A Case for the Spectacles, Sermon
A SERMON PREACHED AT THE Funerall of the Right Worshipfull, SIR HVMPHREY LYND, Kt. At Cobham, June the 14th. 1636.
NVMB: 23.10.
Let my last end be like unto his.
THeocritus termeth the dart of love foreign,aTheocr. Idull. de cup. foreign. Dulce acerbum: and Seneca compareth the Remembrance of a deceased Friend to a kind of Apple called Suave amarum, A sweet bitter, or bitter sweet. Such is the fruit I am to present you with at this present, partly bitter, and partly sweet; and that both in respect of the Doctrine, and the Application thereof: bitter in the Doctrine, as it giveth you a tast of death, Let mee die the death, &c. but sweet, as it gives you a relish of the blessed estate of the righteous both at, and after death, so blessed, that it is desired even by the wicked; Let my last end, saith Balaam, be like unto his. Againe, bitter in the Application, as it rubbeth your memorie with the consideration of your irrecoverable losse of such a Friend as here lieth before you: yet sweet, as it presenteth to you his invaluable gaine, and unconceiveable blisse.
Let my last end be like his.
I find some difference in the translation of this Text: for the seventy Interpreters th…s render it, foreign. Let my seed be as this seed: and indeed sometimes the word used in the originall is taken for Posteritie, or children which come after, as inbNot to his posteritie. Daniel, 11.14.cNone to raise her up. Amos, …▪ 2.dLet her posterity be cut off. Psal. 109.13. and according to this translation, Balaam prophesieth a blessing, not onelyonly to the righteous Israelite, but to his seed also: according unto his promise made untoeGen. 17.7. And I will establish my covenant between thee and mee, and thy seed after thee in their generation, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee. Abraham, and his seed after him. Saint Ierome readeth the Text thus, Moriar ego morte Iustorum, & sint novissima mea similia illius: Let mee die the death of the Righteous, and let my last things be like unto his. In the Calde paraphrase foreign, it is, Let my end be like his: which word is often used for afHen. Ainsworth in Num. reward which is after labour,gSurely there is an end, and their expectation shall not be cut off. Prov. 23.18.hReceiving the end of our faith, the saltion of our soules. 1 Pet. 1.9. which also may be implyed here: and the word understood of the blessed reward which the righteous have after this life in heaven, Math. 5.12. Rejoyce, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. But Baalam being a spell-man of Satan, though for a moment, and in a trance transformed into a Minister of the Gospell,i2 Cor. 11.14, 15. His end was according to his workes, as the Apostle telleth us of all such; and no marvell, for Satan himselfe is transformed into an Angell of light: therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of righteousnesse, Whose end shall be according to their workes.. The originall hath foreign that is, word for word, Let the last of mee be like unto his: which seemeth to be no other, than an explication of the former part of the verse, Let me die the death of the Righteous; for the last of man in this world is his death. I retaine therefore the last translation as being most agreeable to the originall, and pertinent to Baalam his scope at that time, and … my intention at this present.
Now for the CoherenceThe Coherence. of this verse with the former, I need speake little: because some kind of incoherence in the passionate speech of a man besides himselfe, is no incongruitie. For as the herbekPlin. nat. hist. lib. 26. cap. 14. Herba Anonymus non inveniendo nomen invenit. Anonymus, got that name by the lacke of a name: and as the signe of an indefinite proposition, is the want of a signe set before it: and as the Rhetorick of an Epistle, according to the definition of Politian, lEpist. lib 1. Ornamentum est ornamentis carere.is such as weedeth out the figures and flowers of Rhetorick: so, it is congruity and correspondencie in the speech of a distracted man, to be like him that uttereth it, that is, distracted. When the body is in good temper, the pulse beateth evenly and regularly; but in a Fever, or any other distemper, it beateth unevenly and startingly, holding no proportion at all: so, when the mind is in frame, our speech is composed, and the parts of it have good connection; but it is otherwayes when the braine is distempered, or wee are through any violent perturbation, lift off the hookes; for passion exceeds reason, and extasie exceeds passion. In such a case wee are not masters of our owne conceits, and much lesse of our words; it is much if they carry good sense with them, it is too much to expect composure and exact coherence in them: as wee may see inmforeign. Lycophron his Cassandra. Yet for Balaams words here, if by Righteous, wee understand the people of Israel, not in regard of their inherent righteousnesse, but in regard of Gods gracious calling them to the knowledge of his judgements, and by his holy ordinances and statutes severing and distinguishing them from the prophane and impure Gentiles: something may be said for the coherence of this verse, which followeth after this manner: How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? and how should I defie whom the Lord hath not defied? for from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hils I behold him; loe the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Iacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of this righteous people and let my last end, or my posterity be like unto his. Howbeit it seemeth to me more probable that Balaam being in a transe, had a glimpse of the blessed estate of the elect after this life, and being ravished therewith in spirit, breaketh off his propheticall prediction, and falls into a passionate prayer for himselfe, that he might goe away in this pleasant trance, and enter presently by the gate of death into the possession of blessed immortality.
Let me dye faith he the death of the righteous,The Sense. which thou hast foreshewed me by thy spirit to be so blessed, and let my last end be like unto his, which I see hath no end of joy or happinesse. Lord now let thou thy Seer depart in peace, because his eyes hath seene the Salvation of thy people, and felicity of thy chosen, and glory of the Saints, triumphing in Heaven. When I thinke hereupon, my foule danceth for joy, and faine would leape out of my body, were it not tyed fast with Nerves, Arteries, and other Ligaments of flesh, which I may not break, and cannot of my selfe untie: come Death therfore, and cut them all asunder, that my soule may even now escape as a bird out of the net of my body and fly up immediatly into Heaven, and nest with the Cherubins by the mercy Seat. Others desire to live, but I to die, and because I may notnVirg. Aeneid. 6. projecere animas. throw away my life, give me leave to resigne it into thy hands. Let me die the death, not the deathes, for the first death may upon some tearmes be desired, but the second upon none at all. When I die let me die as the righteous doth, that is, most comfortably and joyfully, and let my last end be like unto his; that is, let it be peace, and in peace abundance; and in abundance, joy; and in joy, variety; and in variety, security, and in security, eternity.
A Divine rapture, a Saint-like wish, a Heavenly ejaculation: yet darted out of a foule Quiver, out of the heart and mouth of Baalam, which in this regard may not unfitly be compared to the Lyncurie, a pretious Stone, issuing out of the body of the Lynx an uncleane and spotted Beast: or the Bufonites, a Stone of great vertue, yet found in the head of a Toad. Certainely if ever wholsome Sugar was found in a poysoned Cane; if ever out of a sinke there exhaled a savour of life: if ever a bitter Fountaine sent forth medicinall water: if ever the Divells Charmer set or sung a Divine spell it is this in my Text.The Division.
Wherein are presented to your religious thoughts, 3 points of speciall observation.
The Parts.1. The desire of the Person,
2. The object of the desire,
3. The condition of the object.
1. The desire of the Person, Strange,
2. The object of the desire, Dreadfull,
3. The condition of the object, Comfortable.
1. The desire of the Person is, Let me dye
2. The object of the desire is, the death
3. The condition of the object, of the righteous, and let my last end be like unto his.
From the desire of the person I inferre;Doctrinall points.
