A SALVE FOR A SICKE MAN or A treatise containing the nature differences and kindes of death as also the right manner of dying well And it may serue for spirituall instructruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell 3. Women when they trauell of child Printed at London by IOHN LEGAT Printer to the Vniuersitie of Cambridge 1611. And are to be sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Crovvne by Simon Waterson To the right Honourable and vertuous Lady the Lady Lucie Countesse of Bedford THe death of the righteous that is of euery beleeuing repentāt sinner is a most excellent blessing of God and brings with it many worthy benefits which thing I prooue on this manner I. God both in the beginning and in the continuance of his grace doth greater things vnto his seruants then they doe commonly aske or thinke and because he hath promised ayd strength vnto thē therefore in wonderfull wisedome hee casteth vp them this heauie burden of death that they might make experience what is the exceeding might and power of his grace in their weaknes II. Iudgement beginnes at Gods house and the righteous are laden with afflictions and temptations in this life therfore in this world they haue their deaths and hells that in death they might not feele the torments of hell and death III. When Lazarus was dead Christ said He is not dead but sleepeth hence it followeth that the Christian man can say My graue is my bed my death is my sleepe in death I die not but onely sleepe It is thought that of all terrible things death is most terrible but it is false to them that be in Christ to whome many things happen farre more heauie and bitter then death IV. Death at the first brought forth sinne but death in the righteous by meanes of Christs death abolisheth sinne because it is the accomplishment of mortification And death is so farre from destroying such as are in Christ that there can be no better refuge for them against death for presently after the death of the body followes the perfect freedome of the spirit and the resurrection of the bodie V. Lastly death is a meanes of a Christian mans perfection as Christ in his owne example sheweth saying Behold I will cast out diuels and will heale still to day and to morrow and the third I will be perfected Now this perfection in the members of Christ is nothing else but the blessing of God the author of peace sanctifying them throughout that their whole spirits and soules and bodies may be preserued without blame to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ. Now hauing often thus considered with my selfe of the excellencie of death I thought good to draw the summe and chiefe heads thereof into this small treatise the protection and consideration whereof I commend to your Ladiship desiring you to accept of it and read it at your leisure If I bee blamed for Writing vnto you of death whereas by the course of nature you are not yet neere death Salomon wil excuse me who saith that wee must remember our Creatour in the daies of our youth Thus hoping of your H. good acceptance I pray God to blesse this my litle labour to your comfort and saluation Septemb. 7. 1595. Your H. in the Lord W. Perkins Eeclesiastes 7.3 The day of death is better then the day that one is borne THese words are a rule or precept laid down by Salomon for weightie causes For in the Chapters going before he sets forth the vanity of all creatures vnder heauen that at large in the very particulars Now men hereupon might take occasion of discontentment in respect of their estate in this life therefore Salomō in great wisdome here takes a new course in this chapter begins to lay downe certaine rules of direction and comfort that men might haue somwhat wherewith to arme themselues against the troubles and the miseries of this life The first rule is in this third verse that a good name is better then a pretious ointment that is a name gotten and maintained by godly conuersatiō is a speciall blessing of God which in the middest of the vanities of this life ministreth greater matter of reioicing and cōfort to the heart of man then the most pretious ointment can doe to the outward senses Now some man hauing heard this first rule concerning good name might obiect say that renowne good report in this life affoardes slender comfort cōsidering that after it followes death which is the miserable end of all men But this obiection the Wise man remooueth by a second rule in the wordes which I haue in hand saying that the day of death is better then the day that one is borne That wee may come to the true proper sense of this precept or rule three points are to be cōsidered First what is death here mentioned secondly how it can be truly said that the day of death is better then the day of birth thirdly in what respect it is better For the first death is a depriuation of life as a punishment ordained of God and imposed on man for his sinne First I say it is a depriuatiō of life because the very nature of death is the absence or defect of that life which God vouchsafed man by his creation I adde further that death is a punishment more especially to intimate the nature and qualitie of death and to shewe that it was ordained as a meanes of the execution of Gods iustice iudgment And that death is a punishment Paul plainely auoucheth when he saith that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne And againe that death is the stipend wages or allowance of sinne Furthermore in euery punishment there bee three workers the ordainer of it the procurer and the executioner The ordainer of this punishment is God in the estate of mans innocency by a solemne law then made in these very words In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Gen. 2.17 But it may be alleadged to the contrary that the Lord saith by the Prophet Ezechiel that hee will not the death of a sinner therefore that hee is no ordainer of death The answer may easily be made that sundry waies First the Lord speakes not this to all men or of all men but to his owne people the Church of the Iewes as appeares by the clause prefixed Sonne of man say vnto the house of Israel c. Againe the words are not spoken absolutelu but onely in way of comparisoy in that of the twaine he rather wills the conuersion and repentance of a sinner then his death and destruction Thirdly the very proper meaning of the words import thus much that God doth take no delight or pleasure in the death of a sinner as it is the ruine and destruction of the creature And yet al this hinders not
