The Life of Faith in Death Exemplified, Part 3

The Life of Faith in Death Exemplified · Part 3

p. 47THE LIFE OF FAITH in DEATH.

REVEL. 6. 7. 8.

foreign. Come and see.

And behold a pale horse, and his name that sate on him was Death, and Hell followed after him, and power was giuen vntounto them, &c.

COme and see. Were it some stately, some pleasing, yea or but some vaine sight such as Mordecay riding on the kings Horse in pompe with the Royall Furniture: or but a company of Players, riding through a Market, p. 48A Drum, a Trumpet, or the least call would serue the turne, to draw vsus out to the sight: But these being serious, yea to nature somwhat hideous and odious Voyces, like vntounto Thunders, are giuen to the beasts to call beholders. The Cryer in the Wildernesse is willed to cry this Theme aloud in the deafe eares of men. A Boanerges with all the vehemency and contention of his voyce and affections, will bee too little, vnlesse God boare the eares, open the eyes, and perswade the hearts of men to Come and see. Yet is it but our folly to be so shye of this sight, for though it bee sad, yet is it of all the sights vnderunder the Sunne the most necessary, the most profitable; Though we turne away our faces and close our eyes, yet see it wee must, and see it wee shall, neuer the lesse, neuer the sooner, neuer the later. p. 49Nay, the truth is, see it wee neuer shall, but with closed eyes. Thou tender faint-hearted man or woman that art so loath to meete with a Corps or Beere, to see a skull, or any thing that minds thee of Death, shalt thou by this meanes protract or escape thy Death? No, let mee tell thee praeuision is the best preuention, and praemonition the best praemunition. That which is commonly receiued of the Basiliske, is here no conceited Story, but a serious truth. He that sees it before he be seene of it, may auoyd the deadly poyson of it. Hee that sees it before it comes, shall not see it when it comes. Hee that mannageth an horse at an armed stake, fits him to rush into the maine Battell without feare. And wouldest thou with Ioseph of Arimathaea, walke eueryevery day a turne or two with p. 50Death in thy Garden, and well foreacquaint thy selfe therewithall, thou shouldest hauehave, if not Enochs, yet eueryevery true beleeuers Priuiledge, not to see Death, not to taste of Death, viz. in that ougly forme, distastfull manner, which other the sonnes of Adam do, who because they will not see the face of it, must feele the sting of it. To dye well and cheerfully, is too busie a worke to be well done ex tempore. The Foundation of Death must bee layde in life. Hee that meanes, and desires to dye well, must dye daily. Hee that would ende his dayes well, must spend them well, the one will helpe the other. The thoughts of thy end as the trayne of the Foule and Rudder of a Shipp will guide thy life, and a good Life will leade thee to a peaceable end, that thou shalt neither shame or feare to p. 51dye. In a word, Platoes Phylosophy in this, is true Diuinitie: that the best meane, and whole summe of a wise mans life, is the Commentation of Death, not eueryevery fleet and flitting flash, but frequent and fixed contemplations. Death is the knownest and vnknownest thing in the world: that of which men hauehave the most thoughts and fewest Meditations. Be therefore perswaded to Come and see: that is, come that thou mayest see. Come from other obiects, infinite and vaine spectacles, with which the eye is neuer glutted. Drawe neere and close to this that thou mayest see it throughly. Wipe off the Clay, Spittle, and Scales of thine eyes, that thou mayest cleerly behold the nature, quality, and consequents of Death. No mortall wight but hath some blushes of mortality, such as go and come, p. 52but if they would suffer them to lodge in their mindes, they must needes stirre some affection, and leaue some impression in the memory, and produce some effects in their liues. Socrates had a gift that hee could fasten his eyes many howers on one obiect without change or wearinesse: Halfe so stayed a thought of ones mortalitie, might bring a man to immortalitie. It is not beautie seene, but looked on that wounds. I meet with a Story of one that gaue a young Prodigall a Ring with a Deaths head, with this condition, that he should one houre daily for seauen dayes together looke and thinke vponupon it: which bred a strange alteration in his life, like that of Thesposius in Plutarke, or that more remarkable, of Waldus the rich Merchant in Lyons, who seeing one drop downe dead in p. 53the streets before him, went home, repented, changed his life, studied the Scripture, and became a worthy Preacher, Father, and Founder of the Christians called Waldenses, or poore men of Lyons. In Conference and Confessions many one hath acknowledged to my selfe the like: some that by dangerous sicknesse of their own, others that by feare of infection in times of the Plague, and generall Visitation, others by the death of friends, as by shafts that hauehave fallen neere them, hauehave beene awakened, affrighted, and occasioned to thinke deeply on their ends, to prouide against their ends, to attend the Word, which hath proued the meane of their conuersion and saluation. And this I thinke should bee enough to perswade young and olde, one and other to Come and see.

p. 54But what now are we come out to see?

Behold, First the Seale opened.

Secondly, the Horse issuing out.

Thirdly, the Colour of the Horse.

Fourthly, the Rider and his Followers. Death and Hell.

This horse is vnderunder seale. Seales wee vse commonly to confirme and conceale, to make things sure and to keepe things secret. And thus death as all Gods iudgements are said to bee sealed. Iob. 35. and that with a firmer seale then of the Medes and Persians: In which sence this Horse Zach. 4. issueth from betweene two brasen mountaines, that is Gods ineuitable, vnalterable Decree: hee rusheth not out, rangeth not abroad at the will of man or Satan, at hap or by blinde Destiny, but at the pleasure and by the appoyntment of the great p. 55Master of these Gods horses, Iesus Christ, one of whose chiefe royalties is to keepe the locke and key of Death and Hell, Reuel. 1. else would he be euer trampling vnderunder feete the sonnes of men. Looke how naturally, and continually the Sea would ouerwhelme the whole Earth, if the waues were not bounded by prouidence: So would this horse ouercome the Inhabitants of it, were hee not tyed short, and restrained by his, and our Lord. You see him heere limited to the fourth part of the Earth, else had not one been left aliue: For all are sentenced, and hauehave deserued to dye, and it's fauour that all dye not. In a word, men dye not by chance, course of Nature, influence of Starres, but then, and therefore because it is appointed. A million of Aethiopians perish in one day, in one battell, p. 562. Corinth. 14. not because all were borne vnderunder one aspect of Planets, but because such a slaughter was sealed of God. And though there be one way in, and twenty out of the world, yet all falls out as God determines and disposeth. That Christian which beleeues this, though hee may desire Dauids Arithmeticke to number his dayes aright, that is, to know the breuity of them: yet will hee neuer study the blacke and senselesse Art of calculating his birth and death. None but fooles are curious and inquisitiue to know that, which is vnderunder Gods priuy Signet. We are all as Souldiers sent to Sea with Commission vnderunder seale, not to be opened till wee come to such and such a point. To guesse and conclude, we shall dye at such an age, in such a Climaterical yeere, what is it but to make a league with p. 57Death, not vnlike to that frenzie Merchant that would make and strike vp matches of hundreds and thousands with parties absent as if they were present. A fond itching humour, and such as would for the most part (what euer wee thinke) doe vsus hurt rather then good, if the day and houre were far off, it would breede securitie: if neere hand horror. Sicknesses are sufficient summons and warnings. Marke such as sentenced by Iudges and Physitians fore-know their death, yet without speciall grace fore-fit themselues neuer the more carefully. Some deaths indeede (as some Clockes giuegive warning before they strike) which symptomes and signes infallible: and so extraordinarily God giues to some Moses and Hezekiahs a presage, and hearts to prepare: but generall God hath seene p. 58this the best for vsus, that it should be for the generall most certaine, for the perticular most vncertaine, to him sealed, to vsus concealed: of which hee would hauehave vsus make these vses.

