God euen vnto the Lord my god Deliuer my soule O Lord out of prison that I may come vnto the and glorify thy holy name For albeit this my weak feble sicke and mortall body shall geue ouer to nature and die yet I vnfamedly beleue with my hart and frely confes with my mouth that at the last day it shall rise agayn as the bodies of all other both meÌ„ and women that haue died shall likewise do There shalbe a generall resurrectioÌ„ of the flesh Al that are dead shall rise agayne some to euerlasting life and some to euerlasting paine and damnation as our sauiour Christ saith The hour shall come in the which all y t are in the graues shall heare the voice of the sonne of God and shal come forthe they that haue done good vnto the resurrection of life and they that haue done euill vnto the resurrection of damnation Yea they that shall lyue and remaine vntill the comming of oure Lord sauiour Christ Iesu shall all be chaunged yea and that in a moment in the twinckling of an eie by the last trompe For the trompe shall blowe and the dead shall rise vncorruptible and we shalbe chaunged for this corruptible body must put on vncorruptibilitie and this mortall bodye must put on immortalitie Therfore I fear nothing at all the putting of of this body for although it slepeth in the earth for a time according to the ordinance of god be turned into dust yet shall it awake and ryse againe out of the earth so that I shall receiue it in a far better state then euer I had in it this world euen like vnto the glorious body of our Lord and sauiour Christ Iesu. Wherfor I say with the holy man Iob I beleue that my redemer liueth and that I shall rise out of the earth in the â—atter day and that I shall be cloâ—hed again with this skin and se God my sauiour in my flesh Yea I my selfe shall beholde him not with other eies but with these â—ame eies This hope is stedfastly â—et in my heart To ende I vnfainedly beleue with my heart frely coÌ„fesse with my mouth that after my body soul be vnited and knit together I with all the faithful that haue liued from the beginning vnto the very end of y e world shall through the benefit of Christ Iesu enioy euerlastyng lyfe So many as haue truely beleued on Christe Iesu shall enioy continuall and blessed peace glister as the shining of heaueÌ„ â—e as the stars world without end yea they shall be clad with white garments and haue golden crownes vpon their heades They shal glorify God and doo seruice day and nighte before the glorious throne of his maiesty They shall se God face to face and for euer and euer enioy the presence of Gods moste excellent Maiesty and the compaâ—ny of all the heauenly Angels and blessed sainctes Of the ioyes of euerlasting life whiche God hathe in store for all faithfull beleuers can no man eyther write speake or thincke at â—he full as it is written the eye hathe not sene and the eare hathe not heard nether haue entred into the hearte of man the thinges whiche God hath prepared for theÌ„ that loue him And this euerlasting life is the gift of god thorow Iesus Christ our Lord to whom be all honoure and glory for euer and euer Theo. Amen Epa. Thus haue I declared before you my faith concerning God and his holy misteries grounded I trust on the true and vndeceyueable worde of God And I faithfully beleue that God my heauenly Father will be mercifull vnto me and forgeue me all my sinnes for Christes sake and receyue me into his heauenly kingdome and geue me euerlasting life whiche I now most entirely desire wish and longe for counting my selfe then most happy whiche through death I shall take my passage toward that most glorious and heauenly kingdom For I know and am fully perswaded that if my earthy mansion of this dwellinge were once destroied I shuld haue a building of God an habitation not made with handes but euerlasting in heauen Chri. God geue vs all that heauenly mansion Euse. Amen Epa. Well come thou hither myne owne deare wife let me kisse thee and bid thee farwel God kepe thee defend the. Come ye hither also my most swete children that I may kisse you also before I die God blesse you sende you prosperous daies on thearth God geue you his spirite that ye may liue in his faith feare and loue and serue him in holines righteousnes al the daies of your life Ye my seruaunts draw nere geue me your hands Far ye wel God make you his seruauntes send you obedient harts vnto his holy and blessed lawe Wepe not for me but praye for me that the wil of God may be done in me that I may bothe paciently and thankefully abide the good pleasure of God I trust we shal haue a ioyfull meting againe together in the kingdome of our heauenlye father where we shall reigne one with an other in ioye and glorye worldes without ende and se the glorious maiestie of God face to face vnto our exceding consolation and comfort Wel depart in the name of God The grace of oure Lord Iesu Christ the loue of god and the felowship of the holy gost be with you all Phile. Amen Nowe good brother Epaphrodiâ—us how do you Epaph. The spirit is willing and ready but the flesh is weake Chr. I pray you sir be on good confort Epa. The Lord is my confort He ful gratiously dealeth with me Eu. Do you lack anyâ—thing sir Epa. Nothing but strenth froÌ„ aboue that I may paciently abide and suffer the good plesure of God Thy wil be don o heauenâ—ly father in erth as it is in heaueÌ„ Let me lie somwhat hier with my head It is well a litle thing god knoweth disquieteth this my sick weake body I trust that within fewe houres it shalbe paste alâ— sicknes and misery and shal botheâ— quietly swetely slepe in the harteâ— of the earth vntill the great daye of the generall resurrection In y e meane season shall my soule be in glory with Christ and ioyfully beâ—hold the glorious maiesty of God I will cease talking for a little whyle with you and fall to coÌ„munication with my lord God in my hart I pray you pray for me that I may continue faithfull vnto the end For it is written Be faithfull vnto the death I will geue thee the crown of life Phi. Neighbors â—â—om aside a little while and let vs fall to prayer Chri. Most gladly Phi. Lord heare our praiers Euse. And let our cry com vnto thee Ph. Saue this thy seruaunt O Lord thou father of mercies God of all consolatioÌ„ Chr. And so worke in him by thy
whole strong precious and in al poynts lyke to the glorious body of our Lorde sauiour Christ Iesus Hear whaâ— the Apostle saith our conuersatiâ—on is in heauen from whence we loke for a sauiour euen the Lorde Iesus Christ which shal chaungâ— our vile body that he may makâ— it like vnto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able also to subdue al things vnto him selfe Agayne We know that if our earthy mansion of this dwellinge were destroyed we haue a building of God an habitation not made with handes but euerlasting in heauen For therefore sighe we desiring to be clothed with our mansion whiche is from heauen so yet if that we be founde clothed and not naked For we that are in this tabernacle sighe and are greued because we woulde not be vnclothed but woulde be clothed vpon that immortalitie might bee swallowed vp of lyfe He that hath ordained vs for this thing is God whiche very same hath geuen vnto vs the earnest of the spirite Therfore we are alway of good cheare and knowe that as longe as we are at home in the body we are abâ—ent from God For we walke in â—ayth not after outwarde apperaunce Neuerthelesse we are of â—ood comfort and had rather to be absent from the body and to be present with God Epa. This is coÌ„fortable doctrine I can be conteÌ„t with al my heart to make such a chauÌ„ge whensoeuer the Lordes good pleasure shalbe But I pray you rehearse some wholsome sayinges oute of the holy scriptures concerning the resurrection of the body for streÌ„gthning of my faith and for the comfort and quietnes of my conscience Phi. In the prophet Esay we read on this manner Thy dead men shall liue euen w t my body shall they rise againe Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust For thy dewe is euen as the dew of herbes and the earth shall cast out them that be vnder her Againe your bones shall floryshe like an herbe The Prophet Ezechiell hath these words The haÌ„d of the lord came vnto me and caried me out in the spirit of y e Lord let me downe in a playne field that lay full of bones and he led me round about by them and beholde the bones that lay vpon the fielde were very many and maruelous dry also Then sayd he vnto me Thou sonne of maÌ„ thinkest thou these bones may liue again I aunswered O Lord God thou knowest And he sayd vnto me prophecy thou vpon these bones and speake vnto them Ye drye bones heare the worde of the Lord. Thus saith the Lorde God vnto these bones Beholde I will put breth vnto you that ye may lyue I will geue you sinowes make fleshe grow vpon you couer you ouer with skinne and so geue you breath that ye may liue knowe that I am the Lord. So I Prophecied as he had coÌ„mauÌ„ded me And as I was prophecying ther came a noyse and a great motion so that the bones ran euery one to an other Nowe when I had loked behold they had sinnowes flesh grewe vpon them and aboue they were couered with skin but there was no breath in theÌ„ Then said he vnto me Thou sonne of man prophecy thou towarde the wind prophecie speake vnto the wind Thus saith the Lord God Come O thou ayr from the foure windes blowe vpon these slaine that they may be restored to life So I prophecied as he had commauÌ„ded me then came the breath into them and they receiued life and stode vp vpoÌ„ their fete a maruelous great nomber Againe Thus saith the Lord god behold I wyll open your graues O my people and take you out of youre sepulchres The wordes of the Prophet Daniel are these Many of them that slepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life some to perpetual shame and reprofe God saieth by Esdras those that be dead will I rayse vp againe from their places and bryng them out of theyr graues Moreouer Christ saide to the Saduces which denied the resurrection of the body As touching the resurrectioÌ„ of the dead haue ye not red what is said vnto you of God which saith I am Abrahams God Isaacks God Iacobs God God is not the God of the dead but of the liuing Also in an other place The houre shall come in the whiche all that are in the graues shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and shall come forthe they that haue done good vnto the resurrection of life and they that haue done euil vnto the resurrection of dampnation Martha said vnto Christe of her brother Lazarus when he was dead I know y t my brother shall rise againe at the latter day The holy Apostit s. Paul is plenteous in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead I wyll reherse one or two of his sentences byd the other farewell The trompe saith he shall blowe and the dead shall ryse incorruptible and we shalbe chaunged For this corruptible must put on incorruption this mortall must put on immortalitie Again the Lord Iesus shal chauÌ„ge our vile bodies that they maye bee fashioned like vnto his glorious body Also in an other place I would not brethren haue you ignoraunt concerning them which are fallen aslepe that ye sorow not as other do whiche haue no hope For if we beleue y t Iesus Christ died rose againe euen so they also whiche slepe by Iesus will God bring againe with him Diuers examples of the resurrection of our bodies haue we bothe in the old and new testament Helias the Prophet raised vp from death vnto lyfe the sonne of y e widow of Sarepta The like thinge read we of Heliseus the Prophet Christ raised froÌ„ death the daughter of a certain ruler the sonne of a certayne widowe and Lazarus w t many other Christ rose again and the bodies of many sainctes whiche slept arose also and came out of their graues after their resurrection and came into Hierusalem and appeared vnto many Peter raysed vp Tabitha from death S. Paul restored vnto life a certaine yong man named Eutichus Al these are euident examples of our resurrection Therefore good brother Epaphroditus feare not to geue ouer this your body and frely to commend it vnto the earth At the great daye of the generall resurrection you shal receiue it in a far better case then euer you had it in this world Ep. I leue this my vile body willingly yea and that with this hope that at the last day I shall take it againe immortall and vncorruptible I beleue the resurrection of the fleshe I wish to be losoned froÌ„ this body and to be with Christe Eu. You doubt nothing of the blessed state of y e godly departed and of the immortalitie of the soule Epa. I beleue euerlasting lyfe The. You are not
the two theues whiche died with Christ. The one repented beleued and called for mercy vnto Christ God and man saying Lord remember me whan thou commest into thy kyngdom and Christ aunswered him This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Here se we that this theife both repented beleued for howe shall they cal on him sayth sainct Paule on whome they haue not beleued And therfore was receiued into glory The other whiche continued in his vnbelief and so died without repentaunce and faith obtained the reward of vnbelief that is to say the wrath of God and eternall damnation They therfore that die are either faithfull or vnfaithfull If they be faythfull so haue they out of haÌ„d the reward of fayth whiche is euerlasting glory if they be vnâ—faithfull than receiue they their reward of vnfaithfulnes and misbelief whiche is eternall damnation If the Papistes can fynde the third kind of men whiche are nether faithfull nor vnfaithfull then wyll we consent vnto theyr Purgatorie for such haue nether place in heauen nor in hell But suche sort of people the holie scripture knoweth not Therfore knoweth it not suche a place of purging after this life as the Papistes haue heretofore deuised Eus. The blessed Apostle S. Paule sayth God shall geue to euery one according to his owne dedes Againe to the Corinthians he also sayth Euery one shall receiue his â—owne labour In an other place he also sayeth We must all appear before the iudgemeÌ„t seat of Christ that euery man may receiue the workes of his body accordyng to that he hath done whether it bee good or bad Item Whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape For he that soweth in his flesh shal of the flesh reape corruption But he that soweth in the spirite shall of the spirite reape life euerlasting Let vs not bee weary of well doing For when the tyme is come we shall reape without wearines While we haue therefore tyme let vs doe good vnto all men and specially vnto them whiche are of the houshold of faith Hereto agreeth the saying of our sauiour Christ. The son of man shal come in the glory of his father with his aungels and then shall he rewarde euery man according to his dedes Againe I wyll geue euery one of you according to his dedes Out of these scriptures we learne â–ª that we shaâ— not be rewarded according to other mens dedes but accordinge vnto our owne deedes If we haue wrought nothing at all in oure lyfe what shall other mens dedes than do vs good after our death And I doubt whether any man Christ alone excepted haue good dedes sufficient for him self Chri. If we consider well the history of the tenne virgins it shall easly be perceiued that no maÌ„ haue scasely oyle inough for him selfe Yea wer not the great mercies of God set forth to all faithful peniteÌ„t sinners in y e precious blud of Christ we with al our oyl should perish For euerlasting life is the gifte of God through Iesus Christe oure Lord. If thou O Lord shouldest narowly loke vpoÌ„ our iniquities saith the Psalmograph O Lord who were hable to abide it But ther is mercy with the in store c. The. The holy scripture moueth vs to doe good whyle we are alyue and not to truste other mens workes to be done for vs when we be dead The wyseman saith doe good vnto thy frende before thou die and according to thy abilitie reache out thyne hand and geue vnto the poore Be not disapoynted of the good daye and let not the portion of the good day ouerpasse the. Shalt thou not leue thy trauails labours vnto other men In the deuiding of thy heritage geue and take and sanctify thy soule Worke thou ryghteousnes before thy death for after thy death there is no meat to fynd Again Abide thou not in the errour of the vngodly but geue God thaÌ„kes before death As for the dead thanckfulnes perisheth from him as nothing Geue thou thanckes in thy lyfe yea whyle thou art liuing and whole shalt thou geue thankes and prayse God and reioyce in his mercy O howe great â—s the louing kindnes of the lord and his mercifull goodnes vnto â—uch as turne vnto hym SalomoÌ„â—n his prouerbes saith withdrawe â—o good thing froÌ„ them that haue â—ede so long as thy hande is able â—o doe it Say not vnto thy neighbour go thy way come againe â—o morowe wil I geue thee wher â—s thou hast nowe to geue hym Hereto agreeth the saying of the â—reacher whatsoeuer thou art aâ—le to do do it out of hande for in â—he graue that thou goest vnto here is neither worke counsell knowledge nor wisdom The prophet also sayth Seke the Lorde â—â—hyle he may be founde and call â—pon him while he is nie Let the â—ngodly forsake his owne waies â—nd the vnrighteous his owne imaginations and turne againe vnto the Lord so shal God be merciful vnto him Our sauior Christ saith in the Gospell I must worke the worckes of him that sent me while it is daye The night commeth when no man can worke Walke while we haue light least y e darknes come on you c. While ye haue light walke in the light that ye may be y e children of light I say vnto you make you frendes of the vnrighteous MammoÌ„ that when ye shal haue nede they may receiue you into euerlasting habitations That seruaunt which receiued one talent of his Lord and gained nothing therew t but went his way and hid it in the ground was cast into vtter darknes wherâ— wepinge and gnashinge of teeth shalbe The .v. folishe virgins because they had no Oyle in theyr lampes were not suffred to enter into the mariage Moreouer the most worthy Apostle S. Paule saith While we haue tyme let vs do good vnto all men and specialâ—y vnto them which are of y e houshold of faith These and diuers other textes of the holye scripture moue vs to doe good our selues while we be aliue in this worlde and not to trust the workes of other to be done for vs wheÌ„ we be dead For by our own works and not by other meÌ„s shall we be iudged Euery maÌ„ shall bear his own burdeÌ„ Euery man shal receiue the works of his own body according to y t he hath done whether it bee good or bad euery maÌ„ shal receiue his reward according to his own dedes Beholde I come quickely saith our sauiour Christ and my reward is with me y t I may geue to euerye one accordinge as his worke shalbe And saint Iohn pronouncing them blessed which die in y e Lord saith on this maner Their workes folowe theÌ„ He saith not other mens workes shal folow theÌ„ wheÌ„ they be dead but their owne workes do follow and presently accoÌ„pany them â–ª as the shadow doth y e body euen vnto y
my dayes are more swift then a runner yea they passe away as the shippes that be good vnder sayle and as the Egle that flieth to the praye Seing it is Gods will pleasure and ordinaunce that wee should dye why do we which dayly pray on this manner Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen shew our selues vnwilling to haue y t thyng chauÌ„ce vnto vs for the which we haue so often times praied It is naturall to die why then labour we to degenerate and growe out of kind Our auÌ„cestours the most holy and moste perfect haue died why disdaine we then to followe their steps It is highly for our profit to die why are we than ennemies to our selues We can not cease to sinne except we die why do we than not hast to fle from so great an euil We shal neuer come vnto the true life where felicitie bothe ioyfull and eternall is except we die why than make we so litle spede to hast thither wher so many good thinges shalbe geuen vs We shal neuer haue y e fruition of Gods maiestie the blessed company of the heauenly spirits except we die why theÌ„ do we not pray daily vnto y t lord our god to deliuer vs from this stincking sinck of euils I mene this world that we may come and enioye his most glorious presence The very Heathen which knew not God a right but only dreamed of the immortalitie of the soule loked for a better lyfe after this they knew not why they should feare death but wyshed death and died bothe valeantly and ioyfully and shall we being christians which know God and his holy word and vnto whom so much comfort hope and euerlasting life is promised refuse gladly and willingly to die What a saying of an Ethnicke is this O immortall God howe is that pleasant and ioyfull iourney to be wished for which being once done and past there remaineth no sorow no care no pensiuenes Again O that goodly and pleasant day whan it shall be my chaunce â—o leaue this filthy troublesome world and come to their company that inhabit the heauens Iâ— God wold suffer me that I being of this age might become an infant and sucking child againe I woulde vtterly refuse it neyther would I by any meanes call the rase that I haue run back again that I might again be yong For what pleasure commoditie hath this life yea rather what displeasure incommoditie pain trauel trouble hath it not But let it be graunted that it hathe pleasure certes yet hath it ether satietie or mesure And nature in this world hath geuen vs a place to tary in for a while but not to dwell to continue in it The Heathen wryters in their monumeÌ„ts cal death a changing for a better life a quiet slepe a remouing from mortalitie vnto immortalitie from trouble vnto quietnes from y e shadow of a life vnto a very vncounterfet life from sorow vnto ioy from euill vnto good an haueÌ„ of rest a solace of the mind an end of all euill and wickednesse and a beginning of all true ioy felicitie pleasure Of these things may we easly learne what opinion the very Heathen conceiued of death and shal we that professe Christ know God beleue his word and cal our selues dead vnto y e world recouÌ„t death an euill thing and be lothe to go vnto it wheÌ„ God calleth vs as though there were no resurrection of the body no immortalitie of the soule no life after this no felowship with god and with the heauenly spirites The Iewes also beyng perswaded of the resurrection of the body and of thimmortalitie of the soule die ioyfully with a lusty courage whiche notwithstanding for their vnbelief in Christ are damned and shal we whiche are christians tremble and shake at y e name of death as though after our death we should be in worse case then we be nowe whan to say the truthe the faithfull christians do than chiefly begin to liue when thei depart from this world All good men haue euer desired to depart froÌ„ this vile and wretched life and to go vnto that ioyful and blessed state of immortalitie Dauid that Prince-like Prophet crieth out and saith Wo is me and sory am I for it y t I must yet longer abide in this world Again Like as the hart desireth the water brokes so loÌ„geth my soule after thee O God My soul is a thurst for God yea euen for the liuing God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God Also in an other place he saith O howe amiable are thy dwellinges thou Lord of hostes My soule hath a desire longing to enter into the courtes of y e Lord my heart my fleshe reioyse in the liuing God Blessed are they that dwel in thy house they shalbe alway praising thee One day in thy courtes is better then a thousand I had rather be a dorekeper in y e house of my God then to dwell in the tentes of vngodlines In another Psalme he praieth on this maÌ„â—er Deliuer my soule out of pryâ—on that it may come and prayse â—hy name The holy man Tobias made his praier vnto God said O Lord deale with me according â—o thy will and commaunde my â—pirit to be receiued in peace For more expedient were it for me to â—ie then to liue How desirous the â—oly Apostle S. Paul was to go â—rom this vale of misery vnto the â—eauenly kingdom these his worâ—es declare manifestly Christe is to me life and death is to me aduauntage Againe I desire to bee losed and to be with Christ. What shall I speake of that auncient godly father Simeon whiche so sone as he had sene Christ knowing him to be the sauioure of the world was very desirous to die brast out into these wordes said â–ª Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace according to thy promes For mine eyes haue sene thy saluation whiche thou haste prepared before the face of al people A light to lighten the gentils and the glory of thy people Israel Of the like affection with these tofore rehearsed were without doubt all godly parsons from the beginning then being moste ioyfull whan they sawe the time of their departure from this wretched world to be come so likewise brother Epaphroditus ought both you and we to reioyse and be glad whan death approcheth and commeth vpoÌ„ vs. For then beginneth our felicitie welth quietnes safetie ioy pleasure comfort glory as the voyce from heauen sayde Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. For from henceforth the spirite saieth that they shall be at reast from their labours paines trauailes Precious and ryghte dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his sainctes saith y e Psalmograph The soules of the righteous saieth the wiseman are in the hand
