Lord Iesus begin and end.

IT was a diuine confession of that sweet Singer of Israel, holy King Dauid, a man con­cerning whom GOD did sweare in his holinesse,Ps. 89: 33. that he would not suffer his faith­fulnesse to faile him: His glory is great in thy saluation, honour and maiestie hast thou layde vpon him. Ps. 21.5. Great were his deliuer ances from the Iawe of the Lyon, Pawe of the Beare, Iauelin of Saul, Speare of Goliath; from the Counsaile of Achitophell, Slaunder of Doeg, Reuiling of Shemei, Mouth of the Sword, from the murraine of his Subiects, multiplicity [Page 2]of his sins, & the rebellion of his son Absolon. Ho­nourable were his dignities in the loue of his peo­ple, glorious wearing of a Crowne, triumphant victories ouer his enemies. Hee was higher then the Kings of the earth:Ps. 89.27. such a sonne did the Lord send him: Salomon a King, passing all the Kings of the earth in riches & wisdome,2. Ch. 9.2 [...]. 2. Sam. 12.24 Eccles. 1.1. 2. Sam. 12.25 called Salomon by his father Dauid, when Bethsheba had borne him: the Preacher by himselfe in the fore-front of this booke, and Iedidiah by Nathan the Prophet, by whose hand the Lord sent so to name him.Hier. in Eccles. orig. in Can. Am. pro. in Lu. Salonius vien­nensis in Prou. Three names agreeable to three bookes hee wrote, Salomon to that of the Prouerbs, the Prea­cher to Ecclesiastes, Iedidiah to his Canticles: the Prouerbs containing morrall Instructions, the Preacher many naturall secrets,Prou. 4.1.3. his Canticles the su­pernaturall mysterie of that marriage betwixt Christ and his Church.Tria volumina Salomonis misle Cobel. th. Sir Hasirim. Heir. Praef. in Prou. Solom. In the Prouerbs as a Father he teacheth tender children the offices of life: in Ecclesiastes the young man that for all things hee must be brought to iudgement: in the Canticles, him that is growne to some perfection how to be ioyned with diuine embracings to God,Cant. 1.2. and to be kissed with the kisses of his mouth. In the Prouerbs, hee teacheth how to liue in the world: In Ecclesiastes, Hie. Prae. in Ec. how to despise the world: In the Canticles, how to loue God aboue the world. As Salomon, he wrote his Prouerbs, a King of peace giuing lawes, which being kept by vs, shall work internall, externall, eternall peace for vs, peace with our selues, neighbours, God. As a Preacher [Page 3]he wrote his Ecclesiastes: for no doctrine more fit for the Pulpit, and to be preached to the whole world, then mans mortality the chiefe sub­iect of the booke. As Gods fauourite, hee wrote the Canticles, containing the mutuall loue of Christ and his Church. King Dauid was Gods beloued, and hence comes his name,Dauid of [...] Dod Amor. Amicus. Dilec­tus. his sonne Salomon was so, a wise sonne of a wise father, a Prophet from a Prophet: for howsoeuer the spirit of prophecie goeth not euer by inheritance and succession;Basil. yet Dauid by prayer obtained this blessing, to haue a sonne like himselfe, a sonne by generation, and a sonne by similitude. King Da­uid delighted to teach transgressours the wayes of God, that sinners might be conuerted:Ps. 51.13. Prou. 1.2. Bede Ecles. 12.14. so King Salomon wrote to make men know wisdome and instruction, and to perceiue the words of vnder­standing, how men should liue according to the truth of knowledge: direct their intentions, and gouerne their actions: For God shall bring euery worke into iudgement, with euery secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be euill. Thales therfore (answered well, when demanded what was the wisest amongst creatures: Time (said he) for it findeth out all things. O then that we were wise, that we vnderstood this, that we would con­sider our latter end.Deut. 37.29. Things past must be conside­red, the good omitted,Patritins de transitu animae ad Deum. not prouiding for a time to come, neglecting the day of grace, desisting from doing good: the euill committed against God by disobedience, our neighbours by hurt [Page 4]done, our selues by consenting to sinne: the time lost which is precious, a benefit from God, irre­uocable: Things present must be considered, the shortnesse of life which flyeth as a shadow, fadeth as a flower, is onely certaine in vncertainty: the worlds vanity, whereby the couetous are decei­ued, the carnall led, the proud caught: the space giuen to repent, wherein our estate should be re­membred, our passage considered, our good fore­seene. Things to come must be considered, the gi­uing vp of our account, when wee must answere for our thoughts, words, works, the day of death which is at hand sure, vnsure: the day of iudge­ment which is the last doome, to the euill feare­full, to the good ioyfull. This was the song of Moses, not onely merely propheticall, as Rabo, Paulus would haue it, but exhortatory also. This is the wisdome from aboue, making men pure, peaceable, gentle, easie to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,Iam. 3.17. without partiality, with­out hypocrisie. Other wisedome perisheth, the wisdome of the serpent in a curse,Is. 29.14. the wisdome of the Pharisies in a woe, the wisdome of Achitophel in folly, of Nimrod in confusion, of the vniust ste­ward in expulsion, the wisedome of Iezabel in death. Moses prayed for this heauenly wisdome: So teach vs to number our dayes,Ps. 9.12. that wee may apply our hearts vnto wisdome:Hier. ep. 139. Nothing so de­ceiueth men, as to be ignorant of the paces of their life, and to promise long times to them­selues; vnlesse we thinke vpon death we can neuer [Page 5]fashion our selues to a godly life. Repentance hath no such enemie, as to thinke that any time will serue to repent, Hardly can a man think of a short life here and thinke euill, or of a long life and thinke well. The act of liuing well is very long, but life it selfe short, and God would haue the time of death vnknowne vnto vs, because wee should be ready for him at all times, hauing no more certainty of one houre then another, yet Salomons lesson shall make vs ready to leaue the world cheerefully, when we remember a time to be borne, and a time to dye.

A text shewing the short progresse of mans life, his inconstancie and mortality who commeth vp and is cut downe like a flower, flyeth as it were a shadow, and neuer continueth in one stay: in the midst of life is in death, whirling by a swift wheele, which should admonish vs, that we haue a set time for our taske, the clocke counting our houres, and should worke out our saluation with feare and trembling, while we haue light, least we be benighted, and our eyes shut, and wee sleepe in death. A great taske it is, and we should not lose one minute, but make a good vse of time, and seeing we were borne to glorifie God, and must dye, wee should labour that after death wee may liue for euer with him in glory, because there is a time to be borne, and a time to dye, as sure as wee haue beene borne, so sure we must dye.

Oritur Mori­tur. Birth and Death are Twinnos. The summe of the words is, the Reuolution of time, or watch [Page 6]of time, or the Race of life, or Mans mortality, or his pilgrimage, consisting of two parts:

• 1. Vpon his birth, a time to be borne.
• 2. Vpon his death, and a time to dye.

The first, sheweth vs his comming forth, the second, his returning backe. In the first see his be­ginning: In the second his ending. The first, ope­neth his day: the second, threatneth a night. Here is the Prologue and Epilogue of the state of man, wherein, first his Birth commeth to bee consi­dered.

Prima pars. Caietan. A time to be borne. Amongst Salomons couples; which are 14. in this Chapter, the foure first con­trarieties concerning the generation and corrup­tion of men, plants, other creatures, and things made by Art: the foure next concerning the de­lectable good: the other three a profitable good: and the three last, humane society: First, heere is mention made of the Birth and Death,Nyssen & O­lym [...]iod. to rowze vp the sluggard, to raise vp the worldly minded men, who neglect things future, remembring them, that because they were borne, they must dye; as Moses, vvho hauing vvritten his booke of Genesis, the beginning, creation, production of creatures, vvrote an Exodus next to that, a going out. No man must murmur against Gods proui­dence: It is not in the power of man to come into the vvorld,Hugo Victori­nus. nor in his disposition to depart out of the vvorld. A diuine hand ruleth all, euery thing hath its season, as a time ordained by God. The creature is gouerned by the Creatour. Righteous­nesse [Page 7]that came downe from heauen, first appea­red in the glimpse of the rudiments of nature; vvhen the lavv came it vvas in the infancie,Tertul. de Virg. Veland. c. 10. vvhen the Gospell vvas preached, it had a flourishing youth; and at the comming dovvne of the holy Ghost, it grevv to more maturity. When the ful­nesse of time vvas come,Gal. 4.4. God sent forth his Son. It is folly for men to murmure, that they were borne at such times and not other: vve are borne at Gods pleasure, and his periods of time. There is a time of conception, & a time of birth; For that hath not euer a birth, which hath had a concep­tion, though somtimes one word be vsed for ano­ther, the birth for the conception, as that which shall be borne of thee shall be called the Son of God:Lorinus in tex­tum. Luk. 1.35. and somtime it signifieth any increasing, as

