not cast our accompt that we must die There is no action without pause no warre without truce the weary workeman hath his day of rest Musicke hath her stops the Scriuen or his points we do not alwayes eate and drinke we doe not alwaies walke nor sleepe yea we doe not alwaies breath although we cannot liue without breathing but concerning our life there is no truce no pause no rest no delay but hourely yea euery moment in all places and actions we hasten to our end Whether we eate or drinke or sleepe or wake or goe or stand still the course of our life runnes out as the houre-glasse and neuer rests till it hath finished his course They which come hereafter shall march vpon our graues as we doe now vpon the sepulchers of our fathers they shall remaine in our houses as we doe now in theirs that were before vs they shall possesse our goods our lands our gold and siluer our Iewels and treasuries as we at this day enioy theirs whom we haue succeeded But I will hasten to an end though the experience be endlesse which confirmeth this point One rufully thus exclaimeth of Death How quickly and sodainely stealest thou vpon vs how secret are thy paths and waies how doubtfull is thy houre how vniuersall is thy kingdome The mighty cannot escape thy hands the wise cannot hide themselues from thee and the strong are weakened before thy face Thou accountest no man rich for that no man is able to pay the ransome for his life Thou goest euery where thou searchest euery where and thou art euery where Thou witherest the hearbes thou wastest the windes thou corruptest the aire thou dryest the waters thou changest the ages thou alterest the water and suppest vp the sea All things doe decrease and diminish but thou still remainest and raignest in the world Thou art the hammer that alwaies striketh the sword that neuer blunteth the snare that alwayes catcheth Thou art the prison whereinto euery man entreth thou art the sea wherein euery one drowneth thou art the paine that euery one suffereth O cruell Death thou snatchest vs away in our ripest age thou many times interruptest our best affaires thou robbest vs in one houre of all the gaines we euer got Thou cuttest off succession of kinreds and families thou bereauest kingdomes of their naturall heires thou fillest the world with widowes and orphanes thou breakest off the studies of the learnedst Clearks thou ouerthrowest the finest wits and best conceits in the ripest age thou ioynest the end with the beginning without giuing place to the middle thou art such a meanes as God neuer created but thy comming was by the Diuels enuie and malice Now that wee may profit by this experience of our mortall estate and not forget our selues so grosely vpon euery occasion as we doe it is necessary to haue this holy Meditation still fixed in our mindes that since we liue moue and haue our being of God that therefore our liues are not our owne but lent vs for a time we must remember that we are borne to die and must liue to die for the forgetfulnesse of Death and hope of long life makes vs so secure and carelesse as that we desire no other heauen but earth Many make a couenant with Death and clap hands with the graue hoping thereby to escape or for a time to solace themselues in the forgetfulnesse of their latter end and so bathe themselues in their fleshly pleasures and wallow like fatted Swine in the filthy stie of all vncleanenesse still following things apparant to their eyes and neuer regarding the time to come till death preuent them on a sodaine and summon them to appeare before their Iudge So it commeth to passe that as they liued wickedly they die most fearefully their hope is as the winde and their confidence like the cobwebbe Death is a terrour and a torment both to their soule and body and this is the reason they haue not learned to die Death is strange vnto them he seemes an vgly monster they dare not once behold him True it is that Death in it owne nature as partly wee haue heard is most terrible to behold that the horror thereof amazeth all our senses yet he that is armed with faith is well assured that it is sent for his profit to be as his hackney to carry and conuey him from earth to heauen from paine to pleasure from misery vexation griefe and woe to endlesse mirth melody and ioyes vnspeakeable with God for euer And seeing the sentence of death is gone forth against vs and that our soules remaine in our bodies attending the day of execution let vs detest to heare of our former wicked life as prisoners condemned to die and humble our selues in prayer vnto God reprouing the vanities of this wicked world and aduertising our friends and familiars to doe the like c. CHAP. VII Of the miserable life and wretched state of man by the meanes of Sinne and Death INfinite are the miseries of mortall men their sinne brought in a sea of euils and iust is Iobs complaint that man borne of a woman is full of wretchednesse from the day of his birth till the day of his death a whole armie of euils besiege him Tormented he is in his soule and afflicted in his body in euery part from the crowne of the head to the sole of the foote he is full of infirmities sores and maladies no place is free The first day of the life of man is a beginning of conflicts Our ingresse and egresse and whole progresse of life is set about with seuerall signes of sorrow The tender babe new borne and not yet able to speake saith Augustine doth by his teares prophesie and foretell the manifold sorrowes that are incident to this miserable life of man We enter this life with teares we passe it in toyle and end it in sorrow and torment Great and little rich and poore not one in the whole world that can pleade immunitie from this condition Life and misery saith one are as two twinnes which were borne together and must die together From the wombe to our winding-sheete our life is a warfare vpon earth no age no condition of life no day no night but brings his enemy with him as well against the man of an hundred yeares olde as against the babe new borne How full of ignorance is the time of our infancie how light and wanton are wee growing to be striplings how rash and headlong in the time of our youth how heauy and vnweildy when we come to olde age What is an infant but a bruit beast in the shape of a man and what is a young youth but as it were a wilde vntamed Asse-colt vnbridled and what is an aged heauy and crooked old man but euen a sacke and fardell stuffed with griefes and diseases He is forsaken of the world his kinsfolk friends and acquaintance his owne members and
run along as it were by the water side into a shade and that there should be nothing to crosse our desires who could vaunt that hee had serued God with good affection But when our way shall sometime be rough and ragged when one while wee shall enter into a quagmire and another while martch on craggy rockes and stones of temptations then shall wee haue the vse of a well exercised minde in prayer in repentance and in contempt of this life Thus it is requisite that Gods graces should not be idle in his Children but set on worke by afflictions whereby they may be knowne in due time and place as also be taught that though sometime they haue much in possession yet that they hold but little in affection and when God doth most aduance them to feare their wants of humilitie For if the Lord by multiplying his mercy increaseth our account we are often to suspect our selues for the vsing of Gods blessings who often giueth that in iudgement which he might denye vs in mercy and often waineth vs from some things in his loue which hee might giue vnto vs in his anger It is best here to be pressed and harrowed with the rake section 11 of Gods iudgements and blessed are they that to their owne saluation feele sorrow and griefe in their body whiles sinne may be both punished and purged It is better for vs to runne to the Lord in this life lest wee tarry till the Lord haue locked vs vp with the heauy fetters of desperation when hee shall summon vs to the barre of his Iustice and Iudgement in the sight of his Angels and impanelling the great Inquest of his Saints against vs shall denounce our fearefull and finall sentence of endlesse condemnation As Moses Rod saith one striking the hard Rocke brought forth water so the Rod of affliction falling vpon our stony hearts by the working of Gods Spirit mollifieth them to contrition and oftentimes brings forth euen flouds of teares to repentance One compareth the crosses of Gods Children to a Fyle of Iron that taketh away the rust of the soule to a Purgation cleansing the body from ill humours to a Furnace consuming the drosse and purifying the Gold c. Though the winde blow cold yet doth it cleanse the section 12 good graine though the fire burne hot yet doth it purifie the best Gold Afflictions are both sufferings and instructions Though God be a chastising Father yet a Father though a launching Physitian yet a Physitian and therefore one that loues and cures wee neede no more but lay open our griefe and let him alone with the saluing who seeth chastisements sometimes as necessary for the soule as medicines for the body When the waters of the Floud came vpon the face of the earth downe went starely Turrets and Towers but as the waters rose so the Arke rose still higher and higher In like sort when the waters of afflictions rise downe goeth the pride of life and lust of the eyes with the vanities of the world but our soules as in an Arke by a true and a liuely Faith ascend higher and higher and draw nearer and nearer towards the heauen of heauens Neyther neede Gods children care what crosses they sustaine For as there is none more shamefull then the Crosse of Christ so all the afflictions of Christians are accounted his If wee be poore despised imprisoned or whatsoeuer is the fruit of sinne betide vs God is not as man to turne away his face but wee are the more deare in his sight and euery crosse sealeth the loue of Christ who suffereth with vs who likewise was made sinne for vs who knew no sinne that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Who then can be discouraged with the afflictions of this life or enuy at the wicked to see their ease and peace No no these be but broken weapons and cannot possibly enter to the heart of our soules onely let vs take heede of sinne that it raigne not ouer vs for therein Christ hath taken no part and by it onely we are separated from him section 13 When Gods children thinke themselues furthest off from the Lord they are nearest to him when they thinke themselues to be fullest of confusion then the Image of Christ is most liueliest within them The Lord may hide his face for a while euen a moment as hee did from Christ but hee must needes returne vnto vs with euerlasting compassions for the Image of his Sonne is cleare within vs. A blessed sorrow and woe full of happinesse that fashioneth these dayes of our vanitie to the likenesse of the age of Christ that with him at last wee might raigne for euer A precious countenance it is in the sight of God that appeareth without beauty in the eyes of men and an vnspeakable treasure of ioy and gladnesse engrauen in these vessels that are but earth and ashes When Christ is the patterne whose similitude wee beare who can be discouraged vnder the Crosse Vnto this hee hath predestinated vs that wee should be like vnto his Sonne in all afflictions and so be honoured with him in the day of glory Chrisostome saith very well that then wee haue most section 14 neede of Gods prouidence when we are deliuered from aduersities and then wee haue most cause of feare when wee are freed from dangers For like as wee doe much more feare the Lyon or Leopard when they are let loose then when they are chained vp so our vntamed affections when by prosperitie they are vnbrideled are much more to be feared then when by troubles they are curbed and restrayned Hee that will be able to beare the crosse of all crosses namely Death it selfe must first of all learne to vndergoe smaller crosses as sicknesse in body troubles of minde losse of goods friends and good name which may fitly be called little deaths and the beginnings of Death it selfe For the afflictions and calamities of this life are as it were the harbingers and purueyers of Death First therefore wee must learne to entertayne these messengers that when Death the Lord and Master himselfe commeth we may in better manner welcome him Whom God most loues those hee most proues by afflictions Why is it that in a Campe the most perillous section 15 actions and attempts are committed to the most couragious and valiant Souldiers Why doe Captaines send out the most choyse and resolute men of warre to giue the enemie a canvisado to discouer a way to winne a passage or to driue them away that guard the same There is none will say my Captaine hath done me wrong but rather hee holds mee in great esteeme So Gods children reioyce in their tryals whereas cowards and effeminate men lament and weepe God deales with his elect as Masters doe with their Schollers who set them the greatest taske of whom most hope is conceiued To be in daily dangers maketh vs lightly to esteeme the
things consist A Stone cast out of a sling neuer resteth vntill it come to his centre so God whose centre is euery where and circumference nowhere is our onely rest and without him who is onely infinite our desires are neuer replenished which are infinite and endlesse We must therefore passe through this world as the Israelites passed through Edome who onely desired to goe through and to make no stay at all what should we set our delights in this Edome of the world our passage through it is all we should require we spend our goulden daies of prosperitie as ill husbands waste their substance we know not how and are in a manner so carelesse as if God were bound to bring vs to section 8 heauen whether we will or no. God hath set the earth vnder our feete that it should not be too much esteemed The world it selfe is of a round figure saith one but the heart of man is triangular and so comprehends more then the world Our bodies walke on earth but our soules should be in heauen by heauenly desires and we should frame our affections in forme of a Ship that is closed downeward and open vpward in a hearty desire of happy state Let my minde saith Augustine muse of it let my tongue talke of it let my heart loue it and my whole soule neuer cease to hunger and thirst after it Gods children in this world with their tryals and troubles are tilled and manured as the ground to be made section 9 fruitfull and fertill and are here proued with Symon of Syrene euery one with his crosse and must thus be contented to accompanie Christ to his Kingdome Manifold troubles are incident to all who are departing from the myre durt of Egypt to doe sacrifice to God who yet will bring them into a good land that floweth with milke and hony Here we are a flying before many Iesabels here we sit in darkenesse and see not the true light which shineth in glory Here wee are poore captaines as in Babilon how should we sing and reioyce in this vale of teares in so low and marshie a soyle naturally so subiect vnto moysture This farre Country is full of penurie and sorrow no plenty no musicke vntill wee returne vnto our fathers house while wee are on this side Iordane wee are amidst many troubles and tryals we must looke for no other vntill we come into the heauenly land of rest and what is it to liue long but to be troubled long Noahs Doue at her first flight from the Arke fetched many retyres but could finde no resting place till Noah opened the window to take her in againe So may our poore soules soare a time by lifting vp many a sigh and supplication to God who at last will open the window of his heauenly Arke and then and not before they shall finde safe footing after these worldly flouds for sure repose and rest Here we doe but sowe with teares there we shall reape in ioy Here our earthly houses are like the Tabernacles that were moueable there they shall be like the glorious Temple sure fixed Blessed are they indeed that dwell in thy house O Lord of Hosts Those that at mid-day desire to see the superiour planets section 10 and lights must goe downe into a wonderous deepe pit from the light of the horizon wherein they liue This is an Astronomicall experiment so to behold the light inaccessible and ioyes of heauen wee must be farre remoued from the loue and delights of this inferiour world whilst we set our affections on earthly things wee seeke for no better for wee looke for no higher So long as Zacheus abode in the preasse among the other people hee was vpon to low a ground to looke on Christ till hee climbed higher Seafaring men that haue long beene weather beaten in the surging Seas are wont to showt for ioy when they discerne the shoare So should Christians reioyce after so manifold stormes of this raging world to draw so neere by death and by faith to see a farre off their heauenly harbour and place of endlesse rest Worldlings are like the Reubenites content to stay on this side Iorden because it was a place fit for their Droues and cattell and nothing regarded the promised land so many desire to stay here and goe no further esteeming the profits and pleasures of this temporall life more then of the incomprehensible ioyes of life eternall They are so satisfied with earthly things that they sauour not heauenly c. men led captiue into a forraine Country from their infancie doe not onely forget their naturall language but euen the desire of returning home but to the truer Israelites all is wearinesse vntill they come into the land of rest section 11 Augustine writeth of certaine beasts that are so patient of thirst that seeing many puddles and other waters will yet neuer drinke till they come to a fountaine that is very cleare and cleane so should the faithfull stay their desire till they come indeed to the true waters of comfort so fresh and cleare Here we must but recreate our selues retaining still our thirst vntill wee come to drinke our fill at the true fountaine of blisse and happinesse The worlds manner saith one is the Iewes manner who were wont to bring the best wine first but Christ obserues his old manner and keepes the best wine last The Israelites many and often times murmured in the wildernesse thinking that after their deliuerance out of Egypt they should presently haue all sweetnesse and abundance But they were deceiued God kept that vntill they came into the land of promise wee must not looke for our happinesse here God reserueth that till hereafter Here euery day we must be gathering Mannah but when the high Sabaoth commeth then wee shall cease Ioseph gaue his brethren prouision for the way but the full sackes were kept in store vntill they came home to their fathers house God giues vs here a taste and assay of his goodnesse but the maine sea of his bountie and store is horded vp in the kingdome of heauen In this life Adam shall eate his bread in the sweate of his browes in labour and sorrow shall he eate thereof vntill he returne vnto the earth out of which he came as if the daies of man by reason of sinne were nothing else but the daies of sorrow because euery day hath her griefe and euery night his terrour The Christian soule shall neuer sing her sweetest song vntill she come to beare her part with the Saints in the ioyfull quire of heauen Wherefore if our inheritance be that wee shall raigne as kings why put we our selues in such slauerie of creatures If our birth allow vs to feede of bread in our fathers house why delight we to eate huskes prouided for the swine If a golden prize be propounded to such as winne