This is a coÌ„fortable hering Phi. No les true then coÌ„fortable Epa. I trust then within fewe houres to se al the faithfull whiche before me haue departed in the Lord my children also and all my other acquaintaunce Phi. You shall both se them know them reioyse and be meary with them Eu. I maruell y t any man shuld doubt of thys doctrine beynge so clearlye set forthe both by the authority of the holye scriptures and by the testimonyes of the godly wryters seynge that the very heathen which knew not God a right beynge parswaded 〈◊〉 the immortality of the soule neuer doubted of it but were thorowlye resolued that such as lyued in this world iustly and vprightly and deserued wel of the common wealth whan so euer they departed from this life should go vnto the blessed company of the immortal Gods there not only se know the gods but also all those noble good and vertuous parsons that euer liued in this world as wel suche as they neuer knew as also those whome in this world they dyd moste perfectly know And they beyng thus perswaded desyred deathe at the leaste when the tyme of theyr departure came they toke their deathe the more ioyfully and paciently I wil rehearse vnto you y e worâ—es of â—ne or two of them I haue 〈…〉 desire said Cato the elder â—o se your fathers whom I honouâ—â—d and loued But I wish not onâ—y to talke wyth them whome I haue knowen in thys worlde but with such also as of whom I haue â—eard and red yea and I my selfe â—aue wrytten If I were once goâ—ng thitherward I woulde neuer â—aue mynde to retourne hyther aâ—ain Againe he saith O that noâ—le and pleasant day when it shall â—e my chaunce to come vnto that â—eauenly company and blessed feâ—owship and depart froÌ„ this troublous stincking world For theâ— shall I go not only vnto those meÌ„â— of whom I spake vnto you beforâ— but also vnto my Cato whiche was as worthy a man as euer liued and as noble And it is written of Socrates y t when he wenâ— vnto his death amoÌ„g many other thiÌ„gs he said y t it is a most blessed goodly thing for theÌ„ to come together which haue liued iustly faithfully o saith he what a greaâ— pleasure thinke you it to be freÌ„dlâ— to talk w t Orpheus Musaeus Homeâ—rus Hesiodus such like verely I wold die ful oft if it were possiblâ— to get those things y t I speake of Thus se we y t many among y t very HeatheÌ„ which wer perswadeâ— of thinmortality of y e soul beleueâ— y t they whiche in this world liueâ— godly iustly vprightly honestly should al go vnto a ioyful place oâ— rest ther hauing y e blessed compâ—â—ny of y e immortal gods they shulâ— know one another talk reioyce one w t an other The. As touching y e Ethnickes which in this world led a iust vpright life in the sight of meÌ„ I pronouÌ„ce nothing but leue theÌ„ vnto gods iudgmeÌ„t but as concerning the faithful christians which beleue in God feare loue God are perswaded of their saluatioÌ„ in Christes blud frame their life vnto the vttermost of their power according to the coÌ„maundements of God as they shall al obtain one glorious kingdome be Citezins of one Citie so likewyse shal they se know one an other talke reioyse be mery one with another This is my belief Ph. I agre w t you in opinioÌ„ concerning this matter Therfore good neighbor Epaphrodit be of good â—here take a good hart vnto you faynt not nether feare you death For y e time is at hand that you leauing this wretched worlde and the inhabitantes therof shall come vnto that most glorious and heaueÌ„ly kingdom where you shall haue the sight and knowledge not only of God and of his holy angels but also of al Gods elect and chosen people Al your dear frendes which are gone afore you shal gloâ—riously come and mete you ioyfully receiue you gladly present you vnto the maiestie of God and so shall you altogether remain in al glory and ioy for euer and euer Epa. Amen God grauÌ„t Chr. Sir how do you Epa. As God wyll Chri. I truste you do remember what my neighbour Philemon hath sayd vnto you Epa. Yea right wel I thanke God Chr. Then sir I praye you be of good comforte Epa. I am well content to forsake the worlde and all that is in the world and to go vnto the lord my God Eu. I trust y t there is none other thinge that troubleth you Epa. Yes not outwardly but inwardly Eu. Inward trouble is y e greatest griefe in the worlde Declare I pray you what it is we will doe the best we can to quiet your mind Epaph. Let me alone a little and pray for me Euse. Well content Neighbours let vs commend this our sicke brother vnto God with our prayers For he desireth it Phi. God commaundeth vs by his holy Apostle saying If any be diseased amonge you let him call for the elders of the congregatioÌ„ let theÌ„ pray ouer him annoint him w t oyle in the name of the Lord. And y e praier of faith shall saue the sicke and the Lorde shall rayse him vp and if he haue committed sinnes they shalbe forgeuen him Knowledge your fautes one to another and praye one for an other that ye may be healed The prayer of a righteous maÌ„ auaileth muche if it be feruent Let vs therfore knele downe and praye O Lorde heare our praier Eu. And let our cry come vnto theâ— Phi. O almighty and euerlasting God which lightnest al men that come into this world we besethe thee lighteÌ„ the heart of this sicke weake and diseased persone with the beames of thy deuine grace mercy y t al his thoughtes wordes workes may so be directed that he may be acceptable to thy godly maiestie in true faith and perfect loue thorow thi only sonne Iesus Christ our Lord sauiour Chr. Aâ—men Phi. O eternall and merciful God loke down from heaueÌ„ and visit this thy weake seruaunt as thou diddest visit Toby Sara Peters wiues mother the Captaines seruaunt Blesse hym as thou didst blesse Abraham Isaac and Iacob Behold him O Lord with the eies of thy mercy Replenish his hart with all ioye kepe from him al sinful thoughtes and wicked imaginations And sende downe thy angell of peace that he may kepe and defend him in euerlasting peace through Iesus christ thy deare sonne our Lorde sauiour Eu. Amen Phi. O Lord Iesu Christ thalone sauiour of y e world and the true phisitioÌ„ both of body and soule we most humbly besech thee mercifully to behold this our sicke brother which is a meÌ„ber of y e mistical body wherof thou art y e head and a braunche of the which y â— art the true vine Be thou vnto hym that moste
of the opinion of the Papistes whiche say that y e souls of the faithfull go not strait vnto heauen but vnto purgatory there to be boyled in the fyry fornace of the B. of Rome til they haue made satisfaction for theyr sinnes either by them selues in suffringe saye they the most bitter paines of purgatory or els by their frendes in this worlde thorowe Masses Pardons Pilgrimages c. Ep. I beleue that there is none other purgatory for my soule helth but only the precious bloud of my Lorde and Sauiour Christ Iesu. And I beleue y t Christ through his innocency of life and the most greuous paines that he suffred on the crosse hath aboundauntly satisfied for all my synnes hath vnto the vttermost paid al the det that I ought vnto god the father so that nowe through faith in the bloud of Christ I walke with a clear conscience before God forasmuche as there is no dampnacion to them that are in Christ Iesu and that they also are blessed whose sinnes are remitted whose iniquities are couered and vnto whose charge God laieth no wickednes Chr. Ye agre not w t such in opinion as affirme y t the soules of both the faithfull and vnfaithfull slepe vntill the day of iudgement and then shall awake out of slepe so that then the faithfull shall go vnto euerlasting glory the vnfaithfull vnto eternall dāpnation Epa. I beleue that the soul slepeth no more then this my bed sted waketh and talketh with vs. I am fully perswaded y t so sone as the souls of the faithfull are departed from the bodies wherein they were as in a prison enclosed they are straightwaies placed in the glorious kingdome of God And contrariwyse the soules of y e vnfaithfull goe straight vnto the deuil euen vnto hel fire vnto that lake that burneth with fier and brimstone where weping gnashing of teeth is where the worme that gnaweth their consciēce neuer dieth and the moste greuous fier wherwith they are without ceasing intollerably tormented is neuer quenched Is it not thus neighbor Philemon Phi. Yes verely sir. For so ar we taught in the holy scriptures as the history of the ritche glotton and of pore Lazarus with diuers other doo manifestly declare Epa. I faithfully beleue that immediatly after my departure out of this worlde I shall haue a place in the kingdom of God and se the glorious maiestie of god face to face And I pray you good neighbor Philemon rehearse vnto me some comfortable places out of the holy scripture cōcerning y e ioyfull and blessed state of the faithfull soules after this life that I may be confirmed in my faith and be the more willing to depart Phi. I wil do it gladly Balaam said I pray god that my soul may die the death of the righteous and that my last end may be like vnto theirs The Psalmograph saith O howe amiable are thy dwellings thou lord of hosts My soul hath a desire and lōging to enter into the courts of y e lord my heart my fleshe reioyce in the liuing God Blessed are they that dwel in thy house they will be alwaies praysing thee One day in thy courtes is better then a thousand I had rather be a dorekeper in the house of my God then to dwel in the tents of the vngodly The Prophet Esay saith The redemed of the lord shall turn again and come with ioye vnto Sion ther to endure for euer that mirth gladnes might be with thē that sorow wo might flie from them My people saith God shall dwel in pleasant peace in safe holdes and shal haue continual rest with out disturbaunce They shall nether hunger nor thurst heat nor Sunne shall not hurte them For he that fauoureth them shall lead them and geue them drinke of the spring wels They shal eat drink be mery and reioyse for very quietnes of heart Yea their gladnes and their ioy shall continue for euer and euer Daniell saith The wise suche as haue taught other shall glister as the shining of heauen and those that haue instructe the multitude vnto godlines shal be as the starres world without end Esdras saith Be redy to the reward of the kingdome for the euerlasting light shall shine vpon you for euermore Fle the shadow of this worlde receiue the ioyfulnes of your glory O receiue the gift that is geuen you be glad geuyng thankes vnto hym that hath called you to the heauenlye kingdom The author of the boke of wisdom saith The soules of the righteous are in the hand of God the pain of death shall not touch them In the sight of the vnwise they appeare to die and their end is taken for very destruction the way of the righteous is iudged to be vtter destruction but they are in reast And though they suffer pain before men yet is their hope full of immortalitie They are punished but in few thinges neuertheles in many thinges shall they be wel rewarded For god proueth them and findeth them mete for him self yea as the gold in the fornace doth he try them and receiueth them as a brent offring and whē the time commeth they shall be loked vpon The rightous shall shine as the sparckes that runne through the rede bush They shall iudge the nations and haue dominion ouer the people their Lord shall raigne for euer Again The faithfull are counted among the children of God and their portion is among the sainctes The righteous shall liue for euermore their reward also is w t the lord their remembraunce with the hiest Therfore shall they receiue a glorious kingdome and a beautifull crowne of the Lordes hand The holy father Toby prayed on this maner to God O Lord dele with me according to thy wyll and cōmaund my spirit to be receiued in peace For more expedient were it for me to die thē to liue The preacher sayeth The daye of death is better then the day of byrth For precious and right deare in the sight of the Lorde is the death of his sainctes Our sauiour Christ saith The righteous shall shyne as the sunne in the kingdome of theyr father They shall haue the enheritaunce of euerlasting lyfe Thei shal haue a kingdom which was prepared for them from the beginning of the world Thei shal be as the aungels of God They shall be in the bosome of Abrahā Thei shal haue such ioy as no mā shalbe able to plucke it from thē They shall eate and drinke in the kingdom of God the father They shalbe where Christ is and see his glory The holy Apostle S. Paul saith The eie hath not seene and the eare hath not heard neyther haue entred into the heart of mā the thinges which God hath prepared for them that loue him He◠saith also that if our earthy mansion of this
of man â— the thinges whiche God hath prepared for them that loue hym My heart is nowe so enflamed with y e desire of those heauenly and blessed treasures which you haue named to me out of the infallible true word of God y t I most entirely wysh to be losoned froÌ„ this life to enioy these ioyfull pleasures Oh who wold not be glad to chaÌ„ge lead for siluer copper for golde transitory mortall and corruptible thinges for certain immortall vncorruptible thinges earth for heauen sinne for godlines darkenes for light fear for securitie trauel for quietnes sicknes for helth death for life the coÌ„pany of men for y e coÌ„pany of the most hie God his heauenly Aungels and blessed spirites the vile pleasures of this worlde for the inestimable ioyes of the glorious kingdom of God Oh like as the heart desireth the waterbrokes so longeth my soule after the O God My soule is a thurst for God yea euen for the liuing God Oh when shal I come to appere before y e presence of my God O God thou art my god early wil I seke thee My soule thursteth for thee my flesh also longeth after thee in a barren and dry laÌ„d where no water is Thus haue I loked for thee in thy holy place y t I might beholde thy power and glory For thy louing kindnes is better then life it selfe my lippes shal praise thee As long as I â—â—ue wil I magnifie thee on this manner and lift vp my handes in thy name Euse. We reioyse good brother Epaphroditus and geue god most harty thankes that he hath by his holy Spirite wroughte so good and glad will in you to die and to leue this wretched worlde Epa. I moste hartely wyshe to bee losed from this life and to be with Christ. It greueth my soule loÌ„ger to liue in this mortall body And now O Lord dele with me according to thy will and commaunde my spirit to be receiued in peace For more expedient were it for me to die then to liue Chri. Sir how do you fele your selfe Epa. In my body weaker and weaker but I trust in my soule stronger stronger I pray you lay me vp hier in my bed For I begin to waxe very faint and my wynde decreaseth waxeth shorter I thanke you it is wel Neighbours I am troblesome vnto you but I trust I shal not be so long The. It is vnto vs great ioy and comfort to be with you being so godly mynded For in you as in a cleare mirrour we beholde our selues and see what shall become of vs hereafter Of you as of a liuely scholemaister do we learne howe we shall behaue our selues when God layeth the crosse on vs. And we most humbliÌ„ besech God to geue vs the like pacience and thankfulnes Epa. The spirite is willing but the fleshe is weake For in asmuch as I fele in my self present tokens of death am not certain how long y e â–ª Lorde will suffer me to liue or to enioy y e vse of speche I thinke it conuenient to pray again vnto the lorde my God and to commend my sinful soul into his merciful handes Phi. Godly forsoth Epâ— Lord vouchsafe I most humbly beseche the to hear me sinfull creature Chri. The Lorde is nye vnto all them that call on hym yea that call on him in truthe Epa. O Lorde Iesu Christ whiche art the only health of all men liuing and the euerlasting life of them which die in thy faith I wretched sinner geue and submit my self wholy to thy moste blessed wil. And I being sure that the thing can not perishe whiche is committed vnto thy mercye most humbly besech thee o Lord to geue me grace that I maye nowe willingly leaue this frayle and wicked flesh in hope of the resurrection whiche in better wyse shall restore it to me again I beseche thee O most mercifull Iesu Christe y t thou wilt by thy grace make stronge my soule against all temtations that thou wilt couer and defende me with the buckler of thy mercy against al thassaults of the deuill I see knowledge that there is in my selfe no helpe of lyfe and saluation but all my confidence hope and trust is in thy moste mercifull goodnes I haue no merites nor good workes whiche I may alledge before thee Of sinnes and euill workes alas I se a great heape but thorow thy mercy I trust to be in the nomber of them to whome thou wilt not impute their sinnes but take and accept me for righteous and iuste and to bee the enheritoure of euerlasting glory â–ª Thoâ— O moste mercifull Lorde wast borne for my sake Thou diddesâ— suffer both hunger and thirste for my sake Thou diddest preach and teach thou diddest pray faste foâ— my sake Thou diddest all good workes and deedes for my sake Thou suffredst most greuous paiâ—nes and tormentes for my sake And finally thou gauest thy most precious body to die and thy most blessed bloud to be shed on y e crosse for my sake Now most mercifull sauiour let all these thinges profit me whiche thou frely hast geuen me whiche hast geuen thy selfe for me Let thy bloud cleÌ„se and wash away the spottes and foulnes of my sinnes Let thy righteousnes hide couer my vnrighteousnes Let the merits of thy passion and bloud bee the satisfaction for my sinnes Geue me Lorde thy grace that my faith and perswasion in thy bloud wauer not in me but euer be firme and constant that the hope of thy mercy and life euerlasting neuer decay in me that charitie waxe not colde in me finally that the weakenes of my fleshe be not ouercome with the feare of death Graunt me also O moste merciful sauiour that wheÌ„ death hath shut vp the eies of my body yet that the eies of my soule may stil behold and loke vpoÌ„ thee and that when death hath takeÌ„ away the vse of my tongue speche yet that my heart may cry say vnto thee O Lorde into thy handes I geue and commit my soule Lord Iesu take my spirit The. Amen Eu. Sir how is it with you now Epa. Euen as with a ship whiche is tost with the waues of the sea I trust shortly to come vnto the heauen and then shall I be quiet and without all daunger I pray you pray for me Phi. Most gladly Let vs knele down neighbors and beseche the Lord our God for his tender mercies to preserue this our sicke brother from the assaultes of Sathan to kepe him constant and stedfast in his faithe vnto his liues ende that he maye geue vp a good a faithfull soule into the mercifull handes of God Geue me hither the flower of godly Prayers that I in the name of vs al may rede that prayer which is to be said for them that lie at y e point of death The. Here is it Philemon O Moste louing Sauiour gentle redemer whiche