1. That the mouthes and tongues of wicked men are not their owne to use them alwayes as they list.
2. That gratious speeches sometimes fall from ungratious lips.
3. That a suddaine good motion, or a pious ejaculation, is no sufficient ground of hope for salvation.
Howsoever the wicked are brought in by the Psalmist vaunting in this manner;Psal. 12.4. with our tongues we will prevaile, our lips are our owne, who is Lord over us? yet they shall one day gnaw their oApoc. 16.10. And the Angell powred out his violl upon the seat of the Beast, and they gnawed their tongues.tongues for it: for their lips and tongues are not their owne, but his who made them: who though he permit them ordinarily to use them at their pleasure, yet when he will, he either silenceth them, or formeth such words by them, as the wicked of their owne accord would never have uttered. Wasp1 Sam. 10.11. What is this that is come to the Sonne of Kish? is Saul also among the Prophets. & 19.24. Sauls tongue his owne, when after he had heard David play upon his Instrument, he suddenly himselfe became an Instrument of Gods glory, sounding out his praises by the gift of Prophecy. Was Pilats wifes tongue her owne, when relating her dreame to her husband, shee charged him toqMatth. 19.27. have nothing to doe with that righteous one, by reason of whom shee suffered many things in her dreame. WasrAug. confen. l. 8. c. 2. Victorinus qui tot annos ore terricrepo Deos gentilium defensitasset non erubuit esse infans fontis tui &c. 4. Victorini lingua quo telo grandi. v. 51. Et. acuto multos peremerat, &c. Victorinus tongue his owne, when of a sharpe and dangerous weapon that had wounded the Catholike faith; it was suddenly turned into an armed Sword drawne for the defence of the truth? WassIohn. 11.50.51.52. Implet. puerum, & citharaedum facit: implet armentarium, & facit Prophetam: implet piscatorem, & Principem Apostolorum facit: implet persecutorem, & Doctorem Gentium facit: implet publicanum, & Evangelistam facit. … In 1. Reg. 10. Deus corda sanctorum tangit quando iis sp. S. gratiam tribuit & ejus tactum sentiunt, quia recepto internae virtutis munere a carnalitatis suae delibitate Comm…ve… tur, qui protenus Coelestis exercitus milites fiant, &c. Caiphas tongue his owne, when he delivered that Prophesie? it is expedient that one man die for the people, which the Text saith, he spake not of himselfe, but being High-Priest that yeare, he Prophesied that Iesus should dye for that Nation, & not for that Nation only, but that he should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad; God saith St. Gregory by his spirit toucheth the tongue of an Heardman and maketh him a Prophet; of a Fisherman, and maketh him an Apostle; of a child, and maketh him a Musitian; of a Publican, and maketh him an Evangelist; of a Persecutor, and maketh him the Doctor of the Gentiles; whereunro I may adde, he toucheth the tongue of an accursed Balaam, and maketh him a blesser, even after he had received the wages of iniquity, to diminish by his curse the seede of the righteous, and set his heart and tongue against the people of God, and tooke his journy with Balaac, and the Princes of Moab to the high places, from whence he might discover the Host of Israel as it passed, with a full purpose from the top of those high hills, to have cursed them downe to the deepe pit of Hell: at the very instant God turneth his tongue within his mouth, and as if he had mistooke his Q and fell upon a wrong part, he blesseth where he thought to have cursed, and curseth where he intended to have blessed, saying, how goodly are thy Tents O Jacob,Numb. 24.5.6.7.8. and thy habitations O Israel, as the valleyes are they stretched forth, and as gardens by the River side; God brought him out of Egypt, his strength shall be as an Vnicorne, he shall eate the Nations, his enemies, and bruise their bones, he coucheth and lieth downe like a young Lion, who shall stirre him, and blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee: whereas the promise of the blessing to Abraham consisted of two branches.
1. That God would give the land of Canaan to him and to his seed.
2. That he would make his seede as the dust vv of the earth:*Gen. 13.15, 16.
under which, spirituall graces in Christ were also comprehended: the Lord causeth Balaam here to ratifie them both for their dwelling alone in the land, and for their innumerable encrease, and whereas Balaac envied their multitude, and would therefore have them x cursed that they might be diminished;Numb. 22.3, 5, 6. Balaam is here forced to utter a blessing for their further encrease. Thus God resisted him in all his counsells and enterprises.
Some peradventure, would have thought this prophecie fitter to have come out of any mans mouth than Baalams. Could God make no better choice of a Vessell to containe, or a Conduit to convey the water of Life, than the wind-pipe of Baalam? what is Saul among the Prophets? Paul among the Preachers of the Gospell? Baalam turned a Blesser? how many queasie stomackes are there that will loath the daintiest meats, if they be served in a sluttish dish? In which regard, the Senatours of Lacedemon hearing an excellent motion made by an infamous person, and perceiving many averse from it, onelyonly out of a distaste of the person of the speaker, powred out, as Plutarch observeth, Sweet liquor into a sweet vessell, commanding a person of qualitie and reputation among them, to owne the motion, and propound it as from himselfe; and so it passed with generall applause. God could have done so; but here it pleased him to utter his goodnesse by the mouth of Baalam, as before hee uttered wisdome by the mouth of his Asse: byy2 Pet. 2.16. The dumb Asse speaking with mans voice, forbad the madnesse of the Prophet. whom hee reproved the madnesse of the Prophet, both to teach us, that his power dependeth not upon meanes, but all meanes upon his power; and that hee is able to draw z2 Cor. 4.6. God commanded the light to shine out of darknesse.light out of darknesse, and life out of the jawes of death, and sweetnesse out of the gall of malice and bitternesse.
Therefore, when wee see not onelyonly good aMatth. 12.35.men out of the good treasurie of their heart, bring forth good things: but also sometimes (according to my second Observation) evill men, out of the evill shop of their mouth, utter good wares. When wee heare not onelyonly Holy b2 Pet. 1.21. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost.men, of whom Saint Peter speaketh, but also sometimes unholy men speake as they are moved by the holy Ghost: let us be advised by Seneca, to consider non quis dicat, sed quid dicatur; not who it is that speaketh, but what it is that is spoken: and imitate the wisdome of Virgil, Ennius ingenio maximus arte rudis.who being demanded why hee turned over so many leaves in Ennius, whose language was impure, and skill in Poetrie very small: answered, E stercore se colligere aurum; that hee raked gold out of muck: and with Aesops cock, found a Pearle in a dunghill. Aesop. fab. gallus gallinatius dum verit stercorarium offendit gemmam.Doe you the like; the Muck is Balaams dirty and filthy mouth; the Pearle, or gold you are to take up, is this golden sentence, in which these three divine verities glister:
1. That the righteous dye as well as the wicked.
2. That their death is blessed.
3. That this blessednesse of their death is desired, even by the worst men that breath.
The French have a Berry which they name Vve de spine, The grape of a thorne: such is the fruit of this branch of my Text, Vva de spina, a sweet and wholsome grape, yet growing upon a thorne. You will aske (it is very like) how may this be?dMatth. 7.16. Doe men gather grapes of thornes, or figs of thistles, saith the true Vine, Christ Jesus? I distinguish therefore of two sort of grapes:
