it Then when the Perspective is turn'd and the other World begins to appear very great and this very little This that I have represented to you is a part of that which we call dying It is a great Mercy and greatly to be acknowledg'd that God allows us so much Time wherein to prepare our selves for this final and irrevocable Doom It is an instance of his Patience that is truly Divine that notwithstanding our many repeated Sins he has not cut us off It is his great Mercy that gives us leave to appear in his Courts before we appear at his Tribunal and that he affords us such large notice and warning that so we may be ready for our Last Tryal whereon so very much depends THE TREATMENT OF OUR Departed Friends AFTER THEIR DEATH In Order to Their Burial WHen we have received the last Breath of our Friend and closed his Eyes and composed his Body for the Grave then solemn and appointed Mournings are good Expressions of our dearness to the departed Soul and of his worth and our value of him The Church in her Funerals of the dead used to sing Psalms and to give thanks for the Redemption and Delivery of the Soul from the evils and dangers of Mortality But it is good that the Body be kept veiled and secret and not exposed to curious Eyes neither should the dishonours wrought upon the Face by the changes of death be stared upon by impertinent persons When Cyrus was dying he called his Sons and Friends to take their leave of him to touch his Hand to see him the last time and gave
Book of his Illiads of which this is the Argument Achilles orders justs of Obsequies For his Patroclus and doth Sacrifice Twelve Trojan Princes most lov'd Hounds Horse And other Offering to the honoured corse He institutes besides a Funeral Game Where Diomed for Horse-race wins the same For Foot Ulysses other otherwise Strive and obtain and end the Exequies They used to quench these Funeral Fires with red Wine and gathering the Bones together to include them in Urns which they placed in or upon some sumptuous rich Monument erected for that purpose Many more Ceremonies were observed in the magnificent ordering of both kinds of Funerals as well of such as were Buried in the Earth as of these Burned in these costly Piles of VVood. The Custom of burning the dead Bodies continued among the Romans but unil the time of the Antoâ—…ine Emperors An. Dom. 200. or thereabouts then they began to Bury again in the Earth Maâ—…ius de leg Rom Fol. 125 126. They had at these Burials suborned counterfeit hired Mourners which were VVomen of the loudest Voices who betimes in the Morning did meet at appointed places and then cried out mainly beating of their Breasts tearing their Hair their Faces and Garments joining therewith the Prayers of the defunct from the Hour of his Nativity unto the Hour of his Dissolution still keeping time with the Melancholick Musick This is a Custom observed at this day in some parts of Ireland but above all Nations the Jews are best skilled in these Lamentations being Fruitful in Tears Tears that still ready stand To sally forth and but expect command Amongst these VVomen there was ever an old aged Beldam called Praefica superintendent above all the rest of the Mourners who with a loud Voice did pronounce these words Ire licet as much to say He must needs depart and when the dead Corps were laid in the Grave and all Ceremonies finished she deliver'd the last Adieu in this manner Adieu Adieu Adieu we must follow thee according 〈◊〉 the course of Nature shall permit us The manner of these lamentings saith George Sanâ—…s in his Journal may of old appear by this Ironical personating of a Father following the Exequies of his Son introducted by Lucian in these words O my sweet Son thou art lost thou art dead Dead before â—…hy day and hast left me behind of Men the most miserable To Mourn after the Interment of our Friends is a Manifest Token of true Love by it we express that Natural Affection we had to the departed with a Christian-like Moderation of our Grief whereby our Faith to God-ward is demonstrated For as God has made us living so hath he made us loving Creatures to the end we should not be as Stocks and Stones void of all kind and natural Affection but that living and loving together the love of the one should not end with the life of the other Our all Perfect and Almighty Saviour Christ Jesus wept over the Grave of dead Lazarus whom he revived whereupon the standers by said among themselves Behold how he loved him The Ancient Romans before they were Christians mourned nine Months but being Christians they used mourning a whole year clothed in black for the most part for Women were clothed partly in white and partly in black according to the diversity of Nations These Examples considered I observe that we in these days do not weep and mourn at the departure of the dead so much nor so long as in Christian duty we ought For Husbands can buâ—…y their Wives and Wives their Husbands with a few counterfeit Tears and a soure Visage masked and painted over with dissimulation contracting second Marriages before they have worn out their Mourning Garments and sometimes before their Copemates be cold in their Graves AN ACCOUNT Of the Death and last Sayings Of the most Eminent Persons from the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour down to this present time FUneral Orations have been anciently used both within and without the Church without among the Heathens within among both Jews and Christians David 2 Sam. 1. 