et si fragile est tamen seruatuÌ„ diu durat for though glasse be brittle yet being kept it lasteth long But though wee keepe our selues neuer so well yet death will steale vpon vs and ouercome vs. For what is your life saith Saint Iames It is euen a vapor which is easily dissolued And for externall meanes how easily can any thing kill if God permit A little fire a little water a little waight a little bullet a bone a flie what not who not Eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent There is none saith Seneca but can take away a mans life but no man can hinder death to it there are a thousand passages There are not more riuers runne into the Sea then waies leading vnto death It is much more easie to destroy then to build to fall then to rise soone is an house burnt downe that hath beene long in setting vp corruption is readier then generation and a tree that hath beene an hundred yeares a growing is blowen downe or cut vp in one day and may easily bee soone consumed to ashes Our life is transitorie For puluis vmbra sumus we are but dust and shadowes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing but a breath and a shadow The continuance of our life is verie vncertaine Quis scit an adijciant hodiernae erastina summae tempora Dij superi Who knowes if God will let him liue to morrow And how easily may death arrest vs It is an easie thing to blow out a candle or to put out a little fire so it is an easie thing to cut a-sunder the threed of life easily is the life of man extinguisht a little smoke or vapor such as is the life of man is easily and soone resolued and vanisht out of sight For the second In what estate a mans last day shal find him in this estate saith Austen shall the last day of the world receiue him Quoniam qualis in die isto moritur talis in die illo iudicabitur For as he dies in this day such shall his iudgement be in that day As the tree falleth so it lieth For this life is the onely time allowed vnto man to prouide against damnation Quando hinc excessum est nullus iam poenitentiae locus When we are once gone hence saith Saint Cyprian there is no place for repentance I come now to speake of the commodities that come by death Death vnto the Râ—probate and vngodly doth bring no good but depriues them of all earthly benefits and though it rid them of many crosses which they did perhaps endure whiles they liued yet it makes them no true gainers but sets them in further miserie for measure greater and for continuance longer For the wicked are in bitter and inextricable torments so soone as death hath preyed vpon them The true commodities then of death belong truely to the Elect and Godly whose death is sanctified by the death of Christ who by his death hath beene the death of sinne which is the cause of death and by fulfilling the Lawe for vs hath made an entrance for vs into heauen First of all by death the Children of God are deliuered from all worldly troubles and vexations Mors est malorum remedium portus humanis tempestatibus Death is the remedy of all earthly euilles and brings vs out of all stormes and tempests Secondly by Death the godly are deliuered wholly from sinne after death they sinne not at all but in their soules and after the Resurrection in their soules and bodies they doe serue God purely God in his prouidence ordaining that the Daughter should eate vp the Mother that sinne the mother of death should be deuoured by death Thirdly by death the soules of the Faithfull are brought into Abrahams bosome and inioy the fellowship of those onely who are iust and holy and doe liue in all peace and quietnesse in a Paradise of euerlasting pleasures where the King is Veritie the Lawe Charitie the peace Felicitie and the Life Eternitie Precious is the death of the Saints saith Bernard precious without doubt as the end of labors as the consummation of a victorie tanquam vitae ianua perfectae securitatis ingressus as the doore of life and the entrance to perfect securitie And the onely discommoditie that death doth bring vnto the godly is that it depriues the soule of the body for a time which discommoditie is not voide of many commodities which doe make amends For by this departure of the Soule a man is taken from the sight and sense of many sinnes and sorrowes many crosses and calamities he looseth earth and gaineth heauen hee forsaketh men but findeth Angels and holy Spirits hee looseth the company of his friends on earth but inioyes the face and fellowship of God of Christ in heauen and though he leaues his body which he loues most dearely yet hee shall not be depriued of it alwaies hee goes but as it were out of a smokie and sluttish house waiting a time yet with vnspeakeable ioy al the while with pleasing companions there where is good being till it be renewed and made cleane Wherevpon Saint Austen saith Qui cupit dissolui esse cum Christo non patienter moritur sed patienter viuit delectabiliter moritur He which desireth to be dissolued and to be with Christ doth not dye as a Patient but liues as a Patient and dies with delight Indeede Death to the wicked is full of discomforts For it depriues them of their worldly promotions profits and pleasures it robs them of their Friends and Familiars it depriues them of their bodies it abridges them of the light of the sunne the societie of the liuing and the