whom thy flocke elect And all of Isaacks sect Are put to open shame With them that peace did hate I came a peace to make And set a quiet life But when my tale was told Causelesse I was controld By them that would haue strife Elias seeing that the people of Israel had forsaken God 1 King 18. and had altogether abandoned themselues to Idolatry and on the other part the strange cruelties that Achab and Iesabel did vse and exercise against the Prophets and seruants of God being glutted and wearie of his life hauing cast himselfe into the desert vnder a banke prayed God to take him out of this world that he might see no more that which he had seene in it Also it is not possible that a man of a good heart seeing the disorders and confusions that are this day in the world and that euerywhere excepted a very few places godlinesse and iustice are turned vpside downe faith and the feare of God vertue and veritie banished and exiled out of the companie of the most part of men but hee must in his heart feele strange griefes and that for to turne away the sight of such pitifull spectacles would not wish his soule quickly to bee dislodged out of this earthly Tabernacle for to take and haue his dwelling in heauen where we hope for a permanent Citie and a habitation furnished and assured against all dangers and that then shall bee fully accomplished that which the Prophet saith Against all dangers from henceforth Thy soule he will preserue And to thy deedes for euermore A happy end reserue And that which ought to increase this desire is that going from hence we shall be sodainly transported into heauen where we shall see God face to face and Iesus Christ in his glory Which is a fight that rauisheth the Angels and all the happy Spirits in such sort that they desire nor seeke after any thing else for their perfect contentment as saith the Prophet I set the Lord still in my sight Psal 16. And trust him ouer all For he doth stand on my right hand Wherefore I shall not fall The Queene of Saba hauing seen Salomon and vnderstood his great wisedome by the resolution which he had giuen vpon all the points and questions 1. Kings 10. which shee had propounded vnto him hauing moreouer diligently considered and marked the order and great state which hee kept in his court being as it were rauished and as it were out of her selfe shee cryed out O how happy are the seruants of thy house that may behold thy face euery day and vnderstand the profound wisedome which distilleth incessantly from thy lips How much more happy shal we then be then they fully enioying the glorious face of our God and all the treasures of his diuine patiēce being opened vnto vs If Moyses be esteemed happy hath bin held for one of the greatest Prophets in the world because he saw Gods hinder part only what shall we be when wee shall see him face to face such as he is Many kings and Prophets in the time of the Fathers did feruently desire the cōming of Iesus Christ would haue thought themselues happy to see God manifested in the flesh as Iohn Baptist Simeon the Apostles saw him what felicity ought we at this day to esteem it when by death wee are so happy to see him in his glory maiesty clothed with his roial robe sitting on the right hand of God his Father hauing authority and power in heauen and earth to gouerne dispose of all things according to his good pleasure and holding al his enimies as a foot-stoole vnder his feete When he transfigured himself in the mountaine Peter Iohn Iames because they had only seen as it were passing by a small splendour of his glory were sodainly so rauished and transported with it that forgetting in an instant all other things they desired for all happinesse but that the pleasure which they felt at that houre might alwaies continue with them Then let vs now thinke if 〈◊〉 patterne and as it were a finall drop of the life and glory to come hath had so much power as to rauish the Disciples to transport them forth of themselues what shall become of vs when according to our hope we shall haue the whole power and shall drinke in that brooke or to speake better in that Sea of pleasure and all perfect contentment when this sempitern all happinesse whereof the Prophet speaketh shall bee powred on our heads Moreouer shall not this ioy redouble when with Iesus Christ we shall see and behold all this faire and noble company of Angels Archangels Principallities Powers Patriarks Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and generally all the Church triumphant of the happy Spirits who occupy and exercise themselues in nothing else but without ceasing to sing the praises of God saying Holy holy holy Reuel 4. Lord God euerlasting which was which is and which shall befor euer Item To him that fitteth on the throne to the Lambe Reuel 5. be all honor praise glory and power for euer and euer In times past it was a wonderful thing to see the assembly of all the Tribes of the people of Israell in Ierusalem 1 Kings 8. when that Salomon after hee had made an end of building the Temple would solemnely dedicate it with an Infinite number of Sacrifices with perfumes and sweet incense with prayers and thanks-giuing and an alacrity of the people of God neuerheard off nor seene before There were yet since that two other notable assemblies in Ierusalem which are much celebrated in the Scripture the one vnder the reigne of Ezekias 2. Chron. 30. 2. Kings 23. and the other vnder Iosias when these two good Princes moued with a zeale piety and seruice of God which had beene miserably corrupted by the Idolatry and impiety of their Predecessors did vndertake with valiant and heroycall hearts to cleanse the holy land of the filthy and stinking whordomes as well corporall as spirituall wherewith it was infected taking away all the stewes and Idols in the whole land of Iuda and abolishing all the false seruices that the fathers and hypocrites had inuented and established against the word and ordinance of God And besides to renew the alliance of God which was almost altogither buried and blotted out of the hearts of the people did call togither all the inhabitants of the countrey with the which after the publike reading of the law they celebrated the feast of the Passeouer with the greatest solemnity that euer was heard off or seene before And we must not doubt but all well minded people seeing such a company assembled togither to such a good end did leape for ioy beholding God in the middest of his holy people hearing the accords and agreements which were reuiued betweene both parties and the solemne promises and protestations which were respectiuely made by God assuring his people of his fauour
then vnto the questions which now I shall demaund you and answere faithfully according to the vnderstanding that you haue receiued of the Lord which if you cannot by reason of the weakenesse and hinderance of your sicknesse Mat. 10. I will answere for you and it shall suffice for you to giue vs your heart and constancy of faith in the which you must liue and die Now I aske you wherefore and to what end you were created in this world Genes 2. The Sicke To know God The Minister Was it necessary for you to know God Psal 16. 17. The Sicke Yes surely for seeing hee is my soueraigne good without the knowledge of him I had beene more wretched then the brute beasts The Minister Seeing you know God you know well that hee is the mighty the wisedome and the infinite good Genes 1. Iohn 1. Luke 1. 1. Iohn 5. Genes 18. one God in three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost It is the only God that Abraham Isaacke and Iacob worshipped in spirit and truth It is the only euerlasting God who hath created heauen and earth and all things therein The knowledge that you haue of God is it not such The Sicke Yes The Minister But such a simple knowledge of God were it able to conduct you to eternall life The Sicke Very hardly for euerlasting life Iohn 17. is to confesse and knowledge one only God and him whom hee hath sent his euerlasting Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ The Minister Wherefore is it necessary for you to know and confesse the Lord Iesus Christ The Sicke Because that I must recouer in IESVS CHRIST Rom. 5. Psal 51. Luke 24. Psal 21. Rom. 11. that which I haue lost in my selfe through the sinne of the old Adam whereunto I was conceiued and borne Therefore it hath beene needfull for my saluation that IESVS CHRIST true God and true Man hauing put on our flesh should giue me by his grace all that I had lost in Adam The Minister It is very well said That is the reason why Iesus Christ was conceiued by the holy Ghost Mat. 1. Luke 1. and borne of the Virgin Mary to purge and sanctifie you For cleane contrary to him Ephes 2. Psal 51. you were conceiued and borne in sinne and of sinnefull parents Wherefore doe you not confesse that without Iesus Christ you had remayned a wretched and miserable sinner Rom. 8. in euerlasting death The Sicke Yea certainly but I beleeue and confesse Rom. 6. that this good Iesus Christ hath reconciled me to God his Father The Minister But how did he reconcile you to God his Father Mat. 26. Heb. 7. 9. The Sicke By his Death and Passion the shedding of his most precious blood for to deliuer me out of al euerlasting paine this good Iesus Christ hath suffered vnder Pontius Pilate for me many afflictions iniuries and tribulations Act. 3. Mat. 27. It is Iesus Christ who hath beene crucified for me as accursed vpon the Crosse to deliuer mee from the euerlasting curse vnto the which Adam had bound me This my Sauiour IESVS Christ was truly buried to bury al my sinnes with him to the end they bee not imputed to me before God It is my Lord and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST Rom. 6. who descended into hell Act. 2. 1. Peter 2. suffering an extreme temporall anguish for to deliuer mee from the euerlasting The Minister All that you haue now confessed of Iesus Christ was it sufficient to saue you The Sicke No according as the holy Scriptures ought to bee accomplished in all things Isa 53. Mat. 26. For what had it profited mee that Iesus Christ was borne crucified dead buried and descended into hell for me onely without rising againe Wherefore Marke 16. 1. Cor. 15. I beleeue and confesse that my Lord my head and Sauiour Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to cause mee to rise againe with him as one of his little members in euerlasting life The Minister Consequently it is written that hee ascended into heauen Act. 1. being now set at the right hand of God his Father But what doth this Ascension profit you The Sicke My Lord my head and my Sauiour Iesus Christ is gone vp into heauen to make mee ascend after him Colos 3. 1. Iohn 2. Rom. 8. For where the head is there are the members also And I beleeue that being set at the right hand of God his Father hee is my Aduocate Rom. 8. Intercessor and only Mediator towards him assuring me very well that no man can hinder mee Iohn 5. seeing Iesus Christ is my Aduocate Mat. 25. and Iudge also wherefore I haue no occasion to feare his iudgement when hee shall come to iudge the quicke and the dead For I beleeue and confesse with a stedfast faith that there is no iudgement nor condemnation for those that are faithfull members in Iesus Christ Rom. 8. The Minister VVho hath giuen you the grace to know and vnderstand all these things The Sicke It is by the grace of the holy Spirit 1. John 5. one only God with the Father and the Sonne by the meanes whereof wee receiue all the goods and gifts which are offered vnto vs in Iesus Christ The Minister Seeing you haue already confessed that you are a member of Iesus Christ it followeth then that you are also incorporated in his Church the which hee hath caused you to beleeue to bee Holy Catholike and Vniuersall The Sicke I verily beleeue the holy vniuersall Church Ephes 5. washed and cleansed in the precious blood of IESVS CHRIST for the which I giue him thanks with all humility that hee hath giuen mee the grace to bee one of the small members of his Church and being baptised in his name hath caused mee to liue in the communion vnity and charity thereof hauing instructed mee with his holy word Mat. 4. 1. Cor. 11. and nourished mee with his very body made mee drinke of his precious blood in hope of eternall life The Minister Now seeing you are so well grounded vpon the liuely Rocke which is IESVS CHRIST 1. Cor. 10. in knowing your selfe aright you must acknowledge and confesse the principall good which you haue receiued of this good IESVS CHRIST The Sicke It is very reasonable For I will not bee vnthankefull to remember the goods and gifts that I haue receiued of God wherefore I confesse that I miserable sinner Psal 51. haue incessantly offended the goodnesse and iustice of God hauing transgressed his holy Commandements Luke 17. in which doing I haue deserued euerlasting death and damnation Neuerthelesse appealing to the mercy of GOD I haue asked forgiuenesse and doe beleeue and confesse without doubting any whit that full and entire remission of all my sinnes is giuen me Act. 4. Reuel 1. by the only merit of the death and passion of my Lord and Sauiour
