world what is there more to bee found but a dayly conflict and combate with the diuell a continuall warre where wee must be dayly at hand blows to receiue and entertain his charges We carrie on our armes in front vpon the flanke and on the back auarice impudicity choler and ambition we must wrastle incessantly with losse of breath against the desire of the flesh the allurements of the world Mans vnderstanding being assaulted battered on al sides by Sathās artillery knowes not whither to retire or how to resist but with great dāger If auarice be vāquished then cōcupiscence marcheth fair large if this be repelled ambitiō giues the onset Ambitiō being discōfited choler is in a mutinie pride mounts on horfebacke drūkennes storms enuy giues th' alarme discord cuts off all hope of recōciliatiō Thou art vrged to do that which the law forbids thou promisest that which is not lawful for thee to perform Seeing the soule is continually subiect to so many euils seeing so many dāgers attend vs without ceasing is it possible that wee can take any great pleasure to be here amongst the diuels glittering trenchāt blades Wee might rather bee desirous by a ready and sudden death to bee quickly conueyed to Iesus Christ as he himself hath sufficiētly summoned vs saying Verely verely Iohn 16. I say vnto you you shall weepe and lament and the worlde shall reioice but your sadnesse shal be conuerted into ioy I know no man but he takes delight to go to a place where mirth is and no body seekes after sadnesse and mourning The same Lord sets downe when our sadnesse shal be turned into ioy saying I will see you once again and your hearts shall reioice when no man shal be able to take your ioy away from you Seeing then that there is nothing but ioy in seeing of Iesus Christ and that wee cannot bee truely ioyfull but in seeing of him what a blindnesse and folly is it to loue anguish the trauels and miseries of the world in stead of chearefully imbracing the life ioyes eternall This fals out my deare brethren for want of faith Men thinke that what God promiseth who is truth it selfe and whose word is eternall and inuiolable towards those that beleeue shuld not be performed If any honorable mā of authority and place should promise thee this or that thou wouldst make account of it beleeuing that he whōthou knowest to be very obseruant of his word would not abuse or deceiue thee Hearkē therfore to God who speaks vnto thee yet like a disloyal wretch as thou art wilt thou stil wauer in inconstancie God promiseth vnto thee perpetuall eternall life at thy departure out of this world doubtest thou thereof This is the true ignorance of God to offend by incredulity Iesus Christ the Doctor of all beleeuers to liue faithlesse in the house of faith which is the Church Christ the Author of our good saluation shewes the profit which redownds vnto vs by death when hee obserued his disciples sadnesse because he had told them of his departure out of this world he said vnto thē If you loued mee Iohn 14. you would be ioyfull for my going to my Father teaching vs by this to bee merrie and not sad when our friends doe but as it were dislodge out of this life Saint Paul being mindfull of such a matter entreateth therof in one of his Epistles and sayeth Christ is gaine vnto me both in life and death he reputing it for a wonderfull gaine to bee no longer detained by the snares of this world Phil. 3. to be no more subiect to the sinnes and vices of the flesh to bee exempted from all afflictions deliuered from the diuels iawes and to goe into the ioyes of eternal saluation whither his Sauiour called him Some wonder to see the heate of this disease lay hold on Christians aswel as on Infidels as if Christians had receiued the promises of the Gospel to bee touched with no discōmodities before the performāce of the same but to enioy at their pleasures the happinesse of this world whereas on the contrary he is tormented with a thousand euils here below that by this means he may conceiue how eternal ioyes are reserued for him But whereas we finde it strange that the plague shuld sweep away Christians aswel as Infidels haue we any priuiledge in this worlde from others so long as we are clad in this mortall body correspondent to the lawe of our first birth While we liue here belowe wee are ioyned with other men by the bonds of this corruptible flesh but so in spirit wee are separated from them While therefore this corruptible puts on incorruption our mortall parts be made immortall and that we ascend to God our Father all the discōmodities of the world are common to vs and we haue our shares therin with other men For example when any Frosts procure the earths sterility euery one hath his part in the famine ensuing If an enemie take into his hands any towne all the inhabitants lose their liberty together when the seasons are cleare and scorching all are constrained to endure this drought and if the rockes split a shippe asunder the passengers