camest into this world to call sinners vnto repentaunce and to seeke vp y t was lost thou seest in what case this oure brother lieth here visited with thy mercifull hand al weake feble sicke and redy to yealde vp his soule into thy holy haÌ„ds O loke vpoÌ„ him moste gentle sauior with thy mercifull eie pitie him and be fauorable vnto him He is thy workemanship despise not therfore the worke of thine own hands Thou suffredst thy blessed body and thy precious bloud to be shed for his sinnes and to bringe hym vnto the glorye of thy heauenlye father let it not therefore come to passe that thou shouldest suffer so great paines for him in vaine He was baptised in thy name and gaue him self wholy to be thy seruaunt forsakynge the deuill the world and the flesh confesse him therefore before thy heauenly father and his blessed Aungels to be thy seruaunt His sinnes we confesse are great for who is hable to saye my heart is clene I am fre from sin but thy mercies O Lord are much greater And thou camest not to cal thâ— righteous but sinners vnto repeÌ„taunce To them that are diseased and ouerladen with the burden of sin doest thou promise ease Thou art that God which willest not y e death of a sinner but rather that he shuld turne and liue Thou art the sauiour whiche wishest all meÌ„ to bee saued and to come to the knowledge of thy truthe Withdraw not therfore thy mercy from him because of his sinnes but rather lay vpoÌ„ him thy sauiÌ„g health that thou maiest shewe thy selfe toward him to be a sauior What greater praise caÌ„ there be to a phisition then to heale the sicke Neither can there be a greater glory to thee being a sauior then to saue sinners saue him therfore O Lord for thy names sake Again let the law be no corsiue to his conscience but rather geue him grace eueÌ„in this extreme agony and conflicte of death to be fully perswaded y t thou by thy death hast takeÌ„ away all his sinnes fulfilled the lawe for hym and by this meanes deliuered him from the cursse of the law and paid his raunsome that he thus beinge fully perswaded may haue a quiet heart a fre conscience and a glad will to forsake this wretched world to go vnto his lord God Moreouer thou hast conquered hym that had rule of death euen sathan suffer him not therfore to exercise his tiraÌ„ny vpoÌ„ this our sicke brother nor to disquiet his conscience with the terrours of sinne and paines of hell Let not Sathan nor his infernall army tempte him further then he is hable to beare but euermore geue him grace euen vnto his last breath valeantly to fight against the deuil with strong faith in thy precious bloud that he may fight a good fight and finish his course with ioy vnto y e glory of thy name and the healthe of his soule O Lord so worke in him by thy holy spirite that he with all his hearte maye contempne and despise all worldly things and set his mind wholly vpon heauenly thynges hopyng for them with a stronge and vndoubted faithe Againe let it not greue him O swete sauiour to be losoned froÌ„ this vile wretched â—arcaâ—e which is now so full of sorow trouble anguishe fickenes and paine but rather let hym haue a bent and ready wyll thorowe thy goodnes to put it of yea and that with this faith that he at the last day shall receiue it again in a much better state then it is now or euer was froÌ„ the daye of his birthe euen a body vncorruptible immortall like to thy glorious body Let his hole heart and mynde be set only vpon thee Let the remembraunce of y e ioyes of heaueÌ„ be so ferueÌ„t in his brest that he may bothe patientlye and thanckfully take his death and euer wish to be with the in glory And when the tyme coÌ„meth that he shall geue ouer to nature depart from this miserable worlde vouchafe we most huÌ„bly beseeche the o Lord Iesu to take his soule into thy handes and to place it amonge the glorious company of thy holy angels blessed saintes and to kepe it vnto that most ioyful day of the generall resurrectioÌ„ that both his body soule thorow thyne almighty power being knit agayn together at y t day he maye for euer euer enioy thy glorious kingdom sing perpetuall praises to thy blessed name Chri. Amen Epa. O God be merciful vnto me and blesse me shewe me the lighte of thy countenaunce and deale fauourably with me Lighten mine eies that I slepe not in death least myne ennemy say I haue preuailed against him For if I be cast downe they that trouble me will reioyse at it But my trust is in thy mercy my heart is ioyfull in thy saluation Phile. Sir how do you Epa. My bodely sight is gone Phi. The Lord gaue it you and the Lorde hath taken it away againe As it hath pleased the Lord so is it come to passe blessed be the name of the Lorde Now that God hath taken away the sight of your corporal eies behold the Lord your God with the eies of your faith and doubte you not but that shortly you shall see the glorious maiestie of god with the eies of your soule euen as he is face to face whiche shalbe vnto you suche ioy and so great coÌ„fort that no tounge is able to expresse nor no heart able to thinke it Epa. I beleue and am assuredlye perswaded that I shall see the plesures of the Lorde in the lande of the liuing Phile. CoÌ„tinue in this faith vnto the end and you shall surely be saued Ep. As God hath taken away my syght so do al my other senses decaye Phi. Though by the appointment of God you lose your bodely speache yet shall your soule in the heauenly kyngdom sing prayse and magnify the Lord your God worldes without end And all be it the bodely hearing be taken away from you yet shall your soule in the kingdom of God hear such swete pleasaunt delectable thinges as neuer mortall man heard nor may hear the like Againe although your going and the vse of your whole body be taken away from you and your body returne vnto the earth from whence it came yet doubte you not but your soule being once deliuered out of the prison of your body shal serue the lord your god perfectly and ioyfully follow the Lambe Christ. whither so euer he goeth Epa. O Lorde deliuer my soul out of the prison of the body that I maye come vnto thee and glorify thy holy name CoÌ„maund my spirit to be receaued in peace for more expedient were it for me to die theÌ„ to liue Phi. Be on good comfort sir God in this your troble and bitter agony of death is present with you and when he seeth conuenient tyme
Hereto agreeth the saying of the Apostle all seke their owne auauntage and not that whiche shuld set forth the glory of Iesus Christ. And as in couetousnes so lykewyse in all other abhominable sinnes do we moste wickedlye walke And all thinges come to passe because we remember not the shortnesse of this lyfe and forget our latter end This considered the wiseman right well when he saith Whatsoeuer thou takest in hand remember thy end and thou shalt neuer do amisse Moses also saith O that men would ones be wyse and vnderstande and make prouision for their latter end There is not a strōger bit to brydle our carnall affectes nor a better scholemaister to keepe vs in an order then the remembraunce of our latter end then to remember that we shall not alway here remaine y t we ar but straungers and pylgrims in this world that we shall leaue behynde vs whatsoeuer worldly substaūce we haue here ether painfully gotten or carefully kept that we shal die the death that we shal appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ and receaue accordinge to the workes whiche we haue doone in this lyfe either euerlasting glory or perpetuall payne But these thinges seeke we not to remember but rather to forget and therfore fall we into all kynde of vngodlynes and dissolution of lyfe And when the tyme cōmeth that God visiteth vs with sickenes or otherwyse plageth vs for our euill behauour then doo we not prepare our selues vnto the crosse as we ought submitting our selues to the good pleasure of God and beyng contented paciently and thanckfully to receaue what so euer is layde vpon vs at the appoyntment of God but we rather murmur and grudge against God and with vnwillyng hartes suffer that louing visitation of God almoste wishinge that there were no God to plage and punishe vs but that we myght here liue continually and go forth to sinne frely without punishement And when death approcheth no remedy can be found against y e violence therof then doo the vngodly wicked liuers beholding the miserable face of their conscience which presenteth vnto them nothing but sin y e wrath of God hel fyre euerlasting damnation begin to despaire strayght yeld them selues to the pleasure of Sathan to bee for euer and euer tormēted in that lake that burneth with fire brimston thē selues their soules and consciences consenting and assentinge thereunto For what other end can be loked for of a wicked vngodly lyfe Is it to be thought that he whiche thorow sinne hath serued the deuill all the tyme of his lyfe can at his latter end loke for the enheritaunce of euerlasting glory wherewith God rewardeth thē y e painfully labour to serue him in holynes and righteousnes al the dayes of their lyfe S. Paul saith So run that ye may obtayn that is to say so trayne your lyfe in all Godlynes and vertue to the vttermost of your power whyle ye lyue in this worlde y t after ye haue finished your course here ye may enioy y e glorious reward of eternal life A corruptible crowne is not obtained without great pains taking shall we loke for an euerlasting crown by leding an vngodly and wanton lyfe No man is crowned sayth the apostle except he fighteth lawfully In this world therfore wherein our life is nothing but a knighthod or warfar must we lawfully valeantly mightely fight striue against our ennemies y e deuill the world the flesh and by feruent and diligent prayer vnto God so triumphe ouer thē thorow the help of our graund captain Christ y t we may haue a glorious spoill of our ennemies garnishe our selues with al kind of victorious roial robes I meane all good workes godly vertues Wher such a life is led there must a good end be and euerlasting life may with a fre conscience and assured hope be loked for And to bring this to passe Who laboureth not to the vttermoste of his power namely if he be of God loketh for a better and more blessed lyfe after this How we shuld fight against our aduersaries and leade a good life in this world I haue declared aboundantly heretofore in many of my bokes In this treatise whiche I haue nowe in hand entitled The Sickemans Salue my mynd is to shew vnto the faithfull christians how they ought to make prouision for their latter end that they may depart in the faythe of Christ and be of the nūber of those of whome it is written Blessed are the dead whiche die in the Lord. Again Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his sainctes For what shuld it profit a man to wyn all the worlde if at the last he loseth his soule Therefore in this my worke I haue declared first of all how the faithfull christians ought to behaue them selues paciently and thankefully in the tyme of syckenesse Secondly howe they should vertuously dispose their temporall goodes Thirdly after what manner they ought to prepare them selues gladly Godly to die Finally I haue enterlased many cōfortable exhortations vnto the sycke and diuers godly necessary prayers some to be sayd of them that are sicke some of other for suche as are diseased This treatise after that I had finished it calling to remembraunce howe greatly I am bound to your right worshipfull Maistership considering also your most harty zeale and feruent affection toward the true and Christen religion all superstition and papistry layd asyde I thought it my bounden dutie to sende vnto you as a testimonie of my good wyll and thankefull hart toward you moste entirely desiryng you to accept and take in good part this my lyttle gift although much more base then it may seme in any part worthy to recompence the least poynt of your vnfayned frendship dyuers wayes heretofore declared vnto me God preserue your right worshypfull Maistershyp with the moste vertuous Gentlewoman your wyfe and all your godly chyldren in continuall health and prosperous felicitie Amen A PLENTIFVL table conteyning all the principal matters of this worke for the spedier finding of the same A ADā cause why we all perished 300 Amos y e Prophet killed 317 Admonishions profiteth 226 Against the fear of death remedies 313 Against the stinges of death 316 B Bankettinge chyldren ought to beware 212 Baptisme 418 Belefe what it is 444 Belefe in hart 418 Body committed vnto the earth 136 Bodies shal rise immortall 137 Bodies of the faithfull ought not to be vylye handled 173 Brasen Serpent 76 Burialles 173 C Call continually on the Lorde 45 Cayin repented but lacked faith 378 Chaunge lead for syl uer 323 Cherefull geuer 40 Children fearing God he will not leaue them comfortles 270 Children ought to beware of il cōpany 208 Childrē must beware of swearing 209 Children must loue and help their mothers 211 Christ author of our saluation 154 Christ prayed for an habitation for
the wycked 57 Praiers ought to be made fo whome 149 Praier for the syck 116 131.150.295.341.451 Prayer theffect 138 Promyses of God comforteth 354 Psalmes of thancks for them taat be departed 162 Publican humbled him selfe 387 Punished in this world why 55 Purgatory rakers 146 R Remedies agaynste thuught taking 320 224 Against desperatioÌ„ 229 Against temptations of Sathan 331 Agaynst the lawes curse 361 Agaynst synne 372 Agaynst want of merites â–ª 403 RepeÌ„taunce 415.374 It obteineth mercy 399 It commeth by preaching 150 Reward of synne 57 Resurrection of the body 287.257 Riche gloton 19 Riotous sonne repenteth 91 S Satan tempted diuers and many wayes 360 Satan moste busiest at our laste ende 332 Sathan ouercome by prayer 339 Schollerslare to be holpen 143 Scriptures calleth vs to repentaunce 190 Seace froÌ„ labours 152 Seke the Lorde whyle he may be found 185 Seruaunts ought not to be forgotten that serue well 221 Seruauntes 141 Sermons to be preached 148 Sickmans wyll 135 Sicke man taketh his leue 292 Sycke ought to geue thancks to God 43 Scripture sheweth vs the great mercies of God 84 Sycke in sinne what to do 105 Sicke visited a godlye deed 8 Sycke what to be learned 9 Sycke comforted how idem Sycke sone disquieted 294 Syck exhorted willingly to dye 198 Sickmans exhortation vnto his wyfe 200 Sickmans exhortation to his children 206 Syckmans exhortation to his sonne 210 SyckmaÌ„s exhortatioÌ„ to his daughters 217 Sickmans exhortation to his seruaunts 220 Syckmans fayth 227 Siâ—nnes a messenger of death 131 Sicknes irksome to maÌ„ 10 Sycknes taketh away ioye 13 Sycknes no token of Gods anger 20 Synnes forgeuen 283 Synnes forgeuen for Christes sake 286 Syngyng 171 Slepe not in death 345 Soule yelded into the handes of God 136 SteueÌ„ stoned to death 138 T Thersians mourn wheÌ„ theyr childreÌ„ are borne 165 The thefe found mercy 100 They that cry in trouble are holpen 113 Things happen for the best to the pacient 36 Toby euer feared God 39 Toby full of good workes idem Toby an example to vs 40 Toby content to suffer the plague 41 Trouble bryngeth vnderstandidg 72 Tromperies for to fede theyr bellyes 178 Trust in Christes promyses and thou shalt not dye 147 Trust of the life to come 168 The tree as it falleth fo it lyeth 191 W Water of lyfe 481 Wemen wept for christ 169 Wyfe of the sycke 137 A wyfe discrete is the gyft of God 214 Wycked lyfe to the riotous sonne 91 Wycked sonne repeÌ„teth idem Wicked sonne coÌ„fesseth his faultes 92 Wicked sonne furgeuen 93 Wicked people receyue payne 290 wicked a terrible end 56 Wicked seruauntes rewarded how 186 Wydowes howe they ought to mary 204 Wounded man spoyled 101 Worldly frendship slippery 325 Worldlinges lyue all in pleasure 18.24 Worldly ioye 25 Workers in the vyneyarde 359 Worke whyle it is day 186.187 Y Riotous myndes 175 Youth ought to beware of whordome 213 Youth muste take hede how they mary idem Yong wemen ought to be obedient to theyr husbandes 218 Yong wemeÌ„ shold bring vp theyr chyldren in norture idem Yong women ought to be no gudders â–ª 291 Yong women comly apareled idem FINIS ¶ THE SICK MANS SALVE PhilemoÌ„ Eusebius Theophilus Christopher Epaphroditus the sick man talke together Philemon OH ful truli is it said of the holy man Iob that noble myrroure of perfecte pacience Man that is borne of a woman hathe but a short tyme to liue and yet in the time that he liueth he is replenished with many miseries He cometh vp and withereth awaye agayne lyke a floure He flieth as it were a shadow and neuer continueth in one state â–ª It is not yet two daies since I sawe my neighbour Epaphroditus as me thoughte well and â—usty yea and in perfecte healthe and beholde he sent vnto me euen now his seruant Onesimus that I should come vnto him with all expedition all other businesses set a part If I euer entend to se him a liue oh good god what a world is this Ah moste louing Christe what a sodeine chaunge is this Oure life is not withoute a cause compared of the holy Apostle S. Iames to a vapoure whiche appereth for a little time and then vanisheth away Who wyl trust a life so fraile so transitory so bond vnto mortalitie Who can iustlye perswade him selfe to liue manye yeres in this worlde seing that in it so sodenly helthe is turned into sicknes valeaunce into imbecillitie streÌ„gth into weakenes ioy into sadnes comforte into desperation lyfe into deathe The ryche man perswaded him selfe that he should liue long in this world as blessed Luke declareth in his holy Gospell when he said considering the greate aboundaunce of his reuenewes that came yerely in what shall I doo because I haue no rome wher to bestow my frutes This will I do I wil destroy my barnes and build greater therin will I gather all my goods that are growen vnto me and I wil say vnto my soule soule thou hast much goodes laid vp in store for many yeares take thine ease eate drink be mery But god saide vnto him thou foole this nighte will they fetche away thy soule again from the. TheÌ„ whose shall those thinges be which thou hast prouided The continuance of our lyfe is not certeine so much as one houre neither is any man â—able to say I shall liue til to moâ—ow For albeit nothinge is more â—erten then death yet is nothinge â—ore vncertayne than the houre of death It shall therfore become all christen men that tender theyr owne healthe diligently to mark and coÌ„tinually to remember this frendly admonition and louinge watchword of our Lord and Sauioure Christ Iesu watch saith he for you know not what houre youre Lord will come Of this be ye sure that yf the good man of the house knew what houre he thief wolde come he wolde surely watch and not suffer his house to be broken vp Therfore be ye also ready for in suche an houre as ye thinke not will the sonne of man come Again he saieth Watch for ye knowe not when the master of the house will come whether at euen or at midnighte whether aâ— the cocke crowing or in the dawning least yf he come sodenly hâ— finde you sleping And that I saâ— vnto you I say vnto all Watcheâ— Also in an other place he saythe beholde I come as a theif Happy is he that watcheth and kepeth his garments least he walke naked and men see his filthines Ah Lord God not yet two daies past whole and strong and now sycke and weake O the vnstedfastnes of mans life WhoÌ„ wold not thys prouoke to watch and to considre his latter ende as the godly man Moses admonisheth saying Ah wold God men wold be wise and vnderstande and make prouision for their latter ende So shuld nether sicknes nor death be soden vnto them so shuld all dissolucion of life be reiected and godlines of coÌ„uersacion embraced
as the wyse man saythe In all thy workes remember the latter ende and thou shalt neuer sinne I desire muche to visit my neighboure Epaphroditus occording to his hartye request and to comfort him in these his paines to instruct him how he ought both paciently thankfully beare this crosse of sicknes which God hath laid on him but I wishe greatly to haue the company of mine olde familiars and approued frends Eusebius Theophile and Christopher I sente my sonne Theodore and Rachell my Doughter for them I muche maruell of their long tariaunce But beholde where they come Neighbors and frendes welcom Euse We reioyce to se you in helth thanking you most hartely for the louing kindnes which heretofore many times you haue shewed vnto vs. But wherfore I pray you haue you sent for vs. Phile. Haue ye not heard howe our neighbour Epaphroditus is greuously vexed with sicknes Theophiâ—punc Is ouâ— neighbor Epaphroditus sicke Phi. He is sick and that very sore Christo â–ª Sory am I to heare this Philemon We are in the Lordes hande as the claye in the potters to doo with vs what so euer his good pleasure is Therfore let vs not beare heueli this work of God in our neighbor least we seme to striue against his godly will seeing we vse dayly to pray Thy wil be don in earthe as it is in heaueÌ„ hauing also an example of our sauior Christ whiche praid vnto his heauenly father on this manner Not as I will but as thou wilt o father Euse. How long hath oure neighboure Epaphroditus bene sick Phi. Not yet two daies The. I mucch maruel of this his soden sicknes Philemon It is no maruell at all seing sicknes foloweth health and deathe life as the shadow accompanieth the body Ye know neighbors how charitable a deede it is to visite the sicke and to comforte the diseased It is one of those works whiche being don in the faithe of Christe shall be rewarded at the last day in the face of the whole worlde with then heritance of the heauenly kingdom as ye may see in the gospel of blessed Mathew I was sicke and ye visited me saithe oure Sauioure Christe The wise man also saith Let not them that wepe be withoute comforte but mourne with suche as mourne Let it not greue thee to viset the sicke for that shall make the to be beloued Christop This saying differeth not muche from the saying of S. Paule Reioyce with them that reioyce and wepe with them that wepe Be of like affection one to another Phile Let vs therfore go and visit our sicke neighboure Epaphroditus and comforte him with the heauenly consolacion of the holy scriptures that he may beare this his sicknes bothe the more pacieÌ„tly and thankfully For to this end did I send for you that we should go together vnto him and to confort him Theo. We were to much vnkinde and vnworthy the name of a Christian yea of a man yf we shuld disdayne to accompany you goyng aboute so godly a matter Phile. Well then let vs go For as the preacher saith It is better to go into an house of mourning theÌ„ into an house of banketinge for there all menne be admonished of their latter end and the liuing coÌ„sidereth what afterward shall becom of them I pray the Lord our God that we may find him at our comming in his whole mind and perfect memory Eusebi I beseche the Lorde our God also that his paines be not so outragious that when we come he haue no minde to heare what shalbe saide vnto him so shall our labour be loste Christop Gods will be don in all thinges Phile. We will do oure duty let God wurke his pleasure Now are we at the house I wyll be so bold neighboures as to leade you the way Theoph. I pray you go sir we will folow you Epa. the sicke man Oh cursed be the day wherin I was borne vnhappy be the day wherin my mother brought me forthe Cursed be the man that broughte my father the tydinges to make him glad saying Thou hast gotten a sonne Let it happen vnto that man as to the Cities which the Lord turned vp side downe Let him heare crying in the morning and at none daye lamentable howling Why sluest thou not me as soone as I came oute of my mothers wombe O that my mother had ben my graue her selfe that the birth might not haue come out but remained styll in her Wherfore came I forth out of my mothers wombe to haue experience of laboure and sorow Ah how sicke am I my strengthe is gone my sight faileth me my tounge flottereth in my mouthe my handes tremble and shake for paine I can not hold vp my head for weakenes If I attempte either to stand or to goo my legges fall downe vnder me No parte of my body doth her right office my memory is paste My sences fayle me What so euer I tast is vnplesant vnto me What other thynge am I theÌ„ a dead corps brething For my skin vpon me is tourned to blacke and my bones are dried vp with heate Yea miserably am I tormented and altogether wery of my lyfe What can be plesant vnto me but present deathe Ah wo worth the time that euer I was borne O y t som hill might fall downe and ouerwhelme me that I might shortly be rid out of this pain Philemon O Lord God good neighbores these be wordes proceding rather from a desperat harte then from a pacient minde But why do I cease to go in The father of mercies and God of all consolacion be presente with vs. Theo. AmeÌ„ Phile. Peace be vnto this house and to so many as loue the Lord Iesus vnfainedly Epa. O mother alas that euer thou did dest beare me Alas why died I not in the birthe Why did I not perish assone as I came out of my mothers wombe Philem. Neighboure Epaphroditus God geue you a pacient hart a quyet contented minde According to youre request I am com vnto you with certaine of my neighbours being very desirous to see you and notwithstandinge not a little sory to beholde you in this case not that you are visited of God with sicknes but that you so impacientlye take thys louing visitatioÌ„ of god whiche chaunceth vnto you not for your hurt and destruction but for your commodity and saluatyon Epaphro Welcome welcome neighbors all Oh how sicke am I Oh that the end of my life wer at hande It greueth my soule to liue All ioy is gone with me This sicknes hathe vtterly marred me Phi. Say not so neighbor Epaphroditus yea rather think that this youre sicknes is the louing visitacion of God and bringeth although to the body wekenes and trouble yet to the soule valeaunce and consolation Epa. Gods louing visitation Philem. Yea neighbor Gods louing visitation For so ar we taught by the worde of God God himself