death and directly fixe the eye of his faith vpon eternall life The second practise is to looke vpon death in the glasse of the Gospel and not in the glasse of the Law that is we must consider death not as it is propounded in the Lawe and looke vpon that terrible face which the law giueth vnto it but as it is set forth in the Gospel Death in the law is a curse and the downe-fall to the pit of destruction in the Gospel it is the entrance into heauen the lawsets forth death as death the Gospel sets forth death as no death but as a sleepe onely because it speakes of death as it is altered changed by the death of Christ by the vertue whereof death is properly no death to the seruants of God Whē men shall haue care on this manner to consider of death it will be a notable meanes to strengthen and stablish them against al immoderate feares terrours that vsually rise in sicknesse The meditations which serue for this purpose are innumerable but I wil touch onely those which are the most principall and the grounds of the rest and they are foure in number The first is borrowed from the speciall prouidence of God namely that the death of euery man much more of euery childe of God is not onely foreseene but also foreappointed of God yea the death of euery man deserued and procured by his sins is laid vpon him by God who in that respect may be said to be the cause of euery mans death So saith Anna The Lord killeth and maketh aliue The Church of Hierusalem confessed that nothing came to passe in the death of Christ but that which the foreknowledge and eternal counsel of God had appointed And therfore the death also of euery member of Christ is foreseene and ordained by the speciall decree and prouidence of God I adde further that the very circūstances of death as the time when the place where the manner how the beginning of sickenes the continuance the end euery fitte in the sicknes the pangs of death are particularly set downe in the counsell of God The very haires of our heads are numbred saith our Sauiour Christ and a sparrowe lights not on the groūd without the will of our heauenly father Dauid faith excellētly My bones are not hid from thee though I was made in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth thine eyes did see me when I was without forme for in thy booke were al things written which in continuance were fashioned whē there was nine of them before And he praies to God to put his teares into his bottle Now if this be true that God hath bottles for the very teares of his seruants much more hath hee bottles for their blood much more doth he respect and regard their paines and miseries with all the circumstances of sicknesse and death The carefull meditation of this one point is a notable meanes to arme vs against feare and distrust impatience in the time of death as some examples in this case will easily manifest I held my tongue said nothing saith Dauid but what was it that caused this patience in him the cause followes in these words because thou Lord diddest it And Ioseph saith to his brethren Feare not for it was the Lord that sent me before you Marke here how Ioseph is armed against impatience and griefe discontentment by the very consideration of gods prouidence and so in the same māner shall we be cōfirmed against all feares and sorrowes and say with Dauid Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints if this perswasion be once setled in our hearts that all things in sicknes death come to passe vnto vs by the prouidence of god who turnes all things to the good of them that loue him The second meditation is to be borrowed from the excellent promise that God hath made to the death of the righteous which is Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them The author of truth that cannot lie hath spoken it Now then let a man but throughly consider this that death ioyned with a reformed life hath a promise of blessednes adioined vnto it and it alone will be a sufficient meanes to stay the rage of our affections and al inordinate feare of death and the rather if we marke wherein this blessednesse consists In death we are indeede thrust out of our olde dwelling places namely these houses of clay earthly tabernacles of our bodies wherein we haue made long abode but what is the ende surely that liuing dying in Christ we might haue a building giuen of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in heauen which is vnspeakeable immortall glory If a poore man should bee commanded by a Prince to put off his torne and beggery garments and in stead thereof to put on royal and costly robes it would bee a great reioycing to his heart oh then what ioyfull newes must this bee vnto all repentant and sorrowfull sinners when the king of heauen and earth comes vnto thē by death and bids them lay downe their bodies as ragged and patched garments and prepare thēselues to put on the princely robe of immortalitie No tongue can be able to expresse the excellency of this most blessed and happy estate The third meditation is borrowed from the estate of all thē that are in Christ whether liuing or dying He that dieth beleeuing in Christ dieth not forth of Christ but in him hauing both his body and soule really coupled to Christ according to the tenour of the couenant of grace and though after death body soule be seuered one from another yet neither of thē are seuered or disioyned from Christ. The coniunction which is once begun in this life remaines eternally And therefore though the soule goe from the body the body it selfe rot in the graue yet both are still in Christ both in the couenant both in the fauour of god as before death both shal again be ioined togither the body by the vertu of the former cōiunctiō being raised to eternall life Indeed if this vniō with Christ were dissolued as the cōiunctiō of body soule is it might be sōe matter of discomfort and feare but the foundation and substance of our mysticall coniunction with Christ both in respect of our bodies and soules enduring for euer must needes be a matter of exceeding ioy and comfort The 4. meditation is that god hath promised his speciall blessed and comfortable presence vnto his seruants when they are sicke or dying or any way distressed When thou passest thorough the waters I will bee with thee saith the Lord and through the flouds that they doe not ouerflowe thee when thou walkest thorough the very fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the