First, for our bodily health not to bee too carefull, nor too carelesse: with all our Physicall dyet and miserable anxietie, wee cannot adde one cubite to the length of our dayes, or measure of our health. Wee are all sealed vp no otherwise then the measure of our wealth, of our crosses and blessings, for the hauing or auoyding of which: the meanes wee must vse without carking care, or cowardly feare, cheerefully relying on Christ, the Lord Keeper of the Seale, not wittingly and desperately preuenting that sealed date by surfeits of toyle or pleasure, by wilfull neglect of dyet, contempt p. 59of Physicke, by griefe or by melancholy: nay, not by haste to glory with Cleombrotus the Heathen, or with hastie selfe-murthering Christians, such as Augustines times were full off: but with Iob patiently all the dayes of our life, during the terme of our sealed lease, till the very day and date expire, and appointed time of dismission, and dissolution come.

And secondly for our soules prouision, not to do as most that hauehave set dayes of truce and peace, and in which they hang vp their Armour a rusting, and their Beakons vnwatched: but as people that liue in perpetuall hazard of war, hauehave all things in a daily readinesse for seruice at halfe an howres warning, vponupon the least Alarum: Who would liue one howre in infidelitie or irrepentance, least in that hee bee taken napping as the p. 60foolish Virgins, and that rich foole that reckoned of many yeares, and had not one night to continue. Grant it were enough to repent and belieue the last day of life, yet how can a man be sure to doe that, vnlesse he doe it eueryevery day: considering that eueryevery day may for ought he knowes, be the last. The seale may be opened in a day and houre one least thinkes of it, as it is to most that dye.

Lastly, when euer this Horse comes to fetch away vsus, or any of ours children or friends: A beleeuer stamps not, and rages not, as mad Marshall Birom: murmures not, repincs not as the wild Irish men without hope: expostulates not with Destenie, as Alexander for his Hephestion: but with Aaron, layes his hand on his heart and mouth for his sonnes suddaine Death, knowing what God hath p. 61sealed, shall be and must bee. If the Dreames of a blind fatall necessity could quiet Heathens, how much more should a Christian be chearfull at the disposall of a wise and louing keeper of the Seale. A minute sooner or later it shall not be, then hee hath fore-seene and foresealed for thy especiall good, who hath times, and seasons, and seales in his ordination. Worthy was the speech and resolution of an vnderstanding Diuine. If Christ hath the key and seale of Death, then a figge for Death. This though it be an ordinary notion, yet well digested, it is a singular stay to a beleeuer.

The Seale being thus opened, Come and see the Creature that issues forth. Behold an Horse, a fierce a strong, a warlike, a speedy Creature so described by God himself, Iob 39.

p. 62Looke therefore how easily Iehu stamped Iezabell into peeces: and Tamberlaine his Troupes of Horse the Turkish Foot-men, or as the sturdie Steede dashes out the little Whappets braines, so easily doth Death with the least kicke and spurne of his Heele the haylest Complexion, the stoutest Constitution, tryumphing like an Emperour ouer all sorts of people, treading in the neckes of Kings and Princes, as Iosua ouer them in Cane insulting in the tearmes of Rabshakeh, Where is Hamath? the2. Kings 19. 15. Ezek. 32.2 Kgs 19:15Ezek 32 Kings of Arphad, Iuah, and Sepharuaim? Elam, Meshech, and Tubal, whose feare was vponupon the liuing, are they not descended into the graue? made their bedds in the slimy valley, and layd their Swordes vnderunder their heads? Where is Goliah with his brazen p. 63Bootes? Hath wisedome deliuered, Strength rescued, or wealth ransomed any out of my fingers? For all their Confidence, hauehave they not gone to the King of Feare? How can it bee otherwise, seeing Death comes as an armed Horseman, vponupon naked Footmen: no encountering, no resistance, no running away, no euasion by flight. This winged Pegasus, postes and speeds after men, easily giues them Law, fetches them vp againe, gallops and swallowes the ground he goes, sets out after eueryevery man as soone as he comes into the world, and playes with him, as the Cat with the Mouse, as the Grey hound with the Badger, somtimes hee followes faire and a farre off, lingers aloofe and out of sight: anon hee spurres after, and by and by is at the heeles in some sicknesse, and then it may bee giues p. 64vsus some breath againe, but in the end ouertakes vsus, and is vponupon vsus with a Ierke, as the snare ouer the Fish, or the Foule. Absolom could not outride him: Pharaohs Chariot wheeles fell off in this chase. Ionathan and Saul, swift as the Egles, strong as the Lyon, yet how were they slaine with the mighty? What then is the course the Christian takes? He neither foolishly thinkes to resist, or escape, nor yet cowardly swounds, or crauenly yeelds: but as a valiant Footman that espies an Horseman pursue him in a Champion, stayes not till he come vponupon him, but addresseth himselfe for the encounter: so does a Christian in his best health and prosperity, put on his armour, get him the Helmet of Saluation, the Shield of Faith, and learneth the vse of them betimes, before he be vnapt to it in sicknesse or age p. 65As the Parthians teach their verie Children to handle the Bow, the Scythians the Dart, the Germans the Speare: and so it comes to passe, that belieuers are not surprized, as worldlings often are, with milke but in their breasts, without Oyle in their Lamps, & all in vaine then fondly cry out to this Horseman to stay his stroake. As the rich Foole Gregorie relates of, who entreated Death to stay till the next morning, Truce but til to morrow, and I will bee ready for thee. A Christian wisely considereth, that hee hath no morrow, and therefore while it is called to day, is ready for this Horse, who neuer sets any certaine day of his comming.