perish We are subiect as others be to the infirmity of the eyes to burning agues and to all kinds of diseases that afflict all the members of the body as long as we liue a mortall life in this world aswell as other men Nay and if a Christian man doe but well vnderstand vpon what couenants hee beleeued in God hee will conceiue and be clearly resolued that he ought to bee in conflict more than others by reason hee hath a continuall warre aboue all others against the diuel The holy Scriptures teach admonish vs of this saying My sonne when thou entrest into Gods seruice bee firme in righteousnes feare and prepare thy soule for temptation Also perseuer in sorrowe and feare be patient in humilitie for yron tryes both golde and siluer In this manner Iob hauing lost his goods and children and being all spread ouer with botches and sores yet was hee not vanquished for all this but onely tried considering that in all his paines and griefe hee shewed the patience of a man that feared God when hee sayd Naked came I out of my mothers wombe Iob 1. 2 and naked I must returne to the earth againe GOD gaue and GOD tooke away as God would so hath it happened blessed be the name of the Lord. And his wife importuning him to growe impatient and to belch out some blasphemous cōplaint against God his aunswere was thou speakest like a fool for if wee haue receiued good from Gods hand why should we not also suffer euils from him During al these hard accidents Iob neuer let any thing slip out of his mouth wherein God might be offended For so God himselfe witnesseth saying vnto Sathan Hast thou well considered my seruant Iob how ther
off from them wickednes ill thoughts corrupt counsels couert luxuries and auarice which is alwaies prying into other men Hee guardes them himselfe and keepes them close by him would any body peraduēture require of God to guard their goods and chattels also They discharge God of this labour in making no account of externall things Among others Democritus remooued all his wealth farre off he supposing that it would but bee a burden to a good vnderstanding Imagine therfore that God thus speaketh vnto thee Why complaine yee of mee you that haue delighted in equitie I haue enuironed others with false prosperities occupied their spirits with a long and lying dream I haue outwardly adorned thē with gold siluer Iuory whē as inwardly they are of no value Those which at the first sight seem happy if you but obserue them well not in the place where you meet them but secretly some where else they are sordid base and miserable and are but like their owne walles outwardly painted set forth This is not true and perfect felicitie it is but a rinde or barke and that also but slight and thinne And therefore while they can hold out shew themselues in no place but where they like best they glitter and abuse mens iudgements but if an accident fall out that doth but discouer and display them then we may easily perceiue what deepe villany lies hid vnder adulterate shewes But to you on the contrary I haue giuen certaine goods and those that wil continue The oftner they are turned or beheld on euery side the better and more resplendent they will seeme which is to say lightly to esteem of any thing that is feared and to disdaine that which ordinarily is desired you doe not shine outwardly all your goods stand inward So doth all this world it contemnes external parts being content with the contemplation of it selfe All the wealth thereof is inward Your felicitie is to haue nothing to doe with worldly happinesse A Sermon of Saint CYPRIANS Bishop of Carthage concerning Mortalitie THE ARGVMENT IN this Sermō made for the consolation of such Christians as then were visited with the plague Saint CYPRIAN exhorteth all those that truely loue the Lord chearefully to leaue this earthly life when God calles them away confirming the same by diuers reasons and shewing afterwards that death is a way which the wicked also must goe and hee teacheth euery one how to obserue the difference betwixt the one and the other that is to say the good are called to happie rest and the wicked to eternall punishment THough many amongst you my deare brethren haue your vnderstādings so settled your faith so firme and your soules so eleuated vp to heauen that they are not so much as shaken by seeing the plague on all sides to sweep away so many but like a rock immoueably planted they withstand without bouging the violent stormes of the world breaking the raging waues of this present life in stead of being battered or broken by them finally are not ouerthrowen but only proued by temptations Yet seeing some amōg the people halfe daunted and discouraged either for want of good resolution by reason of their little faith respect of the loue which they beare to this world or through the tendernesse of their sexe or which is worse for want of good instruction so as wee can not see them employ that celestiall force and vigor wherwith their hearts