both man and tree fall into the bottom of that deepe pit This hungry Vnicorne is swift death the poore traueller that flyeth is euery sonne of Adam the pit ouer which he hangeth is hell the arme of the tree and slender twigge is his fraile and short life those two wormes are the wormes of conscience which day and night without intermission consume the same the hiue of hony is the pleasures of this world to which while men wholly deuote themselues not remembring their last end the roote of the tree that is the temporall life is spent and they fall without redemption into the pit and gulfe of hell If thou thus seriously ponder this thy vnstable estate I suppose thou wilt take little pleasure in ryot and dissolute liuing Giue those that are condemned to dy Nectar giue them Ambrosia giue them Manna the bread of Angells and will they tast it No they can neither eat drinke laugh or sleepe and wilt thou that art already condemned and guiltie of death perchance this very moment to be inflicted vpon thee securely addict thy selfe to drunkennesse gluttonie excesse and to al manner of riotous and intemperate liuing Remember rather the rich glutton in the Gospell Luke 16.23 who after he had pampered his body all the dayes of his life in the end Death made him a fat dish for the wormes his flesh and bones were consumed into dust but which was most terrible his soule was cast into hell the burning lake of brimstone and at this time calleth for one drop of cold water to coole his tongue which yet is denied him What adamantine and flinty heart can thinke vpon this without relenting I speake not here of the harmes and hurts that intemperance in meates and drinkes bringeth to the body for meate should be vsed as oyle put into a lampe to keepe it burning not to quench it And Galen the Prince of Physitians saith that abstinence is the whole summe or abridgement of Physicke How then can they liue long that liue by so many deaths whose bellies are sepulchers of lusts and very gulfes and sinckes of the shambles to their owne destruction For as he that allowes lesse to his body then he owes to his body kils his friend so hee that giues more to his body then he owes to his body nourisheth his enemie If the glutton did remember that God is able to come against him yea at the very disburdening of nature he would not make his kitchin his Church gurmandizing his Chamberlaine his Table his Alter his Cooke his Preacher the odours of his meate his sacrifice swearing his prayer quaffing his repentance and his whole life wanton fare Did the Drunkard but remember this that God is ready to come quickly against him yea euen in his drunkennesse he would not rise early to follow strong drink Esa 5.11 which doth trouble the head ouerthrow the sences cause the feete to reele the tongue to stammer the eyes to roule and the whole fabrick of his little world to be possest with this voluntarie madnes losse of many friends credit and time It would make too great a volume to insist vpon all other sinnes for the subduing wherof the meditation on Death is a most soueraigne remedy Are we strangers vpon earth and is our countrey in heauen and must we all dye Yea verily this necessitie thē should inforce vs to aspire to our heauenly countrey and let vs rather meete Death in our meditation thē carelesly attend it lest we be surprized by it at vnawares Before thy miserable spirit resigne ouer his borrowed mansion bethinke with thy selfe what thou art and whether thou goest the remembrance whereof will breede in thy heart sorrow sorrow remorse remorse repentance repentance humilty humility godly affection and loue to God-ward And here assure thy selfe that nothing in all the world can inforce a man sooner to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present euill life then the due consideration of his owne infirmities the certaine knowledge of his mortality and the often and continuall meditation and remembrance of his last gaspe death and dissolution when as a man then becommeth no man For when once he beginneth to wax sicke and still by sicknes groweth more sickly then doth a wretched man despaire of life hauing onely his paine griefe in remembrance His heart doth quake his minde is amazed with feare his sences vanish quite away his strength decayes his carefull brest doth pant his countenance is pale neither willing nor able to call for mercy his fauor out of fauor his eares deafe his nose loathsomely foule and sharp his tongue furred with phlegme and choller quite flattereth and faileth his mouth vnseemely froathing and foming his body dyeth and rots at length his flesh consumes his shape his beautie his delicacy leaue him and he returnes to ashes and in stead and place of these succeede filthy wormes as one sayth elegantly Next after man doe wormes succede then stincke in his degree So euery man to no man must returne by Gods decree Behold here a spectacle both strange and dreadfull and assure thy selfe that there is neither skill nor meanes of art nor any kinde of learning that can be more auaileable to quaile the pride of man conuince his malice confound his lusts and abate his worldly pompe and vaine-glorious vanity then the often remembring of these things For in all the world there is nothing so irksome nothing so loathsome and vile as the carcasse of a dead man whose sent is so tedious and infectious that it may not lodge and continue in a house fower dayes but must needs be cast out of doores as dung and deepely buried in the mould Ioh. 11.39 for feare of corrupting the ayre Then blush for shame thou proud peacocke who in death art so vile and wormes meat and shortly shall become most loathsome carrion Thinke therefore vpon these things and thou shalt receiue great profit thereby When the Peacocke doth behold that comely fanne and circle of the beautifull feathers of his taile hee jetteth vp and downe in pride beholding euery part thereof but when he looketh downe seeth his black feete with great misliking he vaileth his top-gallant and seemeth to sorrow Euen so many know by experience that when they see themselues to abound in wealth and honor they glory much are highly conceited of themselues they draw plots and appoynt much for themselues to performe for many yeares to come This yeare say they we will beare this office and the next yeare that afterward we shall haue the rule of such a prouince then wee will build a pallace in such a Citty whereunto wee will adioyne such gardens of pleasure and such vineyards and the like And thus they make a very large reckoning before hand with the rich man in the Gospell Who if they did but once behold their feete that is if they did but see how fast they stoope toward death Luk. 12.16
For the loue of money is the roote of all euill which while some coueted after they haue erred from the faith and pierced themselues thorow with many sorrowes But these thy riches and treasures which thou hast scraped together by all iniury and vniust meanes fraudulent to thy friends deceitfull to thy companions iniurious to thy neighbours violent to strangers cruell to the poore impious to thy parents behold Death approching Death I say the Conquerour of all flesh the Emperour of graues the forerunner of iudgement the gate of heauen or hell is readie at hand to arrest and bring thee vnto iudgement for all these things against which Eccle. 12.14 this thy wealth cannot defend thee nor pleade delay one minute of an houre with Death Oh how can it be that wee can be so blinde and inconsiderate that euen seeing nay feeling death with our fingers that wee must forsake the world wee are yet so plunged in the world as if wee should liue for euer Deut. 28.30 Psal 49.11 We builde stately houses which perchance strangers shal inhabite perchance our enemies Wee place the hope of our name in our children which to our great sorrow shall perhaps die before vs. All the riches and aboundance in the world hauing a mans life for a stay and foundation can certainly no longer endure then the same life abideth nay but riches honors and such like of which men heere on earth haue a great regard doe many times forsake a man hee being yet aliue For riches saith the Wiseman certainly make themselues wings Prou. 23.5 Prou. 27.24 they flye away as an Eagle towards heauen for riches are not for euer and at the most they doe neuer continue longer with him then to the graue which is but for a verie short time For heape thou together so much wealth as thou canst rauin and deuour other mens goods sucke the bloud of the poore hide thy bagges locke thy chestes burie thy wealth vnder ground yet shalt thou carry nothing away naked wast thou borne and naked shalt thou stand before the fearefull tribunall seate of Christ We reade that the great Soladine of Babylon and Conqueror of all confessed though too late that dying in the Citie of Ascalon hee commanded that his shirt should bee carried about the Citie on a speare with this proclamation Behold the great King of all the East is dead and of all his great riches this is all hee carrieth with him away Which if this wretched man had well considered hee would not haue beene such an insatiable Hellno of kingdoms For what is gold or siluer nothing else but concocted earth subiect to inconstancie gotten with paine labour and toyle kept with great care and lost not without intollerable sorrow which by fire theeues shipwrack war and such like meanes may be taken away And riches are but run awayes euer posting from one to another and only constant in vnconstancie And suppose a stranger to come into the Pallace of some great Prince and there to behold stately furniture cuppes of pure gold chaines iewels and such like but the next morning he is to depart and is permitted to carrie away nothing with him would he if he were wise greatly admire at these things or suppose thou wert in the Citie or in the Campe where thou mayest buy at a low price many rich preyes taken from the enemie but at the gate standeth a souldier who wil not suffer thee to take away any of these things would a man think you giue one penny for all this What is this world but an Inne a common Citie a Campe What is our life but a peregrination a warfare What is man but a guest a traueller a souldier vpon earth and Death is the Porter he standeth at the gate and stayeth all the riches which we haue gotten and scraped together he willeth and constraineth vs to leaue all behind and sendeth vs out as we came into the world naked poore and beggerly onely with our winding-sheete about vs at the most Next let vs descend to the condition of a Seruant or a bond-man Is he not loaden with labour wearied with watchings and worne out with slauery he is beaten with stripes spoyled of his substance and burdened with sorrow the masters offence is the seruants paine and the seruants fault is the masters prey If he haue wealth he must spend it at his masters pleasure if hee haue nought then must his paines make a painefull purchase Then commeth the master in his turne who euer liueth in feare lest his seruants treacherie should shorten his daies If he be gentle then is he contemned if seuere hated for courtesie bringeth contempt and crueltie breedeth hatred And vngodly and vnthriftie seruants are also the miseries of their masters Also the vnmarried man fighteth against fond desires and fleshly lusts for that vnquiet Iebusite will hardly bee restrained All men cannot receiue the gifts of continencie Matth. 19.11 saue they to whom it is giuen Satan kindleth the fire of nature in them with the blast of fraile suggestion whereby the feeble and weake minde is secretly sauced with auaritious desires and the body made prone to perdition Now this married man is at his wits end burning with iealousie Num. 5.14 feare of losing his goods doth vexe him losse of riches maketh him tremble and the charge of houshold doth diuide him diuersly Hee labours to prouide for wife and children 2. Cor. 7.33.28 and to pay his seruants hire He that is maried saith the Apostle careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife Such shall haue trouble in the flesh but I spare you saith the same Apostle But if any saith he prouide not for his owne 1. Tim. 5.8 and specially for those of his owne house he hath denied the faith 1. Cor. 6.14 and is worse then an Infidell And therefore the burthen of wedlock is grieuous and miserable especially if they be vnequally yoaked together The subiect also dependeth vpon his Prince and must be carefull to obey If his Soueraigne frowne he must stoope and crouch Prou. 16.14 For the wrath of a King saith the Wiseman is as a messenger of death Hee must imploy his goods and his life also in defence of his Prince 1. Sam. 8.11 yea hee must become a martiall man and liue in a miserable mood making his only felicitie of other mens miserie Finally the King himselfe liueth in feare of the treachery of traytors he is set vpon a hill as it were a marke A small wart deformeth a Princes face and in a King an error is desperate Hee eateth the bread of affliction and his drinke is care and sorrow Whereupon an Heathen Historiographer maketh mention of a King to whom the Crowne and Scepter were offered who before he wore it tooke the Crowne in his hand and beholding it a while cryed out saying O thou golden Diademe if man knew the miseries
nothing where I loued nothing and I haue my whole portion when I haue Christ my onely loue and ioy with me Let vs not therefore build where we cannot long continue but let vs make our provision for that place where we may liue and remaine for euer It is wisdome then in euery one to labour to be fitted for this passage Let vs be prepared for this iourney as Chrysostome saith for we haue neede of much prouision because there is much heat much drought much solitude no Inne no resting place no place of aboade there is nothing to be bought by him who hath not taken all things here Heare what the Virgins say Mat. 25.9 goe yee rather to them that sell but going they found not What ought we then to doe Euen that we doe not so labour for the things of this life from which we must be taken and which we must leaue behind vs but for those things which concerne a better life which we may carry with vs not for those things which shall haue either finem tuum vel finem suum as Bernard speaks an end of thee if thou haue not an end of them Either shall they be taken from vs as they were from Iob Iob 1. Luke 12.20 or else we from them as the rich man was from his substance and wealth but for those things which we may carry with vs and â—…ay either bring vs to or adorne vs where wee must bee perpetually euen for euer It were a very foolish part and sencelesse practise for strangers when they are in exile or farre from their owne Countrey in a forren soile where they are sure either to be called by their owne Prince or cast out by the prince of the Countrey to lay out all their wealth vpon some land there neuer prouiding for that which they may carry with them to their Countrey for to adorne them when they come there especially if the so imploying of themselues and their estate be a meanes to keepe them from enioying the happines of their Countrey yea a cause why they shall be cast into prison or plunged into miseries So is it meere madnesse for vs to imploy all our care and spend our time and indeauours for this life and things pertaining to it and the body which wee found here and must leaue here and being here from home strangers in the body 2 Cor. 5.6 absent from the Lord and our owne land as the Apostle speaketh whence we know we shall be called either by a naturall or violent death ordinary or extraordinary taken away by God or thrust out by the cruelty of man neuer prouiding for that which must adorne vs there or further our passage yea procure our entrance specially when such things and the care for them which was ioyned with the neglect of so great things even of so great saluati n shall procure misery and punishment where the other would procure mercy and happinesse here these things are left behinde vs those other goe with vs of these we shall giue an accompt of those there wee shall reape a reward as Chrysostome saith Luk. 16.2 We must therefore imitate strangers who prouide for their departure and store themselues with such things as are both portabâ—e and profitable and may stead vs in our passage and possession of our Countrey so must wee prouide for things spirituall and store our selues with them which we shall onely carry with vs and cannot bee â—aken from vs and shall bee onely commodious to vs when wee come to our Countrey Chrysostome sayth he that is indued with vertue hath such a garment which as moaths cannot so neither can Death it selfe hurt And not without cause for the vertues of the minde take not their beginning from the earth but are fruits of the spirit They are then eternall riches and we shall be eternall by them and though Death dissolue body and soule and destroy our present being in this life yet as Iustine Martir spake for himselfe