OF DEATH A TRVE DESCRIPTION And against it A good Preparation Together with A sweet Consolation for the suruiuing Mourners By IAMES COLE Merchant Printed at London by A. M. 1629. TO THE RIGHT Worthy his much respected friends Mr. Iohn Milleward Esquire one of the Captaines of this famous Cittie Mr. Iohn Awbrey Mr. Edmond Page Mâ— William Gillie Mr William Middelton and Mr Iohn Bludworth D. H. Merchant wisheth all happinesse in soule and body in this worâ—d and eteâ—nâ—ll glory and blisse in the world to come EXcuse mee I pray which am now the hand of my deceased friend that I commend these his Religious Instructions vnto your Patronages and Embracements The long time of your acquaintance honest mutuall traffique and former pious conuersation may iustly challenge it both of the Author and my selfe Yee often haue taken and built your credit on his word in your bought Wares which the effect hath confirmed to your profit Once more beleeue him and buy these his MeditatioÌ„s on his word the price is but your acceptance reading and application And if thus you will vse and trie these his last Marchandizes they will prooue vnto you of infinite worth and price for by them you shall obtaine that precious Pearle and hidden treasure of which the Gospell mentions It was your charitable Christian loue that accompanied his mortall body to his last home and it was his louing care here to direct those that followed him and others to the graue lest they should too long make their aboade with the Gaderenian among the tombes The graue is but a passage not a dwelling place It doth but preserue the pledge of our bodies vntill the day of resurrection Therefore those that truly follow deceased Christians follow them not onely vnto the dore of death and entrance of the graue but through death vnto life through the graue vnto heauen And lest death the way to life should seeme too terrible and rather affright from the way then inuite vnto it This our friend and charitable Author shewes and proues here that in respect of the body the soule the world the last Iudgement it properly is not to be feared And further to embolden the weake faith of a trembling Christian hee vnmaskes and vnarmes death hee so describes her and prepares our bodies to embrace her that death is no more death but victory no more the obiect of feare but desire Wherefore hauing thus farre set in a word the description of her description before you I dare no longer detaine you from the victory of her If you please but to follow either the prescription or example of this our louing friend through death vnto life through the graue vnto heauen J dare promise that you will attaine my wish all happinesse here and eternall glory hereafter Jn confidence whereof I rest London this 10. of Iune 1629. Your well-wishing friend DIERICK HOSTE In commendation of the Author and his Booke NOthing more sure to vs then once pale death to see Why then are we so blinde not once to thinke thereon What more vncertaine then when this our chance may be Why then goe we on still as if shee should touch none In seasonable time this Bookâ— is come to light To driue out of our hearts deaths feare and anguish still It is a Christian part t' instruct vs in the right How we may arme our selues against that feared ill For though at euery one grim death ne're leaues to ayme Yet in this Treatise small from her quite taken is Her sting Which iustly makes to tremble without blame But to vs that are Christs she brings eternall bliss O worthy Israelite thou hast spied out full well That this great Anakim cannot hinder at all To winne that Canaan of heau'n and there to dwell For IESVS CHRIST hath wrought that Giants great downefall How can we now reward thy loue O Author kinde Who in thy life time shun'dst mens praise from laud didst flie Thy pious vertuous life wee 'll euer beare in minde Which now the Lord hath crown'd with blisse eternally D. H. Of the zealous Author his much respected Vnkle and his comfortable Description SHall I reioyce because his Penne doth teach Vs how die and heauenly blisse to reach Or shall I mourne because to be our guide His worthy selfe he hath to vs denâ—â—d Longer on earth His words perswade beliefe Farther confirmance but augments our griefe His Booke suffu'd that pointing Mercurie He needed not to guid vs and to die His life wee wanted more that could vs tell That hee that liued godly should die well Yet what it was I dare not well set downe For feare his ashes modesty shâ—uld frowne But let them speake that comment on his name A man of pious learned vpright fame Whose words and deedes did so concurre in one That what he said t' was true t' was sure t was done Whose vertuous presence was so pretious deere That most did wish he still might haue beene heere But loe his liberall charity If thus His company was gratefull vnto vs He shewes vs how we may enioy it still And striues our wishes