SEVEN Helps to Heaven. Showing 

1. How to avoid the Curse.  
2. How to bear the Cross.  
3. How to build the Consciencè.  
4. How with Moses to see Canaan.  
5. Simeons' dying Song, directing to live holily and die happily.  
6. Comforts for Christians against distresses in Life, and fear of Death.  
7. Fervent Prayers, to bear sickness patiently, and die preparedly.    
The second EDITION: much enlarged by Steven Jerome, late Preacher at S. Brides.  
Seen and allowed.  JOB 14.14. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. Nascentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet. 
LONDON: Printed for Roger jackson, and are to be sold at his Shop, near to the Conduit in Fleetsheete. 1614   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, MY Honourable good Lord, RALPHE, Lord Ewer, Baron of Malton and Wytton, and Lord Precedent of his majesties Honourable Council, within the Principality of Wales, and the Marches of the same: all Blessings be multiplied temporal, and Graces spiritual.  
MY Honourable good Lord, it was once an Axiom in the Ethnic Schools 
* To a hominis vita mortis meditatio. , that the whole life of a wise man should be a continual meditation of Death; which, as it was a Principle amongst them, so it was the practice, not only of the Saints and Servants of GOD, the ancient patriarchs, Primitive Christians, retired hermits, mortified Anchorites, and zealous professors of Religion: but even of the wisest and worthiest of the Heathens themselves. The evidence of which will easily appear to those that are studious in the Word divine, or conversant in Authors Ecclesiastical or human. Let us reflect upon 
a Gen. ch. 1. ch. 2. ch. 3.  Adam, the first man, as his name signifying Red earth; the Command given him, mixed with the curse of tilling the earth; his Sin, the cause of the dissolution of that part which was earth; his Garments, made of the skins of dead Beasts, clothing his members which were (like the rest of the Creatures) nought but earth; his Sickness, and Distempers, the fruits of his sin, and preambles of his death; God's Statute-Law, that he should return to his earth, told him truly (contrary to the Serpent and the Woman) that he was a sinful man, and therefore mortal: so, it seems these remembrancers not only occasioned, but caused his meditation of his death. For, though he called his eldest Son Cain 
b Gen. 4.1.2 , or Possession, yet he called his younger Son Abel, or Vanity; as being now experienced and schooled in that misery in life, and mortality in death, which was incident to him and all his originally and actually sinning seed 
c Gen. 3.19 .  
In this Meditation to omit Noah the world's restorer; Sem, or Methusha●em, that Prince of peace; Enoch, that walked with GOD, with the rest; Abraham, the Father of faithful men, imitated Adam the Father of men, who in his suit for Sodom, confessed himself to be but dust and ashes 
d Gen. 18.17. ; Isaac, who after the death of his Mother Sarah, went out to meditate, no doubt, as of her death, so of his own 
e Gen. 24 63 ; jacob, that in his greatest cross & humiliation, thinks how his grey head should be brought to his grave 
f Gen. 37.35 ; and in the height of his earthly joy and contentation, speaks from the abundance of his heart, of the few and evil days of his Pilgrimage 
g Gen. 47 9 ; joseph, tha● amongst all his honours in Egypt, thinks and tells 
h Gen. 50 25  of the carrying his dead bones into Canaan; so, the rest had their thoughts mortified from the world, and fixed on their mortality: which appears as by other proofs, so by two demonstrations in their Buildings in their Buy. The first being not seiled houses or gorgeous Palaces, (like Nabuchadnezzars' Babel. Nim●ods Tower, or Cyrus his House) but silly Tents 
i Gen. 18 9 , like shepherds Cottages, or Booths in a Fair, or Lodges in the Camps such as the Zwitzards use, ready every instant for removal. The second being only limited in a burying place for their dead: for, that is the greatest purchase that ever we read any of the patriarchs made 
k Gen. 23.4 5. , and the possessions which they most frequently mention.  
What should I mention these Fathers that lived under the Law; joshuah the son of Nun, the Servant of the LORD; faithful Caleb; Aaron the Lords high Priest; or Moses himself, the greatest of Legal Prophets, who mindful of his mortality, even before the Lord told him (as he did Ezekias) that he should die, made that Prayer, which the Fathers say the people of GOD used daily as a form of Prayer, pathetically inserting this Petition 
l Psal. 90.12 , that God would so teach them to number their days, that they might apply their hearts to wisdom: the rest succeeding sympathising in the like thoughts? job waiting till his changing should come 
m job 10.14 ; David making no more reckoning of himself then of a Pilgrim, and stranger here amongst men, summoning others also to the consideration of their uncertain condition, and certain end 
n Psal. 120.3. Psal. 49.1.2.3. .  
I might extend the line of this unlimited practice from the patriarchs to the Prophets, from the Prophets to the Apostles. Paul as oft desires, as he deliberates of his dissolution 
o Phil. 2.23 : Peter counts his continuance here but as an abode in a Tabernacle 
p 2 Pet. 1.3 . Reflect back to Christ's Disciples: he no sooner speaks of the death of Lazarus, but their thoughts work upon dying with him 
q john 11.15.16. ; nay, CHRIST himself as most frequently he talks and discourseth of his death in the Gospel, so in that Transfiguration of his 
r Mat. 17. v. 4. v. 9 , the reflection and Idea of his Glorification, to strengthen his Disciples in their dying meditations, he not only tells of his own death when he comes from the Mount, but even in the Mount there appears two dead men with him, Moses and Elias. And, with the rest, here old Simeon, the subject which in all obsequious duty, submisly I present to your Honour, as desiring your Honourable patronizing, and deserving your holy practice, even when he had in his arms the Lord of Life, seeing Canaan with Moses 
s Deut. 32.49. , and the heavens open, with Steven 
t Act. 7.56 , to receive his flitting soul, as Abraham's bosom did Lazarus 
u Luke. 16.22. , thinking of his death and dissolution to his dust, he sings that truly Cygnean and Swanlike song recorded Luke 2.29. Which Song I have divided into his parts, and according to those talents and parts which Grace and Nature hath lent me, have descanted upon, by Illustration, Explication, and Application, to our secure, sensual, and sinful times: wherein I have revealed to the world, what GOD hath revealed unto me by all means used, speculative, and practical, from Reading, Study, Meditation, Conference with the Learned, and Reference of the Labours of approved Authors, both testimonially and exemplarily, to the sacred Cannon of the Orthodox Truth; but principally from that young, yet true experience, which GOD hath taught me by observing (as a Physician his Patients) the several carriages and conditions of divers men, in their healths, sicknesses, lives and deaths, occasioned by those frequent visitations of the sick; which, by reason of my place, I used these last years, in a great and populous Parish: in which particulars the searcher of the heart and reins, and the intelligencer of all Spirits, even the Father of Spirits, knows that I have not aimed at any base, servile or sinister ends, as gain, profit, praise, neither am fed with any such airy and frothy conceits, being so conscious to mine own imperfections, that I have been by the importunities of others, rather passive then active in this kind, as is well known to some who are acquainted with my, more than Fabritius-like, lingering, even to the prejudice of the Printer, who expected and prepared the Press for me much sooner: but my only end and aim is God's glory, his Churches good, conviction of the World of Sin, conversion of the Wicked from sin, confirmation of the Weak in grace, discharge of my Duty in my general and special Calling, furthering mine own Account in my particular and general judgement, desiring, and with all the powers and parts of soul and body endeavouring (as I purposed and proposed betwixt GOD and my own soul, in my first ingress into this sacred Function) to employ my Talents to my Master's best advantage, painfully and gainefully as I could, so far as a wearied (if not weakened body,) would hold any proportion with a willing soul. Further good, further gain then these, in these I desire not, I require not, besides satisfaction to mine own soul, and comfort in my conscience, in delivering in this Tractate, the very Image and Idea of mine own thoughts, which as constantly as vehemently work upon this sad and sable subject of Death, every day more and more occasioned by the preparatives to it, and summons of it, the crosses of life, chiefly from the discouragements and discomforts of an ungrateful and ungracious world, in that part of my life, which is either Moral or Ministerial, concerning my Person or Profession. 2. In respect of others, from the obligation of love, I desire to lend the best light that is in me (being originally fetched from the word) to lead them thorough the dark wilderness of the world, even in the very shadow of death, to their Canaan, showing all along in this Passage and Pilgrimage, to the weak and willing Christian, the Amalekites, and the Amorites, etc. the World, with her wars, weapons, horrors, terrors, brevity, misery, vanity; fitting them to fight, and encouraging them to their desired rest, by meditating of death, and preparation for death.  
Which points and parts, with their several adjuncts, as they are penned and published for the behoof and benefit of all in general, so more specially (as in my first designs and desires I did both pretend and intend) in all duteous and devoted affection, I humbly recommend them unto your Lordship's perusal, protection, and practise, and that for sundry and weighty Motives.  
First, in respect of the subject here entreated of, which is not light and trivial, such as Virgil's Gnat, Erasmus his Mori●, or commendation of Folly, Sir Thomas More's Utopia, or the generous Sidney's Arcadia, or such as Lucian's Fly, Apuleius his Golden Ass, Plutarkes Gryllus, etc. nor such frivolous and licentious stuff as our Poets and Poetasters, Comedians, and Pamphleteers, stain so much Paper withal, and adulterate and defile the minds of so many: but the subject is grave, sad, weighty, ponderous, even that which is the suburbs either of heaven or hell, the Prologue to everlasting solace or sorrow, as it is good or evil, even Death, worthy your Honour's Gravity, Graces, Years, Place and judgement; beseeming your most retired Meditations, sincerest Thoughts, greatest Privacies, and devoutest Soliloquies; yea, even in the confluence of these earthly Honours, and Blessings, which you have received from your King, your Country, your late happy Espousals, etc. even as joseph of Arimathia made his Sepulchre in his Garden; as the Heathen Emperors were wont to be crowned amongst the sepulchres of the dead, as the Nobles of Egypt were wont to banquet, beholding the Anatomy of Death: as King Agathocles was wont to drink wine out of a Cruize of earth: as Philip of Macedons ears were every morning saluted that he was mortal: as S. Ieromes thoughts were every hour possessed with that imaginary sound; Arise you dead and come to judgement; that so with these thinking of Death, amidst your earthly Honours you should so moderate or mortify all earthly desires and delights, that living holily, dying happily, you shall be rightly Noble in life and death, with God and man.  
Secondly, in respect of the sympathy and proportion betwixt your Honour, and those Heroes, Moses, and old Simeon; the one a Magistrate, the other a Minister, both Prophets, both great, both good, both truly Noble, (like those Beraeans ˣ,) in the best and new birth: the one walking with God, and coming in as near privacy and familiarity with GOD, as ever did mere mortal man 
y Acts 17.11. Heb. 3.2.5. ; the second a man venerable amongst the jews, called Simeon the righteous 
z Luke 2.25 , fearing God, replenished with the Spirit of God, fellow-Disciple with that great jonathan, to that famous Hillel 
a Zanc. de sacr. Scrip. , of whom even their own Rabbis have writ, and they believed 
b See the jews Talmud in the Treatise jomach, cap. Tereph B●calphi. , that the Disciples of Hillel should never fail, till Christ were come: in which Simeon the spirit of the great Synagogue utterly failing and ceasing, as is urged against them 
c See Morneyes trueness of Religion. Pag. 500 , it is an evident sign both that our and their Messias is come, which they deny; as also that God doth utterly abhor that Synagogue and Sanctuary which they condole. Now, both these holy parallels (as propounded, and in some measure expounded, in their persons, in their practice) I by these Presents propose as Patterns worthy your Lordship's Imitation and virtuous Emulation, living and dying; as your Honour is a shining Precedent to others (even of your place,) of Wisdom, justice, Clemency, Sincerity, Moderation, Affability, and other Virtues both Moral and Christian.  
Thirdly, this poor Orphan of my Intellectual powers, and first mental Child as it were of my Understanding part, wrapped in these shedules and sheets (which Travel and Time, as the Mother and the Midwife have brought to light) in a dumb and silent Oratory, seems to call your Lordship Patron, both in Duty and Desire, of Right and of Necessity: for having (as its inchoation in the City) so continuation and perfection in that place of the Country, 
M●lton in Yorkshire.  where I myself had my first breathing, beginning, production and education, even within the confines of your own territories: to whom doth it owe as due, his first duty of Homage and Fealty, but to your Lordship? Besides, it being strayed from me (whither and to whom GOD knows) being as Wafe and Straife, to whom belongs it but to the Lord of the soil? Neither doth it less incline to your Honour in necessity, lest it be abased and abused of the injurious world, in the nonage and minority; lest it be torn and rend with Doegs', or Dogs like Euripides; lest it be poisoned and envenomed with the black and Theonine teeth of Envy, 
Dente Thae●ino.  Ignorance, Emulation, or their Daughter Detraction, Monsters that I have always fought withal in human shapes, as Paul did with Beasts at Ephesus: therefore lest some flies buzz, some Snake's sting, some Critics carp, and Cynics scoff; lest it find his Hieronomastix (as Homer found his Homer●mastix, and Virgil his ● ●neidomastix) it appeals not only to your Honourable, but Learned and judicious protection.  
Fourthly, and especially, that I might at last accomplish not the least of my earthly desires, to show myself in some measure grateful to your Lordship, for so many and manifold accumulated favours, even to my desires, exceeding my deserts: from whom, and from whose Honourable House, as primarily from God, so instrumentally (next unto my King, from whom I draw the common air; my Parents, from whom I had my being; the University, my Mother, and Tutors, from whom I had my education and well-being; besides those that are myself and from myself in my Family,) as I know I have received most good, so I acknowledge myself to be most obliged for that good: not only participating in those general and common favours with my friends and blood, but in special reflecting upon those by whose means I was first furnished with means in the ministery, competent and certain, under the shadows of whose wings I have been protected, by whose Graces I have been countenanced; by whose countenance encouraged; nay, by whose very counsels I have been directed in my best courses in my calling: and lastly, by whose largesse I have been provided for, not only for the present, but with a free donative for the future. For all which favours, if I should not think my self as much endeared and indebted as Virgil to his Augustus, Horace to his M●c●nas, Varro to his Asinius Pollio, Cicero to his Pomponius Atticus, Oppian to his Anthome, Euripides to his Archilaus: or (to leave Heathenish Parallels) as a Preacher can be to his Patron; I should show myself as Viperously ungrateful as the continuation of these favours is submisly desired. Accept therefore, Right Honourable, and in my heart, truly honoured Maecenas, this rhapsodical poor Paper present, this Persian gift, as an argument of my undoubted and redoubled Love and Duty to you and yours, my much respected Lady, your Honourable Conjugal Yoke-fellow; my Honourable Favourites, Sr. William Eurie, together with his no less wise than religious Lady, with my unfeigned Prayers to the God of Heaven, for the continuation and augmentation of all Blessings temporal and spiritual, with accumulation of all Grace's external, internal and eternal, upon your Honours, and upon those pleasant and fruitful Olive branches, the hopeful Honours of the House of the Euries, in all humility I take my leave, submisly resting in all duties to be commanded,  
Old Malton. March 10. Your Lordships truly devoted Chaplain, STEVEN JEROME,   