Behold also the colour of this Horse foreign, the color of the withering leafe, pale and wan: Symbolizing and noting the effect hee p. 66hath first vponupon the liuing, whom hee appalles, as hee did Baltashar, whome all his Concubines and Courtiers could not cheere, nor all his wine in the bowles of the Temple fetch colour into his countenaunce. See wee not often Prisoners at the Barre wanne away, and dye as white as a cloth at the Sentence of death pronounced on them. Many gulls and gallants we may heare sometimes flight off Death with a iest, when they think it out of hearing, and some wish it and call for it, as Gaal for Abimelech, but when it comes in good earnest, they are not able to looke it in the face, with the bloud in their cheeks. Some foolishly set a face on the matter, on their deathbeds, lest neighbours should censure when they are gone for Cowards: hypocritically paynting their faces as Iezabel did, affronting p. 67Iehu out of the windowe, God knowes with a cold heart, & if her paint had bin off, a pale face should one hauehave seen vnderneth it. Wheras Christians hauing a good measure of faith to warme them at the hart, change not their countenance nor hauehave their colour any whit abated, but as is recorded of Mistris Ioyce Lewis at the stake, and sundry other Christians, euen of the fearfullest by nature and sex, looked as fresh and cheerely at the houre of death, as at their mariage.

A second effect of this pale horse is after death, bereauing the bodies of all bloud and colour, making them liuelesse & wan carkases, and so layes them a rotting and mouldring among the wormes their sisters, till the fashion of them be vtterly altred, the beauty consumed, and shape turned into rottennesse. Oh how grieuous is this to such p. 68Absaloms, Iezabels, and Rosamonds, hauehave set much by their painted sheathes and pampered Carkases, whose belly is their God, and yet their end must be corruption. Dust they were, and to dust they must returne. Fauour is deceitfull, and beautie is vanity, when the pale Horse comes, there is no remedy. Here only Faith hath an Antidote comforting her selfe with these sayings: This base and vile bodie of mine must bee thus serued, that it may bee transfigured and made conformable to the glorious Standart Christs body, more glorious then the Sunne in his brightest hew. It must thus bee sowne in pale ignomy, that it may rise in glorious beautie. VVhat if I lose a little Vermillion red mixture of Fleame and Sanguine, shall I not recouer a radiant resplendant lustre? Can the Alchimist with p. 69his Art, cause a dry withered floure to shew it selfe againe for a space, in it naturall verdant shape and colour: and cannot God that made mee first of Clay, and that Clay of nothing, reduce and refine the same after it hath beene in the Earth? as the Chynois doe the materialls of their curious dishes for many scores of yeares, that when it is throughly deficate, their posteritie may temper and frame some vessell of excellent seruice withall. Certainly my Redeemer liueth, and with these eyes I shall see him, as hee is most admirable to behold, and my selfe like vntounto him in my degree. Ten thousand times more comely, then is heere possibly for to imagine, the most personable Creature that euer the Sunne saw: when the body shall bee enriched with those excellent Dowries of Impassibilitie, Claritie, p. 70Subtiltie, Agilitie.

Oh, but heeres yet a more fearefull Spectacle behind, then all that hath yet come in sight. Hell, euen Hell it selfe in the worst sense, not the graue of the body, but of the soule. For Iohn sees here principally the Iudgement of the wicked, that were slaine for the contempt of the Gospell, by the pale Horse, for not yeelding to the White and his crowned Rider. And their wofull state is heere opposed to the happy condition of the Martyrs vnderunder the Altar.

Well then, behold also, euen Hell the Page and follower of Death, attending him where euer hee goes among the wicked sort. Whence it is that they are so often coupled in this Booke, Death and Hell. Looke as the Foxes wayt vponupon Lyons, Carrion Crowes vponupon armies, Gaolers or p. 71Serieants for a prey: so diligently does the deuill on death for a booty. No fowler does more cunningly stalk behind the Horse, or creep behinde brakes and hedges, to get his ayme at the shye Fowles. No Serieant hides his Mase, no Angler his hooke more warily: knowing that else Hel should neuer swallow so many.

Alacke, alacke, we silly Fish see one another caught, and ierk't out of the Pond, but see not the fire and Frying panne into which they come. In this consists the Deuils chiefest policie, and our grossest simplicity, and euen this is the cause of our sottish and foolish liuing and dying.

Oh that my head were a Fountaine of teares, to weepe for, and bewayle the stupiditie, yea the desperate madnesse of infinite sorts of people that rush vponupon p. 72Death, and chop into Hell blindling. How bruitish and beastly are the preaemises and conclusion of the Epicure and his brood, Let vsus eate and drinke▪ for to morrow we shall dye? Who knowes whether the soule of the beast descend, and mans ascend, who euer saw the one goe downeward and the other vpward, and then what matter if the life of the one differ not from the other? What need a man care whether hee bee a Sadduces Swine, an Epicures Horse, or himselfe? The one many times hath lesse care, and more pleasure then the other, if Death be the last line, the full point, and finall cessation of the Creature. These …ruits thanke Phylosophie that … taught them not to feare any such Hobgoblins spirits, or old Wines tales, as Hell. But such Phylosophie Socrates, Plato, p. 73and the wiser sort euen of the Heathen hauehave hissed out of Schooles as belluine. Yea, the most sauage and vnlittered peoplè, the lesse soiled with Art, the more confidently doe they out of Natures instinct, and diuine impression, conclude of an eternall place of well and ill being after death for the soules of men. But these Monsters wilfully shut their eyes, deface and obliterate these stamps, and principles of nature, and so dance hood-winke into perdition. Miserable it is to see how boldly and blindly they thinke and venture on Death: Theramenes, he writes Bookes in praise of Death, as the end of all calamities. Augustus, hee dyes in a iest, calling for a Plaudite. Tiberius …n dissimulation. Diogines hearing Antisthenes cry out in his paines, Who shall ease mee? offers him a …nife to dispatch himselfe withal. p. 74Caninus called to execution, bids his Fellow remember hee had the best of the Game. The Earle of Kildare seeing his Writ of Death brought in when hee was at shouelboard, throwes his cast, with this in his mouth: Whatsoeuer that is, this is for a huddle. Little list would these blind bayards hauehave for such idle mirth, if their eyes were opened to see this follower of Death. How pittifull is the frenzie of those braue Spirits, as they deeme and terme themselues (as much as they scorne pittie) our Duellists I meane, who as if they neuer had heard of Hell, are as Prodigall of their liues, as Cockes or Dogs are of theirs, powring them out vponupon euerie drunken quarrell. I pittie not the losse or misse of such, good for little but to se… in the front of a Battell, or t… p. 75stop breaches and Canons withal: but I pitty the losse of their soules, who serue themselues, as the Iesuite in Lancashire, followed by one that found his Gloue, with a desire to restore it to him: but pursued inwardly with a guilty conscience, leapes ouer an Hedge, plunges into a Marlepit behind it, vnseene and vnthought of, wherein he was drowned. I maruell not, that they feare not a Rapier, or Pistoll, Who would not chuse it before a lingring and paineful sicknesse? Were it not for the afterclaps of Death? No Coward need feare the encounter of it alone in a single combat. But Death hath a Second, a Page tenne times more dreadful then himself, with whom we hauehave to begin, when we hauehave done with Death, which is but the beginning of sorrowes. Death is pale, but his follower is a blacke p. 76Fellow, a terrible monster neuer enough feared. In which respect, how lamentable also is the blindnesse of all selfe-murderers, who make Death the remedie of eueryevery griefe, and cure of eueryevery violent passion: If they finde themselues inwardly vexed, or perplexed in Conscience, they seeke Death as a present ease; not considering how they leape out of the smoake into the flame, out of the flame into the fire, out of a curable momentany disturbance, into an endlesse inrecouerable woe, (without the extraordinary mercy of God) to which vsually the Deuill speeds them, that hee might get them into his clutches, and so passe out of doubt, all meanes of preuention and euasion by Faith and Repentance.