1. Of a holy profession.
2. Of a religious conversation.
These later cannot be gathered of thornes: the former may. There is a great deale of difference between the fruits of our lips, and the fruit of our lives; Si bene dixerimus vestrum est, si bene vixerimus nostrum est: the fruit of our lives is to our selves especially, but the fruit of our lips to you; you may be the better for them, though sometimes some of us are not. For, the water that passeth through a leaden pipe into a garden, watereth the garden, yet leaveth little or no moysture in the pipe: the influence which is coveighed by the beames of the Sunne into the minerals, inricheth them; yet, not the beame, nor the ayre through which it is carried: the Font water that cleanseth the child, is it selfe cast into the draught: the builders of Noahs Arke were overwhelmed in the deluge, andeVirg. En. 3. Mortuus in nudâ Palinure jacebis arenâ. Palinurus Aeneas his Pilot saved the Ship, yet was himselfe drowned. Are there not many, who like Watermen, looke one way, and row another way? looke towards heaven, but row with all their strength to hell? whomfLact. diu instit. l. 3. c. 15. Redundant in ipsos maledicta in publicum missa quos non alitur intueri decet, quam medicos quorū tituli habent medicamenta pyxides venena. Lactantius fitly compares to Apothecaries boxes which containe in them poysons, having the title of Antidotes or Remedies written on the outside: such are they who will claime aquaintance with Christ at the last day, saying,gMath. 7.22, 23. Have we not prophecied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderfull works? to whom hee will professe, I never knew you; depart from mee, ye that worke iniquitie. The spirit, hIoh. 3.8.as it bloweth where it listeth; so also, how much it listeth, lesse in aurâ than in vento; and lesse in it, than in procellâ or turbine: some are inspired with the spirit of Prophecie, yet not of Prayer: some with the spirit of Prayer, yet not of compunction: some with the spirit of Illumination, yet not of Renovation or Sanctification: Baalam prophecied of the birth of Christ, yet was not himselfe regenerated; and Caiphas of his death, yet was not thereby mortified.
Wherefore, let none presume of sanctifying grace, because they have the gift of prophecying or extemporarie supplication; for the trumpet may sound shrill, yet the breath of him that bloweth it, be impure: glasse ringeth as well as silver, but it will not indure the hammer: if any have the gift of utterance, let him strive for a great measure of sanctifying grace to fill his heart, that out of theiMatth. 11.34 abundance therof his mouth may speake.
Secondly, let us judge of men, rather by their actions than by their speeches: By their fruits, saith Christ,kMatth. 7.16. ye shall know them; not alwaies by their leaves or blossomes: for corrupt trees may have faire leaves of a good profession on them, and goodly blossomes also, godly motions, honest intentions, and holy desires. The light of nature is not quite extinct in any; hee is no man who hath not a conscience, which, if it be wounded deeply, will extort from him at some time or other, a condemnation of his evill wayes; and stirre up in him at least some faint and languishing desire of amendment of life. Saint Gregorie truly noteth, that As lMoral. in Iob. Ille compungitur nec iustitiae propinquat iste temptatur & tamen culpa eum non inquinat quod nec malos bona imperfecta adjuvant, nec bonos mala inconsummata condemnat.good men have sometimes evill thoughts, so evill men have good: yet, as the one hurt not the one, so the other helpe not the other; for as evill motions, if they be not prosecuted, hinder not salvation; so good motions, if they be not pursued, further not salvation. Wherupon, Lyranus saith, thatmIn Numb. c. 23. Mali licet nolint vivere vitam justorum appetunt tamen mortem eorum. The wickedst of men, who have no will at all to live the life of the righteous; yet in a pang sometime heartily wish, and desire to dye the death of the Righteous.
God knocketh at the hearts of all, either by a softer knock, the inward motions of his spirit; or by a lowder knock, with the rod of afflictions: and hee calleth also unto them, either by the voice of Nature, or his written Word, and if they will give eare, and albeit they cannot open the doore, yet give a plucke at the bolt, or a lift at the latch: God will either give them, by increase of grace strength to open it, or at least by their good indeavour, they shall make their condition more tolerable in the day of judgement. Pharoah that anvile of steele, which indured so many strokes at the hand of God, and brake not in sunder, yet sometimes was mollified: Felix is frighted; the Iews send forth a pious ejaculation: Herod nMarke 6.20.heareth John gladly, and doth many things; Pharaoh oExod. 9.27. I have sinned: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.his acknowledgment was a true confession; Felix pActs 24.25.his trembling when St. Paul reasoned of righteousnesse, temperance, and judgement to come, was a good symptome: the Iewes prayer,qIoh. 6.34. Lord evermore give us this bread was a zealous flash, and pious pang. Herods attention and joy at S. Iohns preaching were hopeful beginnings: yet all these confessions, affections, prayers, and hopefull assayes, were but asrPsal. 129.6. grasse on the house top, whereof the Mower filled not his lap, or the untimely fruit of a woman which never seeth the Sun: Good motions must be followed, honest intentions pursued, holy thoughts dwelt upon, pious vowes performed, zealous resolutions continued. If God kindle in us a sparke of Divine fire, we must blow it that it flame, else it will yeeld little warmth to a benummed conscience, much lesse hope ever to see the light of Heaven; so precious are the things which God hath laid up in store for his children, that the wicked themselves when they are represented in visions to their eyes, or by the word preached to their eares, cannot but affect them, and thirst after them, and pray for them; but these their desires and prayers be they never so fervent for the time, continue not, but like a sparke of fire in greene wood; unlesse they be continually blowne by the spirit of God, soone dye: they resemble thesMatth. 13.5. seed cast in stonie ground, which bare no fruit, because it tooke no roote. The Iewes for a while rejoyced in St. Iohn tIoh. 5.35.his light, who was a burning and a shining lampe: and I perswade my selfe there cannot be found a man so desperatly wicked, who never conceived a good thought, or felt some good motion within him. What a happy thing were it for a sonne of Belial if he might be in Heaven with a wish; if it were enough to say, Lord be mercifull to me a sinner, Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome, let me die the death of the righteous. But let none deceive themselves with any such conceit, or groundlesse hope: but let them beleeve the words of truth himselfe protesting against such, and saying,uMatth. 7.21▪ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven, but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Not every one who in the midst of his mirth and jollity, checks himselfe, and darts out a short prayer: Let me die the death of the righteous, shall arrive at the faire haven, but he that steareth his course by the compasse of Gods law and card of Scripture: he that walketh uprightly before God and man, neither halting in his Religion, nor doubling in his dealing: he that maketh Gods glory his end, his grace his meanes, his word his guide, his Saints his companions, his Commandements his way, and holdeth on streight in it to the end, neither declining to the right hand nor to the left. Doe you desire beloved, as Balaam doth here, to die the death of the righteous, I will tell yo… in a word how to compasse your desires. Be you your selves righteous, and so you shall be sure to die the death of the righteous; for the death of the righteous shall be your death, if you be righteous; and his last end, the end of your course, if you take his. Demand you yet farther, how can they that are laden with sinne and iniquitie become righteous? I answer briefly, by remission of sins, imputation of Christs righteousnesse, and the power of sanctifying grace. Remission of sins is obtained by repentance, righteousnesse by a lively Faith, and sanctifying grace by hearing diligently the Word, duly receiving the Sacraments, and daily practising such religious duties as are prescribed in the Word.
