bellie Gods whō the trencher doth make friendes to Christ like vnto him which when he sweat ouer his trencher yet cryed out O quanta patimur pro amore Christi Lorde what suffer we for the loue of Christ Iesus therfore reprehendeth these men saying Verily verily I say vnto you yee seeke mee not because yee sawe the miracles but because yee cate the loanes and were filled Yet they obstinatly aunswered him VVhat miracles hast thou done hast thou commaunded the Sun and the Moone to stand still as Iosua did hast thou reuiued the widdowes son as Elias did hast thou made yron to swim as Eliza did hast thou reuiued the dead bones as Ezechiell did hast thou been in the VVhales belly with Ionas or parted the redde sea with Moses Our Fathers did eate Manna in the VVildernesse Moses gaue them bread from heauen to eate but marke I pray you how Iesus did aunswere them Nay saith hee Moses gaue you not bread from Heauen but my Father gyueth you the true Breade from Heauen For the breade of GOD is hee vvhich commeth downe from Heauen and giueth life vnto the world Then sayde they vnto him Lorde euermore giue vs this Breade And Iesus sayde I am the Breade of life hee that commeth to me shall not hunger he that belieueth in me shall neuer thirst And thus much for the cohaerence and occasion of our Sauiour Christs wordes now particularly as they lie in order first who is this Breade VVhich is Christ persona loquens signified in this word I. Secondly what is this breade It is the breade of life Thirdly the powerfull efficacie and effect of this bread declared in these wordes Hee that commeth to mee shall not hunger and hee that belieueth in mee shall neuer thirst And first vvho is this Breade which is Christ I am the liuing Breade vvhich came downe from heauen saith Christ Ego sum panis vitae et fons aquae viuae I am the bread of life and sountaine of liuing water Omnia nobis est Christus sayth Ambrose si esuris ipse est panis si sitis ipse est fons aquae viua si carus es ipse est lumen si infirmus es ipse medicus si mortuus ipse vita gratiae et gloriae Christ is all things to vs if thou beest hungry he is bread if thou beest thirsty he is the fountaine of liuing water if thou beest blind he is the light hee is the health of a feauered soule light of thy life life of thy desire heauen of the minde guide to thy wandring feete succorer in necessity helper in aduersitie yea hee is all things to thee I am the liuing bread sayth Christ The bread which I giue is my flesh and the drinke which I giue is my blood my flesh is meate indeede and my blood is drinke indeede Hee that cateth my flesh drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the latter day O blessed meate O celestiall food O heauenly Manna it farre excelleth the Poets Ambrosia would to God that all of vs daily might eate of this Manna would to God that all of vs which trauell in the Wildernesse of this world might lodge at such an Inne where God the father is the host the holy Ghost the hostesse the Church the Inne the crosse the signe and Christ the meate and drinke Aristotell must dine when it pleaseth Phillip but heere thou maist haue store of spirituall foode for the repast of thy soule and take it when it please thy selfe Say but thy grace before this blessed banquet and then sit downe and satisfie thy hunger The more thou eatest the more it encreaseth like to Iupiters nectar the more it is drunke of the more it ouerfloweth Neither needst thou vse the counsaile of Lysander which hee perscribed to his Daughters to drinke with a drop of wine a spunful of water Thou maist drinke as much of this pretious wine as thou wilt neither canst thou infuse any mixture of water but of the water of eternall life This meate is of the like quality with the stone of Thracia which whosoeuer findeth is neuer after troubled so whosoeuer eateth of this meate is neuer after grieued labour therefore to get this meate which endureth to euerlasting life No water was so good as that which came out of the Rocke no meate so delicate as Manna which came from heauen no wine so wholesome as that which Christ made of water at the marriage of Cana no oyle so pretious as that which the Samaritan had no robe so costly as that which the father gaue to the prodigall son no bread no foode no meate so profitable as this meate of the soule which endureth to euerlasting life This meate is water to refresh vs and wine to cheare vs this is bread to strengthen vs and Manna to nourish vs it is a treasure to inrich vs and a pearle to adorne vs it is a fire to purge vs and salt to pouder vs it is a trumpet to call vs and wisedome to instruct vs it is a way to direct vs and life to reuine vs it is a Lanterne to guide vs and a buckler to shield vs it is phisicke to recure vs and a salue to heale vs if wee haue this meate this Manna this bread we shall haue no neede of Elizens to increase our oyle no neede to begge at the gluttons gate or to send vnto Naball the churle for foode if wee haue this treasure wee shall not neede to rob the Egiptians if we haue this pearle we shall not neede the golde of Ophire if we haue this water wee neede not drawe water at Iacobs well Naaman needes not wash his feete seauen times in Iordan the sicke needes not to goe to the poole of Bethesda for this pretious meate