and others to their persecutors you may kill â—s but you cannot hurt vs so Death may kill vs but it cannot hurt vs whilest it comes expected and prouided for it will be to our great commoditie and aduantage And thus shall Death when it commeth be lesse hurtfull as a tempest before-hand expected Death is compared to the Basiliske which if shee see before shee be seene is dangerous but if a man first descrie the Basiliske the Serpent dieth and then there is no feare So if Death be not seene and prouided for before-hand there is great danger but if it be seene and prouided for the danger is past before their death come And they who with the glorified Virgins wait for Christ in the life of the righteous Mat. 25.10 are alwaies prepared for Death when it knocketh to open vnto it and what is a prepared death but a happie death and what followes a happie death but a happie life neuer to die againe Such go in with Christ to his mariage and haue euerlasting life Let vs not therefore forget heauen for earth the soule for the bodie and heauenly ioyes for earthly toyes one moneth or day for one houre or minute let vs not depriue our selues of that euerlasting happinesse that shall neuer bee taken from vs if we prepare our selues for it O that men would be wise to vnderstand know what Acts 1 7. that the great and generall day of Iudgement cannot be faâ—re off as that likewise of their owne death that they might in time prepare themselues for the same And although this day cannot be knowne of mortall men For it is not for you saith our Sauiour to know the times and seasons Mark 13.32 which the Father hath put in his owne power and is vnknowne to the Angels and to the Sonne as he is man yet neuerthelesse they must know that this day cannot be farre off As Daniel searched and found out by the bookes of Ieremiah not only the returne but the time of the returne of Israel to their owne land from their captiuitie So by the studie of the Scripture ought they to search and so may they come to know the time of their returne from their exile on earth to their countrie in heauen And though they cannot finde the particuler day or yeare yet shall they finde it to bee most certaine and in short time to be finished Man should be wise to vnderstand and know the reasons of the certainty of this day of Iudgement they are these First it is the will and decree of God For the Apostle saith And the times of this ignorance God winked at Acts 17.30.31 but now coÌ„mands all men euery where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giuen assurance vnto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now the will and
heard in mine owne land of thine acts and of thy wisedome how bee it I beleeued not the words vntill I came and mine eyes had seene and behold the one halfe was not told mee thy wisedome and prosperitie exceedeth the fame which I haue heard Happy are thy men happy are these thy seruants which stand continually before thee and heare thy wisedome Now if the queene of Sheba could say so much that the one halfe was not told her and that his wisedome and prosperity exceeded the fame which shee before had heard of him then much more may the child of God truly say when he commeth in his owne person to behold a farre greater then Salomon nay Mat. 12.42 not so much as one quarter of the glory and ioyes of heauen was told him and that the glory and ioyes thereof farre exceed the report fame and description which he hath heard For all the ioyes which we haue heard or can heare of when they are put all together they are all but as one poore drop of water to the maine Ocean sea in comparison of the ioyes which the Saints of God shall behold and enioy in their owne persons in the kingdome of glorie For no man knoweth them but such as enioy them according to that which is said in the booke of the Reuelation To him that ouercommeth Reu. 2.17 I will giue to eate of the hidden Manna and will giue him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth sauing bee that receiueth it Let me but shew you now what S. Augustine speaketh of the ioyes of heauen Wee may sooner tell you saith hee what they are not then what they are And hence it is that the euangelical Prophet Esay saith Isay 64.6 That since the beginning of the world men haue not heard nor perceiued by the eare neither hath the eye seene O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him For there we shall see light that passeth all lights which no eye hath seene there wee shall heare a glorious sound or harmonie which passeth all harmonies which no eare hath heard there wee shall smell a most sweet sent and sauour that passeth all sweet sents and sauours which no sense hath smelt there wee shall taste a most pleasant and delightfull taste that passeth all pleasant tastes which no tongue hath tasted and there we shall finde such pleasure and contentment as passeth all contentments and pleasures which no body euer had Nay I can not hold my heart for my ioy yea I cannot hold in my ioy for my heart to thinke vpon this ioy and glorie and to think that I that am now a silly poore worme vpon earth shall hereafter be a glorious Saint in the kingdome of glorie where is not onely true happinesse but perfection of happinesse not sound ioy onely but fulnesse of ioy which are so absolute and strange that neither eye hath seene to wit eye mortall nor eare hath heard 1. Cor. 2.9 that is eare of man hath not heard the like neither can they enter into our heart though all our hearts were as large euery one 1. King 4.29 as the heart of Salomon which God gaue vnto him euen as large as the sand that is on the sea-shore to conceiue and vnderstand them if they were told vs which are reuealed by the spirit and but lisped out by S. Iohn in those earthly similitudes of gates of pearles of walles of iasper Reu 21.18.19.21,22 and of a street whose pauement is gold as we heard before Dan 12.3 But it may be here obiected But in heauen saith the Prophet Daniel they that be wise shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and they that turne many vnto righteousnesse shall be as the starres for euer and euer Now the firmament hath not so much light as the starres which lighten it and the starres haue lesse light then the Sun that lightneth them from whence therefore it seemeth that in heauen also there should rather be some want then such fulnesse of heauenly ioyes and glorie I answer though in this condition of our heauenly life there may be degrees of glory In my fathers house saith our Sauiour Christ Iohn 14.2 are many mansions yet there shall be no want of glory some may be like the skie some the starres of the skie yet all shall shine some vessels may hold more some lesse and yet all bee full so one may haue more ioy then another there are sundry measures of more or lesse glory in heauen There is one glory of the Sunne saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 15 41 another of the Moone and another glory of the starres for one starre differeth from another in glory but no measure shal lacke his fulnesse of life and glory there where shall be a measure of ioy heaped vp shaken together pressed downe and running ouer And as Bernard very excellently speaketh Luke 6.38 a measure without measure where we shall be filled with ioy yet being filled wee shall still desire lest our fulnesse procure a loathing and in desiring we shall alwaies be filled lest our desire beget a grieuing neither can God giue more nor man receiue more then we shall there enioy for there we shall be replenished and satisfied with such a fulnesse of life glory and happinesse so as wee shall not bee able to desire or to haue any more euen as vessels cast into the water being so filled with water that they can desire or hold no more and he that hath least shall haue enough The reasons hereof are these Hell is contrarie to heauen In hell there is a fulnesse of torment in heauen therefore there must be a fulnesse and perfection of glory and happinesse Secondly earthly kingdomes and the kings therof haue as great an absolutenesse as earth can affoord and giue them and shal we thinke that heauen which can giue an entire wil giue an impefect crowne of righteousnesse and glorie Wil the kings of the earth dwel in base cottages and not in royal Courts and Pallaces and shall these kings of a far better kingdome want ioy and glorie wheras mortall kings haue so great glorie and power Princes on the earth dwell in royall palaces sometimes of Cedar and Iuorie but they whom the Sonne of God hath made kings and priests vnto God his Father Reu. 1.6 as it is in the booke of the Reuelation shall raigne in a glorious citie and pallace whose twelue gates are twelue pearles Reu. 21.18 whose wall is of Iasper and building of gold and whose streetes shine as cleare glasse So said he that saw all this glorie but darkely or as Moyses saw the land of Canaan in a very short mappe or card afarre off as it doth appeare in the booke of Deuteronomie Deut. 34.1,2.3.4 We see but the outward wall of this heauenly Court and City and yet how glorious is it and
latter are a separation of the whole man bodie and soule from the fellowship of God The first is an entrance to death the second and third are the accomplishment of it The first is temporarie the second and third are spirituall and eternall The first is of the body onely the second and third are of both bodie and soule The first is common to all men the second and third are proper only to the Reprobates But touching the naturall and bodily death which is the proper subiect of this Diuision it is as we haue said before the seperation of the soule from the bodie with the dissolution of the bodie vntill the resurrection as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for sinne though to the godly the nature of it is chaunged For when God had setled Adam in Paradise a place of pleasure giuing him such libertie as these words import Thou shalt eate freely of euery tree of the garden Gen. 2.16.17 yet left hee should presumptuously equall himselfe with his Creator he gaue him this bridle to champe on But of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt not eat for in that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Adam had soone forgotten this saying thou shalt die and harkened vnto that lying speech of the Serpent Yee shall not die Matth. 15.14 The man gaue eare to the woman the woman to the Serpent they eate of the forbidden tree so the blind led the blind and both fell into the ditch But now when Father Adam hath tasted of that forbidden fruite O how was he bewitched He was once in the state of grace but now of disgrace hee was once the childe of God but now in danger for ought he knoweth to be the slaue of the Serpent God did once care altogether for him but now hee must care and shift for himselfe hee was warme without apparell naked without shame satisfied without labour or paine his meat was put into his mouth But now it is come out of his nostrels and is loathsome vnto him Numb 11.20 And now hee must be pinched with cold and scorched with heate Gen. 31.40 he must trauell hard and in the sweat of his browes must eate his bread Gen. 3.19 While hee kept himselfe within his compasse hee was a happie man for which he was to thank God and now being in miserie hee is accursed and vnhappie for which hee may thanke himselfe A lamentable fall a pitifull case the wrath of God ouerrunneth the whole world as a gangrene through all Adams posteritie for his disobedience his treason hath attainted all his children his whole bloud is corrupted his fall redoundeth to all of vs that came of him Alas then how shall we doe Adam is dust hated of God and ashamed of himselfe he is accursed hee is sicke with sinne hee is dead twice dead subiect to mortalitie and subiect to eternall damnation his children bee in the same case Woe therefore bee vnto vs we are so benumbed with our sinnes that wee feele not the sting of death fixed therein the impostume of sinne lieth hidden in our hearts so pleasingly to our carnall sence as that we thinke our selues whole and sound as if we presumed we should neuer die The incredulous and rebellious broode of Adam will not acknowledge their corruption and mortalitie such and so great is their selfe-love and pride of heart Adam the Father of all Nations was once a free-man a blessed man the childe of God the mercie of God imbraced him on euery side In the earth there were blessings for him ingrauen as it were in the herbes flowers and fruits yea in the heauens and in the waters he saw innumerable tokens of Gods loue towards him But alas wretch that he was when he was in honor he forgot himself he denied God his seruice yea he obeyed his Enemie and therefore became accursed and debarred of all his former blessings He became a bondman a cursed creature the seruant of sinne and Satan ashamed of his nakednesse and trembled at Gods voice So that death and the graue haue obtained the victorie for Adam and his wife are become a cursed couple yea not onely they but all their posteritie they be the roote we be the branches If the roote bee bitter the branches must bee so also they bee the Fountaine we be springs if the fountaine be filthie so must the springs be Sinne and corruption bee the riches that wee bequeath to our children Rebellion is the inheritance that we haue purchased for them Death is the wages that we haue procured vnto them such as the father is such bee the children For wee are all of the same nature and haue eaten the same sowre grape Ezec. 18.2 The fathers haue eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge By one man sinne entred into the world Rom. 5.12 and death by sinne and so death went ouer all men in whom all men haue sinned In sinning with Adam wee must all die with Adam and this is the onely difference betwixt him and vs that hee did it before vs and for vs. For if any of vs had beene in Adams stead we had done that which Adam did if not more to procure death And wee receiuing from Adam the infection of our flesh we receiued from him also the corruption of our flesh And this is the cheifest and most principall cause why all must die As the goodnesse of God hath lent vs life so our owne deserts haue wrought our death It is a true and a heauie sentence spoken to euery man Thou must die verified not in one in few in many but in all and vniuersall is this saying in respect of the elementarie creatures All must die A short clause of a long extent containing in it the estate of all mortall creatures whatsoeuer As there are certaine common principles which doe runne through all Arts so this is a generall rule that concernes euery man All must die The truth thereof is daily to be seene and all of vs hereafter shall proue the Lord knoweth how soone by his owne experience Therefore it is said in the second booke of Esdras Esd 2. v. 3.4.5.6.7 O Lord who bearest rule thou spakest at the beginning when thou diddest plant the earth and that thy selfe alone and commandedst the people and gauest a bodie vnto Adam without soule which was the workmanship of thine hands and diddest breath into him the breath of life and he was made liuing before thee and thou leddest him into Paradise which thy right hand had planted before the earth came forward and vnto him thou gauest commandement to loue thy way which he transgressed and immediately thou appointedst death to him and his generation of whom came Nations Tribes and Kindreds out of number And in another place of that book it is said And when Adam transgressed my Statutes Esd 2. v. 7.11.12 then was decreed