far of and to them which were nie For through him we both haue an entraunce in one â—pirit vnto the father Nowe therâ—ore ye are not straungers and foâ—einers but citezins with y e sainâ—es and of the houshold of God â—re built vpon the foundation of 〈◊〉 Apostles and Prophets Iesus Christ him self being the head corâ—er 〈◊〉 stone in whome what builâ—â—ng soeuer is coupled together 〈◊〉 groweth vnto an holy temple 〈◊〉 the Lord in whome ye also are builded together to be an habitation of God through y e holy ghost Epa. Blessed be the Lord our God whiche hath made vs gentils also partakers of his heauenly blessinges But brother Philemon hetherto haue ye rehearsed out of the newe Tastament but one history Your promise was to recite two at the least Fulfill your promis I pray you Phi. In the gospell of Iohn we read that there was a certaine man whiche had bene diseased .xxxviii. yeares plaâ—ged of God without doubt foâ— his sinnes So sone as our sauiâ—our Christ perceiued that he haâ— a mynde to be made whole he saiâ— vnto him Rise take vp thy bed 〈◊〉 walke And streightways the 〈◊〉 was made hole Afterward Chrâ—â—â— found him in the temple and 〈◊〉 vnto him Behold thou art 〈◊〉 whole loke thou sinne no 〈◊〉 after this least a worse thynge chaunce vnto thee These wordeÌ„s of our sauiour Christ doe playnly declare that this man was a greuous sinne that this his longe disease sicknes and trouble was cast vpon him for his sinne disobedieÌ„ce against the Lord his god And yet note so sone as he had a mind to be made hole euen before he made his mone vnto Christ or knew whot Christ was this most louing gentle sauior made hym hole bad him sin no more Euse. Here is y e fulfilled which God speketh by the Prophet It shall be that or euer they call I shall anâ—were them Whyle they are yet but thinking howe to speake I shal heare them Phi. The history of y e thefe which was put to death with Christ is not to be let passe What a malefactour and wicked persone he was the holy scripture doth declare NotwithstaÌ„ding so sone as he humbled him selfe repented him of his former life coÌ„fessed his sinne and called vpon Christ for mercy saying Lord remember me whaÌ„ thou comest into thy kyngdom he was straightwaies receiued into fauor hard these most comfortable wordes at the mouth of Christ Uerely I say vnto thee this day shalt thou be with me in paradise Chri. Here is also the saying of God by the Prophet founde true at al times when a sinner turneth vnto me saith y e Lord I wil no more beare his iniquities in minde but frely forgeue them Epa. Here is than a good and comfortable lesson that whensoeuer we turn froÌ„ our wickednes the Lord our God wil forâ—geue vs our sinnes and geue vs fauor grace mercy life and euerlasting glory Phi. Truth it is brother Epaphroditus Beleue it all thinges shal go wel with you You shal find muche comfâ—rt and great ioy in your coÌ„science A quiet and mery heart shall you haue within you as s. Paul saith We being iustified by saith haue peace that is to say quietnes of conscieÌ„ce toward God through our Lord Iesus Christe by whome also it chaunced vnto vs to be brought in thorowe faith vnto this grace wherin we stande and reioyce in hope of the glory of God Howe greatly also do the histories of the wounded man of the lost shepe â–ª as I may let other passe set forth gods exceading mercy toward penitent sinners be they neuer so greuously wounded and diseased A certain man saieth our sauiour Christ descended from HierusaleÌ„â—o Hierico and fel among theues whiche robbed him of his raimeÌ„t and wounded him and departed leauing him halfe dead And it chaunced that there came down a certaine Priest that same waye when he sawe hym he passed by And likewyse a Leuite when he went nie to the place came and loked on hym passed by But a certain Samaritan as he iourneyed came vnto hym and when he saw him he had compassion on him and went to him and bound vp his woundes and poured in oyle and wyne and set him on his own beast and brought him to a common Inne made prouision for him-And on the morowe wheÌ„ he departed he toke two pence gaue them to the host said vnto him take cure of hym and what soeuer thou spendest more wheâ— I come again I wil recompencâ— thee Ep. Ther was small charitiâ— both in the Priest and in the Leâ—uite Phi. You say truth Epa. But who was that Samaritan For he was very gentle and louinge Phi. Christ Iesus the Lord which is the self gentlenes loue which also refuseth no labour no paine no cost in seking our saluation He it is alone which as the Prophet saieth hathe taken on hym our infirmities and borne our pains He him self as Peter saith bare our sinnes in his body on the tree that we being deliuered from sinne should liue vnto righteousnes By whose stripes ye wer heaâ—ed For as ye were as shepe going astray but are nowe tourned vnto the shepeheard and Bishop of your soules Epaphroditus You â—pake of the lost shepe also Phile. Truth Blessed Luke telleth the parable on this manner What man of you hauing an C. shepe if he lose one of them doeth not leue ninety and nine in the wildernes and goe after that whiche is lost vntill he fynde it And when he hath found it he laieth it on his shoulders with ioye And assone as he commeth home he calleth together his louers and neighbours saying vnto them reioyse with me for I haue founde my shepe whiche was lost Hereof our sauiour Christe concludeth I say vnto you that lykewyse ioye shalbe in heauen ouer one sinner that repenteth more then ouer ninety nine iust persones which nede no repentance This parable with the other of the woman that lost a grote setteth forth maruelouslye the louinge kyndnesse of Christ toward penitent synners For of that he also coÌ„cludeth and saith Likewyse I say vnto you shall there be ioy in the presence of the aungels of God ouer one sinner that repenteth Epaph. Great comfort is there for penitent synners and weke coÌ„sciences in these histories and parables which you neighbour Philemon haue full gently declared vnto me Phile. I â—m glad brother Epaphroditus â—o heare you so say And be ye wel â—ssured they are no lesse true than â—omfortable Perswade your self â—hat Christ is a moste louing and â—aithfull Phisition to so many as â—ele them selues diseased yea he so â—uche tendreth our health that â—e calleth vs vnto hym and proâ—iseth that he wyl ease vs of our â—rief if we will come vnto hym â—eal all our diseases They that â—e strong nede no Phisition but â—â—ey y t are sicke And Christ came â—â—t
submit their willes to his godlye wyll and pleasure Epa. O Lorde thy will be done and not mine I confesse O heauenly father that my manifold wickednesses and vnnumerable sinnes haue not only deserued this sickenesse which is thy most gentle fatherly and louing correction but also very hell and the bitter paines thereof if thou shouldest handle me according to my desertes I haue sinned I haue synned O lord God against thy holy lawes and I haue broken thy blessed commaundementes moste greuously offending thy glorious maiestie Whatsoeuer I suffer I worthely suffer ah wretch that I am My sinne I confesse and with an humble heart and broken spirit I fle vnto the throne of thy fauorable mercy most humbly besechinge thee for Iesus Christes sake to forgeue me all my synnes which I haue coÌ„mitted against thy deuine maiestie froÌ„ the houre of my birth vnto this preseÌ„t time and to receiue me into the holy felowship of those thy blessed and chosen people whome before the beginning of y e worlde thou diddest appoint heires of thi heaueÌ„ly kingdom in Christ Iesu our lord that they might for euer and euer raigne with thee in glory Ah lord geue me grace to bear this crosse both paciently thankfully Suffer me not once to murmur grudge or spurne against thy holye wil but with a pacient thankefull heart to waite on thy blessed pleasure being alway content to beare whatsoeuer burdeÌ„ thou laiest on my shoulders with this perswasioÌ„ and assured faith that whatsoeuer I suffer is vnto the glory of thy name and vnto the health of my soule O Lord thy will be done and not mine Amen Amen Neighbours I am very sicke and my paine encreaseth more more Phi. The Lords wil be done in you neighbour Epaphroditus Feare not no although present death were at hand For whether you liue or die ye are the Lordes God hath sealed you vp in Christes bloud vnto euerlasting lyfe Your name doubt ye not is written in the booke of life Ye are of y e nombre of those whome God before the foundations of the world were layd hath chosen in Christe to be his sonnes and heires ye are the dearly beloued sonne of God Ye are enheritours of Gods glorious kingdom God for your earnest faithes sake in the bloude of Christ hath forgeuen you al your sinnes that euer ye committed against him from the daye of your birthe vnto this houre He hath cast away all your iniquities â—ehind his backe so that he wyl neuer remember them any more Ye are counted among theÌ„ whose vnrighteousnesses are forgeuen and whose sinnes are couered vnto whome the Lorde imputeth no sinne God loueth you God careth for you God is on your syde who then can endomage or hurte you Who can lay any thyng vnto your charge It is God that iustifieth you who then can condemne you ye nede not fear ether sathan or sinne or any other thinge that should trouble your conscience For there is no damnation to theÌ„ that are in Christ Iesu whiche walke not after the fleshe but after the spirite For the lawe of the spirite of life thorow Iesus Christ hath made you fre froÌ„ the lawe of sinne and death For what y e lawe could not do inasmuch as it was weke because of the flesh that performed God and sent his sonne in the similitude of sinfull fleshe by sinne damned synne in the fleshe that the ryghtedusnes of the lawe myght be fulfilled in vs whiche walke not after the flesh but after the spirite Epa. I thaÌ„ke you neighbor Philemon for your gostly and comfortable instructions For I am wel comforted with these your wordes and I faithfully beleue that God the father for his promise sake made vnto all faithfull peniteÌ„t sinners in Christes bloud hath so frely and wholy forgeuen me all my sinnes that he will neuer remember them more nor lay them vnto my charge but so loue me and tender my saluation as though I had neuer offended his fatherly goodnesse And in this faith I submit my self my body and soule all that I haue vnto his godly wil to do with me in al things whatsoeuer his good plesure shallbe For liue we die we we ar the Lords And lord I most humbly besech thee call to remeÌ„brance thy tender mercies thy louing kindnesses whiche haue bene euer of olde Oh remember not the sinnes and offences of my youth but accordyng vnto thy mercy thinke y â— vpon me O lord for thy goodnes Turne the vnto me haue mercy vpon me for I am desolate in misery The sorowes of my hart ar enlarged O bring thou me out of my troubles Loke vpon mine aduersitie and misery and forgeue me al my sinne O kepe my soule and deliliuer me let me not be confounded for I haue put my truste in the. Phi. I much reioyce to see in you these workes of faithfull repentance This humbling of your self before y e maiestie of God this lamenting of your sinnes this faithfull and hartie calling on the Lordes name for remission of sins in Christes bloud for the tranquilitie peace quietnes and reast of conscience for the fauour grace of God for gods wil to be done in you is without doubt a sure seale vnto your conscience that God loueth fauoureth and tendereth you yea and that muche more theÌ„ any natural father maketh of his sonne Who so serueth God saith the wise man after his pleasure shalbe accepted and his praier reaâ—cheth vnto the cloudes The praier of him that humbleth him self goeth thorowe the cloudes till she come nie She wil not be comforted nor go her way vntill the hyghest God haue respect vnto her The Lord is nie vnto them y t are of a contrite heart saith the Psalmograph will saue suche as be of an humble spirite The sinfull Publican thus huÌ„bling him self obtained the fauor of God remission of sinnes went home more righteous than the proud Pharisey So likewise the Centurion coÌ„fessing his vnworthines for the receiuing of Christ into his house obtained health for his sicke seruaÌ„t Likewise the Leper with diuers other humbling them selues before Christe obtained their hartes desire For God saith Dauid hath respect vnto the prayer of the humble suche as be destitute despiseth not their desire but heareth â—heir mournings y t he may deliuer â—hem and saue them Euseb. Now neighbour how do you I pray you bee strong in God reioyce in his sauing health Epa. O neighboure Eusebius my body is weake my heare is faint my wits are feble my memory almost faileth me no part of me is fre from sicknes and paine But Lord I beseche thee strengtheÌ„ thou me endue me w t power from aboue that as y e spirit is ready so likewyse the flesh which is euer weake vnready may be obedieÌ„t to thy godly wyl frely consent to the working of
thy blessed pleasure Lord encrese my faith Lorde helpe my vnbelief Lord remeÌ„ber not mine olde sinnes but haue mercy vpon me and that sone for I am come to great misery Healpe me O God my Sauiour for the glory of thy name O deliuer me be merciful vnto my sinnes for thy names sake Euse. God hath euer be meâ—â—full vnto you so will coÌ„tinue vnto thend doubt you not Ep. That is my only comfort And Lord I most humbly pray thee coÌ„firme y t whiche thou hast begon to worke in me and kepe me blamelesse against the comming of thy deare sonne But where is my louing neighbour Philemon I wold be glad to haue his counsell in a certaine matter Where is he Phile. Neighbour here at hand What is your pleasure Epa. I perceiue right well y t my sicknesse doth not discrease but encrease so y t I can not long continue in that state wherin I am now And I thinke â—erely y t the lord my God hath seÌ„t this sicknes vnto me as a messenger to afore warne me of my departure from this world y t whan he come he may not finde me vnprepared or vnready And I most hartely thanke him for it Therfore neighbor Philemon neighbors al I think it best euen out of hand to dispose my temporall possessions and to set an order in such worldly goodes as God hath lent me that after my departure there be no dissension nor strife for theÌ„ among suche as I most wishe to be linked together with perpetual amitie and continuall frendship It shall also I trust be a great quietnes vnto my mynd Phile. If you haue not already brother Epoporoditus disposed and set an order in your temporal things I wishe it to be done with all expedition For suche thinges ought to be considred when we be most perfect in health forasmuche as our life is vncertaine we know not howe sone death commeth Epa. I thought not that the tyme of my life had bene so short therâ—fore I deferred the matter But I se now that no man is certain of his life vntill to morowe therfore ought we all to watche to prouide that we be not found vnready wheÌ„ the Lord commeth The. Whan that godly king Ezechias was sicke God sent the Prophet Esaias vnto him and willed him to saye vnto hym on this wyse Thus saieth the Lord God Set thi house in an order for thou shalt die and not liue Here learne we y e good will of God whiche is that they whome the Lord hath enduâ—ed with the goodes of the worlde â—hould before their departure set a godly order and quiet stay in their â—emporal possessions Epaph. You â—ay truth neighbour Theophile â—herfore I pray you bring hether â—en inck paper withal expediâ—ion and let my will be written â—or I thank the Lord my God I 〈◊〉 aswell contented to leaue the goodes of y e world as euer I was to enioy them And in this behalf I haue to thank the lord my God that since I came to the vse of reason and had any worldly possessions at all I haue alwayes made them to serue me and I neuer serued them but at all times coulde be contented to depart from them whansoeuer the glory of god and the commoditie of my neighbour did require Christ. Than did you vse your goodes aright And you were not ritch in the world but in the Lorde of the noÌ„bre of those of whom it is written blessed are the poore in spirit for vnto theÌ„ belongeth the kingdome of heauen The Psalmograph saith If ritches do abound set not thy heart vpon them And the holy Apostlâ— commaundeth that they which vse the world should be as thougâ— they vsed it not For the fashioâ— of this world goeth away Saint Iohn also saieth Se that ye loue not the world nether the thinges that are in the worlde for all that is in the worlde as the lust of the fleshe and the luste of the eies and the pryde of life is not of the father but of the worlde And the worlde passeth away and the lust therof but he that fulfilleth the will of God abideth for euer Epa. God graunt al men to follow this doctrine O Lord how sick am I Where is the pen Incke and paper Euse. Here syr Epaph Wright neighbor Philemon I pray you Phile. What is your pleasure that I should wright Epaphrodi On this manner IEpaphroditus the vnprofitable seruaunt of God weke in body notw tstanding strong in mynde do willingly and with a fre hart render and geue againe into the handes of the Lorde my God my spirit which he of his fatherly goodnesse gaue vnto me whan he fashioned this my body in my Mothers wombe by this meanes making me a liuing creature nothing doubting but that this my Lord God for his mercies sake set forth in y e precious bloud of his derely beloued sonne Christ Iesu our alone sauiour and redemer will receiue my soul into his glory and place it in the company of the heauenly aungels and blessed sainctes And as concerning my body euen with a good will fre hart I geue it ouer commending it vnto the earth wherof it came nothing doubting but that according to y e article of our faith at the great day of the generall resurrection whan we shall all appeare before the iudgemeÌ„t seat of Christ I shal receiue it again by the mighty power of God wherwith he is able to subdue al thiÌ„gs vnto him selfe not a corruptible mortail weake and vile body as it is nowe but an vncorruptible immortall strong perfect and in all poyntes like vnto the glorious body of my Lorde and Sauioure Christ Iesu. Haue ye writteÌ„ this neighbour Philemon Phi. Yea forsothe Sir But what is your mind now coÌ„cerning your world â—y possessions Epaph. First as touching my wyfe with whome I â—oupled my self in the fear of God and refusing all other women I â—inked my selfe vnto her liuing w t her in the blessed state of honouraâ—le wedlocke by whome also thoâ—owe the blessing of God I haue â—ad certen children wherof part â—re gone before me vnto the lord and part yet remain a liue albeit I dout not but y e god after my departure according vnto his promis will be vnto her an husband yea a father a patrone defeÌ„der will not suffer her to lack if she go â—orth to liue in his feare to serue hym and diligently to call on his holy name yet forasmuch as God hath blessed me with worldly substance and she is mine own flesh and whosoeuer prouideth not for his hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidell I bequeth geue vnto her for tearme of her life this house wherein I nowe dwell with y e appurtenances and all the housholde stuffe contayned therein And after her departure I wil that my eldest sonne whom now I
