soone dye But that man knowes well what it is to liue whose care is not altogether for himselfe but how hee may liue to please God and to benefit and do good to his neighbours in whom Iesus Christ liueth who hath not so great a care of any one part of his life as he hath for his whole man and for euery part thereof Verity it is a strange thing and not much to be approoued or commended that we are so many wayes carefull for this present life and to pranke vp and mainetaine our selues in this world and make so small account of our better part which so much concernes vs to wit our soule the welfare and good health thereof Whereof Dauid seemeth to make high account as is euident in the 34. Psalme when he asketh this question Who is he that desireth long life and loueth long dayes to see good Keepe saith hee thy tongue from euill and thy lippes from lying talke and equiuocation turne aside from that which is euill and doe the thing that is good seeke peace and pursue it And when he speaketh of life hee vseth a word which according to the Idiom and propriety of the language wherein he spake may be translated liues to put vs in mind that we should not rest vpon and content our selues with that life which is common with vs and the Plants and beasts of the fielde but that our thoughts should bee eleuated higher to that other life which is guided by reason and is indeed worthy to be called life without which we should bee more wretched miserable then the beasts Verily the sensual seruile and brutish life is nothing worth and not greatly to be regarded What glory can it bee to vs or how should wee place our felicity in such a life wherein the beasts euery Idiot and Lourdaut may braue it aswel as wee and haue as great priuiledge and commoditie and much more Let vs carefully looke to and set our affections vpon that life by which our better part the soule hauing as it were sequestred and estranged herselfe from all transsitory things is lifted vp vnto God cleaueth fast vnto him and by his Spirit is nourished comforted and fed vnto the hope of eternall life This is the life that the Prophet willeth vs to be in loue withall and enamoured of to the possession and fruition whereof wee are regenerated by the incorruptible seed of his word who hath abolished death and by the Gospell brought into the world life and immortalitie For the case being thus decreed that all men must once die and euery one of vs hauing daily before our eyes foure assured witnesses that beare record of our mortality and that die we must our owne naturall frailty diuers accidents and mischances that may happen to vs many surfeitings and distemperatures and olde age at last how can we sufficiently aggrauate and display the misery and vanity of man who doth not raise himselfe higher then these earthly things and mindeth and thinketh vpon nothing so much as vpon this dying life or rather a liuing death That which me heathen Philosophers and Naturalists write of long life and the meanes to prolong it will helpe vs little or nothing at all and at no time can assure comfort the conscience Some of them thinke that men may liue longer in hote countries then in cold others are of opinion that the Northerne and colder climates are best to mainetaine health and long life and Galen is perswaded that the ayre of Asia Minor in the East parts is a more temperate countrey to liue in then any other But these wise men doe further obserue that besides a good ayre many other things are requisite as to keepe a good diet to vse rest and exercise at due houres to purge sometimes and to cuacuate the excrements and grosse humours of the body and sometimes to forbeare it to haue the mind merrily disposed and free from pertubations and passions But admit all these helpes should concurre which seldome happens what man is so simple and vnaduised be he neuer so young to assure himselfe in the morning when hee riseth to liue to goe to his bed at night What man is there by keeping a good diet and liuing temperately and by following the rules and prescriptions of Physicians is able to make himselfe continue and last so long as a Date or Cypresse tree or to liue so long as a Rauen a Stagg or a base creeping worme Many haue composed and set forth bookes wherein they treate how a man may preserue health and Galen reporteth of one Antiochus a Physician who contenting himselfe to eate sparingly three times a day a piece of bread spread with hony liued in wonderfull health and strength of body many yeares Plinie in his 22. Booke Chap. 24. maketh mention of one Pollio who liued more then a hundred yeares and being demanded by the Emperour Augustus how and by what meanes he preserued so long the good health of his body and vigour of minde made him this answere That hee vsed to supple his ioynts with oyle and to drinke the best wine hee could get In his 7. Booke and 50. Chap. hee propoundeth for an example thinking the like not to be found of one Xenophilus a Musician who liued a hundred and fiue yeares and was neuer in all that time sicke nor felt any ach or paine in his body Cicero also in his Dialogue of old age maketh mention of Arganthonius King of Gades who raigned fourescore yeares and liued a hundred and twenty But seeing all the time of our life which is not imployed in well doing and vertuous actions is to be accounted lost and that the greatest part of this present life vanisheth away in miseries which we are forced to see and suffer Good God how are they to be lamented and pittied that haue nothing where of they can boast nor whereon to rest and place their assurance but vpon a number of yeares and who commonly die when as yet they haue not beto take order to liue or when they haue no sooner begun to be wise but they are assoone dead I pray you doe we call that long which hath an end yea such an end as euery minute wee expect and looke for Euery man is desirous and willing to liue long and striueth with might and maine vsing his vttermost power studie and care to liue long although the time he runnes and moylingly trots vp and downe be it neuer so long compared to eternitie is but as a drop of water to the maine sea To bee briefe long life in this world is nothing else but a painefull progresse which makes it shorter and shorter and at last makes an end of it Let euery man then as Cicero counselleth hold himselfe contented with the time is appointed vnto him by him who hath the houre glasse of our life in his hand who hath stinted our dayes how long they shall runne and hath set downe this for his
wee haue of God Sixtly that we are not our owne men to liue as we list for we haue bin bought redeemed by a price to wit by the precious blood of Christ as a Lambe without spot and without blemish as S. Peter speaketh of him Of these strong and forcible reasons S. Paul frameth a holy exhortation to all men especially to old wise men whom it most concernes who before all others are bound to thinke and be mindfull of it Glorifie then God in your body and in your soule which belong vnto God Let vs conclude this short discourse with the definitue sentence of Christ propounded by S. Iohn in the last Chapter to the Reuelation in these wordes Blessed are those which doe his commandements that they may haue their right in the true tree of life and may enter in thorough the gates into the citie But dogs enchanters whoormongers c. shal be without Heere wee doe put wise old men in minde of the holy exercise of prayer and particularly we recommend vnto them the serious and continuall meditation of the one and fiftieth Psalme All that hath beene spoken against the aboue mentioned sinnes is extraordinary and vnusuall and it is a thing monstrous to see old men addicted vnto them or if such old men are to be found at last diseases and old decrepit age or some particular vengeances of God doe come to quench and put out such fiers of hell But there are sinnes which doe not grow old nor dye in old age but commonly grow young and reuiue againe These sinnes among others are couetousnesse anger or choler distrust or impatience Cicero thinketh that such sinnes proceed rather from mens manners then of old age because other ages of mans life haue their part in them as Ieremy said of the people of his times That from the inferiour to the superiour from the lowest to the highest euery man was giuen to fordid and dishonest lucre and gaine That old men appeare to bee more subiect to such euills then young men it seemes to proceed of their weaknesse and of diseases which doe incessantly harrie and molest them so that feeling their strength to faile feare inuades them and pynions thē vp in such sort that as one saith they are more afraid then euer they were before that the earth slides from vnder their feet are suspicious distrustfull and doe mutter at and finde fault with euery thing that is spoken or done Cicero excuseth these frailties and imperfections with this That they imagine they are despised not regarded mockt and scoft at And that they doe fitly resemble sicke persons who are quite out of taste with euery thing and nothing can be made or done to please or like them But all these froward humors are calmed and tempered by the knowledge of learning and exercises of vertue Moreouer Cicero wondereth very much to see an old man couetous for that it is a strange folly to load himselfe with much luggage and to massacre and torture his minde with making prouision of victualls when hee is neere his iourneyes end and almost at home Doe you not see said Saint Augustine in his 246. Sermon De Tempore that couetousnesse is so much the more furiously kindled and flames out in frozen old men when it is time for them to leaue and resigne vp all and when they cannot keepe any longer that which they haue gotten and scraped together O strange folly the neerer shee is to her home the more hasty and instant she is to lay on