To the Readers: chiefly, his late Auditors at S. Brides in London.  
CHristian Friends, whom I love unfeignedly, in truth, and for the Truth, as I have published this myrrhour of dying Moses, and Song of holy Simeon, for the good of God's Church in general (to whom I have devoted myself, my life, my labours) so in my reserved thoughts, more peculiarly, I tender and present it unto you, my late Auditors, above the rest. First, as your due by right, being some few Glean after the Harvest, and some few Grapes of the Vintage of my Ministry amongst you, or more plainly and properly the flowers of some Funeral Sermons, occasionedly preached, now printed for you. Secondly, that you might receive by this single and simple labour a double benefit, by a redoubled reflection upon your understandings, memories and affections; as through the organ of the ear, by hearing, so of the eye, by reading: both which, Philosophy calls Sensus doctrinae, the senses of learning. For which respect I have turned my tongue into a pen, and the gesture of a living man into a dead letter, writing the same things with Peter, as Paul spoke twice the same words. Which penning, though in respect of preaching, it be but as a painted fire, to the powerful Element; as the dead portraiture, to the living person; like the dead corpse, to fight Hector, yet the same things red to those that before heard them, have the place of the Moon, at least to enlighten the brain, though Hearing, the power of the Sun to heat the heart. Besides that, you may act the noble Beraeans part the better, in trying the spirits; more retentively, and deliberately examining the Truth, then infirm and weak memories could conveniently from a voluble tongue. Thirdly, they are as desiredly so deservedly yours, even as myself was, with my labours, by mutual consent: and therefore I send you only back those Exercises which you have paid for: and withal (in my occasioned corporeal absence) the presence of my spirit, the pledge of my heart, the argument of my well-wishes, and constant desires towards you, an Epistle of that zealous affection which I justly bear you, a testimony of my grateful remembrance of all those true effects of your Christian love towards me: the answering of which love is not the least of my earthly desires. As a true seal whereof, I send you this poor Paper-present, desiring your acceptance, as of the gift, so chiefly of the heart of the giver. Good it may do you, if God concur with his grace and his spirit; weak means may work Mortification, even the Cocks crowing may awaken Peter: hurt it can do none, unless accidentally the fault be in yourselves; even as to some the Word itself and the Sacraments, with all holy things, are the savour of death; even as meats and medicines to a weak stomach and distempered body, turn to diseases and Anguors, by reason of vicious humours.  
To give you a foretaste and relish of what you shall further find in these united Treatises, the chief mark that I aim at, is (after the pattern of two mirrors of men; the one, the Pronouncer of the Law, the other a Trump of the Gospel,) to teach you how to die as well as willingly. A Lesson which the wisest amongst the Heathens, even their Sages, Philosophers, and Gymnosophists; nay, many learned Scribes, Disputants, and great Rabbis amongst Christians, either never knew preecptorily, or forgot to practice, as their Tragical ends (some whereof I have exemplified) do demonstrate. A point taught only in the Theory, in the School of Christ to his Disciples, his docible Simeons'; wrought in the practic part by his spirit▪ in the hearts of the Saints of Zion.  
Further, I have let you see your own faces in two exemplary Glasses, what you ought to be, even God's Servants, righteous with m●n, religious with your God, that so your work may receive the reward, even true beatitude, the sovereign good. Labouring moreover so to wash the foul spots and aspersions of your sinne-soyled souls, that you may appear beautiful and gracious, as Hester to A●●ne●●s, when Death God's Pursuivant fetcheth you to stand before the King of Kings: being not defective, (at least in desire and endeavour) to lay before you the true exemplary form and perfect models how to live holily, so to die happily.  
What I have done further thousands will judge, I neither praise nor dispraise mine own doings, a Heathenish Master tells me, 
a Aristotle apud Val. Max. lib. 7. c. 2.  the one were vanity, the other folly: only I may testify thus much truly, that I have not been penurious in pains. For, since I undertook this task, in as many weeks as Virgil's Poems years, I have polished it, as I could, (as the Bear her Whelps by licking) perusing some Authors for this purpose, drinking deeply at their Wells, where I thought the waters sweet, decking this for God's Israel, with Egyptian jewels, even some Heathenish Illustrations, as is lawful and laudable in this kind.  
For the manner of penning, you have my good will, if not skill in cooking what is catered; if I add sometimes sour Sauce, let it relish the better with you, what is untoothsome to a fleshly palate, will prove wholesome to a sound soul. For my words, I have not been very curious though cautelous, God and Nature have administered them to my Pen, as to my Tongue, without martyring myself about them: if I have erred, it is rather on the right hand then the left, in the excess than defect, (as some have taxed the one in Osorius; others, the other in Lipsius) rather choosing to flow and overflow (as Tully once did, before Athens brought him within his banks) that I may be intelligible in expressing the notions of my soul, then with an affected concise Lipsian and Laconian brevity to be obscure, as is said of Aristotle, Theophrastus and others, who for their styles are said to write to torment their Readers; I have laboured to give a good garment, to a good body; to cloth a good subject in words fitted, not affected.  
For the matter; you have here not what Satan showed Christ, the World with her glory and her pomp: but a Map of man's Misery, a Model of his Mortality, of the World's Vanity, Life's Brevity, so brittle, so brief, so short, so certainly uncertain in his flitting, in its fading, that the Word entitles our life in this world, a Pilgrimage, Gen. 47.9. a Flower, Esa. 40.7. a Smoke, Psal. 102.3. a weavers shuttle, job 7.6. a House of clay, a shepherds Tent, job 4.19. Esay 38.12. a Shadow job. 8.9. a Dream, job 20.8. Vanity, nay, Nothing, Psal. 39.5. All which points, with sundry more, I have according to my Talon, laid open at the full, with sundry encouragements, every where inserted against such fears as the thoughts of these things naturally possess men withal.  
It was my purpose also to have added some comforts, as against the fear of death natural, so of death spiritual and eternal, in the corroberation of the weak Christian against Satan, the wounds of Conscience, and terrors of his own Soul: but the length of these Lines, already extended beyond their propounded limits, joined with weakness of body, cause me to omit or pretermit this, till some other occasion; where I shall, if it be requisite, reveal what I know in this practical part of Divinity, in the mean space I refer you to draw cooling waters from those Springs of Israel, to whom the Lord hath given the tongue of the Learned, to speak a word to him that is weary, in due season; in perusing the Works of the worthy Perkins, D. sparks, Espmes, good old Linakers Comforts for afflicted Consciences, Hugh's Troubled man's Medicine, The Pensives Practise, the Consolatory Letters of that zealous Greenham, D. Hil, Wilcox etc. Ferrarius upon 51. Psalm; Mr. Knox upon the 6. Psalm, Mr. Downams' Christian Warfare, Luther's Consolations, The sick man's Salve; chiefly, that best sixpenny Manuel that I know in English Mr. Fremans' Comforters, Wolcomb his Sinners salve; with all those that have strengthened the soul directly against desperation. Besides, if you desire further satisfaction in any point, either positive or controversal, concerning death naturally; in which these my poor pains do not content you, the zealous & learned Lucubrations of men of good parts and pains, offer themselves, as Mr. Perkins and Lupset, Mr. Sutton, with D. Hill, by their printed Works, as their titles are, will teach you how to die well; Mr. Draxe lends the sick man a Guide, another a Salve; Sr. Thomas Eliot lends a preservative against Death, 
Also see Mr. Vauhams and Mr. Tukes Books of the same subject.  Mr. Bradford writes against the fear of Death, Mr. Cave out of French shows how to remove that fear; Wolcombe lends Armour against Death's assaults, Erasmus shows Death's chances, Mr. Fox exhorts the sick: Death's general Proclamation is extant in Print, with his Trophies and Conquests. Coverdaile out of Dutch hath translated a Book of Death. Ars moriendi, the Art of dying hath been long extant 
* Printed Anno 1506 . Also, the learned know what not only the Fathers, but Papists have writ of this Argument, as Pontanus, Inclinus, etc. as also some German Protestants▪ as Bibembachius, and Brandmillerus in their Funeral Sermons, with others, both in Latin and English; all which I have seen, most of which, before, and upon this occasion, read: and in many of them (omitting the principals) found small satisfaction, so that none by comparing me with them shall find me servilely tied to any of them, or taking any thing so verbally or by sentences from them, as it is not mine own by method, digestion, and application. Neither, I hope, will it be more blameworthy in me, to write after these, than it was in Curtius to write the life of Alexander; in Baptista Egnatius to write the lives of Emperors; in Platina to write the lives of the Popes; after that seaventeen approved Authors had writ of the same subject before the first; thirteen, before the second; and fifteen before the third, as a warrantable Writer reckons them 
* Text●r in Epistola ante suam Officinam. .  