or Milo 2. Sam. 23.8 or Dauids three Worthiest when thou commest to graple with Death hee will quickly crush thee and cast thee into the dust For hee will admit of no composition with thee for Death hath feete of wooll but armes of iron it commeth insensible but it hauing once taken hold neuer loseth her prize Is it for thy bewtie These eyes of thine which now are as bright as starres Death will make a horror to the beholders These cheekes of thine wherein now the lilly and the rose striue for the preheminence Death will make pale and earthly these corall lippes of thine will Death change to black and wanne this mouth of thine which in sweetnesse yeelds a cynamom breath will send forth the stinking sauour of a Sepulchre Therefore the Lord saith by his Prophet Isa 3.24 It shall come to passe that in stead of sweete smell there shall be a stinke and in stead of a girdle a rent and in stead of well set haire baldnesse and in stead of a stomacher a girding of sack-cloath and burning in stead of beautie The substance of bodily beauty consisteth in naught else but in phlegme bloud moisture and gall or melancholie which are maintained by the corruptible iuyces of meates hereby the apples of the eyes glister the cheekes are ruddie and the whole face is adorned And vnlesse they be daily moistened with such iuyce which ascendeth out of the liuer incontinent the skinne is dried vp the eyes waxe hollow all ruddinesse and bewtie depart from the visage Now if thou consider what is hidden vnder that skinne which thou iudgest so beautifull what is shut vp within the nostrils what in the iawes and belly thou wilt protest that this brauery of body is nothing but a painted sepulchre which without appeareth faire to men Math. 23.27 but within is full of filthinesse and vncleannesse And if thou see in a ragged cloath the phlegme and spitle that proceedeth from the bodie thou loathest it and wilt not touch it with the typ of thy finger looking askew thereon Therefore this cell and seat of phlegme this bewtiful body will be so much altered that a man may say O how much is he or she changed from that they were And hereof it is that the Wiseman saith Fauour is deceitfull Pro. 31.30 and beautie is vaine But to digresse a little dost thou make thy selfe beautiful and art not contented with that beautie which God thy Creator hath bestowed vpon thee Then hearken to that excellent saying of Saint Cyprian that weomen which aduance themselues in putting on of silke and purple cannot lightly put on Christ and they which colour their lockes with red and yellow do prognosticate of what colour their heads shall bee in hell and they which loue to paint themselues in this world otherwise then God hath created them let them feare lest when the day of the resurrection commeth the Creator will not know them And besides know thou that there be aches feauers impostumes swellings and mortalitie in that flesh thou so deckest and that skin which is so bepainted with artificial complexion shal lose the beautie and it selfe You that saile betweene heauen and earth in your foure sailed vessels as if the ground were not good enough to be the pauement to the soales of your feet know that one day the Earth shal set her feet on your faire neckes and the slime of it shall defile your sulphured bewties dust shall fill vp the wrinkled furrowes which age makes and paint supplies Your bodies were not made of the substance whereof the Angels were made nor of the nature of stones nor of the water whereof the fire ayre water and inferiour creatures Remember your tribe Esay 51.1 and your fathers poore house and the pit whereout you were hewed Hannibal is at the gates death standeth at your doores be not proud be not madde You must die and then your finenesse shall be turned into filthinesse your painted beautie and strength into putrifaction and rottennesse Let him make what shew he can with his glorious adornations let rich apparel and paintings disguise him liuing seare-clothes spices balmes enwrap him lead and stone immure him dead his originall mother will at last owne him for her naturall childe and triumph ouer him with this insultation Hee is my bowels Psal 146.4 hee returneth to his earth His bodie returneth not immediatly to heauen but to earth nor to earth as a stranger to him or an vnknowne place but to his earth as one of his most familier friends and of oldest acquaintance Powders Liquors Vnguents Odours Ornaments deriued from the liuing from the dead palpable instances and demonstratiue ensignes of pride and madnesse to make them seeme beautifull such translations and borrowing of formes that a silly country-man walking in the Citie can scarce say there goes a man or there a woman Is it for thy youth If thou thinke so thou reckonest without thine hoste Ier. 8.11 Iudg. 4.21 Psal 49.14 For thy folly therin may happily cause thee to say Peace peace till with Sisera thou fall into thy last sleepe of destruction and to goe from thy house to thy graue But who can bee ignorant that on the stage of this world some haue longer and some shorter parts to play and who knoweth not though some fruits fall from the tree by a full and naturall ripenesse that all doe not so nay that the more part are pulled from it and doe wither vpon it in the tender bud or yong fruit then are suffered to tarry till they come to their perfect ripenesse and mellowing The corne falles of it selfe sometime is bitten in the spring oft troden downe in the blade but neuer failes to be cut vp in the eare when it is ripe Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree some drop with ripenesse all must fall so doe not more without comparison fall from the tree of time yong eyther violently plucked from it by a hastie death or miserably withering vpon it by a lingring death perishing in the bud of childhood or bea en downe in the greene fruit of youth then come to their full age of ripenesse by a mellow and kindly death Further doth not God call from his worke some in the morning some at noone and some at night For as his labourers enter into his vineyard Matth. 20.1 so they goe out that is in such manner and at such houres some die in the dawning of their life who passe but from one graue to another some die in youth as in the third houre some at thirtie and some at fiftie as in the sixt and ninth and some very old as in the last houre of the day Yet more die yong then old and more before ten then after threescore Besides all this the fresh life which the yongest haue heere is cut off or continued by the same decree and finger of God that the oldest and most blasted life is
will haue his course they both keepe their old wont Since the first diuision of waters the Sea hath beene accustomed to ebbe and flow who hath euer hindered it And since the first corruption of Nature Death hath beene accustomed to slay and destroy who hath resisted it Other customes haue and may be abolished a King may command and it is done but what Monarch so absolute what Emperour so potent that can abrogate within his Dominions this custome of dying Nay there is no priuiledge no not spirituall neither can that grace and excellent gift of holinesse and pietie preserue a man from a naturall death viz. the first death out of no Court or Church can a man fetch a writ of protection against this Sergeant no place will preserue no person can bee priuiledged from it Esay 57.1 For heere the holy and good man the righteous and religious man is taken from the earth and dieth Iames 1.18 For if any should be spared he that is begotten againe of Gods owne will by the word of truth he that is borne againe of water and of the Spirit Iohn 3.5 and so borne not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh Ioh. 1.13 nor of the will of man but of God He that is borne a new not of mortall seed but of immortall by the word of God 1. Pet. 1.23 which liueth and endureth for euer A man I say would thinke that such if any should not die and yet behold the whole generation of Gods children they all die in their appointed time and vndergoe death not as a punishment but as a tribute as Seneca the Heathen man speakes which euery man must pay for his life The foole dies the wise-man the subiect the Soueraigne I haue said saith the Psalmist yee are gods Psal 49.10 Psal 82.6.7 and yee all are children of the most high but yee shall die as a man and yee Princes shall fall like others and so also the Prophets and holy men of God Dauid was a man after Gods owne heart and yet he died Moses saw God face to face and yet he died Zach. 1.5 The Prophets were indued with a great measure of sanctification yet the Prophet Zachary ioynes them all together in one state of mortalitie Your Fathers where are they And doe the Prophets liue for euer What say I the Prophets Nay Christ Iesus himselfe the Sonne of God the onely Sonne the Sonne in whom he was well pleased more faithfull then Abraham more righteous then Iob more wise then Salomon more mightie then Samson more holy then Dauid and all the Prophets though hee knew no sinne in himselfe yet for taking on him the burthen of our sinnes became subiect to the same condition of mortalitie with vs and he died also Examples of other times experience of our owne teach vs that all of all sorts die and are gathered to their fathers yea the dumbe and dead bodies cry this aloud vnto vs. As Basil of Seleucia saith of Noah he preached without words of Preaching for euery stroake vpon the Arke was a reall Sermon of repentance so euery corpse that wee follow and accompany to the graue preacheth really this truth vnto vs. All the worthiest of the first times and whomsoeuer else the word of God hath well reported of where are they Are they not all dead Doe they not all see corruption our Sauiour Christ excepted Are they not all gone downe into the slimie valley Haue they not long since made their bed in the darke None of them all our Sauiour Christ excepted was able to deliuer his life from the power of the graue Art thou better then Dauid and wiser then Salomon Nay art thou greater then our Father Abraham who is dead and the Prophets which are dead Whom makest thou thy selfe If thou thinkest thou shouldest not die Then surely if the holiest begotten and borne of man doe die then all must die And if holinesse must yeeld then prophanenesse cannot stand out And therfore whether holy or prophane Iew or Greeke bond or free male or female all must die If the tender harted woman that wept for Christ then the stony hearted men that scoffed at Christ If those that imbalmed him then those that buffeted him If shee that powred oyntment on his head then he that spat in his face If Iohn his beloued Apostle then Iudas that betrayed him Man is a little world the world a great man if the great man must die how shall the little one escape We must not thinke much to vndergoe that which all are enioyned vnto necessarily Equalitie is the chiefe ground-worke of equitie and who can complaine to be comprehended where all are contained For there is not a sonne of man in the cluster of mankinde but Eodem modo nodo vinctus victus is liable to that common and equal law of Death And although they die not one death for time and manner yet for the matter and end one death is infallible to all the sonnes of men Lift vp your eyes to the heauens saith the Lord and looke vpon the earth beneath Esay 51.6 for the heauens shal vanish away like smoake and the earth shall waxe old like a garment and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner But if any shall obiect that Enoch and Elias died not Gen. 23.24 Hebr. 11.6 2. King 2.11 I answere We know not I rather thinke they did and that Elias in his fiery Chariot had his body burnt and Enoch who in his yeares matched the dayes of the Sunne 365. was without paine dissolued when God tooke his soule to heauen or if they died not yet as Origen saith the generall is not therefore false because God hath dispenced in some particulers though one or two died not yet this is an vniuersall truth of all men to be receiued and duely pondered Heb. 9.21 It is appointed vnto all men that they shall once die from which there is no auoidance For the Lord of life and death hath so decreed it the decree was made in the beginning Gen. 3.19 For dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne If it be his decree it must needs haue a certaine effect The decree is certaine the euent is ineuitable Our God saith the Psalmist Psal 115.3 is in heauen and hee doth whatsoeuer hee will Gods will is the deede as saith Saint Cyprian if he hath once willed it it is as good as wrought If he haue decreed it it is as certaine as if it were done It is heauens decree and it cannot be reuoked Dan. 6.1 I haue beene somewhat too tedious in this first Diuision which is somwhat contrarie to the common prouerbe that he should not be tedious that reades a Lecture of mortality but because this is on the one side a matter worthy to be obserued and on the otherside a matter too too much neglected I haue beene somewhat the bolder to
will be vnfitting by reason of the paine and of other lets and hinderances at that time It must not be put off to bee done when we will for it is not in the power of man to doe this duetie at his pleasure but when God will Ier. 10.23 O Lord saith the Prophet I know that the way of man is not in himselfe it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps And againe this late preparation which consisteth chiefly in repentance is seldome or neuer true It is sicke like the partie himselfe commonly languishing and dying together with vs. This preparation should bee voluntary as all obedience to God ought to bee but preparation taken vp in sicknesse is vsually constrained and extorted by the feare of hell and other iudgements of God For in true and sound preparation wherein chiefely wee must repent men must forsake all their sinnes but in this the sin forsakes the man who leaues all his euill wayes only vpon this that he is constrained whether he will or no to leaue the world Therefore ponder with thy selfe what then thou wouldest that thou hadest done when being neere vnto death thou hast no more time to liue and the same thing which thou wouldest wish thou hadest done when thou art at the point of death the same thing without delay doe while thou art in health that thou maist be ready euery houre to imbrace the message of Death as Seneca perswades Mors vbique nos expectat tu si sapiens eris vbique eam expectabis so it shall neuer take thee at any aduantage To this end remember Augustus his admonition be afraid to liue in such an estate as thou art afraid to dy in And pray vnto God that by his grace these things may penetrate into the bottom of thy heart and bee there so fixed that they may neuer bee quenched and that from this time forward thou maist make such vse of the preaching and hearing of his holy word of the comfortable sacraments of his Church and all other the good meanes of thy saluation that thou maist begin to walke now with a better conscience before him that in the peace of a quiet conscience after this preparation thou maist thereby arriue at the heauen of eternall glory and happines and say with the blessed Apostle Act. 24.16 Herein doe I exercise my selfe to haue alwaies a good conscience void of offence toward God and toward men Thus then this poynt being manifest that a generall preparation must be made let vs now see in what manner it must be done And for the right doing of it fiue duties must be practised in the whole course of our liues The first is the meditation on Death for the life of a Christian is nothing else as was noted at large in the second diuisiâ—n but a meditation on Death A notable practise whereof we haue in the example of Ioseph of Arimathia Mat. 27.60 who made his tombe in his life time in the midst of his garden to this end no doubt to put himselfe in minde daily of his death and that in the midst of his delights and pleasant walkes hee might be the better prepared for Death And in this respect a decent funerall is a dutie to be performed and a debt to be paâ—d to the bodies of all Christians who are the temples of the holy ghost and members of the body of Christ 1. Cor. 6.19 Eph. 5.30 and therefore are to be laid with honor into their graues as into howses of safe custody and beds of rest to remaine there in peace vntill the resurrection to the end that thereby all others might be admonished to meditate hereon to prepare themselues for their end Gen. 23. Gen. 25 9. Gen. 50. And therefore did not onely the fathers in the old testament but the faithfull also in the new performe funerals for their friends departed this life So Abraham performes a funeraâ—l for Sarah Isaac and Ismael for Abraham Ioseph Num. 20.29 Deut. 34.8 the Israelites and the Egiptians a most sumptuous one for Iacob and all Israel at two times kept a solemne mourning thirtie dayes together for Aaron and Moses In the new testament Iohn the Baptist is buried and intombed of his disciples Mat. 14.12 Mark 15.43 Our Sauiour Christ by two great Counsellers And Stephen is carried out to be buried by men fearing God who made great lamentation for him And likewise all the rest of the Patriarches and holy men of God This honor is to be giuen vnto the dead which from the Church was deriued vnto the very gentiles with whom to violate the sepulchers of the dead was euer accounted an hainous offence and the place of buriall sacred But God threatneth it is a iudgment to the wicked that they shall not be buried and lamented and denounceth it twice as a great curse against Iehoiakin the sonne of Iosiah that hee shall bee buried as an Asse is buried Ier. 16.4.6 Ier 22 18.19 Ier. 36.30 and that his dead body shall be cast out with contempt without any pompe or decencie of buriall It appeares also in Ezechiel that it was a custome in old time to enterre valiant men in their armes Ezech. 32.27 to put them into their graues with weapons of warre and to bury them with their swords vnder their heads which thing God seemes there to threaten that his enemies shall not haue giuing vs thereby to vnderstand that the hauing of such funerall pome and ceremonies is an honor a worldly blessing and a gift of God of which he depriues his enemies and therefore threatens in the next verse that they shall ly by them that are slaine wiâ—h the sword that is shall not be honorably enterred like Conquerors but basely buried amongst the conquered And although the wicked doe come to this honor of sumptuous funerals and to be laid in costly and painted tombes and sepulchers as it often falleth out yet it may be said of such a one that he which was not long since clad in silke purple and gold and shined with diamonds is now assaulted with troupes of wormes and breathes forth intollerable sents while that his heire liueth pleasantly in ryot and excesse possessing the fruite of his labours which hee himselfe neuer or a small time enioyed And herein his very dust and corruption doth appeare and his ambition and pride doth rest it selfe within this tombe for then behold stately Sepulchers engrauen stones that report some famous actions and proud titles vpon his tombe set out with false narrations to the end that passengers may say here lyeth a goodly stone but a corrupted bodie But the vse that wee must make of all burialls and funerals for whomsoeuer they be is to admonish and put vs in minde that we must make preparation for our owne end and for the felicitie happines of the life to come Which kinde of preparation is of especiall vse and brings forth many
