shall I render to the Lord for all his benefites I will take the cup of saluation and call vpon the name of the Lord. And as rauisht from thy selfe with the sweet apprehension of this mercy call all the other creatures to the fellowshippe of this ioy with that diuine Esay Reioyce O yee heauens for the Lord hath done it showte yee lower partes of the earth burst forth into prayses yee mountaines for the Lord hath redeemed Iacob and will be glorified in Israel And euen now beginne that heauenlie Song which shall neuer end with those glorified Saints Prayse and honour and glory and power be to him that sitteth vpon the throne and to the Lambe for euermore Thus our speech of Christes last wordes is finished His last act accompanied his wordes our speech must follow it let it not want your deuout carefull attention Hee bowed and gaue vp the ghost The Crosse was a slow death had more paine then speed whence a second violence must dispatch the crucified their bones must be broken that their hearts might breake Our Sauiour stayes not deaths leysure but willingly and couragiously meetes him in the way and like a Champion that scornes to be ouercome yea knowes he cannot be yeeldeth in the middest of his strength that hee might by dying vanquish death Hee bowed and gaue vp Not bowing because hee had giuen vp but because hee would Hee cried with a lowde voyce saith Matthew Nature was strong hee might haue liued but hee gaue vp the Ghost and would die to shew him selfe Lord of life and Death Oh wondrous example hee that gaue life to his enemies gaue vpp his owne hee giues them to liue that persecute and hate him and himselfe will die the whiles for those that hate him Hee bowed and gaue vp not they they might crowne his head they could not bow it they might vexe his spirite not take it away they could not doe that without leaue this they could not doe because they had no leaue Hee alone would bow his head and giue vp his Ghost I haue power to lay downe my life Man gaue him not his life man could not bereaue it No man takes it from me Alas who could The high-Priestes forces when they came against him armed he said but I am he they flee and fall backward How easie a breath disperst his enemies whom he might as easily haue bidden the earth yea hell to swallow or fire from heauen to deuoure Who commaunded the Diuels and they obeyed could not haue beene attached by men he must giue not onely leaue but power to apprehend himselfe else they had not liu'd to take him hee is laide holde of Peter fights Put vp saith Christ Thinkest thou that I cannot pray to my Father and hee will giue mee more then 12. Legions of Angels VVhat an Army were here more then threescore and twelue thousand Angels and euery Angell able to subdue a world of men hee could but would not be rescued hee is led by his owne power not by his enemies and stands now before Pilate like the scorne of men crowned robbed scourged with an Ecce homo Yet thou couldest haue no power against me vnlesse it were giuen thee from aboue Behold he himselfe must giue Pilate power against himselfe else hee could not be condemned he will be condemned lifted vp nailed yet no death without himselfe Hee shall giue his soule an offering for sinne Esay 53.10 No action that sauours of constraint can be meritorious hee would deserue therefore he would suffer and die Hee bowed his head and gaue vp the Ghost O gracious and bountifull Sauiour hee might haue kept his soule within his teeth in spight of all the world the weakenesse of God is stronger then men and if he had but spoken the word the heauens and earth should haue vanisht away before him but he would not Behold when hee saw that impotent man could not take away his soule he gaue it vp and would die that we might liue See here a Sauiour that can contemne his own life for ours cares not to be dissolued in himselfe that we might be vnited to his Father Skinne for skinne saith the Diuell and all that hee hath a man will giue for his life Loe here to proue Sathan a lyer skin and life and all hath Christ Iesus giuen for vs. We are besotted with the earth and make base shifts to liue one with a maimed bodie another with a periured soule a third with a rotten name and how many had rather neglect their soule then their life and will rather renounce and curse GOD then die It is a shame to tell many of vs Christians dote vpon life and tremble at death and shew our selues fooles in our excesse of loue Cowards in our feare Peter denies Christ thrice and forsweares him Marcellinus twice casts graines of incense into the Idolles fire Ecebolius turnes thrice Spira reuolts and despaires Oh let mee liue saith the fearefull soule Whither dost thou reserue thy selfe thou weake and timorous Creature or what wouldest thou doe with thy selfe Thou hast not thus learned