And now having acquainted you what I have done, how, and why, I send all unto you▪ as Abraham sent his Servant away with a blessing, even such a one as I desire and intend. With which thought now the custom of all Epistlers cry it is time to conclude, lest it be too tedious; yet bear I pray you with mine error of love, which still extends my lines (being uncertain when or whether ever to see all your faces again in earth, by reason of that mortality we speak of, or to speak to you by audible voice) to commend unto you (as a departing father would, some things to his children, as dying David did to surviving Solomon) only these two things: first, that you would spend well the time of your short life▪ secondly, that you would prepare yourselves for death. The first makes way to the second, (as the Needle for the Thread) the second for a third: even a dignity amongst living Angels, as Grace sits for Glory. First therefore, because the days of your pilgrimage are as few as evil 
a Gen. 47.9. , as short as sinful, that even for that cause, as the Apostle counsels 
b Eph. 5.16 , you would redeem the time: account of it (as not only Christians, but even the Heathens, Theophrastus, Seneca 
c De vitae brevitate, sic Epistola 1. ad Lucil. , with others, have prized it) as the greatest treasure yea, above your patrimonies and inheritances, from which you will not suffer yourselves to be disinherited. Beware the loss of it (as Lodovic Blosius, and that mystical Thaulerus counsel amongst the rest of their documents) as of the most pestiferous poison that is, knowing that one of the offences whereof those Remembrancers and Checquer Officers, your guilty consciences shall accuse you at the day of judgement shall be abuse of time. Nay, saith Bernard 
d Sermone ad Scholar , as a hair of our heads shall not perish 
e Luke 21.18. , so not a moment or minute of time, whereof we are Stewards, without an account rendered. Do not therefore spend and misspend your short days that are allotted you for God's service, and the working out your own salvation, either in idleness, doing nothing 
f Nihil agendo, aliter agendo, male agendo. Seneca. , or doing other things, or evil things: not in the pursuit of profit, the prosecution of pleasures; not in the service of the sinner's Trinity, the flesh, the world, the devil; not in chambering & wantonness, not in surfeiting & drunkenness 
g Rom. 12.13. , etc. not in heathenish lusts, cardings, dicings, and the like; not in frequenting soule-soyling Interludes, Paganish Plays; not in the practice of gaming and prohibited playing 
h Prou. 21.17. ; nay, saith Chrisostome, not in prittle prattle, not it idle talking 
i Mat. 12.36. , scurrilous jesting, Satirical gibing, vain discoursing, witty quipping, foolish tales-telling, unchristian backbiting, carnal gossiping, sensual company-keeping, profane taunting, counterfeiting gestures, Apish actings, light and lascivious dancings, making mows, and such antic toys, to make men merry: but in holy actions, proceeding from such mortified affections as shall declare you to be crucified to the world, and the world to you, that first happily you may die to the world, that so hopefully you may die out of the world. I urge not these to take from you the use of all recreations: I know (what job felt 
k job 6.12 ) that your flesh is not brass nor steel, but brittle and flexible: I know, that the spirit is willing, the flesh as weak 
l Mat. 26.41. : I know, that as Birds and Beasts require rest, so man, without which no flesh is durable 
m Quod caret alterna requies durabile non est. : I know, that rest is not sufficient without recreation, which caused all Nations to use those Feriae, which we turn into Feasts; which recreations, not only the best of Heathens, as Amasis, Socrates, Scaevola, etc. Nay, the strict Lacedæmonians, but even the strictest Christians have approvedly used: I know, the Apostle approves of that Eutrapelia, or urbanity, which Philosophy makes a 
n Arist. in Eth.  virtue; nay, Christ himself who oft wept 
o john 11.35 Luk. 19.41 , yet even often lead his disciples with him into the fields, as though he should say, you are men, rest & refresh you: neither was I ever persuaded in judgement or practice, but that the birds flying, dogs smelling, etc. is not only for man's profitable use, but honest delight: those limits being observed, which iudicous Divines 
p See Mr. Perkins in Cases of Conscience. Dearing in Hebraeos, in initio. Aquinas. 22●. q 168.  have from the word prescribed. Yet for all this you must not abuse what you may lawfully use; you must not turn Christian liberty into licentious carnality; you must not make of Recreations, occupations; you must not pass away the time in pastime, as is the foolish speech and wicked practice of fleshly minded men. To which men I say, with Bernardine, De Sena, that if they once come to lodge in Hell, the place for impenitent profaneness 
q Psal. 9.17 , if the traffic of time should be carried thither to be sold, they would give if they had a thousand worlds, for one half hour to repent in. Prevent you therefore the time, lest afterwards you fruitlessly repent your neglected opportunities, like Dives in the Parable 
r Luke 16.24. . Whilst you have time do good 
s Gal. 6.10  to others, to your own souls; labour in the Vineyard, in that calling wherein you are planted and placed 
t Mat. 20.1.2. ; think that day lost (with the heathenish Cato 
v Plutarch. , & Titus Vespasian) in which you do not some good; employ your Talents gainefully, at least painfully 
x Lu. 19.13 ; work out your salvation in this day of salvation; do works acceptable in this acceptable time 
y 2 Cor. 6.2 ; work whilst it is day, before the night come 
a joh. 9.4. ; traffic in the Mart-time, buy in the Fair; hoist sail in the Tide-time; prepare corn in the plenteous time; prepare with the Emmet 
b Pro. 6.6 , against a rainy day, hoard up in life's summer what may bestead you in death's winter; if with Bernard, Basil, and that holy Arsenius 
c Dion. Carthus. in opusculo. , you be not so strict to redeem time, from sleep and repast, and the ordinary works of Nature, yet at least, like Christians, from words and works which are vain and vicious, knowing that only that time is yours, which is spent righteously, and religiously, all the rest you are coosened of by Satan, that is spent in the service of sin, even as Saul's reign is only reckoned two years, because in those he only reigned well 
d 1 Sam. 13. , as Simile, and that noble 
e Dion. Carthus.  Convert accounted in his death, that he had lived only seven years; and Barlaam in Damascene 
f Sustur●a de Barl c. 18. , that he had lived only forty years, though they both died old; because all their life before in sin, was a death and no life, and so they prise it, so the Saints have thought it 
g Hier. in Aggeum. cap. 1. .  
Now a word or two to prepare you for death, as Moses did the Israelites for their Passeover: in which, for the first part of your preparation, I commend unto you the frequent and serious meditation of Death, after the practice of patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Christians and Pagans, whom you shall find further exemplified in this Treatise, this thought will further your Repentance, strike at the root of sin, makes you with the Pilot that sits at the stern, bear off from the shelves and rocks of many dangerous occasions; will cause you to use your talents well, like that Servant that feared his Masters coming 
h Luke 12.38. . The Ninivites fast, and repent 
i john 3.8. ; the Publicans fear and quake 
k Luke 3 9.10. , when jonas cries to the one, and john to the other of their imminent end; Ahab is humbled 
l 1 Kin 21 v. 19 v. 27.28. , Felix trembles 
m Acts 24.26. , the Captain over fifty falls down and supplicates 
n 2 Kin. 1.13. , when from Elias and Paul they hear and see the sentence of death and judgement; this or nothing will draw your hearts out of the earth, if with moles and Ants they be there wrooting: this will pull down the lofty and Giantly looks of Pride, quench the fire of Lust, curb the ranckour of Malice, bridle the fierceness of Wrath, (even as dust cast amongst angry Bees, makes them quiet,) mortifies many more sins, kindles and keeps devotion, as ashes keeps in fire. Therefore I counsel you to number your days 
o Psal. 90.12 , to remember your ends 
p Eccl. 1.40. , to make your sepulchres in your Gardens 
q john 19.41 , to think of death in life, to strew Ashes with Daniel 
r In Apocryph. Dan. c. 14. , to discern the steps of death, lest it steal away your time, and the pleasure of life inveigle your hearts, as Absalon did the hearts of his Father's Subjects, lest the evil day take you▪ as the snare the Bird, and the net the fish; lest that be objected to you which God once to Israel, that you remembered not your ends 
s Lam. 1.9. .  
Other Rules I might prescribe, but that I may not make the gate too great for the City, for some Cynic to scoff at: I refer you to the Conclusion of the Tractaite itself 
t See the last Sermon in Simeon his desired Pacification. . I will not give Coleworts twice sod 
v Cramba bis cocta. .  
Now, the last thing that I desire of you is, that you will read without partiality and prejudice. If there be any circumstantial errors in Printing, as transposition, addition, or defects of some Letters, Syllables, or Words; not right placing of the Commas, Colons, or full Points, or seeming defect, in not always quoting the Chapter and Verse, to which I have reference testimonially, or exemplarily, (which perhaps would have stuffed the Book too full) or in any such circumstances, which my far absence from the Press might occasion: I pray you let your loves make the best construction: if any thing be amiss that is mine own; if aught here be good, that is the Lords, and his Grace in me: to which good Grace commending you, and these my poor labours for you, I rest, as now, so ever,  
Yours in the best bond STEVEN JEROME.   