And that Sometimes Birth is taken for creation, as that,Martial l. 6. Epig. 7. Ʋirg. Aeglog. 4. Iob 15.7. Art thou the first man that was borne? Vnderstood of Adam: But here in the proper signification opposed to Death, and limited by God,Psal. 73.9. who disposeth of all things though some set their mouth against the heauens, and cast the faults they commit vpon the Planets vnder vvhich they vvere borne,Amb. & Euth. in illud Psal. neuer considering how prouidence gouerneth time, ne­uer referring any thing to their owne corrupti­ons. God hath sent vs into the vvorld to vse our time vvell, that vvhither vve liue vvee liue vnto the Lord, or dye, vve may dye in the Lord, so vve shall exchange a troublesome life for a peace­able, [Page 8]a temporall for an eternall. Man is borne miserable. For other creatures which are but base borne in respect of man; haue couerings to defend them, and Bucklers to offend their enemies. Fishes of the Sea haue shels,Pli. nat. hist. li. 7. proem. Trees of the Forrest haue knotty barkes, Beasts of the field hard hides, Bees stings, Hogs bristles, Hedgehogs prickles, Beares rough hayre, Birds feathers, Fishes scales, Sheepe fleeces, Serpents stings, Cockes spurres, Elephants and Bores teeth and tuskes, yet man commeth from the prison of his mothers wombe as a poore worm,Ar. l. 3. de gene­rat. animal. c. 4. Yea nudissimum omnium anima­lium: Most naked of all liuing creatures. Hee en­ters into the world bathed in bloud, an image of sinne,Dr. Wilk. his first song is the Lamentation of a sinner, weeping and sobbing, the mother lyeth, by but halfe flaine by the birth, and when shee looketh vpon the fruit of her labour pranked vp, it is as the Thiefe when he is pardoned, looketh backe to the string that was like to strangle him: and knoweth this childe had beene her death, had not God giuen her a safe deliuerance in the great danger of child-birth. The childe being borne, requireth nourishment, and the mother should doe this, if her breasts be as able bottles, and her strength sufficient, and no maine let to hinder the nursing of her owne childe: yet often (vpon a needlesse wantonnesse) the mothers send abroad their Infants to strange Nurses and remote places, not enduring to embrace little children in their armes, which Christ himselfe did, hauing beene [Page 9]once a childe, and wrapped in swadling cloathes, but rather wil embrace a Whelp or Puppy, worse then the Sea monsters, they draw out the breast,La. 4.3. and giue sucke to their young ones: yet if this young Gallant bee nursed by his owne mothers paps, and tender, and onely beloued in her sight,Pro. 4.3. as once borne in her womb, and euer borne in her heart; tender in her eyes, because shee is euer ten­derly carefull and fearefull of him: what is hee borne to but a succession of miserable times, if he outliue the birth? for he might haue dyed from the wombe, and giuen vp the ghost when hee came out of the belly:Iob 3.11.12. the knees might haue pre­uented him, and the breasts from sucking. What is Infancie but an Apprentiship of seauen yeares infirmity,Jsidore reckous 6. ages. Infan­cie, Puerility, Mans state. youth, grauity, o'de age. Marcius Aure­lius: Galen ma­keth but 5. Childhood to 15. yeares, Adolescencie to 25. Lusty youth to 35. Mans age to 49. The last olde age. wherein there is no vse of expressing almost a reasonable soule? Childhood to 10. but an vntoward phantasticall toying; shake the rod, it is persecution: Mans estate to 28. but headie, aduenturous, voluptuous, passionate, prodigall. Youth to 50. but a season, wherein Nature reareth against him a more furious combat, and all the vices of the world there plant their siege: Gra­uitie or vnweldinesse to 70, bring all the diseases that euer Christ came to cure. Olde age hauing no stint as the other, because the remaines of life are referred to this, yet the dregges onely and powder of mans life, and a continuall necessary expectation of death. Thus man neuer continu­eth constant, and scarce is his life a life in his mu­table conditions, tossed by time, which conti­nually [Page 10]runnes on and is irreuocable. THIS is our wisedome to apprehend it, and not neglect or abuse it. All Gods workes haue [...] and [...], a time and season, and we should make our time seasonable, for it is an high part of wisdome to follow opportunity: Natures Secretarie the Phisitian looketh at this, and euery man sheweth himselfe wise or foolish in this.

Pitacus best aduise was [...]: know the season. He that is yong in yeares may be old in houres if he loose not time, and as fit for iudge­ment as inuention, for counsaile as execution. If he remember the times, he will not embrace more then he can hold, stirre more then he can quiet, flie to the end without consideration of the meanes and degrees, vse extreame remedies at first, be like an vnruly horse that will neither stoppe nor turne. Time brings changes and ther­fore it is good to be wise in time: The Antients painted this as an Image on a swift wheele, hauing feathers at the foot, running swiftly in a round, rough at the foretop, bald behind, when offring it selfe easie to be taken, afterward impossible: some as a goodly Boy with his haires hanging o­uer his eyes:Politian. in Miscell. c. 49. Iohn Tzetzes in historijs. Pier. l. 14. pag. 130. Id. l. 56. p. 536 some paint it deafe without eares, reaching a sword to him that shall follow it. The Egiptians describe it by a Serpent streatching it selfe in length wreaths & foulds, the long courses of dayes and yeares, creeping along without [Page 11]noyse. Others by a sithe represent it,Id. l. 52. p. 505 Id. l. 44. p. 437 because it moweth, reapeth, cutteth all things down. Others by a Poplar tree hauing leaues of two colours, si­gnifying the day and night. Others by a Starre, for nothing so keepeth the appointed times as the heauenly bodies, and so should wee from that globe of examples: For our times runne on and slippe away and we cannot hold in the swift post of our dayes.

Time consumeth wit, fame, youth, honour, old age, strength. Nothing liueth here but is sub­iect to the lawe of time; It is the watch of the morning, sentinell of the night, ruine of proud buildings, spoile of antiquities, tamer of wilde beasts, waster of huge stones with small droppes. It maketh an Embrio to become a child, a child a man, and an old man as it were a child againe: The time of birth we see described by the wise man;Wosd. 7.2.3.4. a fashioning there was of vs to be flesh in the wombes of our mother in the time of tenne moneths; and being borne, we drew in the com­mon aire and fell vpon the earth which is of like nature; the first voice we vttered was crying: we then come to be nursed in swadling clothes and that with cares, and no King had another begin­ning of birth.Natiuitas mi­rabilis. Ier. 23.5. There is an admirable Natiuity wherein flesh is borne without spot, there is his purity, as in Christs birth arighteous brāch, a child of a Virgin, there is the nouelty: God of a woman, [Page 12]there is humility, the highest himselfe shall esta­blish her:Is. 7.14. Fruit of a Rod, there is our commodi­ty; vnto vs a child is borne,Ps. 87.5. borne as an example of humility,Is. 9.6. testimony of verity, figure of loue, couenant of reconciliation: but our Natiuity is miserable because vile and vncleane: what is hee which is borne of a woman that hee should be righteous?Miserabilis. Iob. 15.14. poenal and inflamed by hell, clouded with darkenes and passing as a shadowe:Iob. 3.6. In this birth man hath another following making him blind in his birth,Ioh. 9.1. vnworthy to teach others, weake to doe good,Vituperabilis. fraile to resist euill: we haue had time to be borne, and as a man that hath pas­sed ouer a dangerous bridge if hee turne bake quaketh to remember the danger he was in; so if we looke backe vpon the danger we escaped till our birth, and in it, we may say as King Dauid Thou art hee that tooke me out of the wombe, but few consider the vse of their birth and so much abuse time,Ps. 22.9. that better it had bene for them they had neuer bene borne.