Christ hee dies voluntarily for thee thou wilt not bee forced to die for him hee gaue vp the Ghost for thee thou wilt not let others take it from thee for him thou wilt not let him take it for himselfe VVhen I looke backe to the first Christians and compare their zealous contempt of death with our backewardnesse I am at once amased and ashamed I see there euen women the feebler sexe running with their little ones in their armes for the preferment of martyrdome and ambitiously striuing for the next blow I see holy and tender virgins chusing rather a sore and shamefull death then honourable Espousals I heare the blessed Martyrs intreating their Tyrants and tormentors for the honour of dying Jgnatius amongst the rest fearing least the beastes will not deuoure him and vowing the first violence to them that he might bee dispatched And what lesse courage was there in our memorable and glorious forefathers of the last of this age and doe wee their cold and feeble ofspring looke pale at the face of a faire and naturall death abhorre the violent though for Christ Alas how haue we gathered rust with our long peace Our vnwillingnesse is from inconsideration from distrust Looke but vp to Christ Iesus vpon his Crosse and see him bowing his head and breathing out his soule and these feares shall vanish he died and wouldest thou liue he gaue vpp the Ghost and wouldest thou keepe it whome wouldest thou follow if not thy Redeemer If thou die not if not willingly thou goest contrary to him and shalt neuer meete him Though thou shouldest euery day die a death for him thou couldest neuer requite his one death and doest thou sticke at one Euery word hath his force both to him thee hee died which is Lord of life and commander of death thou art but a tenant of
Chrysostome saith well that some actions are parables so may I say some actions are prophesies such are all types of Christ and this with the formost Lift vp whither to the Crosse it is the prophesie hanging vpon a tree saith Moses how lift vp nayled to it so is the prophesie foderunt manus they haue pierced my hands and my feet sayth the Psalmist with what company two theeues with the wicked was hee numbred sayth Esay where without the gates saith the prophesie what becomes of his garments they cannot so much as cast the dice for his coate but it is prophesied They diuided my garments and on my vestures cast lots saith the Psalmist hee must die then on the Crosse but how voluntarily Not a bone of him shall be broken what hinders it loe there he hangs as it were neglected and at mercy yet all the raging Iewes no all the Diuels in hell cannot stirre one bone in his blessed body It was prophesied in the Easter-Lambe and it must be fulfilled in him that is the true Passeouer in spight of fiendes and men how then he must be thrust in the side behold not the very speare could touch his pretious side being dead but it must bee guided by a prophesie They shall see him whome they haue thrust thorough saith Zacharie what shall he say the while not his very words but are forespoken his complaint Eli Eli lamma sabactani as the Chalde or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Hebrew Psalme 22.2 his resignation In manus tuas Into thy bandes I commend my spirit Psalme 31.5 His request Father forgiue them Hee prayed for the transgressors sayth Esay And now when he saw al these prophesies were fulfilled knowing that one remained he said I thirst Domine quid sitis saith one O LORD what thirstest thou for A strange hearing that a man yea that GOD and MAN dying should complaine of thirst Could he endure the scorching flames of the wrath of his Father the curse of our sins those tortures of body those horrours of soule doth he shrinke at his thirst no no he could haue borne his drought he could not beare the Scripture not fulfilled It was not necessity of nature but the necessity of his Fathers decree that drew forth this word I thirst They offered it before hee refused it whether it were an ordinarie potion for the condemned to hasteÌ„ death as in the story of M. Anthonie which is the most receiued construction or whether it were that Iewish potion whereof the Rabbines speake whose tradition was that the malefactor to bee executed should after some good counsell from two of their Teachers be taught to say Let my death bee to the remission of all my sinnes and then that hee should haue giuen him a boule of mixt wine with a graine of Frankincense to bereaue him both of reason and paine I durst be confident in this latter the rather for that Saint Marke calls this draught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Myrrhe wine mingled as is like with other ingredients And Montanus agrees with me in the end ad stuporeÌ„ mentis alienationem A fashion which Galatine obserues out of the Sannedrim