of Death against them that are aboue vs that is against our ancestors elders and betters and now one while he shooteth at them that be right against vs that is at our equals another while hee hitteth such as be very neere vs as our neerest and deerest friends on the right hand hee woundeth our friends on the left hand our enemies and vnder vs such as are our inferiors and yongers And if among so many arrowes of death wee in the meane time shall become secure and carelesse and neuer prouide nor prepare for our end as though we should euer escape who would not say that we were worse then lunatike O then let vs vnderstand thus much that wee are fast bound to the stake of mortalitie and that it is not possible for vs to escape Gods arrowes and darts of Death but that at one time or other wee shall be as deadly wounded therewith as others that so by the right vnderstanding of these things we may prepare our selues against the time that it shall happen vnto vs Psal 91.5.6.7 and then thou shalt not as the Pslmist saith be afraid for the terror by night nor for the arrowe that flyeth by day nor for the pestilence that walketh in the darknesse nor for the destruction that wasteth at noone-day a thousand shall fall at thy side and â—en thouâ—and at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Let vs therefore be wise but in what Moses in another place telleth vs in what Psal 90.12.10 Lord saith he teach vs so to number our daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome So that this wisdome consisteth principally in numbring of our daies which may be done foure waies First the account which Moses maketh the dayes of our life are threescore yeares and ten and though some be so strong that they come to fourescore yeares yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow for it is soone cut off and we fly away Therefore the summe of our yeares whereunto neuerthelesse all doe not attaine is threscore yeares and ten But this number euery childe can tell Secondly by comparison of three times first past which being â—…ee gone and past is nothing now it is past were it a thousand yeares it is but as a thought secondly future which being to come is but vncertaine whether it will be to vs or no thirdly present and know that the same is onely ours which is but a moment or instant Thirdly deduction or abstraction as thus take from threescore and ten yeares thirty fiue spent in sleepe and fifteene yeeres for our childhood the time of our vanitie for this part of a mans life is spent before hee knowes what time is and ten yeares allowed for eating and drinking tricking and trimming moiling and toyling recreating and sporting idle talking and complementing such like then there will bee found but ten yeares remaining to bee well spent whereof Lord how little is spent in thy seruice these three waies of numbring may be taught vs of men The fourth way God onely can teach vs by a Christian and heauenly Arithmaticke that is so to number as wee may by due consideration of the shortnesse and vncertaintie of our life applie our hearts vnto wisdome And so wee should learne to prouide what To prouide with Ioseph for the dearth to come and imitate the Ant who prouideth her meate in the sommer and gathereth her food in the haruest for the winter to come As the wise man saith Gen. 41.33 Goe to the pismire O sluggard behold her wayes and be wise For she hauing no guide gouerner nor ruler prepareth her meat in the summer and gathereth her foode in haruest Prouer. 6.8 Saint Austine saith that in this our pilgrimage wee must thinke of nothing else but that wee shall not bee euer here that here we should prepare for our selues that place from whence we shal neuer depart Damascene reporteth an excellent historie touching this purpose There was a certaine countrey saith he where they chose their King of the poorest and basest sort of people and vpon any dislike taken they would depose him from his throne and exile him into an Island where he should be starued to death Now one more wise theÌ„ the rest considering hereof sent mony before hand into that Island into which hee should be banished which comming to passe to him as to others before him he went and was receiued into that Island with great ioy triumph Euen so against thou be banished by Death from this world Iob 1.21 without pennie or farthing for naked thou camest and naked thou shalt returne thou must prouide and prepare for it whilest thou art in this life whereby thou maist bee receiued into Heauen heereafter with great ioy and triumph And as a Merchant being to trauell into a farre countrey doth first deliuer here his money vpon the exchange that so hee may bee sure to receiue it againe at his arriuall in that countrey euen so for as much as we must passe from hence hauing here no abiding nor continuing Cittie being out of our owne Countrey Hebr. 13.14 but wee seeke one to come let it therefore be our care wisdome and prouidence to passe by these things which will passe from vs and to lay vp something that may serue vs beyond the graue against our arriuall there Matth. 6.19.20.21 Luke 12.33 which is heauen To which purpose tendeth that exhortation of our Sauiour Christ in the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Luke Lay not vp for your selues treasures vpon earth where moth and rust doe corrupt and where theeues breake through and steale but lay vp for your selues treasures in heauen Sell that yea haue and giue almes prouide your selues bagges which wax not old a treasure in the heauens that faileth not c. For wheâ—e your treasure is there will your heart be also So that we must send our substance our treasures before hand to our standing house and to our continuing countrey as Chrysostome speakes and our Sauiour Christ doth aduise vs here For we loose them if we lay them vp here where we must leaue them and can neither tarry with them nor carry them hence but we keepe them if we send them to heauen as it were by bils of exchange by the hands of Christs poore member where wee shall receiue interrest for them of the Lord himself Pro 19.17 He that hath pitty on the poore saith the wiseman lendeth vnto the Lord and that which he hath giuen will he pay to him againe So that the godâ—y prouident man like wise Bias either carries all with him or rather hath sent them before him to his heauenly habitation Therefore I say vnto you saith our Sauiour make to your selues friends of MaÌ„mon of vnrighteousnesse that when yee faile Luke 16.9 they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations So that wee may say when the world is on a fire I haue left
heard Yea God hath told thee as we haue said before Because I haue called and you refused you shall call vpon me Prou. 1.24.28 and I will not answere you A dolefull and heauie doome for a dying man It is too late to sow when thy fruite should be in and no time to leaue sinne when sin must leaue thee Luke 16.24 Heb. 12.17 Mat. 25.11.12 Diues prayed but was not heard Esau wept but was not pitied The foolish Virgins knocked but were denied By which fearefull examples it appeareth that it will be too late to call for mercie after this life when the gates of mercie will be shut vp and repentance comes too late For if wee through our negligence and carelessenesse ouerslip this opportunitie which the Lord in mercie offereth vs we cannot recouer it afterward although wee seeke it with teares which we find truely verified by the fore-alledged fearefull examples Esay 59.2 For your iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God and your sinnes haue hid his face from you that hee will not heare It is therefore the surest and safest way and better by many degrees for the saluation of our soules to leaue our sinnes now in our youth and now to repent in our health then hereafter alas when it may be too late The holy Ghost in the Scriptures pointeth vs to the present time and exhorteth vs to make that the time of our repentance and vpon this Theme many of the holy men of God spent their Sermons Looke in Esay Ieremie and the rest and you shall euer finde that they beate vpon this present time Esay 55. Ier. 35. Heb. 3. Psal 95. Ioel. 2. Now turne vnto the Lord now whiles it is called to day to day if yee will heare his voice this is the accepted time and therefore wee may not come for it many yeeres hence being promised to day Iniquitie did then abound as now it doth and procrastination was euer dangerous and therefore they iudged no doctrine so fitte as often to vrge repentance without all delay So that now euen now is the time of repentance euen now whilst he calleth now whilest he speaketh now whilst hee knocketh now let vs take vp this day and make it the ioyfull day of our repentance For ioy shall be in heauen saith our Sauiour in the Gospell Luke 15.7 ouer one sinner that repenteth Therefore let vs now say this shal be my day of repentance I will deferre it no longer and so let vs repent from day to day euen to our dying day and then whosoeuer shall continue so repenting to the end hee shall surely and vndoubtedly be saued Mat. 24.13 Now for conclusion of this duetie of repentance marke heere how happily we fall vpon repentance God grant repentance to fall vpon vs. It is a grace when it fals vpon a sinfull soule that makes the Diuels murmure Luke 15. and vex themselues in hell and the good Angels reioyce in heauen This is that which makes the eternall Wisdome content to forget our iniquities and to remember them no more then if they had neuer beene and this is Magnaspongia as Saint Augustine calles it the great spunge that wipes them all away out of the sight of God this speakes to mercy to seperate our sinnes from the face of God to binde them vp in bundles and drowne them in the sea of obliuion this is that mourning Master that is neuer without good attendants teares of contrition prayers for remission and purposes of a mended life This makes Mary Magdalen of a sinner a Saint Zacheus of an extortioner charitable and of persecuting Saul a professing Paul Repentance is the Supersedeas that dischargeth all bonds of sinne Behold the office of repentance shee standeth at the doore and offers her louing seruice entertaine mee and I will vnloade thy heart of that euill poyson and returne it to thee emptie though it were full to the brimme Peccasti poenitere millies peccasti millies poenitere millies poenitet adhuc etiam poenitere Hast thou sinned repent hast thou a thousand times sinned why then a thousand times repent hast thou repented a thousand times I say despaire not but still betake thy selfe to repentance If you welcome repentance knocking at your dore from God it shall knocke at Gods doore of mercy for you It askes of you amendment of God forgiuenesse Receiue it therefore and imbrace it The fourth dutie is to die in prayer for when it shall please God in the weaknesse of our bodies to giue vs a remembrance of our mortality and our end let vs pray to God for grace that we may spend the time of our sicknesse in reading Gods word and comfortable bookes in godly conference in holy meditation and in feruent prayer to the Lord first for patience in thy sicknesse secondly for comfort in Christ Iesus thirdly for strength in his mercy and fourthly for deliuerance at his good pleasure yea endeuour as much as thou canst to die praying For when thou art in the depthes of miseries and at it were at the gates of death there is a depth of Gods mercie who is readie to heare and helpe thee for misery must call vpon mercie and Prayer is the chiefest thing that a man may present God withall For by prayer we are oftentimes in spirit with the blessed Apostle rapt vp into the third heauens 2. Cor. 12.2 where we that are otherwise but wormes walke with the blessed Angels and euen contâ—nually to our very end talke familiarly with our God And hence it is that holy men and women in former times could neuer haue enough of this exercise Nazianzen in his Epitaph for his sister Gorgonia writeth that shee was so giuen to prayer that her kneâ—s seemed to cleaue vnto the earth and to grow to the very ground by reason of her continuance in prayer Gregorie in his Dialogues writeth that his Aunt Trasilla being dead was found to haue her elbowes as hard as horne which hardnesse shee gate by leaning to a deske on which shee vsed to pray Eusebius in his Historie writeth that Iames the brother of our Lord had knees as hard as Camels knees benummed and bereaued of all sence and feeling by reason of his continuall kneeling in prayer Hierom in the life of Paul the Ermite writeth that he was found dead kneeling vpon his knees holding vp his hands lifting vp his eyes so that the very dead corps seemed yet to liue and by a kinde of religious gesture to pray still vnto God O how blessed was that soule without the body when as that bodie without the soule seemed so deuout O would to God that we likewise might be so happie so blessed as this holy man was that wee might depart hence in such sort as he did nay in such sort as our Sauiour Christ did who died in prayer Luke 23.46 Father saith he into thy hands I commend my spirit and in such sort as Stephen
saith the Wise man hath hope in his death Againe that sudden death is not euill in all respects is apparant For it is not euill because it is sudden but commonly it takes men vnprepared and therefore euill and so makes the day of death a blacke day and as it were a speedie downefall to the gulfe of hell otherwise if a man be readie and prepared to die as he ought alwaies to bee then sudden death is in effect no death but a quicke easie and speedie passage and entrance vnto eternall life and happinesse For why shouldest thou being the child of God vnwillingly suffer a short death that will bring thee to the fruition of life eternall and all happinesse Rather perswade thy selfe that if thou liue in the feare of God thou shalt doe well and so liuing though thou die neuer so suddenly thou shalt doe better and that the worst hurt that sudden death can doe thee if this may be called hurt is to send thee but a little sooner then peraduenture thy fraile flesh would be willing Ioh. 14.2.3 to thy Sauiour Iesus Christ who is gone but a little before thee through great and manifold dangers and temptations to prepare a place as he himselfe saith for thee and to receiue thee vnto himselfe that where he is there thou mayest be also and remember that that worst is thy best hope The worst therfore of sudden death is rather a helpe then a harme Now all these obiections being thus answered at large it doth appeare plainly to be a manifest truth which the Preacher here saith That the day of death is better then the day of ones birth Now I come to the third point in which the reasons and respects are to be considered that make the day of death to surpasse the day of ones birth and they may all be reduced to this one namely that the birth day is an entrance into all woe and miserie whereas the day of death ioyned and accompanied with a godly and reformed life is an entrance and degree to eternall life and glory Which appeareth thus viz. Eternall life hath three degrees one in this life and that is when a man can truly say with the Apostle Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee And this all such can say as truely repent and beleeue and that are iustified sanctified and haue the peace of a good conscience and are furnished with the giftes and graces of Gods holy Spirit which is the earnest of their saluation The second degree is in the end of this life when the bodie goes to the earth from whence it came and the soule returnes to God that gaue it The third degree is in the end of this world at the last iudgement when bodie and soule being re-vnited do ioyntly enter into the kingdome of heauen Now of these three degrees death it selfe being coupled with the feare of God is the second in as much as death is as it were the hand of God