Those Psalmes hymnes prayses thankes-geuinges that be appointed to be â—ong or said at the burial of y e faithâ—ul let them be done in the name â—f God w tal cherefulnes of mind â—s for your deuout ringinge I â—raue no more but one â—el to be eâ—her tolled or rong for to gather â—he people together to heare the word of God and the thankes gâ—â—uing The ringing of the Belles can do my soule no good And aâ— for your holy sensing priestes pattering candels lighting torches brennyng away with them aâ— thinges superfluous and vnprofiâ—table Now as concerning Communions saying or singing theâ— serue not for the burials of them that are departed but for the exeâ—â—cises of them that be alyue thaâ— by that meanes they should call tâ— remembrauÌ„ce the death of Christ and the fruites therof as the Apostle sayth So oft as ye shal eat oâ— this bread and drinck of the Cupye shal remeÌ„ber the Lords death till he come These sumpteous â— costly burials are not to be commended nether do they profit either body or soule but onely seâ—â—forth a folish vain and boasting pompe Phile. The buriall of thâ— â—aithfull ought to be done honestâ—â— but not sumptuously Neither â—â—ught the dead bodies of the chriâ—â—ians to be vilely handled but â—onestly buried for the hope of the â—â—orious resurrection So did Aâ—â—aham bury his wife Sara Ioâ—â—ph his father Iacob and diuers â—â—her as the holy scripture menâ—â—neth The bodies of the dead â—â—ith S. Austen are not to be deâ—â—sed and to be cast awaye and â—â—ecially the bodies of the righteâ—â—s and of the faithful whom as â—â—strumentes and vessels vnto all â—â—od workes the holy ghost hath â—â—ed But as concerning sumptuâ—â—s burials thaforesaid authour 〈◊〉 they rather comfort the lyâ—â—g theÌ„ help the dead As sumpâ—â—us exequies profit nothing y e â—â—ul ritche men so in like maner 〈◊〉 or no exequies at all hynder â—â—hing the sepulture of the poore sainctes That galant company oâ— the ritchemans seruauntes oâ— whome we reade in the Gospel oâ— Luke buried their master gorgeously in the sight of meÌ„ notwithâ—staÌ„ding his soul was caried down into hel fire wher it lieth in mosâ— miserable tormentes What profited hym the gorgious galanâ— pompous and costly sepulture oâ— his body seing his soule lieth w t out redemption in those moste inâ—tollerable flames of that lake whiche burneth with fâ—re brimâ—stone We read not that Lazaruâ— was so sumptuouslye buried nâ— that he was buried at all notw t â—standing the angels of God caâ—â— caried hym not into a tombeâ— marble but into the bosome of Abraham And the golden mouthâ— Doctour saieth in a certaine Hâ—â—mily When thou hearest that tâ—â— Lord did ryse againe naked ceâ—â—â— I pray thee and leaue of the fond vain charges that thou bestowâ—est vpon funerals and burying of dead bodies What meaneth this superfluous vnprofitable cost seyng that it hindreth theÌ„ greatly that doe it auaileth nothyng at all the dead but rather hurteth them c. Epa. Simply not sumpâ—uously honestly not honorably â—et me be buried I require no more You haue wrytten all these thinges according to my desyre â—eighbor Philemon Phi. Altogeâ—her Ep. Then am I at a poynt w t â—he worldly possessions I truste â—n a good forewardnesse towarde God Chr. The custome in times â—ast was y t ther should be month â—â—ndes yere minds kept for the â—ead Ep. To what end Ch. That â—â—e dead might be remeÌ„bred and â—â—ayed for Epa. Wherfore shoulde â—â—ey be praid for Chr. That their sinnes say they might be forgeueÌ„ them Epa. Whiche they saye so Chri. The Papistes Epa. I haue nothing to do with papistes nor with their doctrine God blesse me from them For they are enemies of the crosse of Christe deprauers of the holy scriptures and corruptours of Christen soules I beleue that a man euen in this worlde hath perfect and full remission of al his sinnes or els he shall neuer haue it God in this worlde doth ether forgeue all the faultes thâ— paine due for the same or els hâ— forgeueth none at all I feare nothing at all the Popes boylyngâ— fornace I mean purgatory Chrâ—â—stes bloud is a sufficient purgatory for my sinnes The bloud â— Christ Gods son hath clensed vâ— from al sinne The bloud of Chriâ—â— hath purged our conscience from dead worckes to serue the liuinâ— God We be sanctified and made holy by the offring of the body of Iesus Christ done once for all With the one only oblation of his blessed body and precious bloud hath Christ made perfect for euer and euer them that are sancified I requyre none other purgatory to pourge clense my snnes but the bloud of Christ. For Christ hath offred him selfe aswete smelling sacrifice vnto God the father â—or my sinnes yea and that so perfecte absolute consummate and â—n all poyntes so omnisufficient â—hat there can be found no imperâ—ection in it Christ hath borne away all my synnes on his bodye By the stripes of Christes body â—m I healed Christ died for my â—â—nnes and rose againe for my iuâ—â—ification Christ is made of God â—nto me wysdome righteousnes â—â—anctification and redemption that as it is written he that reioyseth shuld reioyse in the Lord Christ is inough for me Let the Papistes seke their saluation at whose haÌ„ds they list Phile. Wher as the Papistes heretofore haue taught for the maintenaunce of their idle bellies that meÌ„s sinnes after their death be forgeuen theÌ„ through the sacrifice of that most wicked and abhominable Popish Masse by pilgrimages going by treÌ„tals by Diriges by y e good dedes of other c. It is a plainâ— errour agaiÌ„st the word of God For remission of sinnes the fauoâ— of God euerlasting life is eitheâ— gotten or lost in this worlde Hâ— whiche through his owne repenâ—tance faith in Christes bloudâ— obtaineth not forgeuenes of hiâ— sinnes in this worlde shall neueâ— haue it by y e meanes of other 〈◊〉 after this life It is written he beleueth on the soÌ„ne of God hath euerlasting life But he that beleueth not in him shall not see lyfe but the wrath of God abideth on him So many as die are eyther faithfull or vnfaithfull If they be faithful so haue they in possession straightways euerlasting life If they be vnfaithfull then doth the wrath of God abide vpon them they receiue y e reward of infidelitie which is euerlasting daÌ„natioÌ„ And albeit this appereth manifestly of the words aboue rehersed yet the history of the vnmercifull â—ich man of y e pore Lazare painâ—eth it out very liuely In y e ye se y t â—he faithful man which was Laâ—arus so sone as he died was reâ—eiued into the bosom of AbrahaÌ„ Contrariwyse the vnfaithful maÌ„ which was the vnmerciful glotoÌ„ â—as caried down streightwais in 〈◊〉 hel fire The like thing is manifestly set forth in
nede no such daily sacrifices as the Papistes hearetofore for lucres sake haue deuised As Christe Iesus is an euerlasting Bishoppe so abideth his sacrifice whiche he once for all offred on the Crosse of ful vertue power might and strength euen vnto the ende of the world Iesus Christ yesterday and to daye and the same continueth for euer For asmuche therfore as Christ endureth for euer and hath an euerlasting Priesthode he is able also euer to saue them to the vttermost and vnto the full that come vnto God by hym seyng he euer liueth to make intercession for vs. For he is not entred into the holy places that ar made with handes which are similitudes of true thinges but is entred into very heauen for to appeare nowe in the sighte of God for vs not to offer hym selfe often as the hie priest entreth in to the holy place euery year with straunge bloud for then must he haue often suffred sence the world began But nowe in the ende of the world hath he appeared once to put sinne to flyght by the offering vp of him self And as it is apoynted vnto all men y t they shall once die and then commeth the iudgemeÌ„t eueÌ„ so Christ was once offred to take away the sinnes of manye and vnto them that loke for him shall he appeare again w t out sinne vnto saluation We are sanctified and made holye by the offeringe of Iesus Christes bodye done once for all With one only oblation hath Christ Iesus made perfecte for euermore them that are sanctified Adue therfore to all newe counterfaict and straunge sacrifices deuised for lucres sake by the crafty conueyance of man through the subtile suggestion of slie Satan let the faithfull people of God embrace that sacrifice that offringe of Christes blessed body which he him self offred vnto God the father on the altare of the crosse once for al for the sinnes of the worlde Let them cleue and sticke vnto that Let them repose their whole affiaunce and put all trust in that swete smelling sacrifice and saye with the holy Apostle God forbid that I should reioyse in any thing but in y e crosse passion and death of our Lord Iesu Christe So may they be sure neuer to perishe but to haue euerlasting life Againe This Iesus Christ the sonne of God and the sonne also of the glorious virgin after that he had suffred many bitter paines and greuous tormentes hauing vpon the crosse died the death of the body was buried I beleue that Christ by his death hath conquered vanquished subdued and ouercome him that had Lordship ouer death that is to saye the deuill that he myght deliuer them which thorow fear of death were all their lyfe tyme subdued vnto bondage Yea by his death Sathans power is so broken and the violeÌ„ce of death so weakened that we may be bold to saye Death is swalowed vp into victory Death where is thy sting Hell where is thy victory The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is y e law But thankes be vnto God whiche hathe geuen vs wictorye through our Lord Iesus Christ. Christe after the death of his body went downe in his soule to hell as clearely appeareth by the â—criptures not that he shuld there â—uffer mo paines whiche had all ready on the crosse suffred to the vttermoste and done whatsoeuer was nedefull for our redemption but to breake the pride of Sathan and to destroy the fury of the hellishe powers againste the chosen people of God that al the faithful thereby might be deliuered from death and hell and triumphantly say with the Prophet O death I wyll be thy death O hell I wil be thy destruction And lykewyse as Christe died for our synnes so I vnfaynedlye beleue with my hearte and frely confesse with my mouthe that he rose agayn the third day through the power of his father for oure iustification according to the scriptures And by this his resurrection and lyfe he hath not only shewed hym selfe a glorious and triumphante conquerour ouer Sathan death and hell but he hath also brought lyfe and immortalltie vnto light and assured vs of the resurrectioÌ„ of our bodies that as he is rysen from the dead so likewyse shall we with our bodies ryse agayne out of the earth at the last daye And therfore is he called the fyrst frutes of them that ar fallen aslepe Moreouer I vnfaynedlye beleue with my heart and frely confesse with my mouth that as Iesus Christ the sonne of God the sonne of the Uirgin Mary shewed him selfe oftentimes after his resurrection vnto his disciples so likewise he ascended vnto heauen in their presence perfect God and perfect man sitteth at the right-hand of God y e father almighty aboue all rule power might dominion aboue all y t may be named not only in this worlde but also in y e worlde to come For God the father hathe put all thynges vnder his feete and hathe made him aboue all thinges the head of the congregation whiche is his body and the fulnes of hym that filleth all in all Al power is geueÌ„ vnto him bothe in heauen and in earth He is a lord aboue al lords and a king aboue all kinges Yea he is an almighty God with his father of y e same Maiestie might power and glory and not withstaÌ„ding inasmuche as he is man he is also our intercessour mediator and aduocate For he is not gone vp into heauen to be an idle gaser nor to neglect his churche but to pray for the faythfull to make intercessioÌ„ for them vnto God the father to be our mediatour aduocate and to appease the wrath of God the father if at any tyme through sinne it waxeth whote against vs and to wynne vs again vnto his fauoure and to kepe vs in the same vnto thende We nede not seke helpe of other neither yet call on the sainctes departed that they may pray for vs and pleade our cause before God The man Christ Iesus alone whiche gaue him self a raunsom for all men is our sufficient mediatoure aduocate and intercessour as the holye scripture teacheth in diuers places Whosoeuer therefore refuseth to pray vnto this man Christ Iesus to be his mediatoure and aduocate vnto God the father and â—leeth vnto other w tout all doubt he is an ennemy vnto Christ and to the vttermoste of his power he â—aboureth to make Christ as they â—se to saye Iacke out of office For since the time of his ascention â—is chief and principall office is to â—e our intercessoure mediatoure â—nd aduocate He ascended also into heauen to leade captiuitie captiue and to geue giftes vnto men Satan that old enemy of mankind had taken vs captiue made vs his bond slaues through sine caried vs away with his craft subtiltie from the Lord
our God and brought vs in to his kingdoÌ„ of darcknes whiche is the dreadful kyngdom of sinne death and hell Thus were we in great misery and should for euer haue bene damned if we had not bene holpen by some other meanes then we withall oure wittes could deuise Therfore euen of very pity tender compassion came one which is much stronger theâ— Satan euen Christ that mighty Lion of the tribe of Iuda a ryght conquerour a strong Sampson a valeant subduer of death sinne hell a puissaunt vanquisher of Satan c. He as a king of glory mightely brast into SataÌ„s kyngdome brake open the gates of hel toke the Prince of darknes bouÌ„d hym toke him prisoner made him his bound slaue destroied his Empire ledde away his prysonners bringing them againe into moste ioyfull and blessed libertie so that al they which beleue in this most mighty Emperour and valeaunt conquerour Christ Iesus are deliuered from the tyranny of Satan and from the power of sinne death and hell There is no damnation nowe vnto them whiche are engrafted in Christ Iesu. Satan sinne death and hell withall the infernall army cannot hurt y e elect and chosen people of God Who shall lay any thynge to the charge of Gods chosen It is God â—hat iustifieth â–ª who is he that can â—ondemne It is Christ whiche died yea rather whiche is rysen againe whiche is also on the righthaÌ„d of God and maketh intercession for vs. Who shal then seperat vs from the loue of God c. And as Christ by his most glorious and triumphant Ascension hath led captiuite captiue so likewyse hath he geuen giftes vnto men euen that holy ghost that spirite of truthe that comfortoure whiche worketh in the heartes of the faithfull newe mocions and spiritual affectes faith hope loue feare humilitie modestie mekenes pacience long suffring ioye peace quietnes of conscience temâ—peraunce goodnes mercy c. It mortifieth the old man and quieneth the newe man whiche is renued vnto the knowledge and Image of him y t made him â–ª whiche after God is shapen in righteousnes and true holines Againe Christ ascending vp inâ—to heauen by y e power of his godhead hath prepared in the kingdoÌ„ of his father euerlasting and ioyfull dwelling places for so manye as beleue in hym as he him selfe witnesseth saying I goe to prepare a place for you and I wyll come agayn vnto you take you vnto my self that where I am ye also maybe He hathe also ascertained vs of our ascension and going vp into heauen not onlye in soul but also in body He corporally is rysen agayne and gone before into the glorious kingdom of his father to declare that we also after the generall resurrection shall both body and soule be caried into heaueÌ„ The members must nedes be lyke the head Christ our head is risen againe therfore shall we his members ryse agayne Christ our head is ascended and gone vp into heauen both body and soule therfore shal we his members ascend and go vp into heauen bothe body and soule also Christ our hed was taken vp into Heauen in a cloud bothe body and soule therefore shall we his members also be taken vp in a cloude to meete the lord and so shal we both body and soule dwel with the Lord Christe our head for euer and euer as the holy Apostle testifieth saying If we beleue that Iesus died rose againe euen so them whiche slepe by Iesus God will brynge again with hym For this say we vnto you in the worde of the Lord that we whiche shall liue and shall remaine in the comming of the lord shall not come yer they whiche slepe For the Lorde him selfe shal descend from HeaueÌ„ with a shout and the voyce of the Archaungell and trompe of God And the dead in Christe shall aryse fyrste then we which shal liue eueÌ„ we which shall remaine shalbe caughte vp with them in the cloudes to mete the Lorde in the ayre And so shall we euer be with the Lorde Finally I vnfainedly beleue with my hearte and frely confesse with my mouth that as the Lord Christ is ascended into heauen so shall he come agayne from heauen with power and muche glory nobly accompanied with thousands of blessed â–ª Aungels and heauenly sainctes for to iudge the quicke and the dead the faithfull and vnfaithfull and to geue â–ª euery man his rewarde according to that he hathe donne whether it be good or badde And when he thus gloriously shall come vnto the iudgemente all that are in the graues shall heare his voyce and shall come forthe they that haue done good vnto the resurrection â—f life and they that haue done euil vnto the resurrection of damnation The faithfull shal go into eternall life the vnfaithfull into euerlasting damnation Euery man shall be reward according to his dedes that is to say prayse honor immortalitie to them which continue in good doyng and seke immortalitie But vnto theÌ„ that are rebels and that doe not obeye the truthe but followe vnrighteousnes shall come indignation wrath tribulation and anguishe vpon the soule of euery man that doth euell Now haue ye heard of my faith coÌ„cerning Iesus Christ God and man And I beleue al things that I haue spoken to be vndoubtedly true And I am fully perswaded that Iesus Christ my lord and sauiour wrought all the thinges y t euer he did in his humanitie for me and for my saluation To saue me to reconcile me vnto God the father to make me enheritour of euerlasting glory he came downe from heauen was incarnate by the holy ghoste and borne of the virgin Mary Yea he â—uffred was crucified died went down to hel rose agayn the third day from the dead ascended vnto heauen and shall come again vnto iudgement for me for my sake for my glory saluatioÌ„ Thus haue ye heard my fayth concerning God the father and God the sonne whiche also is man receuing his humain nature of the glorious virgin Mary Eus. Whosoeuer this beleueth and confesseth of God the father and of his sonne Christ the same can neuer perishe For as our sauioure Christ saide vnto God the father in his praier This is euerlasting life euen to know thee y e alone tru God and whom thou hast sente Iesus Christ. Chr. The wise man also saieth To know the O god as perfect righteousnes God sayth by the Prophet yea to know thy rightousnes and power is the roote of immortalitie Theo. By the knowledge of him whiche is my righteous seruaunt he shal iustify the multitude Phi. God graunte vs the true knowledge of his sonne Christe so may we be sure to be iustified saued gloryfyed Epa. Amen But now heare also my faythe concerning the third parson in the deity which is the holy gost Chr. We
heare you gladly Epa. I vnfainedly beleue with my harte and frely confesse with my mouthe that the holy ghost is one and equal God in glory maiestie power and might with the father and the sonne proceading from the father and the son after an vnknowne and vnexpresseable maner This spirite of God and God him selfe is he by whom God the father through his sonne Christe and in Christ worketh and quickneth all thinges All the benefites and graces which God the father bestoweth vppon vs for Christes sake this holy ghost bringeth thē vnto vs and maketh vs new vessels to receyue them which otherwise euen of nature are so fleshly minded that we perceiue nothing at all of those thinges which pertayne vnto the spirite of God neyther are we able to thinke a good thoughte of our selues For this godly spirite worketh in vs newe motions and new affectes and geueth vs grace both to will and to doo good He is a teacher of al the faithfull and leadeth them into al truth He is a confortour of weake and sorowfull mindes He kepeth the true christians vnmoneable in one faith and openeth their senses to vnderstand y e misteries of God aright He doth clothe them with his giftes and geueth to euery one a seueral gift euen as he wyll He is the ruler of the Christen congregation He is the anoyntment wherwith all the faithful are anoynted and thereof are called the annoynted of the Lord. He is geuen vnto the faithfull to be the earnest of their enheritaunce for the recouering of the purchased possession vnto y e praise of his glory He with his godlie breath quickeneth maketh aliue and conserueth all thinges He of carnall maketh vs spirituall of worldly godly of wicked blessed of the bond slaues of Sathan the dearly beloued sonnes of God of sinnefull sinckes his owne moste pleasaunt and holy temple of cruell meke of proud humble of malicious charitable of contentious quiet of couetous liberal of hard harted meke spirited of froward gentle of stubburne obedient of dissolute temperat and sober of false true of folish wyse of idle godly occupied of vnchast pure and cleane of the haters of God the frendes of God of the louers of pleasures the louers of godlines to ende he maketh vs of earthy heauenlye Whatsoeuer goodnes we haue he is the alone author worker and geuer of the same Therfore I beleue and confesse that this holy spirite is one and equal God with God the father and God the sonne proceading from them bothe with lyke maiesty glorie might and power I beleue that this holy gost is my comforter and that he prayeth for me renueth me dwelleth in me and hathe sealed me vp vnto euerlastyng glorye Now haue ye hard my faith and my beilefe in the father and in the sonne and in the holy ghost which .iii. I beleue and confesse to be one God whose seat the heauen is and whose fotestole is the earth He is an euerlastyng and almighty God whiche alone is to be honoured serued in spirit and truthe For he alone can helpe vs forasmuche as he is almighty will helpe vs because he his mercifull true and faithful yea and that not for our rightousnes but for his names sake To this one true liuing euerlastyng immortal inuisible alone wise God king of kinges and Lorde of Lordes be all honoure and glory worlds without end Thi. Amen Epa. Thou art worthy O Lord to receyue glory and honour and power for thou haste created all things and for thy wils sake they are and were created Blessing glory and wisdome and thankes and honor and might be vnto our God for euermore Chr. So be it Epa. Simply and plainely haue I here before you all rehearsed my faithe and belief in God and in the thre parsons of the Godhead as I haue here tofore learned it of gods moste holy worde I confesse that many thinges mo mighte be spoken of the wonderfull misteries of this most blessed and holy Trinitie but they farre exceade my vnderstanding and therefore I dare not meddle with them For it is written he that is a searcher of the Maiestie of God shall be oppressed of the glorye thereof Againe Seke not oute the thinges that are aboue thy capacitie and serche not the ground of suche thinges as ar to mighty for thee but loke what God hath cōmaunded thee think vpon that alway and be not curious in many of his workes For it is not neadeful for thee to se w t thine eies the thinges that are secreat The. The holy Apostle also counselleth vs to be modest sober and that we be not curious to searche after the knowledge of things which passe our capacitie Eu. The holy psalmograph semeth to haue followed this coūcel wel whiche saieth on this manner of him selfe Lord I am not hie minded I haue no proud lokes I doe not exercise my self in great matters which are to hie for me But I refrain my soule kepe it lowe like as a child that is weaned frō his mother yea my soule is euen as a wened childe O Israel trust in the Lorde from this time forth for euermore Phil. Neighbour Epaphroditus there remain yet behind mo articles of the Christen faith Haue you forgotten them Epap No good brother Philemō God forbid I should forget them For in them next vnto God lieth now my chief consolation comfort Should I being in this case forget the holye congregation of God whiche is the company and felowship of the sainctes chosen people of God of whome Christ y e Lord is the head ruler and gouernour Should I in this my sickenes forget the hie and singulare benefites of God whiche of his own fre mercy and mere goodnes he liberally geueth to al faithfull penitent sinners namely remission of sinnes the Resurrection of the body and lyfe euerlasting God forbid God forbid For the remembraunce of these thynges comforteth me greatlye I wyll therfore although my winde beginneth to waxe shorte and it is painefull vnto me muche for to speake declare my faithe concerning these Articles Eusebi God strengthen you Chri. Amen Epa. As I vnfainedly beleue with my heart and freely confesse with my mouth that there is but one God in whome alone I put al my confidence truste and hope of saluation and at whose hand only I loke for all good thinges pertayning either vnto the bodye or vnto the soule so lykewyse I bothe beleue and confesse that there is but one holy vniuersal churche or congregation of the faithefull all be it they be despersed and scattered abrode thorow out the world in diuers and sondry places which are gathered knit together through the operation of the holy ghost in the vnitie of the spirite and ioyned together in one faith as members of one bodye whereof Iesus Christe is the