he rehearsed the whole one fiftie psalme with deepe sighes froÌ„ the bottome of his breast 7. a litle after Saue me Lord Iesus Of Luther My heauenly Father God and father of our Lord Iesus Christ God of all comfort I giue thee thanks that thou hast reuealed vnto me thy son Iesus Christ whom I haue beleeued whom I haue professed whome I haue loued whome I haue praised whome the Bishop of Rome and the whole companie of the wicked persecuteth and reuileth I pray thee my Lord Iesus Christ receiue my poore soule my heauenly father though I be taken from this life and this bodie of mine is to be laid downe yet I know certeÌ„ly that I shall remaine with thee for euer neither shall any be able to pull me out of thy hand Of Hooper O Lord Iesus son of Dauid haue mercie on me and receiue my soule Of Annas Burgius Forsake me not O Lord least I forsake thee Of Melancthon If it be the will of God I am willing to die and I beseech him that he will graunt me a ioyfull departure Of Calvine 1. I held my tongue because thou lord hast done it 2. I mourned as a doue 3. Lord thou grindest me to powder but it suffiâ—ceth me because it is thy hand Of Peter Martyr that his body was weake but his minde was well that hee acknowledged no life or saluation but only in Christ who was giuen of the father to bee a redeemer of mankinde and when hee had confirmed this by testimonie of Scripture he added This is my faith in which I will die and God will destroy them that teach otherwise This done he shooke haÌ„ds with all and said Farewell my brethren and deare friends It were easie to quote more examples but these fewe may bee in stead of many the summe of al that godlymeÌ„ speake in death is this Some enlightned with a prophetical spirit foretell things to come as the Patriarkes Iacob and Ioseph did and there haue bin some which by name haue testified who should very shortly came after them and who should remaine aliue and what should be their condition some haue shewed a wonderfull memorie of things past as of their former life and of the benefits of God no doubt it was giuen them to stirre vp holy affections and thanksgiuing to God some againe rightly iudging of the change of their present estate for a better doe reioyce exceedingly that they must be translated from earth to paradise as Babylas Martyr of Antioch when his head was to be chopped off Returne saith he O My soule vnto thy rest because the lord hath blessed thee because thou hast deliuered my soule from death mine eies from teares and my feete froÌ„ falling I shall walke before Iehoua in the land of the liuing And some others spake of the vanity of this life of the imaginatioÌ„ of the sorrowes of death of the beginnings of eternall life of the comfort of the holy Ghost which they feele of their departure vnto Christ. Quest. What must we thinke if in the time of death such excellent speeches bewanting and in stead thereof idle talke be vsed Answ. We must consider the kinde of sicknesse whereof meÌ„ die whether it be more easie or violent for violent sicknesse is vsually accompanied with frensies and with vnseemely motions and gestures which we are to take in good part euen in this regard because we our selues may be in the like case Thus much of the first duty which is to die in faith the second is to die in obedience otherwise our death cannot be acceptable to God because wee seeme to come vnto God of feare and constraint as slaues to a master and not of loue as children to a father Now to die in obedience is when a man is willing readie and desirous to goe out of this world whensoeuer God shall call him and that without murmuring or repining at what time where and when it shall please God Whether we liue or die saith Paul we doe it not to our selues but vnto God and therefore mans dutie is to be obedient to God in death as in life Christ is our example in this case who in his agonie praied Father let this cup passe froÌ„ me yet with a submission not my will but thy will be done teaching vs in the very pangs of death to resigne our selues to the good pleasure of God When the prophet tolde king Ezechias of death presently without all manner of grudging or repining hee addressed himselfe to praier We are commanded to present our selues vnto God as freewill offerings without any limitation of time and therefore as well in death as in life I conclude then that we are to make as much conscience in performing obedience to god in suffering death as wee doe of any conscience in the course of our liues The third dutie is to render vp our soules into the handes of God as the most faithfull keeper of all This is the last duty of a Christian and it is prescribed vnto vs in the example of Christ vpon the crosse who in the very pangs of death when the dissolution of bodie soule drewe on said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and so gaue vp the ghost The like was done by Steuen who when he was stoned to death said Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And Dauid in his life time beeing in daunger of death vsed the very same words that Christ vttered Thus we see what be the duties which we are to perform in the very pangs of death that we may come to eternall life Some men will happily say If this be all to die in faith and obedience and to surrender our soules into Gods hands we will not greatly care for any preparatioÌ„ before-hand nor trouble our selues much about the right manner of dying well for we doubt not but that when death shall come we shall be able to performe all the former duties with ease Answer Let no man deceiue himselfe by any false perswasioÌ„ thinking with himselfe that the practise of the foresaid duties is a matter of ease for ordinarily they are not neither can bee performed in death vnles there be much preparation in the life before Hee that will die in faith must first of all liue by faith and there is but one example in all the whole Bible of a man dying in faith that liued without faith namely the thiefe vpon the crosse The seruants of God that are indued with great measure of grace do very hardly beleeue in the time of affliction Indeed when Iob was afflicted hee said Though the Lord kill me yet will I trust in him yet afterward his faith beeing ouercast as with a cloude he saith that God was become his enemy that he had set him as a marke to shoote at sundrie times his faith was oppressed with doubting and distrust How then shall they that neuer liued by faith nor inured