Oh senseles Achitophell, how did thy wisedome fayle and befoole p. 77thee, when thou settest thine house in order, and disposest of thy goods, forgettest thy soule, hangest thy selfe, which durst thou, or wouldest thou hauehave done, had but one belieuing thought of an eternall fire come into thy head? How blockish is the manner of dying of many a Naball, who strucken with the feare of Death and Hell, become as insensate as stocks and stones, hauehave no mind nor power to thinke of one thing or other: Cannot abide to heare any mention of the danger of that which they feare, whose senses the Deuill bewitches and benumms, lest they should see and auoyde: such was Lewes the eleuenth, who straightlie charged his Seruants, that when they sawe him sicke, they should neuer once dare to name that bitter word Death in his eares. So doe Cowards p. 78and Crauens shut their eyes, and chuse rather to feele blowes, then to see and shunne them. Little better is the common course that most people take. Scared some are with a confused, and preposterous feare of Death, and flashes of Hell in their Consciences, and yet take no course to get pardon and Faith in CHRIST: but either taking it to bee some melancholly humour, send for merry companions to driue it away: or being giuen vp to hardnesse of heart and impenitencie, wilfully shake off all thoughts of repentance, shut their eyes and eares against all good aduise, and desperately put all at aduentures, and chop into the iawes of that roaring Lyon. Some of them ridiculously fearing Death, they knowe not why, more for the pangs of it (which often are lesse then of the Tooth-ake) then p. 79for the Hell following: like fooles that feare the thunder Cracke, and not the Bolt; the Report of the Peece, and not the Bullet; the Serieants arrest, and not the Gaolers Imprisonment: Labour to escape Death which they cannot, and Hell which they might. Others of them scarred with some terrible apparisions, affrighted, as Cardinall Crescentius a little before his death, with a blacke Dog in his Chamber. A Presage and Preludium of Hell approaching: they crie out they are damned, the Deuill, the Deuill, doe they not see him, &c. And so Spira-like, desperately and disconsolately depart in hellish horrour. Other of them a little wiser, and yet little the better for it, admit a colde thought or two, and it may bee a little parley about the matter, but when they hauehave fetched a sigh or p. 80put all vponupon a Lord hauehave merciemercy on them: trust it shall goe as well with them as with others, euen as God will hauehave it: and thinke they doe much if they send to a Minister to pray with them or for them: neuer giuing all diligence to make their saluation sure, and to escape so great a condemnation.

Oh if wee could consider how fearefully such finde themselues deluded, when their soules awake, worse then Ionas in the▪ Tempest, euen in a gulfe of fire and brimstone. How would it awaken and arouse vsus to fore-see Death and Hell in their shapes, and to fore-appoint our selues throughlie, not against the first Death which wee cannot, but against the second wee may, if we get our part in the first resurrection.

p. 81This Text, mee thinkes speakes to eueryevery sicke man bound on his bedde with the Cords of Death, as Dalilath to Sampson: vp and arise, for the Philistims are at hand: Death is at the doore, and behind the doore, the Fiends waight to fetch away thy soule. Bellarmine is of opinion, that one glympse of Hell were enough to make a man not only turne Christian and sober, but Anchorite and Monke, to liue after the strictest rule that can be. I am of beliefe, that Gods spirit cooperating a thorow meditation of it, might be a meane to keep one from it. For a man to wish to hauehave a sight of it, or that one might come thence & make report of the vntolerable and vnutterable paines of it is superfluous, superstitious: & if it should be granted, yet being not Gods ordinance and allowance, it might goe without his p. 82blessing, and doe one no good. Thy best course is well to ponder what wee that are Gods Ministers report of it, out of Moses, the Prophets, Christ, and the Apostles descriptions. And if God meane thee any good, our warning may doe thee some good. Popish writers are too bold in making Maps of Heauen and Hell, as if they had surueyed them and their regions, and inhabitants: but most I thinke are one the other hand to breefe and summarie in their meditations and writings. To paint it in it owne natiue colours is impossible, or by any contemplation to comprehend the horror of it. Shaddowes and parables the Scripture vseth, by which thou mayest and oughtest to helpe thy coniectures, and to worke on thy affections withall, after this or the like manner.

p. 83Heere God hath allowed thee on his earth a pleasant habitation, commodiously situate in a good Ayre, richly decked with furniture, compassed with delightfull Gardens, Orchards and Fieldes, where thou hast liberty to walke and ride at thy pleasure: How would it trouble thee to thinke of being layd vp all thy life in some streight and loathsome prison, by this consideration how ill thou wilt brooke to be cast into a dolefull disconsolate Dungeon, to lye in vtter darkenesse, blacknesse of darkenesse in eternall chaines, in little ease for euer.

Heere a great part of thy contentment, is to liue among good Neighbours, with a louing wife, with cheerefull companions: and loath thou art at any time to bee long in the house of mourning, to bee among melancholy malecontented, p. 84complayning feeble or brawling people in Hospitals, or Bridwels, or Bedlams. How will then thine eares indure to be tyred with continuall howling, scritching and gnashing of teeth, to liue among Dogges, Enchanters, vncleane Birds, reprobate Spirits, worse then so many Toades, Tygers, or Serpents.

Here if thy Father should in displeasure bid get thee out of sight, or thy Prince banish thee his court and presence, as Dauid did Absolon, for some offence, thou wouldest take it heauily: how shall thine eares tingle to heare God say, depart out of my presence, Goe thou cursed into the lake prepared for the Diuell and his Angels.

Here thou shrinkest to thinke of the gout, collick, stone, or strangurian, shiuerest to heare of the strappado, the racke, or the Lawne, how p. 85then wilt thou beare vniuersal tortures in all the parts of thy body, exquisite anguish and paines, such as of which the pangs of childbirth, burnings of materiall fire and brim stone, gnawings of chestwormes; drinkes of Gall and Wormwood are but shaddowes; and to which they are all but sports and fleabitings, euen to the torments thy body shall suffer for it sinnes against the Creator.