to bee grounded vpon Prouerbs 31.6 Giue strong drinke to him that is readie to perish I leaue it modestly in the middest let the learneder iudge whatsoeuer it were hee would not die till hee had complained of thirst and in his thirst tasted it Neither would hee haue thirsted for or tasted any but this bitter draught that the Scripture might bee fulfilled They gaue me vineger to drinke And loe now ConsuÌ„matum est all is finished If there bee any Iew amongst you that like one of Iohns vnseasonable Disciples shall aske Art thou hee or shall wee looke for another Hee hath his aunswere yee men of Israel why stand you gazing and gaping for another Messias In this alone all the Prophesies are finished and of him alone all was prophesied that was finished Paules old rule holdes still To the Jewes a stumbling blocke and that more auncient Curse of Dauid Let their table bee made a snare And Steuens two brands sticks still in the flesh of these wretched men One in their necke stiffe-necked the other in their heart vncircumcised the one Obstinacie the other Vnbeliefe stiffe neckes indeede that will not stoope and relent with the yoke of sixeteen hundred yeares iudgement and seruility vncircumcised hearts the fiâ—me of whose vnbeliefe would not be cut off with so infinit conuictions Oh mad miserable nation let them shew vs one prophesie that is not fulfilled let them shew vs one other in whome all the prophesies can be fulfilled and wee will mixe pitty with our hate If they cannot and yet resist their doome is past Those mine enemies that would not haue me to raigne ouer them bring them hither slay them before me So let thine enemies perish O Lord. But what goe I so farre euen amongst vs to our shame this riotous age hath bred a monstrous generation I pray God I be not now in some of your bosoms that heare me this day compounded much like to the Turkish Religion of one part Christian another lew a third worldling a fourth Atheist a Christians face a Iewes heart a worldlings life and therefore Atheous in the whole that acknowledge a God and know him not that professe a Christ but doubt of him yea belieue him not The foole hath said in his heart there is no Christ What shall I say of these men they are worse then Deuils that yeelding euill spirite could say Iesus I know and these miscreants are still in the old tune of that tempting Deuil Si tu es filius Dei if thou be the Christ Oh God that after so cleare a Gospell so many miraculous confirmations so many thousand martyrdomes so many glorious victories of truth so many open confessions of Angels men diuels friendes enemies such conspirations of heauen and earth such vniuersall contestations of all ages and people there should bee left any sparke of this damnable infidelitie in the false harts of men Behold then yee despisers wonder and vanish away whome haue all the Prophets fore-told or what haue the prophesies of so many hundreds yea thousands of yeeres foresaid that is not with this word finished who could foretell these thinges but the spirite of God who could accomplish them but the Sonne of God Hee spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets saith Zacharie hee hath spoken and he hath done one true God in both none other spirit could foresay these things should be done none other power could doe these things thus fore shewed this word therefore can fit none but the mouth of God our Sauiour It is finished Wee know whome wee haue beleeued Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing GOD. Let him that loues not the Lord Iesus bee accursed to the death Thus the prophesies are finished Of the legall
obseruations with more breuity Christ is the end of the Law what law Ceremoniall Morall Of the Morall it was kept perfectly by himselfe satisfied fully for vs Of the Ceremoniall it was referred to him obserued of him fulfilled in him abolisht by him There were nothing more easie then to shew you how all those Iewish Ceremonies lookt at Christ how Circumcision Passeouer the Tabernacle both outer and inner the Temple the Lauer both the Altars the tables of Shew-bread the Candlestickes the Vaile the Holy of holies the Arke the Propitiatory the potte of Manna Aarons rod the high Priest his order and line his habites his inaugurations his washings annointings sprincklings offerings the sacrifices 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what euer Iewish rite had their vertue from Christ relation to him and their end in him This was then their last gaspe for now straight they dyed with Christ now the vayle of the Temple rent As Austen well notes out of Mathewes order It tore then when Christs last breath passed That conceit of Theophilact is witty that as the Iewes were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemie so the Temple not enduring these