death to those that were not succoured and warranted by Iesus Christ But in the kingdom of God and of Paradise we shall eate of the fruit of the tree of life which shall alwaies keepe vs yong and fresh and which more is will make vs incorruptible and immortall There is that which wee shall taste VVhat shall we smell A hall of perfumes the garments of the bride and the bridegroome perfumed with all odoriferous and fragrant things It shall be then that the Church shall triumph that the vine being blossomed shall giue such a pleasant odour that the whole heauens shall bee filled with it There shall be no stinke for there shall be no corruption wee shall there plainly smell the sweetenesse of the Sacrifice which Iesus Christ made for vs on earth so great and pleasant that the Father for the pleasure which he tooke to smell it was reconciled with the world and his anger towards vs hath bene appeased What a pleasant Sacrifice and precious Incense is also the praises of the Saints who with one accord doe glorifie God and sanctifie his holy name Moreouer what an odour giues that faire flower sprong from the root and sappe of Iesse now that it is in it force strength To conclude we cannot misse there to smell good odours for our Winter shall then be past we shal be in a perpetuall springtime wherin all things shal grow and flourish for the delectation and pleasures of the Church For to satisfie our desire and content the lust of our selues we shall touch no more neither shall we be touched of any thing that may hurt vs. VVe shall be gathered vp by IESVS CHRIST our Lord and Sauiour who will come at the entrance to receiue vs saying Come hither faithfull seruant thou hast serued me faithfully in the world while thou hast beene in the world enter now into the ioy and rest of thy Lord. He will kisse and embrace vs and will keepe vs neere to his person without suffering vs to depart or go farre from it Now if the greatest good that vnto the which all others are referred be this felicitie which doth consist in a possession and enioying of all good to the contentment of our will and of all our sences with what a desire should wee waite for death by the which we attaine it Moreouer death doth deliuer vs out of all dangers In this world night and day within and without we are alwaies in feare of perill Our life is a cruell and bloody warre we haue a great many enemies that kill vs continually and doe assay by all meanes to destroy vs the diuels watch for vs and cease not compassing about like deuouring Lyons and rauening Wolues to see whether they cannot surprise vs and carry vs away the world sometimes by enticings and allurements sometime by threates and violence endeuours to trie and turne vs out of the right way Our flesh on an other side doth flatter and tickle vs and the better to vndermine vs with great cunning doth propound and lay before vs things wherin wee haue most delight It weepeth also sometimes to stirre vs vp to pittie it all to the intent to winne vs and cause vs in all points to yeeld vnto it and that it may maister vs. Now if we consider our infirmitie our stupiditie and negligence the little warinesse and watchfulnesse that is in vs wee may iudge in what danger we liue It is impossible that we should liue in this world among so many that are infected and that with so great a contagion without falling often into sicknesse Is it possible that wee should so often grapple with such strong and mighty enemies without being sometimes staggered and ouerthrowne Is it possible that we should go in such durty and muddy waies without being durtied We see it in good Saints of old time who could not gouerne themselues so well but the serpent who alwaies dogs vs at the heeles hath reached them with his venome but that they haue fallen in diuers faults some in incredulity others in Idolatry others in adultery others in excesse and drunkennesse others in murthers there is none of them but had his fall yea sometimes so great heauie that they had bene altogether bruised if God had not vpheld them with his hand Ought not we then follow the example of St. Paul and as he did crie Who shall deliuer vs from these dangers wherein we liue whiles our soule is in this miserable mortall body Let vs confesse that it is our gaine and profit for to die that by death we may be fully deliuered from all mortal things Againe death puts vs in full possession of all the promises of God and of those goods which Iesus Christ hath purchased for vs that we hope for of him He in dying hath freed vs and purchased our liberty and neuerthelesse wee see our selues still in great seruitude We are Kings Lords Iudges heires of God coheires with Iesus Christ the Prince of heauen and earth yet it seemes not so whiles we liue in this world for there wee are beaten and vsed like seruants like children vnder age we haue as yet no vse nor managing of our goods Kings and great Lords though we bee we are often in such necessitie that we haue neither bread to eate nor water to drinke nor wooll to couer vs. Moreouer IESVS CHRIST hath purchased for vs the grace of God a perfect Iustice life eternall an immortall incorruption glorie and vertue to our bodies and to our soules an assured peace and quietnesse a ioy and a contentment but this good hath not yet bene deliuered vnto vs for often times wee experiment the wrath and iudgement of God Wee feele the concupiscences and vicious desires of our flesh In our bodies there is corruption mortality and weaknesse and in our spirit troubles anguish and as it were a studious and intestine warre betweene our good and bad desires which fight the one against the other and because these euils are more grieuous so are the abouesaid goods more great more to be desired If then although they be already purchased for vs and that they bee ours we neuerthelesse cannot come to the possession of them but by death are not we for this reason much bound vnto it Ought not we to loue and desire it The children of Israel being arriued at the riuer of Iordane seeing on the other side thereof the fruitfull land which God had promised them and that being passed they should beginne to enioy it and to rest had they not great cause to reioyce and to passe the riuer with great alacrity And why not we when we shal come nere vnto death that is to say to the passage beyond the which is our country our house or City our friends kinsfolks our rest our ioy and our pleasure The child who during the time of his minority hath alwaies liued in feare base seruitude doth he not reioyce
lightned it and the Lambe is the candle thereof and of thousands of Angels and of the assembly of the first borne which are written in heauen and to God which is the Iudge of all 2. Cor. 11. Col. 1. Eph. 1. Reu. 19. and to the sanctified soules of the iust and to IESVS CHRIST their head and their Spouse mediator of the new alliance and of the bloud shedde preferring better things then that of Abel then with all this company and all the other Saints with whom they shall be fellow Citizens being domestickes of God and with Mary and the other Saints they shall bee called to the nuptiall banquet of the Lambe and shall enioy the Kingdome of God their Father Reu. 19. the felicity which Iesus Christ by his death hath conquered for them in whom they haue put their whole trust Heb. 2.5.9 10. Gal. 3. 4. Rom. 4 5 Eph. 1.5 Rom. 5.9 10. Ioh. 12.14 17. for the which also they shall not be confounded as he himselfe promiseth saying Father I will that those which thou hast giuen mee bee with mee and see my glory which thou hast giuen me and then I dispose the Kingdome vnto you as the Father hath disposed it vnto me to the end you may eate vpon my table in my Kingdome The Apostle saith Luc. 22. if we die with him we shall liue with him and if we suffer with him we shall reigne with him and shal be glorified with him 2. Tim. 2. Rom. 8. Of these promises the children of God neede not doubt for seeing that the Lorde when hee died gaue Paradice to the theefe can hee not more easily giue it to those to whom hee hath promised it when hee shall come into such great glorie and Maiesty Now being with him Luc. 23. and seeing him as hee is 1. Ioh. 3. they shall haue a much more greater ioy then had the Disciples seeing him transfigured they shall be so vnderstanding Mat. 17. Marc. 9. Luc. 9. that they shall know all the Saints that euer haue beene and euen those with whom they haue conuersed in this world ioyfully and according to God For if it be so that in the transfiguration of our Lord which was but a little demonstration as well of the glory of the body of Iesus as of the estate and condition in the which the children of God shall be in heauen for their meanenes and infirmity could not haue beene able to see the incomprehensible Maiesty of the Lord without being destoyed the Apostles although they had neuer seene the body of Elias and of Moyses neuerthelesse they knew them How much sooner shall the elect know themselues when they shall be endued with this perfect knowledg and intelligence of the image of God which shall be in them That if Adam in his first estate which was a great deale lesse why shall not that of the sanctified by Christ 1. Cor. 13. Did hee know the beastes which God brought before him 1. Cor. 1. and did properly impose a name to each one and euen knew Eue to be bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh Gen. 2. although that the Lord tooke the ribbe from him without his feeling it shall not we in this admirable glory haue more wisedome to know each other Luc. 16. Now this knowledge shall be disrobed of all carnall and corrupt affection for the elect shall not be knowne for louing the one more then the other or hating one reprobate more then another in calling to minde the iniuries and displeasures which they may haue receiued in this world But they shall loue directly without respect of persons those which God loueth and shal hold in abhomination those which God shall detest For then all Paternity brotherhood and mariage shall be abolished and there shall be but God alone Father of all whose children we shall be and brothers and sisters one to another the children of God shall be made partakers of the diuine nature Marc. 12. Eph. 4. 2. Cor. 6. 2. Pet. 1. 2. Thes ◠for God shall be glorified in his Saints and shall be made admirable to those that haue beleeued Wherefore seeing God will communicate his glory vertue and iustice to his elect imparting himselfe vnto them let vs know that this benefite containes the soueraigne good of man which all desire which the wisdome of man could neuer comprehēd And indeed when by all the similitudes which the Scripture doth teach vs we shall haue said and learned much of the excellency of the children of God it is almost nothing in comparison of that which shall then appeare then the Apostle with the Prophet hath good reason 1. Ioh. 3. hauing tasted in spirite the inestimable glory of the elect in the heauenly life to say the things which eye hath not seene nor care hard and which is not come into the hart of man are those which God hath prepared for them which loueth him which are vnspeakeable it is not possible for man to tell them 1. Cor. 2. Isa 64. 2. Cor. 12. For although Adam was created in a very noble estate yet so it is that if the elect were to re-assume that estate they should be miserable in regard of the soueraign excellency in the which they shal be set Gen. 2. 1. Cor. 14. 1 He had an earthly sensuall body the elect shall haue spirituall celestiall bodies 2 He had a liuing soule they shall haue a quickning spirit 3 Hee could faile and render himselfe subiect to death they shall not be able to faile 1. Cor. 15. nor fall in danger of death the which then shall be abolished 4 Sathan had power to tempt him and to make him to fall but he shall not haue power of eyther of both to them 5 He was husbanding in an earthly Paradice they shall be in rest and enioy the heauenly Paradice 6 He had command ouer the birds of the ayre Gen. 2. the fishes of the Sea the beastes of the earth they being in greater power shal condemne Sathan all the wicked and the holy Angels shall be their companions Mat. 22. shall haue power in the kingdom of their Father 7 Adam had such great wisdome that he named euery beast according to their property 1. Cor. 9. Rom. 2.3 5. 1. Pet. 3. 2 Cor. 1. Rom. 15. Rom. 3. 4. Mat. 3. et 17 they shal be endued with such wisdom filled with such a perfect knowledge that they shall be ignorant of nothing Briefe we ought to be much moued and stirred vp to worship and serue God who without any desert of ours will for the loue of his welbeloued Sonne so admirably vnfolde his incomprehensible goodnesse vnto vs. The estate of the reprobate NOw this day shall surprise the wicked and reprobates which are in darknes Rom. 2. 9 whom the Lorde hath borne and suffered with great
that liue in exile with barbarous and inhumane people ought not we to bee glad when God calles vs to establish vs in our countrie or with our brethren that is to say the Patriarches Prophets Apostles Martyrs and all the happie spirits that we may together enioy in peace the glory honour rest and all that great and perfect felicity which he hath promised and prepared in his Kingdome for all his elect It is maruell that men and euen the faithfull that are instructed not onely by the word of God but also by so many experiences which they see euery day that all the brightnesse and glory of the world are but vanities and illusions and dreames that passe doe neuerthelesse suffer themselues to be so bewitched by flatteries and wantonnesse that at last they become altogether sencelesse beastes like the companions of Vlysses by the charmes and enchantments of Circes For must not their iudgement be much corrupted and altogether peruerted to grieue at their departure out of this world to go vp into heauen and to preferre changeable vncertaine transitorie and corruptible things which cause infinite paines to follow purchase them and as many cares to keepe them and yet more sorrow and griefe when they are lost before the goods which God promiseth in his Kingdome which are certaine vnchangeable incorruptible euerlasting and assured and which can bring nothing to those that enioy them but a true entire and perfect contentment Wherein as did our first parents for an Apple we forsake a Paradise not earthly but heauenly that is to say all the delightes and greatest pleasures that can be imagined for a messe of pottage wee sell our birth-right aod goods appertayning thereunto as did Esau we make more account of the garlike and onions of Egypt then the holy Land with all the plentie and blessings thereof Briefe wee had rather as did the prodigall child liue amongst hogs vpon chaffe and wash then bee nourished and sustayned in our fathers house with the breade of Angels and finally that after the example of Lots wife we mourne for the losse of the infamous pleasures of our Sodome with the which we had rather perish then by forsaking them to be saued the which bewayling we may say with the Prophet O folke vnwise and people rude Psal 94. Some knowledge now discerne Ye fooles among the multitude At length beginne to learne For what maketh you so much to esteeme the world and that which is therein but a damnable desire the which blindes vs in such sort that it maketh vs oft times to take the light for darknesse and to the contrary darknesse for light the bitter for the sweete and the sweete for the bitter To the end then that we be not deceiued in our iudgements wee must ground them not vpon the outward appearance nor vpon the common errour of men which being sensuall doe not approoue nor reiect the thinges that are present before them but according as they are pleasant or contrarie to their sence and appetite But wee must iudge all thinges as saith the Apostle by the word of God which is an infallible rule to discerne the true from the false And not in our iudgements to follow our reason or carnall prudence which is enemie to GOD and iustifieth ordinarily that which hee condemnes and to the contrarie condemnes that which hee iustifieth Now let vs then see what the word of God teacheth vs touching the world and the thinges that are of the world Loue not the world saith Saint Iohn nor the thinges that are of the world for if any man loue the world the charitie of the Father is not in him for that which is in the world to wit the desires of the flesh the desires of the eyes and the ouerweaning of life is not of God but of the world There is then that which the holy Apostle teacheth vs of the world that wee must not loue it if wee will that God loue vs. And Salomon when hee speakes of it sayeth that after hee had long and diligently considered all the state of this world the varietie and inconstancie of mens mindes the diuersitie of studies whereunto