to sort and single out all those that are the seruants of God from amongst the wicked of this wretched world So that death is a freedome from all miseries which haue their end in death and which is the first benefit that comes by death and the first step to eternall life and glory And the second benefit that comes by death is that it giues an entrance to the soule and makes way for it and doth as it were vsher it into the glorious presence of the euerlasting God of Christ of the holy Angels and the rest of Gods Saints in heauen And this is a notable comfort against death for as all other euils of paine are to a godly Christian changed into another nature and of punishments are become fauours and benefits so is it also in this of death for now it is not a token of Gods wrath for sinne but an argument of his loue mercie and fauour to his children It is not properly death but as it were a bridge by which we passe to a better life from corruption to incorruption from mortalitie to immortalitie from earth to heauen that is in a word from vanity and miserie to perfect ioy and felicitie and a way thereby made for the resurrection Now who would not willingly passe ouer this bridge that is so easie whereby he goeth from all cares and sorrowes to all delight and pleasure leauing all miseries behind him and hauing all contentation and happinesse before him The gentiles taking it for granted that either after death we should be happie or not be at all concluded that at least death would free vs from all euill and miserie and thereupon did willingly embrace death as a rich treasure The Egyptians also builded gorgeous Sepulchres but meane houses because the one was to them but an Inne the other as they did thinke an eternall habitation which freed them from all misery And Seneca again exclaimes that our whole life is a penance which the Thracians confirmed by their practise celebrating their childrens birth with weeping and lamentation but their death with great ioy and mirth as diuers ancient Writers record whereby insinuating that our life is nothing but miserie and death the end of miserie But they haue beene all greatly mistaken therin for it is the godly Christian only which enioyeth these benefits by death as namely the exemption and freedome from all cares troubles and miseries For which cause the death of the godly is called in the Scriptures by the names of Bed and Peace Esay 57.2 He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds saith the Prophet It is called by the name of Rest Reu. 14.13 They shall rest from their labours saith the Sonne of God And the Author to the Hebrewes saith Heb. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Againe the Scripture entitles death by the name of sleep and speaketh of the dead as of such as are asleepe and therfore the Prophet Daniel saith Dan. 12.2 Many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to euerlasting shame and contempt And our Sauiour Christ speaking of Iairus daughter which was dead seeing all the people weepe and lament her said vnto them Weepe not Luke 8.52 shee is not dead but sleepeth Iohn 11.11.12.13 Act. 7.60 And touching Lazarus death our Sauiour saith Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And touching Stephens death it is said He fell asleepe For this cause our forefathers called the place allotted for the buriall of the dead Dormitorium a bed-chamber wherein their bodies rest expecting the ioyfull resurrection Homer calleth sleepe fratrem mortis the brother of death Diogenes awaked out of a deepe sleepe by the Physitian and asked how hee did answered Rectè nam frater fratrem amplectitur Well quoth he for one brother embraceth another The like is reported of Gorgias Leontinus and
vnder the burthen therof account that bondage more intollerable and worse subiection then can bee to the most barbarous and cruell tyrant in the world from whose tyrannie hee that should set vs free must needs bee welcome Which death and onely death can doe What great cause haue we then with all willingnesse to embrace death and be greatly comforted when it appproacheth But death doâ—h yet much more for vs then all this for it not onely frees vs from all euills euen sinne but puts vs also into actuall and peaceable possession of all good things and bringeth vs to that good place where if there were any place for any passion we would be offended with Death for not bringing vs thither long before And though the bodie rotte in the graue or bee eaten of wormes or deuoured by beasts or swallowed vp by fishes or burnt to ashes yet that will not be to vs a matter of discomfort not-onely because as wee haue heard before they are at rest and doe sleepe in peace in their beddes till the last day but also if wee doe well consider the ground of all grace as namely our vnion and coniunction with Christ our head it is indeede a spirituall and yet most real coniunction and vnion For we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned and vnited to the body or soule of Christ but the whole parson of man both body and soule is vnited and conioyned to whole Christ For we are vnited wholy to whole Christ who is not deuided euen according to both natures 1. Cor. 1.13 1. Cor. 3.21 by which hee is wholy oure but after this good order as first to be vnited to the manhood and then by the manhood vnto the Godhead of Christ And when we are once ioyned and vnited to whole Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the Spirit we shal so abide and remaine eternally ioyned and vnited vnto him And this coniunction and vnion being once truly made can never afterward be dissolued Hence it followes that although the bodie bee seuered from the soule by death yet neither the soule nor body are seuered or sundred from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue or howsoeuer else consumed abide still ioyned and vnited vnto Christ and is then as truly a member of Christ as it was before death For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the condition of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his body and soule were seuered and sundered for the time the one from the other as farre as heauen and the graue yet neither of them were sundered from the God-head of the Sonne but both did in his Death subsist in his person Euen so though our bodies and soules bee pulled in sunder by naturall or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shal be pulled or disioyned from Christ the head but by the vertue of this coniunction and vnion shall the dead body howsoeuer it bee wasted and consumed arise at the last day to eternall glory For although the dead bodies of Gods Saints are often mingled with the bodies of beasts foules fishes or other creatures that deuoure them yet as the Goldsmith by his art can feuer mettals and extract one mettall out of another euen so God can and will distinguish these dusts of his Saints at the last day of the glorious resurrection In the winter season the trees remaine without fruit or leaues and being beaten with the winde and weather they appeare to the eye and view of all men as if they were withered and rotten dead trees yet when the spring time comes they become aliue againe and as before doe bring forth their buds blossoms leaues and fruits the reason is because the body grayne and armes of the tree are all ioyned and fastened to the roote where all the sappe and moisture lies in the winter time and from thence by reason of this coniunction it is deriued in the spring to all the parts of the tree Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also and this iâ— in death in which time they are turned into dust and so remaine for a time dead and rotten Yet in the spring time that is at the last day at the resurrection by meanes of the misticall coniunction and vnion with Christ his diuine quickning vertue shall streame and flow from thence to all the bodies of his elect and chosen members and cause them to liue againe and that to life eternall For the bodies of Gods elect being the members of Christ though they be neuer so much rotten putrified and consumed yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenant of grace to which because they haue right being dead they shall not remaine so for euer in their graues but shall arise againe at the last day vnto glory And by reason of this vnion and coniunction with Christ we gaine the prayers of the Saints yet liuing with vs the loue of the Saints glorified before vs the ministrie of Angels working for vs grace in earth and glory in heauen And in Christ our gaine is such as that we shall haue all losses recompenced all wants supplied all curses remoued all crosses sanctified all graces increased all hopes confirmed all promises performed all blessednesse procured Satan conquered death destroyed the graue sweetened corruption abolished sanctification perfected and heauen opened for our happy entrance And as for death it selfe we are to consider that it is chiefely sinne that makes it so terrible vnto vs for in it selfe and by it selfe it is the wages of sinne and the reuenging scourge of the angry God but vnto those that beleeue in Christ it is changed into a most sweete sleepe For although the regenerate those that beleeue in Christ doe as yet carry about the reliques of sinne in their flesh from whence also the bodie is dead that is to say subiect to death Rom. 8.10 for the sinne that dwelleth in it yet the spirit is life for righteousnesse that is because they are iustified from sinne by true faith in Christ and resist the lusts of the flesh through the Spirit therefore that sinne which yet remaineth in the flesh is not imputed vnto them but is couered with the shadow of the grace of God Therefore by death the true and spiritual life of the soule doth not die in them but doth rather begin to which death is constrained to doe as it were the office of a midwife So that now we are deliuered from sinne in Christ that it cannot hurt vs nay it is conuerted to our owne profit and therfore death hauing her strength from sinne is not to bee feared sith sinne the sting of death is ouercome What need wee feare the snake that hath lost her sting shee can only hisse and make a noyse but cannot hurt and therefore wee see that many hauing taken out the sting
what can come in the whole earth or in hell so that I may enioy Iesus Christ in the end One seeing a martyr so merry and iocund in going to his death Luk. 22.44 did aske him why he was so merry at his death seeing Christ himselfe swet water and bloud before his Passion Christ said the martyr sustained in his bodie all the sorrowes and conflicts with hell and death due vnto vs for our sinnes by whose sorrowes and sufferings saith he we are deliuered from all the sorrowes and feares of hell death and damnation For so plenteous was the passion and redemption of Christ as that faint and cold sweat that is vpon vs in the agonie of our death the same he hath sanctified by the warme and bloudy sweat of his agony and making the graue a quiet withdrawing chamber for our bodies and death which before was so terrible to body soule is now by his meanes become the very doore and entrance into the kingdome of glory And hereof Blessed Hillary who from the fourteenth yeere of his age serued the Lord in singlenes of heart and in sinceritie of life to his liues end spake these words vpon his death-bed Goe forth my soule goe forth why art thou afraid Thou hast serued Christ these seuenty yeeres and art thou now afraid to depart Bishop Ridley the night before he did suffer at his last supper inuited his hostesse the rest at the table with him to his mariage for said he tomorrow I must be married shewing thereby how ioyfull he was to die and how little he feared seeing that hee well knew hee was to goe to Christ his Sauiour So by these examples wee see what great troubles the Saints and seruants and martyrs of God endured and how ioyfull they were as at a royal feast in all those troubles and sufferings of Christ that they might enter vpon that comfortable death of the righteous They were so farre from fearing death as worldlings feare it that they ran gladly vnto it in hope of the Resurrection and reioyced in the welcome day of death as in a day of the greatest good that could befall them Why then should we feare death at all to whom many things happen far more bitter and heauie then death it selfe and yet nothing so bitter and heauie as happened to these Martyrs and Saints of God Therefore when thou commest to die set before thine eyes Christ thy Sauiour in the middest of all his torments vpon the Crosse his body whipped head thorned face spitted vpon his cheekes buffeted his sides goared his bloud spilt his heart pierced and his soule tormented replenished on the crosse with a threefold plenitude as true God true man God and man gloria gratia poena full of glorie and all magnificence because true God full of grace and mercy because God and man and full of paine and miserie because perfect man a paine continuing long various in afflicting and bitter in suffering One saith hee continued in his torments twentie houres at the least others say he was so long in paine on the crosse as Adam was in Paradise with pleasure for it was conuenient that at what time the doore of life was shut against the sinner in the same moment the gate of Paradise should be open to the penitent and at what houre the first Adam brought death into the world by sinne in the same the second Adam should destroy death in the world by the Crosse Others report that Christ slept not for fifteene nights before his Passion in remembrance of the paine yea from the first houre of his birth to the last minute of his death hee did cary the crosse of our redemption In the beholding of which spectacle to thy endlesse ioy and comfort thou shalt see Paradise in the middest of hell God the Father reconciled vnto thee God the Sonne and thy Sauiour reaching forth his hand toward thee for to succour thee and to receiue thy soule vnto himselfe and God the holy Ghost ready to embrace thee and thou shalt see the Crosse of Christ Gen. 28.12 as Iacobs Ladder set vpon the earth and the toppe of it reaching heauen and the Angels of God ascending and descending on it to cary and aduance thy soule to eternall life and glory Then seeing wee are thus graced by God both in our life and at our death be not thou afraid to die And sure it is the will of God Matth. 20.22 that you should drinke of the cup that he hath filled for you and therefore pray that you may suppe it vp with patience and receiue great comfort thereby Againe there be three things that make death tollerable to euery godly Christian The first is the necessitie of dying the second the facilitie of dying the third the felicitie of dying For the first that which cannot be auoided by any power must be endured with all patience Eccles 8.8 There is no man saith the Preacher hath power ouer the spirit to retaine it neither hath he power in the day of death The first age had it and therein may pleade antiquitie the second age felt it and may pleade continuance the last age hath it and may plead propertie in all flesh till sinne and time shall be no more Call it then no new thing that is so ancient nor a strange thing that is so vsuall neither call it an euill properly thine which is so cōmon to all the world Wilt thou feare that to be done which is alwayes in doing I meane thy dying and dost thou feare to die in thy last day when by little and little thou dyest euery day Oh well said the Apostle Saint Paul 1. Cor. 15.31 I protest by our reioycing which I haue in Christ Iesus our Lord I dye daily Then I may well say yee are alwayes dying and death is still in doing Remember my iudgement saith Iesus the sonne of Syrach for thine also shall be so yesterday for me Eccles 38.22 and to day for thee Salomon saith All things haue heere their time you to day and I to morrow and so the end of Adams line is soone runne out Death is the Empresse and Lady of all the world it seaseth vpon all flesh without surrender of any till the day of restauration no place no presence no time can backe it there is no priuiledge against the graue Eccles 41.4 there is no inquisition in the graue there is no pitie to bee shewed by the graue there is no pleading with the graue For there is no worke saith the Preacher nor deuise nor knowledge Eccles 9.10 nor wisdome in the graue whither thou goest And therefore antiquitie neuer made altar to Death or deuotion to the graue because it was implacable euer found to be cruell and neuer felt to be kinde And heere from the necessitie of dying wee come to the facilitie of dying which maketh it lesse fearefull and more tollerable for that the sence of