These are good preparations in generall to a comfortable end, and a happy dissolution; but in speciall, I commend unto you at this time, these three following:
1. To consider your later end, and comment often upon your owne death.
2. To meditate upon Christs death.
3. To expresse them both to the life, by mortifying your fleshly members upon earth.
The meditation of death is of singular use, for it killeth sin in us, and either quite taketh away, or much diminisheth the feare of death. As the stroking of a dead hand on the belly, cureth a tympanie; and as the ashes of a viper, applied to the part that is stung, draws the venome out of it: so of the ashes of a sinner, wee may make a soveraigne Salve against Sin, after this manner: Dost thou let loose the raines to thy impetuous lusts, and art given to licentious pleasures? lay the ashes of a voluptuous person to thy heart, and say, all our sinfull delights and pleasures, all our mirth and laughter, is but like the crackling of thornes under a pot, Eccles. 7.6.which will turne in the end into ashes and mourning. Art thou a Narcissus, or Nireus, inamoured with thine owne beauty? take of the ashes of a beautifull person, now rotten in the grave, and lay them to thy heart, and say, such as these stinking ashes and foule earth are, I shall be. Art thou inclined to luxurie, or gluttonie? take of the ashes of a glutton, and lay them to thy heart, and say, this is all that remaines of my delicate Fare, to make a small quantitie of foule earth, or ashes good for nothing, I have spent so much in pampering of my flesh. Lastly, art thou high minded, and puffed up with pride? lay the dust and ashes of a proud man to thy heart, and say, this man that walked so stately, and looked so high, here lyeth low enough, and is trod upon by every begger that walketh over his grave. Such thoughts as these, are excellent sawces to season the pleasures of this life, that wee surfeit not of them. In which regard, I suppose it was, that the Aegyptians usually served in a Deaths-head, with a shovell full of mold at their greatest Feasts, with their first course: and Ioseph of Arimathea built his Sepulcher in his garden: and lest the Emperours of Rome, in the height of their honour, and pride of their glory, should forget the frailty of their condition, and vilenesse of their nature, the ancient manner was at their Inauguration, to shew to them divers sorts of Marble, and bid them chuse of which they would have their tomb-stone made. A like ceremonie is used at this day, in the Inthronization of the Pope; before hee is set in his chaire, and puts on his triple Crowne, a piece of toe, or wadd of straw is set on fire before him, and one appointed to say, Sic transit gloria mundi; the glorie of this world is but a blaze.
Moreover, the thinking often upon death, maketh it more familiar, and lesse terrible unto us, Previsa xEras. A…ag.jacula minus feriunt; the darts of death foreseene wound lesse, they pierce not the heart so deepe; because it is forearmed with premediated comforts against them. A man that is strucken on the sudden, though but lightly, starteth, and is much affrighted at the blow: whereas, a trained Souldier in the field, that looketh for death every houre, scarse stirreth for a Bullet, but marcheth on couragiously, fearing no colors. Even children, though they are much scared at the first, with the sight of a vizard; yet after they have looked stedfastly on it, and handled it, finding no hurt at all in it, they make themselves sport with it: even so the child of God, the first time the devill representeth to him the gastly visage of death, is terrified with it, it is as a Bugbeare, or an Hobgoblin, it scareth and affrighteth him; but when hee looketh stedfastly on it, and feeleth for the sting therof, & findeth it is pluckt out, hee contemneth it, and insulteth over it, saying,y1 Cor. 15.55. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victorie? Doe thy worst, thou canst not hurt mee; separate thou maist my body from my soule, but thou canst not my soule from Christ; so the Jewell be safe, what care I much what becommeth of the casket: yet that also shall be restored, and more beautifully trimmed and adorned than ever it was, at the last day.
Another meanes to gaine an easie and safe passe over the troublesome sea of this life, is to meditate frequently upon the death and passion of our Saviour, and thus to reflect upon our selves: The Lord of life suffered death upon the crosse, & shall I that am sold under sin, hope to escape? The Sonne of God paid this tribute to nature, shall I that am a servant stand upon it? The King of glorie entred into his Kingdome by this gate, shall I desire to avoid it, or feare to follow him? My Redeemer, when hee was nailed hand and foot to the Crosse, incountred Death, then armed with a deadly sting, and hee disarmed it, left it as good as dead; and shall I feare to deale with an enemie so conquered and spoiled? My master mastered Death when it was alive, shall I feare to grapple with it, being halfe, or rather altogether dead, for any hurt it can doe me? according to the m…nacing Prophecies of Hosea, Ero mors tua ô mors; O zHos. 13.14.death, I will be thy plagues. These, and the like applications of the death of Christ, and the power thereof to our selves, furnish us with a second strong weapon against the feare of death.
A third, Saint Paul frameth for us, and reacheth unto us, to wit, toa1 Cor. 15.31. By our rejoycing, which I have in Christ Iesus our Lord, I die daily. die daily; not inbSeneca Epist lib. 1. Quotidie morimur, quotidie enim demitur aliqua pars vitae. Seneca his meaning, Wee are daily dying, because every day a part of our life is taken away: but according to SaintcHier. Epitaph. Nepot. c. 60. Platonis est sententia sapientis vitam meditationem esse mortis; laudunt hoc Philosophi et in caelum, ferunt, sed multo fortius Apostolus, quotidie morior, aliud enim est conari, aliud agere, aliud vivere morit… rum aliud mori, victurum ille semel moriturus est ex gloriâ, iste semper moriturus est ad gloriam. Ieromes interpretation, It was one of divine Plato his Essayes, That the life of a wise man is a continuall meditation upon death: the Philosophers commend this in him for a strong line, but the Apostles is farre stronger; I die daily: it is one thing to thinke upon, or indeavour; another to act: one thing to live, as being once to die; another thing to die, as being ever after to live. By our rejoycing, which I have in Christ Iesus, I die daily; that is, I inure my selfe to die; I feele the pangs of death; I am out of all hope and love of life, my soule is alway in my hand, I withdraw it what I can from my body, I mortifie my fleshly members in such sort, that in my faintnesse, and great weakenesse, nothing supporteth mee from falling, but the crosse of Christ, whereby I am crucified to the world, and the world to mee.
He that desireth to live after hee is dead, must die while hee is alive, and that three manner of wayes:
1. To the World.
2. To the Flesh.
3. To Sinne.
1. To the world by retiring out of it, or at least, renouncing the pompes and vanities thereof.
2. To the Flesh, by subduing it, and killing the lusts thereof with the sword of the spirit, by watching, fasting, and praying, and other exercises of mortification.
3. To Sin, by shutting up all the passage of the soule against it, by resisting the first motions to it, and nipping it in the Bud. This is the death whichdTertul. de poenit. Caro ante hominem suam prae mortua. Tertullian extolleth; andeClimach. Sealpar. foreign. Climachus maketh it a round in his scale of Paradice, when the flesh is killed, and the man alive? when mortified in mind as well as in body, wee have no sense or feeling, either of the vanities of the world, or delights of the flesh: when wee live not, but Christ in us. Of this death, SaintfLeo, Serm. de 7. frat. Praetiosa mors qua occiditur homo, non terminatione sensuum sed fine vitiorum. Et serm. 1. de resurrect. Interest cui quis aut moriatur, aut vivat, quia est mors quae causa est vivendi, & est vita quae causa est moriendi. Leo understandeth the words of the Psalmist; Precious in the eyes of the Lord, is the death of his Sants, Psal. 116.15. A precious death indeed, which bereaveth not a man of sense, but of lust; destroyeth not Nature, but Sinne: driveth not a man out of the world, but chaseth the world out of his mind and affections. And of this, SaintgBern. Ser. 52. in Cant. Moriatur anima mea mortejustorum, ut nulla me illaqueat fraus nulla oblectat, iniquitas bona mors quae vitam, non aufert sed transfert in melius. Bernard, and Hugo de Sancto Victore, interpret the words of my text; Let mee die the death of the Righteous in such sort, that I feele no incentive of lust, no pricke of anger, no heat of desire: let no fraud insnare mee, no iniquity delight me, it is a good and happy death which taketh not away life, but improveth it. There is a threefold death saithhHug. Card. in num. Hugo Cardinalis.
1. Of Nature.
2. Of Sinne.
3. Of grace.
1. In the first, the flesh dieth.
2. In the second, the soule.
3. In the third, the whole man.
1. The first seperateth the soule from the flesh.
2. The second divideth the spirit from grace.
3. The third sequestreth the whole man from the world.
1. The first death is of all,
2. The second of evill men onelyonly,
3. The third of the Godly.
Those that are dead,
In the first sense, are buried in the world.
In the second sense, are buried in Hell:
In the third sense, are buried in Heaven.