19. sets forth the Praise of Saul and Jonathan his Son The Beauty of Israel is slain upon his high â—…laces And memorable is that Funeral Oration of Saint Jerom for his Paula and her Daughter Eustoâ—…ium And good reason since not only Life but â—…he Death of Saints is precious in God's sight let â—…t be so in ours if both the one and the other be â—…poken of we ought not nor can without Injury to â—…he Pious Souls deceased bury in silence those Verâ—…es and Graces of God which were Eminently visible in their last Exit not only for God's Glory â—…ho was Author but also for Example and Comfort of the Survivers And how can we doubt that the Sound of the Praises of the Godly will â—…ause the most Dissolute one time or another to â—…ish Oh that I might die the death of the righteous and that my latter end may be like his For these holy Purposes I design here to give you an account of the Death and last Sayings of the most Eminent Persons from the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour down to this present time It was a Custom in the Primitive Times to Transmit to Posterity what would be most Remarkabe and Exemplary to present as well as to future Ages And I hope such Precedents will not appear unnecessary since Divine Authority informs our weak Judgment that St. Luke made one Treatise of all that Jesus began to do and to teach Acts 1. 1. Which blessed Pattern was fully delineated by that holy Apostle for our Imitation and whose Holy Example we must endeavour to follow if we expect to be his Disciples It was the Wish and earnest Desire even of Dives when in Flames That Abraham would send Lazarus to his Brethren to warn them of coming to that dismal place of Torment as we find it Luke 16. for he conceived a Message from the Dead would operate more powerfully than the Arguments or Perswasions of the Living And in this following Account we may be said to allow you that which was denied to this Man while we Treat you with a seasonable Banquet Served up by Repentance through the Grace and Mercy of God even upon the Brink of the Grave THE Death of Christ and his Apostles c. The Death of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST NO sooner had our First Parents by eating the Forbidden Fruit forfeited their State of Happiness but the All-wise Creator out of the Abundance of his Mercy and Goodness found a â—…eans to rescue them and their Posterity from the â—…ower and Malice of Satan and gave them a Proâ—…ise That the Seed of the Woman should break the â—…erpent's head Gen. 3. 15 All which was fulfilled â—…y our blessed Lord and Saviour The Son of God and Second Person in the Triâ—…ity was born of the Virgin Mary and made Man â—…hose Birth and Glorious Triumph over Death â—…he Grave and Hell the
Patriarchs and Prophets â—…ll along had foreseen After our Blessed Saviour that Glorious Son of Righteousness had run his Course he undertook 〈◊〉 satisfie his Father's Justice by making a Proâ—…tiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of lost and undone Man and suffered himself to be Tempted Beâ—…ayed Scourged Spit upon Reviled Crowned â—…ith Thorns and lastly submitting even unto the Death of the Cross all which had been exactly foretold by the Prophets Though it happened not after the common manner but was attended with such dismal Darkness and terrible Earthquakes Insomuch that a Heathen Philosopher at that Instant declared That either the God of Nature suffered or the World was at an end But he could not long rest under the power of the Grave but as a Victorious Captain breaking the Bonds of Death he led Captivity Captive in spite of the Malice of his Enemies who set a Guard upon him for as we have it Matth. 28. 1 2 3 4 5 6. In the end of the Sabbath as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the Sepulchre and behold there was a great Earthquake for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled away the Stone from the door and sat upon it his Countenance was like Lightning and his Raiment white as Snow and for fear of him the Keepers did tremble and became as dead men and the Angel answered and said unto the women fear ye not for I know that ye seek Jesus that was crucified he is not here but is risen as he said come see the place where the Lord lay The Death of St. PETER WHen he was at Rome he Prophesied the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation by Vespasian But about that time the Persecution growing hot against the Christians especially upon Nero's return from Achaia in great Pomp he at that time resolving to glut himself with Innocent Blood caused several thousands of the Christians to bâ—… 〈◊〉 up in Prisons and amongst the â—…est St. Peter 〈◊〉 whose Preservation the Prayers of the Chrisâ—… were still put up to Heaven many of the 〈◊〉 of them who could gain Access perswading him earnestly to make his escape alledging that the preservation of his Life would be very useful to the Church The which after many denials he attempted by getting over the Wall which being effected and coming to the City Gate is there said to meet our Lord who was entring the City when knowing him he asked him Lord whither art thou going from whom he received this Answer I am come to Rome to be Crucified a second time By which Answer St. Peter apprehending himself to be reproved for endeavouring to fly that Death which was allotted him