MOSES His sight of Canaan: With SIMEON his Dying-Song. Directing How to live holily and die happily. BY Steven Jerome, late Preacher at St. BRIDES.  
Seen and allowed.  Nascentes morimur, finisque ab origine pendet. 
LONDON: Printed for Roger jackson, and are to be sold at his Shop, near to the Conduit in Fleetstreet. 1614   

The chief Contents of the two subsequent TREATISES.  

In Moses his sight of Zion, these things are observable.  
1 THE Case of the Inheritance of Daughters propounded. page 1  
2 How Cases are wisely to be carried before the Magistrate. pag. 3  
3 The true Rule of judging Cases, Consultation with God. pag. 4  
4 The Case adjudged, and spiritually applied. pag. 6  
5 Moses is forewarned to die, and how God forewarns us. pag. 9  
6 All must die. 13  
7 God prepares his Children to die, as he did Moses, by showing them Canaan. 14  
8 Moses his obedience to God's summons a pattern to us. 15  
9 Fifteen Resemblances of Death to Sleep. 16  
10 Five Considerations to embrace Death as willingly, as we sleep naturally. 23  
11 Sixteen Comforts against the fear of Death, in these ensuing particulars. 35 

1 GOD who infused the Soul, calls for it again. 36  
2 Sin the sting of Death is taken away by Christ's death. 37  
3 God as a Father, is present at the death of his Children. 39  
4 Death is no death but a dissolution to the godly. 41  
5 The Saints shall know, and enjoy their friends in glory. 43  
6 Death frees the soul from her spiritual enemies. 44  
7 It delivers from evils present and to come. 47  
8 It ends Sins Conflicts with heavens Triumphs. 48  
9 It frees us from conversing with the wicked. 51  
10 It secures us from corrupting by the wicked. 55  
11 It secures from the malice of the mighty. 56  
12 Our good name is cleared in Death, which calumny ecclypsed in life. 57  
13 Death tries and declares the sincerity and measure of grace. 63  
14 It is the inheritance of the Saints as it is the terror of the wicked. 64  
15 The Christian should in death desire Christ who by death desired him. 71  
16 Death is the common Inn of all flesh, where the Saints are refreshed. 75     

In Simeons' dying Song these are the chief Notes, both from the Doctrines and the Uses.  
THE force of Examples either for imitation of Virtue, or detestation of Vice. 77  
The vain Songs and Sonnets of our age justly reproved. 79  
Our singing as corrected, so directed. 80  
The ground of all our rejoicing must be in and for Christ. 81  
The sensual and sinful joys of worldlings justly taxed. 83.84. etc.  
We must be truly thankful for Christ. 8●  
Ten Reasons to incite us to the duty of gratulation, with the uses. 88.89  
The great mystery and greater mercy of Christ incarnate. 92.93. etc.  
We must be borne again to CHRIST, and and he borne in us, as he was borne for us, 95  
The glorious Name of the Lord must not be used upon every trivial occasion. 97  
How bootless it is for the wicked in death to cry Lord, Lord. 99  
The godly have divers raptures and secret joys in life and death. 101  
These joys demonstrated in six particulars. 103  
Three Reasons of these extraordinary Ravishments. 105  
Worldlings far wide that think Christians Melancholicques and comfortless. 106  
Four Comforts of the Christian which the world neither knows nor feels. 107  
All the patriarchs and Prophets, since the promise, have expected the Messias. 110  
We see Christ more clearly than the primitive Saints. 111  
How Christ came to them, how to us. 112  
How we should entertain Christ, with Redargution and Commination of the jews and our ingratitude. 113  
Our desire of long life must be simply to glorify God. 116  
Reproof of the world's practice in Ministers Magistrates, Masters, and all sorts, aiming at themselves, not God. 120  
The better Christian the more willing to die. 126  
Twelve Reasons which cause this willingness. 127  
The point applied by examination. 133  
Christ most willing to die of all the Sons of men. 135  
Seven Reasons why Death is unwelcome to the wicked. 136  
Wicked men may die willingly for sinister respects as Heretics have done. 143  
Five means to be used to make us willing to our dissolution. 144  
God manifests his presence at the death of his, three ways. 148  
How God works in sin permissively, disposingly, etc. but never works sin. 151  
Every death, for Time, Place, Matter, Manner, is determined by God, 153  
Just invectives against Heathenish Fortune. 157  
The rash censures of men concerning divers deaths condemned. 160  
Comforts in that God sees the cause and effect of every man's malady. 161  
Patience persuaded, in that it is God's rod which strikes. 162  
No means can protract or detract from our days, besides their limits. 164  
Four main Objections answered. 165  
Means must be used both for life temporal and spiritual, notwithstanding God's decree. 168  
Unlawful for any private man to take away life from himself or others. 170  
Twelve dissuasive arguments against Self-murder. 171  
The sin reproved, and the frequency of it deplored. 174  
Twelve things from experience and Heathenish examples occasioning selfe-killing. 179  
How to prevent this sin. 188  
Every obstinate sinner from causes natural and supernatural accused of self-murder. 189  
* 

The chief delight and desire of every man must be to be God's Servant, with four reasons why. 196  
Multitudes that live under the means, are ignorant how God should be served. 201  
Multitudes reproved that have as little will as skill to serve God. 202  
How few aim at God's service in all their ways, expostulated in particulars. 210  
Civil honest men most enemies to Gods true Servants and sincere service. 216  
Many in the rank of Christians serve the Devil and their own lusts. 218  
All the members that have served sin directed to serve God. 221    
Six Motives persuading to serve God. 