But hast thou euer here in this world tasted of a troubled spirit, of the griefe and feares of a wounded Conscience possessed with bitter things: strucken and pierced with the venom of Gods arrowes, feares of the Almighty: by these thou mayst make the best gesse how it wil fare with thy soule when God shall powre al the vials of his wrath into a vessell of his fury, and vexe the soule in his sore p. 86displeasure, scourge thee with the rods of scorpions, make thee drunk with the gall of Aspes and Cockatrices, make thy mind heauy vntounto the death, holding it euer in those Agonies, which made his owne Sonne sweate cloddes of water and blood. Oh how fearefull a thing is it to fall into the handes of God, who is a consuming fire. Thinke of it whiles there is hope, you that forget God, Heauen, and Hell, least you come there where there is no redemption, no hope of ease or end, which is that that makes Hell, Hell indeed: For if all these paines might hauehave an end, were it after million and millions of yeares, as many as there bee sands in the Sea shore, yet mightest thou nourish some miserable comfort of a release in the long runne: But this night hath no day, this Ague no intermission, p. 87his death no death to end it withal.

Here thou wouldest be loath to lye on the Racke from morning to night, to be wroung with the Collick for a few dayes or hours, to be haunted with a Quartan from Michael to Easter: Oh then adde eternity to insupportable torments, and let thine eares tingle, and thine hart melt to think of it. Were it not for hope in small pressures, wee say heart would burst: Oh then this word euer and euer, if thou couldest duly belieue and consider it, how would it breake that hard heart of thine, which knowes not how to repent, nor cares to preuent the wrath to come.

What thinkest thou, are these things tales and fables, is Hell but a name and word, a scarbug for to keepe fooles in awe? Hath not God, thinkest thou, a day of reckoning, a prison and power to punish p. 88Rebels and Traitors, or are not his punishments like to his Iustice, infinite and eternall? Know these things to be as true as God is truth, saue that they are short of the truth it selfe. Why dost thou not then take thy soule apart, and ruminate of these things by thy selfe, iudging thy selfe here, that thou mayst not bee condemned in the world to come. Art thou afraid of a melancholy fit, and fearest thou not this gulfe, and whirlpoole, and sorrow? Art thou not loath to bee tormented before thy time, and fearest not to bee tormented time without end. I wonder how the soules of wicked men and vnbelieuers goe not out of their bodies, as the Diuels out of demoniaks, rending, raging, tearing and foaming. I wonder how any can dye in their wits, that die not in the faith of our Lord Christ. Verily if these things p. 89moue thee not, thou art in a worse plight then Foelix and Baltashar; yea, the verie Diuels themselues, who belieue them; yea, quake and tremble to thinke of them. How faine would I snatch thy soule out of this fire? Vndoubtedlie know, that if this warning doe thee no good, it is because thou art of old, iustlie ordained to perish in thy impenetency, and to bee a fire-brand in these euerlasting flames. Now on the contrarie, if thou beest a vessell of merciemercy and honour, it will doe thee no hurt, but driue thee to Christ, in whom there is no condemnation: who onelie is perfectlie able to saue and deliuer thee out of this Lake. If thou be est alreadie in him, it will cause thee to reioyce in thy Lord and Sauiour, who hath deliuered thee from the feare of two such enemies that p. 90now thou mayst with the Ostrich in Iob despise the horse and his rider, and triumph by Faith ouer Hell and Death: O Death where is thy sting! Oh Hell where is thy victorie! Death is to men as he comes attended: To Diues he comes followed with Diuells, to carrie his soule to Hell: To Lazarus with troopes of Angels to conuey him to Abrahams bosome. So that we may in earnest say, that Death is the Atheists feare, and the Christians desire. Diogines could iestingly call it, The Rich mans enemie, and the Poore mans friend. This, this is that which makes death so easie, so familiar and dreadlesse to a belieuer; he sees Death indeede, but Death is not Death without Hell follow him: and Hell he sees not, but onelyonly as escaped and vanquished, and therefore is said not to see Death. Now (sayes the belieuer) p. 91comes death and the Prince of this world with him, but he hath no part in mee: all the bitternesse and teares of death lye in the feare of Hell, which, thanks be to Christ hath nothing to do with me, nor I with it, and therefore I taste not of death: now comes Gods Sergeant pale death, whom I know I cannot auoyde: but this I know, he comes not to arrest me to carry me to prison, but only to inuite me to a feast, attend and conuey me thither. Let such feare him as are in debt and danger, mine are all discharged and cancelled: he comes with his horse to take vp me behind him, and to fetch me to my fathers ioyes, to a Paradice as full of pleasures, as he carries the wicked to a prison full of paines. Pharaohs Baker and Butler were sent for out of prison, the one to promotion, the other to execution: hee that had the ill p. 92Dreame, expected the Messenger with horror, the other longed for him with comfort. The latter is my case, therefore though I be reasonably wel in this world, as a child at board, yet home is home, therefore will I waite till this pale horse comes, and bid him heartily welcome: and with him the Angels of my Father, who hauehave a charge to lay my body in a bed of rest, and to bestow my soule vnderunder the Altar, as it followes in the next seale, which is so pleasing a vision, that we neede no voice or preface, such as we had in the former, inuiting vsus to Come and see: the very excellency of the obiect it self is of force enough to draw, and hold the eies of our minds vntounto it.

p. 93The second Sermon.

VERSE 9.

And when hee had opened the first Seale, I saw vnderunder the Altar the Soules, &c.

WHen Death hath bin viewed in the palest, and Hell in the blackest colors that may be, yet if wee hauehave Faith enough to see Soules in their White roabes vnderunder the Altar▪ there is comfort enough against the horror of both; enough to enable the belieuer to despise and trample ouer them …ooth. In the opening of this fifth Seale, I hope to finde more sollid p. 94Antidotes, more liuely Cordialls, against the feare of Death, then in all the dead and drie precepts of Bellarmines doting Art of dying. For this part of the vision was shewed Iohn of purpose to sweeten the harshnesse of the former: that his spirit grieued and amazed with the sight of the calamities and mortalitie vnderunder the persecuting Butchers, rather then Emperours, might yet be relieued and refreshed with a sight of the blessed estate of such as died either in, or for the Lord.

Wherein was proposed to his sight, and to our consideration these seuerals. First, the immortall subsistence of soules after their seperation from the body. Secondly, their sure and secure condition vnderunder the Altar. Thirdly, their dignity and felicitie clothed with white robes. Fourthly, their compleate p. 95happinesse at the last day, when the number of their bretheren shall be accomplished.

Of all these, Christ meant Iohn should take notice, and al beleeuers by his testimony to their full consolation.