leaue our worldly beeing therefore to know our selues well we had neede to make some tryall and who can doe this that neuer came to proofe Vertue desires danger and obserues to what it tends what the scope thereof is and not what shee must endure for to attaine to the same for euen her very endurance is a great part of her glory A Pilot may be well knowne in time of a tempest a Souldier in the heate of battell It is alwayes best fighting with a knowne enemie and what shall an vnskilfull warriour doe that knowes not the nature subtilly weapons and policie of his aduersary A good House-holder maketh prouision for himselfe section 5 and family and buyeth before hand all necessary prouision according to his power much more ought a Christian to prepare before for that life that endureth to all eternitie Some doe as the wife that would giue none of her pottage to any till her pot was ouer-throwne and then calleth in the poore With this penaltie saith Augustine is a sinner punished that when hee dyeth hee forgetteh himselfe who in his life time thought not vpon God If a theefe be brought from the prison eyther to the Barre to be arraigned before the Iudge or to the place of execution hee will bewayle his misdemeanour past and promise reformation of life if so be hee might be deliuered In this case we are as fellons for wee are euery day going to the barre of Gods Iudgement-seate there is no stay or standing in the way Euen as the ship in the sea continues in her course day and night whether the Mariners be sleeping or waking therefore let vs prepare our selues betimes that in death we may make a happy end section 6 Many thousand soules as rockt asleepe in the cradle of securitie in this seducing world doe sodainly finde themselues within the gates of hell yet liuing on earth before they be aware For they are led through the vale of this present life as it were blindefolded with the vizard of sensuall lusts like beasts to the slaughter-house and neuer espie their dangerous estate before it be too late And most men are ready to take their farewell of the world before they thinke of their condition in the world and then they would beginne to direct their course aright when the time requireth them to make an end But one saith otherwise of himselfe drawing towards the period of his life When I was a young man my care was how to liue well since age came on my care hath beene how to dye well In this life said Augustine nothing is so sweet vnto me as to prepare for my peaceable passage from this pilgrimage of sinne to life and happinesse Alas wee encumber our selues with many things as Martha did not regarding as wee should that onely needfull thing to serue our God in life and death The tempest before expected doth lesse amaze vs when the storme shall arise Hee that leaues the world before the world leaues him and thinkes of his death as the sicke man harkneth to the clock shall say with Simeon Now let thy seruant depart in peace That which foolish men would gladly doe in the end section 7 should wise men doe in the beginning It is best with Noah to build an Arke while the season is faire and calme with prouident Ioseph to lay vp store of prouision in the dayes of plenty before the time of dearth and penury come to pinch vs while the weather is faire to thinke of a strome and when opportunitie is offered to follow our thriuing husbandry still sowing the seede of godly actions in the field of a repentant heart that so in the Autumne and end of our age we may reape the fruit of euerlasting comfort for our happy haruest and prouision to come It falleth out to vaine men many times in their death as to Pages and Seruitors in the Court who being allowed a candle to light themselues to bed doe spend it in playing and vngodly sports are afterwards constrained to goe to bed darklings So wicked men do waste the light of life by sinne and vanitie and at last are void of comfort and knowledge at the houre of death Therefore as our whole life is a passage to death so should wee make it a preparing for death that how soone soeuer the body returneth to the earth the soule may be as sure to goe to heauen Let vs doe that before death which may doe vs good after death and then sooner or later death shall not hurt vs which is only euill to the euill and good to the good If God offer grace to day thou knowest not whether he will offer the same to morrow and therefore now vse it if thou wilt be sure to vse it at all The light will shine when we shall not see the closing in of the day the euening will come when we shall not see againe the breaking forth of the morning light It behooueth euery one not so much with Ezekiah to set section 8 his houshold in order for that hee must dye as to set his soule in order his conuersation in order for that after death there is somewhat more behinde and that is called a time of iudgement Elisha could say to his seruant Is this a time to take rewards and amidst the pangs of death is that a time to thinke of amendment of life Saint Peter saith Be sober and watch for your aduersary the Diuell goeth about like a roaring Lion c. As if hee should say Watch for you haue a watchfull aduersary if yee respect his old experience hee was in Paradise if his nature a Lion if his cruelty a roaring Lion if his diligence hee seeketh if his intent that is to deuoure we had need then to watch hauing so watchfull an enemie Watch saith Christ because yee know not the houre when the Sonne of man will come As if he had said Because yee know not the houre watch euery houre because yee know not the month watch euery month because yee know not the yeare watch euery yeare Why doe wee not then keepe a continuall watch ouer our soules since we know not at what houre Death will assaile vs section 9 Carnall men are so inchanted with the harlot-like allurements of sinne and so carryed away by the violent streame of sensuall securitie as that they quite and cleane forget all remembrance of their end and become worse then Idols which haue eyes and see not yea a reasonable soule and vnderstand not But this is Sathans slight whose businesse was and is at and since the fall of the first man with this bloudy sword to slay mens soules Tâ—sh you shall not dye at all As if hee would haue vs to thinke the remembrance of death but a melancholy conceipt and lest it should make too deepe an impression of the feare of God in mans heart hee will haue the
much better art thou then a graine of corne when thorow corruption thou shalt come to incorruption thy glory then shall be vnspeakeable and all things shall serue thee Thy hope now if thou couldest in large it a thousand section 6 fold yet it shall be greater then thou canst imagine and thy faith if it could apprehend more assurance of immortalitie then the clearest eye doth of the light of the Sunne yet thou shalt finde the fruit of it aboue all thy thoughts This thou seest if thou see Christ by faith and this thou knowest to be true if thou knowest thy selfe to be one with him The keeping greene of Noahs Oliue-tree vnder the flood the budding againe of Arons rod the deliuerance of Ionah from the depth of the Sea the voyce that calleth come againe ye children of men the hope that Iob hath to see God with the selfe-same eyes the dry bones that should come bone to bone and be knit together with sinewes c. may stirre vp in vs a ioyfull hope and cheere our pensiue soules against the feare of death and doubt of our resurrection but aboue all the rising againe of Christ The voyce of Christ is thorow Christ the voice of Christians saith Augustine Death where is thy sting Hell where is thy victory If the sinne of Adam who was a liuing soule was the cause that Death reigned ouer all men much more the resurrection of Christ who is a quickning spirit shall be of power to raise vp all beleeuers to the hope of a blessed and eternall life section 7 As Christ in dying shewed what we should suffer so by his rising from death he declared what wee should hope for For all the bones in Golgatha shall rise and those that sleepe in the dust shall awake Wherefore though Death doe swallow vs vp as the Whale did Ionah and binde vs hand and foot as the Philistims did Sampson yea seale the Sepulcher vpon vs as the Iewes did vpon our Lord Iesus yet wee shall come forth and breake the bands as the bird out of the snare the snare shall be broken and we shall be deliuered Christ our head and Captaine raigneth now most gloriously in heauen and as a most victorious conqueror hath led away captiue Death Sinne and Diuell in shew and open triumph Wherefore we may no lesse assure our selues that we shall rise againe and raigne with God for seeing he hath taken our flesh and suffered for our sins and hath borne the iudgement and curse of God in himselfe and died for our redemption so may we be as sure and certaine our flesh shall rise againe in him and be exalted vnto the glory of God aboue the highest heauens And therefore hee is called the first fruits of them that sleepe in him the first borne among the dead so called indeede because hee is the first and onely one which is risen againe by his owne diuine nature and power As the onely spring and originall fountaine of the resurrection of life to all the faithfull which die and rise againe in him and onely by him Hee hath giuen vs a pledge and taken one of vs to put vs out of doubt He hath taken our flesh which hee hath carried into heauen to put vs in possession and he hath giuen vs his holy spirit for an earnest to seale his promises in our hearts witnessing to our spirit that we are the Sonnes of God and co-heires with Iesus Christ to raigne with him in glory Seeing then that wee are the children of God and haue section 8 the seede of God remaining in vs wee must not doubt but that as Christ hath made vs partakers of his diuine nature euen as it hath pleased him to take part of ours to become true man to make vs Gods that is diuine and spirituall that euen as the corne that is sowne in the ground doth die in the same and after groweth and taketh roote springeth eareth and bringeth forth fruit for the haruest so should wee be well assured that when wee die and haue our bodies sowne as it were as seede in the earth yet that they shall againe be quickned in Christ and rise againe to immortall life for as much as we carry with vs the warmenesse of Gods spirit which cannot die And though our flesh doe rot yet shall the spirit of section 9 Christ deliuer our bodies from corruption which shall againe be raised vp by the vertue of him that raised vp Christ from the dead and so shall our dead members be made aliue againe He that neuer saw a haruest seeing the Plow-man taking so much paines to till the earth to spread it with dung and after to cast faire Wheate into the field he would thinke that this man were mad but seeing after the happy haruest that should come of it he would change his minde and say that the husband-man had done an excellent worke Now this life is the time to till to dung and to sow the soyle but the happy haruest shall follow hereafter Let vs not change the course of the seasons neither yet let vs seperate them the one from the other But let vs ioyne the time of death with the glorious day of our resurrection and so assuring our selues that hauing sowed with teares we shall reape with ioy CHAP. X. Very fruitfull and necessary considerations much auailing to our Christian preparation for death section 1 ANd to the end that we may be most chearfully resolued to finish our course with ioy let vs alienate our affections and thoughts from the earth and worldly cares hauing our whole soules and senses as much as in vs lieth rauished with heauen and heauenly things Let them be the matter of our speech the subiect of our thoughts and our alone meditations So shall we in time become diuine and loath this sinfull life Let vs seriously make vse of our knowledge and godly readings ioyning our experience with the same in our selues and Gods Saints on earth Let our skill herein not onely be contemplatiue but practique for the good of our selues section 2 Let vs not descant and discourse as carnall men can doe for a time which often can say and confesse that they are mortall and sinfull that they are but dust and clay and that their bodies are as tabernacles set vp for a time and quickly to be remoued being without foundation Let vs not onely say for fashion sake that we are strangers vpon the earth and soiourners as all our Fathers were c. but be willing indeede with good Abraham when the Lord shall call and command vs to leaue our owne country and remoue our tents to pitch them where hee pleaseth And so to follow him with all obedience where he will leade vs. He abode saith the Apostle in the land of promise as in a strange country as one that dwelt in tents for he looked for a
are as corrupt by nature as the rest vntill they be reformed by the santified meanes ordained of God 15. Mans sinne maketh his life a due debt to death 17. The Diuell is the father of Sinne and Sinne the mother of Death ibid. The corruption of our flesh did not make our soules sinfull but the sinne of our soule did make the flesh corruptible ibid. CHAP. V. DEath is threefold corporall spirituall and that which is common both to body and soule Sect. 2. The description of Death according to the seuerall parts 3. The soule cannot properly dye being life it selfe illustrated by examples 4. How the soule is said to dye 5. The seperation from God is the death of the soule as the departing of the soule is the death of the body ibid. The nature of Death 6. Gods Spirit is the soule of our soules ibid. Man by sinne lost his life and found out death 7. It is agreeable to Gods iustice that a spirituall death should beget a corporall ibid. So soone as man had sinned so soone did the armies of death besiege his life 8. The very life of sinners is a death 9. Gods spirit must quicken and reuiue the soule or else it must needes dye and be damned 10. The degrees of the spirit in Gods elect 11. The wicked in this life doe liue in death and conuersing in earth they are bondslaues of hell 12. An effectuall faith in Christ is the life of the soule 13. What it is to be dead in sinne 14. Death is diuersly deriued with the reasons thereof 15. CHAP. VI. IT is enacted in heauen that all men must dye Sect. 1. The Registers of the death and buriall of men from the beginning witnesse the execution of Gods decree herein 2. Death is the way of all the world and the house of all men liuing ibid. Death is the Lady and Empresse of all the world 3. Balthasers Embleme is written vpon euery mans wall 4. Death respecteth no mans person place or qualities 3. Dayes and yeares and times no plea against the graue but a fitter prey for Death ibid. Death as Dan the gathering hoast sweepes all away 4. Mercilesse Death doth exercise her cruelty vpon all alike 5. Nothing can preuaile against Death or ransome our life 6. Gods hand a man may escape but Deaths dart no man can shunne 7. No force can resist it nor meanes preuent it ibid. Death is the common road-way of all the world 8. We must needes yeeld our selues to the law of Death ibid. Men may be distinguished by times but all are equall in the issue 9. As we grow our life decreaseth This whole life is but a death ibid. Man cannot be ignorant of his death since all creatures and actions proclaime his mortalitie 10. Experiments of death on euery side most apparant 11. The law of Nature conuinceth it amongst all nations 12. Our liues as our garments weare of themselues they are eaten with the Moaths we with the Time ibid. The course of our life runneth without pause to the period and end 13. An exclamation against Death most hideous and pittifull 14. 15. The Christian vse of our mortalitie with a reproofe of the carelesse Christian 16. 17. Death to the faithfull is as an hackney to carry and hasten them from earth to heauen ibid. CHAP. VII SInne brought in a sea of miseries Sect. 1. Life and misery are two twinnes which were borne together and must dye together 2. A description of infancy and old age with their miseries 3. The miserie of all estates Here death is liuing and life dying 4. There is no contentment in this wretched life 5. A description of mans sinfull mortall body 6. The frailty and brittlenesse of mans body with the reason thereof 7. See the manifold dangers of our life and how easily it is lost 8. The mutabilitie and inconstancie of mans life 9. This life is little better then hell were it not for the hope of heauen 10. This world is an Ocean sea of troubles See how fitly it resembleth it hauing a mercilesse maw to swallow vp all 11. It is a dungeon of ill sauours and a puddle of vices 12. Mans life is short and swift like a poste a ship and a shadow ibid. Our dayes passe swiftly as the Eagle to her prey and all mortall men are a prey to death 14. We are as flowers and grasse and Death in the hand of God as a sythe to cut vs downe ibid. All things dye but our sinnes which reuiue and grow young againe in despight of nature ibid. The cares of this life are like the Flyes of Egypt which giue men no rest neither day nor night 15. They are like mercilesse Tyrants which take away our peace ibid. Man and his labour are fitly resembled to the Spider and her web 16. All things are as snares to sinners to draw them to destruction 17. The meanes for Christians to auoid the snares of this life 18. It is as naturall for corrupt man to sinne as for water to run downe the channell or a Coach downe a hill 19. The best men liuing amongst the wicked are aptly resembled to Colliers and Millers ibid. The manifold engins of Sathan to enthrall vs. 20. No man can liue peaceably in this world among so many enemies of peace ibid. The warfare of Christians both outward and intestine with the occasions thereof 21. 22. Our life is as a tempestuos sea and death the onely port of tranquilitie and rest 23. CHAP. VIII MEN by dying proue they had sinned and sinne conuinceth there is a Law Sect. 1. The Law conuinceth man of sinne who without it knew not sinne 2. Sinne by the Law grew out of measure sinful with the reason thereof 3. The Law detecteth sinne as a hidden sicknesse that so we may seeke to Christ the Physitian 4. It is holy and righteous in it selfe though an occasion of euill to those that are corrupt ibid. How sinne is said to be dead without the Law 5. The Law anatomiseth sinfull man and setteth him out in his colours 6. The Law slayeth the sinner before Gods Spirit quicken him 7. Sinne and the Law are the strength and sting of Death 8. The Law not onely conuinceth man of sinne but iustifieth God in the punishment thereof 9. The horror of death with the reason thereof 10. CHAP. IX GReat and heauy was the tribute which God imposed vpon man for sinne Sect. 1. The death of the body is nothing to the damnation of body and soule in hell 2. As diseases are the maladies of the body so death is the maladie of diseases ibid. The death of the reprobate is a liuing death and a dying life 3. The life of the damned is an immortalitie of torments and euill 4. The torments of hell are vnspeakable 5. They are euerlasting and endlesse 6. Death to the vnregenerate is the very gate of hell 7. Death cannot be so feared as it ought of wicked men 8. CHAP. X.