execrable blasphemies against the Sonne of God tore his vaile in peeces But that is not all the vaile rent is the obligation of the rituall law cancelled the way into the heauenly Sanctuarie opened the shadow giuing roome to the substance in a word it dooth that which Christ saith Consummatum est Euen now then the law of ceremonies died It had along solemne buriall as Augustine sayeth well perhaps figured in Moses who died not lingringly but was thirtie dayes mourned for what meanes the Church of Rome to dig them vp now rotten in their graues that not as if they had been buried but sown with a plenteous increase yea with the inuerted vsurie of too many of you Citizens ten for one It is a graue and deep censure of that resolute Hierome Ego è contrario loquar c. I say saith he and in spite of all the world dare maintaine that now the Iewish ceremonies are pernitious and deadly and whosoeuer shall obserue them whether he be Iew or Gentile in barathrum Diaboli deuolutum shal frie in hell for it Still Altars Still Priestes sacrifices still still washings still vnctions sprinkling shauing purifying still all and more then all Let them heare but Augustines censure Quisquis nunc c. Whosoeuer shall now vse them as it were raking them vp out of their dust he shal not be Pius deductor corporis sed impius sepulturae violator an impious and sacrilegious wretch that ran sackes the quiet tombes of the dead I say not that all Ceremonies are dead but the Law of Ceremonies and of Iewish It is a sound distinction of them that profound Peter Martyr hath in his Epistle to that worthy Martyr Father Bishop Hooper Some are typicall fore-signifying Christ to come some of order and decencie Those are abrogated not these the Iewes had a fashion of prophesying in the Churches so the Christians from them as Ambrose the Iewes had an eminent pulpit of wood so wee they gaue names at their Circumcision so wee at Baptisme they sung Psalmes melodiously in Churches so doe wee they paide and receiued tithes so do we they wrapt their dead in linnen with odors so we the Iewes had sureties at their admission into the church so we these Instances might be infinite the Spouse of Christ cannot be without her laces and chaines and borders Christ came not to dissolue order But thou Lorde how long how long shall thy poore Church find her ornamentes her sorrows and see the deare sonnes of her wombe bleeding about these apples of strife let me so name them not for their value euē small things when they are commaunded looke for no small respect but for their euent the enemy is at the gates of our Syracuse how long will wee suffer our selues taken vp with angles and circles in the dust yee men brethren fathers helpe for Gods sake put to your hands to the quenching of this common flame the one side by humility obedience the other by compassion both by prayers and teares who am I that I should reuiue to you the sweete spirit of that diuine Augustine who when he heard and saw the bitter contentions betwixt two graue famous Diuines Jerome and Ruffine Heu mihi saith he qui vos ali cubi simul inuenire non possum Alas that I should neuer find you two together how I would fall at your feete how I would embrace them and weepe vpon them and beseech you eyther of you for other and each for himselfe both of you for the Church of God but especially for the weake for whome Christ died who not without their owne great danger see you two fighting in this Theater of the world Yet let me do what he said hee would doe begge for peace as for life by your filiall piety to the Church of GOD whose ruines follow vpon our diuisions by your loue of Gods truth by the graces of that one blessed Spirite whereby we are all enformed and quickened by the pretious bloud of that sonne of God which this day and this howre was shed for our redemption bee enclined to peace loue though our brains bee different yet let our hearts bee one It was as I heard the dying speech of our late reuerend worthy and gracious Diocesan Modo me moriente viuat ac floreat Ecclesia Oh yet if when I am dead the Church may liue and flourish What a spirit was here what a speech how worthy neuer to die how worthy of a soule so neere to his heauen how worthie of so happie a succession Yee whome God hath made inheritors of this blessed care who do no lesse long for the prosperity of Siō liue you to effect what he did but liue to wish all peace with our selues and warre with none but Rome and Hell And if there bee any weyward Seperatist whose soule professeth to hate peace I feare to tell him Pauls message yet I must Would to God those were cut off that trouble you How cut off As good Theodosius saide to Demophilus a contentious Prelate Si tu pacem fugis c. If thou flie peace I will make thee flie the Church Alas they doe flie it that which should be their punishment they make their contentment how are they worthy of pitty As Optatus of his Donatists they are Brethren might be companions and will not Oh wilfull men whither do they runne from one Christ to another Is Christ diuided wee haue him thanks be to our good God and we heare him dayly and whither shall wee goe from thee thou hast the wordes of eternall life Thus the Ceremonies are finished now heare the end of his sufferings with like patience and deuotion his death is here included it was so neare that he spake of it