First, Iohn being in the spirit could see spirits, men indeed clad in flesh, can hardly imagine how a soule can hauehave existence out of the flesh. Eagles can see that which Owles cannot: so is that visible and credible to a spirituall man, which to a naturall is inuisible, incredible. And yet euen natures dimme eyes hauehave beene cleere enough to see this truth. Nature I say, pure and meere nature, not only the Platonists and other learned ones, who resolutely concluded it, and aptly resembled it, to the distinct being of the waggoner after the breaking of the Coach: p. 96the swimming out of the Mariner in the wreake of the ship, the creeping of the snayle out of the shell, the worme out of the case: not vntounto the learned Grecians, and ciuilized Romans: But euen the rudest Scythians and vnlettered Sauages; yea, though there bee many Languages, and sundrie Dialects in the world, yet is, and hath this euer been the common voyce of them all, That soules die not with the body. And howeuer the bodies resurrection hath to them been a Problem and Paradoxe, yet is the soules eternitie an inbred instinct sucked from natures breast; or rather an indelible principle stamped in the soules of men by the finger of God. And indeed, to right reason, what difficulty or absurditie is there in it. What lets mee to conceiue a being of it in the Ayre, in the Heauen, or in any other p. 97place as well as in the compasse of my body, is not one substance as capable of it as another? Can it liue in the one, and not in another?

Hath it not, euen whiles it is in the bodie, thoughts, motiues, passions by it selfe, of it owne different from the body, many crosse and contrarie to the disposition of the body, chearefull ones when that is in paine or melancholie: Cholericke ones when that is flegmaticke. Doth it waite vponupon the body for ioy, sorrow, anger, and the like? doth it not more often begin vntounto it? Not to speake of Martyres innumerable, who hauehave beene exceedingly pleasant in the middest of torments, as if they had beene spirits without flesh. How many auncient stories and dailie examples hauehave wee of chereful minds in distempered, p. 98pained, languishing dying bodies? Reason will then conclude, that the Soule may well be, and be sensible after death without the body, which euen in the body can bee wel, when that is ill, cheerely when that is hurt, or sicke, grieued and troubled when that is in perfect temper and health. And on the contrary, small reason hauehave wee to thinke it sleepes out of the bodie, which neuer slumbers in the body, or that it is seazed by death out of the body, which neuer was ouercome by sleep, which is but deaths Image, and younger brother in the body, but euer was working and discoursing in the deepest and deadest sleepes of the body.

Besides, is it likely God would enrich it with such noble and diuine dowries to bee salt onelyonly to the bodie, to exhale with it as Bruits doe. The admirable inuention p. 99of Arts, Letters, Engines, the strange fore-casts, prospects and presages of the vnderstanding part, the infinite lodgings, the firme reteinings of the memorie, doe they not argue an immortalitie: Doe men ingraue curiously in Snow, Yce, or transient stuffe?

What meanes the great anxietie of men about their suruiuing name, if the minde perished with the bodie, if Death were the cessation of the man, and destruction of the whole substance. What should nature care for an ayery accident without a subiect, whereof no part of him should be sensible.

What meanes the very feare of Death, if that were the end of all feares, and cares, and sorrowes, if nothing remained sensible, and capable of any p. 100thing to bee feared.

Lastly, the fresh vigor, the vnimpayred abilitie, that nimble agilitie of the minde in sicknesse; yea, manie times the freer vse of the faculties of it in the confines, yea, in the act and Article of Death, then in former health, doe they not tell the body, the soule meanes not to fall with the carkase (which hath the name of falling) lyes not a dying with it, but errects it selfe, meanes onelyonly to leaue it as an Inhabitant doth a ruinous House, or as a Musition layes downe a Lute whose strings are broken, a Carpenter a worne instrument vnfit any longer for seruice and imploiment: and as a Guest makes haste out of his Inne, to his long home and place of abode.

Loath I am to mingle Philosophicall Cordialls with Diuine, p. 101as water with wine, least my Consolations should bee flash and dilute: yet, euen these and such like arguments hauehave taught all Phylosophie (the brutish schoole of the Epicure excepted) to see and acknowledge that the soule is not a vapour, but a spirit, not an accident, but a substance, and elder and more excellent sister to the body immixt and seperable; a guest that dyes not with it, but diuerts out of it, intending to reuisite and reunite it againe vntounto it▪ selfe. But Diuinitie certainely knowes all this to bee most certaine that it is a particle of diuine breath, inbreathed into the redde lome at the first, not arising out of it, but infused from heauen into it, and therefore may as wel exist without the clay after it, as it did before it: and when the dust returnes to p. 102the dust, heauen goes to heauen, both to their originals, the soule first, because first and principall in eueryevery action, the body after as an accessary and second, and so the day of death to the body, is the birth day of eternity to the soule.

This vndying, and euer-liuing condition of the soule, throughly rowled in the minde, firmely embraced, and vndoubtedly apprehended by Faith, workes admirable effects as in life, so in the approach of death. Seneca that saw it but through Clouds, cranies and creuises with yfs, and ands, yet professeth that when hee thought but a little of it, and some pleasant dreames of it, he loathed himselfe and all his trifling gratnes. But most diuinely, and resoluedly▪ Iulius Palmer: He that hath his soule linked and tyed to the body, as a thiefes feete to a Clogge with p. 103guyues and fetters, no maruell hee knowes not how to dye, is loath to endure a Diuision: but he that vseth, and can by Faith separate the spirit from the body, to him it is to drinke this: and with that drinkes off a Cup of Wine in his hand, and within a while after, as cheerefully drinks of Deaths cup in the sight of the same Witnesses. Euen Socrates himselfe sweetened his Cup of poyson, with this discourse of the soules immortalitie, to the amazement of the beholders. Such Soules indeede as place all their felicitie to bee in a full fedde, and well complexioned body, and to partake of the senses corporeall delights, hath not accustomed it selfe to it owne retyred delights of obstracted meditations, knowes not how to bee merry without a play-fellow, no maruell though it bee as loath p. 104to part with the body, as a crooked deformed body to part with rich robes and gorgeous apparell, which were it onelyonly ornaments. But such noble and regenerate spirits as know their owne Dowries, hauehave inured themselues to sublimate contemplations, and to hauehave their conuersation in Heauen, whiles they were in the body: such I say, though they do not Cynically reuile the body as a Clog, a prison, a lumpe of myre, &c. but know it to bee the Temple of the Holy Ghost, yet are they willing, yea and sigh to be vncloathed, to sowe it a while in the earth, being a dark and thick lanterne, hindering the cleare sight of it, till they may reassume it clarified, a spirituall, an Angelified body made apt and obsequious to all diuine seruices, to Celestiall Offices without wearinesse, intermission, and such like p. 105vanitie, which here it is subiect vntounto: as willing as Dauid to lay aside Sauls cumbersome Armour, and to betake him to such as hee could better weeld and command at pleasure.

This is the first and lowest helpe Faith hath to comfort the soule withall in the approach of Death; when the strong men buckle, the Keepers of the house faile, they waxe dimme that looke out at the windowes, when the whole outward man decayes: that the inner man ages not, faints not, languisheth not, but rather lifts vp the head, is more fresh then formerly, and excepts to bee vnburdened, and to bee at libertie, freed from Corporeall tedious vnpleasing workes of sleeping, eating, drinking, and other meaner drudgery, that it may once come to higher and more spirituall imployments p. 106better suiting with it natiue condition: euen as the Lyon longeth to bee out of the grate, and the Eagle out of the cage, that they may hauehave their free scope and fuller libertie.