happier to fulfill Then we conceiue He cann't descend againe We must ascend and there by him remaine Thus while we enter his societie Ours will be Saints and Angels companie But lest wee should vnskilfull Pilgrims stray Not knowing how to goe which is the way Lest that our eyes waxe dim'd by sinfull slime That we perceiu'd not which way he did clime Behold in this good legacie of his He shewes vs the true way through death to blisse Lest we should feare th'aff ighting face of death And quake to heare the fare-well of our breath To his olde Mate he doth vnmaske the fiend Shewes her sting forcelesse prooues our foe our friend So that we bold mâ—y gaze her in the face And that we fear'd so much with ioy embrace She is no euill thing but naturall According to Gods will common to all The bodie 's but a sleepe it feeles no paine The soule dies not but mounts vnto the traine Of heauenly Saints Why should earths vanities Detaine vs from these happy glorious skies Or feare of iudgement by it we receiue A ioy which mortall minde cannot conceiue Therefore when sicknesse pale doth enter in By Gods command vsherd by in-bred sinne That messenger of death thy house befit Thy body soule and all to welcome it Thy selfe striue well to arme death to vnarme By shunning sinne with faith and feare no harme Repent and pray and to thy heauenly peace And certaine comfort will thy faith encrease So that death shall thy soule not terrifie But be to thee a wished victorie Which brings thee to a ioyfull Paradise Before the Lambe aboue the starrie skies There is our Author now and there doth shine Like a cleare starre our once Marchant-diuine There he 's in his reward If we desire To beare a pâ—rt in that celestiall quire Let vs these his directions embrace
sowed whether it be corruption Gal. 6.7 or euerlasting life If so be then that any one feares that heauenly Iudge by whom the dead are Iudged according to their workes Apoc. 2â— 1â— what is this to death To sowe and to worke are properties of life not of death and therefore ought euery one to tremble at his life not at his death Yet may some say it is naturall with Adam in Paradise for a man to hide himselfe so long as he can from Gods voyce It may be naturall but it is not auaileable For first we cannot by running so out-runne death but that it will ouer-take vs. Secondly though wee could here on earth prolong our life some fourty or fifty yeares yet it were but to small purpose Though a man liue sayes Syrachs sonne a hundred yeares Ecclus. 18.6 it is but as a drop of water vnto the sea and a grauell stone in comparison of the sand so are a thousand yeares to the day of eternity Therefore Iacob called his dayes of a hundred and thirty yeares Gen. 47. fewe and euill Thirdly the longer a worldling who chiefly dreads death with vexation shunnes it he doth not onely the longer liue here in paine but the more also he encreaseth the number of his sins and consequently drawes on him the fearefuller Iudgement Yea the burthen of dayly sinnes doth so graciously ouer-load the consciences of godly men that it euen makes them weary of this life and causeth them with St. Paul to cry out Miserable man that I am Rom. 7.14 who shall release me of this body of death But if any man shunne death and feareth the Iudgement as desirous of further time to amend his life hereafter let such an one know that he that deferres his amendment may as well growe worse aâ— better The first world obtain'd of God a hundred and twenty yeares toward their conuersion yet it nothing auayled them they were almost all drowned in the floud Gen. 6.3 Yea Enoch in the meane while he walked before God Gen. 5.24 God tooke him and hee was seene no more saith Moses lest that wickednesse should alter his vnderstanding or deceit beguile his soule sayes the booke of Wisedome So that the taking away of Enoch out of this world was a more certaine way for him to auoyde the fiercenesse of Gods Iudgement then if he had liued longer in danger of being misled Thus wee see then that death cannot be any hinderance vnto vs at the day of Iudgement and that in that respect wee haue no reason to feare it Seeing then that death is naturall and generall Conclusion and according to the will of God seeing that of its owne nature it can hurt vs neither in soule nor in body nor will suffer vs to long after terrestriall things nor shall be any hinderance vnto vs at the day of Iudgement We suppose that it is hereby sufficiently demonstrated that by nature it is not euill nor can any way preiudice vs. Therefore ought wee more to shunne the feare of death then death it selfe For once more and for the last to vse the words of a Philosopher commonly when we feare the death of the body and by all meanes shunne the same wee neglect altogether the death of the soule I conclude therefore with the fore-named words of Christ our Sauiour Feare not those that kill the body