and inestimable Manna will purge vs from all leprosie of sinne So that we shall loath to drinke of the slumbering cup of the deuills sorceries to bewitch vs to sinne this bread is Homers Moly and Plinies Centauria against all lustfull inchauntments for this bread this spirituall foode will so clense our mindes and purifie our harts that we will alwaies detest the eye-pleasing baits of carnall desires and wholly delight our selues with this inestimable treasure carnall voluptuousnes is transitorie and fading the minuts that lackey at the heeles of time runne not faster away then doe those pleasures but this spirituall foode this breade of life is not like palate-pleasing dainties whose sugered sweetenesse once rellisht is presently gone but it yieldeth the hungry soule an euerlasting fruition of most rauishing pleasantnesse labour therfore for this bread which bringeth to euerlasting life The Bees doe labour to get a little hony Mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas But this bread is sweeter then honie or the hony-combe Our forefathers did eate of the Acorns of the Oakes and thought them pleasant meate And we which by Ceres huswifrie haue learned to bury the
this bread is the bread of heauen which giueth life vnto the world Therefore be carefull to seeke for this breade for Christ doth not forbid vs to seeke for this bread hee saith in Mathew the sixt chapter Bee not carefull what you shal eate or what you shal drink behold the fowles of heauen they sow not neither reape nor carry into theyr barnes yet your heauenly Father feedeth them the Lillies doe not labour nor spin yet Salomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these therefore take no thought saying what shall wee eate or what shall we drinke or how shall we bee claothed but seeke yee the Kingdome of heauen and all these things shall bee ministred vnto you yet in all these exemplified admonitions of our Sauiour Christ he doth not forewarne vs to bee carelesse for seeking of this bread of life will Christ forbid vs to seeke himselfe Christ is this bread of life feede on his flesh and nourish your soules hee is the oyle and lampe with which the fiue Virgines entered into the Bridgromes chamber He is the Lord of life the way of life the bread of life Belieue in this Lord come vnto this way eate of this bread you shall neuer hunger or thirst after But some man peraduenture may obiect can bread extinguish hunger and thirst When a man is dry and thirsty he doth not vse to eate bread I aunswere that the Hebrewes doe vse this phrase panem comedere pro caenare for to sup as Maister Caluin heere well noteth so wee say in the Lords prayer danobis quotidianum panem giue vs our daily bread signifying all necessary things belonging to a man eate of this bread of life and you shall not neede to say giue vs our daily breade for you shall neuer hunger or thirst after Hee that commeth to mee shall not hunger accedat ad Christum omnis anima let euery soule come to Christ and hee will refresh it I will saith he feede the hungry soule and refresh all faint harts I am the strength of the feeble the succor of the hungry a refuge against euill weather a shadow against heate I am a continuall feast where all hungry languishing soules may satisfie thēselues with celestiall food O well are they and happy shall they be which sit at this heauenly Table and eate of this blessed and spirituall meate the price and redemptian of theyr soules Heere is Manna which the childrē of Israel shal neuer lothe the wise Ethnick mans saying vpon a feast heere taketh no place Prima cratera saith he ad sitim pertinet secunda ad hilaritatem tertia ad voluptatem quarta ad insaniam The first cuppe belongeth to thirst the second to mirth the third to pleasure and the fourth to insobrietie But at this feast of the Soule it is quite contrarie for the more thou drinkest tanto propriores ad animae sanitatem et salutem thou art so much the neerer to the health and welfare of thy soule Calistenes said to Alexander that he had rather carouse olde graines with Diogenes in his dish thē new grapes with Alexander in his cup for of all the Gods quoth hee I loue not Esculapius But whosoeuer drinketh in this cup shall not neede Aesculapius phisicke for it is a present remedy a soueraigne restoratiue against the maladies of a sinfull soule it is an excellent potion and a most wholsome purgation to expell the leprosie of a sinne-seauered soule The precious stone Sandastra hath nothing in outward appearance but being brokē it poureth forth beams like the sun so this bread of life hath not an outward glea of superexcellent goodnes but taste it and then it poureth forth such admirable excellencie that thou shalt neuer hunger any more Therfore the sheepheards of Christes flock should onely feede his lambes with this bread of life VVhen they bee hungry they should fill them with this Breade of life They should cry vnto them alwaies Come vnto Christ and he wil giue you the bread of life so that you shall neuer hunger or thirst any more The Ministers should haue a cōtinuall cry not like the Swallows which haue matutinū cantum a morning song or as the Grashoppers meridianum cantum a noone song or as the Owles vespertinum cantum an euening song or as the Cocks antelucanum cantum a