him to be released and if your selfe belong to God it is best for you also at this time to loose him best I say in the wisdome of God and to some end although not so in your owne reason which seeth not so farre and in all respects best Now thinke with your selfe thus much if you had done good to one and pleasured him much and all the friends he hath or any of them should crie out for it would it not grieue you surely it would grieue you so much the more by how much that vnthankefull dislike should be more vehement and last long So it is with God and therefore see what you doe and whom you moue to anger The Apostles words are plaine All things worke for the best vnto them that feare God if you beleue it and also thinke of your dead friend and your selfe God the holy Ghost who cannot lye concludeth that the same was best both for him and you which now is come to passe When good is done we should not grieue and when the best is done much lesse should we grieue for God calleth him out of this life when he is at his best if he be good that hee turne not to euill if euill that hee waxe not worse Away then with sorrow and sowre lookes and let the Lord for his mercie receiue your thankes from faithfull content and not murmuring and repining from vnbridled affections not onely good is done but the best euen the very best by the best that onely knowes what is best and it should appease and satisfie you God is no lyer neither can he be deceiued but if one houres life might haue been better either for him or you then is not the best done and then the Apostles words are not true but that were wicked once to imagine so Therefore no longer life would haue profited him or you but the very best is done blessed therefore be God for his goodnesse euer Fourthly I consider what the same Apostle saith in another place I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 which is best of all And I aske of you whether your selfe do not the like as you are able if you doe not you are yet ouer earthly and further in loue with this wicked and sinfull world then you should be If you doe it why then grieue you that your friend hath obtained that which you desire this will seeme rather enuie then loue in you to conceiue dislike for ones well doing What againe if your friend wish as the Apostle doth long before he obtained his request and now the Lord hath granted what he so heartily wished this is mercie to be reioyced for and not any miserie to bee wept for A true friend acknowledgeth a debt for the pleasuring of his friend and is not mooued with anger or griefe for the same stay then your teares if you will bee iudged a friend and neither grudge to God the companie of his child nor to the child the presence of his God because this is wicked Thinke of the glorie company immortalitie and ioy and comfort with the blessed Trinity and all the hoste of heauen that now your friend enioyeth thinke of the woes and miseries in this wretched vale of teares from which he is freed and then iudge you if the Apostle say not true that it is best to be loosed and to be with Christ If this best bee now at this instant fallen to your good friend by Gods good mercie blesse God for it and comfort your self that your friend enioyeth such endlesse ioy and comfort and thereby shall you shew your selfe a friend indeed and all that are godly and wise cannot but thinke well of you Againe the Apostle saith 2. Cor. 5.6.8 That we know that whilest wee are at home in the bodie we are absent from the Lord therefore we loue rather to remoue out of the bodie and to dwell with the Lord. From which absence from God your friend is freed and by presence and dwelling with God he is now blessed a true cause and a great cause as hath beene said of good content Then doe not you prouoke the Lord with vnthankfull teares sighes and groanes but stay that course which offendeth greatly and tread the steppes of all such as vpon the like occasion haue walked rightly by their discreet mourning Who are euer patient and moderate in sorrow repressing and ruling their affections and gaue them not a loose reine and so ought you Againe in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians it is said I would not haue you ignorant brethren concerning them that sleepe that yee sorrow not 1. Thess 4.13 as they which haue no hope Reade the place and examine your owne course whether you hope or no. First that your friend is well and then that Almightie God will supply his want to you some other way for both these are necessarie our friends are our comforts if they be good But if I tie God to them and thinke all is gone when they are gone where is my hope what pleasure to God so to trust in him that I trust more in my friends and cry out when they goe how shall I doe how shall I liue what ioy can I now haue Is this hope is this trust is this faith fie that euer affections and passions should carie any good child of God so far from his dutie and from true knowledge I say againe our friends are our comfort while the Lord lendeth them and when our friend returneth to his earth yet the Lord is in heauen where he euer was if I haue lost my father to be my father mother sister friend yea all in all to me whatsoeuer I want Therefore while he liueth which is and shall bee for euer I cannot be friendlesse though my friends die or depart from me but that either for one he will raise me vp another or himselfe supplie the place which is best of all Mourne not then I pray you as one without hope but hearken vnto the Apostle and shew foorth your faith hope and obedience vnto God to the glorie of God and your owne praise Againe wee read in the booke of Leuiticus Leuit. 10.3 that the sonnes of Aaron Nadab and Abihu were slaine by the Lord in his anger for their sinnefull presumption in offering vp strange fire which the Lord commanded them not which was a fearefull sight and spectacle to the fathers eyes to see two sonnes at once and in such sort dead Yet what did Aaron I pray you marke the text I will saith the Lord bee sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified And Aaron saith the holy Ghost there held his peace And what an example is this if any thing may mooue you to stay your affections for the death of your friends Againe it is said in the booke of the Reuelation And I heard a voyce from heauen Reu. 14.13
saying vnto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Your friend is dead in the Lord and therefore blessed will you then weepe and lament for him his workes follow him and the Lord in mercie hath crowned his obedience according to his promise and will you looke awry at it God forbid Againe consider with your selfe that your friends walk with God and are gone to their heauenly Father in peace they are gathered vnto their people they are not dead but sleepe and their flesh resteth in hope they are gone the way of all flesh and doe now behold the face of God in heauen and what cause of sorrow is this to any friend that loueth them If your friend were discharged and released out of prison and miserie and preferred to the palace of an earthly prince and to his Court to his great and exceeding ioy and content would you shewe your loue and contentment toward him in bewailing the same how much lesse then should you lament his preferment into Gods euerlasting Court and kingdome to his vnspeakable ioy and comfort Thus may you gather many places of holy Scripture and on this sort meditate on them For sweet is the word of God against all sorrowes and griefes and by name against this But it may happily be obiected it is your child that is dead and it died before it could well be baptized this grieueth me more then otherwise it would and so you feare your childs estate Answ God forbid that we should either speake or think so seeing the Lord neuer said so but contrariwise the Scripture witnesseth that they are in the Couenant of God and so in state of saluation so soone as they are borne and Baptisme doth not make them Christians that were none before but is the Sacrament the seale the signe the badge of them that are Christians before Besides it is not the want of the Sacrament that depriueth a man of Gods fauour for the children of the Israelites were not circumcised all those fortie yeeres which they liued in the wildernesse the reason whereof was because they were euer to remoue and iourney whensoeuer the pillar of the cloud that was their guide ascended and went forward Numb 9.18 c. so that they were alwaies to attend vpon the cloude both night and day not knowing when it would remooue and therefore could not circumcise their children in the wildernesse as yee may read Iosh 5.2 c. but it is the contemning or despising of the Sacrament that depriueth men of Gods fauour when they make no more account of it then Esau did of his birth-right Gen. 25.32 then Ahaz did of the Lords helpe Esay 7. and it is also the neglecting of it when God offereth time and opportunitie that we might haue it Againe the Lord neuer said that whosoeuer died vncircumcised or vnbaptized should be wiped out of the booke of life but hee hath said Gen. 17.12.14 that whosoeuer contemneth or carelesly neglecteth the Sacraments shal be cut off from among his people And so read you the notes vpon that seuenteenth chapter of Genesis and I hope they shall content you for this matter God is not tyed to the Sacrament nor euer was The contempt hurteth but not the want when it is against your will Obiect Happily your child was of ripe yeeres and withall so toward that it could not be but that he should come to some great place and preferment if he had liued both for the good of himself and his friends and that he in his youth and the flower of his age should thus bee taken away is a great losse say you Answer True it is that the losse is great in respect of the world but what is that if we consider God God is also able to supplie all that some other way if we take it well This is apparant that what good or preferment could haue come to him any way or to his friends if he had liued the Lord for some purpose as yet happily hidden hath preuented but yet his arme is not shortened as I said to doe vs good some other way but it might perhaps prooue otherwise contrarie to our expectation if he had liued longer and then it would haue beene a great griefe vnto vs. But admit that it would haue beene as you hope if he had liued longer yet he is more highly preferred euen to the highest heauens and to the presence of God and this no earthly preferment can match And except we be wholy earthly our selues we cannot but sauour this and not let his youth grieue vs for no youth nor age is too good for God when he is pleased to take them A foole or a child seeing a goodly cluster of grapes thinketh it pitie to put them into the presse to deface them but he that is wise knoweth that thereby the liquour which is in them is preserued and that this timely gathering is a meanes to keepe them from corruption So we thinke sometime Oh it is great pitie such a one should die so soone so towardly a youth so good a creature can hardly be spared but God in his wisedome knoweth it to be good And if he cut off the life of that good and godly king Iosiah as it were in the middle of the stemme 2. Kings 22.20 doubtlesse it is for this cause that his eies may not see the manifold euils to come If you will be ruled to weigh things with reason you may well see mercie euen in this timely death for many are the perils both of bodie and soule that young men auoid when they are taken hence false doctrine heresies errours and many grieuous sinnes wounding the very conscience with a biting worme that euer gnaweth publike calamities and ruine of state many priuate miseries great and grieuous which no man can thinke of beforehand more bitter to good men then any death from all which this happie deliuerance in time of youth doth free your child and set him safe that you shall neuer mourne with him nor for him that way And herein we haue Dauid an example of godly fortitude who hauing a child sicke did while it liued afflict his soule besought God for the child and fasted and wen◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lay all night vpon the earth and would not be comforted Thus while there was hope of remedie he gaue way to the sorrow of his heart 2. Sam. 12.16 but when Dauid perceiued that the child was dead then he arose from the earth and washed and anointed himselfe and changed his apparell and came into the house of the Lord and worshipped and after came to his owne house and bad that they should set bread before him and he did eate His sorrow ended when he once saw there was no hope of enioying any longer the companie of his child Now this course seemed vnto
cherished so long Wilt thou make thy selfe hatefull by making opposition against his loue Wilt thou malitiously oppose thy selfe against the worke of his care while in fatherly loue he is desirous to keepe thee in safety Wilt thou striue more then all the World besides to worke thy owne decay The Angels in heauen vnderstanding the care of God for thee doe willingly pitch their tents about thee and refuse not for thy safety to beare thee in their hands and keepe thee in thy wayes the Diuels of Hell by Gods prouidence are kept off from thee as with a strong hedge which they can neyther clime ouer nor breake through whereby to impeach thy safety Iob. 5.23 And while the Creator of all things remayneth thy keeper the creatures are in league with thee and thou liuest in peace amongst them and while the worke of God that preserueth thy life hath this power amongst all Creatures that the creatures of heauen will not attempt thy hurt the creatures of the earth do not nor dare attempt it and the creatures of Hell cannot Wilt thou alone seeke vnmercifully to crosse the care of God in working thine owne woe Thou art then worthy whom the heauenly Creatures should abhorre whome the earthly creatures should forsake and the hellish Creatures embrace receyuing thee into their Company with this greeting This is he whom God would haue kept but against the loue of the Angels of heauen against the peace of the Creatures of the earth and beyond the power and malice of vs the Angels of darknesse hee hath destroyed himselfe Besides it is God that hath assigned to euery one of vs the measure of our time hee hath appointed to vs the number of our dayes our life did not beginne till hee appointed the first day of it and so long it must last vntill he say this is the last day of it No man did set downe for himselfe when hee would come into the world nor no man may set downe for himselfe when or how hee will leaue the vvorld The soule of man sayth the Orator before her departure from the body doth oftentimes diuine but then it destroyes not it selfe for God sent vs into the world giuing vs life and God must call vs out by taking our life It is the saying of Iob Is there not an appointed time to man vpon earth Iob. 7.1 and are not his dayes as the dayes of an hireling The beginning and end of mans time is appointed by God he cannot lengthen it when the end commeth nor ought to shorten it before the time come Saint Ambrose sayth we are bound to maintaine our bodies and forbidden to kill our soules and bodies they are married together by God himselfe and those whom God hath ioyned together let no man be so bold to put in sunder Cogimur diligere vt sponsus sponsam Adam Euam sayth S. Barnard Wee must bee so farre from hating our owne flesh as that wee are commaunded to cherish it to loue it entirely as the husband ought to loue his wife Adam his Eue. Wee may imploy it in labour but we must not slay it and the more wee shall imploy it the lesse hurtfull and dangerous it will proue vnto vs. His dayes are as the dayes of an Hireling an Hireling is entertained for so many dayes longer then his couenant he may not stay and a shorter time hee may not stay Such is the life of man he is Gods hireling for so many dayes years he hath hired him in this world as in Gods Vineyard to worke in some honest calling When wee haue serued out our time here wee may stay no longer and till wee haue serued out our time here we may not depart Thou wilt therefore be found to bee a fugitiue seruant from God if thou depart his seruice before the time be full out that belongeth to God and not to thee to set downe The Prophet Dauid sayeth of God in one of the Psalmes Psal 68.20 To the Lord God belong the issues of death To God it belongeth and not to man to set downe who shall dye when and by what meanes he shall dye Sometime he vseth the hand of the Magistrate sometime the hand of the violent and so endeth one mans life as wee thinke by the counsell and worke of another man But neuer did hee giue licence to any man to kill himselfe he hath forbidden murther by his commandement Thou shalt not kill Exod. 20,13 Hee condemned it in Cain from the beginning of the World to whom hauing slaine Abel he said Gen. 4,10 What hast thou done the voyce of thy brothers bloud cryes to mee from the ground Now therefore thou art cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receiue thy brothers bloud from thine hand And after the floud when he began again to replenish the earth with Inhabitants he made a Lawe against murder to restraine both man and beast from committing it saying Gen 9.5 I will surely require your bloud wherin your liues are at the hand of euery beast will I require it and at the hand of man euen at the handes of a mans brother will I require the life of man Who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud bee shedde for in the Image of God hath he made man So offensiue unto God it is for a man without warrant and authority to kill any because man was made in the Image of God a creature of vnderstanding endued with excellent vertues of knowledge and righteousnesse with resemblance in these vertues vnto God himselfe in making of whom it pleased God to shew his excellent power his wisedome and his mercy Man is Microcosmos sayth one an abridgement of the world hee hath Heauen resembling his soule earth his heart placed in the middest as a Center the Lyuer is like the Sea whence flow the liuely springs of bloud the braine like the Sunne giues the light of vnderstanding and the sences are set round about like the Starres the heart in man is like the roote of a tree the Organe or Lung-pipe that comes of the left cell of the heart is like the stocke of the tree which diuides it selfe into two parts and thence spreades abroad as it were sprayes and boughes into all the bodie euen to the arteries of the head the head is called the Tower of the mind the throne of reason the house of vvisedome the treasure of memory the Capitoll of iudgement the shoppe of affections And concerning man sayeth another God hath made such diuers and contrary elements to meete together in one and the selfe same body and accord in one fire and water ayre and earth heate and colde and all in one and the selfe same place yet hath so tempered them together as that one is the defence and maintenance of another Nay more then this sayth Saint Bernard mirabilis societas in man hee hath made a wonderfull society for in him Heauen