comfort of the creatures and finally it closeth them vp in Hell vvith Diuels and Reprobates there to bee tormented in endlesse easelesse and remedilesse tortures Vbi mors optabitur non dabitur where death shall be desired but not granted to them Hauing thus farre discoursed of bodily death we will now see whereto it is compared and then answere a few questions and so come to apply the former doctrines to our edification and this with as much breuitie and perspicuitie as we may conueniently Death is compared to a Physitian because it cures men of all earthly miseries as the Physitians cure men of their maladies But herein it ouergoes all Physitians for whereas it killes them all they are not all able to kill it It is also likened to an Hauen For as an Hauen affoordeth quietnesse and comfort to those that haue beene tossed with windes and waues vpon the Seas so death vnto the Godly is a quiet and safe harbour freeing them from all that hard weather and tedious trauels which they did indure in the world which as a Sea is full of changes crosse-windes tempestes
after hee was dead It is true therefore that as Lactantius speaketh Mors non funditus perimit ac delet sed aeternis afficit cruciatibus Death doth not vtterly kill and extinguish but euerlastingly torment and punish Now if the soules of the wicked dye not but continue though indeede afflicted so as that their life is worthy to bee called and accounted death an euer-dying life or an euer-liuing death it were very absurd to thinke that the soules of the godly should perish with their bodies Doth not our Sauiour say vpon the death of Lazarus that had lien dead foure daies whom hee raised vp to life Whosoeuer liueth and beleeueth in me shall neuer die Did hee not say to the Thiefe that was crucified with him To day shalt thou bee with mee in Paradise Doth hee not professe that his Martyrs are blessed that they rest from their labors and that their workes doe follow them What blessednes haue they now what is their honour if their soules doe dye with their bodies And to what end should that his Proto Martyr Saint Steuen commend his soule vnto him saying Lord Iesus receiue my Spirit but that hee knew his soule did liue when his bodie was dissolued Or why should Saint Paul if he did not verily beleeue the immortalitie of the soule desire to bee loosed and to bee with Christ and vse this boldnes of speech vnto the Corinthes We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle bee destroyed wee haue a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heauens And finally if Christ Iesus be like vnto his Brethren in All things as the Apostle teacheth Sinne excepted then it appeares that his Brethen are like vnto him but Christ hath a soule which is immortall and did not dye though his body lay dead a time their soules therfore liue euer and dye not with their bodies And that vvee may not seeme to forget that memorable speech of our Sauiour to the Sadduces God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing but hee is the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob therefore these three are liuing in their soules though dead as touching the life of their bodies And thus our faith concerning the not dying of the soule is founded fed and fortified by the testimonie of the Scriptures which beeing of infallible veritie are simply to bee beleeued for God the Authour and Inspirer of them Neither is Philosophy here of no vse therefore Iulius Caesar Scaliger by three reasons prooueth it taken as himselfe professeth from Aristotle and created Nature First no simple is resolued into the grounds therof for it is composed of no grounds but the soule of man is a thing simple and not compounded for it is an Act and no Act is a Power therefore it is not compounded and a Ground Principium effendi agendi which it cannot bee if it be compounded It followes therefore that the soule beeing vncomposed is irresoluble and so immortall Secondly the soule is a celestiall Nature namely a Fift Essence differing from the Nature of the foure elements vnsubiect therefore to corruption whereunto all bodies elementarie are obnoxious Thirdly if the soule doe die being a simple nature it must needes be brought to nothing for it cannot be resolued into the grounds of it because it hath none for grounds are the acts of those things whereof they bee grounds and no such ground as the soule hath a ground of it selfe besides God into whom nothing can bee resolued now if the soule should be brought to nothing then of something nothing shall be made It is true indeede that the soule and all created natures may be corrupted destroyed how simple they be so euer For there is but one absolute and prime Beginning or Ground of all things which is God all other things are dependant they are all from and by him Now whatsoeuer dependeth on God at his will the same thing may bee changed of God and altered at his pleasure But the soules of men depend on God and therefore at his becke they may bee deposed from that essence in which hee made them Now they are not corrupted because hee will not haue them so to be These Arguments are of some soliditie and worthy to be receiued but as for that which some doe bring to demonstrate the immortalitie of the soule to wit because they say it is not onely A Deo but also De Deo of the very essence