Of the first it is said, O death how bitter is thy remembrance. In the second the widdow that lived in pleasure is said to be dead being alive. According to the third sense: Balaam wisheth, let me die the death of the righteous, that is, a death proper to the Saints of God, who though they live in the flesh, yet they walke after the spirit; though their commoration be on earth,iPhil. 3.20. yet their conversation is in Heaven, they have no more to doe with the world then if they had quite left it, nor with the flesh, then if they had shaken it off, they looke not after the Pageants of the world, nor heare the noyse of it, nor tast the delights of it, nor defile themselves with the corruptions of it: like men dead, they have no thought of ambition, no sense of pleasure, no motion or inclination to the lusts of the flesh, or the lusts of the eye or pride of life: their dying after this manner is their whole life, and by thus dying dayly they bring their minde to that temper, that the feare of death cannot worke upon them. If you pricke or cut a piece of dead flesh, it shrinketh not at it, it feeleth no paine: no more is a mortified man affected with the panges of death; What feareth he to depart out of the body, which he accounteth no better then the prison of his soule? what careth he to leave the world at his death, who abandoneth it all his life? what passeth he for the losse of temporary delights and pleasures, who never accounted them delights or true pleasures? but rather in regard of sinne adhering to them,kBernard meditat. c. 13. Accusat me cōscientia testis est memoria ratio judex, voluptas carcer, timor, tortor, oblectamentum tormentum, nam inde patimur unde delectamur. paines and tortures of the soule, quot oblectamenta tot tormenta, especially considering, that he is to exchange them for solid comforts, unspeakable joyes, unconceiveable delights and everlasting contentments.
This may suffice to have beene spoken of the desire of the person, now followeth the object of his desire, with the limitation thereof, The death of the righteous, from whence these conclusions may be enforced.
1. That the righteous die as well as the wicked.
2. That this their death is blessed.
3. That the blessednesse thereof is desired even by the wicked themselves.
But before I may expatiat into these fields of meditation, I must remove the let or obstacle in my text, let me die; Balaam speaketh not in the Indicative mood, but in the Optative, and consequently, his words imply, first a desire of death, secondly, a craving leave to resigne up his life: hence two emergent questions are briefely to be discussed.
First, whether death may be desired.
Secondly, whether in any case a man may shorten his owne end and make away himselfe.
Concerning the first, Nature, Reason and Grace seeme to pleade strongly against it, Nature hath imprinted this law, not onelyonly in man but in all creatures els, se concervare, to doe their utmost to preserve their being. Reason teacheth us that it is extreame folly to desire our greatest losse, which to the naturall man is the losse of his temporall life; for when it goes away, all his possessions, wealth, and comforts in this world goe with it. Religion objecteth, that this time of our life, is tempus gratiae, the time of grace, in which we may make our peace with God: so long as we breath we may call upon God and hope for mercy; but as St. Cyprian lAd Demet. postquam hinc excessum est nullus relinquitur penitentiae locus, nullus datur satisfactionis effectus hic vita aut amittitur aut tenetur. Leo Serm. 5. de Epiph. Non ita delinquentes peccata delectent, ut illos in his actib{us} finis vitae inveniat quia in inferno nulla est correctio nec datur remedium satisfactionis, ubi non superest actio voluntatis.speaketh, after wee are gone from hence there remaines no place for repentance. An ocean of teares if we could shed them will not procure unto us a drop of water to coole our tongue: and therefore it cannot stand with spirituall wisdome to abridge these golden moments of time, upon the usage whereof dependeth our eternall happinesse, or misery: on the contrary, it may truly be alleaged, that not onelyonly Balaam here, but Eliiah also, and Ionah, and David, and Saint Paul have longed for death, Eliiah complained,m1 King. 19.4. it is enough now O Lord, take away my soule for I am no better then my Fathers. nIonah 4.8.Ionah in the bitternesse of his soule wisheth to die, saying, It is better for me to die then to live. David sigheth,oPsal. 55.6.8. O that I had wings like a Dove, then would I flee away and be at rest, I would hasten to escape from the windy storme and tempost, pPsal. 42.1.2.And as the Hart panteth after the water brooke, so panteth my soule after thee O God, my soule thirsteth for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appeare before God? St. Paul qPhil. 1.23.is in a straight betweene two, having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is farre better. To assoyle this doubt, we must distinguish first quomodo in what respect, or how; secondly, quare, for what cause or end; thirdly, quatenus, how farre forth death may be desired.
First, quomodo? death is no way to be desired as a punishment of sinne, but as a period of sinne: not as it is in his owne nature, but as it is changed by Christ: not as it is a posterne gate to let out our temporall, but a streete dore to let in eternall life.
Secondly, quare? for what end or cause death is to be desired, not to ease us of the burthen of any heavy crosse laid upon us: not to free us from our painefull or dangerous imployments; but either that we may be discharged from sinne, and severed from the company of the wicked: or that we may be more nearely united unto Christ, and more fully enjoy him then we can in this life.
Thirdly, quatenus? how farre forth. No man may absolutely desire death, but with submission to Gods will who is Lord of our life, to whom we ought to commit our soules as our faithfull Creator.
Concerning the second question, it hath beene much argued by Phylosophers, and not a little by Divines. The Stoicks generally taught that life was a thing indifferent, and that it made little matter whether death come to us, or we come to it. rSen. Ep. 69. Neque interest multum, mors ad nos veniat vel ad illam no…▪Dost thou see, saith Seneca, yonder steepe place, from thence thou mayest descend to liberty? dost thou see yonder deepe well, in the bottome of it, thou shalt find libertie? Dost thou see yonder tree with snags and crooked boughes, upon it hangs libertie sSen. de ira Vides illum praecipitem locum illàc ad libertatem descenditur, vides illud flumen illum putem libertus illic in imo sedet vides arborem brevem, & pendet inde libertus.. It is tSen. Ep. 12. Malū est in necessitate vivere, sed in necessitate vivere nulla necessitas est.an evill thing to live in necessitie, but there is no necessitie to live in this necessitie: for the point of a small pen-knife openeth a way to immortalitie; according to this their doctrine, Zeno, Cleanthes & Seneca killd themselves. And not onelyonly the Heathen Lucretia, but the Christian Sophronia rather spilt her owne blood, than she would suffer it to be defiled by a Tyrant: and Pelagia, rather then shee would suffer a Souldier to deslowre her, leapt into the river and drowned her selfe: Rasis also in the booke of Maccabees, razed himselfe out of the booke of Life, and is commended by the Author of those bookes. Nay, in the Canonicall Scriptures wee reade, that Sampson, whose Faith is enobled in Saint Paul to the Hebrewes, pulled downe the house where the Philistines were assembled together, and died himselfe amongst them. Notwithstanding these and all other arguments and instances, which desperate men have devised to maintaine their desperate position,uL. 1. de civit. Dei, cap. 21. Exceptis iis quos lex justa generaliter, vel ipse fons justitiae deus specialiter, occidi jubet quisquis hominem vel quemlibet, vel seipsum occiderit homicidi crimine innectitur. Saint Austines conclusion standeth firme, Excepting those whom a just Law in generall, or God the fountaine of Iustice in speciall commandeth to be slaine; whosoever kils either himselfe or any other, is guilty of Man-slaughter. For the Law, Thou shalt not kill, first reflecteth upon a mans selfe, and certainly felo de se is the worst felon of all; and albeit, many in former ages, and some at this present day, partly for want of knowledge, or