VnderUnder the Altar.

Now if this much reuiued Iohn (as no doubt it did) to see the Soules continuance after Death, how much more to see their safety and rest vnderunder the Altar: that is vnderunder Christs protection & custody, vnderunder the shadow of his wings. Who makes them gratefull to his Father, couers them from his wrath, safeguards them from all molestation, procures them absolute quiet and security. The phrase alluding to the Altar in the Tabernacle, which gaue the Offerings grace and acceptation: and partly p. 107to the safety of such as fled from the Auenger to the Altar. Christ is our Altar, and all the Soules of such as dye in his Faith, are as Stephan bequeathed to him: hee presents them to his Father, shelters them from accusation and condemnation, gathers them as the Henne her Chickens vnderunder his wings, being fully able to keepe what is committed to him from all disquiet. Hee that could keepe the three young men in the Furnace with whom he walked, yea their very garments from the violence of fire: The Israelites and their apparell in the wilderness: Ionas in the Whales belly: how much more easily now hee sits at the hand of his Father in Maiestie and Glorie, can hee defend saued and glorified soules from all Externall and Internall Annoyance, and settle them in p. 108absolute peace with him in his Paradise, according to his frequent promise to such as ouercome, they shall sit with me vponupon thrones.

And long white Robes were giuen vntounto eueryevery one.

If Iohn had seene soules at rest, though in poore and meane condition, yet were a corner of an house with peace to bee preferred to a wide Pallace with disquiet: A poore dyet with greene Herbes with quiet, to a feast with stalled oxen, and crammed fowles, sauced with bitter contention. But behold, he sees not naked, beggerly, ragged soules, but adorned with white Robes; that is, endowed now, and glorified with perfect righteousnesse, puritie, clarity, digtie, and festiuitie: of all which white apparell hath euer been an p. 109Emblem and Symbole in Diuine and Humane Herauldry, a cloathing of Princes in their great solemnities of Coronation, triumphs and ouations, saies Eusebius: so was Herod arrayed in cloath of siluer, with which the Sunne beames meeting, made such a glister, as amazed the people that styled him a God: so sayes Tertullian, were they woont to dignifie Seruants at their Manumissions with white Apparell, in token of their new libertie and preferment. At feasts great persons were wont to change their guests ordinary clothes with a white Synthesis, a colour fit to expresse alacritie. Christians, the whole Easter weeke wore white apparell. All the graces the soules had heere in this their infancy of Regeneration, were but stayned and polluted clouts: their knowledge darke and obscured with ignorance, p. 110their memories clouded with obliuion, their wills and affections tempested with mutinies and perturbations, their habits of holines and charity, sullid with defects and infirmities, their delights duske and particoloured & spotted with mixture of sorrow: all their apparell blacke & sad russet at the least; but there purer then the Christall, whiter then the Snowe, or then Fullers earth is able to make them. The Lillyes, and Salomon in all their Royaltie not like vntounto the meanest of them. Call vsus no more Marah, may they say, but Naomi. For fulnesse of beautie is conferred vponupon them, God becomming fulnesse of claritie and light vntounto the vnderstanding, without errour or darknesse, continuation of Eternitie to the memory without forgetfulnesse, multitude of Peace to the Will and Affections p. 111without disturbance or disorder: the superiour part of the Soule, pleasing it selfe in the blessed vision of God, and the inferior satiate with the fruition of riuers of pleasures, & variety of monthly fruits. All this ioy increased by the aemenity and magnificence of the place being Gods Palace, built and prepared for eternitie, for the honour of his Maiestie, and habitation of his Saints, all shining like precious Iasper: enchanted by the full quire of Angels and communion of holy men, excellent when they were on earth, now perfected in their vertues, and freed from frailties, neuer mourning, but euer singing and lauding their Creator with Alleluiahs without defatigation or satietie: all this made vp and consummate by the addition not of a number of yeares, but of eternitie vncountable, vnalterable: incomprehensible. p. 112What are the chiefe miseries of this life, but the sordid apparell of the Soule, the blacke thoughts, the speckled phantasies, darke obliuion, royled, soyled affections, all the habite of it squalid, iagged, and tattered. Now then was Ioseph loath to change his prison-ragges, or Hester her olde and meane Cloathes with stately and royall array? Promise a Childe a new Satin suit, and see whether hee will not long for it, and call for it; see whether hee will crie when you bid him lay off his Russets? Whence is it then that men dye so dully, so vnwillingly, so heauily? or whence can it bee, but because they doe not liuely and certainely beleeue, and expect these white Robes for their soules. When the beautie of a mans minde is heere obfuscate and defaced with melancholly Tentations, and opake p. 113Imaginations, with yellow choller, with pallid feare, with ruddy shame, with sable dispaire; oh what would he giuegive for a candid calme, and serene state of his mind? and when againe it pleaseth God to affoord him sunshine holidayes of ioy and tranquilitie, wherein his mind is clad, and decked with golden, siluer, and precious ornaments of peace, meekenesse, temperance, patience, Oh what an Heauen would he thinke hee had heere on earth, if all his daies were but such dayes! whereas this a Christian may well assure himselfe of, that what euer grace doth here prepare and begin, there glory will absolue & perpetuate for matter of sanctity, purity, & alacrity of the mind, typified in these white robes: yea further for matter of dignitie and tryumph, which then shall be most compleat, where they shall see p. 114Christ at that day come in the glory of the Father with millions of his Angels descending & bringing down his heauenly Ierusalem, meeting them halfe way in the clouds, and there auenging them of their enemies, sitting with them as assessors vponupon thrones, to iudge the Angels, & the world of wicked ones, & such as hauehave insulted ouer them on the earth, in which they shall then without any malignity of enuy, anger, or appetite of reuenge, take amirable and vnspeakeable content and comfort, yea reck on it as the accomplishment of their inchoate glory, for which they are here said to long for, & groane vnderunder the Altar, till the number of all their brethren being consummate, God shal openly acquit & applaud them, condemne and confound their opposites. These, these are the only, stately, and Kingly dignities: p. 115the meditations whereof are onlyable to beget and foster true heroical & Christian resolutions against the feare of Death and Hell, otherwise vnuanquished. To conclude then, to the man that would both in health and sicknesse nourish euer in his breast vndaunted and more then conquering thoughts of these two enemies, instead of Bellarmines many friuolous and tedious rules: I prescribe but these two practises of Faith. The first is to worke in his minde a setled and vndoubted certaintie: and the second a liuely and frequent representation of them.