should be armed I could not contain my selfe according to my weake power from suppressing this effeminate cowardize by a preualent discourse taken out of the holy scripture to the end that those which haue begun to feele that God is their Father and Iesus Christ their Sauiour they may doe nothing vnworthy of a Christian or of the true childe of God For most deare brethren he that fights vnder the ensigne of God which inhabiting in the celestiall pauilions aspireth to none but high matters hee must truely knowe himselfe and wee must not in any wise be deiected or astonisht at the torments or tempests of this worlde seeing God hath aduertised vs that these things must come to passe instructing and teaching vs by the exhortation of his louing carefull voice and preparing and fortifying the people of his Church to beare such things as must happen patiently he hauing declared fore-told that the earth should be afflicted in euery quarter by warre famin plagues earth-quakes As also for feare we should fall into despaire through the strangenesse of so many euils at once oppressing vs hee hath divulged before that the afflictions should be far sharper in the later times Seeing whatsoeuer hee foretold is now accomplished let vs conceiue hereby that all his other promises in like manner shall be fulfilled as hee himselfe hath spoken When you see all these things come to passe know that the kingdom of heauen is at hand My dearest brethren this kingdome hath already begun to come vnto vs for the reward of life the ioy of eternall saluation perpetuall blisse the possession of Paradise which were lost by sinne returne vnto vs so soone as wee leaue the world Now when celestiall things succeed the terrestriall great those but little and eternall those transitory and fraile Is ther then any occasion to be in griefe and anguish of minde and who is that affrighted and daunted man but he that is destitute of Faith hope In effect it only belongs to him to feare death that would not go vnto Christ and he refuseth to goe vnto Christ which beleeueth not that then hee begins to raigne with Christ It is written Abac 2. Rom. 1. The iust man liues by faith If thou beest iust and liuest by faith firmely beleeuing in God why art thou not forward to go to Christ who calles thee Why doest thou not imbrace Gods promises Why reioycest thou not to be deliuered from the power of the wicked Simeon the iust which in true faith yeelded himselfe to Gods obedience knowing by reuelatiō that he should not die before hee had seene Christ and the little Infant called Iesus being come into the Temple with his Mother hee knew then that Christ was born whom hauing seene hee knew that the ende of his life approached wherfore reioycing in his death so neere at hand and being assured that God would presently call him hee tooke the Infant in his armes praising God hee cried out and said Lord thou sufferest now thy seruant to depart in peace according to thy Word for mine eyes haue seen thy saluation By this hee did declare and make euident that Gods seruants are in peace and enioy a free and quiet repose when wee are drawen from the violent waues of this world and that we enter into the Port of eternall securitie and safety when after the defacement of this present life we attaine to most glorious immortality For this is our repose our assured peace our firme and perdurable security and in this
our sinnes Math. 6.11 The reward of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 Eternall life which wee lose by our corruption and transgression is restored again vnto vs by Iesus Christ THe gift of God is eternall life by Iesus Christ our Lorde Rom. 6.23 At the same time when we were dead in sinne hee reuiued vs together by Christ by whose grace you are saued Ephe. 2.5 The determination and grace of God is manifested vnto vs by the apparition of our Lord Iesus Christ who hath destroyed death and brought to light life and immortalititie by the Gospel 2. Timot. 1.10 In this the loue of God appeared vnto vs when he sent his onely Sonne into the worlde to the end wee might liue by him 1. Iohn 4.9 And this man is witnesse that God hath giuen vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne 1. Iohn 5.11 To whom eternall life is giuen GOd so loued the world as he gaue his only begotten Son that no man which beleeueth in him might perish but haue euerlasting life He that beleeueth in the Son hath eternall life but he that beleueth not in the Son shall not see life but the wrath of GOD shal remaine vpon him Iohn 3.15 36. Verely verely I say vnto you whosoeuer heareth my words and beleeueth in him that sent mee he hath eternall life and shall not come into condemnation but passe from death to life This is the will of my Father which sent me That whosoeuer sees the Sonne and beleeues in him he may haue eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day Verely verely I say vnto you hee that beleeues in mee hath eternall life Iohn 