heauier loades then she is able to beare All this is well spoken by these worthy persons In all other things except in couetousnesse time doth discouer vnto vs more plainely what is to be done and how we may handle and feele the pulse beate But if wee question old men of the cause of this boyling desire and Cupid of theirs they answere in excuse That it proceeds not of couetousnesse but of parsimony and thrift and alledge foure speciall reasons or motiues First that their strength failing them thay are past getting and gathering and it behooues to seeke and forecast for helpe and stayes and to prouide pillowes and propps whereupon to lay their old bones and to rest their weake crazie age Secondly that their ayme scope and drift is by the lustre of their wealthy possessions and riches to keepe themselues in honour estimation and credit with those who disdaine old age that is spurr-gald with pouerty Thirdly that being not able to recreate themselues and to walke and ride abroad from this place to that their pleasure and delight is to bee cashiers at home to looke vpon their money bagges and to reckon what store of crownes they haue in Banke Fourthly that so they may in better sort prouide for their children and be bountifull and doe good to the poore These excuses are but pretences and the Apostle doth in few words answere them in the thirteenth Chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrewes saying Let your conuersation be farre from couetousnesse and be content with that which you haue for God hath said I will not faile thee nor forsake thee so that wee may boldly say The Lord is my helper wherefore I will not feare what man can doe vnto me Saint Basil in his Homilies or Sermons against couetous persons doth confute their seuerall allegations whereof we will here draw out a few lines vnto you If saith he old age doth put you to paine why doe you make it more painefull and tedious to you by treading morter and tempering clay to make brickes as heeretofore the children of Israel did in the time of their bondage in AEgypt If your strength faile you ought your charity therefore to faile If you so much loue and affect life will you therefore preferre the goods of the world before the Author of life will you therefore despise and not regard the true life Doe you desire to be had in honour and estimation Doe you feare to be contemned and despised practise that which the Prophet speaketh in the 112. Psalme and that which the Apostle rehearseth in the second Epistle to the Corinthians Chap. 9. A good man is charitable and lendeth The iust shall bee had in euerlasting remembrance Hee distributeth and giueth to the poore and needie His righteousnesse remaineth for euer His might or horne shall bee exalted in glory Doe you desire gaine or profit Hearke what the Apostle saith to the Galathians Chap. 6. 9. 10. Let vs not be weary of well doing for in due season wee shall reape if wee faint not Wherefore while wee haue time let vs doe good to all men but especially to the houshold of faith What myching couetousnesse is it not to bee willing to part with somewhat of that which we haue and to let others haue a feeling thereof vntill wee bee dead to wit when we haue nothing to doe with it our selues Will you then haue men to wish your death or as they kill fat
nayles into our owne wounds nor to add as we say fewell to the fire but rather let vs daily pray to our heaunly Father who being our sole Creator is likewise soly he who can reforme and regenerate vs that by the vertue and efficacie of his spirit hee may represse all our corrupt and inordinate affections in such sort that as children of God nor of Sathan or of Cain we may be cloathed with the new man created according to God may be couteous one towardes another mercifull mutually forgiuing one another all offences as our Lord hath graciously pardoned all our sinnes in Iesus Christ But it is not requisite to proceede further in the discourse of anger or choller the turpitude and deformitie whereof is sufficiently knowne to wise old men who haue read the excellent Treatises which haue beene aunciently written of it especially in the Bookes of Seneca and Plutarch Afterward in our tyme by Iohn de L'Espine in his graue Discourses of the contentment of the minde Whosoeuer will adde to these that which Turtullian and Cyprian Doctors of the Church haue written of patience can require to know nothing further of this subiect vnlesse he may bee pleased to adde that which S. Basile and S. Chrysostome haue written in diuers Homilies against anger and the great desire of reuenge which is to be lamented in all men and beyond all measure to bee abhorred of a wise old man As for many late writers which in Latine Italian Almaigne or any other Language besides the French haue written of choller or anger and of the helpes and remedies against it which they haue called out of Bookes of Diuinitie naturall Philosophie and Phisicke We need not now to make a Catalogue of them they making nothing to our principall intention in this Discourse There remaineth to speake something of diffidence and distrust the mother of impatience and almost of all other vices Our Lord correcteth this euill in those that are his whom he calleth sometimes men of little faith shewing the remedies for it to bee contained in the consideration of the gracious power of our God If any men be bound to such contemplation wise old men are who seeing themselues at their iourneies end and feeling their strength to faile ought to profit in faith and in the meditation of the prouidence and mercie of God It is that whereunto S. Paul seemes to haue regard when he willeth old men to sober discreete aduised sound in the faith in charitie and patience Tit. 2. 2. What is the cause of the frowardnesse and impatience in old men Euen this that they forget so many great fauours and benefits which God hath bestowed vpon them hauing mercifully drawne them from their mothers belly tenderly brought them vp protected them from infinite dangers so that they haue great cause to prayse God at all times as Dauid exhorteth them by his example in diuers Psalmes especially in the 34. 71. and 118. Psalmes which all young and old men ought to know by rote and by heart As also we recommend vnto them the seuen and thirtith Psalme which may be called the shield against impatience because we may finde therein that which is able to settle and assure a conscience wauering and perplexed with the scandalls and offence to see the eminent prosperitie of Atheists and prophane persons Put the case that the skie fall that the earth melt into the deepes and that the elements of fire and water be mingled together shall we suffer therefore melancholie fretting and impatience to deuoure vs when on the contrarie our Sauiour exhorts vs at that very time to lift vp our heads to heauen because our deliuerance drawes neere and is at hand Luke 21. 28. Is there any heauinesse or anguish which the promised comforter who is more mightie then all the world may not abolish and take away Prouided we leaue the matter to him and banish and cast of all distrust and impatience Then to what vse should so many promises of the sonne of God serue and what should that charitable and ardent prayer availe which he made a little before his death described in the 17. Chapter of S. Iohn But if wee will conserue and keepe our soules in peace and in true ioy let vs carefully keepe faith and a good conscience and let vs endeuour with S. Paul and after his example to hope that the resurrection of the dead as well of the iust as of the vniust shall come and to haue our conscience vnblameable towardes men Act. 26. 15. 16. Thus doing wee shall alwayes haue ioy in God Phillip 4. 4. The heart which is glad and reioyceth in the Lord is a perpetuall banquet Pro. 15. 15. So the vncleane and froward spirit the horror of sinne the sense and feeling of the wrath of God shall vanish and depart from vs and wee shall sing in triumph with the Apostle these excellent sayings If God be on our side who shall be against vs He which hath not spared his sonne but gaue him for vs all to death shall not he bountifully giue vnto vs also all things with him I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angells nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature is able to seperate vs from the loue which he hath manifested vnto vs in Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 8. 30 c If sometimes we feele our faith to languish and droope and our soules to be heauy and pensiue let vs spurre and rouze vp our selues with the goad that Dauid vseth in the two and fortith Psalme 12. v. My soule why art thou cast downe and why art thou disquieted within me waite on God for I will yet giue him thankes hee is my present helpe and my God Let vs then discard and cast from vs the execrable suggestions of the flesh of Sathan and hearken to the counsell of the Sonne of God who doth dehort and diswade vs from the perplexed vnprofitable vaine and prophane cares of the world in the sixt chapter of Saint Matthew and doth encourage vs to all confidence and affiance and to an inuincible hope in him when hee saith You shall haue affliction in the world and peace with me but bee of good courage I haue ouer come the world Iohn 16. CHAP. XI Of the causes that old age is burthensome and tedious to many old man A Well framed minde reioyceth in prosperitie and is sensible of afflictions But the euill and mischiefe is that many men casting their eye awry vpon euils giue good things a shrewed vnhappie and wrong name speake sinisterly and ill of them or doe not iudge of them as they ought Whereupon it followes that old age is tedious and vnpleasing vnto them because they haue not learned wherof to reioyce and to complaine nor know not the felicities of old age what they are nor haue not saluted or congratulated them a farre off nor neere hand