1 From the end of our Creation, 227  
2 From our Preservation. 231  
3 From our Vocation. 233  
4 From our Redemption. 235  
5 From our Profession. 237  
6 From the Reward. ibid.    
First Reward of God's service Wealth and Riches. 238  
Second, Honour and Dignity. 239  
Sin brings shame and all other judgements. 240  
Gods hand upon his enemies in many judgements. 243  
Holiness is the way to Honour. 245  
God is most liberal of all Masters. 246  
Gods servants best rewarded and regarded in eight particulars. 248  
God grants the suits of his servants. 252  
The godly have a taste of Heaven here, enjoyed hereafter. 253  
God blesseth the wicked oft for his servants sakes. 255  
God delivers his servants from general judgements, six ways. 257  
God and Satan cannot be served together. 258  
The case of Satan's captives opened. 259  
Seven Reasons why the godly must die as well as the wicked. 263  
Ten sins that have provoked the Lord to sweep away the wicked. 268  
That all must die, exemplified, and amplified, by many instances. 269  
The deaths of the world's Worthies of all sorts, epitomized. 274  
Five natural causes of death. 282  
Death is as inexorable as unresistible, with his Trophies over all. 283  
We must not too much love this life, which we must shortly leave. 287  
Those that love life, must hate Sin, the cause of death. 289  
Death only makes the Prince and the poor man equal. 291  
Death's effect in equalizing all, illustrated by fit similes. 296  
Six Reasons, further showing the necessity of dying. 299  
How even in living we die, and are dead in part. 301  
By how many means we die. 304  
divers examples of several sorts of deaths, violent and natural. 305  
Some cut off in the midst of their lawless lusts. 309  
Our days abbreviated, in respect of the long lives of the patriarchs. 316  
Four causes of the long continuation of things. 318  
Because our life is short we must spend it well. 319  
Our many sins to be mourned for, and why. 320  
The practice of Epicures and profane men reproved and threatened. 321  
How we must sow in tears in this short seed-time. 323  
Further use to be made of our short time. 325  
Our life is laborious and miserable: every calling having his cross. 328  
No place privileged from four things: 1. Satan tempting: 2. The hearts wandering: 3. Ill tongues biting: 4. The world crossing. 330  
Examples of human calamities. 331  
Twelve means to get that peace with God which the world wants. 334  
The vanity of life, with all the things in life, truly discovered. 336  
The world truly described by eleven similes. 340  
How Christ in his practice crossed all the world's proceedings. 342  
The benefits of death to a Christian under the Cross. 343  
God oft cats away the best soonest. 345  
How death is fearful and not fearful. 347  
Death is only a departure out of life, not a final destroyer. 348  
Eight Arguments, proving the Resurrection of our bodies. 351  
Illustrations from Nature that our bodies shall rise. 352  
Four Reasons beside from the Word. 354  
The Christians comfort in the consideration of our Resurrection. 355.356  
That we may rise joyfully we must live holily, in ten particulars. 359  
Ten Arguments to prove the soul's immortality. 362  
Seven more, from the Word. 364  
Death unmasked, what it is to the godly. 365  
Reproof of those that respect the body more than the soul. 367  
The servants of God always die in peace. 369  
The godly oft have their desires at, before, and in their deaths. 372  
The very last words recorded, which the Saints uttered in their death beds. 374  
How great men have lived and died good men. 377  
Reasons why the godly depart in peace. 379  
Nine Objections answered, that seem to contradict the peaceable departure of the Saints. 380  
Nine Reasons that his death may be good that dies of the Plague. 384  
How self-murder doth not always imply a wretched death. 387  
He that would die well must live well. 389  
The fearful ends of wicked persecutors in every age. 391  
An ill life the usual Prologue to a Tragical death. 395  
None can repent when he will. 397  
The Word lays down a way to a blessed death. 402  
Death is certain, yet uncertain. 403  
The pains of Hell without remission or redemption. 405  
Repentance is not to be deferred till death. 406  
The danger of deferring discovered. 408  
The thieves Repentance upon the Cross examined. 412  
Six effects of Death's meditation. 417  
The life of Faith brings dying Peace. 429  
Repentance the means of peace with God. 430  
How to die daily three ways. 433  
How to leave the damnable custom of Swearing. 434  
Eighteen things to be prayed for that death may be prosperous. 437  
A good conscience in life brings peace in death. 442  
Six causes of sickness, besides sin. 445  
With five duties to be done in sickness. 446  
The sick man must send for a Minister before the Physician and carnal friends. 451  
The necessity and lawful use of Physic proved and urged. 455  
Rules observable in the use of Physic. 457  
Against seeking to Witches and Charmers in sickness. 459  
Reconciliation and Restitution urged. 461  
Five Reasons why a sick man must make his Will. 465  
Four Rules in making all Wills. 466  
A Christian carriage prescribed in the hour of death. 468  
Twenty several Comforts in the death of friends. 

1 Because God takes them away. 470  
2 The Saints have been patient spectators of the deaths of their dear friends. 471  
3 If he died in the faith of Christ he is translated from this life to a better. 472  
4 He is blessed being dead in the Lord. ibid.  
5 He is returned home to his Father's house. ibid.  
6 He is inseparably united unto God the chiefest good. 473  
7 He is married unto his Bridegroom Christ. ibid.  
8 His warfare is now at an end. ibid.  
9 Being here a pilgrim, he is returned into his own Country. 474  
10 Thou hast not lost, but left him. ibid.  
11 He shall be restored unto thee again at the Resurrection. ibid.  
12 Ere long thou shalt go unto him. 475  
13 His better part is yet living. ibid.  
14 His estate is bettered by death. ibid.  
15 Thou sorrowest for that could not be prevented. 476  
16 Thou hast many companions in thy sorrow. ibid.  
17 Thy impatient sorrow hurts thyself. 477  
18 Thy extreme sorrow is as fruitless as faithless. ibid.  
19 The Lord, thy best friend, is still living. ibid.  
20 They are insensible of thy sorrow. 479    
Twenty Cordials against the cross of sickness. 482  
And Meditations how to bear the intolerable burden thereof. 499  
Eight several Consolations against the unkindness of merciless Friends. 500 

1 Thy case is not singular but ordinary. ibid.  
2 The Saints have had the same measure. 501  
3 Christ himself was maliced of his own brethren. ibid.  
4 There hath been hatred amongst the nearest friends by nature. ibid.  
5 Though thy friends forsake thee, yet God careth for thee. 502  
6 As thy friends are unkind to thee, so thou hast been unthankful to God. ibid.  
7 God hath elected thee, though man reject thee. 503  
8 Though thou canst not see thy friends here with comfort, yet ere long thou shalt see God as he is. ibid.    
Thirteen Preparatives against Poverty. 504 

1 It is the providence of God that thou shouldest be poor. 504  
2 Thy cross is not singular. 505  
3 Poverty is no token of God's displeasure. ibid.  
4 A little with the fear of God is better than great riches of the ungodly. 507  
5 As well Poverty as Riches falls out to the best to them that fear God. ibid.  
6 The Lord knoweth what is best for thee. ibid.  
7 Poverty hinders not the acceptance of thy Prayers. 508  
8 If thou be poor in spirit, thou art rich in Christ. 509  
9 Poverty is no hindrance to thy salvation. 510  
10 The less thou receivest, the less shall thine accounts be. 511  
11 The Lord hath a care of thee even for the things of this life. 512  
12 And can bless a small portion unto thee. 514  
13 Christ himself, and the most excellent Saints have been poor on earth. 516      

MOSES His sight of Zion: applied to encourage and direct every Christian to his heavenly CANAAN.  NUMB. 27.1.2.3.4. And Zelophehad the Son of Hepher, had no Sons but Daughters. 

CHAP. I. The case of the inheritance of Daughters propounded.  

Sect. 1.  
BEcause this case of the Daughters of Zelophehad is extraordinary, and not obvious in the Scriptures beside, in any the like example; it will not be amiss, lying in the forefront of the Chapter, bordering upon that of Moses his warning to die: since it concerns a subject not usual, the title of the Woman's Inheritance, to touch it in some particulars, and the rather, because it was the last case that Moses adjudged, immediately before that the Lord himself sentenced and adjudged him to die. In which, though there be many things worthy our exact dilating and urging, both pleasing and profitable, as would appear in the opening and applying of this Scripture: yet I choose rather, from the warrant and writings of an excellent Light in our Church, 
B. B.  according to his Method, to commend unto you, these Notes and Observations.  
Note. 1 Here then first note, how careful these Daughters are of a place among the people of God in the Earthly Canaan, which was a type of the Heavenly: 
Expostulat.  Ought not all we to be as careful for that Heavenly? yes, and more careful: so no doubt are God's Children, when their eyes be opened: and by name, Women; for although many are busied about attires and vain shows, to make them pleasing unto men, yet others do seek by all means for that eternal rest, and how to be pleasing unto God; which is the only good and perfect way: Favour is deceitful and beauty is vanity, but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised. Prou. 3.30.   

Sect. 2. How cases are wisely to be carried before the Magistrate.  
Note. 2 Observe how these Daughters go not up and down from Tent to Tent, from one to another, tattling and prattling, murmuring and complaining; but directly they go to the Magistrate, and there exhibit their desire, waiting for relief and order from him: so should all men do, not marring a good cause with ill handling. Being come to him, see how modestly, and womanly they propound their matter, without any unfitting words of choler or anger, or any unseemly behaviour any way: see again how wisely they prevent an objection, that might have been made of their Father, that happily he was one of those Rebels that took part with Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and so perished. No, (say they) our Father died in the Wilderness, and he was not among the assembly of them that were assembled against the Lord in the Company of Corah, but died in his sin: that is, as all sinners must, for death is the reward of sin, etc. 
Rom. 6.21.  Where you may see what a comfort, what a credit and glory honest Parents be to their Children: they leave a good name behind them, which makes their children bold to speak of them, when others must hang their heads and blush, either to mention them themselves, or to hear them spoken of by others. A great motive to all Parents, even for this cause, to be careful of their carriage.   

Sect. 3. The true rule of judging cases, Consultation with God.  
FOr the judgement and resolution of this request, it is said in the 5. verse. Then Moses brought their cause before the Lord. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying: The daughters of Zelophehad speak right, etc. Before, you see that the cause was brought before Moses and Eliazer, and all the Princes, such a conjunction there was of the civil Magistrates and Ecclesiastical Ministers together in hearing of causes: which continueth ever since, as appeareth in good records of Antiquity. But neither Moses nor Aaron spoke till they had received resolution from God, and understood his will. Note. 3 In like manner should it be still with all judges, first to know and understand, and then to judge, wherein the Lord still is aiding and directing, although not by speaking, as to Moses, yet by his Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and knowledge, men using the means as they ought of learning and prayer; Be wise ye Kings, 
Psal. 2.10  and be learned ye that are judges of the earth: 
james 1.5.  For Prayer; if any lack wisdom, let him ask it of God (as Solomon did) which giveth to all men liberally and reproacheth no man, 
1 King. 3.6.7.  and it shall be given him, etc.  
Note. 4 Another use, again, men may well make here, even a caveat for Plaintiffs and Defendants, to have but such causes as if they be brought before GOD, may be approved, as this was of the Daughters of Zelophehad: but alack, should the most of our suits and controversies in these days, be brought to this touch and trial, how impious, how hateful, how vile would they appear. The all-holy God is offended with our brawls: much more with our wicked pains, costs, and charges, to effect the madness and malice of our Hell-heated hearts, in bringing to pass our devilish designs, and pestilent plots against our Brethren: that I may say nothing of them that plead them to the uttermost of their wit and cunning, daubing them over with human Eloquence, and painting them out with filled and flowing words, against their own consciences, and that knowledge which they have both in the Laws of God and man. Is it not a grievous fault to justify a wicked man, or to condemn an Innocent man; and is it not so in causes? Doth God pronounce a woe against the one, and is he not wroth with the other? Well, for this cause (if it were nothing else) there must needs be a general judgement, that those things may be pleaded and judged before the Lord, which are wrongfully pleaded and adjudged here. Well, God give eyes and feeling, I say no more.   