song before morning but they shold haue a morning song a noone song an euening song and a song before day light to awake Christes slumbering sheepe to come vnto Christ and eate of this bread of life so they shal neuer hūger or thirst more He that commeth to me shall not hunger he that belieueth in me shall neuer thirst To belieue in Christ is the totall summe of all Christian religion For our fayth in the death and passion of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ is the sure foundation of our saluation Fides in Christo saith S. Ierome est fundamentum humanae saluationis Faith in Christ is the foundation of mans saluation without this fayth all our vertuous actions good endeuours be in vaine So saith S. Augustine Sine fide falsa est omnis virtus without faith all vertue is in vaine Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo with out faith it is impossible to please God Sine fide omnis labor vacuuo VVithout faith all our labour is frustrate Faith is the porter of heauen gate and not Saint Peter He that hath faith yea but as much as a graine of mustard seede shall be able to remooue Mountaines VVherefore let vs labour to get this faith which being obtained we shal not neede any other treasury let vs lay vp this iewell in our harts which will inrich vs euer after The Anotomists say that in the heart of a man there is a little whole which hath nothing in it VVhereupon a good writer sayth that this little Cabinet and Cell of the heart God doth reserue for himselfe to be a chamber and a priuate mansion for him to dwell keepe therin let vs therfore bestow vpon our gracious Lord this pretious gemme this excellent ornament to adorne and beautifie this inward chamber That when it shall please the Lord to call vs to the high starre-chamber ouer our heades hee may Antipelargein that is requite vs with farre more sumptuous iewells and richer ornaments making vs cohabitors with Angells and the admired paragons of all perfection let vs therefore confidently belieue in Christ desiting him most heartily and vnfainedly to giue vs of this breade of life which is the only restoratiue against hunger and thirst Auicen like a foole sayd in his Aphorismes that golde was the best restoratiue No no this bread of life is the most heauenly remedie against al diseases it is a poyson for vice but a life-giuing potion for vertue It is the bread of death for carnall gluttonie but it is the bread of life for spirituall hunger If thou beest famished eate of this bread
and it will reuiue thee it can heale all leprosie of sinne and remooue all maladies from a sin-sick soule it is the nectar of our saluation and the Lethe of our iniquines tast but once of this breade of life thou shalt euer after loath the sugered cares and bewitching damties of lustfull affections looke daily vppon this bread of life and thou shalt euer after hide thine eyes and stop thine eares which are now captiued vassailes to behold and heare the legerdemaine of humaine iugling desires all siren songes of carnall concupisence and vices loue-lines which now are imprinted in thy brest shall be quight cancelled out after thou hast once digested inwardly and thy soule hath had an happy concoction of this bread of life it purgeth all the hidden corruption of mans folly giueth working pills to vomit vp originall transgressions it is the present remedie for a body which lieth in a consumption of grace to tast of this bread of life with in a short space by the vnspeakeable hidden operation will make a blessed recouerie for this languishing creature If thy soule bee hungry or thirsty behold two sacramentall riuers flowing out of the Paradise of Christs body in the one thou shalt find this bread of life in the other this water of life tast either of them and thou shalt neuer hunger or thirst more yea the power of this bread cannot bee sufficiently declared by the tongue of the worthiest Orator VVherefore let vs only satisfie our soules with this bread of life whose power and efficacie our daily Orator Christ Iesus hath declared vnto vs in these words Hee that cōmeth to me shall not hunger and he that belieueth in me shall neuer thirst Wherefore to drawe to a conclusion let vs from the bottome of our hearts desire Christ Iesus euermore to giue vs of this bread that when the glasse of our life is runne out and with the Phenix wee may discerne the terme of our dayes and with the Swanne discouer our fatall end that it would please him to feed our hungry soules with this spirituall foode this bread of life and place them at his heauenly table to satisfie themselues with this celestiall banquet yea whē our breath vanisheth our eyes waxe dim and wee turned out of the houseroome of this transitory world repayre vnto our doomesday house where the wormes the dead mens lawyers shall take their fees out of vs their graue-clients and our bodies shall be their bread to satiate their hunger yet thou O Iesus would vouchsafe to giue vs thy body the only breade of life for to nourish our hungry soules that by the winges of a liuely faith wee may fly vp to the heauens and inioy that age of vnspeakeable pleasures the eternall father through the merrits of his deerest sonne by the scepter of his holy spirit so rule our hearts that wee being righteous as Elias and