Vse 1 This then iustly reproueth many who mispend their time in chambering and wantonesse,Rom. 13.13. glut­tony and drunkenes, and vitious games, hauing no portion to themselues or posterity in earth, neuer thinking of a portion in heauen, hauing no conscience for their soules, no discretion for their goods. Some complaine of the iniquity of the times and no whit mend themselues: say not, Former times were better, thy vertues make good times,Hic in Eccls. 1. thy vices bad. All things are others, time [Page 13]onely is our owne, yet hasteneth, and therefore should not be wasted away, as by him, who being asked how long he had liued? answered,Stob. se. 9. de Simouide. a very little time though many yeares: Or as those lewd ser­uants who hauing a candle allowed them to goe to bed withal, spend it in carding, dicing, or drin­king. What a curse is it to spend al thy time in va­nity, and to send thy hoary head to thy graue in ignorance and follie? Wilt thou giue Sathan the finest of thy flower and sweetest of thy wine, and present the bran and dregges of thy dottage to thy Lord? wilt thou lay the heauiest burthen vpon the weakest beast, and force old age (so feeble that it cannot beare it selfe) to beare all the bur­then of thy Repentance? O take heed, for when the strong man is growne stronger by praescription, the rotten tabernacle is ready to fall downe: cu­stome hath turned infirmity into nature; sinne is soaked into substance: when thy bones shall be full of the sinnes of thy youth, then to repent it will be hard, if not impossible. Did not wee bring sinne enough with vs into the world to con­demne vs? we must all confesse as he did, Behold I was shapen in inquinity and in sinne did my mother conceaue me: words which Dauid vttered,Ps. 51.5. 2. Kin. 18.42. as Eliah when he put his face betweene his knees, for so is the child in the wombe. Boast not of thy goods, Inheritance, countenance, and blood by thy Parents, it is tainted with sin: this is the poy­son.Pineda in Iob. 15.24. Hipoer. lib. de natura pueri. Wee had Birth from our mothers, but with­all the reward of sinne, death; clothes and wrap­ping [Page 14]from the but withall nakednesse and shame. What must be done, but as that woman sicke of the bloody issue, hauing beene long phy­sicked, but ill handled of the Physitians, hauing suffered many things of many Physitians, and spent all she had and nothing bettered, but ra­ther grew worse;Mar. 5.26.27 when she heard of Iesus, came to be physiked a new of him; So we who are thus base borne, must take our time to be borne a new. This is an Honourable and commendable birth if we respect the causes.Natiuitas com­mendabilis. Faith: whosoeuer beleeueth that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God. Loue: 1. Io. 5.1.1.Io. 4.7.1. Io. 3.9. Euery one that loueth is borne of God and knoweth God. Righteousnesse: whosoeuer is borne of God doth not commit sinne, presumptuosly, desperatly, impenitently. It is an honourable birth if wee respect the effects, to conquer the world; whatsoeuer is borne of God ouercom­meth the world,1. 10. 5.4. Ioh. 3.3. to bring to heauen, for except a man be borne againe hee cannot see the King­dome of God. This maketh new men, new affe­ctions, giueth another spirit, another will, a loa­thing of the world, a loue of God. It causeth vs not so much to obserue dayes, and moneths, and times, and yeares, as to know The TIME that now it is high time to awake out of sleepe,Gala. 4.10. Rom. 13.22. for now is our saluation neerer then when we belee­ued.Sicut nec ca­pillus de oapite sie nec momentu seribis de tem­pore: Bar. This maketh vs good husbands and euer to thinke vpon our reckoning, and to consider that as not a haire falleth to the ground without pro­uidence, so neither a moment of our time is vn­accountable: [Page 15] How busie was the Deuill aboue a thousand yeares since, because he knew he had but a short time? Will you plant, build, buy,Reu. 12.22. sell onely for the world, and doe nothing for eterni­ty? Will you be prodigall of the golden dayes gi­uen vs to redeeme time, and let heauen flie away and hell steale on? Bee not lulled a sleepe in ease, mirth, prosperity, as the Dalilah of the world or flesh, or Deuill perswade. Sathan will come with fearefull arrest and sease vpon thee in sicke­nesse, weakenesse, discontent, as the Rauen vp­pon the fainting sheepe; and write, and vrge, and open bitter, vnanswerable, terrible things against thee: O then that men would flie out of the mid­dest of Babylon, Reuela. 2.22. and deliuer euery man his soule that hee be not cut off in iniquity, for there is a TIME of the Lords vengeance. Iezebell had her space to repent of her fornication and repented not, therefore a bed of tribulation is threatened her. Ierusalem not knowing the time of her visi­tation, had their enemies to cast a trench about them, compasse them round, keepe them in on euery side, lay them euen with the ground,Luk. 19.44. and their children within them, and not to leaue one stone vpon another.Am. 5.13. If we see the TIME when the prudent keepe silence because it is an euill time:Mic. 2.3. when men worke euill vpon their beds, and couet fields, and take them by violence because it is an euill time: when men dwell in their fieled houses, and yet say the time is not come, that the Lords house should be built:Hagg. 1.2. when being pos­sessed [Page 16]with Deuils and reproued, they crie as those did to Iesus, Mat. 8.29. what haue we to doe with thee, Art thou come hither to torment vs before the time? When those perillous times come wherein men are louers of themselues, couetous, boasters, proud,2. Tim. 3.1.2. blasphemers, disobedient to Parents, vnthankefull, vnholy; Wherein when for the time men ought to be teachers, they haue need that one teach themagain,Heb. 5.12. which be the first principles of the Oracle of Gods: When the last times bring forth those who walke after their owne vngodly lustes,Iude 18.19. separating themselues; sensuall, hauing not the spirit. Let vs pray, It is TIME for thee Lord to worke,Ps. 119.126. for they haue made voyd thy Lawe.Job 22:16. He shall cut them downe out of time and ouerflowe their foundation with a floud: their false Gods cannot arise and saue them in the time of trouble:Jer. 2.27. They shall fall when others fall. When they are visited and shall be cast downe,Jer. 6.15. They shall be smitten and haue no healing; looke for peace and there shall be no good, for a time of healing and behold trouble:Jer. 14.19. They shall be like a thrashing flower, for the Lord seeth it is time to thrash them, yet a little while and the time of their haruest shall come: An end is come, it watcheth for them,Ier. 51.33. the time is come, the day of trouble is neere: a time of trouble, such as neuer was since there was a Nation,Ezek. 7.7. euen to that same time.Da. 12.1. Man knoweth not his time; As the fishes that are taken in an euill net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, so are the [Page 17]sonnes of men snared in an euill time, when it fal­leth suddainly vpon them.Ecles. 9.12. The fish is cheerefull deuouring the bayt not seeing the hooke, but the fisher-man drawing him vp, torments the bowels and dragges it to destruction.August. de ago­ne Christi. cap. 7. So many runne away with presumptuous sinnes, but the time shall come that they shall feele the plagues of it; when time shal be no longer. One woe shall be past and another woe come quickly: from death to iudgement, from iudgement to hell.Reu. 10.11.14 They may come vp as flouds, their waters may moue as the riuers, they may saye, we will couer the earth; they may rage with their Charets, but when the day of vengeance commeth, in vaine shall they vse many medicines, for they shall not be cured; their crye shall fill the land, they shall be swept away when the Lord driueth them, they shall appeare to haue beene but a noyse when they haue passed the time appointed.Jer. 46.17.

Vse 2 Our Instruction must be, not to walke as fooles, but circumspectly, as wise, redeeming the time, because the dayes are euill: wee are borne of wo­men,Ep. 5.16. of few dayes, full of trouble.Ioh. 14.1. Let vs re­member how short our time is: what man is hee that liueth and shall not see death?Ps 89.47.48. Be not ouer­much wicked, neither bee thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?Eccles. 7.17.