and shunne him because he would else soone make his filth cleaue vnto vs. So wicked and vngodly persons do set their sinnes as markes vpon those with whom they company and disperse and scatter their filth where they come and leaue a print or badge of their prophanesse behind them and shall wee sit so close vnto them who haue so plunged themselues in the myre of sin who should rather labour eyther to draw them out of filthinesse or withdraw our selues that we proue not as loathsome and filthy as they are Should we not rather say If any will be filthie let him be filthy still by himselfe If any will bee vniust let him be vniust still by himselfe If any will be beastly let him be beastly alone The filthie person and beastly man shall not haue me for a companion Heb. 10.38 My soule shall haue no pleasure in him And as saith the Prouerbes of the Ancients Wickednesse proceedeth of the wicked 1 Sam. 24.13 but mine hand shall not be vpon thee We cannot alwayes withdraw our selues and auoyde those that bee such yet we must in affection separate from them when we cannot in place but not delight to sitte downe with them on one stoole that is wee must not bee as they are Dauid had an eye to this blessed hope of being one of Christs attendants hereafter and therefore would not bee for all companies but professed himselfe to bee a companion onely of such as feared God Psal 119.63 I am a compani sayth he of all such as feare thee and of them that keepe thy precepts Hee would not hazard his fraile potsheard vpon the rocke of euill company for any thing And wherefore did Dauid say in one of his Psalmes Psal 26.4.5 I haue not sitten with vaine persons neyther will I goe in with dissemblers I haue hated the congregation of euill doers and will not sit with the wicked but because hauing fellowship with God he feared to haue any fellowship with the contemners of God and was perswaded that as God will not take the vngodly by the hand as Iob speaketh so none of Gods company should Iob. 8.20 Also he was loath to make them his companions on earth of whom he could haue no hope that they should bee his companions in heauen Wee are more inclinable to vice then to vertue so vice is more strong in the wicked then vertue in the good whereby it followeth that the societie of euil men is dangerous to the good and that as a hundred sound men shall sooner catch the plague from one infected person then hee recouer his health by them so the good are more often peruerted by the wicked then the wicked conuerted by the good and for this cause GOD loueth not to see his children amongst the wicked for this cause hee commanded his people to destroy the Inhabitants of the Countrey which they were to possesse Numb 16.26 lest by their societie they should bee drawne into their sinnes as afterwards they were indeede He commaunded also not to touch any creature that was vncleane and that whosoeuer toucheth a dead body should bee vncleane but no Creature is so vncleane as a sinner no death like to the death of sinne And therefore I will avoyde wicked men as the most vncleane of all liuing creatures and as the most loathsome of those which are dead I speake to the faithfull whom I would not haue to go out of the world to auoide the wicked that are in it 1 Cor. 5 9.10 11. but intreat by the tender mercies of â—od and of Christ to bee as carefull as they can to auoide them and their wicked assemblie and if they must vse them for necessity not to vse them as companions neyther to draw with them in any yoake of affection but rather to draw backe when the wicked are in place that they may not bee eye or eare-witnesses of their dayly dishonouring of God We are commaunded in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ 2. Thess 3.6 to withdraw our selues from euery brother that walketh disorderly All this may be done when we loue the men and hate the vices when we suffer them to haue no quietnesse in their sinnes and yet liue quietly and offer quietnesse to themselues Hee that will wholy abandon the company of them that are euill must as the Apostle sayth get himselfe out of the world 1 Cor. 5.10 and therefore Saint Ambrose sayeth fitlie to this purpose Wee ought to flie the company of wicked men in respect of priuate fellowshippe and not in respect of publike communion and that rather with our hearts and affections then with our bodies and outward actions wee may not hate our brother but loue him yet if we loue the Lord Leuit. 19.17 Psal 97.16 Rom. 12.18 wee must hate that which is euill where the Apostle sayth If it be possible as much as lyeth in you liue peaceably with all men We may haue no peace with the manners yet we must liue peaceably with the men Thus then in a word out of the words of the Apostle the controuersie may be decided If it bee possible so farre forth as may stand with our faith and profession as much as lyeth in you let vs doe our part and performe our best endeauour to liue peaceably if we cannot haue peace yet let vs liue peaceably with all men with the bad to reforme them with the good to conform our selues vnto them with our enemies to shunne them with our friends to keepe them And here is comfort for the children of God whom the wicked thrust out of their company and would if they could thrust out of the world because of their conscience to God Psal 38.20 and because they follow the thing that good is And hereof it is that the Wiseman saieth that Hee that is vpright in the way Prou. 29.27 is abomination to the wicked And hence it is also that the Prophet sayeth Hee that departeth from euill maketh himselfe a prey and the Lord saw it and it displeased him Esay 59.15 And though they bee not accepted where euill men beare sway which is no disparagement to them but glorie nor losse but gaine yet they are esteemed of the good and admired of the euill though not followed of them Doe the wicked hate them they shall loose nothing by such hatred for God and good men will loue them Will not the vnrighteous haue any fellowshippe with them It is so much the better for them for they are in lesse daunger of corruption and in more possibility of grace goodnes And where meÌ„ that be euil auoid them Christ his thousands of Angels wil stick close vnto theÌ„ Heb. 11.38 Those Worthies of whom wee reade in the Epistle to the Hebrewes were most cruelly dealt with all and persecuted in the World Of whom the world was not worthy for the wicked did driue them out of their companies by sharpe
persecutions into desarts mountaines and holes of the earth But they were worthy and had farre better company hauing a kind of fellowship with Christ and all the Saints that were gone before them So for the faithfull that now liue if the wicked and vngodly make no more of them then of the filth of the World and as of the of scouring of all things as the Apostles speaketh it is because they are too good to liue amongst them and too precious to be cast before swine 1 Cor. 4 13. that so treade and trample them vnder their feet And where they say away with such fellowes from the earth Math. 7.6 for it is not fitte that they should liue Christ will in his due time take them from the earth by a blessed and most sweet death Act. 22.22 to haue the company and fellowship with him his Angels and Saints and with all the holy company of Heauen and then they shall haue their desire Thirdly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of our sinnes to the end we might not offend God any more by sinning And what a miserie and bondage it is to bee in subiection to sin may appeare by the most earnest and feruent prayer of the blessed Apostle Saint Paul vvho feeling the waight and heauie burden thereof 2 Cor. 12.7.8.9 he desired God with earnest zeale and feruencie and with deepe sighes and groanes that hee might be deliuered from it And againe after the long and lamentable complaint that the Apostle made of the Law that was in his members striuing against the law of the Spirit and leading him captiue into the law of sinne hee breaketh forth into this most patheticall exclamation O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from the body of this death or this body of death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 7.24.25 The Prophet Dauid also feeling the heauy waight of his sinnes maketh his grieuous complaint and mone thereof vnto God saying There is no soundnesse in my flesh Psal 38.34 because of thine anger neyther is there any rest in my bones because of my sinnes for mine iniquities are gone ouer my head as a heauie burthen they are too heauy for me If a man would inuent a torment for such as feare God and desire to walke in newnesse of life and to haue part in the first resurrection hee cannot deuise a greater torment then to be disquieted with this tyranny of sinne and with this vnquiet vnhappy Iebusite euen the rebellion and corruption of our owne flesh and this heauie weight of sinne that doth cleaue and hang so fast vpon vs. O happy therefore and blessed death that dischargeth and freeth vs from so sore combersome and cruell bondage and from further offending of him who dyed for our sins So that death freeth vs from the necessity of sinning also brings vs to bee with Christ And to desire death in this case is not a loathing to liue but a loathnesse to sinne In which case Iob desired death because of his sinnes that he might not offend â—od any more and therefore hee sayth Iob. 6.8.9 10. O that I might haue my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for euen that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off then should I yet haue comfort Now in the meane while till we can haue our desire in this case accomplished Rom. 6.12 wee must resist and striue against our sinnes that they may not raigne in our mortall bodies and let all our endeauor and care increase against our sins that the force of them may be dayly weakened their number lessened and all occasions of sinning auoyded Fourthly it is lawfull to desire death in respect of the miseries calamities and troubles of this life and for the preuenting of the miseries to come And yet this holy desire must not be simple and absolute but it must bee restrained with certain respects and with these reseruations First it must bee desired so farre forth as it is a meanes to put an end to all our miseries to all the dangers of this life to all the corruption of nature and to the necessity of sinning Secondly as it is a gate by which wee enter into the immediate fellowship with Christ and of God And our desire also for these endes must keepe it selfe within these limits wherein two Caueats must bee obserued First it must not bee immoderate exceeding the golden meane Secondly it must alwayes be with a reseruation of Gods good pleasure and with an humble submission and subiection of our willes to the will of God For if eyther of these be wanting the desire of death is defectiue faulty and dangerous Death frees vs from the miseries and perils of this world abolisheth all present and preuents all future dangers and brings vs to be with Christ What man wearied with labour desires not rest what Mariner tossed vpon the seas wisheth not to come into safe harbour What traueller toiled with a tedious and perilous iorney would not willingly come to his wayes end what sicke maÌ„ accepts not health what slaue imbraceth not freedome what prisoner doth not entertaine inlargement what captiue would not welcome liberty what husbandman would be euer toyling and not at length receiue the fruit of his labour what marchant is content to liue euer in danger by sea and by land amongst Pyrats and robbers not to come at last safe home with his wealth And lastly what man hauing the reuersion of a goodly kingdome would be loath to receyue the possession of it And sure wee are all in this case by reason of the manifold miseries incident to vs in this world that wee haue good cause to wish with a holy desire to be loosed from al these miseries and to be with our Sauiour Christ and in the meane time Luk. 21.19 till we can haue our desire in this case Let patience possesse our soules Fifthly and lastly it is lawfull to desire death for the perfecting and full accomplishment of that coniunction and vnion which wee haue in Christ Iesus our head that wee might be where he is to enioy his presence For we are saith the Apostle members of his body of his flesh Eph. 5.30 and of his bones that is we are most straightly coupled to Christ by the spirituall band of our faith which vnion is most admirable For first wee are vnited to his Godhead that is not by transfusion of the diuine substaÌ„ce but by effectual working by the manhood and secondly wee are one with his manhood that is really and substantially Ioh. 15.5 as appeareth by those Similitudes by which this vnion is expressed in holy Scriptures as namely First of the Vine and branches Ioh. 3.29 Rom. 11.18 Eph. 2.20 Eph. 1.23 Secondly of the Bridegroome and the Bride Thirdly of the Oliue tree and the