they apply themselues the mutabilitie and sodaine changing of their counsels the little iudgement that they haue to praise or reuile to extoll or disprayse to loue or hate to pursue or disdayne the things which are set before them hee hath obserued not onely by reason but also by experience that the desires of most men are but folly and vanitie the which they worship being induced thereunto by their appetites the which because they are blind and doe not suffer themselues to be led by any good reason are easily transported euery where where their pleasure and the diuell driues them whereof commeth that some pursue ambitiously the honors and greatnesse of the world that for to attayne thereunto they violate all rights and lawes forget all piety and humanity mingle and confound all things cherish and fauour the wicked with whom they league themselues hate and reiect the good and vertuous make warre against the countrey wherein they were borne nourished and brought vp take the liberty from it if they can by a cruell tyrannie which they vse therein bring it to a miserable bondage as did Iulius Caesar and before and after him many others doth not that euidently shew that there is nothing truer then that which Iesus Christ said of such ambitious men to wit that that which is great and much esteemed of men Luk. 16. is for the most part abhominable before God And how should they be agreeable seeing the most part beleeue neither in him not in Iesus Christ as it is written in St. Iohn Iohn 5. How can you beleeue seeing you receiue glory the one of the other and seek not after the glory which cōmeth from God alone And elsewhere the Pharisees chiefe men of Ierusalem condemning themselues said Iohn 9. Is there any one of al the Princes that haue beleeued in him to wit Iesus Christ Mat. 11. And in St. Mathew O Father Lord of heauen and earth I giue thee thanks that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and vnderstanding hast reuealed them to the little ones We ought not then to grieue to forsake the honors and greatnesse of this world which ordinarily maketh vs to forget God and our selues and which turne vs from the study and exercise of vertue which induce vs to seeke our owne glory rather then Gods which maketh vs to disdaine our neighbours and to forget that wee are but dust and ashes and which finally brings vs to worship the Diuell and make vs insensible as saith the Prophet Thus man to honor God hath cald Psal 49. Yet doth he not consider But like brute beast so doth he liue Which turne to dust and powder And a little before where hee yet speakes more expresly of the foolish purposes and imaginations of the
brother to a man the second sister to a woman and the third that you must name the partie by their proper name For it ought not to be honoured with names of worldly honour and dignity but to oppose it selfe against Satan in the name of the Lord it ought to be named by the proper name which it receiued at the holy Sacrament of Baptisme Which doing thou shalt obey vnto God whom I beseech to be fauourable vnto thee at the day of his comming * ⎠* COMFORT FOR THOSE THAT ARE SICKE DRAWEN OVT OF THE HOLY SCRIPTVRES FOR to prepare them to die B.S.N. HE that is of God hearkeneth to the word of God Iohn 8. and doth not onely hearken vnto it but keepeth it and puts it in execution for all things shall haue an end Mat. 7. Hebr. 1. Isa 40. and waxe old as doth a garment but the word of God dureth for euer Now seeing it is so that by a man sinne came into the world Rom. 5. and by sinne death and consequently all afflictions and aduersities thereon depending with iust occasion the life of man is but a continuall warfare vpon earth Rom. 7. so that the flesh fighteth against the spirit and the spirit against the Diuell the World and the Flesh which are the enimies of our soules But following the counsell of the Apostle to obtayne victorie in this spirituall battaile wee must constantly resist by faith 1. Peter 5. For the victorie that surmounts the world is our faith 1. John 5. The which is a certaine and a firme knowledge of the loue of God towards vs Hebr. 11. according as by his Gospell hee declares himselfe to bee our Father and Sauiour by the meanes of IESVS CHRIST Hauing then such a firme faith for your principall foundation Acknowledge and confesse without feyning before the maiesty of God that you are a poore and miserable sinner Psal 51. conceiued and borne in iniquity and corruption inclined to doe euill vnprofitable to all good and that through your vice you haue without ceasing transgressed the holy Commandements of God Luke 17. which doing you haue purchased by his iust iudgement ruine and perdition vpon you Neuerthelesse you are displeased with your selfe that you haue offended him and doe condemne both you your vices with true repentance desiring that the grace of God may succour you in your calamity Pray then in such a firme faith Psal 51. if you cannot with your mouth say it with your heart That God our benigne father and full of mercy enter not in iudgement Psalm 142. nor in account with you but that it would please him to haue pitie on you in the name of his sonne Iesus Christ our Lord and that he would blot out all your spottes and vices by the merite of the death and passion of the same Iesus Christ in whose name present vnto him his holy prayer the which hee hath taught vs saying with all your heart Our Father which art in heauen Matth. 6. hallowed be thy name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen Giue vs this day our daily bread And forgiue vs our trespasses as we forgiue them that trespasse against vs And leade vs not into temptation But deliuer vs from euill For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory for euer and euer Amen B. S. N. Acknowledge with all your heart your vnrighteousnesse haue a displeasure for your sinnes repent incessantly and the kingdome of God will draw neere vnto you Matth. 3. Acknowledge that there is no righteousnesse nor innocency nor any good workes from you nor in you Titus 3. but that like vnto a childe of wrath conceiued and borne in the sinne of old Adam you merite euerlasting death and damnation Neuerthelesse that neither that nor all the sinnes in the world Ephe. 2. Psal 51. Rom. 8. although you should haue committed them doe not make you affraid For IESVS CHRIST true Sonne of the euerlasting God is become man conceiued of the holy Ghost borne of the Virgine Mary to sanctifie and cleanse you Rom. 1. Luc. 1. Mat. 1. hee hath suffered vnder Pontius Pilate many afflictions iniuries and outrages yeelding himselfe to bondage Phil. 2. Act 3. Mat. 27. to set you at full liberty IESVS CHRIST was crucified as accursed vpon the Crosse to deliuer you from the euerlasting curse IESVS CHRIST died and shed his most precious bloud Isa 13. Reuel 1. Heb. 9. to wash you to redeeme you to deliuer you wholy from death from hell and from the power of Satan 1. Pet. 1. Rom. 6. Act. 2. 1. Pet. 2. Iesus Christ was buried in a Sepulcher to burie all your sinnes the which hee hath borne and blotted out Iesus Christ descended into hell suffering an extreme agonie for to deliuer you from all the paines dolours of death Marc. 16. Iesus Christ is risen againe from the dead to make you rise in your proper body 1. Cor. 15. and glorious immortality Act. 1. Iesus Christ ascended into heauen to make you ascend thither after him Col 3. Iesus Christ fitteth at the right hand of God his Father Almightie being your aduocate and intercessour towards him 1. Iohn 2. Heb. 7. Mat. 25. Psalm 61. Rom. 8. and the attonement of all your sinnes we waite for his comming to iudge the quicke and the dead to render vnto euery one according to his workes But to the faithfull that beleeue in him Mat. 25. he will not impute their sins but hauing iustified them through his grace wil make them to reigne with him for euer in his heauenly throne B. S. N. Such is the great mysterie of our redemption the which by the meanes of the holy Ghost you must firmely beleeue hath bene done for your saluation And doubt not but by the merits of Iesus Christ the head of his Church you are one member incorporated therein Eph. 1. giuing him thankes in all humilitie that he hath giuen you the grace to liue in the communion of his faithful ones hauing nourished you with his word with his body and with his bloud Mat. 4. 1 Cor. 11. acknowledging as well assured the great mercy of God in the remission of all your sinnes Rom. 5. 1. Cor. 15. the which is shewne you through Iesus Christ who shal cause you to rise againe at the latter day to reigne with him in euersting life Marc. 16. the which he hath promised to all those that beleeue in him being baptized in his name Then B. S. N. seeing you haue this faith doubt not but to receiue the promise of faith for God is true he is no lyar like vnto men Rom. 3. Mat. 24. Heauen and earth shall passe but the word of God shall endure for euer Isa 40. God is your Father and Creator you are his Creature and the workmanship of his hands
to be done by good prayers confession of sinnes and Christian exhortations according to the word of God Mat. 4. without the which man cannot liue And to that end that all things may be done in good order and with zeale first it shall bee conuenient to fall downe before the Maiestie of God and pray vnto him beginning Our helpe is in the name of the Lord who hath made both heauen and earth Then present vnto him the generall confession of sinnes and consequently this present prayer as followeth LOrd God Almighty and father of mercy we heere assembled in the name of thy welbeloued Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ Mat. 18. Iohn 14. in his fauour haue bene so bold as to present our selues before thee to call vpon thy holy name hauing our onely refuge to thy soueraigne goodnesse the which we doe not onely desire to feele and taste in our selues but also in the necessitie of thy poore creature being afflicted with sicknesse in body Iames. 5. affliction and calamitie of minde We know Lord that thou hast iustly visited and chastised him with thy rod 1. Cor. 11. to make him to vnderstand thy fatherly affection But thy great mercies the which thou hast vsed towards our fathers Psal 78. are not quenched and consumed For thou art the great God euerlasting Mat. 26. Psal 102. propitious and mercifull that neuer alterest Thy holy word teacheth vs plainely that the whole earth is full of thy mercies the which do much surmount this iudgement wherefore Lord appease thy wrath towards thy creature Haue pitie and compassion on him for the loue of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST our Lord Looke not vpon his sinnes Iohn 14. Heb. 7. 9 but looke vpon the face of thy Christ who hath sufficiently satisfied thee for him in offering vnto thee the great Sacrifice of his bodie on the Crosse VVee beseech thee then O God most benigne and full of mercie to make him to feele thy grace which thou diddest neuer refuse to thy children And because thou art our eternall Father Mat. 6. knowing well what is expedient and necessay for our saluation wee doe not pray thee to prolong his life or to abridge it For wee relie vpon thy holy will vnto the which onely wee desire to please Rom. 11. Thou art wise without counsell to dispose of thy creature according to thy good pleasure If it please thee to call him who is it that can resist Rom. 8. Iohn 11. If thou please to restore him to health againe who is it that can reproue thee For all thinges are in thy handes and nothing is done without thy will and holy prouidence Neuerthelesse Lord if by thy fauour thou doest prolong his daies Psal 22. thy rod shall serue for a chastisement vnto him to amend and conuert him vnto thee and wee with him will render thee thankes and praise But if thy will bee setled to make him passe into a better life wee beseech thee in the fauour of thy Sonne Iesus to forget all his faults and sins the which it was thy will to haue blotted out Reuel 1. and washed in the shedding of his precious bloud May it please thee by the merite of the death and passion of thy Sonne to receiue his soule into thy handes Mat. 16. Psal 20. when it shall please thee to call him out of this world Lord God doe not despise the worke of thy handes Psalm 137. Psal 129. Psal 51. for behold thy poore creature almost consumed who calleth vpon thee out of the bottome of his sorrowes presenting vnto thee his sorrowfull and penitent soule with his humbled heart which wee beseech thee to accept in good part for the loue of thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord Iohn 14. in whose name thou hast promised to grant our requestes Wherefore Lord wee beseech thee to receiue vs into thy holy keeping illuminating our hearts and vnderstandings to addresse our selues towards thee and to call vpon thy holy name Mat. 6. as thy Sonne Iesus Christ our Lord hath taught vs to pray vnto thee for all our necessaries saying Our Father which art in heauen c. Finally O God most benigne Father and full of mercie that it may please thee alwaies to sustaine vs by thy grace and vertue to the end that through the infirmitie of our flesh wee doe not fall And because that of our selues wee are so weake that wee were not able to remaine stedfast one minute of time may it please thee to fortifie vs by thy holy Spirit and to arme vs with thy graces that wee may constantly perseuere in faith without the which it is not possible for to please thee Heb. 11. May it please thee then to confirme vs from day to day in it whereof we will make a confession with heart and mouth saying I beleeue in God the Father c. The prayers ended you may looke how the sicke bodie doth and inquire of his health with friendly wordes and Christianlike speeches And if you perceiue that hee declineth and that no signe of health doth appeare a little after you may chuse a fit time to speake to the said sicke bodie and aske him whether hee hath a good minde to talke of God and to hearken to his word whiles hee is yet in his good sence that if hee bee of God Iohn 8. you may beginne this little Catechisme that followeth A SHORT CATECHISME which is not only to instruct the Sicke but also to refresh their memories with the great mysterie of our redemption Eccles 18. the which well to vnderstand and keepe in his latter dayes hee ought to make Confession of his faith before the assistants of the faithfull whereof one of them in the absence of the Minister ought to examine him as followeth THE MINISTER B.S.N. EVery man that knoweth himselfe well and is not ignorant of his condition and quality surely he ought to confesse that notwithstanding that he is created after the Image and likenesse of God Genes 1. neuerthelesse that he is conceiued and borne in the sinne of old Adam Psal 51. Ephes 2. Rom. 5. whereby he is made a poore miserable sinner ignorant inconstant and full of iniquity and consequently subiect to all miseries afflictions aduersities and finally to death All which sinne hath caused which because God would not leaue vnpunished he afflicts vs daylie and to speake better he chastiseth vs in this world to the end not to damne vs with the world wherfore 1. Cor. 11. Psal 31. B.S.N. Bee patient in your sicknesse and you shall possesse your soule in spirituall ioy Acknowledge your sinne and accuse your selfe before the Maiesty of God vpon whom you must looke by faith making confession thereof with heart and mouth before all the assistants for it is written Rom. 10. that men beleeue in heart to righteousnesse and with their mouth confesse to saluation Hearken