Were heauen nothing else but an hauen of rest, wee know how welcome the one is to a Sea-sick weather-beaten traueller, and may by that guesse how desireable the other should be to a soule that long hath beene tossed in the waues of p. 116this world, sicke of owne sinfull imaginations, & tyred with externall tentations. The happiest soule that euer hath sayled ouer this Euripus, in the best ship, in the healthfullest body that euer was, neuer had so calme a passage, but that it hath had cause enough often to wish it selfe on shoare. What with selfe groaning phantasies, and iniected temptations, how little respit or rest is here to be found? Is there any Palace or Tower here so high or strong, that can keepe diseases from the body: how much lesse cares, sorrows, feares, and Sathans assaults from the Soule? Were there but such an Iland, as some hauehave dreamed of heere on earth, that might free our bodies or mindes from disquiet, but for the space of the moment of this life, how would people couet to dwell in it? In the times of the late p. 117warres in Netherlands, how did the Boares forsake their Farmes, and flye into walled Cities for securitie from dangers? What violence then should our heauenly Ierusalem suffer of our wishes and desires? were it but for the sweet and amiable name of peace whereof it is denominated, hauing indeed the God of Peace for the King and Keeper of it: Wals many Cubits high, into which no Zenacherib can shoote an arrow, nor the Dragon Beast, nor the false Prophet to seduce or to accuse: strong gates and barres excluding all enemies and annoyances, and so affording perfect tranquility to all the Inhabitants, out of which they insult ten times more saferly, then the Iebusites ouer the blinde and lame, ouer the pale horse and his riders, Death and Hell. Consider and compare a little the simplicitie p. 118of the worldling with the wisdom of the Christian, the happy stabilitie of the one, with the wofull vncertaintie of the other at the time of their departure. Euen Foxes and Hares, and other such vermine fore-acquaint themselues with Muses, Thickes and Burroes, into which when they are chased and hunted, they may repaire for safety: but these fooles while they liue in health and prosperity, neuer thinke of the euill day, and when away they see they must goe, how vnshystable are they? Some of the meaner sort, they take care for their winding-sheet: or if richer, for a marble or painted sepulchre, which yet cannot preserue their bodies or names from putrifaction: the superstitious sort to bee buryed in a Fryers Cowle, or vnderunder an Alter of stone: the desperater sort, wishing the Mountaines p. 119might couer them from the wrath of the Lambe. An harbour or receptacle for their soules they neuer thinke of; whence it is that they are as loath to hauehave them turned out of their bodies, as Hagar and Ismael to be out of doores, and exposed to misery and dangers; or rather as Cain, to be cast as a Vagabond out of Gods presence, fearing lest eueryevery one that met him next, should cut his throat for a cursed Caitiffe. And indeed what else can they looke for, but instantly to bee deuoured of the roaring Lyon, that waites at the doore of Death, to fetch away their soules into the place where there is no night nor day. OnelyOnly the wise beleuer, he hath prouided a Sanctuary, or Citie of refuge against time of danger, hath learned wisdome of the Conies, who though a little nation, yet wise and forecasting, p. 120hauehave their refuge in the Rocks. Christ is the beleeuers Rocke, and his strong Tower, his Altar, and therfore he feares not what Death can doe vntounto him. Christ hath assured him on his word, that hee shall hauehave all, teares wiped away, and the Spirit secured him that he shall rest from his labors. In which regard he is so farre from lingring and hankering after a continuance in this Baca of teares, this wildernes of feares, that he studies rather to enter into this rest, Cries out with Dauid, Wo is me that I dwell in, Meshek and Kedar, when I think of peace, there is warre at hand: With Ieremy, Woe is mee that I dwell with a contentious people. With Elias, I am weary of my life, an end good Lord. Or with blessed Simeon, Now Lord let thy seruant depart in peace, into that land of peace; heere I hauehave seene that p. 121there is no peace to bee had: all here is vanity & vexation of spirit. For a minute of peace, moneths of vanity, for a dram of hony, pounds of aloes and gall. Soules here find no resting place for the soles of their feete, till they come to the mount Ararat, whither their works follow them, where their sorrowes leaue them. And so conclude with Vidus Bressius, Oh that my soule had I the wings of the Doue to flie and make haste to that mountain of God, and hill of tranquilitie and eternitie. Thus th'one dies howling, the other singing, because the one knowes he changeth for the better, the other for the worse: the one takes Death for a gulfe of sorrow, the other for a port of libertie and ease: the one because he is stript for a scourging; the other because hee layes off his clothes to go to bed after his toile.

p. 122If Queene Elizabeth whiles she was a prisoner in her sisters dayes could hauehave been fully assured, and had clearely foreseene her owne long; glorious, and prosperous reigne ensuing, would she hauehave wished her selfe a Milke-maid for the present? No, it had bin impossible. All our feares & doubts arise from infidelitie and the vncertaintie, or else from the deadnesse and dulnesse of our hopes. To put life into which, there can bee no better, no other help, then first to ground and root our Faith in Christ through the word and spirit: And then of ten to be setting before our eyes a state & condition happy aboue all that Cities, Kingdoms, Crownes, Pearles, and Iewels, Marriages, Feasts, and all other Metaphors and Parables of Scripture doe but shaddow out vntounto vsus. Which supereminent and super aboundant p. 123felicity, Paul that had been an eye witnes, not able to describe, much lesse to amplifie, summes it vp, An exceeding exceeding eternall weight of Glory.

A superlatiue transcēdent phrase such as is not to be found in all the Rhetoricke of the Heathens, because they neuer wrote of such a Theame, nor with such a Spirit. If any of vsus had but halfe the strength of Pauls Faith, or life of his hope, or chearefull fore-imaginations, which he had of this felicitie, woe could not but hauehave the same desires, and longings for our dissolution and fruition of them. If we throughly beleeued and remembred this to bee the state of our selues and dead friends, would we▪ or could we so feare for our selues, or mourne for them in Blackes, whiles they are in whites, as Iacob for Ioseph, thinking him deuoured p. 124by some euill beast, when he was Lording it in Aegypt. No verily, but thinke of it, and looke for it we would with the same affections that Children do for their playes, Prentises their freedome, Spouses their mariage, Labourers their wages, Husbandmen their Haruest, Heyres their Inheritance, Princes their Kingdomes. Mongst many thousands, I chuse to instance and end with Monicah and Augustines examples▪ the mother vsing this speech to her sonne; All that I hauehave desired to liue to see, is that which I now see: thee my sonne a Christian. And now what doe I any longer in this base and impure world? And hee of his mother: What cause hauehave I to mourne for a mother, of whose happinesse I may be so well assured.

When I awake, I shall be satisfied.

p. 125Write, O Christ, these Meditations in our hearts, imprint these Patternes so fast in our memories, that wee may all the dayes of our liues hauehave frequent fore-thoughts of our appointed change, chiefely in that last and solemne day of our death, when the Prince of this world will be busie, and wee shall be weake, let thy Comforter then bring them to minde, that by faith we may ouercome, and hauing the Arke of thy Couenant in eye, cheerefully passe through the waters of Iorden, and so take possession of that land which flowes with all varietie of delights, without either end or sacietie: euen so Come Lord Iesus, come quickly.

FINIS.

End of the text · Samuel Ward, The Life of Faith in Death Exemplified (1622)