and that our Saviour meant he was to be Crucified in his Servant he returned again to Prison and delivered himself to the Keekper and so cotinued till the Day of his Execution with great chearfulness Having Saluted his Brethren and especially St. Paul who was at that time his Fellow-Prisoner he was led to the top of the Vatican Mountain near the River Tiber about three Furlongs without the City and there Crucified with his Head downwards it being his own desire so to die alledging that he was unworthy to suffer after the same manner that his Lord and Master had suffered and so having run the race that was set before him he undoubtedly obtained the reward laied up for him in the Highest Heavens The Death of St. PAUL HOW long St. Paul continued in Prison after he had received Sentence to die is uncertain but the Day of his Execution soon came but what his preparatory Treatment was whether he was Scourged as Malefactors were wont in order to their Death is not known As a Roman Citizen by the Valerian and Porcian Law he was exempted from any such Ignominious and Infamous Punishment though by the Law of the Twelve Tables Notorious Malefactors Condemned by the Centuriate Assemblies were first to be Scourged and then put to Death And as Baronius informs us That in the Church of St. Mary beyond the Bridge in Rome two Pillars are yet to be seen to which St. Peter and St. Paul were Bound and Scourged before their Executions As our Apostle was led to Execution he is said to have Converted three of the Souldiers who Guarded him which the Emperour hearing commanded that they should be put to death St. Paul being come to the place appointed for his Execution which was near the Aquae Salviae three Miles from Rome after he had exhorted such as came to see his Tragedy to Repentance and recommended his Spirit into the hands of his blessed Lord and Master he kneeling down had his Head stricken off with a Sword St. Chrysostom declares That his chearful submitting to Death and his constant Courage till the last was a means not only to Convert his Executioner but several others who afterwards suffered Marryrdom for the Faith of Christ. He was Executed as far as can be gathered in the Sixty eighth Year of his Age. And thus the great Apostle after he had Preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and either in Person or by his Epistles visited most of the known World and as Theodoret tells us in the Isles of the Sea whereby he undoubtedly means Britain he received first the Crown of Martyrdom He was Buried in via Ostiensis about two Miles from Rome Over whose Grave about 318 Years after Constantine the Great at the request of Pope Sylvester built a stately Church and endowed it with many rich Gifts and Priviledges The Death of St. ANDREW VVHen he was Condemned the Pro-Consul ordered him to be Scourged and as he was going to be Crucified the People cried out He was a just and good man yet he was fastned upon the Cross with Ropes that he might be the longer dying the Cross being two Beams set in the fashion of the Letter X. From this Cross after he was fastned to it he Preached to the People for the space of two Days and by his admirable Patience Courage and Perseverance Converted many to the Faith During his hanging there great sute was made to the Pro-Consul for his Life but our Apostle desired them not to Intercede for him For that he was greatly desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Praying earnestly to Heaven that he might at that time finish his Race and be crowned with Martyrdom And so it happened for he there gave up the Ghost After which his Body being taken down was Embalmed at the Command of Maximilia whom he had Converted and afterwards laied in a stately Tomb prepared for that purpose where it continued till the time of Constantine the Great and was at his command brought to Constantinople and buried there in the great Church which he had founded to the Honour of the Apostles The Scots for many Ages past have had such Veneration for him that they Stiled him the
quiet Death But Dorotheus affirms that he was slain at Berytus and buried there in a stately Tomb although by the General Consent of the Latin Church he went Preaching the Gospel in Persia where after he had brought many over to the Faith and established the Christian Religion there for many years he at last was for his reproving and strongly opposing Idolatrous and Diabolick Devices of the Magi by their procurement crueily put to Death The Death of St. MATTHIAS the Apostle HE was treated with all manner of Rudeness and Inhumanity from whom for all his Pains and Labour about saving their Immortal Souls and directing them in the way to everlasting Life he was at last Marty'd by them Anno Christo 59 or as others will have it 64. The mà nner of his Death is uncertain though Dorotheus reports he was Martyr'd at Sebestople near the Temple of the Sun past doubt for reproving their Idolatrous Worship in Adoring the Creature instead of the Creator and was buried there Another account we have that he was seized by the Jews as a Blasphemer and after being stoned was beheaded When as the Greek Offices seconded by several Breviaries relate that he was hanged upon a Cross And farther 't is said that his Body was for a long time kept at Jerusalem and conveyed thence to Rome by Aelen Mother to Constantine the Great where some Bones said to be his are snewed with great Veneration