of God which is immortal it is altogether vnreasonable wicked For so it wold follow that the nature of God should be captiuated deceiued altered defiled damned tormented For though indeede wee be the Progenie of God and partakers of the diuine Nature as the Apostles speake yet are we not parts of his nature neither doth he communicate by generation his nature to vs as a Father to his Children For God hath but one naturall sonne which is Christ Iesus who is begotten from all eternitie and hath the whole Nature of the Father in his person neither is the Nature of God capable of alteration or diuision and for the speeches of these two Apostles Paul and Peter they are to bee vnderstood partly because God is our Architect and Creatour and partly in respect of those excellent giftes and graces which shine in men specially good men more then in all other creatures and partly in regard of that new name state or Nature which is through the grace of God in Christ bestowed on vs. It is true indeede that the Soule in some sense may be said to be Mutable in deterius scilicet desiciendo in melius proficiendo to wit by waxing better or worse in respect of good and euill yea and Mortall by dying either to sinne by Mortification or by being dead in sinne through bondage and submission to it or else by suffering tormentes for sinne which depriue it of the ioyes of life but to say that the substance the essence of the Soule doth dye doth perish is dissolued this is against all sound reason both Theologicall and Philosophicall It may bee then demanded if the soules of men dye not when their bodies loose them whether goe they what becomes of them The Author of the Questions in Iustin saith that the Soules of the iust are carried into Paradise where is the company and sight of Angels and Arke-angels and of our Sauiour Christ but the Soules of the wicked into Hell Death saith Chrysostome doth not seuer vs from Christ but ioines vs to that company which is with Christ And Anselme agreeth saying So great peace is wrought by the death of Christ that the soules of the Righteous doe now when they goe forth of the bodie forthwith enter into Heauen the Angels being glad thereof And this appeares to bee true by that Parable in the Gospell
which saith that the Begger died and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome the Richman also dyed and was tormented after his death in Hell For where should the soules of men be after Death but either in Heauen with Christ or in Hell with the Diuell Non est vllus vlli locus medius vt possit esse nisi cum Diabolo qui non est cum Christo There is not any place for any man to be any where but with the Diuell who is not with Christ saith Saint Austen There are two receptacles for mens soules Heauen and Hell Tertium penitus ignoramus a third place we are vtterly ignorant of saith one The Scripture speaketh of no moe then two Thus wee haue seene what Death is to wit a disiunction of the soule from the bodie and not a dissolution of the Soule with the bodie the soule remaining vncorrupt and In aeternum as Lactantius speaketh Death though for the Nature of it it bee but one and the same to wit a temporarie diuorce or separation of the soule and body which were married or vnited by God himselfe yet in respect of the state into which men are by it admitted it is double and in regard of the meanes or waies whereby it is effected it is manifold for as Seneca truely speaketh Mille ad hanc aditus patent there are a thousand waies to bring a man to Death In respect of the persons dying and of that estate which they are let into by death death is twofold a death of the godly and a death of the wicked a sanctified and comfortable death a miserable and vnhappie death Of the former Balaam speaketh in his wish Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his and Dauid in the Psalme Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Of the latter our Sauiour speaketh in the parable when he saith O foole this night will they the diuels he meanes fetch thy soule from thee And againe The rich man also died and was buried and being in hell tormented c. Furthermore death we said was manifold for the waies or meanes thereof For albeit death bee the common way of all flesh Omnibus est eadem lethi via non tamen vnus Est vitae cunctis exitijque modus yet all men goe not the same way vnto death Mille modis lethi miseros mors vna fatigat Death meets with vs a thousand waies As into a great Citie or into the maine Sea so vnto death there are many waies It is as the center wherein all the lines doe meete a towne of Mart wherein many waies from contrarie coasts doe end Hos bella hos aequora poscunt His amor exitio furor his saeua cupido Vt sileam morbos Some are eaten vp of warres some are swallowed vp of the Seas The old world was drowned the Sodomites were burned the disobedient Prophet was killed of a Lion the mocking children were deuoured of two Beares Senacheribs Armie was killed with an Angell Herod Agrippa was eaten of wormes Pherecides of lice a King of Epirus was killed with a tile a King of Israel with an arrow and of France with a dagger some haue beene swallowed vp of the earth some haue beene killed of Serpents some haue beene eaten of Wolues one was killed of rats some by the fall of towers and trees some by one meanes some by