life Onely in name to professe him is the part of dead men for as whosoeuer beleeueth not remaineth in death and hath the wrath of God still staying vpon him so none beleeueth in Christ that loues him not and none loueth him that keepeth not his commandements Hereof saith Saint Iohn to the Angell of Sardis thou hast a name that thou liuest but thou art dead so Christ called the Scribes and Pharisees painted sepulchers whose soules were dead in their bodies for want of faith Hence it was that he said to the young man let the dead burie their dead and Paul of the wanton Widdow that being aliue she was but dead Awake thou that sleepest and stand vp from the dead and Christ shall giue thee light you hath he quickned that were dead in your trespasses and sinnes As the soule infused into the body quickeneth a massie piece of flesh which had no motion before so the soule to make it a liuely and a good soule must haue as it were a soule powred into it that is the Spirit of God and if this Spirit be absent wee are but dead from all holy motions as the body naturall is from outward actions by absence of the soule So that a man may liue a life in the flesh and yet be dead in respect of the life of God Againe as the body while it hath a soule is but a naturall body wasting it selfe like oyle in the Lampe and cannot choose but in the end to dye yet after this life shall be called a spirituall body not in substance but in qualitie because in the resurrection it shall be quickened by the spirituall power of Christ So a man that hath but simply a soule if hee haue not the true soule of the soule which is the Spirit of God to quicken and reuiue it hee is but a meere naturall man and must needes be damned Furthermore as a body raised vp and quickened by the power of God can neuer dye againe so the soule of a faithfull man being a spirituall soule hauing once receiued the earnest of Gods Spirit and a measurable power of true Sanctification from the holy Ghost can neuer dye Now the life of Gods Spirit hath three degrees in Gods elect Regeneration in this life when we are renued in our affections and doe feele a true change of minde within vs the second after this life when the soule shall be separated from the body which being once as it were released from the fetters of the flesh shall swiftly take her flight to heauen and then shall the soule liue indeede a heauenly life being altogether freed from the temptations of the Diuell and all allurements of the flesh But the highest degree of all of the soules estate is at the generall day of resurrection when the world with the lusts thereof shall passe away like a cloud and be sodainely wrapped vp like a scrole for then both the body and soule of man shall not onely enioy the presence of God but liue also with him for euer in heauenly blisse So likewise the reprobate in this life and in the life to come haue double miseries coupled to their double deaths For first while they liue they want Gods grace and fauour being strucken with terrour in their conscience as Cain that runnagate and vagabond not onely fearing their liues but being frighted at their shadowes And they haue the Diuell who is the God of this world possessing them and still leading them captiues by the cords and chaines of all manner of wickednesse towards hell and damnation and in the life to come they are not onely depriued of the presence of God but suffer and endure all endlesse and vnspeakable torments with the Diuell and his Angels As Gods Children therefore being crucified to the world and the flesh haue the life of God liuing in them which will most perfectly appeare and shew it selfe at Christs comming so all fleshly and wicked men who haue giuen themselues to the Flesh World and Diuell doe presently liue the life of hell which they carrying about in their bodies will clearely shew it selfe to their shame and confusion at the latter day So that the wicked in this life doe liue in death and conuersing in earth they are the bond-slaues of hell And as Faith in Christ as I said before is the life of the soule in Gods elect so no faith can quicken vs which is not liuely in it selfe which apprehendeth not Christ aright which worketh not by loue which flourisheth not with fruits for Faith without good workes is dead And therefore to the end wee may be reuiued being dead and buryed in our sinnes we must first beleeue in Christ which is our life and if our beliefe be liuely wee must shew it forth by our fruits otherwise we may haue a name to liue and yet be dead Now to vnderstand this poynt the better let vs obserue what it is to be dead in sinne They are said to be dead in their sinnes whom Death still holdeth in the cords and bonds thereof such as are strangers from the life or God that haue neyther sense nor feeling of their sinnes nor any motion to godlinesse to whom all goodnesse is vnsauory whose bodyes and soules are holden captiue of the Diuell whom they serue as slaues such as are void of Gods Spirit wedded to their owne wicked wils whom the God of this world hath blinded that they can neyther see nor beleeue the truth whose conuersion is as hard as to raise vp Sonnes of Stones vnto Abraham Who is more dead then hee that carryeth fire in his bosome sinne in his Conscience and doth neyther feele it nor shake it out nor tremble at it for Sathan hath gotten quiet possession and hee is carelesse in assaulting of such in whom he hath gotten a quiet dwelling Hence we may learne to loath our selues for our sinnes which bring vs into such thraldome to Death and Diuell which cut vs off from God shut vs out of heauen rob vs of saluation and bring the euerlasting wrath of God vpon vs which is vnmeasurable infinite and vnportable neuer able to be sustained of any but of Christ our infinite God and Sauiour who in maiestie and power is equall with his Father Thus we haue heard the nature of death common vnto all by the meanes of sinne without exception Well therefore is Death deriued from a word that signifies to to diuide not onely for that it maketh diuision where it comes but that without exception it equally diuides to all alike Some thinke that it proceedes from bitternesse for that the sweetnesse of the forbidden fruit proued bitter to Adam and his brood And Augustine not vnwittily deriueth Mors à morsu for that our first parents in biting the Apple were bitten of death Whence hee also alludeth to that of Osea 15. O death I
Christ Except yee shall eate the flesh of the Sonne of man you shall haue no life in you Againe Hee that eateth my flesh dwelleth in mee and I in him Now it is all one to say that Christ is in vs and that hee abideth in vs and to say with the Apostle that Christ dwelleth in our harts by faith Hee is therefore in vs and abideth in vs and is vnited to vs by a liuely Faith And as wee eate the true and naturall flesh of Christ so wee are vnited to the true flesh of Christ but the former is by Faith therefore the latter also section 14 Againe wee are not vnited but to a liuely and quickening flesh and this is the end why wee are vnited thereto that being quickened thereby wee may liue eternally But the flesh of Christ is not a quickening flesh of it selfe but so far forth as it was taken of the Son of God into the vnitie of the person Our soule is ioyned to the soule of Christ and our naturall flesh with the flesh of Christ and therefore like vnto ours in all things sinne only excepted which teacheth vs to fasten the eyes of our mindes immediately and first of all vpon the humane flesh of Christ as it were vpon the vayle by which the entrance was into the most holy place where the glory of God most clearly shined and then after that to enter into the Sanctuary it selfe to behold his Deity section 15 Furthermore as Christ by the communication of his Spirit vniteth himselfe vnto vs so we by Faith are ioyned to him For the first By this wee know saith S. Iohn that Christ is in vs euen by the Spirit which hee hath giuen vs. Hee that hath not the Spirit of Christ saith S. Paul hee is none of his For the second saith the same Apostle that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood saith Christ abideth in me and I in him but hee is eaten and drunke by faith as in the same place Christ expoundeth He that beleeueth in me shall neuer thirst We therefore are vnited to Christ by a liuely faith The knowledge and apprehension of which vnion with Christ by a true and liuely faith not onely ministreth a section 16 true euidence of our right and interest in Iesus Christ but putteth vs in possession of all his benefits purchased to mankinde Hence commeth assured remission and forgiuenesse of sinnes and by a necessary consequence perfect deliuerance from eternall Death by Christs obedience in Death and likewise full and perfect possession of eternall life following his obedience in fulfilling the Law For both the parts of that obedience which was really performed by Christ is communicated to vs by imputation and is truely made ours by the right of this spirituall vnion seeing while Christ how great soeuer hee be is made one flesh with vs and we with him and in regard thereof by imputation also we as the members together with Christ the head are now crucified are dead are buried are raised from death haue ascended into heauen doe sit with him in the highest heauens are blessed with Christ with all spirituall blessings and that not onely in hope but already in Christ our head wee are reputed for such in heauen with God the Father Againe two things necessarily concurre to the iustification section 17 of life First remission of our sinnes that we be not found guilty of eternall death Secondly the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ that we may be thought worthy of eternall life and neither of these can be without the other and both of them we haue of Christ For the Lord Iesus of his grace and fauour towards vs maketh that what things soeuer wee doe by this his inherent righteousnesse communicated vnto vs to make vs continually fruitfull both to our selues and others although they be most imperfect workes and stained with the corruption of the flesh yet hee I say maketh that they be pleasing and acceptable to God all our spots and blemishes being couered in the robes of Christs righteousnesse And as Adams eating of the forbidden tree was imputed to all his posteritie though they neuer tasted of the fruit with their lippes So the righteousnesse and obedience of Christ shall make all faithfull men righteous before God though they themselues as yet haue tasted no righteousnesse For God hath made him sinne for vs that knew no sinne that wee should be made the righteousnesse of God in him As therefore Christ was made sinne for vs not by infusion of sinne into his person but by imputation of our sinnes vnto him so must wee be made righteous before God not by infusion of righteousnesse into our owne persons but by imputation of Christs righteousnesse vnto vs. As the Moone and Starres borrow all their light from the Sunne so the Church and euery member of the same borrow all their righteousnesse from Christ the Sonne of righteousnesse And as for the sinnes of the faithfull howsoeuer they section 18 cleaue vnto their bones yet if they hate them as hell from whence they are the Diuell working them they neede not care for them being heauy in waight and many in number for they haue their hope not in their own person but in the body of Christ into which they are grafted and in which there is no spot but perfection of righteousnesse euen before God himselfe Their sinnes by his meanes are put vnder their feete and they are rulers ouer them They are not imputed vnto them but vnto Christ The punishment of them is forgiuen vnto the faithfull but not forgiuen to Christ Righteousnesse is freely giuen vnto vs but it was not freely giuen vnto him he obeyed the law of his Father euery iot and tittle that he might fulfill all righteousnesse He bore the condemnation of hell and death that he might abolish it So that in him is life in him is righteousnesse in him is immortalitie and in him is the reconciled good will of God to man And that excellent wisedome which hath made vs by faith one with him the same hath made vs partakers of all his honour and blessed immortalitie If we be ingrafted into the body of Christ wee be his section 19 and he liueth in vs his victory ouer all is ours we see it by faith and all things are in subiection vnder our feete The Diuels doe challenge no good by Christ but disclaime his mercies person and all his meanes Oh what haue wee to doe with thee but euery good Christian may claime him as his due with blessed Paul and say that Christ is his righteousnesse wisedome sanctification and redemption and be bolde to affirme that though his body be in heauen yet shall I there finde it mine his diuinity on earth yet there shall I feele it mine c. All is for mee since Christ is mine
Things present things to come Life Death the world it selfe all is ours and we are Christs Christ in regard of this our vnion with him is not ashamed to call vs Brethren who yet made heauen and earth section 20 and is an immortall and glorious God one with his Father to whom all Angels doe obeysance and the most glorious Princes are but dust and ashes It was a rare thing in Moses being so high in fauour with Pharao that hee would vouchsafe to visite his poore brethren such slaues and bond-men It was singular loue in Ioseph being next to the King in honour and place yet not to be ashamed of his Fathers house being herd-men and sheepe-herds But this is nothing to the kindenesse of Iesus Christ the very shining brightnesse of that most glorious God and his onely begotten Sonne before all eternitie who yet was not ashamed of vs miserable wretched sinners but of his free grace acknowledged vs that were his very enemies in whose person he should suffer a most shamefull and slanderous Death And is it not trow you a iust condemnation if wee wretched men should be ashamed of him who being the God of glory was not ashamed of vs And as they are naturall brethren which are borne of the same Parents so all wee are brethren with Christ which are borne of God through the same spirit by which we cry Abba Father and exercise our loue one towards another in the vnitie of Christian faith section 21 Wee wrastle here with sin as though the steppes of our strength were restrained and looke euen fully vpon death as the Ialour that committeth vs to our graue as a dungeon how be it euen in this doth the Lord reach forth a most approued cordiall to reuiue the faintnesse of our hearts for through the vnion and communion we haue with Christ the vncleanenesse of our birth is washed away in the sanctification of his nature Our transgression remoued in his innocencie our rebellion discharged in his obedience and the vtmost farthing paid in his sufferings And hauing the Image of God which we lost in Adam not renewed onely but a fairer and deeper stampe thereof ingrauen and set vpon vs we may in a Christian resolution challenge at the gates of Hell and Death that nothing can be charged vpon vs as a debt and therefore nothing can light vpon vs as a punishment Wherefore though we mingle here our bread with care and drinke with weeping and haue our lodging in the bed of darkenesse and discomfort it is but to weane vs from the flesh-pots of Egypt till in the heauenly land of Canaan we haue our hearts desire section 22 And though our bodies seeme to perish for euer in in the iudgement of men yet still they haue a being in the sight of God and are members of Christ For the vnion as I haue said betweene Christ and the faithfull is not onely of our soules but of our bodies also all the bodies of the faithfull being vnited to the bodie of Christ And this is such a coniunction as Death can neuer dissolue For though it doth breake the knot betweene Man and Wife yet cannot it infringe the bond betwixt Christ and the faithfull As Death did not make a separation betwixt the two natures of Christ at the time of his suffering though his soule and body were then farre distant in regard of place the one being in heauen and the other in the graue yet were they at that time and in that case personally vnited vnto his god-head no more can Death make a diuision betwixt Christ and the faithfull though there bodies putrifie and rot in their graues yet still they remaine true members of his body And as the Husbandman doth make as great reckoning section 23 of that corne which he hath sowen in his Field and lieth vnder clods as hee doth of that which lieth safe in his barne or garner because he assureth himselfe it will come vp againe and yeelde encrease So Christ our Sauiour doth as highly esteeme of those bodies which are dead and buried as of those which remaine aliue because hee knowes that one day they shall rise againe in honour Their life is but hid for a time and will be found out againe for Christ is able to restore that which nature hath destroyed And God doth deale herein no otherwise with the bodies of his children then Goldsmiths with their old peeces of plate long agoe out of fashion who cast them in the Furnace to refine them and to bring them to a better forme according to his minde Therefore let not the wofull condition of our bodies discourage vs any whit or lessen our hope being ready to die For though the graue deuoure them wormes doe eate section 24 them fire consume them or sea swallow them vp yet being ioyned to Christ in his death and resurrection as Christ and Christians are made one indiuisible body by the bond of Gods spirit they can neuer be seuered from him And although their bodies be as it were rent from the soule by the violence of Death yet in regard of this coniunction with Christ their head neither death nor the graue can separate them from their head For though our bodie be buried in the earth yet our head is in heauen And as one that swimmeth though his body diue and sinke vnder the water yet his head being aboue the streames the whole man is sure and safe from perishing So sure are the faithfull from euerlasting death and destruction though their bodies be entrenched and enterred in their graues being members of their head Iesus Christ ascended aloft aboue the highest heauens to whom they are vnited still by an inseparable bond of his spirit which death can neuer breake CHAP. IIII. The combat and conflict of Christians with Sinne Flesh Death Law and Diuell with their heauenly conquest and triumph ouer them all through Iesus Christ section 1 SVch is the enmitie of the old Serpent in the iust iudgement of God set betweene him and Adams seede that though his head be broken yet still he will labour to bruise their heele Like a coward ouercome he lags behinde for aduantage and not daring to shew his face any more in the field hee dragges in the way and lieth aloofe vpon euery occasion to take them in a trappe Though he cannot preuaile yet prouoke vs still hee will to fight and try our manhood neither can wee otherwise be conquerours then was Christ our Captaine and head who by dying in the field recouered life both for himselfe and his Souldiers for nothing but Death can end this combat Our life is a warfare and that most strange for any section 2 other warre may haue an end either by a conclusion of peace with the enemie or by flying farre from him or by ouercomming him in fight But in this spirituall warre we cannot lawfully make any peace with these our enemies the