temporall things wherein he sees and discouers so much inconstancy and such sudden and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of vncertaine casuall things he should stir vp himselfe vnto a contemplation of those that are diuine and heauenly And forsaking that which is heere perishing and transitorie vnto worldly men hee should chuse his part in heauen and should stay himselfe at that which is permanent and eternall For the like reason Philip the father of Alexander the great a man of good vnderstanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the middest of his great prosperity he should not forget himselfe in his dutie gaue order that one of his Gentlemen should eeuery day at his awaking come and speake these words vnto him King haue in remembrance that thou art a mortall man Iesus Christ also our Sauiour and Maister tending to the same end doth exhort vs to watch to lay vp treasures in heauen and not on earth where all things are vncertaine and changeable Wee see by that that during our life we cannot doe better then to thinke vpon death and our bodie being vpon the earth to accustome our selues to haue alwaies our spirit and heart in heauen Now because that the remembrance of death is a fearefull thing to many I haue bethought my selfe to passe away my griefes and to recreate my selfe from my other studies and also to giue you a testimony of the Obligation which I thinke I haue towards you as well for the good which you haue done vnto mee as for the friendship which you beare me to write vnto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I haue briefely touched certaine points wherewith the faithfull may arme themselues against death which hee ought to doe in time and prepare himselfe to receiue it with assurance at such time as it shal please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the comming thereof is suddaine vnto them and that they are surprised vnlooked for We see by experience in a frontier towne that when it is well victualled and prouided of all things necessary for to withstand a long siege those within are a great deale the more assured and bold whereas if it were vnprouided they would stand amazed and tremble with feare if they should chance to see the approaching of the siege It is easie to iudge by that of what importance it is to haue preuented a danger and to bee prepared for it Then to prouide and arme the faithfull man against death wee must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporall of the body which Christiās ought to desire the other is eternall of bodie and soule which they ought not to feare perfeuering in the faith of our Lord. That it is so all feare presupposeth euill and danger we doe not feare that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it selfe we receiue it ioyfully But an euill we apprehend and feare we flie from it and when it happens vnto vs we sorrow and do complaine If then it doth appeare by good and euident proofes that the faithfull man is not in danger of this second death may we not then conclude that if we feare it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had iudgement and neuer so little faith it were sufficient presently to take away the feare of it from vs. For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soone as it is receiued in vs. The iust saith the Prophet shall liue by faith Now euen so as the bodie whiles the soule is in it liueth and dieth not vntill such time as it be separated from it no more doth the faithfull man perseuering in the faith which hath bene inspired and put into his heart by the grace of God Although saith Dauid I should walke in the middest of the shadow of death I will not feare for thou art with mee O Lord. What was the cause of this assurance was it not faith wherewith we ought no more to feare death then wee doe sicknesse when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or pouerty when we haue plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly by faith we haue remission and an abolition of all the faults which we haue done why doe wee then feare death There is no death where there is no sinne by sinne death came into the world saith St. Paul and else where The reward of sinne is death sinne causeth God to be angrie with vs and that in his anger he condemnes vs to death Now all seedes doth bring forth euery one according to their sort and qualitie The wheat bringeth forth wheat and the Rie Rie and we must not hope for any fruit if there be not seede before hand That being true and witnessed in a thousand places of the Scripture that vnto a Christian all his sinnes and debts are quitted him by the grace and mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are couered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as farre from vs as the East from the West Prouided that there be no more seede thereof we neede not looke for any fruite That is to say if there be no more sinne there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more feare Thirdly by faith wee haue the word and the promises of God whereupon it is grounded Among others this Who so beleeueth shall not die but is passed from death to life Now this promise can no more faile then he that gaue it vs. It is eternall And all that God saith is as sure and permanent as heauen or earth For this cause when wee looke into them wee ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this word by the which they were once created and euer since preserued and maintained in that estate wherein now we see them and to inferre thereupon that being of the same power and efficacy in all other things nothing is impossible nor vncertaine of all that which God doth say and promise vnto vs. And therefore as St. Iames saith Receiuing his holy word by faith in our hearts and the promises which hee hath made vs to giue vs eternall life wee ought to assure our selues of it and take away all feare and apprehension of death What was the cause of the ruine of vs and our forefathers was it not because they did decline from the word of God to follow their owne fancies and the counsell of Satan If then to the contrarie wee will cleaue to it without leaning any iot neither to the right hand nor to the left wee shall liue by it and in it Hearken vnto mee saith God speaking by Esay and your soule shall liue And Zacharie in his Canticle Hee hath giuen vs a science
is it not a perpetuall rest whereinto he himselfe is entred since the creation of the world When we do pray vnto him that his kingdome come is it not to the end that we should be in peace and rest Finally what doe wee hope for at his handes is it not that Then the rest which God hath promised vs which we demaund of him which we wait for briefe which we doe purpose as the end and conclusion of al that we doe and vndertake is giuen vs by no other meanes but by death Some seeke for it in their goods which they loue supposing there to finde it others in study others in voluptuousnesse and worldly pleasures but all that is but an abuse For it is found but in death which we ought more to loue for this reason then the world doth his pleasure the couetous man his treasure the scholler his bookes or the ambitious his humours by reason that in one houre it putteth into our hands and giues vs the enioying of goods which they cannot finde by great labour all their life time in the aforesaid things Afterwards death causeth that by it we are content satisfied and very happy Happy are those which depart in the faith of our Lord saith S. Iohn Then is this blessednes the soueraigne good whereunto we aspire and which we cannot finde in this world where we are neuer content If we haue goods we desire knowledge if we haue knowledge wee desire honours if we haue honours we desire health if we haue health we desire to be young briefely we alwaies want something which we seeke after and when we cannot get it that is a cause of grudging and discontentment Then shall we be fully satisfied as saith Dauid when by death we are come to the Kingdome of God and his glory hath appeared vnto vs. In it are all things it is the soueraigne good which in it dooth comprehend all other therefore when wee shall haue it our appetite and desire shall rest in it we shall rest there without going any further without demaunding or seeking for any thing else Then shall be accomplished that which IESSVS CHRIST hath promised to all his faithfull who beleeuing in him with an entire faith and such a one as God requires in his word will raise vp in their hearts a spring of water of life springing to life eternall We shall no more feare any thing being no more in danger we shall desire nothing hauing all in our possession we shall hope for nothing for all promises shall bee accomplished wee shall no more aske any thing for we shall haue no more neede God shall bee all in all If wee will be rich we shall then haue him that doth inrich all those that call vppon his holy name If we will be wise we shall haue the heauenly wisedome if we will be mightie we shall haue the Almightie if we desire to be good we shall haue the onely excellent good if we will be faire we shall haue the great Architect and perfect workman of all things If we will be healthfull and liue long we shall haue the eternall All our senses shall be rauished with the greatnesse of the pleasures which they shall haue and feele Our eyes seeing the great sumptuous and magnificent Pallace of our God seeing the perfect soueraign beauty of his bright shining face seeing the Sun of iustice the fountaine of water of life the tree of life the Paradice that is to say the pleasant garden of our God his faire and noble company of Angels of Apostles Patriarches Martyrs and of all the blessed spirits And if the onely sight of Iesus Christ transfigured in the mountaine was of such great power that S. Peter all other thinges forgotten in an instant was thereby transported out of himselfe and desired so to remaine perpetually what may we thinke of the ioy and pleasure that he receiues who seeth IESVS CHRIST glorified and with him his Father his holy Spirit and all the abouesaid assembly Eye hath not seene eare hath not heard heart hath neuer conceiued the good the pleasure the rest and the contentment prepared for those which God hath elected to saluation Our eares shall likewise be rauished hearing the discourses and Sermons of the incomprehensible wisedome of our God Againe the good musicke the sweet and pleasant accords of the Angels and Saints reigning with him which sing without ceasing To the holy holy holy God of battailes be honor and glory for euer and euer Salomon vpon the earth rauished the people and made them astonished at the great wisdome and knowledge that was in him So did IESVS CHRIST also when he preached What can he then now do in heauen where all the great treasures of his diuine eloquence are vnfolded and laid open When Aeschines had repeated to the Rhodians the Oration of Demosthenes for the which he was banished seeing that they maruelled at it What would you haue done said hee if you had heard him pronounce it We also that are so rauished onely with the reading of the holy Scriptures when wee shall heare Iesus Christ pronounce them and with open mouth discourse continually with vs shall we not stand stocke still before him In the like extasie as was S. Paul being rauished into the third heauens shall we not haue our eyes setled with continuall looking vpon our Master and our eares alwaies attentiue to hearken vnto him Plato gaue God thankes for three thinges for that he was a man for that he was a Grecian for that he had bene so happy as to heare Socrates And shall not we giue him thanks for that we are Christians for that we are heauenly and for that by the meanes of death wee hope once to haue facultie to heare the wisedome of God VVe haue said what wee shall see and heare what shall we tast we shall be set at the table of our Lord where we shall haue abundance of all good things It shall be all couered with meates that he hath fattened and reserued a long while since for that banquet we shall there be fed with the bread of Angels we shall be made to drink in brooks of pleasure we shall be glutted and filled with all good things we shall be alwaies at Nuptials and in an instant we shall forget all the delights of the earth hauing tasted those of heauen as did the companions of Vlysses all other meates when they had eaten Lotos so celebrated by Homer It is an other manner of Manna then that of the children Israel for they waxed weary of it and were sorry in the desert that they had lost the quailes and flesh-pots of Egypt But we in heauen at the first taste of the meates which there shall be serued vs shall loose then all the lickorishnesse of this world VVee haue heere eaten of the fruites of the tree of knowledge of good and euill against the command of the Physitian VVhereupon followed the sicknesse of all and