How our time is ordained by God and accomplished by man With which couragious speech we would faine here conclude but being that death doth assaile vs diuers manner of wayes and that it is a question ready almost in euery mans mouth whether a man can shorten his life or dye before his time wee will touch this in a word or two as an addition vnto our former discourse We say then with Iob Man hath his appointed time Iob 14.5 the number of his moneths is with God He hath set a limit that he must attaine and that he must not passe This diuine decree and immutable will is hid from mens eyes yet remaines constant and comes to passe at his due time Sometimes publiquely by the reuealed hand of GOD. Whereby he prolonged Lots Gen. 16.19 and his daughters liues by withdrawing them out of the Citie which he meant to consume with fire Sometimes by that which wee call chance though the hand of God be in it too For thus an arrowe shot at a uenture by a Syrian 1 Reg. 22.34 lighted betweene the ioynts of his harnesse and shortned the life of that King Of whom GOD had fore-told that hee should not returne home aliue Commonly through mans nature that causeth the weake in their youth to dye by sicknesse 2 Sam. 22.15 and sustaines the life of the strong till like a sheafe of corne they come into the barne in their season Iob 5.26 And likewise by diuers other meanes Sometimes God doth effect his secret decree by a publique prolonging or else a contracting of time When he granted time to the corrupt men of the first world which he would bring to naught of an hundred and twenty yeares Gen. 6.3 then this prolonging of time brought them to the vniuersall flood as it was before appointed by God Againe if for the Elects sake the dayes shall be shortned as many doe conceiue then shall this shortning bring the world to the vniuersall fire appointed by God Math. 24.22 And according to this reckoning of time man himselfe may sometimes be the meanes of prolonging his life Doth not God speake by Moses and to Salomon also Deut. 5.23 If you walke in my wayes so that you keepe my commandement 1 Reg 3.14 I will giue you long life Yea God puts the meanes of prolonging our life in our owne hands This was apparent in the wildernesse by the fierie Serpents whereas they were only saued and healed of their venomous bites that beheld the brazen Serpent The King Ezekias likewise obtained by his prayers and teares Numb 21.8 that God added vnto his dayes fifteene yeares 2 Reg. 20.6 Was not then his last day certainly preordained of God Yea but it was also his immutable good pleasure that the King should euen thus entreat and begge of him these last fifteene yeares And now also whosoeuer he be that through prayers Physick is releas'd of any sore disease hee ought not foolishly to boast that he should haue liued out his time that was appointed for him though he had not vsed the meanes but he ought rather freely to acknowledge that by these meanes his life hath beene prâ—serued Secondly man is sometimes also occasion of the shortning his dayes Hence it is that the Kingly Prophet said Bloudie and deceitfull men shall not liue out halfe their dayes Psal 55.23 And who will not say Sam. 31.4 that Saul and his Armour-bearer who stabbed themselues were an occasion of shortning their owne liues As also that whosoeuer after Moses had
neuer had loued them Abraham himselfe once being dead remembers vs not Esay 63 1â— and Israel knowes vs no more Wee likewise doe not know nor remember while we sleepe our friends nor our dayly recreations yet is there no body therefore that shunnes his sleepe or flyes from his bed And wherefore then for that respect should wee feare death which bereaues vs no more of all these things then our dayly sleepe is wont to doe One Demetrius could boldly say What desirest thou O Lord Sen. de prouâ—d wilt thou haue my children behâ—ld there they bee wilt thou haue any part of my body take it freely yet is it not much which I offer thee for ere long I shall be faine to forsake it all This was meruailous well said of a Heathen But the rich and righteous Iob went farther a great deale He shewed in deed what the other vttered in words He could see his Oxen his Camels with all his riches and estate yea his fonnes also in diuets manners perish altogether and yet couragiously say The Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken Iob 1.21 blessed bee the name of the Lord. If then these men could so freely forgoe and misse their necessaries in this world where they yet might haue enioyed them shall we take it grieuously to be depriued of our pleasures when we shall be altogether vnfit to vse them Praise-worthy pleasure vnnecessary But if any man be loath to dye in regard of some commendable delight that he taketh in the gouernment of the Common-wealth or in the orderly education of his children hee must vnderstand that if GOD haue called him to the same