those earthly and transitory things which nature it selfe teacheth vs to dispise And an instruction also to lodge and harbour our meditations and thoughts in that Palace of infinite glory wherein wee are assured that all those that are righteous and sanctified to God by Iesus Christ shall bee assembled to blesse and prayse him for euer If on our birth day wee are extruded and come forth into the world crying and weeping Let vs also remember that presently we receiue the visible signe in Baptisme of our admittance into the Church and habitation of the liuing God that wee put on Iesus Christ that wee are consecrated to God that wee receiue the Hostage and pledge of that happy life to which the Sonne of God hath regenerated and begotten vs by his precious blood That it is hee that wipes away our teares which giues vs good hope and eternall consolation which he sufficiently ratified then when he so louingly caused the little children to bee brought vnto him layd his hands on them saying to his Disciples Suffer little children to come vnto me and forbid them not for to such is the kingdome of heauen So much touching the first beginnings of our life I come now to other afflictions and crosses which seeme to assayle and to lay neere siege to aged persons These opponents are so mighty and many in number which Salomon considering hath oftentimes sayd in his Ecclesiastes That all that is wrought vnder the sunne is very vanity That man reapes no profit of his labour and trauell and that all his dayes he feeles affliction and vexation of spirit Hauing shewed that all the soueraigne good dreamed on in outward and transitorie things is a meere imagination hee wisely concludes That this good consisteth in the feare of God and keeping his Commandements declaring that all mans good consisteth heerein Wee cannot more briefly and certainly cleere this point For whosoeuer knowes not God to reuerence and stand in awe of him with a pure heart and to subscribe and submit himselfe to all his Statutes and Lawes walketh not in veritie but vanity Wherefore it behooues vs euer to come to this point That there is nothing more miserable then the man which vnderstands not loues not nor seekes after nor knowes any thing but the things vnder the sunne and which happen many times without trauell or paines taking to the wicked and succeed quite crosse and contrary to the godly and good But happy is the man which earnestly lookes vp to God walking in his presence and beleeues that all things shall further the helpe together for his good Light shineth to him in darkenesse hee stands fast and is neuer mooued he feares no euill tidings trusting assuredly in the Lord. If he want the necessary things of this life his riches are in Gods hand and keeping who giueth him contentation and contentment Hath he a costly leud wife and bad dissolute children It is the proofe of his patience and the exercise of his faith as it was in Iob and Dauid of whom one had a very spitefull shrewd wife and the other children wholly giuen to lewdnesse and mischiefe wit Ammon and Absolon Is hee seized with maladies hee calleth to minde what Basil writes vpon the Psalme 45. Oftentimes sayth he sickenesse and maladies serue to tame and reclaime vs On the contrary sanitie and health often hurteth enough in that it helpes and furnisheth many with occasions and instruments to doe euill and mischiefe Againe in the 124. Epistle hee sayth Make account that a maladie or sickenesse serues for a schoolemaster wherewith to attaine to this good that making no reckoning of the body you also dispise whatsoeuer is fraile or transitory troublesome and past hope or recouery to be placed in the heauenly company and to liue in this world as if already you were in Paradise Pondering these things in your minde all your life will bee a day of feasting and ioy and it will bee ioyfull vnto you to impart your ioy to many others But why should we finde it euill or strange to see our body hardly handled and kept vnder which feeling it selfe fat and well fed pampred and at too much ease will worke the wracke and ruine of the soule and as a hote furious horse boundeth and reares vp aloft and seekes how to cast his rider and to lay him on the ground Vndoubtedly mans proper strength is an inward vigour of minde held vp by and depending vpon God whose power and strength is principally seen and discouered in our weakenesse For which cause S. Paul writeth Being weake I am strong 2. Cor. 12. 10. Dauid was of the same minde in his greatest agonies and sorrowes I am sayth he in the Psalme 38. weakned and sore broken I roared for the great griefe and terrour of my heart O Lord my desire is before thee my sighing is not hid from thee my heart is tossed to and fro my strength fayleth mee and the light of mine eyes yea they are no more vnto mee But seeing I waite on thee O Lord thou wilt answere O my God Forsake mee not be not thou farre from mee my God Hast thee to helpe mee O Lord which art my saluation So many excellent promises dispersed throughout the whole Bible shall they not haue the efficacy to reclayme and encourage vs Let vs haue a heed full eye I pray you to the reiterated protestations of Gods loue towardes his of that fier of loue which all the waters of the world cannot quench To which purpose Salomon spake in his last Chapter of the Canticles Set mee as a seale on thy heart and as a signet vpon thine arme for loue is strong as death and iealousie is cruell as the graue the coales thereof are fiery coales and a very vehement flame Many waters cannot quench this loue and the floodes cannot drowne it If a man would giue for it all the substance of his house it would be contemned The Prophet Isaiah also sayth in the Chapter 44. Thus hath the Lord sayd that made thee and formed thee from the wombe and which helpeth thee Feare not O Iacob my seruant the righteous whom I haue chosen for I will powre water vpon him which is thirstly and floodes vpon the dry land I will powre my Spirit vpon thy seed and my blessing vpon those which proceed out of thy loynes And in the Chapter 46. O house of Iacob and all that remaine of the house of Israel whom I haue borne from the wombe and brought vp from the birth I will doe the the same to your old age yea I will beare you vntill your hoare white age I haue made you I will beare you and I will carry you I will rescue and deliuer you As touching old men I speake to those that are wise they shall finde in the Scriptures forcible and fitting arguments of comfort For first although the life of God be blissefull and vnchangeable yet for the honour and maiesty of his eternity
that at the houre of my departure I may follow thee with courage Let this be my meditation continually Let me be released from the vaine imployments and businesses of this world not setting my selfe to any thing but that which directly concernes my calling and behauing my selfe in such sort that both those which dwell neere me and those which are farre and remote from mee may from my behauiours and carriage take example of pietie iust dealing and holy manners Let mee bee an enemie to Atheisme and superstition and sincerely addicted to thy seruice according to the rules of thy word Graunt me I beseech thee this grace that I may carefully meditate on whatsoeuer I haue vnderstood or perceiued of thy wisedome power and mercie in the wayes of my life That I may euery day learne that whereof to be ignorant it would be both shamefull vnto me and dangerous Aboue all roote out of my heart all wicked guile and craft and graunt me the grace to walke before thee in a sincere and honest heart hating euill in my selfe more then in an other to bee a louer of plaine dealing of peace of equitie of meekenesse of puritie of innocencie of life Let these be the ornaments of mine age and let thy spirit so direct comfort and strengthen me that I may not be too much deiected though I become deafe blind weake lame Onely let me haue strength left and remaining to prayse and call vpon thee to the last gaspe so as the weakenesses and decayes of my bodie may be borne vp by the supply of thy graces in my soule which desires not to be and remaine in this prison but to blesse and prayse thee Suffer me not to conceite still on moneths and yeares but that at euery steppe and moment of tyme I may remember my departure out of this present life that my whole thought may be that I must once pay this debt least being suddainely taken I cast away my soule When then the appoynted tyme shall come graunt I beseech thee that I may ioyfully depart and with fervent desire lift vp my selfe to thee Let thy goodnesse O Lord my God cause me to imploy my last dayes to the studie and meditation hereof not fearing to leaue and resigne this life whereby I shall no more offend thee but shall glorifie thee continually The apprehension of so happie a day which shall be the birth day of my eternall and vnspeakeable blessed being let it make mee to reioyce before thee my Lord my God my heauenly Father thorough Iesus Christ thy sonne my redeemer Amen O Eternall God and almightie heauenly Father and mercifull which hast beene my hope from the first day of my life and during all the course of the same and vntill this great age hast by infinite wayes caused me to feele thy prouidence care and protection thou art he to whom I haue recourse as to my God my glorie my saluation My legges are feeble but I lift vp my selfe vpon the winges of my thoughts even vnto thee who art my strength in infirmitie my light in so great darknesse of my vnderstanding my life in death which compasseth me about beseeching thee to be pleased to forget the sinnes of my youth and to haue no more remembrance of my transgressions but remember thy faithfull promises to looke vpon the woundes and suffrings of thy sonne my pledge and Sauiour for whose loue be