see him If our King or some Prince of renowne comes into our countrey we desire to see him because of the report which we haue heard of his vertue and valour If Hercules Alexander the great Caesar Cato of whom we so much commend the ancient pictures were now in this world we would through curiositie goe a hundred miles to see them with what an affection then should we aspire to that day in the which we shall face to face see and behold that so mightie Prince who with an inuincible force hath broken the head of all our enemies who like vnto a valiant Iosua in despite of them hath brought vs through the dangers and conducted vs into the land which God had promised vs What a pleasure shall it be to vs to see him glorious in order and in triumphant array and round about him the goodly trophees of his great victories set vp It is said that when Alexander had ouercome Darius King of the Persians entring into the place where he made his residence He sits downe in his throne and that presently a Greeke Gentleman of his company began to weepe for ioy in speaking these words O happy day in the which we see our King victorious against the Barbarians and their pride troddeÌ„ vnder foot O that all Grecia had now the sight the pleasure of this spectacle Think what ioy it will be also to euery faithfull man to see Iesus Christ in his royal seat holding vnder his feet all his enemies ours but specially the serpeÌ„t whose head is alreadie broken and now hee doth nothing else but wagge his tayle waiting his finall end which shall bee at the day of iudgement May Kings and Princes did with great affection desire to see him when he was on earth accustomed like a seruant Simeon because he saw him so did so reioyce and was so satisfied that he feared no more to die ought not we more to desire to see him in heauen in a kingly robe with company greatnesse maiestie and pompe and in the state of a Lotd The Queene of Saba who being induced by the rumour which was spred ouer all the earth of the great Court of King Salamon came running thither from the farthest part of the South to see him and to heare his wisedome after she had diligently considered his great and maruellous wisedome the order the splendour and state of his house stood all astonied with great admiration said O how happie are the seruants of thy house who may see thy face euery day and heare thy diuine speeches let vs say also O thrice and foure times happy are the faithfull who dying goe directly to heauen to be hold the face of Iesus Christ who is much more then Salomon For the onely contemplation of it makes man content in euery point in taking from vs the memory and feeling of all other pleasures causeth that we cannot nor will not turne our eyes and thoughts from it Now death doth not onely cause vs to see Iesus Christ but maketh vs with him to behold the Angels the Patriarkes the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs which haue beene singular in graces and vertues And if any man that hath a hart towards God desires to see the Church well ordered in this world and preferreth it to all that can be giuen him albeit the order of is neuer so great but that there will be many things more to be desired with what vehemence and heate should he wish to see it in heauen without spot or wrinkle shining like the Sunne clothed in robes as white as Snowe set forth in nuptiall order The last reason for the which wee ought to desire death is that by it our spirite being parted from the body which doth clog it is more at liberty and more capable to looke into the mysteries of God We liue all in this world with a natural desire to know therefore is it that for our contentment we seeke alwayes to heare and see some nouelties then is it not possible that here beneath we should come to any great knowledge chiefely of the truth as well because that of it selfe it is obscure and hard to know as for the cares perturbations afflictions passions c. wherewith our minde is intangled and hindered whiles it is in our bodies which are vnto it as dust in a mans eye which doth hinder it from discerning any thing vnderstandingly It is the reason wherefore God said to Moyses that whiles we liue wee cannot see it cleerely for the which also S. Paul sayth That we know but in part and S. Iohn That we see the mysteries of our God but as it were in a glasse or through a window but when our soule shall be parted from this body and the vaile taken away which blindeth her eyes then shal it behold and see God face to face then shal it haue the perfect knowledge of him of Iesus Christ his Sonne in it eternal life We shal behold that which now we worship for we shal enter into the Sanctuary of our Lord and there shall looke on him without ceasing the propitiation the Cherubins nothing neither of the law nor the Gospell shal be any more vnknowne or hid from vs. God wil shew vnto vs as vnto his friends familiars all the riches of his house he will talke friendly with vs wil impart all vnto vr An ancient man turning from merchandise being entred into the hall where Demetriê° Phalereê° read when he had hard him a litle while begins to complaine said O vnhappy man that I am haue the good of this world bin cause that I haue bin so long depriued of such good things as these Let vs also say O miserable life wilt thou dure much longer wilt thou not shortly let vs go whither we aspire which is the schoole of our God Must we lose so many dayes Happy death wilt thou not hasten to bring vs thither We see by these reasons what occasion we haue to feare flie from and complain of death which is a rest sleepe most delightfull aboue all other for there is no noise nor dreames to trouble or interrupt it it is a holsome medicine which being swallowed doth heale vs of all diseases taketh al pain from vs. Which Socrates considering after he had drunke the poyson by the commandement of the Athenians who had vniustly condemned him to die when the venom was dispersed in his members his friend Crito a litle before he gaue vp the ghost had asked him if he would commaund him nothing no said he but that thou offer sacrifices to Aesculapiê° the god of physick to giue him thankes for I neuer tooke a medicine of such great force nor which wrought better It is a great shame that these Pagans in their ignorance and infidelity seeme to bee better instructed and more vertuous then wee are for wee feare death and flie from it as an euill thing and they hold
vs Mat. 20. 1. Thes 1. Rom. 10. and by that payment wholy satisfied to his iustice Item when it incites and stirres vs vp to praise God continually whether it be in prosperitie for to be thankfull for it or in aduersitie for to prostrate our selues before him and humbly to intreate him to deliuer vs out of it or if hee dispose otherwise at least to asswage and moderate it and on the other side to be fortified in such sort that in conforming our selues wholly to his will we may beare it patiently as long as it shall please him If finally it doth kindle and inflame vs with a loue of God Gal. 5. and of our neighbours in such sort that we may boyle with desire to serue and honour God to summon and induce as many as we can to know and glorifie him and that we haue no greater sorrow and dispite then to see him dishonoured and blasphemed And for our neighbours that we loue them as our owne flesh and members of one bodie with vs as our brethren and children of one father which we and they haue in heauen and that we make a demonstration of the loue which we beare them by all the effects and meanes that shall be possible vnto vs desiring their good their ioy their honours their rest aduancement and aduantage as our owne to assist them in all their necessities with money with counsaile with fauour with labour with friends with recommendations and without any exceptions with all that shall be in our power Now who is he among vs yea of those that haue profited the best and are the most aduanced in the knowledge and feare of God that dares to boast to haue such a faith which were sufficient to combat with the diuell and all the gates of hell and to render vs inuincible against all the tentations wherewith we may be assaulted Mat. 16. and euen withdraw our thoughts and affections from the earth and to rauish and lift them wholy on high aboue the heauens in a certaine hope of the immortalitie and happie life which God hath there promised and prepared for vs The which hope would make vs altogether to forget the world with all the glorie pompe pleasures riches and magnificence thereof and no more esteeme of all those corruptible things then of doung because of the taste which it should giue vs of the sweetnesse of the heauenly ioyes and by the which it should sodainly blot out and coole the feeling and remembrance of all other pleasures Mat. 17. as it hapned to the three disciples in whose presence Iesus Christ was transfigured in the mountaine for they had scarce tasted a little of the happy life but in the same instant they lost the remembrance of all the things of this world desiring nothing at all but the continuance onely of that estate and happinesse wherein they found themselues to be Seeing then that faith hope and charitie which are the three principall vertues which ought to shine in the life and in all the workes of a Christian man are imperfect and weake in vs and that euen in the perfectest that can be found in the world there be so many doubts mistrustes vaine feares presumption hatred enuie choller and other like passions and desires the which like vnto staines doe blot out the glosse and beauty of the vertues that are in vs we must when it is question to present our selues before the face and maiestie of our God with the sicke folkes that we desire to comfort and admonish beginne by an humble confession of our faults Confession of the sicke acknowledging first our ingratitudes and the neglect which hath bene in vs to heare and meditate his word to put it in practise to profit the gifts and singular grace which he hath parted vnto vs to consider and haue alwaies before our eyes the end and marke of our vocation thither for to referre and addresse the whole estate of our liues to walke in his feare and not to soile his image which hath bene restored and painted againe in vs in our regeneration to keepe faith and loyalty with him which we haue promised in the alliance which he hath contracted with vs to liue and die to his glory to offer to him our bodies for holy and liuing Sacrifice Rom. 12. and not to conforme our selues to this world to liue and walke in spirit that we do not accomplish the desires of the flesh to walke as children of light to stand firme in the liberty in the which Christ hath set vs free Gal. 5. Rom. 6. and to take heed that we be not brought vnder the yoake and bondage of sinne to fight valiantly against the lusts of our flesh to resist the diuell to hinder that sinne haue no domination nor rule ouer vs so well to rule our life and all our fashions that we may not onely be free from all crime and sinne but also from all doubt to looke carefully that our liberty be not occasion that our flesh goes astray and that wee doe not commit any act that may bring scandall to our neighbours or that it may in any sort induce our aduersaries to blame the name of God and of Iesus Christ and defame the religion we follow to seeke for nothing but those things onely that are from aboue Col. 3. and to haue all our heart and our vnderstanding our thoughts our affections and to make short all our conuersation in heauē to haue alwaies our lampes burning and our selues prepared to waite for the comming of the Lord and to be readie to follow him and by his grace to do whatsoeuer he shall commaund vs incessantly to pray and prayse God and to depend vpon his prouidence wholly to remit both our selues and our affaires vnto him altogether to resigne our will vnto him and to conclude to loue him with all our heart with all our soule and with all our vnderstanding and our neighbour as our selfe After you haue propounded before the sicke all the faults which he hath committed to astonish him and by that meanes to prepare him to require and receiue the grace of God you must present before his eyes what he hath iustly deserued by the offences which he hath done to wit to be altogether deuoured by the wrath of God whereof he hath made a heape continuing in his sinne and so long abusing of his patience and benignitie Rom. 2. Item to be ouerthrowne with his iudgement the which as saith the Apostle is prepared for all that disobey God and singularly for those seruants who knowing his will and being wel informed of all that belongeth to their dutie haue made no reckoning to acquire themselues of it Item that all the curses contained in the law and ordained against those that transgresse it fall vpon his head seeing it hath bene his hap to deborde himselfe not onely once and twise by ignorance and frailtie but to violate the
holy ordinances of God wittingly and willingly almost as many times as he hath bene inuited and solicited by the diuell and his owne desires Item to be banished and shut out of the kingdome of heauen seeing that the flesh according to the which hee hath liued cannot inherite nor possesse it 1. Cor. 15. for if our first parentes haue beene shamefully hunted out of Paradise Rom. 5. whither they had beene called after their creation by reason of their disobedience what doth man now deserue by so many rebellions and iniquities which hee drinkes and swallowes downe euerie day as if it were water Item to be condemned to euerlasting death and consigned for euer to fire and torments with the diuell and the reprobate seeing that it is the recompence and reward of sinnes and for conclusion that hee hath deserued to be buried in hell and there in the flame to suffer such torments as doth the euill rich man Luc. 16. for hauing disdained the poore and their afflictions and hauing made no reckoning to succour them at their need and vse such humanity towards them as he would haue desired of others Simil. being reduced to like necessity When the sick shall be thus brought downe and that in the law as in a looking glasse his iudgement condemnation shall be represented vnto him and when he shall be seene to be wounded and pierced with sorrow in his heart then must be applied to his sore lenitiue medicines Simil. and do as doth a mason when he cuts a stone first they giue it great strokes with the hammer till they get out great flakes presently after they polish plain it in such sort with the chisell that the blowes are no more perceiued So it must be that after the sicke hath bene so rudely intreated and hauing by the rigorous threatnings of the law let him downe into hell be is drawne vp againe by propounding vnto him the sweete and amiable promises of the Gospell to the end that by the sweetnesse of this oyle the biting sowernesse of the law may be sweâ—â—ned and that the ioy of the good things of the grace of God may make him to passe away forget the sorrow despaire whereinto the law reduceth him first he must be shewed that the bond which was against vs Col. 2.2 and the which lay in the ordinances was coÌ„trary vnto vs hath bin blotted out abolished fastned on the crosse of Iesus Christ Item that Iesus Christ hath bought vs againe from the malediction and curse of the law when he was made a curse for vs for it is written Gal. 3. cursed is he that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham should come vpon the the Gentiles through Iesus Christ to the end that wee should receiue the promise of the spirit of faith That Christ is the end of the law Rom. 9. and of iustice to all beleeuers And finally that by the perfect obedience which he hath rendred to God obseruing all his commaundements without breaking theÌ„ in any thing or omitting one only little point of them to the enduring of the cursed death of the Crosse for vs because that such was the will of his Father he hath procured a generall remission abolition of all our sin an acquittaÌ„ce of all our debts obligatioÌ„s the which he hath paid not in gold siluer or precious stones Peter 2. but with his own bloud which is an incomparable price and ransome And ouer and aboue he hath purchased vs a righteousnesse the which being allowed vs by the faith and assurance which we haue thereof as well by his word and Sacraments as his spirit which giues testimony thereof in our hearts wee ought to take away all feare and apprehension that we may haue of our