him but so much fauour as to see his hinder parts at his request ô then what happines is this to see the glory and maiestie of God face to face and to haue eternall fellowship with God our Father Christ our Redeemer and the holy Ghost our comforter and to liue with the blessed Saints Angels in heauen for euer Thus now the third point is manifest namely in what respects death is more excellent thē life It may be here the mind of mā vnsatisfied wil yet further reply say that howsoeuer in death the soules of men enter into heauen yet their bodies though they haue bin tenderly kept for meat drink apparel and haue slept many a night in beds of doune must lie in dark loathsome graues there be wasted cōsumed with worms Ans. All this is true indeede but all is nothing if so be it we will but cōsider aright of our graues as we ought We must not iudge of our graues as they appeare to the bodily eye but we must looke vpon them by the eye of faith and consider them as they are altered and changed by the death and burial of Christ who hauing vanquished death vpon the crosse pursued him afterward to his owne wen and foyled him there depriued him of his power and by this means Christ in his owne death hath buried our death and by the vertue of his buriall as with sweete incense hath sweetened and perfumed our graues and made thē of stinking loathsome cabbines to become princely pallaces and beddes of most sweete happie rest farre more excellent then beddes of doune And though the body rot in the graue or be eatē of worms or of fishes in the sea or burnt to ashes yet that will not be vnto vs a matter of discomfort if we do well consider the ground of all grace namely our coniunction with Christ. It is indeede a spirituall and yet a most reall coniunction And we must not imagine that our soules alone are ioyned to the body or soule of Christ but the whole person of man both in body and soule is ioyned and vnited to whole Christ. And when we are once ioyned to Christ in this mortall life by the bond of the spirit we shall remaine continue eternally ioyned with him and this vniō once truly made shal neuer be dissolued Hence it followes that although the body bee seuered from the soule in death yet neither body nor soule are seuered from Christ but the very bodie rotting in the graue drowned in the sea burned to ashes abides still vnited to him and is as truely a member of Christ thē as before This point we must remember as the foundation of all our comfort and hold it for euer as a truth For looke what was the condition of Christ in death the same or the like is the conditiō of all his members Now the condition of Christ was this though his bodie and soule were seuered each from other as far as heauen the graue yet neither of them were seuered from the godhead of the sone but both did in death subsist in his persō And therefore though our bodies and soules bee pulled asunder by natural or violent death yet neither of them no not the body it selfe shall be seuered disioyned from Christ. It wil be alleadged that if the body were then vnited to Christ it should liue and bee quickened in the graue Ans. Not so when a mans arme or legge is taken with the dead palsy it receiues litle or no heat life sense or motion from the body and yet notwithstanding it remaines still a member of the bodie because the flesh the bone of it remaine ioyned to the flesh and the bone of the body euen so may the body remaine a member of Christ though for some space of time it receiue neither sense nor motion nor life from the soule or from the spirit of Christ. Furthermore we must remēber that by the vertue of this cōiunction shal the dead body be it rotten burned deuoured or howsoeuer cōsumed at the day of iudgment rise to eternall glory In the winter season trees remaine without fruite or leaues and being beaten with winde weather appeare to the eie as if they were rotten trees yet when the spring-time comes againe they bring forth as before buds and blossomes leaues and fruit the reason is because the bodie graines armes of the tree are al ioyned to the root where lies the sap in the winter season and whence by means of this coniūction it is deriued to al the parts of the tree in the spring-time Euen so the bodies of men haue their winter also in which they are turned to dust so remaine for the space of many thousand yeares yet in the day of iudgement by means of that mistical coniunction with Christ shall diuine and quickening vertue streame thence to al the bodies of the elect to cause thē to liue againe and that to life eternall But some will say that the wicked also rise again Ans. They do so indeede but not by the same cause for they rise by the power of Christ as he is a iudge to cōdemn thē wheras the godly rise againe by the vertue of Christs resurrection whereof they are partakers by meanes of that blessed and indissoluble coniūction which they haue with Christ. And the bodies of the elect though they cōsume neuer so much in the graue yet are they still in Gods fauour and in the couenat of grace to which because they haue right beeing dead they shall not remaine so for euer but shal rise to glory at the last iudgement Therefore the rotting of the bodie is nothing in respect and the death of the body no death And therfore also death in the old new testament is made but a sleep the graue a bed wherof the like was neuer seene wherein a man may rest nothing at al troubled with dreames or fantasies and whence hee shall rise no more subiect to weakenes or sickenes but presently be translated to eternal glory By this thē which hath beene said it appeares that the death of the righteous is a second degree to euerlasting happinesse Now then considering our coniunction with Christ is the foundation of all our ioy cōfort in life and death wee are in the feare of God to learne this one lessō namely that while we haue time in this world we must labour to be vnited vnto Christ that we maybe bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh This very point is as it were a flaggon of wine to reuiue our soules when they be in a swowne at any instant And that we may be assured that we are certainly ioyned to Christ we must shew our selues to be members of his misticall body by the daily fruites of righteousnes and true repentance And being once certainly assured in conscience of our beeing in Christ let death come when it wil