to this day The Death of St. MARK WHilst St. Mark was intent at Divine Worship the barbarous Multitude broke in upon him and fastning Cords about his Feet dragged him through the Streets in a most inhumane manner so that his Flesh was torn off by the Cragginess of the way not being satisfied with this they cast him into a Prison near the Sea where he was comforted in his Agony by a Divine Apparition The next Morning they drew him forth till by the extream effusion of Blood his Spirits failed and he gave up the Ghost after which as Metaprastus adds they kindled a large Fire and burnt his Body the remains of which being preserved by such as he had Converted to the Christian Faith were deposited in the place where he was wont to Preach and such part of him as remained was afterward carried to Venice and there kept in a Church built to the Honour of that Evangelist being one of the stateliest Piles now extant in Europe The Death of St. LUKE SOme there are that say he died a Natural Death but Nasianzen and Polinus Bishop of Nola with some others affirm that he received the Crown of Martyrdom Nicephorus gives us this following account viz That Saint Luke coming into Greece successfully Preached the Gospel Baptizing many Converts into the Christian Faith and working many Miracles till at last a party of Infidels encouraged by their Priests whose Idolatrous Worship the Evangelist sharply reproved fell at unawares upon him and forcibly dragged him to the place of Execution where not having a Cross in readiness they hanged him upon an Olive-Tree in the 80th Year of his Age. But certain it is that he was put to Death some affirm that his Body was at the Command of Constacine the Great or his Son Constantius brought to Gonstantinople and there solemnly Interred in the great Church Founded there to the Honour of the Apostles THE DEATHS OF THE Primitive Fathers The Death of IGNATIUS IGnatius was born Twelve Years before the Crucifixion of our Saviour having with his Eyes beheld him in the Flesh he being as many think one of those little Ones that our Saviour commanded his Disciples to suffer to come unto him Nay some affirm that it was he whom our Blessed Lord set in the midst of his Disciples when they contended about Superiority However he was indued with a more than ordinary Portion of the Divine Spirit and succeeded St. Peter in the Pastorship of the Church of Antioch where he laboured diligently in the Ministry of the Gospel Converting and Confirming many to the Christian Faith being a great opposer of the Heresies or Erroneous Opinions that had sprung up in the Church When the day of his Martyrdom came he chearfully said I am Gods Corn when the wild Beasts have ground me to powder with their Teeth I shall be his white Bread He suffered Martyrdom the 11th year of Trajan being as many of the Ancients affirm Torn to pieces by wild Beasts in the Theatre to make the Tyrant sport And thus ended the Life of this good Man who upon many occasions was wont to say My Love is Crucified meaning either Christ the Object of his Love or that his darling Sins and Affections to the World were Crucified and in another place he declares that he beheld the Lord after his Resurrection before he Ascended He used to say That there is nothing better than the peace of a good Conscience Of Patience Other Graces are but parts of a Christians Armour as the Shield of Faith the Sword of the Spirit c. But Patience is the Panoply or whole Armour of the Man of God The Death of POLYCARP HIS Enemies thirsted after his Blood and thereupon desired the Proconsul that he might be thrown to the Beasts but he alledging the time for the Game of Beasts was past they prayed that he might be exposed to the Flames to which last he consented and thereupon the multitude led him away crying This is the Doctor of Asia the Father of the Christians the Overthrower of our Gods who hath taught many that our Gods are not to be Adored Every one of them fetching Wood from their Shops and Houses When the Pile was reared the Holy Man put off his Apparel being assisted therein by the Faithful Christians that came to take their last Farewel of him striving to touch his Body as accounting it no small Honour VVhen he was naked the Infidels offered to nail him to the Stake but he desired them to forbear saying Suffer me even as I am for he that has given me strength to come to this Fire will give me patience likewise to persevere therein without your fastening me with Nails He died Anno Christi 170. In the midst of the Fire he said this Prayer O God the Father of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ through whom we have received the Knowledge of thee O God the Creator of all things upon thee I call thee I confess to be the true God Thee I glorifie O Lord receive me and make me a Companion of the Resurrection of thy Saints through the Merits of our great High-Priest thy beloved Son Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and God the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory for ever Amen The Death of DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA HE was Condemned to be Beheaded the which to put him to greater Torment was done with a blunted Sword on the top of the Mount without the City where kneeling he said with an Audible Voice O Lord God almighty thou only begotten