Sect. 4. The case adjudged, and spiritually applied.  
GOds answer you see now following: first, particular, in regard of these women, The Daughters of Zelophe had spoke right, 
Verse 7.  thou shalt give them a possession to inherit amongst their Father's Brethren, and shalt turn the inheritance of their Father unto them. Then generally, for a Law to others; 
Ver. 8. etc.  If any man die and have no Son, than ye shall turn his inheritance unto his Daughter; and if be have no Daughter, ye shall give his Inheritance unto his Brethren; and if he have no Brethren, ye shall give his Inheritance unto his Father's Brethren; And if his Father have no Brethren, ye shall give his Inheritance unto his next Kinsman of his Family, and he shall possess it: and this shall be unto the Children of Israel a Law of judgement, (or an Ordinance to judge by) as the Lord hath commanded MOSES. In which gracious Answer these things may serve for our use.  
Note. 5 First, we may note, that God rejected not these women from having a place in his earthly Canaan, because so earnestly they sought and desired it: and thereby we may gather comfort assured and infallible, that out of his Heavenly Canaan he never rejecteth any that are desirous to have a place in it: for He that cometh to me (saith he) I cast not away. God would not the death of a sinner, 
Ezech. 18.23.32. Esa. 55.6.7  but rather that he would turn from his sin, and be saved. God would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of his truth, 
1 Tit. 2.1.1  And in this, God is no excepter of persons, 
Act. 10.34.35.  but in every Nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteously, is accepted of him. There is neither jew nor Grecian, bond nor free, male nor female in this, but we are all one in Christ jesus. Exclude not then yourselves out of Canaan, and the Lord of mercy and goodness will not exclude you.  
Note. 6 Again, we may note how harsh this disinheriting of Daughters is, because we desire to continue the name: If God be pleased to continue the Land or Inheritance in our name, blessed be his will; if he be against it, and to that end give no Son but Daughters, we fight against one that is too strong for us, in seeking by-ways contrary to his rule, and how can it please him? God raiseth up houses and putteth down at his pleasure; for the Earth is his, and all that is in it: with his own to do his will who will control and check him? Now if he do this by a woman, why may he not? May he raise a name by women inheritors, and may he not change the name again when he seeth good, by giving a daughter and no Son? Let us often think of the Psalm, in a religious feeling, and humbly desire to receive instruction from the Lord, They think their houses and their habitations shall continue for ever, even from generation to generation, and call their lands by their names: but man shall not continue in honour, he is like the beasts that die. This their way uttereth their foolishness, yet their posterity delight in their talk, etc.  
Here we may note how grossly and grievously they err, that condemn the government of Women, when Crown and Kingdoms, by lawful descent, in the all-guiding providence of God, fall unto them: for, be they not within this Law of God, that he saith should be a Law of judgement that is, a Law to judge by of this matter for ever; If a man have no Son, his Inheritance shall descend unto his Daughter?    

CHAP. II. Moses is forewarned to die, and how God forewarns us.  

Sect. 1.  
THE second part of this Chapter now followeth in the 12. Verse, to wit, the showing of the Land of Promise to Moses and the telling him of his death, in these words: Again, the Lord said unto Moses, go up into this Mount of Abarim, and behold the Land which I have given to the Children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy Brother was gathered, etc. These points that are natural from this place will come again to be spoken of in the last Chapter of deuteronomy, to which I refer you. Let us therefore I pray you, even seriously and zealously pitch our minds upon these points: Note. 1 First, that Moses is not here taken away suddenly, but is premonished before that he must away, and a time given him to prepare himself for it: a great and sweet mercy of God to his Children. Wherefore David prayeth heartily, Lord, 
Psal. 90.12  let me know my end, and the measure of my days: Let me know how long I have to live. And again in another Psalm, Teach me to number my days that I may apply my heart unto Wisdom. The Lord doth not this by express words, as here to Moses: but first, by increasing weakness and infirmities upon us: secondly, by many years: thirdly, by Examples of others daily before our eyes: and fourthly, many times by a secret instinct in our hearts, with arguments and circumstances fitting to confirm unto us, that we must die: so that if we be unprepared it is our fault that we carry no better an eye to the Lords dealings with us, no better a watch over ourselves for state of body and mind, nor make better use and application of things, as that often repeated counsel in Scriptures willeth us, 
Mat. 26.41 1 Pet. 4.7.  saying, Watch, watch, for you know not at what hour, the Bridegroom will come, etc. Sweet is the Lord, and most gracious is his course. Let us not be wanting in ours, and all shall be well: the time never sudden, the thing never fearful, but as welcome as quiet sleep to a wearied, and overwearied body. A sudden death to any one prepared, is no hurt: for the word of God is firm and immutable: 
john 3.15.1 18.36. john 10.29. Rom. 8.1.  he that believeth shall be saved: No man taketh my Sheep out of my hands: There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ jesus, which walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. 
Ver. 35.  Again, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or perils, or sword. No, no, 
Ver. 38.  for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, (no not sudden death) nor Angels, nor Principalities, nor Powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ jesus our Lord. Now if none of these, certainly not sudden death as I said before, and therefore well saith the Book of Wisdom, concerning the godly, that though he be prevented by death, yet shall he be in rest: he was taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his mind: though he was soon dead, yet fulfilled he much time, 
Esa. 57.1.2 2 Chron. 34.28.  for his soul pleased God, therefore hasted he to take him away from wickedness, etc.  
It is said that S. john died of an Apoplexy, and Policarpu● wished he might do the like, yet 
a Why we are to pray against sudden death.  we usually pray against sudden death, first, in regard of the rash judgement of the world: secondly, many men's negligence in preparing themselves for all hours; the want of which hath made the godly sometimes timorous, as we see in David, Psal. 39.15. thirdly, as their souls are not always set in order, so neither their houses, as in Ezekia, 2 Kings 20.1. But I say again, to one that hath laid his groundwork well, it is no hurt blessed be God: and for the judgement of men in taking God's office upon them in judging weakly or wickedly of their Brethren, Mat. 7.1.2. it is too rash usually both in this and other things. The life before, and the profession and confession of a true Faith, aught to give all men satisfaction; if not, let them remember that saying well, 
Rom. 14.4.  Who art thou that judgest another man's Servant? he standeth or falleth to his own Master and Lord. To the 
b The fearful estate of the wicked, by sudden death.  wicked indeed that have wallowed in sin without feeling, sudden death is fearful, either in war when the bullet taketh him, or at Sea when he is drowned, or any other way whatsoever: when Ammon is nailed to the wall by his Brother Absalon, 2 Sam. 13.28.29. when Pharaoh and his Company be suddenly drowned in the Seas, Ezod. 14.27.28. Corah, Dathan, and Abiram suddenly swallowed up of the earth, Numb. 16.32. When Zimry and Cosbee, the Israelitish and Moabitish wantoness be suddenly destroyed by Phineas Spear, or God's plagues, in their filth or after, Numb. 25.4.8. The old 
c Gen 7.21.  Worldlings, and 
d Gen. 19.24.  Sodomites suddenly consumed by fire or water; 
e Dan 4.30  Balthasar, 
f 2 Mach. 9 5.6.7.  Antiochus, 
g Act. 12.23.  Herod, the rich 
h Luke 12.  Churl, with others, suddenly swept away like dung from the face of the earth, with the bosom of God's wrath, and struck with God's revenging hand in the midst of their drunkenness, cruelty, pride, covetousness, and such sins, their case is fearful.   

Sect. 2. That all must die.  
But though Moses be not suddenly taken away, yet away he goeth: it is very true, and so must all flesh, therefore let us reckon of it, The reward of sin is death, Rom. 6.21. And since all flesh is sinful, to all is appointed once to die, Heb 9.27 hody an cras, etc. whether it be to day or to morrow, it must be, it will be, a debt it is, and must be paid, saith S. Augustine; hody mihi, cras tibi; I to day, you to morrow, till we be all gone: nothing more uncertain than the time, nothing more certain than the thing. They that lived so many hundred years, as Adam, Methusalem, Noah, Sem, and the other patriarchs, of every one it is said Et mortuus est, and he died, the longest time had an end: and at the last death knocked for him, he must away. And as no time so no virtue can avoid death, but even Moses himself, as worthy a man as the earth hath carried, as the Word testifies of him, Josh. 1.2.13. Heb. 3.2.5. yet this Moses must die.  
But if a man marvel at this, why such men should die, 
Rom. 5.12.  since sin which is the cause of death, is pardoned & forgiven them, through faith in Christ: let him know that this is done for two causes.  
First, for those relics of sin and corruption which hang upon, and by death must be purged and taken clean away, God then perfecting that sanctification which was begun before. Secondly, that we might be made conformable to our Head Christ jesus, who as he by death overcame death▪ and rose from death to life, so must we by him; both which ends yield us great comfort, because they show that death is not laid upon the elect as a punishment, but as a mercy vouchsafed by a sweet father for the ends named.   