feare of God, partly out of pasillanimitie, not able to beare the heavie crosses laid on them, partly upon deepe discontents, breake the lanterne of their body, and quench the light of their life: yet the sinne they commit therein, is of the deepest die, and most dangerous of all other, next the sinne against the holy Ghost, because it killeth body and soule at once, and depriveth the delinquent of all time of repentance for so horrid a crime. One Malefactour was pardoned on the Crosse at his execution, but wee never reade in holy Scripture, of any pardoned after death. Sampson was a type of Christ, and what hee did, as Saint Austine expressely teacheth, hee did by Gods command, and was assisted in it by divine power, his strength miraculously returning unto him. And if Sophronia and Pelagia had not a speciall warrant from God, to do what they did for the preservation of their chastitie, they ought to be strucke out of the catalogue of Saints, as they struck thēselves out of the catalogue of living. For Lucretia, S. Austin catcheth her within his*Lib. 1. de civit. Dei, c. 19. Innocentem castam vim perpessam Lucretiam Lucretia interemit si adulteram, cur laudatam, si pudicam, cur occis…m. Dilemma, faire Lucrece kils Lucrece: if as an adultresse, why is shee so extolled for chastitie? if undefiled, why should shee be slaine? the more innocent shee was, the more horrid and detestable was her putting to death, especially by her owne hand. For Rasis, though thex2 Mac. 14.42.46. Author of the Maccabees saith not that hee did well in falling upon his owne sword, and after casting himselfe downe from a wall, and plucking out his owne bowels, and casting them upon the throng; yet because hee enobleth him for valour, saying, Hee did manfully: the Booke is deservedly branded with the note of Apochryphall. For as Saint Austine demonstrateth it,yLib. 1. de civit. Dei, c. 22. Pusillanimis est seipsum occidere, non magnanimi, majorque animus merito dicendus est qui vitam erum nosum magis ferre potest quam fugere. It is no point of valour, but an argument of cowardise, for a man to kill himselfe: hee is of greater courage, and more valorous, who can indure the extreamest miseries of this life, than hee who cowardly flies from them, by making away himselfe. To Seneca, I oppose Epictetus, a Philosopher of his owne sect, who in the first of his Disputes, the ninth Chapter, divinely concludeth the point, Admonishing all men to wait upon God, and not to quit our charge here upon earth, zEpict. dissent. lib. 1. c. 9. foreign. Tusculan quest. l. 1. Vetat dominus ille nobis deus injussu nos hinc suo demigrare, cum vero causam justam deus ipse dederit, nae ille vir sapiens laetus ex his tenebris in illam lucem excesserit, nec tamen curteris vincula ruperit leges enim vetant, sed tanquam à magistratu aut aliqua legitima potestate, sic à Deo evocatus at emissus exierit.till hee give us some token of his pleasure, or dismisse us: with whom Tully concurreth, observing, that God setteth us all in this world as Souldiers in battell array, and wee are to keepe our standing under paine of death, till wee have order from our Captaine to remove our station, or are called off by him: a wise man will desire nothing more, than to be freed out of the darke prison of his body, yet dare hee not breake the walls of the prison, for thats against the Law. As a subject may not goe out of the kingdome without his Soveraignes leave, or passport: so neither may any man depart from this life without the passe of Almightie God, the Lord of the whole earth. Wherefore Balaam here craves leave, as it were, to travell from earth to heaven, saying, Let mee die: and Ionah and Elijah exhibit a like petition, Take away my life: and Simeon, before hee departs, sings his Nunc dimitis, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace. All men have a Race set before them which they must finish, not balke any part of it, if they expect a Crowne of righteousnesse. Most disconsolate therefore, and dreadfull is their case,aVirgil, En 6. Lucem{que} peros… projecere animas. who throw away their soules (which they should returne to him that gave them) some by dashing their owne braines out, as Herennius: some by cutting their vaines, as Seneca: some by choking themselves with a napkin, as Lentulus: some by hanging themselves, as Iudas: some by falling upon their owne sword, as Saul: some by sucking poyson out of a ring, as Hanniball: some out of their Pen, as Demosthenes: some by supping up burning coales, as Portia: some by leaping into the fire, as Sardanapalus: some from an high rocke into the sea, as the Indians: some stabbing themselves, as Dido: some setting Aspes at their brests, as Cleopatra: some dying in a bravery, as Calanus: some in a fury, as Iulian: some in envie, as Cato: some to avoid infamie, as Lucretia: some to testifie their love, as Panthea: some to be rid of a tedious disease, as Atticus: some to attaine speedily immortalitie, as Cleombrotus; who, presently after he had read Plato his Treatise of the Immortalitie of the soule,bCic. Tusc. 1. leapt from a high wall to make triall of the truth of it. It is to be feared that these, and most, if not all that follow their desperate courses, goe down quicke into hell, and immediately passe from the first death to the second: for how should they looke to be saved by God, which thus cast away themselves? what hope can they have of the benefit of a pardon, who by their very sin, bereave themselves of all meanes of getting it? and if God of his infinite merciemercy should send them one, they execute themselves before they can make use of it, easing the devill of the paines to fetch them away; for they fetch their fees themselves, and leape into the pit of destruction. I tremble at Christs words uttred to Paula, by way of Prosopopaeia, in Saint Ierome; cAd Paul super obit Blesillae, ego nullam animam recipio quae me nollente seperatur à corpore tales stulta Philosophia habeat Martyres habeat Zenonē, Cleombrotum vel Catonem, &c.I give no harbour or entertainment to any runagate soule, that maketh an escape out of the prison of the body, by breaking the walls thereof, or getteth out any other way without my warrant. I hope rather with Saint Austine, that there may be sometimes, inter pontem & fontem misericordia; MercieMercy between the bridge and the river: and that, though the wind-pipe be stopped that no breath can passe, yet that Gods spirit may by grace, worke that sorrow in a moment, which through the infinite merits of Christ apprehended by Faith, may free them from everlasting sorrowes. Yet, to presume upon some rare examples in this kind, to run any such desperate course, were as great folly and madnesse, as for a man to venture to leape off a high Tower; because peradventure, some one hath at some time, caught hold of the battlements of the Church in his fall, and thereby escaped death.
The Let being removed, now I may freely expatiate in the fields of Meditations set before mee:
1. Concerning the necessitie of death in generall.
3. The condition of the death of the righteous in speciall.
In all States, Common-wealths, and Kingdomes, besides the Law of Nature, and of Nations, to which all professe themselves subject, there are some peculiar Statutes, Ordinances, and Customes: by the observation whereof, wee distinguish their severall governments. This may be exemplified in the three great and main estates of the world: the Kingdome of
1. Heaven.
2. Earth.
3. Hell.
Whose Lawes are as different as their places are distant.
1. The Law of Heaven is: None that are admitted into it shall ever die.
2. The Law of Hell is: All that come there, die for ever.
3. The Law of the Land, or Earth, is: All that live in it must die once.
In that they die, they are distinguished from the citizens of heaven, who never die; in that they die but once, they are distinguished from the in habitants of hell, that die alwaies. Of this statute Law SaintdHeb. 9.27. Paul maketh mention in the Epistle to the Hebrewes, Statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori: It is appointed for all men once to die. This statute is like the laws of Medes and Persians, that never alter: this statute taketh hold of all that injoy the benefit of life, and set foot on the earth; Qui vult excipere, conatur decipere. If all men are in danger of this Statute, then the righteous as well as the wicked.
Non te tua plurima Pentheu
Labentem texit pietas.