Chastity That Woman is truly Chaste that hath liberty and opportunity to Sin and will not Of Vertue All Vertues are so linked together that he that hath one hath all and he that wants one wants all In all his Actions he ever fansied this sound in his Ears Arise ye Dead and come to Judgment The Death of CHRYSOSTOM THE exact year of his death I find no where set down but that he flourished in the Bishoprick of Constantinople Anno Christi 400 is most certain He used to say of Lust As a great shower of Rain extinguisheth the force of Fire so Meditation of Gods Word puts out the Fire of Lust in the Soul Of the danger of Riches As a Boat over-laden sinks so much Wealth drowns Men in perdition Of Love A Bulwark of Adamant is not more Impregnable thâ—…n the Love of Brethren Of Temptations The Devils first Assault is violent resist that and his second will be weaker and that being resisted he proves a Coward The Death of AUGUSTIN HE died Anno Christi 430 of his Age 76 and of his Ministry 40. He was a Man of a Charitable Disposition very sparing in Diet and a hearty Lover of all good Men. His Table was more for Disputation than for Revelling and had Engraven upon it He that doth love an absent Friend to jeer May hence depart no room is for him here He Collected together several Precepts of a Christian Life which whoever perused it might see their Duty this he called A Looking-glass His usual Wish was That Christ when he came might find him either Praying or Preaching when the Donatists upbraided him of Levity in his Minority Look said he how much they blame my former faults by so much the more I commend and praise my Physicians He used to say of Marriage Humble Marriage is better than Proud Virginity Of Death There is nothing that more abateth Sin than the frequent Meditation of Death he cannot die ill that lived well and seldom doth he die well who lived ill Of Christian Thoughts A Christian at home in his House must think himself a Stranger and that his Countrey is above Of Riches If Men want Wealth it is not to be unjustly gotten if they have it they ought by good Works to lay it up in Heaven He so admired the Seven Penitential Psalms that he had them hung up in great Letters within his Bed Curtains that so he might depart in the Contemplation of them The Death of CYKIL of Alexandria HE was Famous for Wit Eloquence and Piety Concerning Charity he used to say 'T is the best way for a Rich Man to make the Bellies of the Poor his Barn and thereby to lay up Treasure in Heaven Of Modesty Where the Scripture wants a Tongue of Expression we need not lend an Ear of Attention we may safely knock at the Council-door of Gods Secrets but if we go further we may be more bold than welcome He lived under Theodosius Junior and died Anno 448. The Death of PETER CHRYSOLOGUS HE was a Man of an Excellent Wit and by his Example and Ministry wrought upon many Souls He used to say of Charity Let not thy Care be to have thy hands full whilst the Poors are empty for the only way to have full Barns is to have Charitable Hands And Vertues separated are annihilated Equity without Goodness is Severity and Justice without Piety Cruelty He lived under Martian the Emperor having been Rishop above 60 Years He died Anno 500. The Death of PROSPER PRosper having under Martian continued 20 years in that Episcopal See he fell sick many of his Friends coming to visit him and perceiving them to weep bitterly he comforted them with these words The Life which I have enjoyed said he was but given me upon condition to render it up again not grudgingly but gladly for me to have stayed longer here might seem better for you but for me it is better to be dissolved So falling into servent Prayer he with great Alacrity resigned up his Spirit into the hands of his Creator dying Anno Christi 466. His usual Sayings was of Conscience That it was his utmost endeavour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and Man Of Vice Thou shalt neither hate the Man for his Vice nor love the Vice for the Mans sake Of Pride Consider what thou art by Sin and shalt be in the Grave and thy Plumes will fall for every proud Man forgets himself Of Gods Secrets Those things which God would have searched into are not to be neglected but those which God would have hidden are not to be searched into by the latter we become unlawfully Curious and by the neglect of the former damnably Ingrateful The Death of FULGENTIUS WHen Fulgentius fell Sick during which sickness he behaved himself with wonderful Patience and Humility and when his Physicians told him a Bath would do well for the recovery of his Health he answered What tell you me of a Bath can any Bath preserve the life of him who has run his natural course that he shall not die and why perswade you me now I am at the point of death to abate of that rigor which I all my life have used When having taken leave of those that came to visit him and distributed what Money he had to pious uses he yielded up the Ghost dying Anno Christi 529 and of his Age 65 having sat Bishop 25 years He used to say If want of Charity be tormented in Hell what will become of the Covetous In his greatest Suffering he would say We must suffer more than this for Christ. The Death of GREGORY the Great HE never could read these words Son remember that thou in thy Life-time receivedst thy good things c. without Horror and Amazement lest he by enjoying such Dignities and Honours should lose his Portion in Heaven He dyed Anno 605. The Death of ISIDORE HE so wasted his Body with Labours and enriched his Soul with Divine Contemplations that he seemed to live an Angelical Life upon Earth He used to say of a Guilty Conscience All things may be shunned but a Man 's own Heart a Man cannot run from himself a Guilty Conscience will not forsake him wheresoever he goes Of the danger of Pride He that begins to grow better let him beware lest he grow proud lest Vain-glory give him a greater overthrow than his former Vices He dyed 675. The Death of Venerable BEDE IN his Sickness he was wont to encourage himself with the words of the postle Heb. 12. 6. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every Son whom he receiveth And when he beheld some of his Scholars weeping over him he comforted them with these words The time is come if my Creator pleaseth that being freed from the Flesh I shall go to him who made me when I was not out of nothing I have lived long and the time of my dissolution is approaching and my Soul desireth to see
Bishop standing by said Now we commit thy Soul to the Devil but Huss lifting up his Hands and Eyes to Heaven said Into thy Hands Lord Jesus I commend my Spirit which thou hast redeemed with thy most precious Blood Then they Burnt his Books at which he with a joyful Countenance said to the People Think not good People that I die for any Heresie or Errour but through the hatred and malice of mine Adversaries As he lifted up his Face in Prayer the Cap fell off whereupon a Souldier put it on again saying He should burn with his Masters the Devils whom he had served Then rising up said Lord Jesus assist and help me that with a constant and patient mind by thy most gracious help I may bear and suffer this Ignominious Death whereunto I am Condemned for the preaching thy most Holy Gospel As they were binding him to the Stake with a Chain he said with a merry Countenance That he would embrace that Chain for Christ's sake who for his sake had been bound with a far worse When the Fire was kindled he began to sing with a loud Voice Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God have mercy upon me The which after he had repeated three times the flame stopped his Breath his Heart being afterwards found they roasted it upon a Stake and gathering up his Ashes they cast them into the Rhine He suffered Martyrdom Anno Christi 1415. The Death of Hierom of Prague HIS Enemies passed Sentence upon him after which they put a Paper about him painted with red Devils to make him odious to the People as likewise a Paper Mitre on his Head which he took very patiently saying Our Lord Jesus Christ when he suffered Death for me did wear a Crown of Thorns upon his Head and for his sake I will wear this Cap. As he went to the place of Execution he sung Psalms and coming to the place where John Huss was Burned he upon his Knees put up his Prayers to Heaven after a while they bound him to the Image of John Huss Carved in Wood which they had set up instead of a Stake and there with admirable patience he sustained the sury of the Flames when at the giving up the Ghost he with an Audible Voice said This Soul of mine in flames of Fire set free O! Christ my Saviour now I offer thee The Death of Martin Luther FAlling Sick he soon grew exceeding weak yet putting his trust in God he supported himself to Comfort his Friends beyond measure Insomuch that the day before his Death he dined and supped with Melancthone and the rest of his Accomplices But after Supper his Pain increasing he retired to pray and then went to Bed and slept till Midnight but being awakened by the Pain and perceiving his Life near at an end he called his Friends about him and said I pray God to preserve the Doctrine of the Gospel amongst us for the Pope and the Council of Trent have grievous things in hand After which he prayed and earnestly desired of God that he would defend his Church against the Pope and all his Adherents When he was about to die Justus Jonas and Caelius bid him be constant and persevere in the Faith he had taught and held to the last To which he answered Yea and soon after gave up the Ghost dying Anno Christi 1546. He was a Man of great Temperance and Abstenence oftentimes had the Papists hired Ruffians to kill him but they had never the power to do it the Devil one time appeared to him as he was walking in his Garden in the shape of a huge Boar but he so flouted him that he soon vanished He was wont to say God would give Peace to Germany during his Life but woe to them that should live after him The Death of Zuinglius ZUinglius being the foutâ—…h time run in with a Spear he fell down upon his Knees and said Well they can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul When the Soldiers came to strip the slain Zuinglius was found alive lying upon his Back with his Eyes up to Heaven whereupon they asked him if he would have a Priest to Confess him to which he answered No they then bid him call upon the Virgin Mary which he refusing they thrust him in with a Sword and so expired without fetching a Groan as soon as they knew it to be him they cut his Body in four pieces and burnt it the next day his Heart was found unperished by the Fire tho' the rest of his Body was consumed Before this Battel a Comet appeared which he said Prognosticated his Death and declared it openly in his Sermons Fourteen days before he fell in Battel He was slain in the year 153â—… The Death of Oecolampadius AN Ulcer broke cut in his