Sect. 3. God prepares his children to die, as he did Moses, by showing them Canaan.  
But before he die, and pass this way of all flesh, God will have him go into the Mountain, and see the Land of Promise, this was done in sweet goodness, that with more ready will he might make an end. And assuredly thus dealeth God with his loving children at their latter ends, 
Obser.  even give them a glimpse, a sight and taste of the true Land of Promise, that heavenly Canaan: which he hath prepared for them after death. But as Moses to see this pleasant sight, must ascend up into the Mountain; so must we raise up, and lift up our hearts, our souls, our thoughts, and the eyes of our minds, as it were aloft to an high Mountain, that so we may see what will make us most willing to depart, that our joy may be full and endless, as in Peter. 
Mat. 17.14   
That Moses entered not into Canaan, but only saw it, it had two ends: first, the punishment of his Incredulity, when he struck the Rock spoken of here in the 14. 
Numb. 20.12.  Verse of this Chapter: and secondly, for mystery, Vt significet nos per Legem, cuius Minister, etc. that it might signify that by the Law, whereof Moses was Minister, we may see as it were afar off eternal life and salvation, but never enter into it that way, because through corruption of our natures, we are not able to perform it, which being not performed, 
Gal. 3.10. james 2.10. Mat. 5.19.  shutteth us out, and subjecteth us to a curse.   

Sect. 4. Moses obedience to God's summons, a pattern to us.  
THat Moses went up into the Mountain to die, Deut. 34.1. is an example before our eyes of most singular obedience, for he grudged not, he grieved not, he shrunk not back, but yielded to God's blessed pleasure, and was most willing and ready to die. O that we may find grace and mercy with God, so to do when time cometh, saying with tongue, and saying with heart, behold here am I thy servant, be it unto me as thou my blessed God withlt: Is my time come▪ and must I away? Lord then I come, and desire to be loosed, and to be with thee▪ Again, that Moses endured so patiently the denial of him to enter into the Land, which no doubt he much desired, let it ever teach us and strengthen us to do the like when God denieth us our desires: for assuredly God will do better for us, as here he did for Moses, if we rest on his good pleasure. It is a true saying, it is a good saying, let it never go out of our minds; Semper Deus suos exaudit, etc. God always heareth his Children, if not unto their will, yet unto their salvation and good.    

CHAP. III. The nature of death sweetened to the Saints, with fifteen resemblances of death to sleep.  
Observe it again carefully, that death is not mentioned unto Moses in any terrible words, but in sweet words, 
Ver. 13.  Ibis ad Patres, Thou shalt go to thy Fathers, and so still is the death of Believers spoken of in the Scriptures, that we might draw sweet comfort from it, against any fear that frail flesh may conceive of death. For there is a death which most men fear, and that is the separation of body and soul, our natural death: and there is a death which too few fear, and that is the separation of the soul from God. Vita carporis anima, vita animae Deus, the life of the body is the soul, and the life of the soul is God: Against this natural fear oppose this and the like phrases in Scriptures, 
Gen. 15.15  You go to your father, therefore fear not. Socrates a Heathen was much comforted at his death, that he should go and meet with those learned Poets, Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod, and such like, how much more may we joy to meet with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the holy Ghost, with Angels, Archangels, patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and all the holy company of Heaven; our fathers, our mothers, our sisters, and brothers, our friends and dear ones, that are gone before us? O glorious sight, O inestimable comfort, worthy to make us cry with the Apostle; 
Phil. 1.21. john 11. 1●  I desire to be loosed, and to be there: Come Lord jesus, come quickly. Death is an end of all misery, and the beginning of all bliss, an eternal dwelling with God again, and an advantage as the Apostle nameth it, a sweet sleep, a comfortable rest, Vitae via, the way of life, saith Ambrose: Nomen tantum fidelibus, death is only a bare name and no death indeed to the faithful, saith Chrisostome: Nemo timet mortem, nisi qui non sperat vivere post mortem; No man feareth death, but he that hopeth not to live after death: the Lord gave, and the Lord taketh away life as well as goods, and shall not we say with job? 
job 1.21.  Blessed be the Name of the Lord. If we hold for terms of years, or at the will of the Lord, must not we be content to relinquish it when our term is expired. We ourselves do look for it at the hands of our Tenants, and would be much offended if they should be disobedient: shall we not perform to God what we look for at men? Grudge not at the loss, but be thankful for the joan: we are God's Tenants, and we ought to give him his own when it is due to him. Would you keep a pledge from the true owner, that committed it to you for a time. Our life is God's pledge, he hath left it with us now so long, he ever intended to call for it again, and will you not restore it gladly and willingly without murmuring and repining? think how you would like that at man's hands to keep your pledge? Heathens have been strong, and shall Christians be weak?  
The Swan is said to sing most sweetly when she must die, and shall God's Children weep? Blessed, blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, saith the holy Ghost, Reu. 14.13. and will we not believe him? O ignaros malorum svorum, etc. O ignorant men of the miseries of this life, that do not esteem and praise death, as the best invention of nature: yea, let us say rather it is the great mercy and goodness of God towards man: for first, it expelleth calamity; secondly, it includeth felicity; thirdly, it preventeth the perils of youth; fourthly, it finisheth the toils of age: Omnibus finis, multis remedium, nonnullis votum; to all an end, to many a remedy, to some a wish; deserving better of none then of them to whom he cometh before he be called for. As children fear their friends when they are disguised, but when their vizards are plucked off, are glad of them: so of death, Ignorance makes fear, and Knowledge joy.  
Cleambrotus, saith Cicero, after he had read Plato's Book of the happy estate of the dead, cast himself headlong off from a wall, into the Sea, that he might come to that happiness: the same Author speaketh of another Philosopher that so disputed of the contempt of death, that many willingly killed themselves, whereupon Ptolemy the King forbade him any more to speak of that matter in his School: Now alack, what comparisons be betwixt Philosophical Comforts and Divine, out of the Treasure of Gods own Wisdom, taken from his written Word? Shall we then with our light fear that, which they in their darkness so little regarded? God forbid. The day of our birth we never fear; and The day of death (saith God, that is ever true) is better than the day that one is borne, Eccles. 7.3. That resemblance of death to sleep in Scriptures, 1 Cor. 15.51. is most fit if you mark it, and full of pleasure: for,  
1 As no man can ever wake, but of necessity must sometimes sleep: so no man can ever live, but must needs have a time to die.  
2 Be a man never so strong, sleep will tame him, and so will death, as it did Goliath, Samson, Milo, and others.  
3 As sleep maketh us put off our clothes and jewels, and that willingly, that we may take our rest: so dealeth death with us, it taketh away all our pomp and port, and layeth us down in our beds, till the waking time to arise.  
4 As sleep cometh of eating: so came death also to our first Parents by intemperancy in eating the forbidden fruit, Gen. 2.17.  
5 As our days doings be our night's troubles, by the working of the fantasy: so are our life's sins our death's griefs, by the gnawing of the Conscience, as appeareth in judas, Antiochus, and Francis Spira.  
6 Sleepers have no storms, nor dead men know the world's woes, for Abraham is ignorant of, and Israel knows not the jews woes, the first things being past etc. Reu. 21.4.  
7 Some fall suddenly or quickly into sleep, and some are long, according to the moistness or dryness of their brains: even so, some dye sooner as young josias, and some later, as old Methusalem, according to the temper of their radical moisture, as it pleaseth God.  
8 Some sleep in their own houses, and some in other men's, as did Sisera in jaels, some in the fields, some at Sea, some here, some there, in sundry places: so do we die, some at home, and some abroad; some by land, and some by Sea as God appointeth.  
9 No man can tell the very time that he falleth asleep, but only feeleth it coming, and his body disposed to it: so no man can tell the very moment of his death, but only feeleth his body faint, and his spirits drawing to an end.  
10 Suanius dormiunt qui relinquunt, etc. They sleep much better (saith one) that leave all their cares in their shoes which they put off, and go to rest with a quiet mind: even so do they die better, that have disposed of all their worldly matters, by Will or otherwise; whereby they are not troubled or distracted by them.  
11 They sleep well again, that have laboured, and taken pains all the day time: and so they die well, that in their vocation have not been idle, but employed both body and mind to do good.  

Ester 6.1.  12 As Assuerus when he could not sleep, called for the Chronicles of his kingdom, to be read unto him: so assuredly, whilst we wake in this world, and the sleep of death cometh not upon us, it shall be a most profitable thing to read, or cause to be read unto us, the chronicle of GOD, the sacred and holy Scriptures, the treasures of all Comfort and good instructions.  
13 When the body sleepeth the soul sleepeth not: no more dieth the soul when the body dieth.  
14 No man goeth to bed to sleep but with a certain hope and purpose to wake and rise again: so must we die in assurance of that great and general Resurrection.  
15 And as our voice and calling upon men awake them: so shall that sounding Trumpet do in that day. Our Bed (saith another) is the Image of our Grave; the clothes that cover us, of the dust and earth cast upon us; the little Flea that biteth, of the Worms that shall consume us; the Cock that croweth, of the last Trumpet: and as (saith he) I rise up lustily, when sluggish sleep is past, so hope I to rise up joyfully to judgement at the last: How fitly then Death and Sleep be resembled together, you see.   

CHAP. FOUR Considerations to move us to embrace death as willingly as we go to sleep in our beds naturally.  
BUT you may happily wish to know what may make you die willingly and gladly when Gods time cometh, flesh being frail, and an enemy still to the Spirit, till God subdue it▪ your desire herein is good, and hearken a little to these things: if death be a sleep as you hear the Scriptures still call it for our Comfort, then look what maketh men go to sleep gladly without any fear, and the same shall help us greatly to die contentedly and cheerfully: Note. 1 the first thing is weariness or pain of body, for in this case you know how willingly we go to rest, and how heartily we wish we were asleep; for the sleep of him that traveleth is sweet, Eccless. 5.11. Apply it to death, if you either be weary of the toils and troubles of this wretched life, of the dishonest courses that are in it, and of the infinite tricks, sinful and vile, before God and good men: or if you be in any pain of the whole, or any part of the body, not to be cased and helped by the Art of man: how in such a case is death welcome, and of right so should be, much more than sleep? For first, sleep easeth but for a time, but death for ever, both these causes: secondly, sleep taketh not away the Malady, but the feeling; Death taketh both away, and as I say, for ever. The diseases of the body? how many? how strange? how fearful? who can number them; when daily happen new, that the Physician knoweth not? sweet Death is a Supersedeas for all, curing what we have, and preventing what we might have, should God so be pleased to lay them upon us. Think therefore seriously of this one means, to make death welcome, and assuredly you shall be the better.  