our prayers feruent as those of Elias they may peirce the clouds and open heauen and thence bring downe this bread of life this dew of diuine grace vppon vs and satisfie our soules with this misticall banquet of Christs body O Lord inflame our tongues with the zeale of deuotion that our prayers may bee feruent and may make a sweete incense to pacifie thy wrath that thou blotting out all our vnworthinesse out of thy memory maist graciously hearken to our petitions and maist grant vs this inestimable treasure the price and raunsom of our soules redemption if the Lyons seeke their meate of God if the Oxe knowe his owner and the Asse his maisters crib graunt vnto vs a most carefull desire to craue this meate of our soules and to waite and seeke for this bread of life that we which were created by a consultation of the Dietie redeemed with the pretious bloud of Christ sanctified by the holy Ghost may be partakers of this blessed bread of life and in the end and without all end sit at his heauenly table raigning together with the Trinity in the Kingdome of heauen to which bee all glory power praise and dominion both now and for euermore FINIS A SHORT AND necessary Treatise entituled Deaths welcome By Sa Garey AT LONDON Printed by I. R. for Ieffery Charleton 1605. ⧠To the most puissant Emperor and Conquerer of all the vvorld Death greeting LIfe saith the Philosopher is but a borrowed dreame of pleasure a vision of delight a pageant of transitory happinesse and Death is a Harbinger of eternitie a bringer of felicitie a Messenger of glory it is a pyrat of life and yet a pilot to life a conductor to the heauenly hauen of blisse the Angell to keepe Paradise wherein none enters but by the entrance of his fatall sword Sith therefore ô Death thou art the Groome-porter to let out life and let in life the remoouer as Aeschilus calleth thee of worldly sorrows the deliuerer as Cicero saith of troubled mindes the laylor which art content with the fees of our life to set our Soules at libertie I heere inuite and welcome thee to the loathsome banquet of my body fat thy pale cheekes with the cates of my life and glut thy hungry appetite with my vitall spirits onely doe me this fauour that I may say my Grace at this last supper and then sit downe vpon my dying bed and drinke vp the sweet drop of sower life and the scraps and dead bones of my body and carkasse of my flesh take away and keepe thē in the doomsday house vntil my Soule by the liuely wings of faith descending frō heauen at the generall resurrection be vnited one to another and there enioy an endlesse age of pleasures to the which ô Death soone bring mee that I may say to the VVorldes misery which I say to thee farewell Your louing and vntill you come liuing friend Sa. Garey Tu nil rescribas attamen ipse veni ⧠A Treatise entituled Deaths welcome THE principall motiue vvhich doth encourage a man to welcome and imbrace death is the assured hope of the future life and of those ioyes which hee shall enioy in the neuer fading kingdome Therefore S. Paule saith Vnlesse the dead be raised againe what aduantageth it me to haue fought with beasts at Ephesus For vnlesse there were a resurrection of the dead and an immortall life to be obtained after this our pilgrimage why should we liue in ieopardy euery howre suffer such persecution in this world not rather follow the rules of the Epicures eate drinke for to morrow we shall die and vppon our graues engraue the Epitaph of Sardanapalus which hee writ a little before his death Cum te mortalem noris presentibus exple Delicijs animū post mortem nulla voluptas Et venere et plumis et caenis Sardanapali This I say were the best pleasing life to eate with the Epicure sleepe with Endimion carouse with Alexander with the rich man in the scripture to flatter our selues saying Soule thou hast much goods layde vp
against all these desperable considerations the saying of Saint Augustine is the best remedy If thou feare iudgement to come rebuke thy conscience In the whole course of thy life so liue that thou maist haue a secure conscience for thou must liue here for a time in such sort that thou dying godly maist liue for euer VVe must die that wee may liue and wee must liue that wee may die well If thou liuest well thou shalt die vvell and thou shalt liue wel if thou doost follow the holy course which Saint Hierome obserued VVhether I eate or drinke saith hee or what soeuer els I doe alwaies that same terrible trumpet soundeth in mine eares Arise you that be dead and come to iudgement For as the same Father saith in another place He easily contemneth all things that doth alwaies thinke that he shall die For he that alwaies takes the memory of death for his vnseparable spouse and bitter sighs for his chyldren and holy compunction for his mother to depure him from his filthynesse he which hateth the world perfectly fauoreth godlinesse zealously endeuoreth to amend his life seriously obeieth his superiors gladly and beareth Christs crosse patiently showeth good tokens that hee will die a good Christian such a man needs not feare the mention of death nor neede his soule weepe in secret nor his eies drop downe teares for hee may bee certaine that he is one of that perdestinated company which shall raigne for euermore But as for a man that