Oâ—… Sacrum that he was forced to keep his Bed and though all means was used for his Cure he told 'em his Disease was Mortal and said I shall be presently with the Lord. Then putting his hand to his heart said Here is abundance of Light Next Morning he repeated the 51 Psalm and presently after said O Christ save me and so fell asleep in the Lord Anno 1531. aged 51. The Death of John Frith HE was condemned to be burnt as an Heretick When he came into Smithfield he with an undaunted Courage went to the Stake no sooner fastened but the fire was kindled He continued till the last with such Constancy and Patience that many were converted and began to pray to God to receive his Soul but Dr. Cook forbidding them saying They ought to pray for him no more than they would for a Dog which uncharitable Expression made many blame him He suffered Martyrdom Aano Christi 1531. He wrote many Treatises some were burnt during the Reigns of King Henry the Eighth and Queen Mary and some were saved by Providence for on Mid-summer Eve Anno 1626. A Cod-Fish being brought into Cambridge Market when it was cut up these Writings of John Frith were found in its Belly wrapt in Canvas which were afterwards Printed to the rejoicing of all good Christians viz. A Preparation for Death A Preparation to the Cross. The Treasure of Knowledge A Mirror to know your self A Brief Instruction to teach one willingly to die and not to fear Death Which Treatises preserved by such a special Providence have no doubt prov'd very useful The Death of Thomas Bilney HE Preached the Gospel till the Bishop of Norwich imprisoned him who would have persuaded him from his stedfastness but upon refusal he received â—…entence of Condemnation The day before his Execution eating heartily he said I imitate those who have a ruinous House to dwell in yet bestow cost as long as they may to hold it up Then discoursing about Fire he put his Finger in the Candle and said I find by Experience that Fire is hot yet I believe though the Stubble of my Body be wasted my Soul will be purged At his
Execution the fire being kindled he lift up his Hands crying Lord I believe so yielded up his Spirit unto God Anno 1531. The Death of William Tyndal THE English Merchants at Antwerp hearing of his Imprisonment became suitors for his Deliverance but Philips with his Money prevailed beyond their Entreaties Being at last brought to his Answer although his Enemies could lay nothing to his Charge yet the Attorney proceeded to condemn him and delivered him to the Magistrates to execute him When brought to the Stake he cried with an audible voice Lord open the Eyes of the King of England then being strangled fire was set to the Wood and he consumed to Ashes Anno Christi 1536. Within a short time after the Judgment of God overtook Phillips who betrayed him insomuch that he was eaten up with Lice The Death of Bertholdus Halerus HE was born in Helvetia 1502. and from his Child-hood much addicted to Learning Several Disputations he held with the Helvetians especially with Eccius the Pope's Champion In his time Popery was extinguished in many places and shortly after he died with an immature Death Anno 1536. aged 44. The Death of Urbanus Regis ON Sunday in the Evening he complained of a pain his Head yet was chearful and went to Bed early in the morning rising out of his Bed he fell upon the Floor and seeing his Wife and Friends mourning he comforted them and commended himself to his Maker and within three hours he died May 23. Anno 1541. He often desired God he might die an easie and sudden Death wherein God answered his Desires He wrote several Treatises which his Son Ernest digested together and Printed at Norenburg The Death of Caralostadius HE underwent great Afflictions by Printing some of his Books concerning the Lord's Supper the Senate of Zurick forbidding their People to read them but Zuinglius exhorted them first to read and then to pass judgment on them saying Caralostadius knew the Truth but had not well expressed it He went to Basil where he taught ten years and there died of the Plague Anno 1541. The Death of Capito HE went to several places as Strâ—…burg where he met with Bucer whose Fame spread so far that the Queen of Navarre sent for 'em so that France oweth the beginning of her Reformation to Capitâ—… and Bacer He was prudent eloquent and studious of Peace the better part of his time he employed in Preaching and giving wholsome Advice to the Churches 〈◊〉 length returning home in a general Infection he dyed of the Plague Anno 1541. aged 63. The Death of Leo Judae HE Translated part of the Old Testament out of the Hebrew but the work being so Laborious and being Aged he dyed before he had finished it Anno. 1542. aged 60. Four days before his Death sending for the Pastors of Zurick he made a Confession of his Faith concerning God the Scriptures the Person and Offices of Christ concluding To this my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ my hope and my salvation I wholly offer up my Soul and Body I cast my self wholly upon his mercy and grace c. And so recommended to God the Senate and People of Zeriâ—…k The Death of George Spaladius HE was born at Noricum and brought up in Learning especially in the knowledge of Humane Aâ—…rs wherein he profited so much that the Elector of Saxony made him one of his Privy Council He continued in his Office till the time of his Death which fell-out Anne 1545. aged 