flame kindle vpon thee Now the Lord doth manifest his preseÌ„ce three waies the first is by moderating and lessening the paines and torments of sicknes death as the very words of the former promise doe plainly import Hence it comes to passe that to many men the sorrowes and pangs of death are nothing so grieuous and troublesome as the afflictions crosses which are laid on them in the course of their liues The second way of Gods presence is by an inward vnspeakable comfort of the spirit as Paul saith We reioyce in tribulations knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience c. but why is this reioycing because saith he in the next words the loue of God is shedde abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost Again Paul hauing in some grieuous sicknes receiued the sentence of death saith of himself that as the sufferings of Christ did abound in him so his consolation did abound through Christ. Here then we see that wheÌ„ earthly comforts faile the Lord himselfe drawes neere the bed of the sicke as it were visiting them in his own person ministring vnto them refreshing for their soules with his right haÌ„d he holds vp their heads and with his left hand he embraceth them The third meanes of Gods preseÌ„ce is the ministery of his good Angels whome the Lord hath appointed as keepers and nources vnto his seruants to hold theÌ„ vp and to beare them in their armes as nources doe young children and to be as a guard vnto them against the diuel and his angels And al this is verified specially in sicknesse at which time the holy angels are not only preseÌ„t with such as feare god but ready also to receiue and to carry their soules into heauen as appeares by the example of Lazarus And thus much of the first dutie which a sicke man is to perform vnto himself namely that he must by all meanes possible arme and strengthen himselfe against the feare of death now followeth the secoÌ„d duty which is concerning the body and that is that all sicke persons must be careful to preserue health life till God doe wholly take it away For Paul saith None of vs liueth to himselfe neither doth any die to himselfe for whether we liue we liue vnto the Lord or whether we die we die vnto the Lord whether we liue therefore or die we are the Lords For this cause we may not doe with our liues as we will but we must reserue the whole disposition therof vnto God for whose glory we are to liue and die And this temporall life is a most pretious iewell and as the common saying is life is very sweet because it is giuen to man for this end that he might haue some space of time wherein he might vse all good meanes to attaine to life euerlasting Life is not bestowed on vs that wee should spend our daies in our lusts vaine pleasures but that we might haue libertie to come out of the kingdome of darkenes into the kingdome of grace and from the bondage of sinne into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God in this respect speciall care must be had of preseruation of life till God do call vs hence In the preseruation of life 2. things must bee considered the meanes and the right vse of the meanes The meanes is good wholesome physicke which though it be despised of many as a thing vnprofitable needles yet must it be esteemed as an ordinance and blessing of God This appeares because the spirit of God hath giuen approbation vnto it in the Scriptures When it was the good pleasure of god to restore life vnto king Ezekias a lumpe of drie figges by the prophets appointment was laid to his boyle and he was healed Indeede this cure was in some sort miraculous because he was made whole in the space of 2. or 3. daies and the third day he went vp to the temple yet the bunch of figs was a naturall or ordinarie medicine or plaister seruing to soften and ripen tumours or swellings in the flesh And the Samaritane is commended for the binding vp and for the powring in of wine and oile into the woundes of the man that lay wounded betweene Ierusalem and Iericho Now this dealing of his was a right practise of physicke for the wine serued to cleanse the wound and to ease the paine within and oile serued to supple the flesh and to asswage the paine without And the Prophet Esay seemes to coÌ„mend this physicke when he saith From the sole of the foote there is nothing whole therein but â—â—unds and swellings and sores full of corruption they haue not beene wrapped nor bound vp nor mollified with oyle And whereas God did not command circumcision of childreÌ„ before the eight day he followed a rule of physicke obserued in all ages that the life of the child is very vncerten till the first seauen daies be expired as we may see by the example of the childe which Dauid had by Bathsheba which died the seaueÌ„th day And vpon the very same ground heathen men vsed not to name their children before the eight day Thus then it is manifest that the vse of physick is lawfull and commendable Furthermore that physick may be well applied to the mainetenance of health speciall care must be had to make choice of such physitions as are knowne to be well learned and men of experience as also of good conscience and good religion For as in other callings so in this also there be sundry abuses which may endanger the liues and the health of men Some venter vpon the bare inspection of the vrine without further directioÌ„ or knowledge of the estate of the sicke to prescribe and minister as shall seeme best vnto theÌ„ But the learned in this faculty plainly a vouch that this kind of dealing tendes rather to kill then to cure and that sundry men are indeed killed thereby For iudgment by the vrine is most deceitfull the water of him that is sicke of a pestilent feauer euen vnto death looks for substance and colour as the water of a whole man and so doth the water of them that are sicke of a quartane or of any other intermitting feauer specially if they haue vsed a good dyet from the beginning as also of them that haue the pleuresie or the inflammatioÌ„ of the lungs or the Squinancie oftentimes when they are neare death Now then considering the waters of such as are at the point of death appeare as the vrines of haile and sound men one and the same vrine may foresignifie both life and death and be a signe of diuers nay of contrarie diseases A thinne crude and pale vrine in them that be in health is a tokeÌ„ of want of digestion but in them that are sicke of a sharpe or burning ague it betokens the frensie is a certen signe of death Againe others there bee that thinke