pleased to pardon mine iniquities Suffer mee not O my God for euer to cast thee off and forsake thee Be pleased to annoynt the eyes of my soule with the salue of thy spirit that I may continually behold thee and that acknowledging my selfe a poore way-faring man and a stranger in this world as all my fathers were I may earnestly aspire to thee and to the countrie where the blessed are and where thou hast prepared a place for all thine elect Graunt that I may see my selfe deliuered out of the waues and stormes of the dangerous Sea of this world O Lord teach mee to know mine end and the number of my dayes to the end that seeing that the flourishing state of this humaine life hath no abiding but is compassed with sorrowes and oppressed with labours and paines and then the more dangerous when we least feele them I may giue my selfe to the studie and exercise of that wisedome which doth teach me to renounce the world and my selfe and to meditate vpon the heauenly happinesse of thy kingdome to the end that my heart may be there where my treasure is the head and spouse of the Church and where thou hast prepared for them which loue thee incomprehensible joyes through IESVS CHRIST c. FINIS Errata PAge 5. Line 21. for be reade begun p. 12. l. 14. for from currant r. or currant p. 17. l. 16. for middest was r. nuddest whereof was l. 1. for and that r. but that l. 29. for sight r. scite p. 18. l. 12. for followeth r. floweth l. 23. for made r was p. 19 l. 21. for of dayes r. of our dayes p. 22. Chap. 4. l. 1. for fearefulnesse r. fearfull fall l. 7. for respectacle r. receptacle l. 22. for age a r. age is a p. 23. l. 13. for downe r. done l. 15. for crimes r. ruines p. 24. l. 12. for lineaments r. ligaments p. 27. l. 20. for spin at r spin out p. 30. l. 3. for a wonder r. no wonder p. 31 l. 5. for if this life r. of his life p. 36 l. 27. for to be proclaime r. to proclaime p. 10. l. 17. for porportiall r. proportionall p. 55. l. 3. for wh r. who p. 58. l. 23. for effect r affect p. 99. l. 20. for youyg r. young p. 107. l. 16. themselues r. themselues p. 120. l. 9. for wit-r witnes The benefit of death The miserable condition of life Physitians masters of their strength and wealth The time to doe good is in this world but men cannot finde it The common felicities of old age Delightfull good recreations are as fit for young persons as labour Old mens actions
wherewith the iudge of the world can danton and keepe vnder the mighty and meane persons who neuer haue care of their consciences It sufficeth mee that they themselues are sensible witnesse of them or if they remaine for a time stupide and sencelesse that the Almighty hath sharpe roddes of fearefull vengeance in store wherewith he doth whip them at last though he spareth them a while Let vs speake a word of choller or anger which like a thunderbolt killes millions of young and old men with the sword or with suddained seases Histories declare that in former times Valentiaian the Emperour and of late in our time Mathias King of Hungarie giuing way and suffering themselues to bee ouercome with choler and anger dyed both of an Apoplexie It hath beene seen that many old men furiously transported with choler and anger haue fallen into soundings convulsions of the synewes and other incurable diseases Women of ripe age who are too much giuen to anger and fretting are commonly seene as a reward of their indiscretion punished with the suffocation of the mother the falling sicknesse and other such fearefull scourges Couetousnesse ambition and the loue of the world make many men so hide bound with anguish and griefe that it is impossible to cure or comfort them when they haue most need of helpe Soft handed sloth and idlenesse contrariwise excessiue labours and violent exercises and countries that are too cold marish and moyst doe all giue an helping hand to make vp an vnseasonable old age But I haue not taken vpon mee to score vp all the accidents and occasions to further old age Happy is hee that in his youth giueth not the bridle to the furious bounding and rising of his vnlawfull desires and in his generall and particular calling amuseth and applieth himselfe to all laudable exercises and sincere holy duties doing all good offices and seruice with a franke and free heart to God and to his neighbours and hauing a care to keepe himselfe temperate and vnspotted from the impure and rude manners of the world CHAP. VI. Of the Climactericall yeares SOmetimes as men meete together they fall in talke of the Climactericall years especially when occasion is offered to speake of mens ages and the dayes of their death Plinie in the seuenth booke of his Historie of Nature 49. Chap. And Censorinus in his booke of Natiuities doe treate of them at large These two namely Censorinus doe obserue that euery seuenth yeare notable changes haue fallen out in some mens liues and Physicians doe hold the seuenth yeare to bee Climactericall and fatall Those that doe calculate mens Natiuities doe hold that yeare fortie nine which is compounded of seuen times seuen and the yeare sixtie three compounded of nine times seuen is more perillous then any other and they haue shewed that at the periodes and ends of these yeares many worthy and great persons haue dyed Plato iudged the yeare eightie one which is compounded of nine times nine to be the Climactericall yeare which was most to bee feared which hee calleth the square number Censorinus doth not thinke the yeare sixtie three so dangerous and maketh mention of some men who haue dyed at the yeare of their age eightie one as also of others who haue liued longer whereof wee haue many examples in our dayes The iudiciarie Astrologers are full of vncertaintie and vanitie in their Art and profession besides considering the great and infinite deuersity of humane chances and casualties of mens constitutions of the iudgements of God they are to presumptuous to limit the life of man to certaine periodes and numbers of dayes which they call Climactericall The members of the body haue not efficacy or ability of themselues there is necessarily required a symmetry and proportion betweene the agent and the patient as betweene the body and the disease betweene the disease and the cure The number of seuen is otherwise iudged of in the holy Scriptures then in the Colledge of the Physicians who haue their criticall or iudiciary dayes And yet there are learned Physicians who differ in opinion about them by reason of the diuers costitutions of mens bodies of diseases whereof some are more some lesse violent of the different ayres of countries according to which men that liue in them are to gouerne themselues of the skill of Physicians wherein some haue better iudgement and better successe then others and other reasons whereby at this day is discouered that there are other dayes beside the seuenth day which appeare to be criticall The obseruations of Diuines vpon the seuenth day being grounded vpon the textes of Moyses are mysticall and not naturall nor Astrologicall For according to the obseruation of Basil and S. Augustine the number of seuen which is very often found in the bookes of the holy Prophets and Apostles sometimes indefinitely sometimes definitely doth in his definite sence whether wee take the number of seuen dayes or seuen yeares simply or multiplied signifie compleatnes or perfection liberty or rest The Lord rested the seuenth day The Iewes had their feasts which lasted seuen dayes In the seuenth yeare the ground was lay and vnploughed and bond slaues were set at libertie The Climactericall yeares of Iubile compounded of seuen times seuen were a figure of the perfect rest which the Church shall enjoy in heauen after her so many reuolutions and alterations vpon earth But that which we haue hitherto treated of old age doth teach wise old men to call to minde their dayes past and to thinke vpon the louing mercy of their Creator who hath so many wayes vpholden them to pray vnto him that the shortnesse of their dayes may cause them to conceiue and consider so much the more his louing patience toward them and to take occasion thereby to walke with greater reuerence and feare before his face and leaning vpon the staffe of repentance done in true faith to say vnto him in all humilitie O Lord my God let my mouth be filled euery day with thy prayse and glory cast me not off in the time of mine old age forsake mee not when my strength falleth mee for mine enemies haue spoken of me and those that lay waite for my soule take counsell together against me saying God hath forsaken him pursue and take him for their is none to deliuer him O God goe not farre from mee O my God hast thee to helpe mee Let them bee confounded and consumed that are against my soule let them be couered with reproach and shame that seeke my hurt But I will waite continually and will prayse thee more and more My mouth doth rehearse daily thy righteousnes and the deliuerance thou giuest to those that are thine although I know not the number of them I will march forward in the strength of the Lord who is euerlasting I will make mention of thy righteousnesse onely O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto I haue declared thy wondrous workes and yet O God