5.24 and 6.40 47. Iesus sayde I am the resurrection and the life hee that beleeueth in me although hee be dead shall liue Iohn 11.25 These things are written that you may beleeue that Iesus Christ is the Sonne of God that in beleeuing you may haue life in his Name Iohn 20.31 God shal giue to euery one according to his workes which is to say to those that with patience in well-doing seeke glory honor and immortalitie eternall life Rom. 2.6 7. Being now deliuered from sinne and made the seruants of God you haue your fruit in sanctification and for your ende eternall life Rom. 6.22 If we be children we are also heires heires I say to God and coheirs with Iesus Christ that is to say if wee suffer with him that with him wee may also bee glorified Rom. 8.17 Seeke peace with all men and holinesse without which none can see the Lord. Hebr. 12.14 The excellencie of eternall life WHen the account is cast I think the sufferances of this present time no wayes equiualent to the glory to come which shall be reuealed in vs. Rom. 8.18 The things which the eye hath not seene the eare heard and that neuer entred into the heart of man are those which God hath prepared for those that loue him 1. Cor. 2.9 This present life is limited THe dayes of a man are short the number of his moneths remaine with thee thou hast set downe limits which hee must not exceede Ioh 14.5 The shortnesse and vanitie of the same WE are strangers and forreiners before thee as our Fathers were our dayes are as the shadow vpon the earth and there is no mention of them 1. Chron. 29.15 Man borne of a woman is but of little continuance and those few dayes are replenished with trouble sorrowe hee cometh out like a flower and is gathered vp hee flies away like a shadow and stayes not Are not his dayes set downe Iob 14.1 2 5. Thou hast assigned my dayes the measure of an hand-breadth and my life time is before thee as nothing in effect there is nothing but vanitie with euery man that liues As soon as thou chastisest a man reprehending him for his iniquity thou consumest all his excellencie like a moth so slight a thing is euery man Psal 39.12 The sonnes of men are nothing they are but the lyers of great Princes so that if they were all put together in a ballance they would bee found lighter than vanitie it selfe Psal 62.10 The dayes of our life are threescore and ten yeeres and of those that liue longest but fourescore and yet the best of them are but affliction miserie they soon passe hence and we our selues flie away swiftly Psal 90.10 The dayes of a man are like the grasse and flourish like the flower of the fielde Psal 103.13 Man is like to nothing his dayes are as the shadowe which vanisheth away Psal 144.4 See thorowout all Salomons Ecclesiastes All flesh is grasse and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field Isa 40.6 I tell you this my brethren that the time is short 1. Cor. 7.29 What is this your life it is certainely but a vapour which appeareth for a while and then vanisheth away Iames 4.14 The end of mans life WHether you eat or drinke or whatsoeuer you doe do it al to the glory of God 1. Cor. 10.31 The first death which is the separation of the soule from the body and the second which is eternal death proceede from sinne THe day wherein thou eatest of the fruite of the Tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 As by one man sinne entred into the worlde and by sinne death so death came vpon all men because al men sinned Rom. 5.12 The first death is common to all IT is ordained that all shall once die and after that comes Iudgement Heb. 9.27 The Children of God ought to feare death FEare not those that can slay the bodie and not kill the soule Math. 10.28 Hee that loueth his life shall lose it and whosoeuer hates this worlde hee shall finde it in eternall life Iohn 12.25 We knowe when our terrestrial lodging is defaced we haue a dwelling place in God an house not made with handes but eternall which is in heauen 2. Corint 5.1 I am inclosed on the one side and the other desiring to be dissolued and to be with Christ the which were much better for me Phil. 1.23 Death destroyed by Iesus Christ IEsus Christ hath destroyed Death and brought to light Life and immortality by the Gospel 2. Tim. 1.10 Death is swallowed vp in victorie 1. Cor. 15.54 Who sits at the right hand of God hauing swallowed vp death that we might be made partakers af eternall life 1. Pet. 3.22 What opinion wee should hold of the dead HAppie are those that die in the Lord yea saith the holy Ghost for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Apo. 14.3 We must not mourne for the dead as profane persons doe ALso my brethren I would not haue you ignorant concerning those which sleep to the end you may not be sorrowfull as others are that haue no hope 1. Thes 4.13 Their soules which die in the Lord are receiued into rest and glory in heauen ANd it happened that