Righteousnesse is termed by Saint Paul, A great eEphes. 6.14.Shield, or Target; yet it is not deaths proofe. If righteousnesse could have saved from death, Iob had not died: if Faithfulnesse, Moses had yet lived: if Valour, Ioshuah had overcome death: if Wisdome, Salomon had prevented death: if Riches, Crassus and Craeses had bought out death: if all naturall and supernaturall graces had withstood the assault of death, our blessed Lord and Saviour had never beene deaths prisoner three dayes and three nights. Me thinkes I heare you object,fRom. 6.23. Death is the wages of Sinne; therefore it is no wayes due to the righteous. The answer is ready: The mostgLeo, serm. 2. de Epiph. Haec est perfectorum vera justitia ut nunquam praesumant se esse perfectos. righteous man upon earth, besides his originall corruption, hath many actuall sinnes, for which death is owing to him. Yea, but Christ hath wiped out all the scores of these sinnes of his elect: why then doth this debt of nature remaine to be paid? I answer, that as Christ tooke away the guilt of sinne, not sinne it selfe: so hee tooke away the sting of death, not death it selfe: the death of the body still remaines, but the sting therof, which alone maketh it penall, is taken away, Tollitur mors non ne sit, sed ne obsit: Christ upon the Crosse, triumphed over death and hell, and put death it selfe to death; that is, quite destroyed the nature thereof: of a curse, making it a blessing: of a losse, an advantage: of a punishment, a benefit: of a departure, an entrance: of the gate of hell, the portall of heaven. O blessed change of the nature of death! the sting of sin is made a soveraigne remedie against all sinne: the posterne to let out, is made the street doore to let in life: the wages of iniquitie purchaseth to the Martyrs, through Faith in Christ, a Crowne of righteousnesse.hAug de civit. Dei, l. 13. c. 4. Nisi peccassent primi parentes non morerentur peccabunt justi nisi moriantur. Tunc dictum fuit, si mandatum transgressi fueritis, morte moriemini; nunc dicitur, si mortem recusevaritis mundatum transgredimini: mortui sunt illi quia peccarunt; non peccantisti quia moriuntur. Ib. Nunc majore et mirabili gratia salvatoris in usus justitiae peccati paena conversa est. Our first Parents died because they sinned, wee die that wee may not sinne: it was then said, If thou transgresse the Commandement, thou shalt die: but now contrariwise, if thou refuse to die, thou transgressest the Commandement: Sinne delivered them over unto death, death delivereth us from all sinne. Our Parents were cast out of Paradise that they might die, wee die, that wee may be received into Paradise through Christ, who hathiHieron. Ep. 3. Flammea illa romphea custos paradisi et presidentes foribus Cherubini Christi restincta & resorata sunt sanguine. removed the Cherubin that kept the way of the tree of life, quenching the fiery blade with his blood. Thus death, which before was a curse, by Christ who was accursed for us, is become a blessing; and the dead are pronounced by the spirit,kApoc. 14.13. Blessed.
When wee say that the death of the righteous is blessed; our meaning is not, that death in it selfe is a blessing, for thence it would follow, that life in it selfe should be a curse: but we pronounce the death of the righteous blessed in respect of the circumstances, adjuncts, and consequents thereof; blessed it is,
1. In regard of the comforts that are ministred to them in it.
2. In regard of the benefits they reape by it.
3. In regard of the estate they enjoy after it.
The comforts which the spirit of Christ applieth to the godly to support them in their greatest weakenesse of body, are principally and chiefly these.
1. A good conscience whichlProv. 15.15. feasteth the soule when the body is not able to take any sustenance.
2. The remembrance of all the good that by the power of Gods grace they have done in all their life, which encourageth thē cheerfully to take their leave of the world, as being to goe to receive amMatth. 5.12 great reward in Heaven.
3. Many speciall tokens of Gods favour which he vouchsafeth to shew them a little before death; on some he bestoweth the spirit of prophecy, on others a singular gift of prayer, on others an extraordinary measure of patience: on all an encrease of the former graces of the spirit, whose motions are quickest when their naturall motions are slowest, or quite stopped, most sensible when the body begins to be senslesse: most lively, when they are in dying.
4. A glimpse of the glory of God and a neerer sight ofnApoc. 21.10, 11. the heavenly Ierusalem descending from God, whose streets are beaten gold, and foundations of the buildings, precious stones. As Moses a little before his death, discovered the land of Promise upon the top of Mount Nebo: so before the soules departure out of the body, she discovereth the land of Promise as it were hard by. The more the earth goeth out of sight, the more Heaven commeth in her eye, and as it were, unawares in a moment she looseth the darke shadowes of this world, and is compassed about with the light of Heaven; shee seeth the face of God, and Christ at his right hand, shining in his humane nature, brighter then the Sunne in his strength.
The consideration of the first of these bred that resolution in St. Ambrose with which he gave up the ghost,oAmbros. vita per Costerium. amicis persuadore vos lenibus ut diuturniorem sibi vitam à Domino impetraret praeclarissimam illam sententiam & Apostolico viro dignam dixit, non ita inter vos vixi ut vixisse me pudeat, nec mori timeo, quia bonum Dominum habemus. I have not so lived that I am ashamed to live longer, nor feare I to die because we have a good and gratious Lord: and the like it wrought in Oecolampadius, whose last words were these: I am now going to the tribunall of Christ, and that with great confidence, by Gods grace I will make it there appeare, that I have not misled the people, but taught them the truth of God.
The second, to wit, the remembrance of the life past, in the service of the true God, movedpHieron. pag. 215. Egredere, quid times egredere anima mea quid dubitas? Septuaginta prope annis servisti Christ… & jam mori times? In hac verba exhalavit spiritum. Hilarion the Hermite, to chide his soule as it were out of the dores of his lips; goe forth my soule, why hankerest thou about my body, what difficulty makest thou about thy passe? hast thou served Christ this threescore and ten yeares, and art thou now afraid to goe to him.
The effects of the third and fourth consideration were those dying words of those Saints and Martyrs which deserve to live in perpetuall memory, of Babylas, Returne to thy rest O my soule, for now God will wipe away all teares, and now I shall walke before him in the land of the living: of Baynam, I feele no more paine in the fire, then if I were in a bed of down, it is as sweete to mee as a bed of Roses: of Glover, qFox, Acts and Monum. & Crisp. hist. of French Martyrs.He is come, he is come, meaning the comforter, the Holy Spirit: and of Iohn Bradford, Be of good comfort brother, for we shall have a joyfull supper with the Lord this night, if there be any way to Heaven in a fiery Charriot, this is it, and the like.
Now the benefits we purchase by death are chiefly these.
1. Freedome from sinne, and our naturall corruptions, under the heavy burthen whereof, St. Paul pittifully groaneth, Rom. 7. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver mee from this body of death. Verse 24.
2. From the company of the wicked, which was such an affliction to the Psalmist, that he lamentably complained of it: Woe is mee, that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech,rPsal. 120 5. and to have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar.