Euery mans dayes are determined,Virgil. 10. Aeneid. the number of his moneths is with God, he hath appointed him his bounds that he cannot passe:Ioh. 14.5. this is a [Page 18]measure of his dayes, in respect of Gods pre­science and prouidence,Psal 39.4. but in respect of the course of nature, the threed of life which might haue beene lengthned is cut off by Gods com­mand for sinne, and men liue not out halfe their dayes:Psal. 55.23. as that Bishop applyed this texte in his time,Bernardinus to. 2. in Qua. dragesimali de Euang. oetern. Do. 2. quadra. serm. 17. a. 3. cap. 1. when in Catalonia a citty neare Valentia, a strippling of 18. hauing beene disobedient to his parents, and so fell to robbing, and being execu­ted on the tree, and thus remaining for a spe­ctacle to disobedient children; on the next mor­row, a Beard and gray haires appeared on him, which the people hearing of, and wondring how suddainely these should come to a young dead body, and vrging how young he was at his death; the Bishop said, he should haue liued to be so old as hee appeared then, had he not beene disobe­dient. Thus the Lord threatneth the family of Eli, all the increase of thine house shall dye in the flower of their age.1. Sam. 3.33. He dyeth before his time who dyeth vnwillingly, not prepared, not rype in yeares, though rype in sinne; which hasteneth death and destruction as God threatned to the Amorrhites when their iniquity should be full.Gen. 15.16. Happy is he who can triumphe with that flagge of defiance against all enemies as St. Paul. Herein doe I excercise my selfe to haue alwayes a con­science voyd of offence toward God and toward men.Act. 24.16. Happy is he who euery night thinketh with himselfe, a day is gone, a part of my time is cut off, so much lesse haue I left of a short and mise­rable [Page 19]life. God hath appointed the time of life short, in respect of prosperity and aduersity in this world, that our appetite may be stirred to future things whereof here we haue but a taste, as were the trees in Paradise and Manna; If these plea­sures belowe delight vs, how much more shall those aboue? Punishments here are but essayes of those hereafter ordained for the wicked, as those vppon the Sodomits, Chorah and his complices, and if the short plagues of this life are feared; how much more those of another? A little time we haue, that by little consolations we may be in­uited to glory, and by small troubles feare grea­ter. A little time is giuen vs, least our troubles be­ing ouer long we should despaire: onour ioyes, we should neglect God. Aduersity sometimes must exercise vs, else prosperity will pull vs down. There are but foure times, a time of deuiation as from Adam to Moses when death reigned:Rom. 5.14. a time of Reuocation from Moses to Christ, the Lawe be­ing added because of transgressions: a time of Reconciliation from the birth of Christ to the sen­ding of the holy Ghost,Gal. 3.19. the spirit it selfe bearing witnesse with our spirit that wee are the children of God; a time of Peregrination from the sending of the holy Ghost till the day of Iudgement,Rom. 8.16. while wee are at home in the body,2 Cor. 5.7. vve being ab­sent from the Lord.2. Cor. 5.7. In this Pilgrimage we must walk by faith. The times are dangerous in regard of troubles which must fail out, such as neuer were since the begining of the world:Mat. 24.21. Of Sathans [Page 20] libertie; Reu. 20.8. who being loosed, deceaued the Nations of the foure quarters of the earth: of the multi­tude of many false Prophets rising and decea­uing many:Math. 24.11. of the rarenesse of good men,Math. 24.12. iniquity abounding: the loue of many waxing cold. Let not the time runne away without obseruation. Thinke vppon time past and be thankefull for be­nefits receaued; Creation, Redemption, Iustifi­cation: repent for sinne committed; imitate the godly: Think vppon the time present, the oppor­tunity vrging vs to worke while we haue time; the breuity compelling vs to be instant, the irre­uocability stirring vs vp to constancie. Thinke vpon the time to come and prouide to giue a faire account.Barn. de trip. custodia. 1. Cor. 4.7. Nothing ought to be of so pretious esteeme as time, it is Gods gift, we haue nothing but what we haue receaued; wee are answerable for it, and must deliuer backe all things in num­ber and weight: we must gaine according to the talentes deliuered vnto vs:Ecc. 42.7. wee must growe in grace,Math. 25.20. And to this end as in bodily growth, there are 4. helpes, so in a spirituall: There is nourishment in the wombe, here is a proficiencie of knowe­ledge; there we are brought into the light of the world, here we shewe forth some fruits of the il­lumination of Baptisme: there is milke giuen vnto vs, here the word of God deliuered out of both Testaments: there wee are carryed to our Parents table, here we come to the Supper of the Lord, our heart and our flesh reioycing; that Nowe is the accepted time:2. Cor. 6.2. now is the day of sal­uation [Page 21]wherein God the Father begetteth vs, the Church our mother conceaueth vs: The seede whereby we are borne againe is the word: the nurses to feede, weane, cherish vs, are the Mini­sters of the Gospell, and preaching is the food we must require, which will make vs new creatures, haue new soules, affections, members; a new heart, hand, eares, eye: but if there be no appetite in vs after this; we are a Golgotha, hauing a name to liue but are dead in sinne and dead in desires, vn­borne and better vnborne then vntaught.

Was it miraculous for Elias to liue forty dayes without foode of the body,Animas portant mortuas in cor­poribus viuis. Aug. and shall we thinke to liue for euer if wee neglect the food of our soules, which should nourish vs to life euerla­sting, hauing a name to liue but are dead and carry about vs dead soules in liuing bodyes? Haue wee hereetofore liued an idle, prophane, vn­godlie life? O let vs liue the rest of our time in the flesh no longer to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, for the time past of our life (as the Apostle speaketh) may suffice vs to haue walked in the will of the Gentiles, vvherein the Apostle allovveth not the former life but reproueth it:1. Pet. 4.3. It is like that, more ouer this vvas not enough for them that they erred in the knovvledge of God, Non approbat sed reprobat vitam praeteri­tam. Lyra. but vvhereas they liued in the great vvarre of ignorance, those so great plagues they called peace: and like that, O ye house of Israel,Wisd. 14.22. let it suffice you of all your abominations.Ez. 44.6. There is no losse to the losse of time: it is folly to expect [Page 22]time while we haue it before vs. Hee that hath life hath time, and this runns swifter then a Wea­uers shuttle: Remember how greiuous it will be to thinke vpon the neglect of time, as Titus Vespasia­nus meditated,Suction. Amici diem perdidi: A day mis­pent is lost. It was the lamentable Epitaph of Similis Captaine of the Guarde to the Emperour Adrian after hee had retired himselfe and liued priuatly seauen yeares in the country,Xiphilinus in vita Adriani. that hee had liued onely seauen yeares.

Let vs consider how long it is since wee were borne, and number our yeares, not from the time of our old birth, but New birth. Let vs often con­sider how our time runnes on, let vs remember the day of DOOME, the end of this time, and be­gining of immortality to come.2. Esd. 7.43. Let vs looke vpon our threefold disease, the begining, mid­dle, end: our Natiuity, life, death, Our Nati­uity vncleane, our life peruerse, our death dan­gerous: Let the meditation of the birth of Christ purge our birth;Bar: in tran­situ malachiae pessima mors peccatorū, quo­rum Natiuitas mala, vita peior. of his death destroy our death; of his life instruct our life. Our Natiuity hath bene sinfull, let not our life be badde, least our death be worse: Let vs endeauour to dye the death of Saints by liuing as Gods best seruants: then pre­tious shall our death be in the sight of the Lord, as the end of out labours, consummation of our victories, the gate of life, an entrance into glory: [Page 23]Let vs get to bee borne againe, which is our new Regeneration in Body and Spirit.Bar. declamat. & apol. ad Guli­elmū Abbatem. We fell together in soule and body, but first must rise in soule if we would be raised vp at the last day in bodyes to glory. Let vs first esteeme our soules and not as those of the schoole of Hipocrates and Epicurus who neglect the soule and prouide only for the body, who feare not to commit sin, but to endure shame. Let vs know that as farre as the spirit is aboue the flesh, God aboue men, hea­uen aboue the earth, eternity aboue frailty; so farre is the new creation aboue the olde; the one is mortall and corruptible, the other immortall, from heauen, a worke of God, abiding for euer: This bringeth to life, the other to death, as it followeth the Birth here.

PARS. II And a time to dye.

There are many reasons why Death is come into the world: the disobedience of Gods prohibition. Of the fruit of the tree in the middst of the Gar­den, God hath said, ye shall not eate least ye dye.Gen. 3.3.