sins of death of the diuell of the rigour malediction of the law and finally of the wrath iudgement of God Rom. 4. For to begin at our sinnes being cloathed with the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ we ought to assure our selues not onely that they are couered hid from being perceiued and discouered before the eyes and face of our God but altogether blotted out as it were with a spunge and disperced as are the clouds by the Sun and the wind and although they were as red as vermelion or scarlet yet shall they become as white a snow as saith Isay And before him Dauid Isa 1. Psal 51. If thou with Isope purge this blot I shall be cleaner then the glasse And if thou wash away my spot The snow in whitenesse shall I passe And it makes no matter what manner of sinnes not in what number they be so they be not sinnes against the holy Ghost not yet in what sort and manner they haue bene committed whether by ignorance weakenesse or of set malice for the sin cannot so much abound but the grace of God which is procured vs by the death and iustice of Iesus Christ doth yet more abound And although that the sinne being committed against the infinit maiesty of God be also for that regard reputed infinite yet that hinders not that the bloud of Christ which by the eternall spirit hath offered him selfe to God himselfe without any spot doth cleanse our consciences from dead works to serue the liuing God Heb. 9. as writeth the Apostle to the Hebrewes For the diuinity being vnseparably vnited to the humanity in the person of Iesus Christ is cause by his omnipoteÌ„ce that his death hath an infinite vertue to redeeme vs and his iustice to sanctifie vs and his life to quicken and make vs happy insomuch as being God as he is stronger then the diuell also are his workes more powerfull to saue then are those of his enemies to destroy and to consume His iustice hath more force to iustifie vs then sinne whereof the diuell is author hath to condemne vs and his puritie to wash and make vs cleane then this filthy spirit hath by his filthinesse to defile vs. And his light is more strong for to illuminate and lighten vs then the darknesse of the Prince of the world to blinde vs and his truth to instruct vs then the errours of the father of lies to abuse vs briefe his life hath more vertue to raise vs againe and quicken vs then the enuie of this murtherer homicide hath to kill and slay vs. Whereby wee see that the Sonne of God as saith St. Iohn is not come into the world to any other end but to destroy the workes of the diuell and that in his bloud all our enemies that is to say all our sinnes haue bene drowned no more nor lesse then in old time Pharao and the enemies of Gods people were all discoÌ„fited and drowned in the red sea It is that strong one which St. Luke saith surpriseth an other strong one Luc. 11. whom he hath combated and ouercome and from whom he hath taken all the
things happening to all of them contrary to their liking desire and hope are not wee then much beholding to death when in a moment it maketh vs to enioy the soueraigne good which consisteth in the perfect rest of our mindes and in the satisfaction of all our desires the which indeede vaine men in vaine seeke for in the transitory thinges of this world There is yet an other point which ought to make vs to embrace death willingly when our houre is come which is that it putteth vs in possession of all the good thinges which Iesus Christ hath purchased for vs. For whiles we liue in this world we are saued as saith S. Paul but by hope only But when by death wee depart out of it then we shall enioy the euerlasting life and that so great good which the eye the eare the vnderstanding and the heart of man cannot conceiue nor apprehend the greatnesse of it It was a great pleasure to the children of Israel when after so long and hard a bondage in the which they had bin detained in Aegypt after so many crosses and euill encounters which they had had in the deserts of Arabia the space of forty yeares they saw that they were arriued at the riuer of Iordan and that they wanting nothing but the passage therof to enter into the possession of the land which God had promised to their Fathers and which they had so long looked for A yong man also that hath beene a long time vnder the keeping and protection of a rigorous and inhumane protector that hath vsed him hardly and hath suffered him to endure very much without administring those things that were necessary vnto him hath not he great matter of reioycing seeing the time approch in the which hee is to be emancipate and to goe out of his keeping to bee at liberty and to enioy his goods and pleasure and that without any more controulement The yong children of good house that are with a King or in the house of a Prince and great Lord vnder the hand and conduct of a seuere and sharpe Rider or Tutor who nourisheth and entertaineth them vnder a good and rigorous discipline are so glad when they are discharged of being Page and that they goe out of the feare and bondage in the which they haue beene long and stricktly detayned The young Maidens likewise that haue beene very shortly curbed in their Father and Mothers house during the time of their child-hood and youth leape for ioy when there is speech of marrying them and reioyce yet more when they are affianced but the scope of their pleasure is when they are espoused and giuen into the hands of a husband that loues them and is agreeable vnto them for by this meanes they are wholly satisfied We also that here below by the preaching of the Gospell of Iesus Christ and the faith which we haue added to his promises haue as it were affianced or betrothed him what occasion shall we haue to reioyce when our soules departing from their bodies shall flie vp into heauen to marry him and to celebrate the nuptiall feast with an alacrity and contentment that shall neuer end nor be interrupted nor troubled neither by death nor by sicknesse nor by any other accidents that may euer happen vnto vs It shall be then that our spouse comming to meete vs shall say that which is written in the booke of Canticles Come hither my loue enter into the closet of thy friend that thou and I may peaceably and without feare enioy our loues Thy winter is passed and so are likewise the Raine the Snow the Haile the Cold and Frost and all this sharpe and cruell season which thou hast beene faine to endure till now with much paine but the spring wherein thou doest now enter shall last thee for euer and likewise all the pleasures that accompany it Enter then my loue into the ioy and rest of thy Lord then shall it bee that the saying of the Prophet shall bee accomplished Psal 126. Full true it is That they which sow in teares in deede A time will come When they shall reape in mirth and ioy They went and wept In bearing of their precious seede For that their foes Full oftentimes did them annoy But their returne With ioy they shall sure see Their sheaues home bring And not impaired bee And that being out of custody and wardship and taken from vnder the hands and discipline of our Tutors wee shall bee set in full liberty and possession of the heritage which God our good Father hath promised and destinated vnto vs when hee adopted vs for his children that is to say of eternall life and of the Kingdome of heauen which is a good that here may well bee hoped for but for to speake of it or thinke it it is impossible what tongue or eloquence soeuer should bee imployed therein for the greatnesse of it passeth all humane capacity Now hauing fortified the sicke against the feare that hee may haue of death hee must also bee assured against the feare of the Diuell who holds the Empire of death Hebr. 2. For it is then as at a last assault that hee vseth all his indeauours and that hee prepares all his engins against vs to assay to carry vs away but being in the safe keeping of our Pastor who is vigilant and watchfull to keepe vs and stronger to defend vs then can be the Wolfe and the Lyon to assault vs wee ought not to feare for who can snatch vs out of his hands Iohn 10. seeing that hee and his father who is greater then all are but one in essence in power glory and maiesty VVee then are assured that as there is no subtlety that can surprise or beguile his wisedome that also there is no force sufficient to combate and resist his power Let vs then keepe our selues vnder the shaddow of his wings and assure our selues that he will keepe vs well and surely and will hinder that the Diuels nor other creatures shall be able to hurt nor offend vs as saith the Prophet Psal 91. He that within the secret place Of God most high doth dwell In shaddow of the mightiest grace At rest shall keepe him well Thou art my hope and my strong hold I to the Lord will say My God is he in him will I My whole affiance stay And after hee hath spoken of some euils from the which he doth assure the faithfull that they cannot come neare them at last he comes to the Diuels ancient and mortall enimies to mankinde and speaketh of them in this manner Vpon the Lyon thou shalt goe The Adder fell and long And treade vpon the Lyon yong With Dragons stout and strong For he that trusteth vnto me I will dispatch him quite And him defend because that he Doth know my name aright Where we see the victory which he promiseth vs ouer the Diuels And the example of the Apostles Luk. 9. vnto
ambitious Their care is to build houses faire And so determine sure To make their name right great on earth For euer to endure Yet shall no man alwaies enioy High honor wealth and rest But shall at length taste of deaths cup As well as the brute beast Now as wee ought not to grieue to forsake the honours and great estates of the world for the reasons aboue declared also ought wee not to bee sorry for the riches and temporall goods when going out of this life wee are constrained to leaue them For to speake properly they are not the right goods of the children of God nor the inheritance which their father keepeth and that Iesus Christ hath purchasest for them for his Kingdome which is the good which is promised vs is not of this world but heauenly Also the force the estate the riches the honours the pleasures the counsell the peace and all the felicity of that Kingdome is diuine and spirituall IESVS CHRIST who is the King what temporall goods did hee possesse or purchase being in the world where he had not only so much as the little birds or the foxes that is to say a neast a caue or a little hole to rest his head in And the Apostles who are as Princes of the Kingdome what reuenues what great possessions had they in the world St. Peter said speaking to the lame man that lay at the gate of the temple asking almes Act. 3. I haue neither gold nor siluer but that which I haue I giue it vnto thee In the name of Iesus the Nazarite arise and walke And S. Paul 2. Cor. 6. we are poore and needy and neuerthelesse we inrich many as hauing nothing and possessing all things We may see by this that the goods wherewith God doth here inrich his children are not the earthly and corruptible goods that are subiect to Theeues to the rust and to the moth but spirituall certaine and permanent goods which cost nothing neither to buy nor to keepe them for God of his gracious goodnesse hath giuen them vnto vs preserues them for vs. And there is none that can take them from vs but him selfe which he neuer doth but when hee is compelled either by our ingratitude or because that we abuse them turning them to an other end then that for the which he did inlarge them vnto vs. The goods then which we ought to esteeme and seeke after are the heauenly goods as the grace of God our adoption faith the word of the Gospell hope charity patience humility the peace and rest of our consciences singularly the iustice of Iesus Christ which is the fountaine from the which spring and distill vpon vs all the graces fauors and blessings of our God because that by it and by the communication which is made vnto vs by it wee are reconciled and reunited vnto him continued and entertayned in his fauour whereby we conceiue a certayne and infallible hope of life euerlasting which is the fulnesse and heigth of all good and of all the true felicity that we can desire It is there then where we ought alwaies to aspire and whither all the thoughts of our minds and all the desires of our hearts should tend For it is our soueraigne good and the scope of our beatitude and not these transitory things which make them neuer the better that possesse them but are many times cause that they waxe worse if they obserue them well as saith the Apostle 1. Tim. 6. and to swell with vaine presumption and to be haughty and proud and to set their hope vpon the vncertainty of riches to keepe a ranke by themselues and to be very little conuersant to be insolent and outragious as saith Dauid Psal 73. Therefore presumption doth embrace Their necks as doth a chaine And are euen wrapt as in a roabe With rapine and disdaine And speaking of the trust which ordinarily they set vpon their riches saith elsewhere Psal 49. As for them that riches haue Wherein their trust is most And they which of their treasure great Themselues doe bragge and boast Then mocking them he addes There is not one of them that can His brothers death redeeme Or that can giue a price to pay Sufficient for him Item in an other place where he speakes of both togither to wit of the iniustice violence and oppression which the rich and mighty of this world vse to the poore and of their vaine hopes The sonnes of men deceitfull are On ballance but a sleight Psal 62. With things most vaine doe them compare For they can keepe no weight Trust not in wrong robbery or stealth Let vaine delights be gone Though goods well got flow in with wealth Set not your hearts thereon It is the reason for the which Iesus Christ calleth richesse riches of iniquity Luk. 16. not but that they are creatures of God and good when men can vse them well and apply them as God hath commanded But because almost all men abuse them causing them to serue to their disordinate desires Also saith St. Paul 1. Tim. 6. the Diuell makes vse of them as of snares and ginnes to intrap and intangle them and to cause them to fall into many foolish and noysome desires which bring them to perdition and destruction and euen sometimes causeth them to depart from the faith as euery day wee see it happeneth to many Apostataes who being reproued for reuolting and going from the Church haue no other answere to excuse and colour their Apostacy but that they will not leese their goods louing rather to perish cursedly in keeping them as goods for a short time then to be saued for euer in forsaking them Wherein they shew themselues to be farre from following the counsell of Iesus Christ and to bee of his Disciples vnto whom he counselleth that if their hand or foote cause them to stumble Mat. 19. that they cut it off and cast it behinde them because it is better for them to goe into the Kingdome of heauen lame then to be sent into torments with two legges and two armes And of the eye likewise which is the part of the body that we hold dearest if it offend vs that wee ought to pull it out and cast it from vs. For saith he it were better to enter into life with one eye then to haue two and to bee cast into torments What ought wee then to doe with temporall goods when wee feele that by them wee are detayned or distracted from following IESVS CHRIST chearefully were it not more expedient and healthfull for vs with a good courage to breake these snares that hold vs so intangled and to escape then to remayne caught and intrapt and to fall into the handes of the fowler Crates the Theban feeling that the goods which hee did possesse drew him from the study of Philosophie and that the care which hee had to administer them did not suffer him to practise it