holy life heauenly conuersation chearefull death and blessed daparture of the faithfull redeemed by Christ section 1 GOds children now being redeemed from Sinne and Death and truely vnited to Christ by his spirit whom they apprehend by an vnfained faith cannot chuse but shew forth the fruits of this their high calling to the glory of him that hath chosen them And being partakers of the diuine nature they flye from the corruptions of the world and giue all diligence to ioyne vertue with their faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindenesse and with brotherly kindenesse loue and these things being among them and abounding will keepe them from being idle and vnfruitfull The grace of God to them appeareth not in vaine but teacheth them to denie all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts to liue soberly righteously godly in this present world c. and being risen with Christ from the graue of corruption they euery day more and more seeke those things which are aboue setting their affections where Christ sitteth and not on the things that are on the earth for they are dead to the world and their true life is hid with God in Christ therefore they labour to be holy as he that hath called them to his kingdome and glory is holy They daily imploy themselues in reading and meditating of the word of God in prayer and religious exercises of holy deuotion loathing still this world and sinfull life daily growing to be spirituall and heauenly hauing their affections and zeale inflamed with the loue of God They say with Augustine O Lord I delight to heare of thee to talke of thee to write of thee to deuise of thee and in my heart to print whatsoeuer I learne of thee So must wee walke in these holy paths with all Gods Saints Godly deuotion and holy meditations saith one are section 2 as brine and pickle to keepe and preserue this corruptible flesh of ours from the euill scent that breedeth in our nature by originall sinne They are as faggots and firebrands that enkindle and inflame the loue of God in our hearts And as the fish out of the water die forthwith and the drops of raine distilling from the clouds vpon the ground doe quickly dry and drench vp and the fire without fuell is soone extinguished So our faith and loue c. without these sanctified meanes doe suddenly decrease They are as precious perfumes burnt in a polluted house and sick-mans chamber The sweet incense of prayer and the sauory smell of that odorifferous balme of a liuely faith and effectuall knowledge of God purge and clense the corruption of our liues and vncleane desires God hath chosen vs to be his glorious temple in whom hee dwelleth by his spirit therefore wee must haue our hearts purified by faith and clense our selues from all filthinesse and vncleanenesse both of bodies and soules and so adorne the place of his presence and habitation with all vertue and holinesse Hee that destroyeth the Temple of God him will God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which you are Saint Peter willeth vs to gird vp the loynes of our mindes teaching vs that as they which weare long garments when they come in the foule wayes doe take and gird them vp lest they should tag in the way So we whose mindes and affections doe traile as it were vpon the earth trudging through this foule and filthy world must heaue them vp towards heauen lest they should touch the damnable filth of sinne and wickednesse It is in vaine to boast of iustification without the vnfained sanctification of Gods spirit For as there can be no fire section 3 without warmth and light so neither can God by his spirit be in vs of with any of vs but he will also purifie vs from vice and corruption therefore wee must follow peace and holinesse without the which no man can see the Lord. Christ hath crucified our old man and put to death our vice and corruption and shall wee reuiue the same Shall we maintaine our Sauiours enemies and giue life againe to these deadly poysons of our soules If wee will be Burgesses of heauen we must be strangers to the earth Where is the house of our Father but in heauen and there dwelleth our eldest brother Iesus Christ and all our christian friends and kindred Heauen then is our true Country and on earth we are but trauellers section 4 When Moses had conuersed with God but fortie daies vpon the Mount-Oliue at his comming downe his face shined and glistered with heauenly glory So must we beholding in a mirror the glory of our Lord Iesus Christ in his word and Gospell as it were with open face and not with a vaile as did Moses be changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of the Lord. If I say but this short time while we liue we be conuersant in heauen by our most holy faith and fruits thereof in all holy affections thoughts words and meditations we shall in the end become heauenly and spirituall both in word and deede As wee see by experience when a country-man hath beene trayned vp sometime in the Court he forgetteth his clownish kinde of life and becommeth a Courtier Let vs therefore leaue the speaches habit fashions and manners of this wicked world wherein we liue and inure our selues with the customes and course of the court of Heauen Let all our thoughts words and communication testifie that in spirit wee are already there section 5 Christ Iesus whom all true Christians haue put on by baptisme as a garment is a most royall robe of grace holinesse and sanctification and shall we be so sloathfull to traile and trample him in the dyrt of filthinesse and sinne or putting him off to put on the vile and spotted garment of the flesh by following the lusts thereof When winter is once ouer the nearer that the Sunne draweth vnto vs the more doth the earth being warmed with the heate thereof fructifie and increase and the longer the daies are the more worke we may doe euen so the nearer the kingdome of heauen doth approach vnto vs by the comming of Iesus Christ the sonne of righteousnesse or the nearer we draw to death the more we should be inflamed in the loue of God and all good workes As the Sunne beames doe come to the earth and yet are in the region from whence they are sent so the mindes and soules of Gods children though conuersant in the earth are truely seated and setled with God in heauen from whence they came Let vaine-glorious worldlings who with the Camaelion section 6 liue by the ayre and therefore are alwaies found gaping and who haue with the Moone but a borrowed light in the world and no true light of
the word and therefore still continue in waxing and waining let such I say feede still their fancies with shewes and shadowes all which shall end in a moment but let vs that are Christians liue the life of the righteous that so we may die a righteous death and liue in peace and happinesse both here and hereafter If we liue in the spirit then let vs walke in the spirit Our walking and behauiour is a sure and certaine signe whether wee be aliue or dead If our walking and working be spirituall then doe we liue in the spirit but if our workes be carnall we are dead in the spirit neither haue we any thing to doe with Christ and his kingdome As there is a resurrection to the life of glory so is there also a resurrection to the life of grace As the death of the soule went before the death of the body so must the resurrection of the soule from the death of sinne be first and then in due time will come the resurrection of the body Sinne is a kinde of death this my sonne was dead and is now aliue holy conuersation is a rising againe and blessed are those that haue their part in this resurrection The prodigall Sonne by repentance found himselfe who first by riot had lost himselfe and therefore let vs giue him our life who gaue vs life section 7 Christians must be as birds who for necessitie sake are faine to stay vpon the earth yet still for the most part are soaring in the skie where they tune many a pleasant note so should our thoughts be imployed in things beneath but our chiefe delights must still climbe higher where true ioyes dwell where no distracting thoughts can once disturbe them Raise vp thy selfe O soule saith Augustine and thinke of that good which containeth all good Our deuotion must not be as the Morning dewe which vanisheth with the Sunne nor like the leaues of Autumne that fall from the tree but our goodnesse must abide so long as wee liue yea wee must rather yeelde vp our breath and being then our faith and deuotion section 8 Euery one feareth the death of the body but few are affraide of the death of the soule That which possibly cannot be auoyded men seeke to shun but to auoide sin that they may liue for euer few or none doe care To labour not to die is but trauell in vaine this is to defer not to auoide Death but if we would take heede we sinne not then neede we not be doubtfull after death to liue for euer Simply to liue is not so good except a man liue well and in Gods feare for the Diuels and the damned liue but better it were if they had no being The soule without grace is as the ground without moysture which turneth to dust and vanisheth and like the barren earth accursed It is as an vnarmed man and one that is naked amongst the pykes and darts of his aduersaries And since the earth was cursed for our sinnes in Adam and our soules are saued by faith in Christ let the direction of our thoughts to him be the messenger to our hearts that our affections are in heauen for we are not placed that wee should be planted here but being bought from this earth by bloud we should clense our selues in this world with water that since some inferiour affections must needes be found here below yet the dust onely may cleaue to our feete and our head and hands lift vp to God So shall we haue comfort in our death being thus sanctified section 9 in our life and it shall serue vs as a barge to bring vs to the hauen of happy rest which now is made through Iesus Christ the issue of all miserie and an entrance to true safetie to all Gods elect Christians therefore one would thinke neede not as Pagans consolations against death but death should serue them as a consolation against all afflictions So that wee should not onely strengthen our selues not to feare it but accustome our selues to hope for it for vnto vs it is not onely a departing from paine and euill but an accesse and possession-taking of all happinesse and good not the end of life but the end of death and beginning of life because it is not to vs a last day but the dawning of an euerlasting day Death now is the way to recouer our former estate being lost by our first parens It is the meanes to translate vs from our mortall condition to euerlasting immortalitie and happinesse in Christ Who therefore will not be glad to exchange for the better Let them desire to liue in the world whom it loueth and affecteth but all true Christians it hateth euermore and despiseth What man being farre from home would not hasten to section 10 returne into his country and though he saile vpon the dangerous seas would hee not hoyst vp the sailes of his Ship and hasten his iourney with some hazard to come to the hauen of rest where he would be Now this world is a forraine Countrie to all Christians where they wander for a while our home is the Paradise of God heauen it selfe is the hauen whither Gods children must saile to land and the way and passage both by sea and land is death decreed of God which to the godly as hath beene said is not an end of their liues but an end of their sinnes It destroyeth not nature but reformes it It cutteth off our corruption and restoreth vs to immortalitie Whilst I remaine vpon earth I am as it were in my wardship but hereafter I shall haue the full managing of all my goods O happy dying and blessed death which art made so gainefull vnto me why should I feare thee which bringest all sorrowes and feares to an end Thy name is fearefull but thy effect full of consolation especially when I behold thee vnder his feete which hath pulled out thy sting taken from hell his command and spoyled the diuell of his power section 11 The iudgement of God cannot afflict me for that the Iudge is my aduocate Sathan my accuser is condemned the Angels of the Lord are my defenders against him The graue though it gape wide yet can it not deuoure me for although I must rot in it yet was it my Sauiours bed who was laid therein to sanctifie it for me by his sweet funerall and to prepare me there a chamber of rest But O Lord suffer me not to die before I begin to liue nor to rot in the graue before I be assured of my immortall inheritance in heauen wound my hart with a holy sorrow wash my soule with thy precious blood Let other men desire to liue many yeares vpon earth my longing is to aspire to the dayes of heauen whereas one day consumes not another but are endlesse and eternall The reward of life the ioy of euerlasting saluation and perpetuall blisse the possession of Paradise
wish they had better serued God but these things should be considered in time and here is time therefore take it before thou endurest a dying life and a liuing death full of endlesse woe O good life saith a holy Father what a ioy art thou section 6 in the time of death Thou makest men not ashamed to liue longer because they liue honestly nor afraid to dye departing religiously hauing serued a good Lord. But the wicked are ashamed to see him whom they haue dishonoured the one is quit by a ioyfull Proclamation the other found guilty at the bar of his owne conscience What a dangerous course is it neuer to awake Christ till the ship leake and be in danger of drowning neuer to beginne to liue well vntill wee be a dying neuer to call to minde that time of all times before we heare the Trumpet sounding the graues opening the earth flaming the heauens melting the Iudgement hastening and the Iudge with his Angels comming to denounce the last sentence and doome O consider this you that forget God lest hee take you away and there be none to deliuer you This present life is our market to make prouision for our soules against the life to come now is the time of running to get the prize now is the time to fight to winne the field now is the time of sowing for the plentifull crop of haruest comming on If we omit this time there is no more crowne no more booty no other Kingdome no other prize no more haruest to be looked for for Hee that will not sow in winter shall beg in Summer section 7 Marke well saith one what I say that a man which repenteth not but at his latter end shall be damned I doe not say so What then doe I say He shall be saued No. What then doe I say I say I know not I say I presume not I promise not Wilt thou then deliuer thy selfe out of this doubt Wilt thou escape this dangerous poynt Repent thou then whilest thou art whole for if thou repent whilest thou art in health whensoeuer the last day of all commeth vpon thee thou art safe for that thou didst repent in that time when thou mightest yet haue sinned But if thou wilt repent when thou canst sinne no longer thou leauest not sinne but sinne leaueth thee If men come without oyle in their Lampes then is there nothing for them to expect but Nescio vos I know you not And when they are knowne Ite maledicti Goe you cursed into euerlasting fire God hath giuen other things double vnto vs that if the one be hurt the other may stand vs in stead as eyes eares hands and feet double but hee hath giuen vs but one soule which if we destroy what is there in the world wherby wee may hope for any life The Sonne of God gaue himselfe a ransome for our soules that they might not be accounted vile but precious in our sight All that which thou hast meanes to doe saith the Preacher section 8 doe it according to thy power for in the graue whither thou goest there it neyther worke nor discourse nor knowledge nor wisedome Many then thinke of death When they cannot liue they pardon their enemies when they cannot reuenge they giue away their goods when they can no longer keepe them they forgiue their debters when they haue nothing to pay they leaue their whores when they can no longer keepe them they detest wine when they cannot drinke and defie the world when they can no longer inhabite it pride they loath when they are preparing of their winding-sheete sicke they are but their repentance is sicker c. Death is at our doores Iudgement ouer our heads Hell is at hand all horrible and yet without horrour We laugh we leape we dance we drinke we sing to the sound of the Violl vaine delights and we inuent to our selues Instruments of Musicke like Dauid as he to the seruice and honour of his God so we to please our vnsanctified affections and extrauagant lusts O Lord set thy feare before our face and so settle it in our hearts that we may readily obay thy heauenly call by flight from sinne for feare of Iudgement Let vs not be like to the vnwise Leuite who at the end of the day would goe on his iourney by reason whereof hee incurred perill and was the cause of his wiues heauy end Let vs rather rise earely and goe on our way whiles the light of life doth shine lest darknesse surprise vs. Old sores are hardly cured and hardly shall you bring old dogs to lead An old mans bones saith Zopher to Iob are filled with the sinnes of his youth and continue with him vnto the graue CHAP. III. Of the hinderances of our Preparation to death in generall and how carefully they must be auoyded section 1 LEt vs now proceede to remoue such impediments through the helpe of God as lye in our way to hinder our speedie passage in this our pilgrimage of death which is as wee haue heard the true hauen of life to all Gods children Great and manifold are Sathans assaults in this our iourney who still sheweth himselfe a professed aduersarie in all good proceedings And here he commeth not himselfe alone but with a huge hoast and army of enemies hauing the whole world our flesh and friends to fight against vs But of these things in this place let it suffice to poynt at in generall vntill wee come to a more particular discourse as occasion shall be offered And let vs first learne to arme our selues against these our deadly foes that so being harnessed as it were with the armour of proofe wee may strongly stand out when wee shall be assailed neuer yeelding to our foes but following fast our Captaine Christ to get the conquest in this our fight which already is begunne and shall most assuredly be gotten to all the faithfull section 2 Sathan first of all will thus be ready to assault vs. And art thou ready to dye O man Why then behold the swarme of thy sinnes the number of thy faults and monstrous rebellions against thy God both old and new of age and youth for which the wrath of God the graue and hell are ready to deuoure thee The Law is thy Iudge which doth condemne thee thy God is iust and cannot but accurse thee his sentence is passed and will not cleare thee c. So that here without Christ no comfort can be found hee onely must now protect vs or else wee perish his righteousnesse must be our roabe to hide our raggednesse his merits the onely meanes to cloath our nakednesse c. Which things wee cannot possesse without a true and liuely Faith which is the gift of God and therefore wee must pray to haue it wrought in our hearts by the holy Ghost and all good meanes This then as we haue heard already will get vs the victory ouer the Diuell