heade This holy Churche or congregation lynked together in the felowship of the holy Ghoste is a spirituall house builded of liuing stones a chosen generation a royall Priesthod to offer vp spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Iesus Christe an holy nation a people whiche are won that they should shewe forth the vertues of hym whyche called them oute of darkenesse into his maruelous lighte this Churche is the congregatioÌ„ of the liuing god the pillar and ground of truthe This holy company are Citizens with the Saincts and of the housholde of God and are builte vpon â—he foundation of the Apostles â—nd Prophets Iesus Chryst him selfe being the hed corner stone Thys Churche is the spouse of Christ and knoweth none other husband head but Christ alone This blessed company are these shepe whiche gladly heare y e voyce of their shepehard Christ but they flie from the voyces of strauÌ„gers And as they are one body and one spirite so confesse they onâ— Lord one faithe one Baptismeâ— one God and father of all There is among them no dissenâ—tion but thei maintain one truth preache one doctrine speake onâ— thing are of one minde and of onâ— meaning This holy Catholikâ— churche or vniuersall congregatioÌ„ is that holy city that newe Hieruâ—salem whiche came downe froâ— God out of heauen prepared as â— bride garnished for her husband And because no man shall doubâ— of what Churche I speake I conâ—fesse that to be the holy Catholikâ— and Apostolike Churche whichâ— is the company and felowship of the sainctes that is to saye of the faithfull whiche are sanctified made holy by the spirite of God and by the bloud of Christ our sauiour whiche haue the pure word of God truely and sincerely preached and the Sacramentes duely and faithfully ministred amoÌ„g them whiche excommunicate all disobedient notable sinners and receiue into their felowship suche as vnfainedly repente and tourne from their wickednes which study in all things to please the Lord God and to liue in all godlinesse and honestie This church and coÌ„pany Christ loued so dearly that he gaue him self for it to sanctifie it and clensed it in the fountaine of water thorow y e word to make it vnto him selfe a glorious congregation without spot or wrincle or any suche thinge but that it shoulde be holy without blame Whosoeuer is in this church and congregation he may be sure to besaued But whosoeuer is not in it he is without all dout damned For like as in y e time of Nohe no man escaped with his life but was drowned in the floud excepte he entred into the Arcke of Nohe Euen so whosoeuer is not founde in this felowship or Catholicke Churche agreing with it in one faith doctrine hope loue and sacramentes he shall pearish and be lost For without the Churche of Christe there is no saluation no forgeuenes of sinnes no fauoure of God no quyetnes of conscience no true Gospell or glad tidinges of eternall healthe Therfore in this holy Churche blessed felowship of the sainctes and faithfull I vnfainedly beleue with my harte and frely confesse with my mouthe that there is remission and forgeuenes of sinnes and that withoute it no sinne is forgeuen nether is there any hope of saluation For as it is vnpossible that a member can liue which is not in the body so it is vnpossible that any man may lyue in hys soule and be released out of death by remission of synne whyche is not a meÌ„ber of the body of Christ. For Christe hathe reconciled vs al vnto God his father in one body And therfore must all they stande at variance with God that ar no meÌ„bers of this body of the which Christe is the head to the whiche also he geueth saluation This therfore is a great conforte to the faithfull congregation that allthough thorowe infirmitie of nature or otherwise they doo fall ofâ—end God break the Lords commaundements yet in this coÌ„pany there is remission and forgeuenes of sinnes so sone as euer they repent be sory for their synne and beleue to haue remissioÌ„ of all their sins for Christes precious bloudes sake Synne we neuer so oft and neuer so greuously yet being meÌ„bers of this holy company we ar straight waies forgeuen and deliuered a paena culpa froÌ„ the pain and the fault so sone as we turne vnto the Lord our God And these our sinnes be not forgeueÌ„ of men but of God alone neither forgeueth he part and reserueth part but he forgeueth all or els none at all Again he forgeueth not the fault and reserueth the paine but with the faulte he also forgeueth the pain due for the fault that he may be an whole and perfect sauiour as s. Iohn saith If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and the truthe is not in vs. But if we coÌ„fesse our sinnes God is faithfull and righteous to forgeue vs our sinnes and to make vs cleane from all iniquitie And God himself saith by the Prophet I wil forgeue their misdedes and wil neuer remember their sinnes any more Againe I am he yea I am he alone which put away thy iniquities yea and that for myne own sake and I wil remeÌ„ber thy sinnes no more And king Ezechias in his praier vnto God said it is thou O Lord that cast all my sinnes behind thy back The Prophet Miche also saith Where is there such a God as thou art that pardonest wickednes and forgeuest the offences of the remnaunt of thine heritage He kepeth not his wrath for euer And why his delite is to haue compassion He shal turne agayne and be merciful to vs. He shall put down our wickednes and caste all oure sinnes into the bottom of the sea I faithfully beleue that I am a member of Christes church and I am also fully perswaded that al my sinnes be forgeuen me of God the Father not for my merites whiche are none but for Iesus Christes sake for Christes merits passion death and bludshedding For grace and truthe came by Iesus Christe sayth the holy Euangelist And I beleue that God foâ— his sonnes sake hathe so frely and wholy forgeuen me all my sinnes that he wil neuer remembre them more neuer impute theÌ„ vnto me nor lay them to my charge but so receyue me into his fauoure as though I had neuer offended him and make me his sonne and heyer of euerlasting glory For euerlasting life is the gift of god through Iesus Christe oure Lorde sayeth the Apostle Thys is the stay and quientes of my conscience at thys presente This maketh me not to feare deathe but ioyfully to loke for it and louingly to embrace it when soeuer it commeth For I wish to be losoned from this mortall body and to be with Chryste My soule hath a feruent desire to
the Phisition being nothing afraid of him because they ar sick diseased but rather somuche the more doo they desire to come vnto him to shew him their woundes and to disclose their diseases that they may be made whole Now is Christ a phisitioÌ„ all we through sinne are diseased shal we therfore runne away from Christ and not rather make hast vnto him what Phisition is so ready to heale the body as Christe our Phisition is to heale the soule Who euer came vnto him with a faithfull and penitent heart and was refused Who euer sought remedy at his hand and was not holpen Who euer opened vnto hym his diseaâ—es and was not cured he calleth all without exception be they neuer so diseased and loden with thâ— burden of sinne vnto him and proâ—miseth that he will ease them of their burdens make theÌ„ whole is it to be thought that he wylâ— refuse sinners when they come vnâ—to him Come vnto me sayth he al ye that labour and are loden I wil refreshe you Take my yoke vpon you and ye shall find rest for your soules For I came not to caâ— y e righteous but sinners vnto repentance The sonne of man came to seke and to saue that was lost How frequented he the coÌ„pany of synners when he was in this world that to this end only thaâ— he might call them through his godly sermons vnto repentance vnto the fauour of God and vnto the felowship of the sainctes in so muche that he was called a frend of open sinners and whores How defended he alway the humble peniteÌ„t sinners against the proud and stifnecked Pharises and Iusticiaries When Zache being a sinner the Prince of the Publicans sought to see Christ how louingly did Christ speake vnto him and frendly came into his house eat dranck with him WheÌ„ Mary MagdaleÌ„ being a greuous sinner came vnto Christe he refused not her company but talked most gently with her coÌ„forted her receiued her into his fauour quieted her coÌ„scieÌ„ce healed her diseases gaue her euerlasting life Whan the poore Publicane whiche had both ofte and greuously offended the Lord his God came into the temple to pray and in his praiers huÌ„bled him self before the maiestie of God and coÌ„fessed him self a sinner was he not ioyfully receiued into the fauour of God and pronounced more righteous euen by the mouth of Christ then y e proude â–ª Pharesy for all his glistring workes How ioyfully was that vnthrifty prodigal wastfull sonne receiued home again What freÌ„dship founde that theif whiche was crucified with Christe at the hand of Christ when he saide Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdome Did not Christ straightways aunswere him and say This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise And yet was he both a thief a seditious persone and a murtherer Christe refuseth none although neuer so greuous a synner if we come vnto hym Turn ye vnto me and I wil turn vnto you saith the Lord of hostes Thou disobedient Israel Turne again saith the Lord and I will not let my wrath fall vpon you I am mercifull saith the Lord and I wil not alway bear displeasur against thee but this I will y e thou know thy great blasphemy namely that thou hast vnfaithfully forsaken the Lord thy God and hast made thi self partaker of straunge Gods vnder all greene trees but hast had no wil to hear my voyce saieth the Lorde O ye disobedient chyldren turne againe saieth the Lord and I will be maried with you c. O ye disobedient childreÌ„ turne agayne saying Lo we are thyne for thou art the Lorde our God and so shal I heal your back turninges Who wyll not boldely come vnto so mercifull a Lord most louing father seing he so geÌ„tely calleth all men vnto hym be they neuer so greuous synners promiseth that he wyll not refuse them but louingly receiue them neuer lay their offences vnto their charge but to forget them and cast them behinde his backe that he wyll neuer ether remember thâ— or loke vpon them more Theo. The Lord is merciful gentle and louing pacient long suffring oâ— muche kindnes and ready at all tymes to forgeue yea euen whaâ— he is at the poynt to punyshe Thâ— Lord is louing vnto euery man his mercy is ouer all his workes â–ª The lord is good and gracious of great mercy vnto all them that call vpon him The Lord is ful of tender compassion and great merâ—cy long sufferyng and of muche goodnes He wil not alway be chiâ—ding neither kepeth he his anger for euer He dealeth not with vs after our synnes neither rewardeth he vs accordyng to our wickednesses For loke how hie y e heauen is in comparison of the earth so great is his mercy also toward them that feare him Loke howe wide also the East is from y e west so far hath he set our sinnes from vs. Yea lyke as a father pitieth his owne children euen so is the Lord mercifull vnto theÌ„ that feare him For he knoweth whereof we be made he remembreth y t we are but dust With the Lorde there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption And he shall redeme Israel froÌ„ al his sinnes Phi. The great kindnes dere hearty loue of God toward vs appeareth not only in this y t he both willingly and gladly admitteth and receiueth synners whensoeuer they repent and tourne vnto hym but â—n that he also most diligently seketh them vp fetcheth them home again and geueth them grace to repent and turne that they maye â—e saued This thinge is verye â—yuelye described and set forthe in â—he parables of the straid shepe of the lost groat and of the wounded man Herein is loue saith S â–ª Iohn not that we loued God buâ— that he loued vs sent his sonnâ— to be the agrement for our sinnes Saint Paule saieth God settetâ— out his loue toward vs seing thaâ— while we were yet sinners Christ died for vs. Much more theÌ„ nowâ— we that are iustified by his bludâ— shalbe saued from wrath througâ— him For if when we were enneâ—mies we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne muchâ— more seing we are reconciled we shalbe preserued by his life Epa. I beleue y t God is a mercifull father for Christes sake to all them thaâ— do truly repente beleue and conâ—uert vnto him but is it not to beâ— feared that my repentaunce and conuersion is to late Phi. Be on good comfort neighbor Epaphroditus there is no repentauÌ„ce and conuersion to late in this worlde â–ª so that it be true proceadeth froÌ„ a contrite heart humble spirite For at whatsoeuer hour a sinner dooth mourne and lamente for his sinnes God promyseth that he will so forgeue him his iniquities that he will neuer remember theÌ„ more And
not but turne again vnto the Lord your God he will turn vnto you â–ª deliuer you saue you For he is the father of mercies God of all consolation He is riche inough for all theÌ„ that call vpon hym If you doo thus though your sinnes be as read as scarlet yet shall they be as whyte as snowe And though they were lyke purple yet shall they bee as whyte as woll Heare what God saith by the Prophet Commonly whan a man putteth away his wife and she goeth from him and marieth with an other then the question is should he resorte any more vnto her after that Is not this field then defiled vncleane But as for thee thou hast plaide y e harlot with many louers yet turn again to me saith y e Lord. c. and I will not let my wrath fall vpon you I am mercifull sayeth the Lord and I will not alway beare displeasure against thee O tourn again and I will be maried with you WhoÌ„ wold not these words encourage to come againe vnto the Lord his God and throughly to be perswaded of gods louing fauour toward him and of the forgeuenes of his sinnes be they neuer so many and greuous if he repent beleue amend Epa. These thinges comfort well my weake conscience But one thinge dothe â—reatly discourage me Phi. What â—s that Epa. I haue no merites nor plenty of good workes wherwith I may make God fauorable â—o me but I am a barren fig tree â—oyd of all good fruit Phile. The waÌ„t of merits ought not to pluck you from comming vnto god For God saueth not vs for the righteous works which we haue done but for his mercies sake If oure saluatioÌ„ came of works merits then were grace no more grace If euerlasting life were gotten by deseruinges than were it not the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord. But the Apostle saieth By grace are ye saued thorowe faith and that not of our selues It is the gifte of God and commeth not of workes least any maÌ„ should boast him self If rightousnesse come of the lawe then Christ is dead in vaine Christ came not to call the righteous but sinneâ— to repentance And we are taugâ— in the Gospell that ioye shall be 〈◊〉 heauen ouer one sinner that repâ—â—teth more then ouer ninety anâ— nine iust persones which nede 〈◊〉 repentaunce What had the wouâ—â—ded man deserued that he shoulâ— be healed What had y e strayshepâ— merited that the shephard shoulâ— so louingly fetch her home againâ— What good works brought Marâ— Magdalen when Christ receiueâ— her vnto grace forgaue her heâ— sinnes And so likewyse of diuers other If God shoulde saue vs because of our merites good workes so should we chuse god by our works and merites and not God vs by his fauor grace and mercy But Christ saith ye haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you And S. Iohn wondring at this great mercy of God brasteth out â—â—to these wordes â–ª and saith Beâ—olde what loue the father hathe â—hewed on vs y t we shuld be called â—he sonnes of God Againe herein â—s loue not that we loued God â—ut that he loued vs and sent his â—onne to be the agrement for our â—â—nnes And S Paul saith God y e â—ather hath chosen vs in Christ â—efore the foundatioÌ„s of the world â—ere laid God therfore did chuse â—s by his grace and not we hym â—y our workes and merits I wil â—aue mercy sayd God to Moses â—n whome it pleaseth me to haue mercy and I wil haue compassioÌ„ â—n whoÌ„ it is my pleasure to haue compassion It lieth not therfore â—n a mans will or running but in â—he mercy of God And the Psalâ—ograph saith speaking of God 〈◊〉 of him self he hath saued me beâ—ause it was his pleasure to haue â—e Againe he saith Thou shalt saue them for nothynge what 〈◊〉 to say saith S. Austen thou shâ—â— saue them for nothing but y e thâ—â— findest nothing in them wherfâ—â— they shuld be saued and yet sauâ—â— thou them Frely doest thou geâ—â— frely dost thou saue And s. Ieroâ—â— alledging y e same sentence agaiâ—â— the Pelagians saith that y e rigâ—â—teous are not saued by their owâ—â— merites but by the tender mercâ—â— of God If we shall consider ouâ—â— merites saith Chrisostom we aâ—â— not only worthy no reward bâ—â— we are also worthy punishemenâ— Let all mens merits which perâ—â—shed by Adam be still and kepe sâ—â—lence saith Saint Austen and lâ—â— the grace of God reigne which raigneth through our Lorde Iâ—â—sus Christe The redemption 〈◊〉 Christes bloud should waxe viâ—â— and become of no price sayth Sâ— Ambrose if y e iustification which commeth by grace were due vnto merites going afore Dauid sath in a certayne Psalme prayse â–ª the Lord. O my soule and all that is within me praise his holy name Prayse the Lord O my soule and forget not his benefites Whiche forgeueth all thy sinnes and healeth al thine iniquities Which saueth thy life from destruction and crowneth the with mercy and loâ—ing kindnes All good men from the beginning haue attributed geuen the whole glory of their iustification and saluation not to their own merits and good worâ—es but to the free grace and vndeserued mercy of God that God maye bee all in all and that he whiche reioyseth should reioyse in â—he Lorde For the contentation and quietnes of your conscience â—n this behalf remember y t Christ â—ame not to cal y e iusticiaries but sinners vnto repentaunce RemeÌ„â—ber that the sonne of man came tâ— seke and to saue that that waâ— lost Remember that Christ is 〈◊〉 Phisition and that the whoâ— hath no nede of a Phisition buâ— suche as are sick Remember thaâ— Christ calleth vnto him al such aâ— are diseased loden with the buâ—â—den of sinne He requireth no mâ—â—rites only come remember thaâ— Christ is called a sauiour to y e end that he should saue them which otherwise should perish Heare alâ—so what God saith by y e Propheâ— Come to the waters al ye that bâ— thirsty and ye that haue no mony Come bie y t ye may haue to eaâ—â— Come bie wine and milk withouâ— any mony or mony worth Wherâ—â—fore doo ye lay out your mony foâ— the thyng that fedeth not spenâ— your labour about the thing thaâ— satisfieth you not But harkeâ— harken rather vnto me ye shall eat of the best and your soul shall haue her pleasure in plenteousnesses Encline your eares and come vnto me take hede I say your soul shall liue Our sauiour Christ also saieth If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke Againe in an other place I wyll geue to him that is a thirst of the well of the water of lyfe He that ouercommeth shall enherite all thinges