Gen. 1. hee did not make you to destroy you for he is the Sauiour of all men 1. Tim. 2. and desires not the death of a sinner but that hee turne and liue Wherefore I pronounce vnto you in the name of God Mat. 9. Marc. 2. that by his great goodnesse and mercy hee hath giuen you a pardon and full remission of all your sinnes Luc. 5. Titus 3. through the onely merite of his sonne IESVS CHRIST our Lord in the shedding of his most precious bloud Tim. 1. Act. 4. Reuel 1. 1. Iohn 2. for hee is the propitiation not onely for your sinnes but for the sinnes of the whole world Mat. 17. B. S. N. Iesus Christ saith with his owne mouth that all things are possible to him that beleeueth Beleeue then without doubting at all Rom. 1. Phil. 2. 1. Pet. 1. that Iesus Christ putting on our flesh made himselfe perfect man whereby hee died for you hauing borne all your sinnes in his bodie to abolish and blot them out Present vnto God the precious death of his Sonne Iesus Christ and by the merite of that death and passion aske him forgiuenesse and mercie saying from the bottome of your heart in all humilitie and repentance LOrd God Almightie be mercifull to mee poore miserable sinner for the loue of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST my Lord and Sauiour Rom. 3. Iohn 14. and through the merite of his death and passion that it may please thee to receiue my soule Mat. 26. the which I recommend into thy hands B. S. N. Put your firme confidence in God for seeing hee is with you Rom. 8. no man will bee against you Iesus Christ who is the imaculate Lambe hath ouercome all for you Isa 61. Heb. 7.8.9 hee hath offered himselfe once for you and by that onely oblation hath quite done away all your sinnes he hath done away your folly vnrighteousnesse abhomination and obligation with this good Lord IESVS CHRIST God the Father hath giuen you all things B. S. N. Strengthen your selfe in IESVS CHRIST Rom. 8. who calleth and inuiteth you by his Prophets Apostles and Euangelists to addresse your selfe directly vnto him saying All that are thirstie Isa 55. Mat. 11. come to the great fountaine Isa 55. Mat. 11. Come to me all yee that are heauy laden and I will refresh you B. S. N. Beleeue stedfastly that IESVS CHRIST hath discharged you of all your sinnes 1. Iohn 5. and hath reconciled you to God his Father vnto whom in all humility and repentance say from the bottome of your heart Rom. 3. Iohn 14. LOrd God Almighty be mercifull vnto mee poore miserable sinner for the loue of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST my Lord and Sauiour and by the merit of his death and passion Mat. 26. Psa 30. that it would please thee to receiue my soule the which I commend into thy hands B.S.N. Bee in hope for for a certayne hee will receiue your soule as his owne for the loue of Iesus Christ his Sonne our Lord Marke 16. Deut. 18. Psal 2. Isa 53. Genes 3. 22. Mat. 9. who is the Sauiour and Redeemer of all those that beleeue in him Moyses and all the Prophets haue testified that all people shall receiue saluation and blessing through Iesus Christ The Apostles and Euangelists testifie that Iesus Christ is not come to call the iust Iohn 10. Luke 22. but sinners to repentance and to giue his soule for the redemption of many for hee hath shedde his bloud for the remission of sinnes Beleeue then and doubt not at all for IESVS CHRIST hath made the purgation of all your sinnes Heb. 1. hauing promised that all those that beleeue in him and in his Father that sent him shall haue eternall life Iohn 5. and shall not come to iudgement but shall passe from death to life Got to then B. S. N. Take courage in Iesus Christ for hee hath loued you Isa 53. Reuel 1. and washed you from all your sinnes in his bloud Rom. 5. haue this firme faith to fight valiantly against the aduersarie haue no other buckler to defend you but that precious bloud of Iesus Christ who by vertue of his death and passion hath reconciled you to God his Father vnto whom from the bottome of your heart in all humilitie and repentance present this prayer LOrd God Almighty be mercifull vnto mee poore miserable sinner Rom. 3. Iohn 14. for the loue of thy Sonne Iesus Christ my Lord and Sauiour and by the merit of his death and passion that it may please thee to receiue my soule the which I recommend into thy hands Math. 26. Psal 30. B. S. N. Haue this hope and stedfast saith that this good God full of mercy will receiue your soule as his into his handes for the loue of his Sonne Iesus Christ Iohn 10. Act. 4. for there is no other name vnder Heauen giuen to men whereby wee must be saued and there is no saluation in any other but in IESVS CHRIST Then arme your selfe well with Iesus Christ For hee hath done all for you he hath accomplished the law for you Rom. 8. Rom. 10. he hath ouercome all for you Go to then B. S. N. Reioyce in God be alwaies stedfast in this liuely saith follow and imitate the holy Patriarkes Heb. 11. Prophets and Apostles who are all saued in this faith who do all assure you that the aduersarie cannot in any wise hurt you for your cause is gotten through IESVS CHRIST Iohn 5. 1. Iohn 2. who is your Iudge and your aduocate likewise wherefore say alwaies in this firme faith Although I should walke in the middest of the shadow of death yet would I dread none euill Psal 22. for thou Lord God art with mee B. S. N. Also bee neuer wearie with saying from the bottome of your heart in all humilitie and repentance LORD God Almightie bee mercifull vnto mee poore miserable sinner for the loue of thy Sonne IESVS CHRIST my Lord and Sauiour Rom. 9. Iohn 14. and by the merite of his death and passion may it please thee to receiue my soule Mat. 26. Psalm 36. the which I recommend into thy hands So be it A singular Prayer for a bodie greatly afflicted with sicknesse who is more likely to die then to liue With a little Catechisme made expresly to instruct the sicke and to make him by faith behold the mysterie of our redemption ECCLESIASTICVS 18. Before sicknesse take Phisicke and before iudgement examine thy selfe and in the presence of God thou shalt find propitiation NOw the Lord doth admonish vs to pray continually Mat. 26. principally when wee are touched with his correction Wherefore all such parents and faithfull friends as visite the sicke bodie ought not onely to visite and solicite the bodie Mat. 6. but also seeke after and desire the spirituall Phisicke for their soules Which ought
when he seeth the day comming wherin he doth hope to haue liberty and quietly to enioy his goods So ought euery faithfull man seeing the day of his death draw neere in the which he shall be put in possession of all the goods which God hath giuen him and the gift wholly resigned When a man that hath vndertaken some long and tedious iourney hauing trauelled many daies and being wearied on the way seeth the gate of the town whither he goes doth he not reioyce and as it were leape for ioy Doth he not giue God thankes going into the towne that it hath pleased him to conduct and bring him safely thither Now euer since wee were borne we haue alwaies bene in this world as strangers we haue done nothing else but trauell in this low place as in great desert we haue heere wearied oâ—â—elues then seeing death neere vnto vs that is to say the gate whereby wee must enter into the kingdome of our God and the staires whereby wee must ascend vnto his holy mountaine haue wee not occasion to consolate our selues and to leape for ioy considering that we are almost arriued at the place where we hope to rest perpetually If poore Adam being driueÌ„ out of the earthly Paradise after he had tasted of the miseries whereinto hee had precipitate himselfe by his sinne had beene called thither againe and set in his first estate what occasion should he haue had to reioyce And we also who after so many and diuers afflictions are called out by God by the means of death into no earthly but heauenly Paradise not Adams but Gods where there is no sin where there is no Serpent where there is no forbidding briefe where there is no feare nor shame When Noah after the flood and falling of the waters which had broken and torne all began to see the firme land he did reioyce and for ioy sacrificed to God for a thanksgiuing although it was accursed and brought forth thornes and thistles as before VVhat more great occasion shall wee haue when after the great flouds and desolations which wee haue seene in this world 〈◊〉 shall beginne to see and salute the land of the liuing the blessed land the land that was promised to the good the land flowing with Milke and Honey and all sweete and sauory things When Ioseph after hee had a long time beene prisoner in great calamitie suddenly without thinking thereone was raised to such dignitie that hee was next the King in Egypt making lawes and ordinances for to dispose the State and Kingdome had not hee matter of consolation VVee haue no lesse but much more when after our prisons captiuities seruitudes banishmentes and so many other afflictions which wee suffer in this world wee by death are in a moment lifted vp from the dunghill into heauen there to reigne with IESVS CHRIST and to bee partakers of his glory of his honour of his faith of his rest and of his table VVas it not a great ioy to the Iewes who had beene captiue three score yeares in Babylon amongest the Idolaters in great miserie depriued of the vse and commoditie of spirituall thinges as to assemble together to prayse God and to heare his word and to doe other thinges appertayning to the office of a Christian weeping sometimes when they were by themselues and hanging vp their Harpes and Instruments through griefe that they could not serue God according to their desires nor sing his prayses among the strangers for to haue the Kings letters to returne into their countrey build their Temple and there according to their ancient manner in all liberty serue praise and worship their God It is lesse to vs when after a long and redious captiuitie that we haue endured in this world conuersing with Idolaters vnbeleeuers blasphemers despisers of God and of his word we are deliuered and haue our pasport to goe into this celestiall Ierusalem and into the holy Temple of our God there for to praise him perpetually and in beholding his goodnesse to glorifie and sanctifie his holy name Death is also to be desired by reason that with our sorrowes it also ends our mourning we in this world are alwaies sad heauie and malancoly In it we weepe we sigh and alwaies weare the blacke weede But when by death wee goe forth of it to goe into the house of our Bridegroome wee put off and leaue the mourning weed for to take our goodly and sumptuous abiliments With goodly Robes rich and imbrodered Before the Kings she shall in state be led Saith our diuine Poet Esay and euerlasting ioy shall be powred on those which haue bene the faithfull sereants of God and then shall be accomplished that which hath bene promised them You that doe weepe in this world are happie for you shall laugh there shall be no more griefe nor complayning nor teares for God at our comming into his kingdome will wipe them away from our eyes we shall be comforted and we shall rest in Abrahams bosome as did Lazarus there shall be no other question but of singing and saying euery one to our soules Go to praise God in all things oh my soule And all my parts without let or controlle Praise his most good holy and blessed name Say to the Harpe and other instruments Go to awake that you may now be set vp againe in the estate to serue God and praise him for his goodnesse say to all the Church Giue vnto God praise and renowne For hee 's louing and kinde And which is more his gracious loue Shall dure world without end Say to all creattures blesse the Lord in all his works praise and exalt his name Blesse God ye Angels of heauen Sunne Moone Fire Ayre Water Earth Trees and Beasts A maide that hath long time bene betrothed desires that the day of her mariage were come and when it is come shee reioyceth seeing that shee shall soone be brought to her husbands house to dwell perpetually with him wee ought also to comfort our selues when the time drawes neere that our Lord must come and wee ought to attend him waking as did the fiue wife Virgines that so soone as hee shall bee come wee may goe in to the wedding with him and that the gate be not shutte against vs as it was against the fiue foolish becaue they were fallen asleepe An other reason why death is to bee wished for is that it causeth vs to see our friend and Sauiour IESVS CHRIST of whom we haue as yet seene but the picture The Prophets and Apostles haue described him vnto vs so faire of such a comely stature so courteous so vertuous so loyall so eloquent so louely so noble so rich so louing of vs that for our saluation hee did abandon his owne life which ought more to moue vs then any other thing Where is that maid who hauing heard of so many perfections to be in her friend would not burne and be altogether transported with desire and affection to