another But we will bring them to some heads yet heere we promise no accuratenesse There is therefore an ordinarie way of dying which is vpon ordinarie causes and is common to all the sonnes of Adam since their transgression or there is a death by causes more rare and extraordinarie as by pestilence samine battell opening of the earth wilde beasts and the like Or thus there is first a naturall death which is when nature is spent when her forces are exhaust A light will go out of it selfe when the flame wants oyle waxe or tallow to feed on A mellow apple will fall of it selfe and through-ripe corne will shill without shaking O' this death Eliphaz speaketh Thou shalt goe to thy grane in a full age as a ricks of corne commeth in due season into the barne and such a death Iob and Dauid died of whom it is said they died in a good age and full of daies Secondly there is a ciuill death which is inflicted by the ciuill Magistrate Who is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth euill Such a death died Achan vnder Ioshuah and the two theeues vnder Pilate But it may be asked if the magistrate may lawfully take away the life of an offender seeing no man is absolute Lord of the life of man but only God To the soyling of this doubt if any be wee must know that the Magistrate is Gods Lieutenant or God in office according to the Psalme I haue said yee are Gods and as Iehosophat saith hee executes not the iudgements of men but of the Lord whose creature he is and whose person he represents and who beareth not the sword for nought but for the protection of the good and for the terrour and suppression of the wicked Those therefore that are cut off by the Magistrate as he is a Magistrate or the Minister of God as S. Paul doth stile him they are not cut off by Man but by God in as much as the authoritie is Gods by which they bee cut off And although we be all as one by Christ yet is it in respect of the Communion of the Spirit and not by reason of any politicke or worldly parilitie And albeit Christ hath made vs all Kings yet we may iustly say with Christ Our Kingdome is not of this world though begunne in this world and our regalitie may very well stand without wrong to Caesar or his sword But to returne Ciuill death is double iust or iniust A man dies iustly when he dies for some wickednes committed or for some notable villany as high treason intēded and plotted though not performed Thus Ioab was slaine at the commandement of Salomon as also Shimei both of them by Benaiah In like maner Bigtan and Teresh were both hanged for intending seeking to lay violent hands vpon their King Ahashuerosh Thus iustly died those Powder-Papists that most barbarously plotted with one blast to haue blowne vp this whole Church and State vnder the wings whereof it is protected Praise be vnto Christ for euer who hath honoured vs with this saluation and let all good people say Amen Againe a man dies vniustly when he dies vndeseruedly Thus died Naboth vnder Ahab S. Iohn the Baptist vnder Herod the Martyrs of Christ vnder Tyrants and Christ himselfe vnder Pilate For though that Christ his death was most iust in
prey vnto her All is fish that comes vnto her net The Lambes skinne is common in the market as well as the old sheepes Mors fagacem persequitur virum nec paroit imbellis iuuentae poplit ibus timidoque tergo Death followes him that flies him and spateth not young folkes though fearefull of him Serius aut citius sedem properamus ad vnam First or last we must all die Yea but the beautifull peraduenture may finde better fauour No doubtlesse Rebecca Bathsheba Ester Helena Irene were goodly creatures Absalon and Achilles were gallants yet all these with many moe are dead and gone Asahel was as swift as a Roe yet death out-went him won him Goliah was a great fellow but death was the greater Achitophel was verie politicke and subtile Aristotle learned Aesop wittie Mithridates a good linguist but they bee dead all Rich and poore Craessus as well as Codrus wise and foolish high and low young and old bond and free all men must die Omnia peribunt sie ibimus ibitis ibunt All must away I thou and euerie man besides Intrasti vt exires we came all into the world to go out againe Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis No phisicke can preuent death no charme can let it no wile can catch it no bribe can blinde it no griefe can moue it no least can abash it no place no pleasure no man no meanes can stay it All goe to one place and all was of the dust and all shall returne to the dust Shall all men then die haue all men then in former ages died Surely Saint Paul directed by God doth tell the Corinthes that All meaning them that liue at the verie laste gaspe of the world shall not die but all must be changed by which sodaine change they shall be stript of all corruption and mortalitie And againe if euer any man in former daies haue not died or if any man shall be translated without death into heauen as Enok and Elias who are now in their glorified bodies with Christ in heauen it must be confessed that such a translation and assumption is of meere fauour by a singular priuiledge and not common for commonly all men do die and come not into heauen till they haue beene dead In like manner if any man haue beene or shall be smitten into hell aliue in bodie as Romulus who by a diuell