hell his enemies are made his footstoole are now nayled to the footstoole of the Crosse those hands that freelie sway the scepter of the heauens now carry the reede of reproach are nayled to the tree of reproch that whole body which was conceiued by the holy Ghost was all scourged wounded mangled This is the outside of his sufferings Was his heart free Oh no the inner part or soule of this paine which was vnseene is as farre beyond these outward and sensible as the soule is beyond the body Gods wrath beyond the malice of men these were but loue-tricks to what his soule endured O all yee that passe by the way behold and see if there bee any sorrow like to my sorrow Alas Lord what can we see of thy sorrows we cannot conceiue so much as the hainousnes and desert of one of those sinnes which thou barest wee can no more see thy paine then we could vndergoe it onely this wee see that what the infinite sins of almost infinite men committed against an infinite Maiesty deserued in infinite continuance all this thou in the short time of thy passion hast sustained We may behold and see but all the glorious spirites in Heauen cannot looke into the depth of this suffering Doe but looke yet a little into the passions of this his Passion for by the maner of his sufferings we shall best see what he suffered Wise and resolute men do not complaine of a little holy Martyrs haue beene racked and would not bee loosed what shall we say if the author of their strength God man bewray passions what would not haue ouerwhelmed men would not haue made him shrinke and what made him complaine could neuer haue beene sustained by men VVhat shall we then thinke if he were affrighted with terrors perplexed with sorrowes and distracted with both these And lo he was all these for first here was an amazed feare for millions of men to dispaire was not so much as for him to feare and yet it was no sleight feare he beganne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be astonished with terrour Which in the dayes of his flesh offered vp prayers and supplications with strong cries and teares to him that was able to helpe him and was heard in that hee feared Neuer man was so afraide of the torments of hell as Christ standing in our roome of his fathers wrath Feare is still sutable to apprehension Neuer man could so perfectly apprehend this cause of feare hee felt the chastisements of our peace yea the curse of our sins and therefore might well say with Dauid I suffer thy terrours with a troubled mind yea with Iob The arrows of God are in mee and the terrors of God fight against mee VVith feare there was a deiecting sorow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soule is on all sides heauy to the death his strong cries his many teares are witnesses of this Passion hee had formerly shed teares of pity and teares of loue but now of anguish he had before sent foorth cries of mercy neuer of complaint til now when the Son of God weeps and cries what shall we say or thinke yet further betwixt both these and his loue what a conflict was there It is not amisse distinguished that he was alwayes in Agone but now in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a strugling passion of mixed griefe Behold this field was not without sweate and bloud yea a sweate of bloud Oh what man or Angell can conceiue the taking of that heart that without all outward violence meerely out of the extremity of his owne Passion bled thorough the flesh and skinne not some faint dew but solid droppes of bloud No thornes no nailes fetcht bloud from him with so much paine as his own thoughts he saw the fierce wrath of his Father and therefore feared he saw the heauy burden of our sinnes to bee vndertaken and thereupon besides feare iustly grieued hee saw the necessity of our eternall damnation if hee suffered not if he did suffer of our redemption and therefore his loue incountered both griefe and feare In it selfe hee would not drinke of that cuppe in respect of our good and his decree he would and did and while he thus striueth hee sweates and bleedes There was neuer such a combat neuer such a bloudshed and yet it is not finished I dare not say with some Schoole-men that the sorrow of his Passion was not so great as the sorrow of his