as vnto an other it goeth with the righteous as with vngodly with the good cleane as with the vncleane with him that offreth as with hym that offreth not like as it goeth with thâ— vertuous so goeth it also with thâ— sinner As it hapneth vnto the peâ—iured so hapneth it also vnto hym that is afraide to be forsworne Among all thynges that come to passe vnder the Sunne this is a misery that it hapneth vnto all alike Of these wordes it euidently appeareth that Salomon speaketh of the knowledge which a naturall man hath by the outwarde gifts of god wherof because they be indifferently geuen aswell to y e good as to the bad he is not able to iudge whoÌ„ God loueth whoÌ„ he hateth Now wher as the Papists wrest this text vnto y e knowledge or iudgement of the conscience which commeth of the spirite of God and of his holy word and would that Christen men in theyr coÌ„science shuld dout whether God loue theÌ„ or not whether they be in the fauour of God or not whether their sinnes be forgeuen theÌ„ or not whether they shalbe saued or notthei teache a deuelishe errour and leade y e receiuers of their doctrin the right way to hell fire For he y t douteth of the mercifull good wil fauorable grace of God toward him beleueth not that God for christes sake is louing vnto him forgeueth him al his syns verely he is no true christian but dying in this his doubtfulnes and vnbelief he shall surely be dampned acording to this saying he that doth not beleue on the sonne shall not se life but the wrath of God a bideth on hym This erroneous doctrine of the Papistes maketh God false of his promyse quencheth fayth blotteth out hope destroieth loue disquieteth the conscience filleth y e hart with whole seas of vnreastfull and wycked imaginations and so driueth the doubtful parson vnto desperation and finally vnto dampnation O murtherers O soule sâ—ears If no man can be certaine in his conscience whether he be in the fauour of god or no whether god for christes sake wil forgeue him his sins or not and geue him euerlasting lyfe to what poynt serue all the promises of Gods tender mercies made to all faithfull penitent sinners in Christes bloud vnto what end doth faith serue If faith certifieth not our conscience of Gods good wyl toward vs and so bringeth peace and quietnes vnto it what is then the office of fayth If a man whose credit is approued promiseth vs any thinge we surely loke for it nothing doubte of the performance therof shall we doubt of the accomplishment of the promises of God whiche is faithful in all his wordes whiche can not lie which is not only true but also the self truth Let al men be liers and let God abide true God hath promised that at whatsoeuer hour we tourne vnto him he will forgeue vs al our sinnes neuer remember them more but so frely fauour vs and so tenderly loue vs as though we had neuer offended him This is the promise of him which can nether deceiue nor be deceiued and shal we doubt of the performance therof Shall we doubt whether y e Lord oure God wyll be as good as his word whether our sinnes be forgeuen and we receiued againe into fauor or not God hath promised that in Christ all nations of y e earth shalbe blessed And shal we which loke for our whole saluation in the bloud of Christe doubt whether we shall bee blessed in Christ y t is to say fauoured of god the father for Christs sake or not Christ our Lord sauiour calleth all that labour and be loden vnto him and promiseth y t he will ease remedy comfort and helpe them And shal we doubt of this his promise What other thynge is it to doubt of the promises of god â–ª then to doubt whether God be true or no iust faithfull or no y e same in his dede that he is in his word or no O the to much vnfaithfulnes of the wicked Papistes The scripture saith he that beleueth on the soÌ„ne of god hath euerlasting life The faithful christians beleue on Christ the sonne of God embrase him with strong faith as their alone sauiour redemer atonement maker intercessour mediatour aduocate and shal they doubt of y e â—nheritaunce of euerlasting lyfe Ether they that do beleue so coÌ„tinue vnto theÌ„d haue euerlasting life at their departure out of this life or els God is not true of his promise But God is faithful in al his wordes therfore doo the faithful christians receiue according to gods promises their faith If all thinges be possible to him y â— beleueth if al things chance to a faithfull man according to his faith w t what whorish shameles forheds dare the proud and vngodly Papistes teache vs to doubt of the grace and fauoure of God of the â—emission of sinnes and of the enheritaunce of euerlasting lyfe Where doutfulnes is there is no â—rue faith but rather misbeliefe â— to such a doubting faith yea raâ—her no faith nothinge is promised but the fearce wrath and vengeaunce of God and euerlastingâ— dampnation Se to what poynâ— the wicked Papistes bryng theyâ— whelpes with their deuelysh docâ—trin Saint Iames saith If any man lack wisdom let him aske iâ— of him that geueth it eueÌ„ God But let him aske in faith and waâ—uer not For he that doubteth iâ— like a waue of y e sea which is to â— of the wyndes and caried witâ— violence Nether let y e man thinkâ— that he shall receiue any thyng oâ— the Lorde A wauering mindeâ— man is vnstable in all his wayes Are not they that professe Christ much bouÌ„d to the papistes whicâ— teach their scholers to doubt of thâ— mercy of God not to be throughâ—ly perswaded in their conscienceâ— that God loueth them pardonetâ— them for Christes sake maketâ— them enheritours of euerlasting glory Is this anye other thynge then to say despair die be dampned O deuils incarnat God lighten the eies of the simple that thei may once see the iugling castes of these wily wicked Papistes and come vnto the vnfained truthe of gods word whiche is able to saue their soules whiche also is the mighty power of God to saue euery one that beleueth The. Amen Phi. Al the godly eueÌ„ from the beginning haue beleued the promises of God and nothing doubted of them whether they concerned temporall or spirituall things and according to their fayth so receyâ—ed they Yea when God seamed most to be angry with them vtâ—erly to cast them from his fauor â—uen then did they nothing doubt â—f his mercifull goodnesse but w t â—rong faith cleaueth to the promiâ—es of God as a certain maÌ„ saith Though he kil me yet will I put my truste in hym The Psalmograph also saith
outwarde man perish yet thinward man is renued day by day and that this our tribulation whiche is short light prepareth an exceding and an euerlasting waight of glorye vnto vs while we loke not on the thinges whiche are sene but on y e thinges whiche are not seene For the thinges whiche are seene are temporall but things whiche are not sene are eternall Chr. God kepe you in this mind euen vnto thend Eu. AmeÌ„ Epa. Confirme make that perfect o lord which y â— hast begon to worke in me vnto the glory of thy blessed name and vnto the saluation of my soule The. AmeÌ„ Epa. Neighbors I pray you tourne me that I may lye on my right side Chr. The Lord our God graunt that ye may syt in his kingdome on the right hande of his glory Ep. Yea that shortly Euse. So be it Phile. Sir howe do you nowe Epaphro Well God be thanked but I trust to doo better euen anone Phile. Lacke you any thing sir Epa. My paine approcheth nearer vnto my heart wherby I perceiue the end of my life not to be far of I beseche you pray for me that I may continue faithfull constaunt and stedfast in the faith of the Lorde my God euen vnto the very end of my life Phi. We wil do it gladly Neighbors let vs knele down and pray Lord we moste humbly besech thee heare our prayer Chri. And let our crye come vnto thee Ph. O lord Iesu Christ thou only sonne of the heauenly father our alone redemer and omnisufficicieÌ„t sauiour we moste humbly beseche thee deliuer this sicke and weake parson now being in great pains and at the point to departe out of this worlde from all vgsome and terrible assaultes and temptations of the deuill synne and hell Deliuer him O Lord as thou deliueredst Noe froÌ„ the raging waues of the sea Lot from the destruction of Sodome Abraham from the feare of the Chaldees The children of Israell from the tiranny of Pharao Dauid from the hand of Goliah The thre men from the violence of the firy fornace in Babilon Daniel from the mouth of the Lions Ionas from the belly of the whalefishe Peter from the prison of Herod euen so O gratious Lord God deliuer the soul of this person both nowe and whensoeuer he shall departe hence from all pearill daunger OpeÌ„ vnto him at y e hour of death the dore of Paradise the gates of heauen the entry of euerlasting life O Lord Iesu Christe forgeue him all his synnes and lead him with ioye into the kingdom of thy heauenly father eueÌ„ vnto the bosom of AbrahaÌ„ and appoynt him vnto euerlasting rest that he may reioyse with thee and with all the elect childreÌ„ of God in euerlasting life Eu. Amen Epa. Neighboures I thanke you Nowe will I also pray vnto the Lord my god while I may speake and I trust he wil for Christes sake gratiously heare me Th. Doubt you not neighbor God hath so promised Epa. Lorde harken vnto my prayer and geue ear to my most humble requestes O moste mercifull God O father of all mercies the father of oure Lorde and sauiour Iesus Christ be mercifull to me a sinner Haue pitie on me and quickely healpe me poore wretche for the moste bitter passion and moste precious death of Iesus Christ thy only begotten sonne and oure alone redemer and Sauioure Enter not into iudgemeÌ„t with thy seruaunt O Lord. Handle me not according to my desertes and merites neither rewarde me after mine iniquities but for thine infinite and vnmeasurable bountie and exceading gret merci receiue me and take me into thy fauour I miserable weake creature am in thy hand I am thy bonde seruaunt and thy depter O most gentle God o most fauorable father forsake me not cast me not away pore wretch that I am For I am thine withal that euer I caÌ„ make No man is able to strengtheÌ„ me no man is able to deliuer me no man is able to help me but thou alone Thou art the true helper in aduersite Thou art y e most sure present comfort in all necessitie Thou alone art our helper oure bulwarke our fortres our most mighty strongly defenced tour Thou o god art our refuge Thou art our strengthe Thou art our helper in all our tribulations In the O Lord do I trust let me not be coÌ„fouÌ„ded Let me neuer be put to shame let me not be deceiued of my hope but preserue me for thy rightousnes sake Bow doun thine ear vnto me make haste to deliuer me Be my defeÌ„der O god my stroÌ„g hold y t thou maist saue me For y u art my strength and my refuge Yea thou art my God and my destinies are in thy handes Lighten thy countenaunce vpon thy seruaunt and saue me for thy mercies sake O Lord. And forasâ—much O swete father as it is thy godly pleasure to call me now froÌ„ this miserable life and wretched worlde I most entirely besech theâ— so to defend me in this agony oâ— death that neither sathan nor his ministers preuaill against me but that I continue faithful and constant vnto thend in the confessioÌ„ of thy holy name loking for full remission of all my sinnes in the precious bloud of thy welbeloued sonne and my only sauiour Iesus Christ and that I departing in this faith and perfect trust maye be placed among thy blessed saintes and heauenly spirites and so for euer and euer remaine with y e in glory Graunt this O moste mercifull father for thy dear sons sake Iesus Christ our alone mediatour and aduocate Chr. AmeÌ„ Epa. Me thinke good neighbours I begin to waxe very coulde and numme in my limmes Euse. Syr discomfort not your selfe Be content with the good workynge of God This cold is a present tokeÌ„ that the death of your body is not far of Epa. My fleshe is consumed and wasted away Eu. That is y e end of all fleshe Earth thou art saith God and vnto earth shalt y u retourne Epa. My feling is gone and my tasting decaieth All my senses grow out of course Eu. To that end wer they geuen you that you shuld lose them againe With the body al bodely thinges decay Phi. Brother Epaphroditus let y e care of the body of bodely thiÌ„gs passe You doo beleue the resurrection of the body Epa. I beleue that my redemer liueth and that I shall ryse out of the earth in the latter day and that I shalbe cloâ—hed again with this skin and see God my sauiour in my flesh Yea I my sef shall beholde him not w t other eyes but with these same eies This hope is stedfastly set in my hart Ph. Beleue this earnestly and it shal not greue you to depart froÌ„ your body For wher as it is now mortal incorruptible sick weake vile lothsome it shal at y e generall resurrection be immortal vncorruptible
and an euerlastinge agremente betwene God and you It deliuereth you from death and bringeth you vnto eternall glory It maketh you a Citezin of the newe heauenlye Hierusalē where if you continue stedfast in this faith you shall remaine for euer and euer in a most blessed and ioyfull state hauinge the fruition of Gods glorious maiestie in perfecte glorie worldes without end vnto your exceading ioy and vnspeakeable comfort Euse. Sir Behold the life of this our brother beginneth to drawe vnto an end Phi. Yea rather he now begīneth to chaūge a mortal life for an immortal life The life that is led in this world is rather a shadow of a life then a very life indede Now brother be strong in the faithe of Christe Remember Christ crucified Remēber Christe to be your alone sauiour Remember God y e father to bee your merciful father Forget not y t all your sinnes are washed away in Christes precious blud that by y e vertue of his death passion you are made heire of euerlasting saluation Brother if you can speake aunswere If you can not speake shew some outward signe token that it may be a testimonye vnto vs of your faith godly departur Chr. Lo he holdeth vp his hand Eu. God be thāked Phi. He semeth yet to heare Perswade your selfe moste dere brother y t God euen now calleth you out of this vale of wretchednes vnto the ioyful enheritance of his euerlasting kingdom wher you shall not liue miserably w t sinfull men as you haue done in this world but you shall gloriously reigne with that moste mighty God with his holy aungels and blessed saincts Now begins your ioy your solace your cōfort Now begīneth your true life which shalbe euerlasting Now is the end of al your sorowes come now beginneth your vnfained ioy and true felicitie Now shal ye se y e glorious maiestie of God face to face Now shall you behold perfectly know al y e godly y t haue ben from the beginning of the world and be mery and reioyse with thē Now shall you se your sauior and elder brother Christ as he is Now shall you bee clothed w t the white garments of immortalitie Nowe shal you haue a crown of gold set vpon your head Now shall ye eat of the tree of life whiche is in the mids of the Paradise of God and drinke of the fountains of liuing water Now shall you be a pillare in the temple of your God and sit with him on his seat And these your ioyes shall be euerlasting neuer haue end Unto these ioyes shal you straight waies go for euermore enioy them Th. Our brother is euē now departed frō this world vnto the Lord our God as you spake these words vnto these ioyes shal you straightways go for euermore enioy them he gaue vp the ghost and now reasteth in the Lord. Phi. The Lord our God be praysed Our brother hath made a godly end He hath geuen vp a good spirit into the hands of the liuing God He is I doubt not of the nomber of them of whose death it is written Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his sainctes Blessed are they that die in the Lorde His life before men was vnrebukeable and blameles He liued iustly and vprightly with his neyghbours He was frendly to al godly men and ennemy to no man He was both a sincere fauourer and a diligent folower of Gods most holy word He abhorred all sectes Papistes Anabaptistes Libertins c. Not withstanding alway praying for their amēdment that they knowledging theyr errors might with vs confesse one God one truthe in the vnity of the spirit He was a deare frende to suche as were studious of good letters to widdowes to fatherles children to pore yonge maides mariages to yong mē that had not wherwith to set vp theyr occupations to the prisonners to those poore people which wer not hable to get theyr liuing to pore housholders to the reparing of hie wayes such like What a will he made ye knowe His end also ye know Chr. A christen and godly end made he God geue vs al grace to make the like Phile. Of a good life commeth a good death if the departure of the godly may be called a death not rather a passage vnto a better life Wel his body now slepeth in the Lorde and his soule raigneth in glory with God Euse. God graūt him vs al a ioyfull resurrection The. Amen Phi. Neighbours before we departe let vs all kneele down geue God the father thākes for y e godly departure of this our christen brother Chri. It is conuenient so to do Phi. Geue me hither the Flower of Godly prayers I will rehearse the thankes geuing vnto God for y e departure of the faithfull out of this worlde Eu. Lo here is the boke Phil. The name of the Lord our God be glorified Chr. Both nowe and euer Amen Phi. O how can we moste louing father rendre vnto the sufficient thanckes for thyne inestimable goodnes toward thy faithful seruants whome thou calling out of this wretched worlde vouchestsafe to place in thy heauenlye kingdom among the glorious cōpany of thy holy angels and blessed saincts O full precious is the death of thy faithfull in thy sight Blessed are y e dead that die in thee O Lord For they are at rest from their painfull trauails labours The soules of the righteous ar in thy hand O God and the pain of death shal not touche thē In the sight of the vnwise they appeare to die but they are in peace They shine as the sparckes that runne thorow y e redde bush They glister as the shining of heauē They are as y e starres worlde without end They are as the aungels of God They are clad w t white garmēts haue goldē crownes vpon their heds They do seruice day night before the glorious throne of thy deuine maiesty They neither hōger nor thirst anye more neyther doth the sun or any heat fal vpon them for the lambe which is in y e mids of y e throne gouerneth thē and ledeth them vnto the liuinge foūtains of waters They folowe the lābe whithersoeuer he goeth They haue such ioyes as eie hath not sene nor eare hath heard nether is there any heart hable to thincke them Infinite and vnspeakeable are the treasures O Lord whiche thou haste laide vp for them that depart in thy faith For these thy fatherly benefites toward the souls of the faithfull and for that it hathe pleased the to call this our Christen brother from this vale of misery vnto thy heauenly kingdome we geue vnto the moste harty thankes humbly beseching thee that thou wilt take like care for vs so gouerne vs with thy holy spirite bothe in sickenes and in healthe that we may liue a good and godly life in this
present world and when soeuer it shalbe thy good pleasure to call vs hence we may with strong faith in thee in thy sonne Christ Iesu our Lorde commende bothe our bodies soules into thy merciful haÌ„des and thorow thy gooddes be placed in thy glorious kingdome among thy faithfull chosen people and so for euer and euer prayse and magnifie thee our heauenly father to whome with thy derely beloued sonne Iesu Christ our Lord and sauiour and the holy gost that most swete coÌ„fortour be all glory and honoure worldes without end Th. Amen Ph. Rise let vs go and coÌ„forte our frendes that they doo not to muche sorowe for the departure of this our most deare brother which now resteth in ioyfull peace That done neighbour Christopher repare you vnto some godly learned man and desire hym to prepare a Sermon for the buriall of this our brother against to morowe about y e ninth houre Chr. It shalbe done Phile. Neighboure Theophile neighbor Eusebius go ye your waye prouide all thinges necessary for the comely furniture of the burial that nothing be wanting when the tyme commeth Euse. We will do it gladly Phi. The very god of peace sanctify vs thorow out so wholy preserue vs both spirit and soule and bodye that we may be blamed in nothynge at the comming of our Lord Iesus Christe The. Amen Phi. Our Lord Iesus Christ him self God our father which hath loued vs hath geuen vs euerlasting consolation good hope thorow grace comfort our heartes and stablish vs in all good saying and doing Eus. AmeÌ„ Phi. Peace be vnto the brethren loue with faith from God the father and from the Lorde Iesus Christ. Grace be w t al them which loue our Lorde Iesus Christ vnfainedly Chri. Amen Ph. Blessing and glory and wisdome and thankes and honour and power and might be vnto our God for euermore Theo. AmeÌ„ Amen Gyue the glorie to God alone Although death doth daily draw nere Yet his sting past vertue shinth clene Imprinted at London by Iohn Day dwelling ouer Aldersgate beneath Saint Martins Cum gratia priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis per Septennium ¶ These books are to be solde at his shop vnder the Gate Colos. iii. Math. xxiiii â–ª Mark xiii Apoca. xvi Apoca. xxii i. Thes. v â–ª Iacob iiii Iob. ix Iob. xiiii Esay xl Gene. v. Luke xii â–ª Psal. xxxix i. Tim. vi Psal. xxxix i. Pet. ii Heb. xiii Iere. viii Esay lvi Philip. ii Eccle. vii Deut. xxxiâ— Apoca. xxi i. Cor. ix ii Tim. ii Iob. vii Apoca. xiiii Psal. cxvi Mat. xvi The contentes of this boke Iob. 14. Iames. iiii Luke xii Mat. 24. Mark 13. Apoc. 16. Dout. 32. Eccl. 7. Iere. xviii Math. vi Math. xxvi Mat. 25. Eccle. 7. Rom. 12 Eccl. 7 Iere. xx Gene. xix Iob. xxx Iere 15. Iob. 3. Iob. 10. Apoca. iii. Pro. iii. Heb. xii Hebr. xii Iam. i. Gala. v. Luke 6. Mat. 5. Iohn 16. 2. Titu 2. Luke 24. Act. xiiii What the Crosse is Ihon. xvi i Ti mo iii i. Pete iiii Luke xvi Luke vi Eccle. xi Psal. xciiii Psal. cxix i. Cor. xi Ioâ— v. i. Cor. x. ii Cor. i. ii Peter ii i. Cor. iiii Esay â—ii i â–ª Peter ii heb ii math x Lu. xiiii Apoca. vii Iacob iiii ii Cor. vi Eccle. ii Eccle. iii. Eccle. xxvii â—ob xii â—eâ—t xiii i. Pet. i. i. Cor. x. Psal. xxx Psalm lxvi Psalm lxxi Psal. cxxvi Tobi. iii. Psal. xxxiiii Gen. xxx xix i. Reg. xvi Act. xiiii iii. Reg. ii Iob. i. ii Iob. ii Iob. i. Iob. ii Psal. xxxvii Esay xxx Iames. iii â–ª Psal. xxxiiii Iob. xiii Iames. v. Tob. i. ii Cor. ix Tob. ii i. Reg. ii Deut. xxxii Tob. xiii Sap. xvi Tob. xi Tob. xiiii Tob. xii Rom. xv Româ— xiiii A praier Psalm vi Psal. lxxxvâ—â—â— Psal. xci Mat. xxiii i. Pet. v. Prou. xx Iaco. iii i. Iohn i. Rom. iii Luk. xvii Psal. cxvi Psalm li. Ier. xvii Esay lxiii Psal. xiiii Luke xviii Math. vi Iob. xiii Iob. xxx Iob. xxv Psalm ii Psalm xxv Psalm cxxx Psal. cxiiii Iob. ix Tob. iii. Ose. xiiii Psal. cxlv Psalm cxxx Apoc. xxi i. Cor. xi Psal. xxxvii Luk. xvi Mat. xâ—â—â— Luke xvi Luke vi Hebr. xii Sap. ii Sap. vi Psal. 37. An historie Psalm xxxvii Hebr. vii Act. xiiii Iudit viâ—â— Iames. i. An history Apoc. iii. Prouerb iii. Math. xvi Luke xiiii Luke xvi Esay lxiiii i. Cor. ii Psal. cxv Psal. xxxiiii Psal. lxxxiâ— Iere. xviii Esay lv Psalm ciii Ier. xxix Why God punisheth vs Psal. cxix Esay xxviii Iob. v. i. Reg. iii â–ª Tob. iii. Ose. ii Num. xxi ii Pet. xxxâ—â—â— Psal. lxxviii Ose. vii Esay lv Luke i. Psal. cxix Esa. xxviii Ier. xxxi The true vse of reading the holy scriptures The prayer of Manasses Esay lxiii i. Iohn i. Hebr. x. Psal. xxxiii Sap. xi Esay xxviii Rom. x. Iohn xi Iohn iii. Luk. xv Iere. iii. Esech 33 Esech 18 Act. x. Rom. iii. Rom. ii Roma x. Iohn ii Rom. xv Ephe. ii Iohn v. Esa. lxv Luke xxiii Rom. x. Luk. x.xv. Esay liii i. Pet. ii Luke xv Mat. xix Math. ix xi Luk. x. Luke xx Iohn i. i. Tim. ii Esay xxviii Roma x. Psalm xci Prouerb iii. Hebr. xii Apoc. iii. Psalm i. Math. i. Psal. 33. Psal. 147. Psal. cxxxvii Esay lxxvi zach i. i. Iohn v. Psal. cxlv iii. Reg. xx Dan. iii. Dan. vi Dan. xiii Luke xxiii Act. vii Act. xii i. Cor. x. Psalm xci Psalm cxx Psal. xxiii Rom. x. Ioel. ii Act. ii Esay xxviii Psa. xxxiiii Esay lâ—â— â–ª Psal. lxviii â–ª Psal. iii. Eccl ii Eccl. xxxviâ— Psalm i. Iames. v. iiii Reg. xx Rom. xiiii Math. xxvi Mark xiiii Luk. xxii Math. xxvi Math. vi Mat. xxviâ— Phil. i. Phil. ii Luk. xviii â— Pet. v. A praier Rom. xiiii Luk. x. Ephe. ii Psal. 3â— Rom. â— Rom. 8. Rom. xiiii A praier Psal. xxv Eccle. xxxv Psal. xxxiiiiâ— Luk. xviii Math. viii Psalm ci A praier Math. xxvi Luk. xvii Mark ix Psal. lxxix A praier Psal. lxviii Mar. xxiiii Mark xiii Apoc. xvi iiii Reg. xx The true vse of ritches Math. v. Psa. lxii i. Cor. vii i. Iohn ii The sicke-mans will Soule Body Phil. ii Wife i. Tim. v. Sonne Daughters Seruantes Eccle. vii Debters Scholers of Cambridge and Oxford Poore pâ—â—ple ii Cor. â— Math. vi Purgatorie rakers Phil. iii. Hie waies Sermons Esa. lvi Math. ix Luke i. Rom. x. Ministers Mourning gownes i. Thes. iiii Apoc. xiiii Psal. cxvi Sap. iii. Sap. v. Luke xvi Esay xxv Apo. vii xxi Esay lxiiii i. Cor. ii Ser. de mortalitate Iohn xiiii Phil. i. â—po vi i. Tes. â—â—â— Iohn â—â— Phi. ii Apoc. xiiii Rom. viii Apoc. xiiii Psal. cxviii Sap. iii. ii Reg. xii The maner of the Thracians Luk. xxiii Apo. xiiii Psal. xxiii Phil. iii. Eccle. xi Burials Singing Ringing Communion â—â— Cor. xi Note Gen. xxiii and .l. Lib. 1. de Câ—uitate dei Cap. xiii Luke xvi Apo.