The Malice of the Deuils temptation;Wisd. 7.24. through enuie of the Deuill came death into the world, the folly of the womans condition: she saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a Tree to be desired to make one wise, and tooke of the fruit thereof and did eate: The mans greedy apprehension, and hee did eate:ibid. Hence some obserue that mors comes of mordeo, because our first Parents did eate of that forbidden fruit. [Page 24] A memorable punishment drawing a man from pryde:Ecc. 10.9. facile cōtemnit omnia qui nouit se moriturum. Aug. & Hier why is earth and ashes proud? from co­uetousnesse: Easily despiseth a man the world when he seeth he must dye: from earthly pleasures, cor­ruption being the father, the worme a mother and sister,Iob. 17.16. when man goeth downe to the bowels of the pitte, and rest must be in the dust. It stirreth vp a man to good, to almes, to repentance, to disposing of his house, as appeareth in Hezekiah when he had receaued the message of death, hee turned his face to the wall,If. 38.14. prayed and mourned as a Doue. Now he settleth himselfe by a liuely faith the foundation of saluation, a search and confession of his former sinnes, in a broken and contrite heart,Ps. 51.17. by remission of iniuries, submit­ting himselfe to Gods good pleasure, vnlading himselfe of ill gotten goods, running to obtaine. Howsoeuer man hath thought of himselfe before he be summoned to dye, and haue bragged with proud Phaeton in the Poet, that Apollo were his father; yet now he must call to minde, that Cli­mene was his mother: hee seeth that his strength is not of brasse, his matter is not of gold, siluer, pretious stones, but earth: that life and death are in the hands of God, and haue their date and de­stiny by him: that we are caryed away as Mer­chants in a shippe, whither we stand or sit, watch or sleepe, Sensim sine sensu [...]nescimus, olde age stealeth on, that hee that p [...]seth himselfe a long life, doth as he that looketh through a pers­pectiue, conceaue those things great which are [Page 25]very small; that Death is a commanding Tyrant and will haue nodenyall. Hence is it called Dust, If I haue rewarded euill to him that was at peace with me, let the enemy lay mine honour in the dust: A brooke: Ps. 7.5.110.7. Ps. 8 l. 3. Iob. 3.13. 1. Thes. 5.2. 2 Tim. [...].8. Ios. 2 [...]. [...]4. he shall drinke of the brooke in the way: The graue, my life draweth nigh vnto the graue: A sleepe, A comming, as a theef in the night: A time of departure: the way of all the earth: Of Abell whose sacrifice God accepted, as of Cain, whose sacrifice God despised: of Abra­ham the Father of the faithfull, as well as of the children of vnbeliefe: of Izhac the sonne of the free woman, as of Ismael the sonne of the bond woman: of Iacob whom God loued, as of Esau whom he hated: of chast Ioseph as of incestuous Ammon: of meeke Moyses as rayling Rabshekah: of zealous Phinees as the luke-warme Minister of the Church of Laodicea: of Dauid a man according to Gods owne heart, as Saul from whom God tooke his spirit: of Salomon the wise, as Nabal the foole: of tender hearted Iosiah, as hard hear­ted Pharaoh: the humble Publican, as the proud Pharisee: poore Lazarus to be carryed into Abra­hams bosome, as the rich glutton to be carryed into hell: Iohn the beloued Disciple, as Iudas the traitor: Simon Peter the Apostle, as Simon Magus the Sorcerer: The death of Christ hath freed from the second death, but not the first: He hath al­tered the vse of the first death, but not taken it away: it was ordained as a punishment, but he hath made it a passage into Heauen: and as by [Page 26]life man commeth to bondage, so by death his freedome is wrought, yet dye he must first; be he Natures Paragon, he is but a lump of flesh, and straight after Birth is due the fatall Beere. Death is the Emperour of graues, common Inne, the pu­nishment, tribute, Conquerour, receptacle of all: and as the Sunne where it shineth melteth the hardest ice, so where this Centurion com­mands there must be obedience. This place ene­mie striketh with a bloody dart, the wretched Caitiffe and the King alike: It sends out a Com­mission, as that voyce to Abraham, Exi de terra tua, Goe out of thy Country wherein thou wert bred and borne: come forth ye soules from those bodyes, and though there be but one manner of comming into the world, yet are there many thousand wayes of going out of the world. Wee are full of holes and breaches, One dyeth young, another in a good age, some when their breasts are full of milke:Eriyere vitā nemo non homi­ni petect. At nemo mortem, mille ad hanc patent aditus Sē. trag. 3. Ac. 1. Waite we must for our change, and patiently expect the execution of that De­cree, which is so various and manifold, that no one mans tongue can possibly describe it.

Abell was slaine by his brother, Abimelechs brains beaten out by a woman, throwing a peece of a milstone from a wall: Agag washewed in peeces: Isay cut a sunder with a woodden sawe:Epipha de vitis Prophetarum. Amos slaine with a doore barre: the Infants of Bethlehem were slaine in their Cradles, Eglon in his Parlour, Saul in the field, Isbosheth in his bed, Sennacherib in the Temple, Ioab at the very Altar: Beares slew [Page 27]the boyes that mocked Elizeus, wormes Herod, Lyons Daniels accusers, Dogges Euripides. Ex­tremity of ioy hath killed some, as Zeuxes, Diago­ras, Rhodius, Sophocles: Sorrowe others, as old Eli, Homer, Vrbain the third. Fier destroyeth some, as the Sodomits, Nadab and Abihu, Zimri, Perillus. Water others, as M. Marcellus, Lauren­tius Laurentinianus that great Phisitian. Earth­quakes, Chore, Dathan, Abiron, M. Curtius. Hunger destroyed Cleanthes the Philosopher. Thirst, Tha­les Milesius. Watching, M. Attilius Regulus. The fall of an house Athenaeus. Philippe a young French King called Grossus, fell from his horse dead: Ieza­bell being cast out of a windowe dyed:Fulgo li. 9 c. 1 [...]. Anacreon the Poet was choaked with the kernel of a raisin: Valentinian the Emperour came to his end by strayning himselfe with crying too loud:Pli. nat. li. 7.7. Hier. op. 9 to. 9 Fulgo vbi supra Guido. Ful. ib. Pli. vt supra. Florus. lib. 3. c. a 3. Suides. Polyd. Virgil. hist Ang. the yolke of an egge stifled Saufeius: a fish bone Tar­quinius Priscus: a peare Drusus Pompeius: an haire in his milke Fabius the Senatour: a smoake Cae­tullus the Orator: the hot Sunne Chrisostome: a crumme of bread, Goodwin Earle of Kent. A Plurisie killed Charles the Great, a Dissenterye, Anastasius the second, the Cholicke Antiochus.

Iulius Cesar disputing the night before of the good of suddaine death, was the next day by Brutus and Cassius slaine suddainely in the Senate: Iohannes Mathesius hauing preached of the rai­sing of the Widdowe of Naimes sonne, with­in 3. houres dyed: Luther hauing sate at supper, and discoursed diuinely of the ioyes of Heauen, [Page 28]about midnight after he slept in the Lord: Iouian an Emperour was found dead in his bed: Pope Adrian the fourth was choaked with a flye:Soz. hist Eccl. 6.6. crimonesis can we forget that dolefull DOLEFVLL EVENSONG of that Popish assembly in the Blacke-Fryers, mi­serably misled to heare a Iesuite?Oct. 25.1623 90. or 100. whereof perished while they heard Antichrist exalted: I dare not be so vncharitable as from their temporall destruction to collect their eter­nall confusion: But by these we may see no place is priuiledged from the arrest of death. Some we see come to their graues by Apoplexies, Le­thargies, dead Palsies, some by suddaine blowes, some as a wasted candle, goe out naturally. How many doth that violent FEVER nowe sweep away in our Cittie, and in the most parts of the Kingdome? an argument of Gods anger against vs, as he threatned the disobedient children of Israel, Dc. 28.15.22. that if they would not hearken to his voyce to obserue to doe all his Commandements and Statutes (the SINNE of ENGLAND) he would smite them with a FEVER, and with an inflam­mation, and with an extreame BVRNING. Our Neighbours visitation sheweth vs Belshazzars em­bleme vpon our doors and walles, that our dayes are counted,Vita cito auolat nec potest reti­neri mors quo­tidie ingruit nec potest resisti. that our life flyeth away daily and cannot be retained, and death is continually ready to rush vpon vs and cannot be resisted, but as wee haue had a time to be borne, so a time to DIE.

Let the Egiptians call man a reuerend and ad­mirable [Page 29]creature, Mercury a great myracle, Pytha­goras the measure of all things, Plato the wonder of wonders, Aristotle a politique creature, framed for society, Synesius the Horizon of corporeall and incorporeall things, Tully a diuine creature full of reason and iudgement, Plinie the worlds Epitome, and Natures darling, yet he is mortall, and must yeeld to this heauy colde enemie, which sneapeth the brauest blossomes, and maketh them fade anon which ere while flourished: the longest liuer dyes, and DEAD, the lowliest creature as the lothsome carion lyes. This is it that daunteth all earthly things, They were borne to dye: If they had a beginning, they must haue an end. Death is impartiall, cutting off good and bad, It selfe knowne to all, the houre of it vnknowne to any: Nothing can resist it, No Peeres, Princes, mortall wight; No Townes, Realmes, Cities, Towers: All must runne this course, and whatsoeuer liues tis sure to dye: Nothing vnder the Sunne is im­mortall: Death may claime his right vpon birth, God permits it, All haue their times dated in his booke of all disposing prouidence: when the houre comes let none aske whence or why? All should prepare for it: The goodliest Cities haue beene equalled with the ground, stateliest build­ings leuelled with the earth, greatest Empires brought to nothing: Kings haue beene bound in chaines, Nobles in fetters of iron. Wee waxe olde as a garment, dwell in houses of clay, our breath goeth away, and we all perish: Mathuselah with his yeares, Samson with his strength, Absolon with [Page 30]his beauty, Salomon with his wisdome, they had a time of birth, and a time of buriall. Young men haue death at their backes, and olde men before their eyes; yet fewe desire to looke vpon it, nay they cannot endure to heare, that as they haue had a time to be borne so a time to dye.