3. From the miseries and calamities of this life which are so many and so grievous, that the wisest of the Heathen judged it the best thing, in the first place not to be born, the next to die as soone as we are borne. And agreeably to this judgment of the life and death of man, they appointed contrary ceremonies to those we now use, for they brought their friends into the world with mournfull Obsequies, but they carried them out of the world with joyfull Exequies, all sorts of sports and pastimes, and for this their custome,sTully, Tusc. q. 1. they alleage not onelyonly reason but religion also: for Diana bestowed suddaine death upon Cleobis, and Bito, and Apollo upon Agamemnon, and Tryphonius, as the greatest reward for their piety. If they so esteemed of death that knew of no life after death, no abiding out of the body, what is it fit that wee Christians should judge thereof? who ought to make reckoning of no life but after death: no abiding, but out of the body: no dwelling, but in Heaven; for as the Apostle teacheth us,tHeb. 13.14. foreign; we have here no abiding city, but we looke for one that is to come; if we looke for an abiding city or standing houses, our Saviour directeth us to Heaven,uIohn 14.2. In domo Patris mei multae mansiones sunt, in my Fathers house there are many mansions, or places of aboad, there are mansions indeed:Luke 16.9. here but Inns or rather boothes, there are everlasting habitations, where can be no earthquake to shake the foundation, nor tempest to beate upon the roofe, nor cannon to batter the walls, nor theeves to rifle the roomes, nor a cruell Land-lord to thrust us out of dores, nor false neighbours to take our house over our head: there are severall mansions, for men, for women, for virgins, for wives, for widdowes, for children, for young men, for old, for confessors, for Martyrs, for innocents, for all sorts of beleevers, of all countries, nations, and languages: in these mansions I would willingly lodge my discourse at this time, but I must remember that we are now in the house of mourning, and you expect that I should speake something of him to whom we can now speake no more.
I enlarged my self on set purpose in handling the parts, and discussing the Doctrinall points in my Text, that I might keepe off as long as might be the turning of the Thesis into an Hypothesis, which is like to turn now my action into passion, tropes into sighes, and words intoxHier. ad Helio. Stylus ipse quasi sentiens, & cera sub tristior vel rubigine, vel situ obducit, quoties nitor in verba prorumper…, & super tumulo ejus Epitaphii hujus flores spargere toties lachrymi… implentur oculi & renovato dolore totus in funeresum. teares. The explication of this Scripture was but the making and spreading the Plaster, in which there was no paine: but the application of it to our greene wounds, cannot be without some smart. How is it possibly so worthy, so able, so noble a member should be pluckt from Christs mysticall body, and the fellow-members feele no paine? Beloved, if Learning be precious, which is the chiefe vertue of the understanding: if Vertue, the chiefe grace of the will and affections: if Grace, the perfection of our immortall spirits: if our Country, the best governed: if our Church, the best reformed in the Christian world, be deere unto us: we cannot but be sensible of the losse of so generall a Scholler, so accomplished a Gentleman, so gracious a Christian, so zealous a Patriot, so able a Champion of the Truth. When we see another golden branch rise up in his place, then wee will parallel him; till then, wee shall misse him.
yHom. Il. α.foreign.
To speake nothing of his vertuous …nts, his ingenuous education, his religious ordering of his family, his much improving by his industrie, the estate left him by his friends, his happy match made in heaven, before it was consummate on earth; for hee affianced his Spouse to Christ before he contracted her to himselfe: he gained upon her faith, before he wan her love: and by thus uniting her to himselfe by spirituall, as well as carnall bonds, he had her heart knit unto him to his last breath: and in the Kalender which hee made of all Gods blessings, which he vouchsafed to afford him in this world, hee put her as the chiefest. He no where set his foot, where he left not behind him some print of his worth, and received also some garland of honour; being Victor in the schoole at Westminster, Collector in the Vniversitie, Commissioner in the Country where hee lived, and Burgesse in the Parliament.
Nec deërant venti si te dare vela juvisset
Sed tu littus amas.
And to higher places hee might have aspired, if hee had not above all preferments, preferred a private contemplative life, which was his heaven upon earth. If you divide his life into three parts, two of them were spent in the contemplation of celestiall Mysteries, and the study of the Controversies of Religion, betweene the Romane and the reformed Churches: wherin, what progresse hee made, and how far hee out-stripped others, especially of his owne ranke, may appeare by his Via tuta; the bounds whereof, were not the precincts of this Kingdome, but rather the limits of the Christian world; for it hath not onelyonly beene often reprinted in England, but also transported into other Countries, and translated into Latine, Dutch, and French. Yet this was but his Primitiae, the whole harvest of his labours is behind, which may in time be brought into the Churches Magazin of English Writers; if the industry of such as shall gather them, be incouraged by authority, whereof I conceive the better hope, because it is well knowne that hee stoode alwayes as well for the discipline as the doctrine of the Church of England, like another Athanasius, hee kept alwayes the Kings high way. foreign.zEpiph. contra. haer. neither declining to the right hand nor to the left: and as his writings, so his actions were conformable both to the lawes of God, and Canons, and Constitutions of the Church of England; and as he lived, so he died by rule. Before his last sicknesse, he set his house in Order, that hee might wholly intend that which requireth a whole man, his preparation to death. After Gods hand was upon him by a painfull sicknesse, hee never ceased to lift up pure hands to God, even to the last gaspe: when I came to visit him, I found him not complaining of his violent fits, or terrifying paines; but contrariwise, lauding and praising God for visiting him in love, and chastening him in compassion. Whereas many, saith hee, in this disease of mine, are distracted, God hath given me the use of my reason and understanding: many at this time, for feare of the Infection, are deprived of the accesse of friends, whose companie I injoy to my great comfort: some in my case are no lesse troubled in mind, than pained in their body, I thanke God, I have peace within; the Spirit testifying to my spirit, that I am one of his children. His disease growing upon him, when hee conceived that hee was going the way of all flesh, hee provided himselfe of that which the ancient Fathers fitly term, Viaticum morientium: the food, in the strength whereof we are to walke to Gods holy Mount. When the Sacrament was administred unto him, he lifted up himselfe in his bed, and faine would, if he could possibly, have received it kneeling upon his knees; but finding his strength so to faile him, that by no meanes he could accomplish his desire, he brake out into these words: O Lord accept the will for the deed; I bow the knees of my heart unto thee, though I cannot of my body. And by lifting up his eyes and hands unto Heaven, and inclination of his body with an awfull feare, and trembling, he expressed no lesse reverence then if Christ had beene bodily present to his eyes, who was then both spiritually and corporally present to his faith. On the day of Penticost, dedicated to the Holy Spirit the Comforter, the Comforter came in a speciall manner unto him; for after he had made an humble confession of his sinnes, and an orthodoxall profession of his faith, and received absolution of the Church, kissing the hand of the Minister that gave it him, praying most fervently that he might not appeare in the presence of God, full of soares as he was and naked, but covered with Christs righteousnesse: he fell into a kinde of trance, and in a vision saw himselfe presented before God in a shining damaske robe edged with gold, covering him from the head to the foote. This he imparted to me and his dearest consort, onelyonly adding with all, that he knew well many were apt either to sleighten, or censure the relations of such visions, but saith he, I thought fit to declare unto you what the Lord hath done for my soule: I was at the present, and ever since I have beene singularly comforted by it, and more then ever before encouraged to goe to my Saviour. The night before he died, being admonished by his ancient schoolefellow, and fidus achates, to give some testimony of his constancy in the reformed Religion, now at his departure, because saith he, it is not unlikely that the Adversaries of our profession, may cast some such aspersion upon you, as they did upon Beza, Reynolds, Bb. King and Bb. Andrewes, that they recanted the Protestant Religion, and were reconciled to the Roman Church before their death: he professed before him and all that were present, that if he had a 1000. soules he would pawne them all upon the truth of that Religion, which is established by law in the Church of England, and which he declared and maintained in his Via Tuta. The last words he was heard to speake to his deerest Lady, were the repeating of the words of the Apostle. I have finished my course, I have kept the true faith, therefore is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day,2 Tim▪ 4.7.8. and not to me onelyonly, but to them also that love his appearing. In expectation of which crowne, he continued to his last breath, fixing his eyes and lifting up his hands to Heaven (as it were) presently to receive it from God. This Crowne of righteousnesse the Lord give us all, after we have finished likewise our courses, and breathed our soules into the armes of our Redeemer. Cui. &c.
FINIS.
End of the text · Humphrey Lynde, A Case for the Spectacles (1638)