how wee should speake whom wee should inuocate In his temptation hee withstood the Tempter to shew vs how to come out of temptation In his Agonie hee prayed to teach vs how and what to pray section 5 Let vs call to minde how wee lost happinesse in seeking to saue ourselues and iust it is that by induring sorrowes wee should recouer what wee haue lost Wee ranne away by committing euill and wee must returne againe by suffering euill Once wee sinned by transgressing righteousnesse and now wee must humble ourselues by induring for righteousnesse Great were Iobs crosses which he endured none of his Sonnes and Seruants were left but onely foure messengers to bring him tidings of sorrow and those not altogether but one after another to increase the same All Iobs comforts goe away together and Sathan was perswaded that this trayne of troubles would haue blowne vp the strongest fort but he is deceiued Iob is the same man still For hee that did truly serue God in time of prosperitie did also blesse him in his greatest aduersitie Here was patience with thankfulnesse well met together Sathan tooke away many things from him but God he could not take away that gaue him all his resolution was too strong for that Though he kill mee yet will I not be kept from trusting in him It is God that knoweth the perils of thy death and can onely defend thee Through his power shalt thou get thorow and drinke the bitter draught Though wee dye yet liueth God before vs with vs after vs and is able to preserue vs for euer Death as one speaketh is euen as a darke caue in the section 6 ground but who so taketh Christs true light and candle in beleeuing on him and goeth into that dimme and darke hole the mist flyeth before him and the darknesse vanisheth away The sweet spices of Christ his buriall expelleth the strong scent and ill sauour of our rotten graues He is our hope our safeguard our triumph our crowne wee may be dead but our life is hid with God in Christ Our true life then is not in this world but laid vp with God in heauen and shall in time through Christ be gloriously reuealed And although after our departure from our soft lodgings and beds of Downe our bodyes must be placed for a time in darke dungeons and loathsome graues there to rot in the earth and be consumed of wormes yet Christians looking vpon them in this so vile estate as they appeare with the Chrystall eyes of Faith and considering them aright as now altered and changed by Christ who hath vanquished Death and pursued her to her denne we neede not to bewayle our euill exchange or thinke our bargaine hard for that our bodies hereafter shall become most beautifull and precious and euen conformable to the glorious body of Christ himselfe And albeit the gate of death be so narrow and hard a passage yet our heauenly Father shorteneth it and though the paines thereof should passe all that wee haue felt vpon the earth it endureth not long but maketh quicke dispatch and when the paine is greatest of all then is it nearest an end and God can then more comfort vs then the most horriblest death with the pangs thereof are able to disturbe or torment vs. Such is the state of this world that one euill cannot be section 7 cured but by another To heale a contusion or bruise must be made an incision All the paines that our life yeeldeth vs at the last houre we impute to death not marking that as our life beganne and continued in all sorts of griefe and sorrow so necessarily must it end in like afflictions Wee marke not as one saith that it is the remainder of our life not of death that tormenteth vs The end of our nauigation that paineth vs not the hauen wee are to enter which is nothing else but a sure refuge against all stormes And thus wee complaine of death when wee should indeed complaine of life as if one hauing beene long sicke and now beginning to be well should accuse his health of his former paine and not the reliques of his disease For what is it else to be dead then to be no more aliue in the world Now simply not to be in the world is it any paine did we then feele any paine when we were not section 8 Nothing better resembleth death then our sleepe and when doe wee euer better rest then at that time Now if this be no paine why accuse we death of the paines our life yeeldeth vs at our departure vnlesse wee will fondly accuse the time when as yet wee were not of the paines wee felt at our birth If our comming in be with teares is it a wonder that our going out be answerable If the beginning of our being be the beginning of our paine is it any maruell that such should be our ending Death is no wayes hurtfull to those that be liuing and for the dead they are out of his reach Such a death is neuer to be deplored which is seconded with immortalitie and euerlasting life Wilt thou feare that once which is alwayes acted Fearest thou to dye once when thou dyest euery day by little and little Death which wee so feare and flye taketh not from vs our life but giueth it truce and intermission for a time Neyther children nor mad-men feare Death and how absurd is it that reason and wisedome should not be as able to furnish vs with securitie as they are fortified by their simplicitie and fury section 9 What hurt is it to the inhabitant to pull downe an old ruinous house to build it vp againe and make it more glorious Now our bodies are as old rotten houses for our soules to dwell in if God cause our soules to depart then out of our bodies for a time and so destroy them to build them vp againe and make them fitter habitations for our soules haue we any cause to mourne Nay rather if we looke not so much on the present condition of our bodies after death as vpon their glorious estate at the day of resurrection by the eye of faith wee haue great cause to praise our God for this our good exchange And why should the faithfull be affraide of Death by which they are deliuered from the slauery of sinne For when Death hath made vs all euen leuell with the ground the graue shall be to vs as a fould vntill our Shepheard come and to the wicked as a shambles till the destroyer of their soules shall haue receiued an endlesse commission to torment them What cause haue wee then to shut our gates against the gaspe of Death Or like trembling leaues to entertaine the gale and blast of sicknesse which doth but prune our feathers to flye both faster and swifter towards heauen itselfe For if neither the waight of our corruption though it sorely presse vs nor the
members 24. CHAP. IIII. THE life of Christians is a continuall warfare nothing but death can end the combat Sect. 1. 2. Sathan especially assaulteth Christ and his members with the reasons why 3. The Diuell as a cunning fisher fitteth his baites as he findeth men affected 4. Out of the nature of mens qualities he worketh his malignities 5. Sathan most eagerly assayleth the faithfull at the houre of death and why 6. Sathans arguments from the Law of God against the faithfull 7. 8. The answere of Sathans obiections 9. All the breaches of the Law are made vp in Christ who perfectly fulfilled the same for all beleeuers 10. The Law being fulfilled Sathan Sinne and Death must needs be vanquished 11. The particular conflicts of Sathan with the faithfull with their comfortable conquest 13. 14. Soueraigne Antidotes of comfort against afflictions 15. Such we are by imputation with God as we are in purpose and affection 16. An excellent course to silence Sathan in his varietie of temptations 18. We must send him to Christ our aduocate who both pleadeth and defendeth our cause 19. Wee must shew him our generall acquittance sealed by God himselfe and proclaymed from heauen 20. Men cannot be more sinfull then God is mercifull 21. As Death entred by Sinne so it extinguisheth Sinne and endeth our warfare 22. CHAP. V. DEath must giue vs our last purgation and end our corruption Sect. 1. The dearest Saints of God are here subiect to all afflictions and Death it selfe as the vilest sinners with the reason thereof 2. The nature of Death is altered through Christ to the faithfull 3. Sinne brought in Death and Death must driue out Sinne. 4. There is no prescription against Death earth cannot redresse that which is enacted in heauen 5. Paine sicknesse c. with Death it selfe are as Gods Souldiers to come and goe at his pleasure 6. Afflictions are preuentions of sinne to the godly and plaisters to cure the sores thereof ibid. God doth diet his children in this world that they surfet not vpon pleasures and profits ibid. Wee as children cannot order our selues Gods wisedome and will are our best guides 7. Our worldly desires and lusts are inordinate and endlesse except the Lord restraine them 8. The excellent fruits of afflictions when they are sanctified to Gods elect 9. Afflictions are necessary trials of our Christian estate 10. Afflictions in this life are both punishers and purgers of Gods elect 11. They are both sufferings and instructions 12. Christ is the true patterne of Christians to whom they are conformable by their sufferings 13. Crosses and calamities are the Harbingers and Purueyers of Death 14. Whom God most loues those he most proues 15. The fire tryes the gold and misery men of courage ibid. The troubles of Gods children shall neuer cease till the world be without hatred the Diuell without malice and our nature without corruption 16. Afflictions may tire the flesh but neuer be able to extinguish the hope of a Christian 17. Sinne and Death haue lost their sting in Christs death 18. They cannot separate vs from God though they be fearefull to the flesh ibid. Death through Christ is the key of Gods Kingdome and gate of glory 19. CHAP. VI. CHristians are strangers in the world the bread of aduersitie and water of affliction is commonly their dyet Sect. 1. Being strangers they must be content with their vsage and prepare for their iourney 2. This world is restlesse there is no contentment in it 3. The world deales with men as the Rauen with the Sheepe picking out the eye that it may not see her tyranny 4. See the Anatomie of the World 5. The world is no proper element to Christians it rather feedeth then slaketh their appetites as oyle doth the fire 6. All Creatures haue their rest from God he is the centre of the faithfull 7. God hath set the earth vnder our feet that it should not be too much esteemed 8. Euery Christian with his crosse must be content to accompany Christ to his kingdome 9. Whilest we set our affections on earthly things we seeke for no better for we looke no higher 10. God giues his children here but an assay of his goodnesse the maine sea of his bountie and store is hourded vp in heauen 11. CHAP. VII AS man rebelled against his maker so all things while he liueth rebell against him euen man against himselfe the flesh against the spirit Sect. 1. Our manifold infirmities are as gyues and fetters about our legs to shew our guilty condition 2. The flesh as a subiect should obay the soule as her soueraigne 3. Though it be infused into the body it must not be confounded therewith ibid. Worldly and fleshly imployments dull the soules edge 4. Death to the faithfull is the funerall of their vices and the resurrection of their vertues 5. How we may discerne the state of our soules 6. Death endeth the combat of Christians when the flesh shall be dead and the spirit fully liue our passions buried and our reason freed in perfection 7. The body is but the barke and shell of the soule which must needes be broken if we will truly liue and see the light 8. The nature of the earth and earthly men 9. Sinne in the regenerate hath a deadly wound but in the wicked it hath a full and violent course 10. The Lord cureth our grosse sinnes by our infirmities ibid. Great are the troubles of the faithfull but saluation will one day make ameds for all 11. The glorified body shall obay the soule with admirable facilitie 12. The difference betweene a mortall man liuing and the faithfull deliuered by death 13. Sinne with all misery affliction and Death it selfe shall hereafter be shut vp in hell as in their proper place 14. This world to all Gods Israel is an Egypt of slauery 15. See the royall exchange of the faithfull who for a mortall and miserable life shall enioy a blessed and immortall 16. As the sufferings of Christ doe abound so doe the consolations increase to Gods elect 17. CHAP. VIII THE faithfull redeemed by Christ grow euery day to be spirituall and heauenly Sect. 1. Prayer and holy deuotion as precious perfumes take away the euill sauour of sinne and vncleannesse 2. There is no Iustification without the vnfayned sanctification of Gods spirit 3. The way to become spirituall and diuine 4. The nearer we approach to death the more we should be inflamed with the loue of God and all good workes 5. If wee will dye the death wee must liue the life of the righteous 6. Our deuotion must not be like the morning dewe and leaues of Autumne 7. The soule without grace is as the ground without moysture 8. Christians should not feare death but accustome themselues to hope for it 9. Death to the godly is no end of their liues but an end of their sinnes and miseries 10. The graue of the faithfull is sweetned by Christs funerall 11. When wee
had not perished with the floud if the flouds of teares for sinne had flowed from mens eyes 15. Hope is the piller sustaining the building of our faith which fainting our faith falleth into the gulfe of dispaire 16. All things are possible to him which beleeueth ibid. Hope to a Christian is as a staffe to a traueller who resteth vpon it shall hardly fall 17. Despaire is a bottomelesse gulfe out of which none returneth that fall into it ibid. CHAP. IX WIthout the vndoubted hope of the resurrection Christ died in vaine our faith hope and all religion is in vaine Sect. 1. Infallible proofes of the resurrection by scriptures which are of God and cannot lie 2. Reasons drawne from the Scripture to confirme the same 3. Naturall reason and experience of the creatures conuince the truth hereof 4. Why should not our bodies rise againe from the dust as well as the seede sowne harrowed and hidden in the ground 5. Excellent resemblances and allusions of the resurrection of our bodies 6. Christ hath caried our flesh into heauen to put vs in possession and giuen vs his spirit as an earnest to seale his promises that we shall raigne with him in glory 7. Our bodies in the graue shall againe be quickned in Christ and rise againe to life carrying with them the warmenesse of Gods spirit which cannot die 8. Though our flesh doe rot yet shall the spirit of God deliuer it from corruption by the vertue of him that raised vp Christ from the dead 9. CHAP. X. THe godly groane that this mortalitie may be swallowed vp of life Sect. 2. They loath this wretched life to be vnloden of their sins 3. Our life is like a stage on which men play their parts and passe away ibid. A Christian needeth not feare the violence of death whose force is broken in Christ 4. Death as a Tailor putteth off our ouer-worne rags to apparell vs with the royall roabes of immortalitie incorruption and endlesse glory 5. A description of this sinfull wretched and miserable life 6. 7. Euery mans life is like a rocke in the Sea beaten vpon with waues on euery side and like vnto a Butt or marke at which sorrow c. shootes and at last Death that most sure Archer shootes and strikes it dead 8. The state and condition of all flesh is to be miserable and mortall 9. All kinde of miseries hunt after sinfull man and Death at length doth greedily deuoure him 10. Very fit resemblances of this wretched life 11. While we reside in the world death euery where lyeth in ambush for vs but when wee are in heauen it shall haue no place ibid. The comfortable death of Christians through Christ 12. 13. It is better to dye alwayes to liue then to liue to dye euer 14. If wee looke for our felicitie here wee are deceiued Eliah must goe to heauen in a whirle-winde 15. When we are borne we are mortall but when wee are once dead we become immortall 16. Death is as it were the birth of a blessed soule after a great trauell 17. Death and life are two twinnes inseparable vntill the diuision of soule and body ibid. It is a deliuerance from all sinne and the accomplishment of sanctification ibid. All the inhabitants of heauen weare crownes of glory sit in thrones of maiestie and possesse a Paradise of infinite pleasures 18. All glorified bodies shall shine as so many Sunnes and lamps in Gods kingdome 19. The incomparable ioyes of the kingdome of heauen shadowed out ibid. What heauenly societie and company of Saints are in Gods Kingdome 20. If we will make our death ioyfull and easie we must thinke of the glorious life that followeth it 21. If we would despise this world we must thinke of heauen ibid. Christ himselfe dyed that we might dye with more patience and pleasure ibid. It is a token of little loue to God to be so loath to goe vnto him 22. God reacheth out his hand to conduct vs but we draw backe our owne and runne away ibid. If God be our guide we must follow him to arriue in his house 23. FINIS THE FIRST BOOKE What DEATH is in it selfe CHAP. I. Of mans Creation and excellent estate before his Fall OVr most gracious God infinite in section 1 wisedome and incomprehensible in loue towards mankinde hauing before all worlds decreed to make himselfe most glorious in his Creation did in his appointed time effect the same For hauing made the world in wonderfull manner and furnished it with all varietie of creatures both for profit and pleasure deuising in his wisedome and vnspeakable loue a perfection of happinesse for man vpon the earth at last after a most exquisite manner consulted with himselfe for the shape of man and finding no creature fit enough for a patterne of his portraiture concluded with himselfe to make mankinde as a Chrystall glasse of his glory and a most liuely resemblance after a sort of his Maiestie section 2 And that not onely in the frame of his body to be as it were a briefe Map and abridgement of the whole worlds perfection which hee made as a most glorious Theatre fully replenished with most admirable sights of all sorts but which is more both in body and soule to represent his Creator as his Vicegerent and petty Monarch on the earth and seating him here as it were in his Throne and putting his owne Scepter into his hand and his Crowne of glory vpon his head gaue him dominion and rule ouer all the workes of his hands so that well may the Prophet with wonder exclaime and cry out Lord what is man that thou art so mindefull of him c. section 3 Now that this Image of God was liuely expressed in whole man resembling his Maker both in his body and in his soule doth plainly appeare by the renuing of man in Christ who is not onely sanctified in the one alone but in the other section 4 And first for mans Body it did resemble God in that immortalitie wherein it was first created as also in the seuerall members thereof expressed the varietie of his perfections and therefore in respect of Gods diuers employments in a borrowed speech are ascribed to him as the hands and armes to shew Gods omnipotencie and power his eyes and eares his piercing prouidence and sight c. I omit mans face and comely countenance in which principally doth shine a certaine imperious maiestie and grace most conspicuous causing all liuing creatures to stoupe vnto him and besides the goodly order of all his outward parts set and disposed in admirable sort a glorious beauty spreading it selfe throughout with wonderfull strength agillitie and nimblenesse of all his members made him most famous that very Naturalists and Pagans anatomizing his very body not onely preferred the frame thereof before the worlds whole curious creation but rauished in their senses with the consideration of the same deified and preferred it aboue all measure