God done sayth Cyprian to good and bad to the harmlesse and the harmefull Eccles 9.2 to the religious and irreligious to the holy and prophane to the swearer and to him that feareth an oath And hee maketh as our Sauiour Christ sayeth in the Gospel of Saint Mathew Mat. 5.4.5 His sunne to shine on the euill and on the good and sendeth raine on the iust and vniust Whence wee may well reason thus that if GOD dealeth so graciously with vs on earth hee will do much more for vs and to vs in heauen if he bestowed such benefites vpon strangers nay vpon enemies he hath better things in store for his owne househould yea for vs which are his friends If he dealeth so liberally and bountifully with slaues hee will be much more liberall and bountifull to vs which are his sonnes in heauen Againe the excellencie of the creatures of God argues a greater yea incomparably greater excellency in the Creator himselfe as well doeth Barnard obserue Thou wondrest sayeth hee at the brightnesse of the Sunne beautie in the flowers sauorie relish in bread fertility in the earth Now consider that all are the gifts of God and there is no doubt but that hee hath reserued much more to himselfe for thee in heauen then he hath communicated and imparted to the Creatures here vpon earth Againe we may conceyue of these ioyes of heauen Luk 12.27.28 by taking a view of the inferiour beauties Consider sayth our Sauiour Christ the Lillyes of the field how they grow and flourish I say vnto you that Salomon in all his glory was not like to one of these All Salomons glorie not like to one Lillie Hath God put such glorie and gladnesse vpon the grasse of the field hath he so gorgeously attired them which to day haue a being and to morrow are cut downe and cast into the furnace How much more then shall be the glory and ioy of you in heauen O yee of little faith Therefore when wee meete with any thing that is excellent in the Cteatures we may say to our selues how much more excellent is hee that gaue them this excelâ—ency When we finde admirable wisedome in men how they rule al creatures by cunning ouercome them that are farre stronger then themselues ouertake them that are farre swifter then themselues out-runne the Sunne and Moone in discourse telling many yeares before hand what courses they must hold when they shall be eclipsed Let vs say to our selues how wise is that God which gaue such wisedome vnto men Againe when we see any thing strong as the Lyon or the Elephant Act. 40.15.16 Iob. 41.1 1 King 19.11 whose strength is described in the booke of Iob or the whale whose strength is also there described or the winde which is sayd in the first booke of the Kings to bee so great and strong that it rent the mountaines brake in peeces the rockes or the thunder or such like at the huge noyse whereof as it is sayde in the booke of Exodus it made all the people in the Campe to feare and tremble Ex. 19 16. Let vs then say how strong is that God that giueth this strength vnto them Againe when wee see rare beauty in men or women or most glorious colours in flowers birdes and other creatures Let vs then say how farre more beautifull and amiable is that God that giueth this beauty and comelinesse vnto them And when wee taste things that are exceeding comfortable and sweet as honey and such like Let vs then say how sweete and comfortable is that GOD that giueth that sweetenesse Now from al this let vs conclude that if the creatures can affoord such pleasure comfort contentment and delight what will the Creator himselfe doe when we shall immediately enioy his glorious presence after death In thy presence sayth the Psalmist Psal 16.11 is fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore Surely this world compared to the world to come is as it were but a little village to the greatest and most spatious City nay it is but as it were a gatehouse or Porters lodge to the most wide glorious and magnificent Pallace of the greatest Prince in the World and if the Gatehouse bee so fayre how fayre and glorious is the Pallace it selfe Moreouer consider what great ods there is between Gods mediate and immediate presence to enioy him in the creatures and to enioy him in himselfe The creatures yea the most excellent creatures are as it were but a vayle or curtaine drawne between God and vs which vayle or curtaine being drawne aside wee shall see God face to face and then how glorious will that sight bee And though we know not what it is to behold the face of God yet herein consisteth the highest degree of our happinesse Isa 33.17 Therefore are the ioyes of the Saints in heauen super superlatiue because theyr eyes doe alwayes behold their King in the excellency of his beauty and glory It is a pleasing sight and delightsome to the eye to behold the Sunne but that is sayth Bernard the true and only ioy indeed which is conceyued from the Creator not from the creature Iohn the Baptist leaped in his mothers wombe Luk. 1.41 when but the mother of his Maker came neere vnto him The Wise men reioyced exceedingly when they saw but his Starre The Bethshemites reioiced greatly at the sight of the Ark. Math 2.10 Were these causes of great and vnwonted ioy and gladnesse 1 Sam. 6.13 theÌ„ much more are the Saints of God rauished with ioy in heauen where they shal continually see and behold God face to face Wee are to consider that there is a twofold vision or sight of God the one called by some of the learned visio viae the sight of the way and means that bringeth home to God the other visio patriae the sight of tâ—e Countrey where God is that is his home and habitation with his Saints and Angels They are happy that see the way that bringeth and leadeth home to God but more happy that are at home in heauen dwelling neuer to bee remoued out of his presence and Country Of these two sortes of visions meaneth the Apostle Saint Paul When hee sayth 1 Cor 13.12 for now wee see through a glasse darkely but then wee shall see face to face Touching the first kind of the sight of God which is termed visio viae or as Saint Paul in a glasse darkly in a word this sight consisteth in true faith and knowledge of God And thus to see God by sound and sauing knowledge grounded vpon his word and by a true and liuely iustifying faith from this knowledge arising This I say is onely proper to Gods elect children who in time shall come to see him at home face to face in the fulnes of ioies for euer And touching visio patriae a seeing of God in his Country or his home or
with whom all things are possible as our Sauiour Christ saith in the Gospell Againe we may roue at the glorious estate of the children of God after death by that high price which was set on theÌ„ Our Sauiour Iesus Christ the Sonne and only Son of God not by adoption but by nature louing and best beloued bought them not with money but with bloud not with the bloud of Goats and Rammes but with his owne bloud and not with the bloud of his head hands or feete but with his owne heart bloud And as he prayed soundly for them himselfe in his last prayer which he made vnto his heauenly Father a little before his suffering as appeareth in the Euangelist Saint Iohn Iohn 17.1 so hath he prised them vnto his friends and children and none can enter into them but by many tribulations Acts 7.59 For we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdome of God They did cost Paul a beheading Peter a crucifying Stephen a stoning millions of Martyrs racking burning torturing tormenting and a thousand other kinds of deathes and our deere Sauiour Christ himselfe a suffering Ought not Christ to haue suffered these things Luke 24.26 and so to enter into his glorie 1. Cor. 10.13 God who is faithfull and true as the Apostle speaketh hath not deceiued his Sonne nor ouer-sold his ioyes vnto his Saints and children and therfore vnspeakable are those ioyes which Christ hath purchased and his children obtained through a world of miseries Againe wee haue a resemblance of these ioyes in Christs transfiguration vpon the Mount Luk. 9.28.29.30.31.32.33 when as the fashion of his countenance was altered and his rayment was white and glistering whereby wee learne what glory our bodies shall haue in the day of the resurrection wheÌ„ as the blessed Apostle Saint Paul telleth vs that as we haue borne the image of the earthly we shall also beare the image of the heauenly 1. Cor. 15.49 and be like the Sonne of God in glory Againe we may make coniecture of these ioyes by reflecting our eyes vpon those innumerable perils which wee haue heere escaped For if such as are deliuered from the dangers of the sea doe wonderfully reioyce when they come safe on shore much greater then is the ioy of those who hauing beene tossed in the waues of this troublesome world troubled with sinnes with Satan with frailties of the flesh with the feare of hell whose dangers saith Gregorie appeare by the multitude of those that perish are now arriued at heauen for their hauen and are wholly freed from all their calamities and miseries And as Saint Augustine wel speaketh the more dangers escaped the more ioyes encreased as the most doubtfull battell maketh the most ioyfull victorie Againe we doe reade in the booke of Hester Hester 6.6.7.8.9.10.11 that when Haman was by King Ahashuerosh willed to speak what shal be done to the maÌ„ whom the King would honor he supposing that the King had no meaning to honor any but himselfe said this Let them bring forth for him royall apparell which the King vseth to weare and the horse that the King vseth to ride on and that the Crowne Royall may be set vpon his head and that his apparell and horse bee deliuered to one of the Kings most noble Princes that they may array the man withall whom the King delighteth to honor and bring him on horse-back thorow the streetes of the Citie and proclaime before him Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King will honor Then the King said to Haman Make haste c. Euen so shall it be done vnto them whom the King of kings and Lord of lords will honor after death First there shal be put vpon them royal apparel Reu. 3.4 5. euen long white roabes which are such as Iesus Christ the King of glory himselfe is described to weare Secondly they shal sit vpon Iesus Christ his owne horse Reu. 19.11 which is said in the booke of the Reuelation to be a white horse for Iohn there saith I saw heauen opened and behold a white horse and hee that sate vpon him was called faithfull and true To him therefore saith the Sonne of God that ouercommeth Reu. 3.21 will I grant to fit with me in my throne euen as I also ouercame and am set on my fathers throne Thirdly the Crowne royall shall bee set vpon their heads Be thou faithfull vnto death saith the Sonne of God and I will giue thee a crowne of life Reu. 2.10 And this is that most excellent glorie which the Saints haue in heauen shadowed out vnto vs by a kingly crowne which of all earthly things is most glorious Fourthly this glorie shal be furthered by the hands of the king of heauens most noble Princes Mat. 24.31 He shall send his Angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather his elect from the foure windes from one end of heauen to the other Fiftly and lastly the Saints shal be entred into the ful fruition of their inheritance with such ioy and triumph in the glorious assembly of all the Saints and holy Angels as the like was neuer seene in the world no not in Ierusalem that day when king Solomon sate downe in his father Dauids throne 1. King 1.40 But all that is nothing comparable to this ioy triumph and glorie of Gods Saints And it shal be as it were proclaimed before them Thus shall it bee done vnto them whom the King of glory will honour And this honour saith the Psalmist Psal 149.9 haue all his Saints There is no king on the earth can produce so ancient right to his Crown as the Christian effectually called can to these ioyes of heauen no maÌ„ on the earth can be acknowledged his fathers heire vpoÌ„ such sufficient warraÌ„t as the godly Christian No freeholder so surely infeoffed in his lands hauing so many confirmations of his right as hath the iustified Christian who vpoÌ„ his gift hath receiued the earnest the pledge the seale and the witnesse of the great king of glorie Wee doe reade in the first booke of the Kings that when the queene of Sheba heard of the fame of Salomon 1. King 10.11 concerning the name of the Lord she came from a very farre Countrey to proue him with hard questions and she communed with him of all that was in her heart and Salomon told her all her questions and there was not any thing hid from the king which he told her not And when shee had seene all Salomons wisedome and the house which he had built and the meat of his table and the siâ—ting of his seruants and the attendance of his ministers and their apparell and his Cup-bearers and his ascent by which he went vp into the house of the Lord. It is there said that there was no more spirit in her And she said to the king it was a true report that I
how deckt with stars as with sparkling Diamonds What would wee say if wee could see into it Mat. 17.1 and behold though with Peter Iames and Iohn at a glance or blush superficially the goodly pauement of heauen within whose floore is of gold and wall about it garnished with precious stones Mat. 4.8 And what is a kingdome here where all the kingdomes of the world and the glorie of them were shewed in the twinkling of an eye Luke 4 5. as it is in the Gospel if there were not hope of a better kingdome where all shall be kings and reigne with Christ eternallly And they which here haue reigned as kings vpon the earth shall lose nothing but gaine immeasurably by the change yea kings and queenes which haue beene nursing fathers and nursing mothers to the Church of God as the Prophet speaketh when they come thither Isay 49.23 shall cast away their Crownes as Elias 2. King 2.13 when hee went vp by a whirlewind into heauen let his cloake or mantle fall from him and they shal repent nothing there saue that they came no sooner thither and when they shall compare their earthly and heauenly kingdomes together they shall say as S. Peter said of the mount Mat. 17.4 bonum est esse hic It is good to be here in heauen but for the earth they shall bee as loth to looke backe vnto it as Moyses to goe backe into the land of Egypt For their pallaces shall then seeme prisons their golden chaines golden fetters their crownes crosses and all their earthly honors but burdens and vexations But when they shall looke vpon the face of God they shall say to him with triumph as it is in the Psalme With thee is the well of life Psal 16.11 in thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand are pleasures for euermore Thirdly if Adams paradise and garden was so delightsome and pleasant how pleasant and glorious is Gods owne seat of his owne residence He spake it with a wondring tongue whose heart could not comprehend so infinite an excellencie in saying as we haue heard before How glorious things are spoken of thee O thou city of God! Psal 87.3 For though in the letter this worthy Prophet spake of that earthly heauen which he confessed to be in the material tabernacle because of Gods presence and the godly exercises of Gods people performed there yet his meaning was vnder the cloud of the phrase to direct Gods children to a higher tabernacle and house of greater glory then that which was earthly and vnder the doome of time Againe saith the blessed Apostle 2. Cor. 3,7,8,9,10,11 If the ministration of death written and ingrauen in the stones was glorious so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which glory was to bee done away how shall not the ministration of the spirit bee rather glorious For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious much more doth the ministration of righteousnesse exceed in glorie For euen that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glorie that excelleth For if that which was done away was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious And if the preaching of the Gospel whereby God giueth his quickening spirit working the life of grace in his elect be glorious then much more shall the true professors of the Gospel be made partakers of farre greater glorie in the kingdome of heauen Againe wee doe reade in the first booke of Samuel 1. Sam. 18.23 that when Dauid was perswaded by Saul by the meanes of his seruant to become the Kings sonne in law it is there said by Dauid Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the Kings sonne in law seeing that I am a poore man and lightly esteemed Then if it be accounted a great honor and glory to be a sonne and childe to an earthly King much more honorable and glorious it is to be the sonne and childe of the King of heauen Behold saith Saint Iohn what manner of loue the Father hath bestowed vpon vs 1. Iohn 3.1 that wee should bee called the sonnes of God Which glorie all the tongues of men and Angels as wee haue heard before can in no wise expresse as witnesseth the blessed and glorious Apostle Saint Paul himselfe who was in it 2. Cor. 12.1,2,3,4,5 and saw it and therefore he saith I knew a man in Christ aboue foureteene yeeres agoe whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the bodie I cannot tell God knoweth such a one caught vp into the third heauen and heard vnspeakable words which it is not lawfull or possible for a man to vtter So great and infinite are the glory and ioyes of the kingdome of God as they cannot enter into vs and therefore it is appointed that we must enter into them Therefore it is said Matth. 25.21 Well done thou good and faithfull seruant thou hast beene faithfull ouer a few things I will make thee ruler ouer many things enter thou into the ioy of thy Lord. Now if the Queene of Sheba as we heard before pronounced the seruants of King Salomon happie 1. King 10.8 for that they stood continually before him and heard his wisdome then much more happy are the Saints and seruants of God who doe continually with his holy Angels stand and behold the glorious presence of one which is greater then King Salomon Matth. 18.10 euen the God of glory himselfe In which respect Saint Ambrose on his death bed said We are happie in this that we serue so good a Master Yea happie is the people saith the Psalmist that is in such a case Psal 144.15 yea happie is that people whose God is the Lord. Yea blessed and happie are all those which so liue in this world that departing hence they may be assured to come into so glorious a place and presence Wee see by experience when a Country-man hath beene trained vp sometime in the Court he forgetteth his clownish kinde of life and becommeth a Courtier let vs therefore leaue the speeches habite fashion 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 alreadie there 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 In the meane time till thou come into this glorious place and presence aske of God by heartie and faithfull prayer to giue thee grace entirely and from the bottome of thy heart both to vnderstand and desire the ioyes and glory thereof and so to be affected and rauished with the delight thereof that euer and euery where thou mayest be stirred vp to serue