he also best knoweth how long hee hath need of him And if it please him soone to quit and release him of his good care and to giue him a penny Math. 20.14 as well as them that haue borne the burthen of the whole day and the heat of the Sunne what reason hath he to complaine God can finde others more fit for this his seruice to whom we must giue place Elyas supposed he was left alone 1 Reg. 19.18 but God had left vnto himselfe yet seauen thousand in Israel whose knees had not bowed vnto Baal Concerning our children we must not thinke that their welfare totally depends on the life of their parents The parents bottle is soone empty and Ismael might haue dyed euen in his mothers presence if GOD had not prouided water for him It is hee that openeth his hand Psal 145.15 and satisfieth the desire of euery liuing thing Parents are but the second hand whereby God distributeth his gifts to his children They are the lanthorne through which his diuine care shines to the children take away the lanthorne and the light shines the clearer When the Ostridge forgets her egges Iob 39.15 the Lord doth breed them When the Rauen forsakes her young ones the Lord feedes them And when children loose their terrestiall father then is it that he termes himselfe a Father of the fatherlesse Psal 68.6 Therefore Epictetus was bold to say An. 3.24 That among the sonnes of men there were no Orphanes but that all haue a father who sufficiently prouides for them all continually And in another place Aâ— 1.9 If so be that it be of force enough to make any body â—iue securely and without reproach to be of Caesars kindred Will it not be sufficient to free vs from all sorrow and feare to haue God for a Creator for a Father for a Prouider Let vs put him in trust with our children and if after our departure we will doe them good let vs liue vprightly our selues and then none shall see our children begge their bread Psal 37.25 saith Dauid Bring them vnto Christ Math. 19.14 he will receiue them Iohn 14.18 and not leaue them Orphanes So that no delight nor no good care of this temporall life ought to make vs vnwilling to dye for in these respects no dying can make vs to inherit sorrowe 4. Obseruation concerning Iudgement Lastly there is another reason wherefore the greater yea the better part of men doe feare death Heb. â— 27 they know that it is appointed for euery one once to dye and after this comes Iudgement as it is written to the Hebrewes And this Iudgement is the thing that troubles them not knowing whether thereby they shall ascend to heauen or descend to hell Alas poore soules When as God by some naturall disease threatens them with death then they stand quaking and if a Coronell doth but promise a double pay or a Captaines place how many Souldiers altogether fearelesse are readie as we may see dayly euen to rush on death Not that this rashnesse is wisedome for Gods Iudgement deserues to be feared yea there is nothing more terrible in heauen nor on earth then it is For he thereby will seperate the sheepe from the goates preseruing the sheepe to all eternity and reiecting the goates for euer Death doth not make the Iudgement the heauier Yet notwithstanding we must know that our death neede not to cause this feare for it neither blesseth vs nor condemneth vs but euer leaues vs as it findes vs. The Axe being put to the roote of the tree Math. 3.16 doth not by hewing alter any whit the nature of the wood 1 Reg. 5.6 If it light on a thorne-bush it hewes downe thornes fit to make fire withall If it light on a Cedar tree it hewes downe Cedar wood fit for the building of the Temple of the Lord. The Butcher in killing doth not change goates into sheepe nor sheepe into goates In like manner death neither makes a man worse nor better it neither hinders nor farthers him in regard of Gods Iudgement It is but as a narrow gate as is fore-told through the which both sheepe and goates must passe Yet ought euery man chiefly to feare his latter end For which way the tree falleth Eccl. 11.3 there shall it lye But we must withall vnderstand that it falls commonly that way that it vsed to leane We ought then to take heede to this leaning as long as the tree continueth standing and to bend him that way that we desire he should fall For when the fall is approaching whether it be by axe storme or age it commeth commonly very suddainly Euen so it is with man All the dayes of his life he must striue to leane that way that hee lookes or wishes to lye For death when it comes strikes the blow in a moment And man commonly dyes as hee hath accustomed himselfe to liue And as hee dyes so shal he appeare in Iudgement Death indeede hath a sting to wit sinne but it stings vs not iust at our dying day but rather through the whole course of our life Therefore be not deceiued the Apostle Paul forewarneth Man shall reape noâ— as the sickle is which hastily or slowly cuts downe but as hee hath