corruptions and giue me the bright shining beames of charity Fill and damme vp the bottomlesse pit of my heart with the loue of thy grace that the transitory goods of this world may not bee able to fill it vp againe Inflame my thought with the sole desire to behold the beautie of thy face and turne it away farre from the greedy desire of hauing and possessing much earth Grant vnto me I beseech thee that I may frame my selfe to a voluntary pouerty which being accompanied with a milde right lowly and true contentation may continually rule and beare sway in mee in such sort that resting my selfe content with a little I may imploy all the houres of my life in thy seruice that without ceasing I may meditate and thinke vpon thy blessings and the benefits whereof thou hast giuen mee so large a portion Be it farre from mee to wish to lay vp heapes of siluer and gold and transitory goods and if I bee frugall and sparing to lay vp any that I may doe it with this minde not to lay them out wickedly in vanities and dissolute riotings but to releeue the neede of my brethren thy children Can I finde any of my goods wherewith I may doe good vnto all men especially to the houshold of faith let these be my vacancies and exercises From thence let flowe the contempt and refusall of all things which doe not guide mee to thee and to hate those things which lead mee out of the way from thee Grant vnto my soule so much tossed vp and downe in the hauen of thy mercy to land at her Port that floting no longer vpon the perillous waues of so many foolish and noysome lustes shee may rest in the loue which thou hast testified vnto mee in my Sauiour Amen I come now to speake of anger and choller which commonly keepe possession in old men by reason that they still feele sharpe goades in their mindes and grieuous woundes in their bodies either for that their children misgouerne themselues or their wiues behaue themselues vsurpingly or considering the common state of things the ordinarie burthen of their song is that all the world is naught because their manner is alwayes highly to commend the times past and euer to bode and presage that the times to come will bee worse and worse Besides old men are suspitious distrustfull and hard of beliefe because as Aristotle sayth hauing liued long many men haue deceiued or dealt craftily with them or they haue deceiued and dealt craftily with others They are not easily reconciled for they cannot endure to be aduised or directed although as St Ambrose sayth there is no age too old to learne and that those old men which are incorrigible and will not be reformed haue more cause to be ashamed and to lament then to smooth vp themselues that they do well and laugh in their sleeues at those which would grauely put them in mind of their dutie But the principall endeuour of our wise Vieillard shall be to ouercome himselfe especially in respect of anger or choller a cruell and outragious passion which Horace the Poet fitly surnameth a short madnesse He shall easily get the victorie of it if presently vpon the first motions and assaults he represse and repulse it before he be invaded transported wounded poysoned with it To alter nature is a very hard thing notwithstanding many things in nature may be corrected and tempered by taking a little heed thereunto Especially choller may be repressed by abstaining to drinke too much strong wine and to feed vpon meates and sauces too much spiced by refraining the company of scoffers quarrell-some mutinous and mad-braine-sicke persons by frequenting the company of good men by framing the minde to meditate vpon the suffrings patience humilitie soueraigne charitie of Iesus Christ by the reading also in good bookes the many worthie examples of the meekenesse and patience of infinite persons set forth vnto vs. Now as greene things doe helpe the sight and as there bee some coullors which doe lesse offend the eyes then others so there be pleasant studies and delightfull exercises and imployments which driue away dullnesse of spirit and melancholie of minde And because choller is stirred vp in vs vpon an opinion of wrong done vnto vs let vs weed out of our hearts all suspitions let vs stop our eares against rumors and tales and let vs consider in our selues that often-times it hath beene better to winke at and passe by an iniurie then to reuenge it seeing that it is a woefull and impious act to be cruell to our selues which falls out when choller doth disturbe and put the mind and bodie out of all good tune frame and temper so that to speake truely there is none to whom we doe so great iniurie as wee doe to our selues Vndoubtedly the wrath or anger of man doth not accomplish the righteousnesse of God that is can doe nothing that is pleasing and acceptable to God as sayth S. Iames in his first Chapter The proper effect of magnanimitie and greatnesse of courage is to bridle and suppresse choller and anger and there is nothing so commendable in an honourable Peere and great person nor worthie his fame and reputation as clemencie and mercie For although seueritie must be vsed in punishing offences yet is it meet to curbe and suppresse anger which alwayes leapes beyond the boundes of mediocritie and driues vs into the toyle of odious and idle fuminges and chaffings If wee be prouoked to anger let vs according to the precept of the Apostle be angry and sinne not which we shall doe if we be angry with our selues and detest our owne frailties and vices But so long as we are conuersant with men let vs carrie our selues friendly and louingly couragiously ouercome the miseries which are of a short continuance by reason that while we are taking a suruay of our selues stirring to and fro here and there turning vs about and looking how feate and handsome we be death following with euerlasting life will seize and lay hold on vs. But if malice and priuie hatred doe creepe into our hearts it is expedient to seeke a speedie reconciliation for when wee see the minde of man if in this point wee beleeue Valerius Maximus to abandon hatred and to be of a peaceable and reconcilable inclination it is a signe that it is in an excellent state of rest and tranquilitie And as calme weather at Sea after a raging gust of winde and as a faire Sun-shine day after a cloudie storme is wonderfully pleasing so warre turned to peace causeth vnspekeable contentments Moreouer touching the things which seeme to excite and prouoke vs to anger as the disobedience of our children the ingratitude of our seruants or friends the perfidious and false dealing of some others sicknesse and diseases they are the visitations of the Lord God to proue our patience and also to represse the pride of our flesh Let it be our part not to thrust our
of goods not goods but perishing and transitorie and which doe not enlarge the straight boundes of this present life where wee are confined and this is our happinesse comfort tranquilitie to deliuer vp and resigne our persons goods our affaires briefely all that we loue into the handes of our heauenly Father humbly beseeching him euery houre to subdue guide and gouerne our heartes by his grace and power Whereupon it followes that it ill becomes all Christians much more wise old men to be voluptuous ambitious or couetous Also that in all the accidents and chances of our life we ought quietly to submit and yeeld to the will of God Touching the word Iustice which respecteth our dutie toward our neighbours it requireth two thinges The one is that wee rightly examining and considering what we our selues are wee should preferre others before vs the other that our studie and endeuour tend to this end faithfully to procure their benefit and good In this behalfe it is wholly requisite that we be furnished with humilitie patience a frank and liberall mind least we fall into the neglect and contempt as well of those that are of the houshold of faith as of those which seeme not to be not shrowding our selues vnder this vaine subterfuge shift and coullor that our neighbour is a stranger one we know not contemptuous base vile vngrateful an enemie vnto vs. For to all this the law of humanitie charitie the image of God his honour mercie and goodnesse makes a suyply Moreouer euery good doing and deede ought to proceed from a well informed conscience a sincere affection of heart without which our workes are soyled and tainted with damnable hypocrisie with peruerse confidence vaine arrogancie infamous reproch fond opinions As that God is our debtor to repay and requite vs that our neighbours are exceedingly bounden and obliged vnto vs yea that hauing performed some small dutie in this or in that wee are freed and discharged euen in the sight of him of whom we hold all that we haue to whom we owe all that we haue without whom we are nothing of our selues without whom we can doe nothing of our selues of whom onely wee ought to glorie in whom alone it behooues vs to put our affiance and trust from all other duties of charity whereof we willingly make our selues ignorant or basely refuse neither louing God nor our neighbours nor ourselues and liuing one with another as brute beastes before the eyes of our iust Iudge But it is requisite that our wise Vieillard mount vp yet higher though the way bee narrow rugged vneuen steepe and headlong to wit that he bee continually readie and prepared to beare the crosse which God layes vpon him that is to be exercised within and without by diuerse temptations and afflictions all the remainder and rest of his dayes If from his youth he hath borne the yoke hath not bin brought vp in the shade but hath endured stormes cold and extreame parching heate his travaile toward the euening of his life will be lesse tedious seeing the houre of his rest is neere and at hand Hereupon he will call to minde that his heauenly Father who from the cratch did handle in like manner his owne and onely beloued sonne will also that his members be made conformable to their head and hath predestinated them thereunto whereof this most excellent comfort doth follow that being vnder the crosse we partake of the afflictions and suffrings of our Lord. Furthermore for diuers reasons afflictions are necessary for Christians more particularly to old men First the vaine assurance of their flesh the opinion of their sufficiencie their obstinate selfe-willd conceipt their arrogancie require such a correctiue Secondly they haue need to be kept in humilitie and in a reuerend awe of God to the end so much the more heartily to seeke and sue for his