haue made great accompt of him But the Poet Ennius peraduenture hit better vpon this point when he forbade his death to be lamented or that any mourning funerals should bee performed he supposing that such a death was not to bee deplored which was seconded by immortality For the rest if there bee some sense or feeling in death and in our last gaspes it lasts not long especially in a very aged man and as for any feeling after death it is either nothing at all or else a thing to be much desired But wee must haue learned betimes to contemne death for without this Meditation none can haue any repose in minde seeing it is most certaine that die wee must not knowing when and it may be at the same moment or instant of our thought How can that man therefore enioy a peaceable soule if hee fear death which threatens him euery minute of his life I neede not dilate more at large of this wen I call to mind not only Lucius Brutus who was slain in the deliuery of his countrey or of the two Decij who violēcly plunged themselues the one within an huge deepe Dell and the other within a Battalion of armed men amongst whom he verily thought to haue beene slaine or Marcus Attilius who couragiously returned to cruell punishment choosing rather to lose his life than breake his oath which hee had plighted to his enemies and the two Scipioes that exposed their bodies to the enemies furie for the stopping of a passage or Lucius Paulus who by his owne death defaced the temerity rashnes of his collegued Consull in the discomfiture of the Romanes at Cannas and also Marcus Marcellus who being dead was honored with a Toombe by his most mortall enemie but I will also set before your eyes our moderne Regiments which haue often-times chearefully and with noble courage assaulted those places from whence no one of the troupes euer hoped to come off Should it be sayd that learned old men doe feare that which youth and those rusticall ignorant for the most part valiantly despise And moreouer me thinkes the being satisfied with all things else makes one also well satisfied with liuing Infancie hath certain disports and recreations which young men desire not to put in practise Old age feeles no contentment in the pleasures of youth and men of auncient yeeres seek not after that wherin men delight that are yet in the flower of their age and olde age discernes the very last employments of our life but yet in such sort that all in the end vanisheth away as the exercises of precedent times haue done the which comming to passe to bee satisfied with liuing clearely shewes that then it is high time to die For my part I see nothing that hinders me from setting down my opinion touching death and me thinkes I may speake thereof with good motiue seeing it appeareth so neer vnto me Out of doubt Scipio Laelius I thinke that your fathers which were honorable men my best friends though dead to the world doe yet liue and such a life as onely deserues to bee so called For while we are inclosed within these straite precincts of the body we trauell and we must will we nill wee yeeld vnto the yoak and burden the celestiall soule and off-spring of the highest Tabernacle being ouerwhelmed and as it were buried in earth this being a contrary habitation to eternitie and a diuine nature But I beleeue that the immortal Gods haue planted soules in humane bodies to the end there might be people to replenish preserue the world to contemplate the beautifull course of heauenly bodies to imitate them in constancie and regular life Besides many reasons and arguments which haue induced me to beleeue this the authority and reputation of the greatest Philosophers hath much furthered me I haue heard say that Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans somtimes named the Philosophers of Italy consequently inhabitants of our countrey were alwayes of opinion that our soules were extracted from Diuinity I haue vnderstood also of Socrates his discourse who was iudged by the Oracle of Apollo to be the wisest man of the world toward the later part of his life about the immortality of soules What neede wee any more behold my opinion herein Seeing the soules of men are so pregnant so retentiue and mindfull of things past foresee so discreetly those to come haue inuented so many mysteries and diuers other worthy Sciences excellent matters it is impossible that a nature capable of so great good should be mortal And the soule hauing perpetual motion without receiuing any inferiour beginning thereof considering that she onely moues of her self it must necessarily follow that she shall haue this motion for euer because shee can neuer abandon her selfe Also in that the nature of the soule is simple there concurring in her no mixed difference shee cannot be diuided And so being iudiciall she is by consequent immortall For this is a manifest proofe that men are intellectual before their being born in that children learning the most difficult Sciences doe suddenly comprehend such an infinitie of things that we may suppose they