was carried away in a mighty tempest of thunder lightning or peraduenture Abiram and Dathan this is to be counted to be by a singular and extraordinarie iudgement for ordinarily all wicked men doe die before they goe into hell Hauing spoken of the Subiects of death we come now to speake of the time and number thereof where we are to note these things First that God in his counsell hath determined the yeare the moneth the weeke the day yea the verie houre minute and moment of euery mans death that dieth He that denies this denies the prouidence of God Secondly this time prefined by God for death cannot be auoided by man or prorogued For the counsell of God shall stand saith Esay and his purpose shall be performed Euen Homer brings in his Iupiter affirming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that whatsoeuer he doth will shall irreuocably and vndoubtedly be fulfilled Seeing therefore the day of death is defined in the decree of God it is not to be imagined that any man can euer die sooner or tarrie longer then the time by God appointed Certa quidem finis vitae mortalibus adstat Nec deuitari lethum pete quin obeamus A certain terme of life to each there is appointed And die we must death cannot be avoided Lanificas nulli tres exorare puellas Contigit obseruant quem statuere diem The purpose of God doth stand vnalterable His day for our death he keepes vnchangeable For though it be true that the Scripture saith of Hezekiah that God added fifteene yeares vnto his daies yet it is not meant as if God did alter his eternal purpose cōcerning Hezekias his death but gaue strength vnto nature now decayed in him by reason of his grieuous disease so as he should be able by his grace to hold out fifteene yeares longer not longer then God had from eternitie determined but longer then he now had reason to looke for being wasted and worne with sicknesse and sorrow Thirdly the time of deathes comming is not to all alike or the same for one dieth old another in his full strength and from some Prima quae vitam dedit hora carpsit the houre that first gaue them life did also take away their life Fourthly no man can tell certainly how long he shall liue nor certainly foretell the verie time of his death vnlesse God doe teach him or vnlesse death be present and visible in his causes Quis est quamuis sit adolescens cui sit exploratum se ad vesperum esse victurum Who is there saith Tullie though he a youth who is certaine of his life till euening Fiftly death is a dayly attendant Mors quasi saxum Tantalo semper impendet It hangs and houers ouer vs alwaies There is not one moment of life without some motion vnto death We die daily saith Seneca for euerie day we loose some part of our life Et tunc quoque cum crescimus vita decrescit and euen then when we do increase our life doth decrease Hunc ipsum quem agimus diem cum morte diuidimus this verie day which now we liue in we diuide with death And as euerie man doth carrie death about him in his forerunnrs euen so also euery man the longer he carries it the nearer he is to it as a glasse the longer it runnes the sooner its runne out lesse sand remaining in it Sixtly death befalles one man ordinarily but once It is appointed to men that they shall once die saith the Apostle Et calcanda semel via lethi the way of death must once be trodden saith Horace Yet some we doubt not but that they haue died twise as Lazarus and the man that rose from death when the Prophets dead bodie toucht him as hee lay in his graue and some others also but this was extraordinarie Thus much for the time and number of death I will adde heere moreouer two things first that it is an easie thing for a man to be depriued of his life secondly that as death doth leaue vs so the iudgement of God in the latter day shal find vs. Of the easinesse of deaths comming we neede no long discourse experience shewes that men are many waies easily brought to death Our nature is verie fraile of it selfe and besides subiect to many exterior anuoyances Nonne fragiliores sumus quà m si vitrei essemus Are wee not more brittle saith Saint Austen then if we were of glasse Vitrum enim
erit He which by repentance purgeth away his sinne shall be partaker and saith Saint Austen of Angelicall happinesse for euer Now a true penitent person must bee thus disposed First hee must plainely and from his heart confesse his sinnes to God Secondly he must earnestly beg pardon of his sinne desiring God for Christ to bee reconciled to him Thirdly hee must resolue fully to leaue his sinues and to practise all holy and honest duties If the wicked will returne from all his sinnes and doe that which is lawfull and right he shall surely liue and shall not dye It is not inough to set himselfe against one fault but against all all all without exception of any For one wing belimed may cause the whole bird to be taken and one discase may bee the death of all the bodie so one vnrepentant of knowne enormitie euen one though there were no more may yea and will bee the ruine of the soule the destruction of the sinner Fourthly where an iniury is done vnto our neighbours there ought wee to seek reconcilement and to giue them satisfaction For hee that hauing offended man seekes not to be reconciled to him doubtles shall neuer truely be at peace with God Briefely hee that would shew himselfe