section 5 Yet as waxe is more apt to receiue an impression then clay so the soule being a Spirit commeth nearest to Gods nature For first the very substance of Adams soule did most liuely shadow out the diuine Essence not onely in the simplicitie inuisiblenesse and immortalitie thereof but also in that power which it enioyed to know and will And as God is but one in the world quickning sustaining and gouerning the same so there is but one soule in the body which being whole in euery part thereof without augmentation or diminution giueth vnto it both life sense and motion Further the soule is like vnto God in the faculties of the same For as there is but one onely diuine Essence in the Godhead and yet three distinct persons in respect of their externall actions so the soule is but one howsoeuer it consisteth of sundry essentiall qualities This Image of God in man consisted especially in the section 6 rule and dominion of the Creatures Let vs make man saith God in our owne image that hee may rule the fowles of the ayre fish of the sea beasts of the earth Now to rule well is required Knowledge Memorie Will Vnderstanding and Iudgement which are essentiall in God and proper to our soules Man had not onely giuen vnto him of God power and abilitie to vnderstand diuine and humane things but was endued with other heauenly qualities as Iustice Wisedome Temperance Mercy Loue c. Gods Image in man is righteousnesse holinesse and knowledge Be renued saith the Apostle in the spirit of your minde and put on the new man which after the Image of God is created vnto righteousnesse and true holinesse Whose qualities are necessarily inferred by the contrary attributed to the olde man where truth is opposed against lying Christian anger against sinfull rage iust dealing against falshood and wrong holy and gracious speech against corrupt and filthy communication And hee saith that this Image or new man is renued in knowledge after the image of him that created it because the true knowledge of God transformeth man to the image of God his Maker that is to say to the true sinceritie and purenesse of the soule Therefore presently following hee expresseth the qualities of this Image to wit tender affection or bowels of compassion kindnesse humblenesse of minde meeknesse long-suffering forbearing and forgiuing one another Loue Peace and these be the fruits of Gods Spirit which renueth our hearts as they are mustred by S. Paul against which vertues hee saith there is no Law which Image also is called a conformitie to Gods Sonne section 7 By the infusion of Gods holy Spirit saith Iraeneus man is made spirituall as at the first hee was created And Tertullian saith that the Image of God in man is to haue the same sense and motion with God the same Will Knowledge Affection Iudgement and Reason in all humane and heauenly things according to the measure of a creature The reason thus to perswade vs is that man was made first according to Gods Image that hee might rule all his creatures below as his President and Substitute ouer all And it is no question but God would haue all his creatures which hee had made well and orderly to be ouer-heeded and ruled who alwayes and euery where in his Word forbiddeth the abuse of any or the least and wee are straightly bound to referre all of them to the glory and praise of their author and owner Now this good vse and excellent administration of all the creatures which God requireth cannot stand without all those former conditions and qualities of the soule of man whereof this Image of God consisteth So that when the minde is endued with the sound knowledge of God and adorned with Iustice then it most truely representeth Gods Image and likenesse because that Iustice and knowledge of diuine and heauenly things are nothing else but a certaine influence from the diuine nature into our mindes and soules section 8 But that these things may appeare more plainly wee are to know that the Image of a thing is the forme by which it is resembled and a similitude is a qualitie of a thing by which it is shadowed Now man in his Image not onely resembled his Maker in knowledge and vnderstanding but was also created in other celestiall conditions as Iustice Wisedome Mercy Loue c. as before was declared yet so as that Christ alone is the very ingrauen forme of his person according to his Deitie and in his Humanitie so farre as it is capable of the same And to this end hath God predestinated and elected vs that we should be conformable to the Image of his Sonne Therefore God made vs of an vnderstanding nature and capable of diuine perfection when with these heauenly properties our soules were first endued which now cannot be againe recouered but thorow the helpe of Christ the true patterne and type of our first created Image To conclude how like we were made to God appeareth by our proposed end of that selfe-same happinesse and blisse which wee feare to loose and waite through hope to enioy with God himselfe both in louing and knowing of him as hee is Mans soule by creation had Reason and Will as it section 9 were for two wings Reason to vnderstand and know and Will to approue and elect things vnderstood and knowne And these two wings did with equall force and sweet consent carry vp and support the soule to guide it aright to God that so it might sore aloft with her affections as the Eagle flying carryeth her young ones to inure them with the Sunne so it might lift vp it selfe aloft from all infection whatsoeuer A rectitude and vprightnesse was also added that it might beare the force and power as it were of a cleare and pleasant gale of winde to these two wings which blast receiued into the braine did carry and freshly set forward the powers of the minde as when the flight of the Larke or Nightingale ascending on high is hastened with a quicke and pleasant winde wherewith these birds are so delighted that the higher they flye aloft towards the skye the more sweetly doe they sing Such a heauenly harmonie and consent was in all the faculties of the soule that alwayes and altogether they aspired with ioy to holy and heauenly things All excellent learning and skill was engrauen in mans soule his Reason was more sharpe and cleare then the Eagles eye which can behold the Sunne his Knowledge surpassed all Arts and Sciences so that by nature he could approach vnto the eternall light and vnderstanding of God himselfe and heauenly things as the Angels and holy Spirits themselues CHAP. II. Man in his first and best estate was mutable by nature and subiect to fall and so righteously made of God without any cause of iust complaint NOW for the better humbling of man in this his high estate that hee
might know himselfe farre inferiour vnto God that thus had exalted him and acknowledge his subiection by the soueraignety of his Maker It pleased God in his wisedome to set a great difference as betweene the Angels and himselfe in their creation so betweene man made like to God made like I say to himselfe but not himselfe who onely hath this name and nature I am to shew his being of himselfe and vnchangeable nature and to teach vs that all creatures haue not onely their being but their standing and vpholding by him that onely is Therefore he is called the liuing God not onely because hee hath life in himselfe but because hee is the fountaine and originall of life he doth not onely liue but hath life of himselfe and is the cause of life because there is no life besides or without him Though mans nature saith Augustine was vpright and sound and nothing sinfull yet was it capable of sinne and apt to receiue infection Though man in his nature was mortall standing in his state yet was it not of necessitie that he should die and as our flesh is apt to receiue a wound yet euery one is not wounded and as the body of man is subiect to sicknesse yet many often die not touched with sicknesse So the state of Adams body was such that although it was subiect to death yet except sinne had come betweene he might and should haue liued for euer euen as the hose and shooes of the Hebrewes in the desart by Gods mighty prouidence and power neuer waxed olde by wearing or consumption Neither was this vnreasonable in God nor vnagreeable to his iustice to make a distinction betweene himselfe and his creatures for that he himselfe is onely good without change and alteration all his creatures good yet subiect to corruption Man was made of a mutable nature in power of standing and possibility of falling power of standing he had from God his creatour possibility of falling from himselfe being a creature Because the Lord created man of nothing therefore he left possibility in man to returne to nothing If God had giuen Adam an immutable nature he had created a God and not a man being onely proper to God to be vnchangeably good In the very Angels in heauen in respect of God is found imperfection the Cherubs hide their faces with their wings for the brightnesse of his glory Thus God doth humble all his creatures to exalt himselfe euen to teach them this not to goe from him of whom they had and haue their goodnesse nor to trust vnto themselues though by creation good yet subiect to decline Adam then although he was created in goodnesse yet was he made but changeably good for such was the goodnesse and inclination of his will to obey God as might be altered and changed by force of temptation The cause of this mutability was that the creature righteous by creation may remaine eternally and constantly righteous two helpes or fauours of God are necessarily required First a power to perseuere in goodnesse for without this power the creature of it selfe ceaseth to be good the second is an act or deede and that is the will to perseuere or perseuerance itselfe This also is requisite with the former for God giues not onely the power but also the will and deede and the creature doth not the good which it can doe vnlesse God cause it to doe the said good both which helpes the good Angels haue and therefore keepe them standing now Adam receiued the first of God but not the second for besides the goodnesse of his will he receiued of God a power constantly to perseuere in goodnesse if he would yet the act of perseuerance was left to the choise and liberty of his owne will In nature it selfe this truth appeareth God we know creates the eye and puts into it the faculty of seeing yet withall he addes to the eye necessary helpes by the light of the Sunne but for the act of seeing it is left to mans choise for he may see if he will or if he please he may shut his eyes Againe the Physition by Art procures an appetite this done he prouides conuenient foode yet for all this the patient may eate if he will or otherwise may abstaine Now if any reply that Adam receiued not sufficient grace hauing not the will to will that good he could and might the answer is that he receiued sufficient for the perfection of his nature that is for the full obedience of the will of God and for the attaining of euerlasting happinesse if he would not haue bin wanting to himself but he receiued not sufficient grace which might cause the immutability of his nature neither was it of necessitie to be giuen as I haue already shewed to a creature A Goldsmith intends to make a Iewell of singular price and value he compounds it of gold pearles and precious stones when hee hath brought it to perfection he doth not put this propertie to it that if it fall it shall not be bruised or broken Now God created Adam in all perfection and gaue him power and abilitie to continue in the same if he would yet did he not put vnto his nature this condition that it should be vnchangeable when it should be assayled by the force of outward temptation By this we see the weakenesse of the excellentest creature in it selfe without the grace of God Adam could fall of himselfe but he could not stand or rise againe he could not auoide the least assault of euill no further then he was helped by the grace of God We are to God as the sicke man to his keeper who saith Take me vp and I will rise hold me and I will stand helpe me and I will goe c. Which must make vs to renounce our selues and cleaue to God wholly depending vpon his gratious prouidence and protection in all our actions and attempts God I confesse could haue made our first parents of such an vnchangeable nature that they could not possibly haue fallen away but it was not expedient that they should be so made because then the obedience of man should seeme to haue beene forced as it were and so not so acceptable vnto God And albeit the body of man being made of dust and earth and himselfe in respect of his substance and beginning was mortall yet if he had preserued the holy spirit of God within him and giuen him the vpper hand this spirit of God which by sinne he vanquished had farre surmounted all that was mortall in him And to end this point As Sathan tempted Adam to proue God a lyer and to bring him to dishonour and so became the instrument of mans damnation So also Adam tempted himselfe to taste the fruit which as he thought would make himselfe as God Now God most iustly suffered him to be tryed by this meanes to make a way for his iustice
euerlasting Death in particular and of the horrour thereof GReat and heauie was the tribute that the eternall God as a most iust iudge imposed vpon man for sinne The Death of the body is fearefull in our eyes when wee consider with our selues how strangely the condition thereof is altered when the body that a fleshly man makes so much of his belly which he esteemeth for his God his mouth for whose delight the sea and land sufficed not his flesh that was wont to be cloathed with costly garments of silke and gold curiously wrought shall now sodainely be haled into a filthy hole and pit where it shall be trod vpon yea and eaten with wormes where in stead of gorgeous apparrell he must now onely enioy his winding sheete and instead of his perfumes and maskes filthy fauours and rottennesse and in lieu of his varietie of delicate dishes and seruing men to attend him to haue a company and infinite number of crawling vermine to feede vpon him What man I say now liuing and enioying sence and reason but will maruell to thinke of the base condition that so noble a creature comes vnto who in his life time had no fellow nor equall Is it not a wonder that so excellent a myrrour of nature should come to such a dishonourable base and loathsome estate The euerlasting Iudge knew well enough what penance he enioyned sinfull man when he said thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne but what is this death and disgrace of the body to the death and deformity of body and soule in hell it is but as the byting of a flea to the stinging of a Scorpion a shadow to the substance If diseases which doe but make the way to death be so dreadfull what must the end and perfection of diseases be since as the diseases are the malidies of the body so Death it selfe the maladie of disease for there are that feare not so much to die as to be dead If the pang be bitter yet it is but short but the comfortlesse state of the dead strikes some farre deeper that could well be resolued otherwise for the act of their passage The very not being is sufficiently abhorred of nature if Death had no more to make it fearefull but those that haue liued vnder such shining beames of light to shew them the darke dungeon of hell after their straight passage thorough the gates of Death and such as haue learned that Death is not onely horrible for their not being here but for their abode and being infinitely and eternally miserable in the world to come not so much for the dissolution of life as the beginning of torment such I say cannot but extreamely feare to die and hellishly tremble to be dead indeede But if it be such paines to die what shall be the torture and torment to be euer dying and neuer dead And if the strayning of one Ioynt can so afflict vs as experience teacheth what shall the racking of the whole body and tormenting of the soule be whose animation alone maketh the body feele and complaine of smart And if our momentany sufferings seeme long how long shall that be which is eternall If so extreme sorrowes be incident indifferently to Gods dearest children vpon earth to driue them sometimes within the sight of despaire what shall those be that are reserued onely for those that hate the Lord and are hated of him There is nothing great that hath not an end as it is in the prouerbe but to be tormented in most horrible paines in all the parts of body and soule without remorse that shall neuer haue end nor ease nor mitigation nor declination nor change nor alteration nor hope of end in the sufferer or tormentour this euill is beyond all the thoughts of man this is the dying life and liuing Death full of endlesse horrour and torment where the damned are not before Death or after Death but alwayes in Death therfore neuer liuing nor euer dead but alwaies dying and it shall be neuer be worse to the wicked in Death then when their Death it selfe shall be without Death And it is great iustice in God that they neuer want the paine of hell who all their life time had all their pleasure set on sinne Who if they could faine would haue liued for euer but neuer left their sinne for he that forsaketh not his sin in this life seemeth alwaies for sinnes sake to liue euer From this Death therefore there is no returne it groweth by continuance and by continuing groweth from hell there is no redemption It is a gulfe deuouring all things that come into it neuer restoring any thing againe It is the pit of perdition and house of despaire It is the second Death farre exceeding the first beyond all conceits of man for what life haue the damned where there is nothing but immortality of torments and euill where there is nothing but the fellowship of Diuels and the damned where there is fire vnquenchable to which ours is but Ice Continuall burning there is the least yet this is not all for though the euils be most great and continuall yet here hope bringeth some ease as a little Starre in the night but in hell with those greatest torments and horrour of euils is the greatest despaire without hope of any ease or recouery This horror is most horrible far exceeding all worldly sorrow and feare better it were neuer to haue beene then not to be deliuered from that dying life which is indeede an immortall death In this life all the paines which fall vpon man are but particular and not vniuersall as we see one man pained in his eyes another in his backe another in his teeth another in his belly c. which particular paines notwithstanding sometime are so extreame as that life is not able to resist them and a man would not endure them so long for the gaining of many worlds But suppose now a man were tormented in all the parts of his body together and at once in his head eyes tongue teeth throat stomacke belly backe heart sides thighes and in all his ioynts besides without ease or intermission what thing could be more miserable then this what sight more lamentable yet consider further what difference there is betweene abiding these paines for a weeke or for euer and all eternitie in suffering of them vpon a soft bed or vpon a burning gridiron and boyling furnace amongst a mans friends comforting him or amongst the Furies of hell tormenting him Now therefore if a man would endure a great deale of labour rather then abide the one in this life how carefull and diligent should we be to hate our sinnes and serue the Lord while we liue rather then to incurre the other tortures and torments in the life to come The wicked shall be tormented for euer so long as God is God so long shall they burne in hell neyther shall the tormenter nor the tormented dye but both liue