begin not then to knowe what is but onely remember call againe vnto minde These are almost the very words of Plato On the other side the great Cyrus of whome Xenophon hath written at large at the hower of his departure sayd thus vnto his children My deare beloued though I remaine no more amongst you yet do not thinke for all this that I haue afterwardes no more being nor am resident in any place for when I was in your cōpany you could not perceiue my soule but only you imagined it to be within my body by my exteriour actions Beleeue therefore that this soule remaines so still although you see the body no more The vertuous should not be honoured after death if their soules had performed nothing worthy of their memoriall long time before their death I could neuer yet bee perswaded that if soules liue within mortall bodies that euer they can die issuing out of the same or that the soule going out of the body which of it selfe is stupid and senselesse becommeth then also inexistent insensible but on the contrary when she is freed from all commixtion with this body shee then beginneth to be pure and entire then say I shee is mounted vnto the height and top of all wisedome Moreouer it being so that humane nature is dissolued by death wee plainely see whither all other things tend that is to say thither from whence they were first extracted the soule onely excepted the which wee neither see enter soiourne nor issue out of the body But for the rest you see there is nothing which so truely resēbles death as sleep And the soules of them that sleep clearly in this point shew their diuinitie that being free and in repose they foresee things to come which plainly argues their being after their relaxation from
our saluation Hee sheweth vs vaine and ridiculous things afarre of and perswadeth vs that all is magnificence and happines he terrifies vs with such things as we should not be afraid of and maketh vs flie that which we should embrace He calles summons allures and flatters vs by the interposition of our concupiscences if this bee not enough hee stormeth and rageth endeuouring to terrifie vs both within and without O eternall light and truth Oh heauenly Lord most mercifull Father scatter and dissipate these clowdes of ignorance and errour illuminate our vnderstandings and permit vs not to approach vnto that which thou commādest vs to flie which is pernicious and hurtfull to vs that we may desire nothing but that which is truely to be desired that is to say thy selfe who art the source and spring of all goodnes and of our life and eternal felicitie All flesh is grasse and the glorie of a man is as the flower of the fielde procure then that we may seeke for our stay and cōtentment in the grace which thy Sonne brought vnto vs that our life may bee inclosed in him so that in the day of separation of our soules from their bodies wee may absolutely finde it again in heauen in expecting chearfully and with assured ioy the most happie resurrection of this flesh wherein all corruption infirmitie and reproach being abolished and death it selfe swallowed vp in victory we may liue eternally with thee in an incōprehensible felicitie wherwith thou shalt be glorified Maintain therefore thy childrē good Lord in this faith hope accōplishing in them thy worke till they intirely be with thy self to enioy the inheritāce glory which thy onely Sonne purchased for them by his merits Amen A Prayer O Lord Iesus Christ creator redeemer of mankind who didst say I am the Way the Truth and the Life I beseech thee by that vnspeakeable charitie which thou shewedst in offering thy selfe vp to death for vs that thou wilt not permit me to swarue a whit frō thee that art the Way or to distrust in thy promises seeing thou art Trueth performest whatsoeuer thou doest promise Make me to take delight only in thee who art eternal Life without whō ther is nothing worthy to bee desired either in heauen or earth Thou hast taught vs the true and onely way to saluation that we might not goe wandring vp and downe in the by-paths of this world reuealing vnto vs more clearely than the Sunne at noon dayes what wee ought to beleeue performe and hope after wherin we should rest satisfied and contented It is thou that madest vs to vnderstand how vnhappy we were in Adam that there is no meanes to escape the perdition wherein wee are altogether plunged but by faith in thee Thou art that resplendent light which appearest vnto those that trauell thorow the desert of this life and who hauing deliuered vs out of the darkenesse of spirituall Aegypt◠doest disperse the clowdes of our vnderstanding and enlightenest vs that wee may contend after the promised inheritāce which is eternall life into the which the vnfaithfull shall neuer enter but those who assuredly relie on thy holy promises Oh what goodnesse hast thou vouchsafed to send down from the bosome of thy Father and his eternall throne vpon earth in putting on our beggerly nature and of a Master