grace without which it would be impossible for them to stand vnder the burthen much lesse to sauour and relish well how sweete and wonderfull the Lord is in their bodily and spirituall deliuerances Thirdly It is necessary also that their patience and obedience may more euidently appeare it being vnpossible for them to stoppe vnto God if hee doe not awe and reclaime them by afflictions Fourthly Their life past is had in remembrance to the end that being chastised in this world by the rod of a Father they may bee kept in order in their maisters seruice who scourging their bodies comforteth and saueth their soules in the hope of the last resurrection briefely hee chastiseth those that are his in this world that they may not perish with the world Now among the sundry sortes of crosses and afflictions one among others carries with it singular contentment as when wee shall suffer for righteousnesse for Christs name sake for the maintenance and defence of Gods word and truth Christians willingly lay downe their neckes vnder the light yoke of the Lord and reioyce at it not with a stupid or hastie mad braine-sicke or fond toying ioy their reioycing is spirituall accompanied with that magnanimous resolution which appeared in the Apostles after they had receiued the holy Ghost and in all their true Disciples This doth not vanquish nor abolish true patience cōsisting in this that Christians doe not faint altogether vnder the burthen that presseth them But in the anguish and bitternesse of their heartes feele the sweetnesse of the consolations of the holy Ghost which comforteth and strengtheneth them vnto the end so as the loue of God vanquisheth the vanitie which cumbers them in the world In this appeareth wherein the Philosophers patience differs from the Christians One sayth that it is an vnresistible necessitie or doing of that which must bee done and counselleth to beare what is vnavoidable But the other telles vs that wee ought so to depend vpon the consideration of the iust wise and good will of God that wee acknowledge that our sufferings in the world are equall agreeable honourable profitable that therefore wee ought to bee couragious and resolute in them glorying in the constancie that our God giueth vs and will alwayes giue vs at need The principall fruit which the wise Vieillard may gather from the tree of affliction is that by the taste thereof he should be enured to contemne this present life which would beguile and bewitch him if all things succeeded according to his sensuall appetite and lust Afterward this fruit makes him by faith to relish and taste the sweetnesse and pleasure of the happy life which is reserued for vs in heauen For if in youth and old age We see nothing but troubles and dangers in our course heere on earth if our delights bee mingled with griefes our hony with gall our pleasures bee steeped and drenched in distastes and discontentments our mirth end in teares to what purpose should wee start backe and retire And why should wee bee sorrie to goe out of prison to goe into the Palace of libertie out
and new Testament is the rule of his obedience Thirdly That he renounce himselfe to the end to yeeld and submit himselfe vnto God Fourthly That he patiently and cheerfully beare the crosse that is all kind of affliction that it shall please God to inflict vpon him Fifthly That in all his course of life hee meditate vpon that better life which is prepared in heauen Sixthly That the vse of transitory goods doe prouoke and incite him to goe forward more couragiously to the end of his high calling CHAP. XVI Worthy Meditations for all persons especially the wise Vieillard of what quality and condition soeuer he be WE propound further to the wise Vieillard that which followes to the end that in his owne particular for the dignity and honour of his age in the sight of God and good men he meditate thereon I say then thaâ—â—â—ery man especially he that is farre gone in yeares ought continually to haue Iesus Christ in his meditation and thought which he shall stay and settle vpon the considerations following As Iesus Christ after he was baptised was solemnly and with a loud voyce from heauen declared to be the beloued Sonne in whom the Father delighted So a Christian inwardly may know by the efficacy of the holy Spirit witnessing in and with his that he is the childe of God And when after his initiation and entry into the house of God sealed by the sacred signe of Baptisme it happeneth vnto him at many yeares end to bee led into the desart as his head was there to bee brought to extreame hunger to be pressed with sundry necessities and wants enuironed with the dangers persecutions miseries and aduersities of this world by meanes whereof Sathan assayeth to make him thinke as he assayled on the same side at first our Lord Iesus that he is out of the number of Gods children being destitute of all helpes and comforts and many wayes perplexed Thou oughtest not O wise Vieillard of what quality or condition soeuer thou be to resigne and yeeld vp the buckler of faith but opposing it against the fiery darts of that wicked one firmely beleeue that God is thy Father hath care of thee that all his visitations are full of loue doe proceed from his wisedome for his glory and thy saluation and welfare I know that this outragious one will perseuer and goe on in his calumny will say that thou shouldest make request vnto God if thou bee one of his children that these stones be turned into bread that is that these hard sharpe and violent aduersities which doe batter and split in peeces thy heart be changed into prosperitie But doe thou answere as thy Sauiour that the children of God are not sustayned and maintained by goodes and things transitorie and perishing but by God himselfe and by his rich and blessed promises If he charge and set vpon thee another way exclamining that if thou thinke thy selfe so priuiledged that thou shouldest cast thy selfe downe headlong from the top of the pinacle of the temple that is from the high degree of the spirituall politicall oeconomicall dignitie and iurisdiction wherin thou art promoted and aduanced far higher and aboue many others to tumble thy selfe into some stinking sinke of impietie iniustice defamatorie lewdnesse and villanie and he doe add withall that nothing shall follow of it which thou oughtest to feare that no body shall know ought of it that thou shalt haue a foule wide mouth and a brasen impudent face to deny all yea euen that God is much obliged to thee that his Angells haue a care of thee that thou alwayes haue at a pynch of need ready in thy sleeue a good peccaui that whatsoeuer happen if thou goe the way leading to hell it is notwithstanding the way to Paradise Make him this answere It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God but on the contrary seeing that of his so great benignity goodnesse and grace he hath made mee his I am so much the more obliged and bound to honour him thanke him and to study and indeuour to assure my calling Againe if the tempter set before thine eyes all the world and thereupon demaund of thee to doe him homage and worship thou feeling thy selfe by faith to bee the sonne of God and heyre of heauen disdaine and dispise these shadowes dreames smoakie vapours falling downe prostrate before the only true God thy hope life and saluation Who where-as thou wert by nature a childe of wrath a member of the first Adam a brance of a thorny bitter venomous corrupt and wilde plant hath cut and taken thee from it and graffed thee into Iesus Christ the stocke of life and the fruitfull pure oliue branch so that thou hast beene made a liuing member of him which requires that thou haue neyther strength or vigour nor motion or progresse whatsoeuer but as thou art mooued and directed by the Spirit of Iesus Christ dwelling in thee that thou oughtest not to thinke to will desire or doe any thing but by diuine inspiration and as much as is behoouefull for a liuing and spirituall member of the Lord. Vpon this thou art bound often to meditate especially when the case is so that thou art put to thy tryall and to stand to thy tackling And when thou doest any thing vnbeseeming and not agreeing to the dignity of a Christian of one adopted of God and of a brother and member of Christ be ashamed of thy selfe and deferre not to repent and amend But forasmuch as our Sauiour was crucified it followes that all his members ought to bee nayled to the crosse with him Which is first done by a feruent charity as it falles out to all those who being enflamed and changed by an intire loue to their Redeemer feele all his sufferings and are mortified with him in his crosse Secondly thou must yet in another manner bee crucfied with Iesus Christ to wit if thy feete will trample and trot vp and downe to and fro in the world to doe some euill nayle them to the crosse of the Lord with strong nayles of charity Does as much to thy hands if they enterprize and take vpon them to doe and commit some mischeeuous act and designe and with thy wanton lustfull eyes including and shutting vp in Christ thy intellect and vnderstanding with his cogitations the will with her desires and lustes and the soule with all her faculties and powers so that all the old Adam being crucified the saying of the Apostle may be verified in thee That those that are of Christ haue crucified their flesh with the lustes thereof Thirdly thou oughtest further to be fastened in another manner to the crosse of Christ that as when hee hanged on the crosse he was beheld naked forlorne emptied and destitute of all the fauour friendship respect and wisedome of men of all worldly riches pompes dignities and pleasures by reason whereof himselfe said That the Prince of the world found nothing of his in him