may be spoken here as the holy Ghost hath vttered in the word and that I wil reduce to certaine rules The first is that the will must be made according to the law of nature and the written word of God and the good and wholesome positiue lawes of that kingdom or cuntry wherof a man is a member The will of God must be the rule of mans will And therefore the will that is made against any of these is faultie The second is that if goods euill gotten be not restored before they must euen then be restored by will or by some other way It is the practise of couetous mē to bequeath their soules when they die to God withall to bequeath their goods euill gotten to their children friends which in all equitie should bee restored to them to whom they belong Quest. Howe if a mans conscience tell him that his goods be euill gotten and he knowes not where or to whome to make restitution Ans. The case is common the answer is this When he is known whom thou hast wronged restore to him particularly if the partie be vnknown or dead restore to his executors or assignes or to his next kin if there be none yet keepe not goods euill gotten to thy selfe but restore to God that is in way of recompence and ciuil satisfaction bestow them on the Church or common-wealth The third rule is that heads of families must principally bestowe their goods on their owne children and them that be of their kindred This man saith God to Abraham of Eleazar a straunger shall not be thine heire but the son which shal come of thy loynes And this was Gods commaundemēt to the Israelites that when any man dies his sonne should be his heire if he haue no sonne then his daughter if he haue no daughter then his brethren and if he haue no brethren then his fathers brethren and if that there be none then the next of the kinne whosoeuer And Paul saith If ye be sonnes then also heires and againe He that prouides not for his owne and namely for them of his houshold is worse then an infidell Therefore it is a fault of any man to alienate his goods or lands wholly finally from his blood and posteritie It is a thing which the very law of nature it selfe hath condemned Againe it is a fault to giue all to the eldest and nothing in respect to the rest as though the eldest were borne to be gentlemen yonger brethren borne to beare the wallet Yet in equitie the eldest must haue more then any euen because he is the eldest because stocks and families in their persons are to be maintained and because there must alwaies be some that must be fitte to doe speciall seruice in the peace of the common weale or in the time of warre which could not be if goods should be equally parted to al. The fourth and last rule is that no Will is of force till the testatour be dead for so long as he is aliue he may alter and change it These rules must be remembred because they are recorded in Scripture the opening of other points circumstances belongeth to the profession of the law The second dutie of the master of the familie concerneth the soules of such as be vnder his gouernment and that is to giue charge to them that they learne beleeue and obey the true religion that is the doctrine of Saluation set downe in the writings of the Prophets Apostles The Lord himselfe cōmends Abraham for this I knowe Abraham saith he that he will command his sonnes and his houshold after him that they keepe the way of the Lord to doe righteousnes and iudgement And Dauid giues Salomon on his death-bed a most notable solemne charge the summe and substance whereof is to know the God of his fathers and to serue him which beeing done he further commends him to God by prayer for which purpose the 72. psal was made This practise of his is to be followed of all Thus gouernours when they shall carefully dispose of their goods and giue charge to their posteritie touching the worship of God shall greatly honour God dying as well as liuing Hitherto I haue intreated of the two-fold preparatiō which is to goe before death now follows the second part of Dying-well namely the disposition in death This disposition is nothing els but a religious and holy behauiour specially towards God when we are in or neare the agonie and pang of death This behauiour containes three speciall duties The first is to die in or by faith To die by faith is whē a man in the time of death doth with all his heart rely himselfe wholly on Gods speciall loue and fauoure and mercie in Christ as it is reuealed in the word And though there be no part of mans life void of iust occasions whereby we may put faith in practise yet the speciall time of all is the pang of death when friends and riches and pleasures and the outward senses temporall life all earthly helpes forsake vs. For then true faith maketh vs to go wholly out of our selues and to despaire of comfort and saluation in respect of an earthly thing with all the power strength of the heart to rest on the pure mercie of God This made Luther both thinke and say that men were best Christians in death An example of this faith we haue in Dauid who when he sawe nothing before his eies but present death the people intending to stone him comforted him at that very instant as the text saith in the Lord his God And this comfort he reaped in that by faith he applied vnto his own soule the mercifull promises of God as he testifieth of himselfe Remember saith he the promise made to thy seruant wherein thou hast caused me to trust It is my comfort in trouble for thy promise hath quickned me Againe My flesh failed and my heart also but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for euer Now looke what Dauid here did the same must euery one of vs do in the like case When the Israelites in the wildernes were stung with fierie serpents and lay at the point of death they looked vp to the brasen serpent which was erected by the appointment of God and were presently healed euen so when any man feeles death to drawe neere his fierie sting to pierce the heart he must fixe the eye of a true and liuely faith vpon Christ exalted and crucified on the crosse which beeing done he shal by death enter into eternall life Now because true faith is no dead thing it must be expressed by especiall actions the principall whereof is inuocation wherby either praier or thanksgiuing is directed vnto God When death had seazed vpon the body of Iacob he raised vp himselfe and turning his face towards the beddes head