VSE 1 Which may seeke to reproue many, who neuer seriously thinke vpon their mortality, and there­fore are dead and buried in pleasures while they liue, holding Repentance but an houres worke, Faith fancie, Religion a lip-labour, of whom wee may say as Martha of Lazarus, Iohn 11.39. He stinketh: Would we thinke vpon our end, we would not so offend, but the forgetfulnesse of this, causeth wisdome to be tainted with craft, Iustice with corruption, Faith with dissimulation, Godlinesse with hypo­crisie, Friendship with hope of gaine, Lending with vsurie: Wee liue in a quarrelling age, the most making ill vse of Gods mercies, not endu­ring any correction. Wee haue enioyed a long time of peace, plenty, & aboue all, the free passage of the Gospell, yet our owne consciences doe ac­cuse vs, that we haue neither worthily esteemed, nor sufficiently expressed the sweet comfort of the Gospell reuealed vnto vs; but workes be chan­ged into words, walking in goodnesse into talk­ing of God, hands into tongues, hearts into cares: to cure superstition wee neglect true deuotion. Some haue Israelitish stomacks, and loath Manna the bread of heauen; others Athenian cares itch­ing after new Teachers and new Doctrines: Men [Page 31]rather seeke for profound knowledge, then for faith that worketh by loue: Preach we death and iudgement? men say (blessing themselues in their hearts) we shall haue peace though we walke in the imaginations of our hearts,Deu. 29.19. to adde drunken­nesse to thirst. Hence

Many liue as if they should neuer dye, and as if hell were but a gulle and fable, But the Lord will not spare such, his anger and iealousie shall smoake against them, they shall haue sickenesses and wounds, and the Lord will be vnto them as a moth & as rottennesse.Hos. 5.12. Better a liuing Dogge then a dead Lyon, so long as we liue wee may repent, but after death Iudgement, Heb. 9. ordinary arguments; and the vse of them hath taken away the force of them, but none so necessary. Is a man perswaded that these are nigh? It will easily dispatch, that which no Law, Prince, prison, Parents or pu­nishment could doe: they that before could take no counsaile, now giue good coun­saile. Nothing so teacheth as the remembrance of death, as not onely appeares in Ezekias his de­uout meditations, put vpon a perpetuall record by the holy Ghost, when he had but a tallie of dayes left him, but in Baltashazar who seeing the number of his dayes and that he was found too light, began to quake & learne wisdome: Deaths remembrance brings horror: O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee, to a man that liueth [Page 32]at rest in his possessions:Ecc. 41.1.: It comes with trouppes of sorrowes,Dr. Haywatd in his Sanct: of a troubled Soule. the head shooting, the backe aking, the heart panting, the throat ratling, the tongue faltring, the breath shortening, the flesh trem­bling, the veines beating, the heart strings crac­king, the eyes waxing dimme, the nose sharpe, the browes hard, the cheekes cold and wanne, the lippes pale, the hands numme, the ioynts stiffe, the whole body being in a cold-sweat, the strength fainting, the life vanishing, the standers▪ by like flesh flyes crying or crauing, offering to molest the dying body. Death separates the soule, deuideth friends, spoiles a man of worldly goods though he heapes vpsiluer as the dust, and prepare raymēt as clay.Iob. 27.16. Be not puffed vp with pros­perity, you knowe not what a day may bring forth, the rankest corne is soonest layde: I see that all things come to an end: This we must teach as Dauid did,Ps. 119.96. and that surely men of lowe degree are vanitye,Pl. 62.9. and men of high degree are a lye to belayd in the balances, they are altoge­ther lighter then vanity.Tot quotidie occidimus quot ad mortem ire tacētes videmus Gr. lib. 33. epi. ad Venan­tium. Ac. 20.26. In this point wee must not be silent, so many we kill as we suffer to runne on to death without warning. St. Paul would keepe nothing backe from the Ephesians, and shunned not to declare vnto them all the coun­saile of God, because he would be pure from the blood of all men. I haue heard that Newes came to a certaine Towne, that AN ENEMIE was approaching, yet he came not: herevpon a Lawe was made, that none should bring such rumours [Page 33]of warres and newes of an Enemie: Not long after the enemie came, besieged, assaulted, ruinated the Towne, and thence grew a Prouerbe, THAT PLACE WAS DESTROIED BY SILENCE: Let vs lift vp our voyces as Trumpetes herein, and though men be as gods vpon earth, Let vs preach Mans mortality, and presse for fruites worthy a­mendment of life, that there may be comfort in death. Hath God made thee a little world, and aboue all earthly creatures, giuen to thee an im­mortall soule, foreseing things to come, re­membring things past, iudging of things present, bearing the image of God? made thee erect to be­hold the Heauens, promised a resurrection of thy body and life euerlasting, and wilt thou abuse the goodnesse of God which leadeth to repentance? If he be prouoked, he is a consuming fire: He which in health hath beene diligent to feare God and to doe good, shall feele in sickenesse an vn­speakable comfort, which he will not misse for all the whole world, and a mighty boldenesse to speake vnto God, But he which whiles the world prospered with him neuer thought vppon God, nor regarded his word, when the visitation of the Lord is vpon him, when his soule is ready to bee taken from him, his heart being hardned in sin, & he hauing made no preparatiō for DEAEH; terrour shal take hold on him as waters; a tempest shall steale him away in the night; a storme shall hurle him out of his place, men shall clappe their hands at him, & shall hisse him out of his place:Iob. 27.22.23

VSE 2 An Instruction for vs to haue our accounts in a readinesse, that whensoeuer the Lord shall call vs by his Bayliefe Death, he may find vs prepared; that we may keepe a Kalender, and Ephemerides of our time, how it passeth away; that as our bo­dies stoop downwards by yeares and infirmities, so our soules soare vpward; that we may haue our Loyns girt & our Lamps burning. While we are in the world, we are in a Sea of troubles; we saile as Pilgrimes, tossed by the tempests of aduersity, oppressed by three Pyrates; the Flesh, World, Deuill: Yet by the Barke of a liuely Faith, this Marriner Death may transport vs from Aegipt to Canaan. For howsoeuer death (to the Repro­bate) be the Curse of God, Suburbes of Hell, Pyrate of life, the Diuels Serieant to arrest and carry them without bayle to a Prison of vtter darknesse; his Cart to bring them to execution, from which there can be no repriuement: Yet to the Godly it is not exitus, but transitus: a depar­ture but a passage:Cyp. sc. de mor­tal. Fratres mortui non sunt amissi sed praemissi. Our dead Friends are not lost, they are but sent before. Profectio est quam putas mor­tem: that thou thinkest death,Au. ep. 6. is but a iourney to them,Tert. de Pa­tientia. to the Land of the liuing; The key to vn­locke from misery, and send abroade to liberty: A Bridge to passe from a vale of teares, to a pa­radise of joyes. Like the Brazen Serpent, so farre from hurting true Israelites, that it healeth them. The beginning of joy, first fruites of pleasure, Prince of delight, and a Massenger of glad ty­dings: [Page 35]A passage from labour to rest: Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord,Reu. 14.13 that they may rest from their laboures: From vilenesse to glory; Lazarus was carryed by the Angels into Abrahams bosome: From feare to security, The wicked is driuen away in their wickednesse,Luk. 14.22. but the righteous hath ioy in his death:Pr. 14.32. From trouble to peace, as olde Tobit prayed, cōmaund my spirit to be taken from me,Tob. 3.6. that I may be dis­solued, that I may be deliuered out of this di­stresse, and goe into the euerlasting place: From an vncertain commorancie to a setled habitariō, an eternall house in the Heauens:2. Co. 5.1. From capti­uity to liberty; therefore St. Paul wished: O wretched man that I am,Ro. 7.24. who shall deliuer mee from the body of death? From vanitie to glory, which made the same Apostle so confident; To me to liue is Christ, and to dye is gaine.Ph. 1.21. To the Godly it is a coast for them banished out of this world, a landing at the Hauen; a laying downe of a heauy burthen of the body, the consumption of all diseases, the escaping of all perills, breaking of all Bonds, returne to our owne home.Est vitae vir­tus maxima posse mori. Mat. 24.42. THIS we should often thinke vpon, because the greatest worke we haue to doe, is to dye well: And be­cause Christ commaundeth; watch, for yee know not what houre your Lord will come: what I say vnto you, I say vnto you all, watch:Mar. 13.37. Like vnto men that waite for their Lord, when he will returne from the wedding;Luk. 12.36. that when he com­meth and knocketh, yee may open to him imme­diatly. [Page 36]It is too late to recall the Bargaine, the Bond being sealed; to defend the Walles, when the Citty is ouercome; to sound a retraite, when the Battaile is fought; to send for a Physitian, when the sicke party is dead: When time is past, it can­not be recalled. Therefore saith the wise man, whatsoeuer thy hand findeth to doe, doe it with thy might; for there is no worke, nor deuise, nor knowledge,Ecl. 9.10. nor wisedome in the Graue whe­ther thou goest.Guil. paris. p 5. de. vitijs tr. de accidia. Gr. Ho. 13. in Eua. Bonau. Sanchez in Ec­les. Hereafter is no time of work­ing, but rewarding: Hereafter Aristotles arguments will not serue to excuse or defend, but rather to accuse. If we feare death before it come, we shall conquer it: There is no deliberating hereafter: There shall be no profit of the knowledge of Diuine or Humane things hereafter, vnles wee vse it well in this life. God hath giuen a Talent to exercise euery man; some worke for euery one against his comming into the world: Skill and knowledge is long and difficult, life is short and sickly; we should as oportunity serueth, performe our duty towards our God,Ars longa, vita breuis. Hipocr. towards our Neigh­boures, towards our selues. The time of Working ceaseth in the graue: None can be benifited by our workes, wisedome, skill, counsell, when we are dead: We cannot praise God nor glorifie him in the graue. Now is the time of vsing and bestowing those gifts that God hath giuen for his glory in this life; And this time saith Iob is swif­ter then a Poste, passeth away as the swift Ship; and as the Eagle hasteth to her pray: Nothing so [Page 37]swift in the Land, Sea, Ayre; Iob. 9.26. as a shadow so passeth our time; or as when an Arrowe is shot at a Mark, it parteth the ayre, which immediatly commeth together againe;Wis. 5.9.12.13 so that a man cannot knowe where it went through. Euen so we in like man­ner as soon as we are born, begin to draw to our end. Our Bodyes too and froe; we shall not bee that to morrow which we are to day.