hath liued dissolutely through the whole course of his life hath beene a notorious sinner yet for all that hee needs not dispaire for Christ was not surprised with a rauing feuer when in the tragedie of his passion he made his body as a Cloude to resolue in showres of innocent bloud and suffered his decrest vaines to be launced to giue a full issue for the price of our soules redemption Hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance O yee sinners behold the Lambe bleeding and shedding his precious blood to clense you from sinne and to saue you from sathan drinke vp in faith the droppings of his blood and moisten your soules therewith eate him and chew him for he is the bread of life which whosoeuer eateth shall neuer hunger more Say with Christestome Omnis mea salus in passione Christi est posita For whatsoeuer doth belong to my saluation paratum est per Christi mortem as the same father saith his death hath made a sufficient ransome for my sinnes It is the Lambe of God which doth purge mee from all my sinnes I fully beleiue that therefore all my sinnes shall be forgiuen me not for my merrits but for Christs death not for my righteousnesse but for Gods mercies which doth extend to thousands and tenne thousands whose sinnes in respect of Gods mercies are but as Augustine saith one droppe in respect of the whole Sea And as Bernard saith the mercie of God is greater then any miserie of ours Hold vp thine eies to heauen behold the God of all consolation and mercy craue of him to poure downe the influences of his comfort to helpe thy vnbeliefe to confirme thy faith to strengthen thee with a stedfast assurance of his heauenly Kingdome Wast away thy wickednesse in the Fountaine of repentance and the leprosie of thy sinne in the streaming Riuers of penitent teares For this heauenly dew of repentance neuer falls but the Sun of righteousnesse drawes it vp for it was sweetly vttered by a Diuine of sweetest vtterance that repentant eies are the Cellars of Angells and penitent teares the sweetest wines which the sauour of life perfumeth the tast of grace sweetneth and the purest cullours of returning innocency highly beautifieth Oh that our harts were euermore such a limbecke distilling so pure a quintessence of godlinesse drawne from the weedes of our offences by the fire of true contrition heauen would mourne at the absence of so precious waters and earth lament the losse of so fruitfull showres Sure till death close vp those fountaines they should neuer faile running which if they did alwaies runne we neede not doubt of our saluation but that GOD would wash away all our sinnes The world saith Bernard had not perrished with the flood if they had betaken themselues to repentance And as it is in Ieremie If wee repent of our wickednesse God will repent of his wickednesse deuised against vs and as it is in Ezechiell If the vngodly will turne away from all his sinnes that he hath done doubtlesse he shall liue and not die And againe bee conuerted and turne you cleane from your wickednesse so shall there do sinne doe you harme So when the Niniuites did repent mourning in Sack-cloath and ashes he repented on the euill which he said he would doe vnto them and did it not Examples of repentant sinners who obtained remission for their offences be Paule the sinfull woman Dauid Manasses Peter the theife this day on the crosse this night in Paradise For Iesus is like an Euangelicall henne neuer ceaseth clocking to gather thee vnder his winges like a Chicken for it pleased Iesus of vnmerrited goodnesse to leaue the nintie nine mist sheepe the societie of blessed Angells to seeke the straying sheepe the groate that lost the royall stampe of pure nature man this lost sheepe thou soughtest O Iesus thou foundest sweete Iesus by death thou foundest him by bleeding paines thou foundest him by nayled hands and boared feete thou foundest him by a thornie Crowne by drinking vineger by sweating droppes of bloud by suffering the violent death on the crosse thou foundest him O louing Iesus and tender harted Samaritan that of a sicke hast salued of a grieuous sinner hast saued him of a wicked creature hast washed him in the streame of thy inestimable mercie Therfore I confidently beleiue although the flower of my age is faded the grasse withered and my whole life as a vanishing vapoure is passed away yet when I shail be dissolued I assuredly hope to be ioyned fully to Iesus my head and onely Vine wherein I liue although the purseuant sicknesse must visit this body of sin and death must rowe mee ouer the Seas of this world yet I hope in the barke of faith and merrits of Christ Iesus and by the Ancor of Gods couenaunts made to the house of David I shall arriue at that blessed Hauen from whence I shall neuer more hoise vp sailes or lanch into the deepe of miserie but shall sit imparadised in heauen with fulnesse of grace till the day of thy great visitation shal com whē meeting thee in the cloudes I shall enter into the store house of ioyes there for euermore to raigne If a sinner could thus absolutely confirme himself not distrust Gods mercy and clemencie without all doubt he would not feare to die but withall hee must haue a setled determination to mortifie his bodie to abandon vices with the trumpet of a Christian life to