within the lists of heauen he neuer came thither to assaile any since he was first cast out Death therefore is the day of triumph to the faithfull ouer all their foes section 22 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death to shew vs that till Death be commed and gone an end of enemies will neuer come When we see so many fall in the field by fight we perceiue there is no peace to be looked for with this enemie but blessed be the dead which die in the Lord they rest from their labours as if the Saints neuer rested vntill rest and blessednes and dying in the Lord meete together Here fraile nature is the field wherein we must be euer toyling and Death as it entred by Sinne so is it the end of Sinne for for feare lest if life had beene prolonged sinne might haue more increased the Lord suffered Death to enter into the world that Sinne might cease and to preuent that nature might not end in Death God hath set downe a day when all shall rise againe so that Death in the end doth extinguish Sinne endeth our warfare and maketh our nature durable CHAP. V. The faithfull redeemed by Christ are still subiect to corporall Death and all other crosses of this life yet being sanctified vnto them they are furtherances and helpes to a blessed life section 1 NEither yet are Gods elect so redeemed from Death as that they shall not taste thereof at all for though Christ hath drunke the dregs of that cup yet euery one must haue his draught It was enacted of old as we heard that all men must die that all must goe to deaths prison without bale or maine-prise No remedy can begot no dispensation purchased Death must giue vs all our last purgation But his strength and sting is gone there is our comfort Death now is but a Physition to cure our maladies and all Deaths factours as crosses and afflictions shall but further and fit vs to a better life And why should this poynt seeme so strange and so section 2 mightily moue and amaze so many millions of men as it doth that mortalitie and death crosses and all calamities in this world are common to good men as well as to bad to the dearest Saints of God as to the vilest sinners for besides the common guilt of sinne which is cause sufficient what thing in this world haue they not common with other men with whom they haue a communitie of flesh and blood Barrennesse and penurie dearth and famine drougth and deluge warres and hostilitie shipwracke and sinking dolours and diseases with all other miseries and maladies in this world doe betide them yea many times here they shall weepe when the wicked laugh till hereafter that their sorrowes be turned into ioy and their teares wiped away Herein is the patience of the Saints the tryall of their faith and exercise of their hope seene and approued of God Christ indeede hath altered the nature of the first Death section 3 to the faithfull but not taken it quite away first it was ordeined as a punishment for sinne now it is made a passage into heauen then it was inflicted as a curse now Christ hath turned it to a blessing It did at the first depriue men of good but now it putteth them in possession of eternall happinesse Iacob not long before his death pronounced this as a curse from the Lord vpon the tribes of Simeon and Leui for their crueltie against the Shichemites that they should be diuided in Iacob and scattered in Israel yet when the children of Leui shewed their zeale and obedience in killing the Idolaters at Moses commandement the Lord turned this curse into a blessing This scattering was a furtherance vnto them to make them more fit to teach the people in euery citie and so to receiue the Tithes of euery Tribe So at the first the Lord threatned death as the punishment of sinne but by faith in Christ it is made the end of sinne and the beginning of glory He that could at the first bring light out of darknes could after bring a blessing out of a curse If Physitians by their art can extract an Antidote or preseruatiue against poyson out of poyson it selfe why may not God by his infinite wisedome and power draw good out of euil mercy out of iudgement and a blessing out of a curse Death saith a learned Father as yet remaineth for the righteous to exercise their faith withall for if immediately vpon remission of sinne there should follow immortalitie of the body faith should be abolished which wayteth in hope for that which is not yet enioyed yea the Martyrs could not testifie their faith and patience their courage constancie and loue to Christ in suffering Death for his sake section 4 Nothing is more grieuous to a Christian heart then the practise of sinne but death destroyeth them all Sinne brought in Death and Death must driue out Sinne. After death our Sanctification shall be perfect and not as here in part Faithfull men shall be like Angels in heauen readily willingly and chearefully to doe the will of God As hearbs and flowres breede wormes by nature yet wormes at length doe kill both hearbs and flowres So Sinne breedeth Death in it selfe and Death at last shall proue the bane of Sinne. As Sampson could not kill the Philistims but by his owne death no more can Christians get the conquest of sinne but by the losse of their liues At the first as was said before Death vvas ordayned as a punishment for sinne now God doth vse it as a meanes to stop the course of sinne It was said there vnto man If thou sinne thou shalt dye the death but now it is decreed thou must dye lest thou continue in sinne That which then was to be feared that men might not sinne must now of necessitie be suffered that they may be freed from sinne Sinne hath taken such a deepe roote in our bodies that it cannot be destroyed without the destruction thereof Like the Leprous houses strongly infected nothing would serue to purge them but needes they must be pulled downe Our corrupt flesh and nature must quite be plucked vp by the rootes lest any spur or sprig remayning the buds of sinne doe sprout afresh from the same our olde house must be plucked downe that so they may be built againe as new Temples to the Lord. Sinne saith one neuer ceaseth to be in our bodies vntill we come to be blessed with a shuffle If there could any humane receipt be prescribed to auoid all crosses and afflictions with death it selfe it would section 5 be purchased of some at any rate but both it is impossible that earth should redresse that which is sent from heauen and if it could be done yet the want of miserie would proue miserable vnto vs For the minde of man being cloyâ—d with continuall prosperity would grow
the race and winne the goale why step wee aside to follow flies and feathers in the ayre CHAP. VII The faithfull in this life are subiect to manifold infirmities their bodies and soules are vnder the thraldome of Sinne and corruption but Death breakes their bonds and setteth them at libertie section 1 MOst lamentable and fearefull is Saint Pauls complaint in the person of the faithfull that he is carnall and sould vnder sinne doing those things which he hateth and omitting the good things he willeth that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing and therefore crieth out as a miserable caitiue to be deliuered from the body of this death For as man at the first by sin rebelled against his maker so all things while he liueth shall rebell against him euen man against himselfe the flesh against the spirit yea both of them doe what wee can are lyable to the tyrannie of sin which as a soule and an vncleane spirit hauing entred will not againe without much renting and torment be driuen out a doores And were it not that our strong man armed far greater then sinne had dispossessed him with violence desperate and forlorne had beene our estate yet here in this life the battell is but begun and must continue all our tearme as we haue heard onely death must end the wars and make our conquest pleasant God here will haue vs humbled all our daies before he will fully exalt vs when all times and daies shall cease section 2 The corruptions of this life and manifold infirmities of our nature shall be as gyues about our legs and fetters about our feete to shew our guilty condition and what we are He therefore that desireth so greatly to liue is like a foolish prisoner delighting in his bolts that may be free from his fetters and careth not that may goe out of the Iayle and will not Shall the bruite beasts and senceles creatures being subiect to vanitie grone in their kinde for the redemption of Gods Sonnes when they shall be freed from the bondage of sinne and shall wee that are Christians endued with reason yea and aboue reason inlightened with Gods holy Spirit especially when it standeth vpon our ioyfull being and euerlasting dwelling with God in heauen shall wee not I say lift vp our mindes beyond this rottennesse of earth Surely the very creatures shall condemne our backwardnesse herein that we are worse then beasts bereaued of sense and reason Wee may say of our vnruly flesh as one said once of a troublesome neighbour Neyther can I liue with thee section 3 neyther yet can I be without thee Here our nature like Hagar the bond-woman is very disdainfull toward Sarah the free-woman where the rebellious appetites striue against the regiment of Reason where our wit like another Heuah still prouoketh vs to reach of the forbidden fruit where Sinne like Tarquinius the proud would tyrannize challenge so a perpetuall Dictatorship We must not therefore commit the guard of our selues to this body of sinne nor mingle our soules with the corruption therof Ioyne with thy friends not with thine enemies the flesh is thine enemy because it contradicteth the vnderstanding and contends after nothing but to sow enimities and troubles Mingle not thy soule therewith for feare thou confound and defile it together for making this commixtion thy flesh which should be a subiect comes to contemne the soule which ought to command as a Soueraigne seeing shee giues life to the body and the flesh on the contrary effects the death of the soule Though the soule be infused into the body yet wee may not thinke that shee is confounded with the body Consider the light for an example though it peirce into euery place yet is it not mixed therewith wee must not therefore confound the office and effects of so different substances but let it reside in the body to quicken lighten and gouerne the same section 4 Wee see by experience when wee muse and meditate on a matter wee would not willingly see any body wee like not to heare any noyse about our eares hauing sometime our minde so fixed on our thoughts that wee see not that which is before our eyes And in the night our cogitations are more firme and wee conceiue the better of that in our hearts which serues for our learning and instruction Oftentimes many men close their eyes when they would profoundly consider of any affayres auoyding at such times the impediments of sight otherwhiles seeking out some solitary places to the end no company may hinder their contemplations For this body of ours procureth diuers imployments which dulleth the soules poynt and slackens our intentions Well therefore said Iob Thou hast made me of the clay and slime Our soules are as it were plastered with the flesh but they dissolue not into it Thou hast apparelled mee with skinne saith hee and flesh thou hast enterlaced mee with bones and sinewes so that our soule is confined and extended through the sinewes that many times shee is made stiffe as it were thereby and sometimes crooked by the heauy affections thereof section 5 Wee must therefore rouze vp our soules aboue the bed of our flesh and rise out of this rotten sepulchre of the body of sinne that wee may the more nimbly mount aloft towards heauen and so retyre from this dangerous coniunction of the body Let vs chearefully martch forwards towards our happy home for what other thing is Death to the faithfull but the funerall of their vices and the resurrection of their vertues Let vs therefore swiftly ascend with the flight of loue to that high and happy hill where wee hope to rest Let our soules soare aloft like the Eagle who flyes aboue the clouds shee glisters and shines afresh by the renewing of her plumes shee raises her flight to the skyes where she cannot be intrapped by the snare like other foolish Fowles which descending downeward are intrapped by the Fowler So take wee heede lest our soules groueling on the earth be insnared with Sathans gyns and worldly baites Now the better to discerne the state of our soules let section 6 vs learne of the Musitian who according to the songs that he singeth or playeth vpon the Lute Harpe or Recorder hath his countenance and passions accordingly framed and affected So the soule which vseth the body and playeth vpon it as an Instrument of Musicke if she be sage wise and godly will expresse as it were with her fingers ends the most inward parts and passions so that a pleasant harmony of good manners will redound thereof and we shal see her obserue such melody in her thoughts and affayres as that her deliberations and executions will most sweetly accord It is the soule therefore that needeth the body but as an instrument and therefore soueraignetie is one thing and seruice another and there is great difference betweene that which wee are and that which wee ought to be As
the Bee doth fall among the weedes which seeme section 7 sweet flowers and lights on this and sits on that and tasting all is pleased with none but flyes away so here the faithfull soule findes no delight in these flowers of sinfull flesh and worldly weedes but like Noahs naked doue returnes againe whence she was sent and soares to heauen No more then shall Gods Children paine themselues in heaping together these exhalations of the earth for the heauens shall be ours and this masse of earth which euer draweth vs to the earth shall be buryed in the earth No more then shall wee weary our selues with mounting from degree to degree and from honour to honour for wee shall highly be raised aboue all heights of the world and from on high laugh at the folly of all those wee admired who fight here foolishly for lesse then a poynt or an apple like little children No more then shall we haue such combats in our selues for our flesh shall be dead and our spirit in full life our passions buryed and our Reason freed in perfection Our soule deliuered out of this foule and filthy prison shall againe draw her owne breath recognize her ancient dwelling and againe remember her former glory section 8 This flesh which wee feele this body which we touch is not properly man Man is from heauen heauen is his Countrey and his Ayre That hee is in his body is but by way of exile and confinement Man indeede is soule and spirit man is rather of celestiall and diuine qualitie wherein is nothing grosse or materiall This body such as it is is but the barke and shell of the soule which must needes be broken if wee will be hatched for a heauenly life if wee will truely liue and see the light Wee looke but through false spectacles wee haue eyes but ouer-growne with pearles wee thinke wee see but it is in a dreame wherein wee see nothing but deceit All that wee haue and all that we know is but abuse and villany Death onely can restore vs both life and light And yet so blockish are wee that wee thinke shee comes to rob vs of them Though our soule now for a while be bound to our bodies as Isaack was tyed to the Altar yet so soone as the bonds are loosed it mounteth vp to heauen a place of ioy and blisse Death depriues the soule of no good but freeing it from the burden of the flesh makes it fitter for goodnesse It is the very graue of sinne to the faithfull and the instrument and meanes to raise them vp to the life of righteousnesse through it the sinfull bodies are resolued to dust that so defiled the soule and so the soule once separated aspireth to the heauenly Spheares section 9 The nature of the earth saith one is cold and drye so are our earthly affections to deuotion and pietie The earth stands still without motion and hath the circumference carryed round about it so Gods benefits compasse earthly men and yet they are nothing moued The earth doth often extinguish hot and fiery exhalations which otherwise would ascend so doe earthly affections many holy and heauenly motions of remembring our latter end But the qualitie of the earth which wee should imitate for our good is to be fruitfull after tilling because that the ground which bringeth forth bryars and thornes is subiect to a curse The dearest children of God here in the flesh are as section 10 poysoned vessels washed by the holy Ghost wherein notwithstanding there rests some taste and tallage of the former corruptions But the reprobate and wicked are as barrels full of poyson infused of the Diuell wherein the spirit of God neuer shewed his power Sinne in the regenerate hath a deadly wound and is like the Sun faintly appearing through a thicke cloud but in the wicked it hath a full and violent course Yet if wee haue receiued but the earnest-penny of Gods Spirit in this life wee shall be sure to receiue our full wages and pay in the life to come Neyther neede wee be dismaid that we limpe with Iacob and be imperfect in this life for if wee had no infirmities wee should be as proud as the Diuell whereas now they serue to humble vs and make vs thankfull vnto God so mercifully restrayning them and so fatherly passing by them and so they serue to multiply our grones vnto God the sooner to be freed from this body and bondage of sinne God doth here buffet his children with their imperfections as he did Paul lest they should grow insolent Now the Lord will trust vs no more with perfection since Adam lost it in Paradise but will exercise vs with our weaknesses lest wee should step into our old mothers conceipt to thinke our selues Gods And thus the Lord cureth our grosse sinnes by our infirmities euen as the best Triacle is made of poyson and the skinne of a Viper is the best cure against the sting of a Viper And though our infirmities be simply euill yet qualified and tempered with God our Physitians hand they are turned to our good If God be on our side who can be against vs Nay rather section 11 saith Chrisostome who is not against vs But howsoeuer they are against vs they shall not long trouble vs for God is a recorder of our patience and Death the finisher of our paine And though the heauy burden of our sinfull flesh doe load vs yet lightsomnesse it is to a Christian to thinke that the way is not long The traueller thinking of his Inne but especially of his home which is the end of his trauell goeth more chearfully on to the end of his iourney The bond-man calling to minde the yeares of Iubilee endureth with more patience the yeares of his bondage Great are our troubles and trauels in this life but saluation will one day make amends for all when wee shall once be landed on the shoare of perfect securitie and be deliuered from all toylesome labours c. Happy yea thrice happy and blessed shall the faithfull be being departed from a shadow of life to true life it selfe from darknesse to light from trouble to rest from sinfull men to the most holy God when the battell of their warfare shall be ended and they quite freed from al the throes of Sinne and Death section 12 One faith well that the word of God is swift and it requireth a speedy follower if speede in following much more in attayning if speede in the body which is a burden of sinne much more when the soule hath put it off if vnder the crosse wee groane and yet goe forward with how much more speede shall wee haste to the Crowne when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes And if it be true of a glorified body as Augustine speaketh that the body is straight where the minde will how much rather shall a sanctified soule disburdened of the body