Let vs not till the day of death delay our con­uersion. when sicknesse summoneth and bindeth vpon the Alter, for the sacrificing of the Soule; wicked actions, words, thoughts, will appeare armed with Gods anger, and with the Curses of of the Law heaped together, agrauated to the vttermost, giuing the Conscience many a colde pull, and lying vpon the heart as heauie as Lead: The Conscience will accuse, the Memory giue bitter euidence, Reason will sit as Iudge, Feare shall stand as executioner. Let vs now therefore get a good life, that it may be an vsher to a good death. Let vs drawe good out of euill, and pro­uide for immortallity in the time of mortallity. Let vs dye willingly, seeing we must dye necessari­ly, we shall liue eternally. Let not the worlds pleasures detaine vs, but rather draw our affectiōs to those things which are aboue; knowing that [Page 38]if there be such delight in any thing of this mor­tall life,Giselbertus in li. Altere. c. 3. Hic vel acci­pienus vel amit­timus vitam eternam. Cyp. which consists in the presence of the Soule in a corruptible body; what immortall pleasure shall there be, when the presence of the Godhead shall fill the reasonable Soule? Now is the time to get this assurance; here we may win or lose it:Gal. 6.7. Let vs not be weary in well doing: As we sowe, so we shall reape.

If we would not heare in the great Haruest of the last iudgement that terrible voyce, which shall be vsed to them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Deuill and his Angels,Mat. 25.41. Let vs Nowe heare that sweete voyce calling to repentance, Come ye Blessed children of my Father: Learne of me for I am meeke and lowely, and ye shall finde rest vnto your soules.Mat. 11.29. Qualem te inuenerit Deus cum vocat, talē pariter iudicat. Cyp. lib. 4. de morte. As the day of Death findeth vs, so shall the last day iudge vs. Let vs stand vppon our watch, and waite for it all the dayes of our appointed time. Let vs learne nowe to be acquainted with God in his world. Let vs consecrate to him the Temples of our bodyes, and Altars of our soules, who created them of nothing, redeemed them when they were worse then nothing, and hath appointed mansions for them with himselfe in glory. Let vs get AGOOD NAME which will be better then all ointments and treasures: They may be bought for mony, but this is the gift of God not to be purchased with [Page 39]base mettall. They are corruptible, this is euer­lasting. They heaue a man in death, and betake them to a new Master, but the praise of the IVST man remaineth still his owne. It taryeth behind him on earth, and goeth with him to heauen, and will crowne him with glory at the last day. Let vs esteeme the day of Death better then our Birth-day. That was an entrance into misery, this will giue vs a passe for felicity. Let vs now re­member our Creatour. Let vs take time while it is offered vnto vs to prepare for Heauen, Time will away. Let vt not neglect our tide, but bee wise in passing the time of our pilgrimage here on earth. All must dye: our stroke will come, how soone and suddainely, when or where, we knowe not. We should impart this in our memory, es­pecially seeing the Lord strikes those who were neare vnto vs, and we may complaine, that THE RIGHTEOVS PERISHE: As they had A time to be Borne so a time to Die.

My Texte is occasioned to me vpon the taking away of a Worthy flower of our Parish Sir Willam Byrde, a Father of the lawe, and a Iust and merci­full Patron of Widdowes and Orphanes, a meeke Moses, an vpright Samuell, a zealous Iob, fearing God, eschewing euill, a man of courage, dealing true­ly, hating couetousnesse: I confesse that his soule being taken into the society of heauenly Saints, neither careth for, nor seekeeth our praises, Yet let not the godly be forgotten: though dead we may commend them. It is lawfull in it selfe, and pro­fitable [Page 40]for the liuing for imitation: Therefore Da­uid commended Ionathan for his loue:2. Sam. 1.26. 2. Ch. 35.23. the holy Ghost King Iosiah for his integrity: St. Paul in that Epistle to the Hebrewes the Patriarches and Prophets: Christ commanded that wheresoeuer the Gospell should be preached,Math. 26.18. mention should be made of that good worke of the woman: we may commend a Sayler when hee arriues at the hauen, and a Souldier when he hath conquered.

The Vniuersity bred him, Antient Oxford, a graue mother of many worthies in Israel,All soules Colledge. where in he tooke his degrees, ex merito not ex mera gratia.

In that worthy and flourishing Society where­in he liued, he was no factious Incendiary (And O let peace as plenty euer be within those walles) For howsoeuer Bee-keepers iudge that swarme to bee most fruitfull in making honey,Aral. 9. de hist. Animal. c. 40. apud quod strepitus sufurrus, frequensque tumultus plurimorum est, which buzzeth most and maketh the greatest tu­mult; yet in a ciuill Hiue they are iudged to make the most hony who are most peaceable, for Busie bodyes worke nothing at all but canuases.

He was no Mushrum to rise vp in a moment, like those Giants simul sati & editi, sowne and growne in an instant, supposing themselues of sufficiencie enough because they can giue enough for a preferment, their passions being guided by pride and follow­ed by iniustice, and when greatest are but as a puddle vpon which the Sunne shineth. He rose to his degrees of dignity by iust and faire degrees, [Page 41] honoring the places he had with his worth as they him with their greatnesse: For as Tully tolde Ce­sar to set the vnworthy in high places is not so much to grace the persons by place as to disgrace the place by such persons.

He was fit for gouernement hauing a sounde head and sanctifyed heart, carefull to auoyde the worlds scandals, diligent in comming with his fa­mily to the Church, reuerendly attentiue in hea­ring the word, religiously humbled in receauing the Sacrament. How cheerefully would he dis­course as his table of what had bene deliuered in. Gods house?

It hath often reioycedime to see the true loues Christian knot a sweet vnity & harmony betwit him and his joyall and vertuous Lady: & where should we finde loue & Concorde, if not twixt husband & wife? They are one flesh by originall creation, for the woman came of the man, & by a Nuptiall con­iunction, the woman is flesh of the flesh of man, & stands on euen ground with the man, though drawing on the left side: No bitternesse should be there, and therfore among the Heathen, the galle of the sacrifice that was slaine and offered at the wedding was throwne out at doores,Plut. in praee. Coning. signifying that the maryed folkes should be either to other as Doues without galle. Husband and wife haue a triple band of loue A naturall as neighbours, A spirituall as fellowe members of the body of Christ, An holy and honourable as one flesh by mariage.

The loue of this learned man was great to [Page 42] Gods word, Hier. de Nepe­tiano. so that pectus suum Bibliothecam fecit Christi, he made his breast a library to Christ to be bound vp there: Hereby he learned to carry him­selfe so temperatly and fairely, knowing that the Hill of greatnesse howsouer it yeeld a delighfull prospect, yet is subiect to lightning and thunder, remembring that he was to giue his account to him that is Iudex viuorum & mortuorum, from whom there is no appeale: and howsoeuer many op­portunities of bribes, letters, and other engines of corruptions were offered him some times, he kept his hands cleane, because he had a pure heart. This made him reioyce in the the testimony of a Good conscience, which as he professed in his sicke­nesse was as aqua vitae to cheere vp his drooping spirits: The Fathers call it the field of blessednesse, garden of delight, Aug. Ioy of Angels, house of the Ho­ly Ghost, Paradise of the soule. It made Iob more happy in stercore, Iob. 27.6. on the dunghill, then Adam was in memore, in the midst of Paradise, That his heart reproched them not. It maketh a man though he had Giges ring to walke without the controlement of any eye, to walke vprightly.