cxvi Psal. cii Malac. i. Of knowing one another after this life ii Cor. xii i. Iohn iii. Math. xxii i. Iohn iii. Hebr. i Roma xii i. Cor. xii Collos. i. Ephe. ii Apoc. xxi Psal. lxxxiii Apoc. iiii v Apoc. iiii v.vii.xi.xii 〈◊〉 ii â–ª Math. xvii Mark ix Luke ix Hebr. xii Luke xvi Math. xix Iohn xxi Math. xvii Lib. 4. cap. â—â— Lib. de sence Lib. 1. â—us quest Iacob â— A praier A praier A prayer Collo â— Iohn xv Luke x. Psalm â—â— Remedies against desperation Tit. ii Remedies against the teÌ„tatioÌ„s of Sathan * Note Math. iiii Iohn viii Iohn viii Apoca. xii i. Pet. v. Iacob iiii How to resist the deuell Of Faith Osc. xiii Hebr. ii Colloâ— i. i. Iohn iii. Num. xxi Iohn iii. Hebr. xi i. Pet. v. i. Iohn v Math. iiii Hebr. ii Note i. Cor x. Mark ix Luke xiii Psal. cxiv Of prayer Math. xxvi Mark ix Psal. â— Psal. xxxiii A prayer Mark xi Psal. cxxx Psal. lxix A praier Of Gods worde Luke xiii Ephe. â—â— â–ª Math. iiii Rom. i. Psal. cxix Iohn xv Sap. xvi Psal. cvii. A praier Psalm xiii Psal. xxviii A prayer Psal. xxvii Psal. xviii Psal. xxii Psal. xxvii i. Cor. xv Ose. xiii A praier Psal. xlii Psal. xliiii Psalm xxvii Psal. cxxii Thren iii. ii Cor. i. Psal. cxliii A prayer Ephe. vi Math. iiii Iohn xiiii i. Cor. iiii Psal. cxvi ii Cor. i. The propertie of God in his elect Iohn xvi i. Pet. v. Iohn viii Math. xvi Math. vii Luke xxii Iohn x. Phil. iiii Colloss iii. Psal. xxxi Psal. â—xxi i. Reg. ii Psalm xxxiii Toby iii. Psal. cxxv Psal. cxxiiiâ— Iob. vii â–ª Math. xxvi Luke iiii Of the lawe Math. ix Luke x. Rom. ii Deut. xxvâ— Remedies against y e curse of the lawe â–ª Iohn i. Of the lawe and the Gospell Rom. iii. Gala. iii. ii Cor. ii why the law was geuen Gala. iii. Math. xi Act. xv Iohn vii Rom. vii Prou. xx Roma iii. Psalm xi Rom. viii Roma x. Gala. iii. iiii i. Cor. i. Math. v. Rom. viii Rom. x. Galat. iii. Deut. xxi Galat. iiii Ephe. ii Collo ii Hebr. vii Rom. vi Roma vii Galat. ii Gala. v. Remedies against sinne Roma iii. Esay liii Luke xvii Esay lxiiii 1. Iohn i. Repentance Math. iii. Mark i. Act. iii. Math. ix Esay lxvi Psal. li. Psal. xxxiii A prayer Ezech. xi Confession of sinnes vnto God Psal. li. Luke xv Luke xviii Math. vii Mark x. Math. xv Math. vâ—â—â— Faith Roma xiiii Gene. iiii Math. xxvii Math. xxvi Ephe. i. Iohn i. Galat iii. Ose. ii Act. xiii i. Pet. v. i. Iohn v. Rom. v. Iohn vi Mark xi Roma xi Iohn xii i. Iohn iiiâ— i. Cor. iii. Math. xxvi Rom. viii Lib. de fide ad Petrum Lib. de Cain Abel The sick maÌ„s confession of his sinnes Mark ix Luke xvii Psalm xxv Psal. lxxxâ— Iere. xxxi Ezech. xâ—iii Of sinne Psal. vi Esay iii. Math. viii i. Pet. ii â—â— Cor. i. Math. ix Math xi Math. ix Luk xix Math. ix Mrth. xi x Luke vii Luke xix Luke vii Luke xvii Luke xv Luke xxii â—acha i. Iere. iii. Ioel. ii Psalm cliiii Psal. lxxxvi Psal. ciii Psal. cxxx Luke xv Luke x. i. Iohn iii. Roma v. Remedies against late repentaunce coÌ„uersion vnto God Iere. xxxâ— â–ª Ezech. xvâ—â—â— â–ª Math. v. Math. â—â—â— Math. i. Hebr. xiii â— Note Math. xx Luke xxii Prou. xxiii Eccle. vii Psal. xiii Math. xix Esay lxiiii ii Reg. i. Gen. 2.9.19 20.27.36.31 34.37 Exod. ii iii. Reg. xi Mat. xx xxvi Math. xviii Luke vii Luke xviii Math. vi Luke xi Iere. xviii Ezech. xviii and .xxxiiii. Psal. cix Hebr. vii Math. i. Rom. viii i. Tim. ii i. Iohn ii ii Cor. i. Româ— x. Iere. iii. Remedies against y e want of merites Tit. iii. Rom. xi Rom. vi Ephe. ii Galat. ii Math. ix Luke xv Luke x. Luke xv Luke vâ—â— Iohn xv Iohn iii. i. Iohn â—â—â— Ephe. i. Exod. xxxiii Roma ix Psal. xviâ— Psal. lvi De verb. Apo. serm 15. Lib. 2. contra Pela In Ioan. cap. 3 Home 25. De predest Sanctorum De vocat Gene. lib. 1. Cap. 5. Psal. ciâ—â— * â— Note i. Cor. xv i Cor. i Luke xix Math. ix Math. xi Math. i. Luke ii Esay lv Iohn vii Apoca. xxi Apoca. xxiâ— Esay ixi Luke iiii i. Tim. i. Cor. i. Iere. ix Phil. iii. Rom. xiii Rom. viii Math. xxi In mantali Cap. xxii Lib. medit Cap. 14. In cantica Of predestination Of repentaÌ„ce Math. ii Eze. xviii Of Faith Iohn iii. Iohn v. Iohn vii Iohn xi Iohn xi Act. x. Rom. x. Esay xxviii Of baptisme Math. xxviii Mark xvi Act. ii Gala. ii Rom. viii Roma viii Of y e Lordes supper Ephe. â— i. Cor. â— Of hearing Gods word Iacob i. Luke i. Iohn viii Psal. i. Iohn x. Iohn xviii Luke xi Of Prayer Ioel. ii Psal. ix â–ª Of the certeÌ„tie of Gods fauour toward vs and of our saluation The manner of the papists in alledging the scripturs Eccle. ix Apoca. xiii Luke ix Iohn â—â—â— Psalm cxlv Titus i Iohn xiiii Roma iii. Ezech. xxxiii Galat. iii. Math. xi Iohn iii. Psal. cxâ—v Marâ—â—â—â— Iacob â— The scholing of the Papistes Iacob i. Roma i. Iob. xiii Psal. xxvii Hebr. xi Hebre. iiii â–ª Math. v. What it is to beleue ii Tim. â— ii Tim. iâ—â—i â–ª Psal. xxâ—â— Phi. i. Actes vii Rom. viii i. Iohn iii. Iohn iii. Roma viii ii Cyr. iiii A Praier A Prayâ—â— for the sicke man Gene. vii Gene. xix Gene. xx Exod. xxiii xxiiii.xxv i. Reg. xvii Dan. iii. Dani. vi Ionas ii â—et xii The sicke mans prayer â–ª Psal. cxiiii Math. xviii Psal. xxxi Gen. iiiâ— Of the resurrection of the body Iohn xix Phil. iii. ii Cor. v Sentences concerning y e resurrection of the body Esay xxvi Esay lxvi Ezec. xxxvii Daniel xii iiii Esdr. ii Math. xxii Iohn v â–ª Iohn xi â— Cor. xv 〈…〉 â— Thes. iiii iii. Reg. xvii iiii Reg. iiii Math. ix Luke vii Iohn xi Mat. xxviii Mark xxviiâ— Act. ix.xx. Philip. i. Of y e immortalitie of the soule of the blessed state of the faithful after this lyfe i. Iohn ii Hebr. ix Roma viii Psal. xxii Apoc. xxi Math. xiii Esay lxvi Luke xvi Num. xxiii Psal. lxxxiiii Esay ii Esay xxxii Esay xlix Esay xlv Dan. xii iiii Esdr. ii Sapi. iii Sap. v. Toby iii. Eccle. vii Psal. cxvi Math. xiii Math. xix Math. xxv Marke xii Luke xvi Iohn xvi Luke xxii â— Cor. ii v Phil. ii Thes. iiii ii Ti. ii iiii â–ª Hebr. xii Iacob i. i. Pet. â— i. Iohn lii Apoca. ii Apoca. iii. Apoca. iiii Apoca. vii Apoc. xiiii Apo. xix xxi Esay xxv Esay lxiiâ— The descripâ—ion of y e new and heauenly Hierusalem Appo xxi Esay lx Apoc. xxâ—â— â–ª i. Cor. ii Psal. xlii Psal. lxiii Philip. 1. Iob. x. â—ob iii. Mat. xxvi The sicke mans praier Psalm xiiii The Flowre of godly prayers Math. ix Luke ix Prou. xvi Math. ix Math. x i. Thess. ii Roma x. Gala. iii. Hebr. vii Ose. xiii i. Cpr. xv Phil. iii. ii Cor. xv Psal. lxvii Psal. xii Iob. i. Psal. xxvii Apoc. xiii Psa. cxix Toby iii. Psa. xxii Psal. lxxi Psal. xxxiiii Psal. xci Hebr. i. The sicke mans praier An exortatioÌ„ to the sycke man Mat. xxiiii Apoca. ii Apoca. iii. Apoca. iiii Iohn â— Iohn xi Iohn xiiii Act. vii Luke xxiii An exhortatioÌ„ to the sick man The coÌ„mendation of the man departed Psal. cxvi Appo xiiii The Floure of godly prayers Psal. cxv Dan. xiii Sap. ii Apoc. xxiii Esay lxiii i. Cor. iii i. Tess â–ª v. i. Thess. ii
e throne of Gods maiestie to be testimonies witnesses of their true and vnfained sayth They therfore are to much fond and negligent of their owne saluation which trust other more then them selues in matters pertayning vnto the health of their soules Chri. There is an old saying in Latin and as I thinck noâ—â—les true thaÌ„ old It is this Da tua dum tua sunt post morteÌ„ tunc tuae non sunt Geue thy goodes while they be thine for after thy death they be none of thine Euse. I remember whan I was a child I learned .ii verses of my scholemaister which I haue not yet forgotten I wyll rehearse them vnto you Quod sibi quisque serit praesentis teÌ„pore vitae Hoc sibi messis erit cum dicitur Ite Venitae That a maÌ„ soweth for him self in y e time of this present life that shalbe his haruest or reape when it is saide Go Come Epap What meane you by that Go Come Eu. You know that to the vnfaithfull it shalbe sayd go ye cursed in to euerlasting fire whiche is prepared for y e deuill and his angels But to the faithfull it shalbe said on this maner Come ye blessed of my father possesse the kingdome whiche was prepared for you froÌ„ the beginning of the world The. S. Paule hath a sentence muche lyke vnto your verses whatsoe â—er a man soweth saith he y t shall he also reape For he that soweth in his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption But he that soweth in the spirit shall of y e spirite reape life euerlasting Phil. It is not w tout cause that the holy scripture doth so diligently call vs vnto repentaunce faith and good works in this present worlde For euerlasting life euen in this worlde is ether gotten or loste As God findeth vs so iudgeth he vs. Euerye tree is knowen and iudged by her owne fruite and not by the fruite of other trees Euery man lykewyse is iudged by his owne workes not by the workes of other as Christ saith to the vnprofitable seruaunt Of thine owne mouthe wil I iudge thee thou euil seruaÌ„t Teophilact saith The vertue of my neighbour shall scacely be inough to defend him selfe so farre is it of that it can profit me also For all men shall be declared to be righteous by their owne workes and not by the workes of theyr neighboures Euse. The Preacher saieth When the tre falleth whether it be toward the Southe or north in what place so euer it fall there it lieth Epap What is ment by that Euse. The tre signifieth euery one of vs y t are the children of Adam We fal that is to say we die ether toward the south or toward the north that is either in the state of saluation or damnatioÌ„ In what state soeuer we die in the same remaine we There is no chaunge after this life Ether with poore Lazarus we goe into the bosome of Abraham or els with that vnmercifull ryche man into the fier of hell There are but two places after this life hel and heauen If we depart in the faith of Christe we goe straighawayes vnto the glory of heauen But if we die in vnbelief than go we to the Deuill as the scripture sayth He that beleueth on y e sonne hath euerlasting life But he that beleueth not on the sonne shall not see lyfe but the wrath of God abideth vpon him Christo. S. Iohn Chrisostome saith he that washeth not awaye his synnes in this present life shall finde no comfort afterward c. Theph The same doctor also hath this saying Let vs not thinke saith he that wheÌ„ we come thither he meaneth vnto the iudging place of God mercy shal be geuen vnto vs seing we do not so behaue our selues in this world that we may deserue to haue forgeuenes though Abraham shuld pray for vs though Noe though Iob though Daniell shuld make intercessioÌ„ for vs. Therfore while we haue tyme let vs prepare for our selues that whiche may stand vs in steade a fore God an other day Eus. Hereto agreeth the saying of S. Ciprian Then that is to say after death shall repentaÌ„ce be without fruite and the sorowe of paine weping also shall be in vayn and praier shalbe to no purpose Therefore make prouision while ye may for your safegard life Again he saith When we be once departed out of this worlde there is no more place for repentaunce there is no effect of â—atisfaction In this worlde life is either lost or gotten Here through the worshipping of God and the fruit of fayth prouision is made for euerlasting saluation Epa. I se than both by the aucthoritie of y e holy scriptures and of the auncieÌ„t doctours that the workes whiche are done for them that are departed out of this worlde by other are but vayne and vnprofitable whether they departe in fayth or otherwyse For y e faithfull departe straightwaies vnto glory and the vnfaithful vnto euerlasting pain The one sort haue no nede of praier for they be already in most blessed state and ioyful reast And the other are in so damnable case that praier can do no good for them no though Abraham Noe Iob Daniel and all the best that euer lyued shuld pray for theÌ„ For in hell there is no redemption And Abraham said to the rich maÌ„ There is betwene vs and you a great space set so y t they whiche wold go from heÌ„ce vnto you caÌ„not neither may they y t are there come hither vnto vs. Phi. The truth is neighbor Epaphroditus y e papistes haue long bewitched the eies of y e simple by making theÌ„ beleue that the soules of the faythfull goe not straightwaies after their departure vnto eternal glory but rather vnto purgatory a place of their own deuising for the maintenance of their idle bellies there to lie miserablie puling til they be redemed by treÌ„talles by pilgrimages going by pardons c. Our sauiour Christe in the gospell teacheth maketh meÌ„cion of two waies But y e third is not found in the holy scripture One is a straight way which leadeth vnto life fewe ther be that finde it The other is a brode way which leadeth vnto destruction many ther be y t go in therat Ep. I beleue am throwly perswaded y t by y t merits of his precious bloud which said vnto y e penitent thefe this day shalt thou be with me in paradise my soule immediatly after the departure froÌ„ this vile body shall be receiued vnto glory â—se y e glorious maiestie of God face to face as y e Psalmograph sayth I beleue to see the pleasures and good thinges of the Lorde in the land of the liuing I fear the Popish purgatory the paynes therof nothing at all My pain endeth in this life And the ende of this life is the beginning of my ioye This hope lieth vp buried in