a true penitent must be truly grieued because his repentance is so poore his deuotion so cold and his life so bad Thirdly hee that would dye comfortably in Christ should liue obediently to Christ For hee that obeyeth not the sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Now he that will proue his obedience vnto Christ the Lord must shew it vnto the Bishops and Ministers of the Church his Seruants speaking vnto them in his Name according to his Lawe Obey them saith the Holy Ghost which haue the ouersight of you and submit your selues Certainely they that dishonour disobey and disdaine them dishonour disobey and disdaine Christ their Maister Fourthly it behooues vs to weine our affections from the world for the pleasures and vanities of the world are very bandes and boltes vnto our soules if wee wed our selues vnto them and they vvill make vs altogether vnwilling to depart Fiftly doe good vnto the poore and afflicted members of Christ Iesus pray for them visite them and aduise them help them feede them cloth them harbour them By mercy and trueth iniquitie shall be forgiuen saith Salomon Charge them that are rich saith Paul that they bee rich in good workes and be ready to distribute and communicate laying vp in store for them a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life That which is giuen to pore christians because they be christians is giuen vnto Christ himselfe who will recompence our temporall gifts with eternal glory Pore christians are as a rich fieldif the rich will sow the seede of their charitable almesdeedes on them they shal by the heauens blessing receiue a plentiful crop of eternall happines On the contrarie he shuts against himselfe the doores of Gods mercy who will shew no mercy to his afflicted brother Sixtly he that would haue comfort in his death ought to liue or at least to die in the loue and reuerent affection to the Church of Christ neither meane I onely the Catholique Church part whereof is triumphing in heauen and a part warring on earth but that true visible Church in which hee is borne and baptised and to the obedience whereof he is most properly called For I doe very much doubt of the saluation of all such as dye vnreconciled to the church out of loue with that church vnto the loue and obedience wherof God doth call them Let our Papists therefore Brownists aud such like spirits take heede vnto themselues how they liue and dye out of loue and loyalty to this church of England whereof they should be louing and obedient members but vnto which indeede they stand ill-affected disobedient and vndutifull They malice her they write and speake against her they speake euill of her and of her chiefest members I meane not to dispute of her lawfulnes and trueth this is all I say if shee be found to be a true Church of Christ as it will appeare one day I doe much feare that these her enemies her slanderers her disobedient and vnruly children will not bee able to stand vnconfounded before her Head Husband Christ Iesus who then will recompence to euery one according to his workes euen euerlasting life to them which through patience in well-doing seeke glorie and honour and immort alitie but vnto them that are Contentious and disobey the trueth indignation and wrath It behooues vs therefore for our better assurance of comfort and saluation to know the true Church and to cleaue vnto it beeing knowne Seuenthly let a man set his house in order and dispose of his estate It was the last wise work which Achitophel performed And finally when death seemeth to approch if it giue him any warning as vsually it doth let him commend his soule with Steuen into the hands of Christ Lord Iesus receiue my Spirit crauing for mercie and not forgetting that the ioyes of Heauen after which he gaspeth are farre more compleat and are able to giue a thousand times more true contentment to the soule of man then all the transitorie pleasures profits and preferments of this world can doe He that is thus composed for death shall not dye but liue for euer his death shall bee as a pleasant sleepe his graue as a bed and his soule shall rest in peace with Christ till the time appointed for the Resurrection of our bodies bee fulfilled Oh that men would thinke of these things practise these things Wouldst thou haue comfort in thy death then seeke and sue for comfort in thy life Wouldst thou bee armed against the feare of death then dye betimes to sinne Death is a Serpent her sting is Sinne pull out the sting by true repentance and thou needst not feare the Serpent Death can not hurt thee if thou hurt not thy selfe by Sinne. Death is not Interitus Death to the penitent Introitus but an entrance into heauen and the way is made and the doore is opened by true repentance and by Faith in Christ who is the Sunne of our glorie and the Saluation of our soule by whose death letum delethum mortua mors est death is defaced and dead it selfe But wouldst thou giue hope of the truth of thy turning then turne whilest thou maist runne on repent when thou mightest yet sinne deferre not thy turning till thy death least it be thought that the world doth forsake thee and not thou the world and that sinne rather leaues thee then thou dost leaue sinne and that the cause of this turning is not the loue of GOD and godlinesse but the feare of death and the apprehension of