leaned on the toppe of his staffe by reason of his feeblenes and praied vnto God which praier of his was an excellent fruite of his faith Iobs wife in the middest of his affliction said vnto him to very good purpose Blesse God and die I knowe and graunt that the words are commonly translated otherwise Curse God and die but as I take it the former is the best For it is not like that in so excellent a familie any one person much lesse a matrone and principall gouernour thereof would giue such lewde and wretched councell which the most wicked man vpon earth hauing no more but the light of nature would not once giue but rather much abhorre and condemne And though Iob call her a foolish woman yet he doth it not because shee went about to perswade him to blaspheme God but because shee was of the minde of Iobs friends and thought that he stood to much in a conceit of his owne righteousnes Now the effect meaning of her councell is this blesse God that is husband no doubt thou art by the extremitie of thine affliction at deaths doore therefore begin now at length to lay aside the great ouerweening which thou hast of thine owne righteousnesse acknowledge the hand of God vpon thee for thy sins confesse them vnto him giuing him the glorie pray for the pardon of them ende thy daies This counsell is very good and to bee followed of all though it may be the applying of it as Iob well perceiued is mixt with follie Here it may be alleadged that in the pangs of death men want their senses and conuenient vtterance and therefore that they are vnable to pray Ans. The very sighes sobs and grones of a repentant and beleeuing heart are praiers before God euen as effectuall as if they were vttered by the best voice in the world Praier stands in the affection of the heart the voice is but an outward messenger therof God lookes not vpon the speech but vpon the heart Dauid saith God heares the desire of the poore againe That he will fulfill the desires of them that heare him yea their very teares are loud and sounding praiers in his eares Againe faith may otherwise be expressed by the Last wordes which for the most part of them that haue truly serued God are very excellent and comfortable and full of grace some choise examples whereof I will rehearse for instructions sake and for imitation The last words of Iacob were those whereby as a Prophet he foretolde blessing and curses vpon his children and the principall among the rest were these The scepter shall not depart from Iuda and the lawgiuer from betweene his feete till Shilo come and O Lord I haue waited for thy saluation The last wordes of Moses are his most excellent song set downe Deut. chap. 32. and the last words of Dauid were these The spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue the God of Israel spake to me the strength of Israel said Beare rule ouer men c. The words of Zacharias the son of Iehoida when he was stoned were The Lord looke vpon it and require it The last words of our Sauiour Christ when he was dying vpon the crosse are most admirable and stored with aboundance of spiritual grace 1. To his father he saith Father forgiue them they know not what they doe 2. to the thiefe Verily I say vnto thee this night shalt thou be with mee in paradise 3. to his mother Mother behold thy son and to Iohn behold my mother 4. and in his agonie My God thy God why hast thou forsaken mee 5. and earnestly desiring our saluation I thirst 6. and when he had made perfect satisfaction It is finished 7. and when bodie and soule were parting Father into thy hands I commend my spirit The last words of Steuen were 1. Behold I see the heauens open and the sonne of man standing at the right hand of God 2. Lord Iesus receiue my spirit 3. Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Of Polycarpe Thou art a true God without lying therefore in all things I praise thee and blesse thee and glorifie thee by the eternall God high Priest Iesus Christ thine onely beloued Sonne by whome and with whome to thee and the holy spirit be all glorie now and for euer Of Ignatius I care not what kinde of death I die I am the bread of the Lord and must be grounde with the teeth of lyons that I may be cleane bread for Christ who is the bread of life for mee Of Ambrose I haue not so led my life among you as if I were ashamed to liue neither doe I feare death because we haue a good Lord. Of Augustine 1. He is no great man that thinkes it a great matter that trees and stones fall and mortall men die 2. Iust art thou O Lord righteous is thy iudgement Of Bernard 1. An admonition to his brethren that they would grounde the anchor of their faith and hope in the safe and sure port of Gods mercie 2. Because saith he as I suppose I cannot leaue vnto you any choise examples of religion I commend three to be imitated of you which I remember that I haue obserued in the race which I haue run as much as possibly I could 1. I gaue lesse heed to mine own sense reason then to the sense and reason of other men 2. When I was hurt I sought not reuenge on him that did the hurt 3. I had care to giue offence to no man and if it fell out otherwise I tooke it away as I could Of Zwinglius when in the field he was wounded vnder the chin with a speare O what hap is this go to they may kill my bodie but my soule they cannot Of Oecolampadius 1. An exhortation to the ministers of the Church to maintaine the puritie of doctrine to shewe forth an example of honest and godly conuersation to be constant patiēt vnder the crosse 2. Of himselfe Whereas I am charged to be a corrupter of the truth I weigh it not now I am going to the tribunall of Christ and that with good conscience by the grace of God and there it shall bee manifest that I haue not seduced the Church Of this my saying contestatiō I leaue you as witnesses and I confirme it with this my last breath 3. To his children Loue God the father turning himself to his kinsfolks I haue boūd you saith he with this contestation you which they heare and haue desired shall doe your indeauour that these my children may be godly and peaceable and true 4. to his friend comming vnto him What shall I say vnto you Newes I shall be shortly with Christ my Lord. 5. beeing asked whether the light did not trouble him touching his breast there is light enough saith he 6.