So likewise is it requisite that thou being emptied and stripped of the world and the concupiscences and lustes thereof shouldest be wholly changed and deuoted to further and aduance the glory of God Whereupon the Apostle said That our old man is crucified that the body of sinne may be destroyed Our Lord hauing beene nayled to his crosse is there-dead and wee his members ought to die to the world and to our selues in such sort that as those which are dead we should make no more reckoning of the things of the world should be without sense or feeling of them and should haue neither synewe nor veyne stretching or tending that way To this purpose S. Paul said to the Colossians you are dead and your life is hidd in Christ Furthermore we must also be buried with the same Sauiour He that is dead hath no more care of the world yet before he be buryed the world hath care to winde him vp in a sheete to Coffyn him then to carry him to his graue where being interred all societie and dealing one with another is at an end In this sort many who thinke themselues to be dead to the world pretending and making semblance to haue renounced it are not yet buryed because the world makes great account of them doth reuerence and worship them But it behooueth vs to be dead and buryed to the world in such sorte as we haue as small accompt and esteeme of it as of a stinking carrion and that it esteeme so of vs. For it is an ill signe when the children of this world speake well of vs. It is then a thing requisite and necessary that we be buryed with Iesus Christ by Baptisme into his death And it is fit also that we descend as our head into hell that is that we haue a right knowledge and a liuely feeling of our sinnes which is done when wee feele in our hearts the loue of God our Father in Iesus Christ crucified For being convicted to haue offended him we must descend to confesse and earnestly to decest and abhorre our pride ignorance infidelitie malice obstinacie and other vices Seeing then that these pollutions and defilements haue so much and so greatly displeased God that to purge them out of the world he hath deliuered his owne sonne to death we are brought to this point in some sorte to know our misery and how much we our selues doe displease God Moreouer as the Sauiour is risen againe so his members ought to rise againe in newnesse of life in such sort that afterwardes they haue no motion or inclination whatsoeuer but to glorifie God walking as persons whose conuersation is alreadie in heauen Christ is risen againe therefore his members ought to rise againe not onely at the last day but hourely and continually in newnesse of life so that thence forward they haue no motion or disposition whatsoeuer but to glorifie God Christ is risen immortall for that hauing triumphed ouer death death hath no more dominion ouer him Thereupon S. Peter sayth to Christians seeing our Sauiour hath suffred for vs in the flesh it is reason that we be armed and resolued in mind that he which hath suffred in the flesh hath ceased from sinne willing and ready to say that Christ the head pledge and suretie for all Gods children comming to die consequently to satisfie fully and wholly the Iustice of God for them hath clearely discharged the debt for all his members who are obliged to him vnlesse they would crucifie him againe and hold the precious bloud of the euerlasting couenant for a prophane thing to cease and giue ouer to sinne For being dead to sinne buryed to the world risen againe to God they ought to sinne no more nor to die in sinne much lesse to remaine dead therein Sinne ought no more to raigne nor haue dominion in them they ought no longer to obey their euill lustes but to curbe and restraine them by the spirit which doth quicken guide and gouerne them Our Lord is ascended vp into heauen In like sort if we be liuing members of his mysticall body we ought zealously and with all our affections to be elevated and raised vp vnto God truely to say with S. Paul that our conuersation is in heauen The same S. Paul sayd to the Colossians Chapter 3. 1. If you be risen againe with Christ seeke the thinges which are aboue that is heauenly and diuine not earthly and sensuall Now as this good Sauiour soone after his ascension into heauen for a testimony of his infinite glory in that he is set at the right hand of God the Father Almightie sent his holy spirit in a visible forme vpon his twelue disciples So we likewise after we are raised vp to God shall feele our selues filled with this spirit and with feruent charitie which will then appeare when wee shall illuminate kindle and inflame our neighbours in the loue of God not onely with our wordes but especially with our doings and deedes by the good examples of a blamelesse life Iesus Christ ought to come to judge the quicke and the dead And if we be his members a liuely fayth will make vs to feele the sweetnesse of these wordes of our Sauiour Come yee blessed of my Father possesse the inheritance prepared for you before the foundation of the world Let vs adde that as the judge of all shall be judged of none so shall it be with all his true members in the great and last day And who should judge them seeing the Father iustifieth them in his son and by the mouth of his sonne pronounceth them just blessed and heires of the kingdome of heauen Wherefore Christ Iesus denounceth that he which heareth his word and beleeueth in him hath eternall life and shall not come to condemnation that is shall not be judged but is passed from death to life Ioh. 5. 24. This needes no further exposition And it were to blaspheme whosoeuer would call into question the certaintie of our saluation by Iesus Christ alone who is dead for our sinnes risen againe for our iustification that we might be the righteousnesse of God in him Let vs say further with S. Paul 1 Cor. 6. 2. 3. Know yee not that the Saints shall judge the world Know yee not that wee shall judge the Angells But as after the last judgement Christ Iesus shall remaine in heauen in incomprehensible glorie so true Christians already risen againe by faith and sitting together in the heauenly habitations with their head hauing their conuersation in heauen shall there appeare and be found all perfect entire in their bodies and soules with their Sauiour who in raising them vp againe shall change their vile and contemptible bodies so as they shall bee made conformable to his glorious bodie according to the power and efficacie whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe If wise old men doe in a quiet and sober moode meditate and consider these thinges euery one of them hanging
much desired declareth by his wordes which breathed nothing but faith charitie consolation a stedfast hope that the seruants of God are in peace enioy a free rest being drawne out of the foaming and tempestuous waues of this world and landing at the port of safetie and eternall happinesse when after the abolishment of death we come to a glorious immortalitie For this is our peace our assured rest our assured and perpetuall safetie In this world we are continually grapling tugging and wrastling with Sathan and all our exercise is to repulse and repell his dartes We haue on our armes on our foreheads sides and backes avarice incontinencie anger ambition of necessitie wee must wrastle without ceasing against the lustes of the flesh and the baites and allurements of the world Toward the end of the same Treatise hee sayth further that we must not weepe for our brethren when it pleaseth God to call and deliuer them out of this world for well I know that they are not lost but gone before and haue the start of those who tarrie behinde Wee may desire and looke after them as men do for their friends who are going some voyage or who take shipping to sayle and goe to land in a good port But we must not bewayle them nor here weare black mourning habitts seeing they haue alreadie receiued white robes in heauen It becomes vs not to giue occasion to Heathens justly to tax and reproue vs if they see by an inordinate loue our countenance appalled and agast thinking them vtterly lost and annihilated whom we hold and maintaine to be aliue with God and if they perceiue it witnessed euidently enough by our minde that wee condemne the faith we professe with our mouthes In this case we ouer throw our faith and our hope which we could not say but to proceed of hypocrisie It is nothing to shew our selues hardie in wordes if we evert and destroy the truth with our doings and deedes It is tyme to conclude this Chapter We say then that the anxieties of minde maladies perplexities and apprehensions of so many deathes which doe spurne and kicke against vs doe silently and tacitely cry vnto vs and exhort vs with speed to lift vp our eyes to Christ Iesus the fountaine of life to the communion we haue with him also to the blessinges alreadie receiued of him and to those which the hope which makes vs not afraide doth assuredly expect And following the counsell of S. Basile in his Treatise that thankes must alwayes bee giuen to God Let vs not put our affiance and trust in man nor let vs say with the ignorant vulgar death hath taken from me all my succour and helpe my father my husband my sonne the comfort of my old age the prop and piller of my house Who hath commaunded you to moore your ancher of hope in such a little lump of dust as man is What age is priuiledged from the handes of death What a one is he who by couenant made with vs protesteth that he will be the God of their fathers and of their children to a thousand generations who loue feare him Shall we forget him who makes so kinde a proffer of himselfe to vs to imagine forge to our selues succours and helpes of straw and of wind Let the ancher of our sure and stedfast hope sincke into the vaile of heauen and let it bee sticking faste in the throne of God It shall there be a brasen bullwarke for vs a wall of fire Let Christ be our life in death in him let death be our gaine Let