He was often desired not to trouble himselfe so much in his place of Iudicature, but to suffer Sur­rogates to dispatch businesse for him, which hee seldome did, saying, I will do what I may possible by my selfe, I (and not they) must answer if wrong be done: And when I shall be vpon my death Bed, clamoures will trouble me if any be iniured.

He laboured to make his House a spectacle [Page 43]of deuout discipline to others,Hier, de Nepo­tiano. Domus eius erat magistra pub­licae disciplinae. humbling himselfe and his whole family before God, with Riligious praiers, often three times a day. A Method which he learned from holy King Dauid. Euening and morning, and at noone, will I pray and crye aloud, and he shall heare my voyce:Ps. 55.17. Which the Fathers ascribe to the Mysterie of the Passion, Resurrection, ascention of Christ:Aug. Hier. Ruff Bed. Remig. Three times a day the Apostles inioyned that the Lords Prayer should be vsed:Cle. 7. Constit. 25. Mr. hist. schol in Daniel. c. 9. Three times a day the Iewes prayed, the third houre because the Law was then giuen, the sixt because the Brazen Ser­pent was then erected, the ninth because then water came out of the Rocke. Three times a day the Church of the antient Christians had praiers, because at the third houre the holy Ghost was giuen; the sixt Christ was crucified, the ninth he was pierced through with a speare:Dan. 6.9. Three times a day Daniel kneeled vpon his knees, and prayd and gaue thankes before his God: Three times a day Prayers haue beene enioyned, either in honour of the holy, blessed, glorious three persons of the Trinity: or because we should get the practise of the three Theological Vertues, Faith, Hope, Charity: or because we should haue a watch ouer three doors, the heart, mouth, action: or three Tempters, the lust of the Flesh, pride of the eyes, pride of life: or our three great Ene­mies, the Flesh, World, Deuill: or because no­thing doth so adorne man in the three parts of his life, Childhood, Youth, Olde age.

This learned and reuerend Iudge had the sixe Properties required in a Iudge; Skill, Goodnes, Diligence, Nuizanus ex Ioh. Pirrho in l. imperia. ff. de regul. iur. Barbatus. in Ca­pit. Quoniam s. in alijs. Eloquence, constancie, Prudence: Hee had salem scientiae & conscientiae, conscience to season his knowledge; without which the minde of a Iudge is diabolicall and vnsanory.

Hee was truely Miles Christianus a Christian Knight, in whom it is esteemed no lesse greatnes of heart to resist vice then to fight against enemies: the goodnes of a Knight consisting not in Pompe and great magnificence,Guenara. but in the tranquillitie & innocencie of a good conscience: For he that wal­loweth in the wealth of Craesus and sleepeth not in the bosome & quietnesse of Abraham holdeth no more then if he were Lord of a goodly vessell re­plenished with corrupt and poisoned liquor: To haue rich tapistrie, massie plate, great horses, and other preparations to sportes and pleasures, be things rather to get honourable names then to keep Soules in safety.

My wish is that as the trophees of Miltiades wold not suffer Themistocles to sleep, til by the like acts, he had purchased to himselfe the like glorious name:Val. Max. l. 8. c 15. & Plut. so all of that hourable professiō of the Law, would looke into this glasse, & make him a Canon of their Ciuill & Christian imitation,Vitam caelestem egit in terris. Hi [...]. vita Pauli Eremitae. following him as he followed Christ, in a heauenly course.

If I should spend many words more about him, I should but strike wounds into their mindes whom I desire to comfort. His hearty deuo­tion to God, tender compassion to pouerty, affa­ble [Page 45]kindnesse to his friends,In illo vno non vnum sed plu­res amissos re­quirimus. Amb. de excessu Satyr. milde affection to his seruants, harmelesse behauiour and meaning to all, make vs complaine, that In his losse alone we haue not lost him alone, but in him many a worthy one. He liued like a Doue, dyed like a Lambe: when God stroke him abroad and summoned him to death by sickenesse,From Grausende. he was perswaded to returne by water, where how sweetly did he sing Psalmes? as knowing that a Psalme is mirth of the minde, trāquility of the soule, an Ambassadour of peace, a ruler of the affections, a procurer of charity, reconciler of loue,Bas. homil. in Psal. 1. neither is any so troubled in minde and disturbed in thought, but if he takes the Psalmes he may be straight appeased.Dyon. c. 3. de diu. nom. p. 3. The Psalter is a briefe of all the mysteries of the Bible: A Psalme sung with the intention of the heart maketh way for the soule to God:Greg bom. 1. in Ez. Innoc. 3. proe. in Ps. 7. poenit. Hier. ep. 17. Next to the Lords prayer, there cannot be better formes of prayer vsed then out of the Psalmes: Ierome commen­ded the Plough-men of Bethlehem for singing Psalmes while they followed the Plough:In Epitaph. Paulae. Conc. Nanne­tense cap. 4. the La­dy Paula for singing the Psalms, A Counsaile inioy­ned that the seauen poenitentiall Psalmes, which are the 6.32.38.51.102.130.143. should be sung by the Priest at the visiting of the Sicke. Christ and his Apostles sung a Hymne after the Sa­crament,Mat. 26.30. Paul. Burge. in Marc. 14. the Iewes sung seauen Psalmes after the eating of the Paschall Lambe,Baro. Annal. p. 1. Hier. from the 112. to the 119. and one of these it is probable Christ sung:Cantator Cyg­nus funeris ipse sui Martialis. and some thinke the 113. though others thinke it were the 21. He sung as a Swan before [Page 46]his death:Philo Iud. l. de supplicum vir­tutibus. singing of Psalmes was vsed by the pri­mitiue Christians.

Vpon his returne to his house, he being lodged vpon his bed of sickenesse in a burning feuer (the disease of the time which the right hand of the Lord re­moue from vs) how did he possesse his soule in pa­tience and a humble submission to the hand of God, acknowledging Gods great mercies which he had receaued and found nowe continued, and herein gratiously that God had chastised him, but without extraordinary sensible payne, and so had no heauier a burthen vppon him then hee coulde beare. He sent for me being his poore Pastour, but my occasion of Attendance had called mee abroad: yet another Messenger of Gods word came to him: He welcomed him with all respect; confessed his sinnes, his sorrowes, his faith, prayed earnestly and feruently with sighes and grones, and often cryed out, Lord IESVS be mercifull vn­to me, and receaue my soule, and so as he had a time to be borne so a time to dye: He slept in the Lord: Extremity of paines hath chased his soule out of his body, and I assure my selfe Angels haue car­ryed it into the bosome of Abraham. Currum cons­cendit, non est iam trepidare ne cadat. Bar. in transitu Ma­lachiae. He is Now secure where he cannot fall: He is in the Quire of the Saints, his body is gone to earth, his soule to Christ: Happy he taken away not to see the conti­nuance of sinnes and consequents of punish­ments:Sanctorum­mixtus est cho­ris, corpus ter­ra suscepit, A­nima Christo reddita est. Foe­lix qui haec non vidit: foelix qui haec non audit. Nos miseri at­tamen viuere volumus. Quem corpore non va­lemus, recorda­tione teneaemus: cum quo loqui non possumus, de co loqui non esinamus. Hier. ad Helio­dor. Epitaph. Nepotiani. Ecc. 39.2. Wretched men that we are who desire no­thing but life. His body wee cannot hold, yet let him not be forgotten in our mindes. We cannot [Page 47]speake with him, Let vs often speak of him, how he gaue his minde to the Lawe of the highest, sought out the wisdom of the Antient, was able to powre out wise Sentences, and therefore his Memoriall shall not depart away from vs: Blessed is he in his happy change from night to day, from darkenesse to light, from death to life, from sorrowe to solace, from a factious world to a Countrye of peace, new Ieru­salem, where our God shall at the last day keepe his great Sessions for eternall peace, conscience being the Clarke of that peace, an Angell the cryer of peace, the MESSIAS the Iudge of peace, Saints the Iury for peace, Innocent the verdit of peace, Come ye Blessed of my Father the Oye of peace, Receaue the Kingdome the Sentence of peace. Let vs waite for the Redemptiō of the body, & lift vp our heads after our Home aboue: Let vs labour to be found without spot and blamelesse, Let vs learne to liue well, that we may dye well: Let vs la­ment our losse of our worthies, but reioyce for their gaine: Let vs comfort our selues in hope of a ioyfull Resurrection, through Iesus Christ our Resurrection and life, To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, bee ascribed all honour, and glory, nowe and euer­more. Amen.