compassion yet that was surely exceeding great To see the vngratious carelesnesse of mankind the slender fruit of his sufferings the sorrowes of his mother Disciples friends to foresee from the watch-tower of his Crosse the future temptations of his children desolations of his Church all these must needs strike deepe into a tender heart These hee still sees and pitties but without passion then he suffered in seeing them Can we yet say any more Loe al these sufferings are aggrauated by his fulnes of knowledge and want of comfort for he did not shut his eyes as one saith when he drunke this cuppe he saw how dreggish and knew how bitter it was Sodaine euils afflict if not lesse shorter He foresaw and foresaid euery particular he should suffer so long as he foresaw he suffered the expectation of euill is not lesse then the sense to looke long for good is a punishment but for euill is a torment No passion works vpon an vnknown obiect as no loue so no feare is of what we know not Hence men feare not hell because they foresee it not if we could see that pit opē before we come at it it would make vs tremble at our sins and our knees to knocke together as Baltazars and perhaps without faith to run mad at the horror of iudgement He saw the burden of all particular sinnes to be laid vpon him euery dramme of his fathers wrath was measured out to him ere he toucht this potion this cup was full and hee knew that it must bee wringd not a drop left it must bee finished Oh yet if as he foresaw all his sorrows so he could haue seene some mixture of refreshing But I found none to comfort me no none to pitie me And yet it is a poore comfort that arises from pitty Euen so O Lord thou treadest this wine-presse alone none to accompany none to assist thee I remember Ruffinus in his Ecclesiasticall storie reports that one Theodorus a Martyr tolde him that when he was hanging ten howres vpon the racke for religion vnder Iulians persecution his ioyntes distended and distorted his body exquisitely tortured with change of Executioners so as neuer age sayth hee could remember the like hee felt no paine at all but continued indeede all the while in the sight of all men singing and smiling for there stood a comely young man by him on his libbet an Angell rather in forme of a man which with a clean towell still wipt off his sweat and powred coole water vpon
life a subiect of death And yet it was not a dying but a giuing vp not of a vanishing aerie breath but of a spirituall soule which after separation hath an entire life in it selfe He gaue vpp the Ghost he died that hath both ouercome and sanctified and sweetned death What fearest thou hee hath puld out the sting and malignity of death If thou bee a Christian carry it in thy bosome it hurts thee not Darest thou not trust thy Redeemer If hee had not dyed death had beene a Tyrant now hee is a slaue O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victory Yet the Spirite of God saith not he dyed but gaue vpp the Ghost The verie Heathen Poet saith Hee durst not say that a good man dies It is worth the noting mee thinkes that when Saint Luke would describe to vs the death of Ananias and Sapphira he sayeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee expired but when Saint Iohn would describe Christs death hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee gaue vp the Ghost how how gaue hee it vpp and whither so as after a sort hee retained it his soule parted from his body his Godhead was neuer distracted eyther from soule or body this vnion is not in nature but in person If the natures of Christ could be diuided each would haue his subsistence so there should be more persons God forbid one of the natures therefore may haue a separation in it selfe the soule from the body one nature cannot be separate from other or eyther nature from the person If you cannot conceiue wonder the Sonne of GOD hath wedded vnto himselfe our humanity without all possibility of diuorce the body hangs on the Crosse the soule is yeelded the Godhead is euiternally vnited to them both acknowledges sustaines them both The soule in his agonie feeles not the presence of the God head the body vpon the Crosse feeles not the presence of the soule Yet as the Fathers of Chalcedon say truely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indiuisibly inseparably is the Godhead with both of these still and euer one and the same person The Passion of Christ as Augustine was the sleepe of his Diuinity so I may say The death of Christ was the sleepe of his humanity If hee sleepe he shall doe well said that Disciple of Lazarus Death was too weake to dissolue the eternall bonds of this heauenly coniunction Let not vs Christians go too much by sense wee may be firmely knit to God not feele it thou canst not hope to be so neare to thy