which were lost by sinne returne againe vnto vs as soone as we leaue this world section 12 Now where coelestiall things succeede terrestriall great and inestimable things those that are small and base eternall and euerlasting such as are transitorie and fraile is there any occasion so to waile and weepe It belongeth to him to feare death that would not goe to Christ which beleeueth not that then hee begins to reigne in heauen when hee leaues the earth wherefore wee must iudge of death not as it seemeth in it selfe but as it is in Christ Naturally we desire to be and consequently wee shunne death which depriues vs of our being heere Death I confesse is fearefull to the dearest children of God for a while because it is repugnant to their nature yet notwithstanding we see our estate being holden as prisoners in this body of sinne so long as wee liue and therefore we ought to long for the euerlasting life which is promised vs after death For when wee draw nigh towards death then come we neere to it and death is the very gate of life assuring our selues that since Iesus Christ himselfe hath passed that way we neede not be dismayed that death shall conquer vs for it is now through him but as a rebated sword and blunted knife whose edges and points are bowed and broken which albeit they draw some bloud yet serueth it but to purge vs. Neyther doth God euer suffer his Elect to depart this section 13 life without great comfort vntill they haue seene their Sauiour with old Simeon eyther in soule or Spirit The life of this perswasion is the death of sinne and such hope of eternitie is the reuenge of iniquitie Fye vpon sinne whilest I behold my Sauiour fie vpon shame whilest I behold my glory Heauen is my hope the spirituall visions of my heart are the impressions of my ioy Therefore let vs shake off feare and arme our selues to runne this race not seeking any by-way but keeping on the high-way to heauen whither Christ our captaine hath already conducted vs in his flesh CHAP. IX The blessed and vnspeakable happinesse ioy and immortalitie of the faithfull after this life ended NOw that our desires may be further inlarged section 1 towards heauen and our affections the better with-drawne from the loue of this deceitfull life and world of vanities it will not be amisse at the least to meditate on those compleat ioyes which no tongue indeede is able to expresse or heart of man conceiue which Christ by his bitter death and sufferings hath full dearely purchased for vs. Saint Paul counteth all the afflictions of this life that men can suffer not to be worthy of the glory which shall be shewed which he calleth an eternall waight of glory Our afflictions here are but momentany and temporall but the ioyes of heauen are eternall not possible to be expressed It is a shew beautifull in sense wonderfull in waight excessiue in measure without bounds in dignitie without comparison and in continuance without end yea it is such and so great that as one torment in hell shall make a reprobate to forget all his worldly pleasures so the least taste of this glory shall make the heyres of God to forget all their former miseries This glory is like God the giuer of it that must be imbraced for the excellencie of it and thirsted after for the eternitie of it The ioyes of heauen as farre exceed these prison-ioyes section 2 on earth as Mannah in the Wildernesse did the flesh-pots of Egypt and the bread that the lost sonne ate in his fathers house the huskes he ate abroad with Swine They are so great saith one that they cannot be measured so long that they cannot be limited so many that they cannot be numbred so precious that they cannot be valued yet wee shall see them without wearinesse loue them without measure and praise them without end God in creating this transitory world which yet is but a poore cottage to his eternall habitation what power what magnificence what maiestie hath he shewed therein what glorious heauens and how wonderfull hath hee created what infinite Starres and other Lights hath he deuised what Elements hath he framed and how strangely hath hee compact them together The Seas tossing and tumbling without rest so well replenished with all sorts of fish the Riuers running incessantly through the earth like veynes in the body and yet neuer to be empty or ouer-flow the same The Earth it selfe so furnished with all varietie of creatures as that the hundred part thereof are not imployed by man but remaine to shew to man the full hand and strong arme of his Creator And all this was done in an instant with one word and that for a small time in respect of the eternitie to come What then shall wee conceiue of the house of God that glorious heauen it selfe If the cottage of his meanest seruant and that made for a time to beare off as it were a showre of raine be so princely so glorious so gorgeous so full of maiestie as wee see this world is what must we think that the Kings Pallace it selfe is appoynted for all eternitie for himselfe and his friends to liue and raigne in for euer O Lord saith Augustine if thou in this vile body of ours giuest vs so great and innumerable benefits from the firmament section 3 from the ayre from the earth from the sea by light by darkenesse by heate by shadow by dewes by showres by windes by raines by birds by fishes by beasts by trees by hearbs by plants and by such varietie and ministery of all thy creatures Oh sweet Lord what manner of things how great how good and how infinite are those which thou hast prepared in our heauenly Countrey where we shall see thee face to face If thou doe so great things for vs in our prison what wilt thou giue vnto vs in our Pallace If thy enemies and thy friends be so well prouided for together in this life what shall thy onely friends receiue in the life to come If our Iayle containe so great matters what shall our Countrey and Kingdome doe O my Lord and God thou art a great God and as there is no end of thy greatnesse nor measure of thy wisedome nor number of thy mercies so is there neyther end number nor measure of thy rewards towards them that loue thee But these ioyes alas can we not comprehend whilest we liue in loue with this world no more then a prisoner shut vp in a dungeon can know what is done in a Princes pallace or a banished man in a forraine land can learne what is done in his Country from which he is exiled If the very remembrance of the ioyes of heauen so affect section 4 Gods Children what will the fruition doe Wee are somewhat moued when wee call to minde that all the Saints in heauen doe know God all see God all loue
that section 9 blessed life then what there is There is no feare no sickenesse no death no heauinesse no infirmitie no hunger no thirst no heate no cold no warre no contention no want no woe no paine no pouerty no corruption no temtation c. I haue now partly told you what there is not there will you know what is there I can say nothing but with the Apostle No eye hath seene no eare hath heard neyther hath it entred into the heart of man what vnspeakable ioyes God hath prepared for them that loue him If it be so what can I doe else but lift vp mine eyes to heauen mine eares to God and my heart to Paradise to see and vnderstand what I can comprehend vpon earth and therefore my soule longeth after thee O God and sigheth till it see the brightnesse of thy face O Kingdome of euerlasting blisse where thou O Lord the hope of all Saints art reioycing them on euery side with thy blessed sight If the wise men of the East came so farre off and reioyced to see Christ in the manger what will it be in the sight of his Elect to see him in his glory If Iohn Baptist a babe sprang in his mothers wombe for ioy of Christ so newly conceiued and not yet seene what shall his reall presence doe in his royall Kingdome but euen rauish with ioy our very hearts and soules when we shall continually enioy his most glorious sight For it passeth all other glory that the Saints haue in heauen to be admitted to the inestimable sight of Christ his face in heauen and to receiue the beames of glory from the brightnesse of his Maiestie If Solomons seruants were accounted happy of Sheba the Southerne Queene for their daily liuing and residencie in his Court and hearing of his exquisite wisedome so admirable to all the world how happy then and thrice blessed shall the Saints and seruants of God be accounted that liue continually in the Court of heauen the very Paradise and Pallace of God himselfe Blessed indeed are they that enioy the pleasures of his house in whose sight is the fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for euermore section 10 It was Moses honour to see Gods hinder parts though possibly he could not see his face and liue and shall it not be then in incomparable ioy and felicitie to the faithfull to see his glorious face in heauen If the presence of God saith one were vpon hell it would become the port of Paradise So on the contrary if the presence of our sins miseries and woes should pester heauen and reach vnto the Saints then should heauen be turned into hell rest into toyle peace into warre life into death c. To conclude as beautie seemes more excellent when it is paraleld with deformitie so will heauen shew more glorious when it is compared with hell Oh how happy and blessed is hee which with the onely desire and loue of eternitie pyneth away Such a one is neither proud with prosperitie nor cast downe with aduersitie for as hee hath nothing in this world that he loueth so is there no losse of any thing in this life that he feareth Sweete is the fountaine to the weary traueller and rest to the tyred seruant Comfortable is the coole euening after a hot sunny day yet much more sweet will it be to the Saints of this heauenly citie to haue peace after warre pleasure after paine ioy after trouble and constant securitie after their so long indured sorrowes That Citie saith Augustine is scituate aboue all the elements where no flouds can arise no stormie windes can blow no tempestuous waues can beate c. CHAP. X. The assurance and certaintie which Gods Children haue of their saluation and heauenly blisse HItherto wee haue heard of our comfortable section 1 redemption by Iesus Christ from Sin and Death and of the heauenly fruits and effects that accompany the same euen ioy and happines heauen it selfe and vnspeakable blessednesse It now remaineth that nothing may be wanting to our harts desire to set downe in few words the ground and assurance that the godly haue for the vndoubted fruition of the former blessed estate For it is not the bare knowledge of these things which the very Diuels and damned may haue but the sound euidence and the demonstratiue and infallible conclusions that the faithfull finde and feele in their soules to conuince the certaintie hereof to themselues that supporteth their Faith and Hope till they inioy their expected happinesse hereafter It might be sufficient in this respect to perswade vs if our faith were not so weake that God hath promised the performance of these things that the ground of his promise is his written Word which cannot deceiue vs no more then God can deny himselfe which word the faithfull beleeuing haue enioyed the promise and had the end of their faith euen the saluation of their soules yet for our further resolution herein I will dwell a little longer on this poynt One demanding the proofe of another life was asked section 2 for his answere whether hee beleeued there was a God which being granted it sufficeth said the answerer for if there be a God hee is righteous if hee be righteous hee must in iustice reward the good and punish the wicked Now wee know that many naughty men liue here in pompe and pleasure and seeme to dye in peace and likewise many good men in continuall anguish and affliction consuming away with sorrow and griefe to death it selfe If therefore there be a righteous God it cannot be chosen but there is another life when these good men shall rest in blisse and wicked men in woe For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence their tribulation which trouble his children and to giue rest to his that are troubled which though many times it be not executed in this life yet the Apostle concludeth it to be certainly accomplished at the comming of Christ the righteous Iudge section 3 It cannot be wee should know the grace and loue of God which is our Faith but wee must know the fruit of his loue that is his glory and eternall life which is our Hope If therefore wee be sure that God doth loue vs in Iesus Christ wee are also as sure that God will glorifie vs through Iesus Christ And as our Faith reioyceth in Gods fauour so our Hope reioyceth in Gods glory And as our Faith is sure that nothing shall separate the loue of God from vs so our Hope longeth after the incorruptible inheritance which wee feele and know to be laid vp for vs in heauen So that this constancie and boldnesse of our hope without wauering laid vp in our hearts cryeth still within vs come quickly Lord Iesus and this hope is our warrant that we are the sons of God which confuteth all such as conceiue no other thing of hope then
to all mens senses that are not bruitishly senslesse or at the least to make it cleare and out of question to the spirituall eye and vnderstanding of all beleeuers to whom onely it is giuen of God to be perswaded of this truth section 2 First therefore the resurrection of our bodies is most sure and certaine because the Scriptures euen the whole word of God contained both in the old and new Testament doe teach and conuince the same But because the places are so many I will but onely alledge some few very plaine and pregnant to this purpose First then I wil begin with that famous testimony of holy Iob who wisheth his words to be written in a Booke yea to be ingrauen with an iron penne in Lead or Brasse but more deseruedly in Gold I know saith he that my Redeemer liueth and though wormes destroy my body yet I shall see God in my flesh whom I myselfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee Thy dead men saith the Prophet Esay shall liue euen with my body shall they rise Awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust the earth shall cast out her dead Many that sleepe saith Daniel in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt The houre shall come saith Christ in which all that are in their graues shall heare his voyce The Trumpet shall blow saith Saint Paul and the dead shall rise I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn both great and small stand before God Now the Scriptures are not of man but of God who is true and cannot lye Besides there be many reasons deriued from the word of God to conuince the truth hereof If the dead be not section 3 raised then Christ is not risen who is the pledge and assurance that Christians shall rise againe and the Head of his Body the Church of which wee are members And as the body cannot dye nor the members of it if the head doe liue no more can wee dye if Christ liue Because I liue saith hee you also shall liue Secondly because the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in our body for our body is the temple of the holy Ghost therefore they shall rise againe For that same spirit which raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortall bodies because it dwelleth in vs. If Gods loue be so great towards our bodies to haue his Spirit dwell in them he will not suffer them to perish Againe because the faithfull beleeue in God who also loueth them who loue and serue him therefore hee will raise vp their bodies For wee that haue giuen and committed our selues vnto God as the Apostle speaketh cannot perish because hee is able to keepe that which is committed vnto him and will because he loueth vs beleeuing in him If the dead should not be raised to life God should not be iust which cannot be For in this world it hapneth to him that serueth God as to him that serueth him not Then also the body wherein God was glorified as well as in the spirit should haue no reward Then did Christ take our nature vpon him in vaine and in it ascended into heauen in vaine for it had beene sufficient onely to take our spirit If the body must perish then the whole man cannot be saued which is contrary to the Scripture Then the most excellentest creature vnder the Sunne for whose sake all vnder the Sunne was created should with all the creatures be made for nought which is absurd section 4 Furthermore to helpe our naturall incredulitie and distrust in this point for the most sure resolution of our resurrection indeede is it not as easie for God who is almighty to command the sea and earth to giue vp their dead as it was to make the sea and earth and all that is therein of nothing and that only with a word It is a lesse matter saith one to bring againe vnto life that which is dead then it was to giue life vnto it before it was made When thou wast not thou wast made and when thou shalt not be thou shalt againe be made and liue Here is nothing strange or vnlikely Consider how thou earnest into this life before thou wert borne and thou needest not doubt how to be restored to life after thou art dead I omit here to speake of so many apt similitudes and fit resemblances of the vndoubted truth of this point which the best and greatest Diuines haue fetched and deriued from our meats and drinks from trees and plants from corne and grasse which in the winter seeme to haue neither sap nor shew of life yet when the winter is past and the spring-time comes doe liue againe and are most gloriously arayed section 5 How many things are and come to passe which ere they are and come to passe we would haue thought they could not be for that the workes of God are all wonderfull The Mustard-seede saith Christ when it is sowne is the least of all seeds and when it is growne it is a tree the greatest among all hearbs In one so little a graine doth consist the whole greatnesse of that tree which afterward commeth forth Now if that which we see to be true in the grasse of the field in the corne that is swone yea in the seede of the trees and wood which grow albeit they wither to nought they rot and dye yet liue againe why should wee not thinke it as true of men that albeit they dye and are turned to dust that yet they shall be raised to life againe For he that is Lord of the spirit and hath life in himselfe and in his owne power and will can as certainly giue life to the body which is vtterly without life as hee is able to giue life to a stone and so to a peece of earth to ashes or any other thing And as it is no harme for the seede to be harrowed and hidden in the ground for that it shall spring and flourish againe and bring forth fruit in due season no more is it any hurt to our bodies to be cast into our graues in weakenesse for they shall rise againe in power being sowne naturall bodies they shall rise againe spirituall being sowne in dishonour they shall rise againe in glory Thoufoole saith Saint Paul that which thou sowest is not quickned except it first die A little corne or wheate or other graine cannot haue vertue to become so fruitfull in bringing forth thirty or forty times better then it was being multiplyed to so many all as good as it selfe and bringing forth besides such fruitfull increase of straw and chaffe except it first be cast into the ground and die And therefore how shouldest thou enioy so good an exchange except thou first corrupt and die And how