to become a seruant that by thy doctrine thou mightest chace away the darkenesse of our ignorance prepare and addresse our feete vnto the way of peace and make plaine vnto vs the way of saluation such a way being appointed vs in following whereof no man can goe astray or bee wearie seeing thy grace and power doeth accompanie vs therein all the dayes of our life And moreouer by the comfort of thy holy Spirit thou doest strengthen vs and redouble our courage in passing the same Thy worde is the breade wherewith we are nourished and thy promise is the staffe wheron we leane Thou thy selfe by a secret and incomprehensible power doest conduct and maintain vs therein after an admirable maner that we might the more couragiously march towards thee both in foule and faire weather And as thou hindrest and preseruest vs from falling into the snares of the world and Sathan euen so in that thou art the trueth it selfe thou remouest farre from vs all doubtes scruples and distrusts that might anie wayes disturbe arrest or diuert vs during this our course Thou makest vs to discerne the ende and scope of heauenly vocation the worlds miserie and vanitie the fragilitie of this present life the gate of death and the happie and blessed life which is within the same And as thou art this true life euen in this worlde thou doest quicken vs by thy truth that are poore miserable dead wretches in sinne Thou augmentest this life by the ministerie and efficacie of thy holy Gospel and confirmest it by the vse of the Sacraments which thou hast ordained for the fortification of thy childrens faith while our corruption and that which is mortall in vs being defaced by the resurrection wee may exist and liue eternally with thee in bodie and soule then when thou shalt bee all in all Eternall life is to knowe the true God thee his Sonne who was sent vnto vs. Now wee behold thee by faith as in a mirror obscurely but one day we shal see thee face to face to be trāsform'd into thy glory wholly reformed according to thine owne image I beseech thee most mercifull Sauiour that thou wilt increase my faith that I may bee so well grounded in the doctrine of my saluation as nothing may be able to misleade mee augment in mine heart the reuerence which I owe vnto thee that I may neuer swarue from thy obedience strengthen me in such a sort that neither alluremēts nor threatnings either catch or astonish mee but that I may adhere constantly to thee who art my life euen vnto death Procure that in the power of thy promises and holy spirit I may bee heated more and more in thy loue and so leauing behinde the things of this world I may bend my selfe to that which is solide and perfect Encrease thy grace in mee that from day to day I may die in my selfe to bee reuiued and conducted by thy fauour fearing none but thee O most mighty and puissaunt God louing none but thee euen as there is nothing truely amiable but thy glorious selfe boasting in nothing but thy grace and mercie which is that whereof onely thy seruants should glorie they seeking after none other happinesse but thee nor desiring nothing but thy selfe who art the full and perfect felicitie of all the faithfull Amen Another LOrd Iesus that art alwayes mercifull and ceasest not to bee my Sauiour as well in aduersitie as prosperitie graunt mee the grace to rest satisfied with all humble obedience in thy will whēsoeuer it shal please thee to mixe some sower amongst so much sweete as thou hast caused mee
Lazarus died and was borne by the Angels into Abrahams bosome Iob 16.22 Verely verely I say vnto thee thou shalt be this day with mee in Paradise Lue. 23.43 They stoned Steuen who cryed out and sayd Lord Iesus receiue my spirit Acts. 7.59 Wee know whē the earthly habitation of this our body is destroyed wee haue a building in God which is to say an eternall māsion in heauen which is not made with handes 2. Cor. 5.1 I am enclosed on all sides my soule longing to remoue and be with Christ which would be farre better for mee Philip. 1.23 The Soule of man is immortall LEt dust returne to the earth frō whēce it was taken and let the soule mount vp vnto God who gaue it Eccles 12.7 Feare not those that kill the bodie and cannot kill the soule but feare him that can send both bodie and soule into hell fire Math. 10.28 I am the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Math. 22.32 He that beleeueth in me though hee were dead yet shall hee liue Iohn 11.25 Testimonies of the Resurrection of the body I Knowe my Redemer liueth and that in the last day he will take me out of the earth and I shall bee clad againe with my skin and thou my flesh shalt see God Iob 19.25 26. Many of those that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to eternall life others to perpetual shame Daniel 12.2 As concerning the resurrection of the dead haue you not read what God said vnto you I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob He is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Matth. 