63. He wrote many Treatises but especially a Chronicle from the beginning of the World to his time The Death of Myconius IN several Countries he preached the Gospel sincerely and purely though to the hazard of his Life at last he fell into a Consumption and wrote to Luther That he was sick not to Death but to Life He dyed Anno 1546. aged 55. The Death of John Diazius FInding he could not pervert his Brother Diazius from the Truth he acted the Hypocrite and told him he was in love with his Doctrine then he would have persuaded him to go into Italy Spain Rome and Naples and there privately spread his Doctrine but John Diazius refusing his Brother then took leave of him in order to his Journey but privately he and the Cut-Throat stayed at a Village and purchased a Hatchet of a Carpenter then going disguised the Villain pretended to bring Letters from his Brother which whilst John was reading the Executioner struck the Hatchet into his Temples upon which he died immediately The Murtherers were afterwards apprehended but by the practice of Papists who highly applauded the Fact and to hinder the current of Justice they pretended the Emperor would have the hearing of the Cause himself Six years after Alphonsus hanged himself about the Neck of his own Mule a fair reward for so foul a Fratricide The Death of Gasper Cruciger HE was a Man of great Learning very Religious and delighted much in Luther's Books and Doctrine He often contemplated the Foot-steps of God in Nature saying with St. â—…ul That God was so near unto us that he might almost 〈◊〉 felt with our Hands Considering the Vicissitude or Earthly Things he often repeated this Verse Besides God's love nothing is sure And that forever doth endure In his sickness he caused his young Daughters to repeat their Prayers before him and then himself prayed fervently for the Church and those his Orphans concluding I call upon thee with a weak yet with a true Faith I believe thy Promises which thou hast sealed to me with thy Blood and Resurrection c. He spent the few days which remained in prayer and Repentance and so quietly ended his days November the 16th Anno 1548. aged 45. The Death of Matthias Zellius HE was not only famous for Learning but for other Christian Vertues especially Modesty Temperance and Charity having a special care of the Poor for being invited to Supper by one of his Colleagues and seeing much Plate was offended and went his way without eating but afterwards so far prevailed with him that he sold his Plate and was more open-handed to the poor he dyed 1548. aged 71. The Death of Vitus Theodorus HE often disputed with his Papistical Adversaries and overthrew all their Arguments at length he was called to be a Pastor at Norimberg his own Country where he preached the Gospel with great Zeal and Eloquence to the great Advantage of his Auditors he dyed Anno. 1549. The Death of Paul Fagius FAgius died of a burning Feaver or as some say was poysoned by the Papists so that Anno 1550. he was intombed at Cambridge from whence in the Reign of Q. Mary the Papists having condemned him for a Heretick took his Bones and burnt them The Death of Martin Bucer IN his Sickness Learned Men came to visit him especially Doctor Bradford who one day taking leave of him to go preach told him he would remember him in his Prayers whereupon Bucer with tears in his
Change Yea saith he many a Day have I sought it with Tears not out of Impatience Distrust or Perturbation but because I am weary of Sin and fearful to fall into it In his Sickness he used these private Meditations Now my Soul be glad for at all Parts of this Prison the Lord hath set to his Pioneers to loose the Head Feet Milt and Liver are failing yea the middle strength of the whole Body the Stomach is weakned long ago Arise make ready shake off thy Fetters mount up from the Body and go thy way I saw not my Children when they were in the Woâ—…b yet there the Lord fed them without my knowledge I shall not see them when I go out of the Body yet shall they not want a Father Death is somewhat Driery 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 backled 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 apprehensions of Death which occasioned 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 Wife crying out he looked up and used these last words Let me alone I shall do well Lord Jesus and so departed Anno 162â—… Aged 59. The Death of David Pareus AT Anvilla he wrote his Body of Divinity which having Finished he said Lord 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 Henâ—…y Alting and others and so quietly departed Anno 1622. 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—… 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—… of trouble the Lord will strengthen him upon the Bod of languishing c. A little before his death a Friend praying 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-Slumbeâ—… 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 sick at Groning of a Catarth and Feaver accompanied with great Pains in his Back and Loins which caused often Paintings 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 at 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 Hea ven 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 Coverousness Wrath Uncleanness and many Men have I hurt in my 〈◊〉 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 handle 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