vs say with Ieremiah in the 17. Chapter Blessed be the man which trusteth in the Lord whose confidence the Lord is For he shall be as a tree planted by the water which spreadeth out her roots by a flowing riuer which shall not feele when the heate shall approach her leafe shall be greene and shall not wither in the yeare of drought and shall not cease to yeeld her fruit Let vs further amasse and gather some words from the same Prophet O Lord thou art the hope of thy Church those that forsake thee shall bee confounded for they haue forsaken the fountaine of liuing waters Heale those that are thine O Lord then shall they be in rest saue them and none shall bee able to hurt them Leaue them not forlorne and in a desperate plight thou which art their hope in the day of affliction Let their despayring and hopelesse enemies be confounded and let them rest in safetie vnder the shadow of thy wings CHAP. XIX Of the resurrection of the bodies and of the immortalitie of humane soules THE Apostle speake to very good purpose in the 15. chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians that if our hope should be in Christ Iesus in regard of this present life onely our condition should be more miserable then other mens seeing that true Christians are continually exposed to diuers afflictions and from time to time doe suffer great tortures troubles But what would it auaile to liue in the world and there to subsist and be a thousand yeares if it be in the fire of calamities and sundry oppressions There cannot then bee proposed vnto vs a more certaine refuge and helpe nor a more sweete comfort and support against the miseries and infirmities of this present life then the assured hope of the resurrection to a better life When we shall beare about vs no longer the image of the first earthly man but of the second who is the heavenly Adam and that this corruptible and mortall bodie shall put on incorruption and immortalitie The sure confidence of Christians is the resurrection from the dead wherein we shall haue a glorious bodie which shall be so revnited to the blessed soule and the soule againe to the bodie that we may be for euer with our head fully replenished with euerlasting ioy in the presence of God The Heathens enemies of Christian religion haue especially impugned this Article of the resurrection of the bodie And which is more many of their Philosophers haue spoken doubtfully of the immortalitie of the soule At this tyme to the end to confirme our faith our hope and assured consolation we will consider the groundes of these two Articles aswell by the nature of things and by certaine conceptions as by the sound resolutions rehearsed in the holy Scriptures Certainly as Gregory the great said in his Moralls That those who haue not learned from the Scripture the doctrine of the Resurrection ought to learne it of nature For what doe men daily obserue in the continuall medley and blending of the Elements whereof all visible things are composed but proofes of the resurrection of the dead Wee see by the vicissitude and reuolution of time the Plants and Trees to lose their greene leaues which wither and fall off when Winter comes after in the Spring to sprout forth againe and the earth to become greene gay as before If the smal
the contemplation of God in this present life is the sound food and solid substance of wise old men But let vs grow old in such sort that wee may make a good end that it be not reproached vnto vs in Gods presence that the last yeares of our life haue beene the worst of all But let vs striue to partake of that singular benediction contained in the end of the Song of the wise Debora in the fifth Chapter of the Historie of the Iudges That those who loue God shall bee as the Sunne going foorth in his strength It is not to decline but to rise euen to midday Our midday is to continue such neuer to declyne Not onely old age but the world also is in a decline Let vs then lift vp our eyes to the East aboue let vs behold the Sonne of righteousnesse let vs turne our faces that way least we perish with the world When we shall be departed hence sayth Saint Cyprian against Demetrius there will be no more time to repent satisfaction shall haue no more effect In this world wee lose or saue life Let no man then bee hindred by his sinnes or by the yeares of his life to come to the saluation which is offered vnto him There is no repentance too late to him that remaines yet in the world The gate to obtaine pardon of God is open those which seeke and follow the truth close shall without difficulty approach to it Although you bee ready to topple into your graue and haue not much longer to liue if you pray the onely true God to pardon your sinnes confessing them vnto him and calling vpon him in faith vnfainedly who hath manifested himselfe vnto you your request shall bee granted his mercie shall giue you grace to saluation and you shall passe from death to eternall life Christ affoordeth vs part of such grace hee giueth vs that excellent present of his mercy hauing slaine and put death to death for vs by the Trophie of his Crosse redeeming whosoeuer beleeueth in him by the price of his blood reconciling man to God quickening him that is dead by a heauenly regeneration If it bee possible let vs follow after this Sauiour let vs bee taken and recognized for his Souldiers let vs fight vnder his banner It is hee which openeth vnto vs the passage to life which doth bring and set vs vp againe in the possession of Paradise which doth guide vs to the Kingdome of heauen wee shall liue altogether with him who hath made vs the children of God and being restored by his precious blood we shall enioy ioy for euer in his presence We shall be glorified with our head blessed in God the Father haue our fill of gladnesse and euerlasting happinesse in his presence whom wee shall thanke without ceasing And truely whosoeuer acknowledging his miseries past hath beene made assured of immortall life it cannot bee but hee will bee alwayes ioyfull and render continuall thankes to God These are the sayings of S. Cyprian the meditation of which we doe recommend to the wise Vieillard and for to excite and stir him vp yet the more thereunto wee doe present vnto him these two Prayers following O Lord my God who hast giuen to man life vpon condition to bee a while on the earth and then to goe thence by death to the end to admonish mee that there is a better life heauenly and eternall Grant mee thy grace I beseech thee that as alwayes I ought to thinke by all meanes to liue holily so now I may endeuour to depart happily out of this world Let the hope to behold speedily and out of hand thy glory remooue from mee the feare of death that I may waite in ioy for that day wherein that approaching and euerlasting libertie shall vnlose mee from the chaynes of my sinnes which doe so mightily ouerload mee Let this hope vphold mee so that I may make no reckoning of any transitory thing and let humane affections bee so mortified in my frayle members that I may not desire to beginne againe or to continue my course but to bee soone at an end Grant that I may not bee carefull for this wretched body and this decayed building but so much onely as may bee fit for this short life which remaines for mee to vse Especially fortifie my minde against the many impostures and guiles of Sathan which doe compasse mee about on euery side I am ashamed that I am become a childe againe and worse then a young man who doth forge yeares to himselfe and doth dreame of immortalities in the shadow of death Suffer not this fond confidence of lingering still in the earth insensibly to steale away my life from mee so as without thinking on it and too late I shall finde my selfe at the end of it surprised and suddenly taken desperate and past hope wherevpon would follow a vaine complaint to haue wretchedly cast away thy graces to see my selfe shackled with an vnsupportable chaine and from which I feare to bee loosed My life is betweene my lips why then should I pant and sigh after transitory thinges What haue I any more to doe with the profits and commodities of this life My weakenesses doe bidd mee enough to turne my backe to all infamous lendnesse and licenciousnesse and O my God though I should be stronger then I am should it bee to offend thee My sight is dimme and decayes my hearing is dull and deaffed should I reuiue these dead senses with the remembrance of old pleasures and new also O let mee not with new crimes and sinnes increase and adde to mine iniquities past And if thy fauour hath vpheld mee in my young age oh let mee not abuse it in old age or vilely sinke into the bottomlesse gulfe of death notwithstanding so many graces of thine for which I am bounden and indebted to thine infinite goodnesse and am to make account before thy iudgement seate Thy holy Angels shall they mourne euer mee Thy Spirit shall it be made heauy in beholding mee My conscience shall it accuse mee to bee hypocriticall and malicious Make this old age O Lord free from stupiditie and sottishnesse from pollution from weakenesse talkatiuenesse from arrogancie bragging doating from too much niggardship and from vnnecessarie vaine odious expences make me become charitable honest sober temperate alwaies mindfull of my neere departure and desirous of that immortalitie which I hope for In fine let my old age haue nothing that I may feare nothing that my friends and enemies may lament or condemne Let it be beloued and welcome vnto mee in that it will make mee shorly to returne into thy heauenly Pallace where thou shalt wipe away the teares from mine eyes where I shall see my selfe deliuered from all sinnes filled with thy grace and closed about with blissefull glory in the holy company who there continually magnifie thee O my God deliuer mee from these so many cares and miseries which doe presseme downe to the end