the foundation of our Religion are lesse affectionate to follow the Lord and to giue themselues to piety and iustice And we must not doubt but the wicked who abandon themselues to all impiety against God who without remorse of conscience doe exercise all sorts of wickednesse against their neighbours they doe it by so much the more freely as they perswade themselues that so they escape the iudgement and punishment of men they shall heare nothing of it after this life For seeing that to auoyde onely the vengeance of the Magistrate in this world they hide as much as they can their iniquities and giue such good colours to their misdeedes as possible they can to the end not to be conuicted wicked how much more doe you thinke they would be bridled from doing euill if they were perswaded that although their bodyes die yet their soules shall remaine immortal and shall endure the iudgement of God which it hath deserued and that one day their bodies shall rise againe Heb. 10. that both body and soule may be eternally tormented in hell by the iudgement of God so horrible and fearefull Heb. 10. whereupon we may see how necessary it is to know that the dead shall rise againe being this doctrine the principall vpholder of Christian Religion of the which if a man be not altogether perswaded all the rest is nothing And it is impossible to perseuere amongst so many difficulties and afflictions which are daily present at the seruing of the Lord for if the hope of the resurrection were not we should be the most miserable of the earth seeing that in this world the faithfull are ordinarily more afflicted then the infidels 1. Cor. 15. but our consolation is the promise of Iesus Christ that although the world shall reioyce for a time and that we shall weepe Ioh. 16. Rom. 8. Psal 37. 73. the time will come that our Head will visite vs and reioyce our hearts with a ioy that shall neuer be taken from vs. Now for to vnderstand this Article of faith we must well vnderstand these three points First we must now know whether the soule dieth with the body or no. Secondly whether the body returnes so into the earth that it cannot rise againe Thirdly if it doth rise who it is that doth raise it and in what estate it shall be being risen THE FIRST POINT AS for the first part The Lord for to declare vnto vs the immortality of soules compares death to the sleepe of man and sayeth that those that are dead sleepe assuring vs that euen so as when the body doth sleepe the soule doth not sleepe as appeares by so many dreames which men haue that also although the body shall be put into the Sepulchre as in a place of sleep neuerthelesse the immortall soule shall be gathered and assembled in its place from the which it shall come againe at the day of iudgement to put on her body that therein she may enioy the happy life or suffer eternall punishment The Apostle speaking of the daughter of Iairus Rom. 2. Mat. 25. Luc. 8. whom the Lord did raise againe sayth That the spirite did returne into her shewing that it was not dead like the body but onely that she was gone to the place from the which by the commandement of Iesus Christ shee came againe to re-enter into her body as also that of Lazarus of Bethleem Ioh. 11. For euen so as the body doth returne to the earth from whence it was taken so the spirite doth returne to God who gaue it The same Euangelist declares that the soule of dead Lazarus liues in heauen Luc. 16. and that of the euill rich man in hell The Lord dying to shew that the soule was not subiect to death as the body Luc. 22. Act. 7. did recommend his soule to his Father Saint Steuen that first Martyr recommended his to Christ Saint Paul desired to be dissolued and to be with Iesus Phil. 1. knowing that after his soule should be deliuered out of the prison of his body it should goe to the ioy of the children of God Vnto the theefe it was said This day thou shalt be with me in Paradice Luc. 23. which cannot be vnderstood of the body but shewes that the faithfull dying Ioh. 5.6 make the passage from death to life The which ought only to be vnderstood of the soule seeing that the body must first be brought to earth and that it must put off all corruption for to rise at the last day incorruptible and in glory Iesus Christ against the Saduces who denied the immortality of soules shewes Mat. 22. that for as much as GOD calles himselfe the God of Abraham of Isaacke and of Iacob Exod. 3. infallibly the soules departed doe liue for hee is not the God of those that are dead in such sort that they are no more but he is the God of those that are and that liue and doth good to the posterity of those that are and not of those that are not which cannot be vnderstood but of their soules seeing their bodies were returned to the earth Whereby we see that they deceiue themselues greatly that say that their soules die and vanish with the body where they sleepe also those likewise who thinke that they enter into other bodies Mar. 6. Luc. 9. Euen the Pagans by naturall apprehensions haue beleeued that the soules were immortall as we see that Euripides in the Tragedy which hee intituled Hecuba doth declare it when he brings in Polixena speaking to Hecuba and dying saying to her What shall I say to Hector thy husband who was dead she answered her tell him that I am the most wretched in the world And in that which he intituled The supplicants he sayes The spirite shall returne to heauen Likewise Pholicides sayes That the soule is immortall and liuing alwayes waxeth not olde Pythagoras in his golden verses said If when thou hast left the body thou commest into heauen thou shalt be as God liuing alwayes and being no more mortall Cicero likewise writes of it in his booke of friendship and in that which he writ of age in some sort comforting himselfe in the hope which he had of the immortality of his soule We see then that it is a thing most assured that the soule is immortall as the Lord by his word which is the infallible truth of heauen doth shew it vs and likewise the Pagans how ignorant soeuer they were of the true religion haue well vnderstood it Wherefore those that denie the immortality of soules accuse God of lying make themselues in worse estate then the Pagans This knowledge is a great consolation to the faithfull in all their afflictions and doth take from them the feares of death knowing that their soules being separated from their bodies liue in heauen 1. Ioh. 2. in which they are admonished not to settle themselues vpon the transitory things
The Apostle saith that they shal feele a feruentnesse of fire which shall deuoure them S. Iohn declareth that they shall bee cast into the lake of fire brimstone which is the second death For although they shal liue yet by reason of these incredible torments they ought rather to be called dead then aliue Now although that by all these similitudes it is demonstrated vnto vs that the damned shall be grieuously and euerlastingly tormented yet neuerthelesse man cannot thinke nor comprehend how great the euerlasting sufferings shall be no more then he can comprehend the ioy of the children of God Marc. 9. 1. Cor. 2 Hebr. 10. Wherefore with good cause the Author to the Hebrewes saith that it is a terrible and fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God For although that we should see one continually knawed with wormes and burnt with fire that torment should notwithstanding be as nothing in regard of that which is prepared for the wicked For besides that their bodies shall be horribly afflicted their soules shall be in incredible distresses and sorrowes This ought wel to stirre vs vp to watch and pray and to refraine from doing euill Reu. 3. Mat. 24. 1 Thes 1. Psal 25. 51. Iere. 31. Lamen 5. Cant. 1. Luc. 17. Ioh. 3. Wisd 4. 5. and to moue vs to serue God and to desire him with the Prophets and Apostles to change reuiue and increase our faith that so being made new creatures we may escape this place of torment and be numbred amongst the sonnes of God Which the Lord grant for the loue of his welbeloued Sonne our Sauiour to whom be all honor and glory for euer and euer AMEN A conclusion of this booke conteyning an exhortation to all estates to prepare themselues to die well for feare least the vncertaine howre of death should surprise them MOreouer my brethren friends it remaines that this booke be not onely in our hands but also in our hearts and if we haue any desire to amend ous liues let it not be deferred till to morrow for when to morrow shall come wee will yet referre all to the next day and so consequently the whole yeare shall passe yea our whole life If then at this present howre there bee some little good affection in vs let vs not suffer it to be quenched let vs not kill that grace which God hath giuen vs but to the contrary by all meanes which shall be possible to vs let vs endeuour our selues in such sort that from howre to howre it may not onely be confirmed but also augmented God is mercifull enough and liberall to grant vs our requests but he will be importunated not in his owne regard but ours for he knoweth how backward we are to pray and call vpon him and how soone we are weary of it although we should desire nothing more in this world for it is no small thing to speake vnto God And which ought yet more to moue vs is that he doth willingly hearken vnto vs and neuer puts backe those which come vnto him I speake this because I see not that by any other better meanes we can preuent confusion than by prayer Surely if euer men had need of this aide we are in great necessity of it in these last daies and olde age of the world for we must not doubt but that Satan now doth set himselfe in armes perceiuing well that the howre drawes neere that he shall not be able to doe that which hee hath done heretofore and that the Sonne of God must be manifested to all creatures and that then the perfection ought to come of the blessed and the finishing of their happinesse of the which hee knoweth well hee hath no part If then for his part he sets himselfe forth in his strength it remaines that we should do the like for vs that wee may be furnished with all celestiall armour and that we bee not daunted with all his plots and treacheries for surely the victorie is in our handes so that we fight against him and not with him as doth almost all the world at this day although that the most part thinke the contrary for so they haue the name of a Christian and be without reproch before men who are no better then thēselues they then thinke themselues very well assured Others thinke that they shall need but a good sigh as they say at the last howre for to blot out all the rest of their life passed and presently to transport them into the kingdom of heauen but who hath assured them that God will giue them the grace to make that sigh and to haue a true repentance of their sins at the howre of their death Where haue they had pattents and good assurance that they shall not die a sudden death Is not that to mocke God openly If that may serue verily St. Peter and St. Paul and the other Apostles should haue bene much deceiued to labour and to toyle so much and to beare so grieuous a Crosse if it were so easie a matter to enter into the kingdome of heauen I meane by the meanes which those Libertines doe pretend Let vs assure our selues that the way is straite which leadeth to saluation and that there are few that go therein These words are no lies but I pray God that we may not experiment the truth of them to our great paine and griefe I know well that the mercie of our God is incomprehensible and infinite but it is towards his seruants it is towards those that feare and reuerence him Besides I know that among the children and seruants of God there are many infirmities euen a great imperfection in all vertue and iustice and which endures till death but there is a great difference between your life O worldlings and the life of the elect of God The iust man sinneth seuen times a day but he shall be raised seuen times Now you continue in your euill and goe to bed with your sinne as with your friend and companion Men will say an Aue Marie beat themselues on the breast or perhaps will haue some distaste of their sinne and wickednesse But if we neerely looke into all we shall finde that it is nothing but meere hypocrisie If our friend or kinsmen dies if we loose our goods if wrong or iniury be offered vnto vs if our good name be taken away if we be stricken or hurt behold we are presently in choller or very extremely sad our hearts euen closed vp with melancholy but if our spirit dies and if we loose the euerlasting riches by our transgression we make no account of it we are not moued with it we grieue more for the losse of this world which is nothing then we doe for the losse of God which is all In seeing all which cannot such men yet feele their griefe can they not yet know how much the opinion which they haue of their vertue and prudence is vaine and friuolous Can they not see how farre they are from their reckoning Certainly the world is full of such people that haue no feeling of their sinne but the prophesies must needs be accomplished to the end when the Sonne of man shall come he may finde no faith vpon the earth Verily this howre commeth on a pace the signes thereof are very manifest But because we should not bee dismaid seeing such a danger round about vs let vs be sure that the Lord will bee with vs till the end of the world prouided that our Lampes be burning and in steed that the wicked euery day shall be worse and worse for our parts let vs endeuour to goe forward in all holinesse and iustice I know well that they will mocke at vs and at our simplicity that we shall be cast out of their companies But we shall be exalted of God and receiued of the most blessed assembly VVherefore let vs with all patience waite for the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ and let vs labour that so we may be found of him without spot and without reprehension Surely that day ought to be very fearefull to the wicked but as for vs we ought so much the rather desire it knowing for a certaine that there is no cōdemnation for those that are in Iesus Christ knowing well the great goodnesse and kindnesse of him which is to come with whom God grant wee may liue for euer and euer Amen A Prayer vnto God on the same subiect ALas when shall wee come before the face of God our Father and when shall we haue a dwelling in his house and vntill when shall we be in this exile wherunto by sinne we haue bin regenerate But how shall the sinner cōsist before this great God How shall this poore flesh be able to go vp into this heauenly euerlasting Paradise O how vncertaine should our hope be if we had not the true promises of our God how miserable should we be if we did relie vpon our selues But O great God thou wilt that all things be possible to beleeuers for the beleeuers do trust only thy promise in thy mercy Do not then O Lord regard so many sins which are in vs. Remember rather that we are thy creatures the worke of thy hands VVe are vnworthy to be called thy children but it pleaseth thee to be our Father It was thy will that thy Sonne Iesus should come downe to vs here beneath to make that we should go vp to thee We feare not death O Lord for thou hast promised to bee with vs death lost her strength when thy deere Sonne died so that when our bodies shall be knawne with wormes in the sepulcher our soules shall reioyce in heauen with the holy Angels We desire then to die to see thy amiable and glorious face to liue with Iesus Christ out head O our God open vs then the gates of thy Kingdome Cause vs to heare that sweet speech which was spoken to the poore theefe vpon the crosse which is This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise Alas Lord we are vnworthy of it but thy mercy and thy promises do giue vs assurance Giue vs also O heauenly Father the strength to perseuer and desire the immortall and glorious life to come which thou hast purchased for vs through thy Sonne Iesus Christ to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost be all honour praise and glory for euermore So be it FINIS