themselues to beleeue bee able in the pang of death to rest vpon the mercie of God Againe he that would die in obedience must first of all leade his life in obedience hee that hath liued in disobedience can not willingly and in obedience appeare before the iudge when hee is cited by death the sergeant of the Lord he dies indeed but that is vpon necessitie because he must yeeld to the order and course of nature as other creatures doe Thirdly hee that would surrender his soule into the hands of God must bee resolued of two things the one is that god can the other is that God will receiue his soule into heauen and there preserue it till the last iudgement And none can be resolued of this except he haue the spirit of God to certifie his conscience that he is redeemed iustified sanctified by Christ and shall bee glorified Hee that is not thus perswaded dare not render vp and present his soule vnto God When Dauid said Lord into thy handes I commend my spirit what was the reason of this boldnesse in him surely nothing else but the perswasion of faith as the next wordes import for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth And thus it is manifest that no man ordinarily can performe these duties dying that hath not performed them liuing This beeing so I doe againe renew my former exhortation beseeching you that ye would practise the duties of preparation in the course of your liues leading them daily in faith and obedience and from time to time commending your selues into the hand of God and casting all your workes vpon his prouidence They which haue done this haue made most happie and blessed endes Enoch by faith walked with God as one that was alwaies in his presence leading an vpright and godly life and the Lord tooke him away that he should not see death And this which befell Enoch shall after a sort befall them also that liue in faith and obedience because death shal be no death but a sleepe vnto them and no enemie but a friend to bodie and soule On the contrary let vs consider the wretched miserable endes of them that haue spent their daies in their sinnes without keeping faith a good conscience The people of the old world were drowned in the flood the filthy Sodomites and Gomorrheans were destroyed with fire from heauen Dathan and Abiram with the company of Core were swallowed vp of the earth Core himselfe as it seemes by the text being burnt with fire wicked Saul and Achitophel and Iudas destroy themselues Herod is eaten vp of wormes and gaue vp the ghost Iulian the Apostata smitten with a dart in the field died casting vp his blood into the ayre blaspheming the name of Christ. Arius the hereticke died vpon the stoole scouring forth his very entralls And this very age affoards store of like examples Hoffemeister a great Papist as he was going to the councill of Ralisbone to dispute against the defēders of the Gospel was suddenly in his iourney preuented by the hand of God and miserably died with horrible roaring and crying out In the Vniuersitie of Louaine Guarlacus a learned Papist falling sicke when he perceiued no way with him but death he fell into miserable agonie and perturbation of spirit crying out of his sinnes how miserably he had liued and that hee was not able to abide the iudgement of God so casting out words of miserable desperation saide his sins were greater then they could be pardoned and in that desperation ended his daies Iacobus Latromus of the same vniuersitie of Louaine after that he had beene at Bruxels and there thinking to doe a great acte against Luther and his fellowes made an oration before the Emperour so foolishly and ridiculously that he was laughed to scorne almost of the whole court then returning frō thence to Louaine againe in his publike lecture he fell into open madnesse vttering such wordes of desperatiō and blasphemous impietie that other Diuines which were present were faine to carie him away as he was rauing and to shut him into a close chamber From that time to his very last breath he had neuer any thing else in his mouth but that he was damned and reiected of God and that there was no hope of saluation for him because that wittingly and against his knowledge he withstood the manifest truth of Gods word Crescentius the Popes Legat and Vicegerent in the councell of Trent was sitting all the day long vntill darke night in writing of letters to the Pope after his labour when night was come thinking to refresh himselfe he began to rise and at his rising behold there appeared to him a mightie blacke dogge of an huge bignesse his eyes flaming with fire his eares hanging low downe well neare to the grounde which beganne to enter in and straight to come towardes him and so to couch vnder the boord The Cardinall not a little amazed at the sight thereof somewhat recouering himselfe called immediately to his seruants which were in the outward chamber next by to bring in a candle and to seeke for the dogge But when the dogge could not be found there nor in any other chamber about the Cardinall thereupon stricken with a sudden conceit of minde immediately fel into such a sicknesse whereof his Physitians which he had about him could not with all their industrie and cunning cure him and thereupon he died Steuen Gardiner when a certaine Bishop came vnto him and put him in minde of Peter denying his master answered againe that he had denied with Peter but neuer repented with Peter and so to vse M. Foxes words stinkingly and vnrepentantly died More examples might be added but these shall suffice Againe that we may be further induced to the practise of these duties let vs call to minde the vncertentie of our daies though we now liue yet who can say that he shall be aliue the next day or the next houre No man hath a lease of his life Now marke as death leaues a man so shall the last iudgement finde him and therefore if death take him away vnprepared eternall damnation followes without recouerie If a thiefe be brought from prison either to the barre to bee arraigned before the iudge or to the place of execution he will bewaile his misdemeanour past and promise all reformation of life so be it he might be deliuered though he be the most arrant thiefe that euer was In this case we are as fellons or theeues for we are euery day going to the barre of Gods iudgement there is no stay or standing in the way euen as the ship in the sea continues on his course day night whether the marriners be sleeping or waking therefore let vs all prepare our selues and amende our liues betime that in death wee may make a blessed ende Ministers of the Gospel doe daily call for the performance of this dutie but where