God as Christ was vnited personally thou canst not feare that God should seeme more absent from thee then hee did from his owne Sonne yet was hee still one with both body and soule when they were diuided from themselues whē he was absent to sense he was present to faith when absent in vision yet in vnion one and the same so will hee be to thy soule when it is at worst Hee is thine and thou art his if thy hold seeme loosened his is not When temptations will not let thee see him hee sees thee and possesses thee only belieue thou against sense aboue hope though he kill thee yet trust in him Whither gaue hee it vp Himselfe expresses Father into thy handes and This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise It is iustice to restore whence wee receiue Into thy hands He knew where it should be both safe happie true hee might bee bold thou saist as the Sonne with the father The seruants haue done so Dauid before him Steuen after him And least wee should not thinke it our common right Father sayth hee I will that those thou hast giuen me may be with me euen where I am hee willes it therefore it must bee It is not presumption but faith to charge God with thy spirite neither can there euer bee any belieuing soule so meane that hee should refuse it all the feare is in thy selfe how canst thou trust thy iewell with a stranger What sodaine familiarity is this God hath beene with thee and gone by thee thou hast not saluted him and now in all the hast thou bequeathest thy soule to him On what acquaintance how desperate is this carelesnesse If thou haue but a little money whither thou keepe it thou layest it vp in the Temple of trust or whether thou let it thou art sure of good assurance sound bonds if but a litle land how carefully dost thou make firme conueyances to thy desired heires If goods thy will hath taken secure order who shall enioy them wee need not teach you Citizēs to make sure worke for your estates if Children thou disposest of them in trades with portions onely of thy soule which is thy self thou knowest not what shall become The world must haue it no more thy selfe wouldst keepe it but thou knowest thou canst not Sathan would haue it and thou knowest not whether hee shall thou wouldest haue God haue it and thou knowest not whether hee will yea thy heart is now ready with Pharaoh to say Who is the Lord O the fearefull and miserable estate of that man that must part with his soule hee knowes not whither which if thou wouldest auoide as this very warning shall iudge thee if thou doe not be acquainted with GOD in thy life that thou mayest make him the Gardian of thy soule in thy death Giuen vp it must needs be but to him that hath gouerned it if thou haue giuen it to Sathan in thy life how canst thou hope God will in thy death entertaine it Did you not hate mee and expell me out of my fathers house how then come yee to me now in this time of your tribulation said Ieptha to the men of Gilead No no eyther giue vp thy soule to God while hee calls for it in his word in the prouocations of his loue in his afflictions in the holy motions of his spirit to thine or else when thou wouldest giue it hee will none of it but as a Iudge to deliuer it to the Tormentor What should God doe with an vncleane drunken prophane proud couetous soule without holinesse it is no seeing of God Depart from me yee wicked I know yee not goe to the gods you haue serued See how God is euen with men they had in the time of the Gospell saide to the holy one of Israel Depart from vs now in the time of iudgement hee sayth to them Depart from me They would not know God when they might now God will not know them when they would Now therefore beloued if thou wouldest not haue God scorne the offer of thy death-bed fit thy soule for him in thy health furnish it with grace inure it to a sweet conuersation with the God of heauen then mayest thou boldly giue it vpp and he shall as graciously receiue it yea fetch it by his Angels to his glory· He gaue vp the Ghost Wee must doe as he did not all with the
same successe Giuing vp supposes a receiuing a returning This inmate that wee haue in our bosome is sent to lodge here for a time may not dwell here alwayes The right of this tenure is the Lords not ours As he said of the hatchet It is but lent it must be restored It is ours to keepe his to dispose and require See and consider both our priuiledge and charge It is not with vs as with brute Creatures we haue a liuing ghost to informe vs which yet is not ours and alas what is ours if our soules bee not but must be giuen vp to him that gaue it VVhy do we liue as those that tooke no keepe of so glorious a guest as those that should neuer part with it as those that thinke it giuen them to spend not to returne with a reckoning If thou hadst no soule if a mortall one