23.31 32. The day commeth wherin all those that are in the graues shal heare the voice of the Sonne of God Iohn 5.28 Martha said vnto him I know that he shall rise again in the last day Ioh. 11.24 If we preach that Christ is raised from the dead how doe some amongst you say that there is no resurrectiō of the dead 1. Cor. 15.12 Looke ouer all that Chapter What shall come to passe after the resurrection of the body in the last day WHē this corruptible shall haue put on incorruption this mortall immortality then shal those words which are written bee fulfilled Death is swallowed vp in victorie 1. Cor. 15.54 They which are dead in Christ shall first rise and afterwardes those that liue and remaine shall bee taken vp together with them into the clowds before the Lord in the ayre so wee shall be alwayes with the Lord. 1. Thes 4.16 17. When the Sonne of man shall come in glory and all the holy Angels with him then shal he sit vpon his throne of glory And all the nations shall be assembled before him and he shall separate the one from the other as the sheepherd doeth distinguish the sheepe from the goates and hee will set the sheepe on his right hand and the goates on the left Then shall the heauenly king say vnto those on his right hand Come you blessed of my Father inherite that kingdome which was prepared for you before the beginning of the world To them then on the left hand hee will say Goe you accursed depart frō me into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the diuell and his angels And so they shall goe into eternall torments but the Iust shall be taken into eternall life Matth. 23.31 c. Prayers and Meditations concerning Life and Death Meditation 1. THE life of a Christian man should bee imployed in the consideration of those things which here-vnder ensue to put them in practise that is to say oftentimes to remember the benefits he hath receiued frō GOD to thanke him with his hart mouth incessantly for the same to loue him who is boūtie and goodnes it selfe to feare and worship him seeing he is almightie and wise and so by the loue which they beare vnto God to be also excited to the loue of their neighbors The loue of God withdraweth vs from the loue of corruptible things raiseth vs vp to heauen and enflames our hearts with holinesse of life The loue of our neighbour holds vs backe from all preiudice either in will or deede and excites vs to integritie and benificence Another LEt vs often think on that which we are The soule is our principall part which is endowed with vnderstanding reason and iudgement to knowe the chiefe good which is in God to loue adhere and be vnited vnto him to be partakers of his immortallitie and happinesse But wee contemne this Soueraigne good to grouell on the earth and to slampe into the ditch of carnall desires applying the vigor and force of our vnderstanding and iudgements to things which are not worthy of the paines wee take about them Wee burie our selues aliue if wee may so say of celestiall we become terrestriall and of men created for eternall life wee endeuour as much as in vs lieth to bee like to the brute beastes themselues And yet our most merciful and good God forsaketh vs not for all this notwithstāding that our ingratitude deserue as much but by his word in the meane while he graciously calleth vs and presenteth vs with infinite testimonies of his louing fauour dayly he continueth the fame hee supporteth vs hee exhorteth he counselleth aduiseth and fatherly chastiseth vs and yet for all this wee remaine blinde deafe and stupide contemning these graces either in not vsing them as we should or else in abusing of them And which is worse wee loue vaine and transitorie thinges better and are too intentiue and perseuerant in the same God reacheth forth his hand to conduct vs but we draw backe our owne and flie away when he calleth vs. If he bring vs into the way of saluation we mourne for the world wee looke behinde vs we deferre and procrastinate our desire of well doing We must therefore rouse vp our selues not remain still in the myre we must be fortified in his vertue and power who supports cōforts vs let vs a little attempt to despise corruptible things and to desire those truly good and eternall when God calleth vs we must hearken to him if hee bee our guide wee must followe him for to arriue in his house Let vs receiue his benefites and himselfe too for hee giues himselfe vnto vs in the person of his Son hee causeth vs to see the meanes how to come into heauen wee must therfore require of him that hee will vouchsafe to bestowe vpon vs wil and desire to come thither by faith repentance hope and charirie and to maintaine his gifts and graces in vs to the end that we may mourne in this mortall life attend in the assurance of his mercie for the ende of this world and our last day which shall bee the beginning of our true life A Meditation and a Prayer HOw great are the delusions and impostures of the enemie of