if thine owne if neuer to bee required how couldest thou liue but sensually Oh remember but who thou art what thou hast and whether thou must and thou shalt liue like thy selfe while thou art and giue vpp thy ghost confidently when thou shalt cease to be Neither is there here more certainety of our departure then comfort Carry this with thee to thy death-bed and see if it can refresh thee when all the worlde cannot giue thee one dramme of comfort Our spirit is our dearest riches if wee should lose it here were iust cause of griefe Howle and lament if thou thinkest thy soule perisheth it is not forfeited but surrendered How safely doth our soule passe through the gates of death without any impeachment while it is in the hands of the Almighty Woe were vs if hee did not keepe it while we haue it much more when wee restore it Wee giue it vp to the same hands that created infused redeemed renewed that doe protect preserue establish and will crowne it I know whome I haue beleeued am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I haue committed to him against that day O secure and happy estate of the godly O blessed exchange of our condition while our soule dwels in our breast how is it subiect to infinite miseries distempred with passions charged with sinnes vexed with tentations aboue none of these how should it bee otherwise This is our pilgrimage that our home this our wildernesse that our land of promise this our bondage that our kingdom our impotency causeth this our sorrow VVhen our soule is once giuen vpp what euill shall reach vnto heauen and wrestle with the Almighty Our loathnes to giue vpp comes from our ignorance and infidelity No man goes vnwillingly to a certain preferment I desire to bee dissolued saith Paul I haue serued thee I haue beleeued thee and now J come to thee saith Luther The voices of Saintes not of men If thine heart can say thus thou shalt not need to intreat with old Hilarion Egredere mea anima egredere quid times Goe thy wayes forth my soule go forth what fearest thou but it shall flie vpp alone cherefully from thee and giue vp it selfe into the armes of God as a faithfull Creator and Redeemer This earth is not the element of thy soule it is not where it should bee It shall bee no lesse thine when it is more the owners Thinke now seriously of this point Gods Angell is abroade and strikes on all sides wee know not which of our turnes shall be the next we are sure we carry deaths enough within vs. If we be readie our day can not come too soone Stir vp thy soule to an heauenly cherefulnesse like thy Sauiour Know but whither thou art going thou canst not but with diuine Paul say from our Sauiours mouth euen in this sense It is a more blessed thing to giue then to receiue God cannot abide an vnwilling guest giue vp that spirit to him which hee hath giuen thee and he will both receiue what thou giuest and giue it thee againe with that glory and happinesse which can neuer be conceiued and shall neuer bee ended Euen so Lord Iesus Come quicklie Gloria in excelsis DEO 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sit mors mea in remissio nem omnium iniquitatum mearum Vt vsus rationis tollatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. ad Hie. Dum volunt Iudaei esse Christiani nec Iudaei sunt nec christiani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex quo apparet tunc scissum esse cum Christus emisit spirituÌ„ Ceremoniae sicut defuncta corpora necessarioruÌ„ officijs deducenda erant ad sepulturam non simulatè sed religiosè nec deserenda continuò Augustin Ego è contrario loquar reclamante mundo liberâ voce pronuÌ„ciem ceremonias IudaeoruÌ„ perniciosas esse et mortiferas quicunque eas obseruauerit siue ex Gentibus in barathrum diaboli deuolutum Hier. Quisquis nunc ea celebrare voluerit tanquam sopitos cineres eruens non erit pius c. Si tu pacem fugis ego te ab Ecclesia fugere mando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 24.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 26.27 In medio la tronum tanquam latronum â—mmanissimus Luther Caput Angelicis spiritibus â—â—emebundii spinis coronatur c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vt nulla vnquam aetas similem meminerit â— Thes 5 10 MaledictuÌ„ silentium quod hic conniuet Negotiatores terrae sunt ipsi Sacerdotes qui vendunt orationes missas pro denarijs Facientes domum orationis Apothecam negotionis Jn Reuel l. 10. p. 5. Bellar. l. 1. de Indulgent Reuel 5. Quod emittitur voluntarium est quod amittitur necessarium Ambr. Quod si venire noluerint ego vim faciam vt deuorer Si per singulos dies pro eo moreremur qui nos dilexit non sic debitum exolâ—eremus Chrysost Act. 5.5 Quantumcunque te deieceris humilior non eris Christo Hieron Vt contra Nullam animam recipio quae me nolente seperatur à corpore Hieron