Sect. 3. The second Consideration.  
Note. 2 A Second thing that maketh us willing to to go to our natural sleep, is grief and anguish of mind, sorrow and woe of heart, and will not this also make us die willingly? Surely so much more than the former, by how much grief of mind exceedeth any grief of body. The crosses by Foes, the crosses by Friends, the disobedience of Children, the unfaithfulness of Servants; public woes; and private wrongs, in goods, in name, and many other ways, they are more bitter than Gall and Wormwood, more burning and biting then tongue can express: now scalding, now cooling, the oppressed heart groaning and sighing, panting and pincing away in the view and sight of all beholders; the number is so great that no man can comprehend them: every day begetting new griefs of mind, as well as new pains and diseases of body. Think with yourselves, whether ever you escaped day in your life without some discontent, greater or lesser, that according to his measure hath not bit you, and grieved you. It is Vallis Lachrimarum, the Vale of misery that we live in: and from one misery or other we shall never be free while we live in it.  
S. Augustine said upon some feeling, Diù vivere est diù torqueri, Long to live, is long to be vexed and tormented. The holy Prophet Elias went a days journey in the Wilderness, and sat down under a juniper tree, desiring that he might die, and saying, It is enough, 
1 King. 19.4  O Lord, take my Soul, for I am no better than my Fathers. See how grief of mind made this holy man willing to die, and most welcome should that good will of God have been to him, if so it had pleased the giver and taker away of life to do with him: add unto these words the like words of Tobiah, Deal with me O Lord, as seemeth best unto thee, and command my spirit to be taken from me, that I may be dissolved and become earth: for it is better for me to die then to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and am sorrowful; command therefore that I may be dissolved out of this distress, and go into the everlasting place, turn not away thy face from me. See the effect of sorrow and grief of mind in this good man: again, it maketh him most willing and desirous to die.  
It is written of Babylis, Bishop of Antioch, slain by Decius that persecuting Emperor, that going to his death, he said the words in the Psalm; Return unto thy rest, O my Soul, for the Lord hath been beneficial unto thee: (an excellent place for such a time:) as if he should have said, Now my griefs farewell, and all my woes and wrongs in this wicked world; and now my Soul be cheerful and glad, for now cometh thy rest, thy sure rest, thy sweet rest, thy never failing rest, but eternal, for ever: therefore return unto it, O weary soul, and give thanks and praise to God, for he hath been beneficial unto thee in this most gracious change and happy release. Conclude with the words of wise Sirach, and remember them often: O Death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest, in his possessions, unto the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that hath prosperity in all things? etc. But again, O Death, how acceptable is thy judgement unto the needful! and unto him whose strength faileth, and that is now in the last age, and is vexed with all things, etc. Fear not the judgement of death: remember them that have been before thee, and that come after thee: it is the ordinance of the Lord over all flesh, and why wouldst thou be against the pleasure of the most Highest? whether it be ten, or an hundred, or a thousand years, there is no defence for life against the grave.   

Sect. 3. The third consideration.  
Note. 3 A Third reason that maketh a man willing to sleep naturally, is the good that cometh both to body and mind by such sleep: it cheereth and refresheth, gladdeth and comforteth both, let the same reason also make thee willing to die; for Death will minister much more comfort, cheering and refreshing, and that for ever, as shall be said. The Brazen Serpent cured the beholders, and had no sting: so doth death, and hath no sting neither. That it cureth and helpeth all evils, you know, because it is Finis omnium malorum, the end of all evils: and it hath no sting, as you are taught when you read those words; O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victories? 
1 Cor. 15.55.56.57.  the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law: But thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ. Mors Christ's, mors mortis meae, The death of Christ is the death of my death, 
Osee 13.14.  saith Bernard. O Death! I will be thy Death, saith he by the Prophet. And Hierome upon it; Illius morte t● mortua es, etc. By his death thou art dead, by his death we live, thou hast devoured, and art devoured thyself, oh Death. Death maketh dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit to return to God that gave it, saith the word of God, and shall not we be glad of this? Shall it grieve us to return to God? to have the Spirit go from whence it came? to walk with God? to enter into life? to go to the Marriage of the Lamb? Is the brute Ox grieved to be unyoaked? Were Abraham, Isacc, and jacob; holy men, or holy women, ever unwilling? Wherefore if men desire natural sleep, in regard of the good that cometh by it, so do you death: and cheerfully from your heart say with old Simeon; Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace, according to thy Word, etc. Luke 2.29.   

Sect. 4. The fourth Consideration.  
Note. 4 A Fourth cause making men willing, without fear, to sleep naturally, is that assured hope which they have to awake and arise again: and shall not you arise from the sleep of death? why then should we shrink more at the one then at the other? we shall rise again, for Christ our Head is risen, and the Members must follow: If the dead be not raised, then is Christ not risen, etc. as you read in that singular Chapter, 1 Cor. 15.20. The Sun riseth and setteth again, the Moon waineth & groweth again. Of the ashes of the old Phoenix cometh another: the leaf falleth, and the sap descendeth, yet both sap and leaf return again. Sarahs' womb, though dead, yet beareth a Son, when the Lord will: so shall the resurrection be of dead bodies. The hand of the Lord was upon me, 
Ezech. 37.1  (saith the Prophet) and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the field, which was full of bones. 
2  And he led me round about by them, and behold, there were very many in the open field, and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, 
3  Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again, 
4  he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, 
5  behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, 
6  and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and make flesh grow upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath into you, that ye may live, 
7  and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied, as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was a noise, and behold there was a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 
8  And when I beheld, lo, the sinews, and the flesh grew upon them, and above the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind: prophesy son of man, 
9  and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breath upon these slain, that they may live. 
10  So I prophesied as he had commanded me: and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.  
Such another excellent place is that in the Apocalypse, 
reve. 20.11  And I saw a great white throne, and one that sat on it, from whose face fled away both the earth, and the heaven, and their place was no more found. 
12  And I saw the dead, both great and small stand before God: and the Books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of life, and the dead were judged of those things, which were written in the Books, according to their works. 
13  And the Sea gave up her dead, which were in her, and Death and Hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.  
Thus you see, that as from our natural sleep, so from death, we shall awake again, and therefore no cause to fear the one more than the other, Resurrectio mortuorum, spes Christianorum, The Resurrection of the dead, is the hope of the Christians Faith. So Tertullian, meaning their joyful hope, that wipeth away all tears and unwillingness to die. Credo Resurrectionem carnis, I believe the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting: Therefore care away; Though I die yet I die not, but only sleep in my Grave, as in my Chamber, till my GOD send his Angels to awake me with his Trumpet, that I may enter into joy that n●uer shall have an end; till which time I rest free from all sorrow and pain, not troubled with any of the world's woes, but as a man in his bed fast asleep, most free from all offences and vexations. Yea, even the self same body shall arise, to our unspeakable comforts, teach the Scriptures, job 19.25. john 5.29. 1 Cor. 15.42.43. and many other places, even as Christ's body arose the same that it was before, the same eyes, mouth, feet, hands, etc. 
Luk. 34.32  Dixe●●nt, tactis corproibus, etc. They said, (saith Tertullian of ancient Christians,) touching, or laying their hands upon the bodies, we believe the resurrection of this body, this body that I touch and lay my hands upon, for the goodness of God will give glory to that body that hath given glory to him, the self-same eye, the self-same mouth, the self-same ear, feet, hands▪ etc. What an encouragement is this to do well, if you mark it? and what an argument to make us willing to die, being assured of this as wear?   

Sect. 5. The last Consideration. The bodies freedom, and the soul's Glorification.  
Note. 5 THE fifth and last cause that maketh us willing to go to our natural rest, without fear, muttering, or any discontent, is the cheerfulness and liveliness of body and mind, that useth to follow after sleep, both to body and mind, being refreshed thereby so greatly, let the same cause make us willing to die, for there is no comparison between the comfort and refreshing that natural sleep worketh, and that which followeth after death, when Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself, when this corruptible hath put on incorruption, and this mortal hath put on immortality. If that small glimpse which the Disciples saw made them wish for three Tabernacles, and an eternal being there, Mat. 17.4. O how shall the whole glory of heaven and heavens bliss ravish us, and make us glad, that we have attained to it! O no such refreshing can come from our earthly beds and natural sleep here. Wherefore with joy let us welcome the hour of death, and bless God for it ten thousand times, following the footsteps of worthy Fathers and Saints in the Church, whose feeling of this point God hath directed them to leave behind them in their writings, O tu vita, quam praeparavit Dexs iis, qui diligunt eum: vita vitalis, vita beata, vita secura, vita tranquilla, etc. O thou life (saith Augustine) prepared of God, for them that love him, thou living life, thou blessed life, thou secure life, thou quiet life, thou beautiful life, thou life that knowest no death, thou life that knowest no sadness, thou life without blot, without sorrow, without care, without corruption, without perturbation, without any variety or change. Would God that laying aside this burden of my flesh, I might enter into thy joys, O quam fortunatus ero si audivero, etc. O how happy shall I be, if I might hear those sweet Songs of thy Citizens, and those honey sweet verses; but O more happy if I myself may find grace and favour to sing a song unto the Lord jesus Christ, of the sweet Songs of Zion! O verè foelices, qui de Pilago, etc. O truly happy they that come out of the Sea of the World, to the Haven of Heaven, out of Banishment to their own Country, and out of a foul Prison to a glorious Palace! O Coelestis domus luminosa, ad te suspirat, etc. O Heavenly House, full of glorious light, to thee tendeth my pilgrimage, that he may possess me in thee, that made both me and thee! Inter Brachia Seruatoris mei & vivere volo, & mori cupio; In the Arms of my Saviour I wish to live, and desire to die. Many such feeling speeches I could repeat from the ancient militant warriors in this mortality, whom we call Fathers, when they went to the Father of Spirits; showing how far they were from any unwillingness to die, which if we make use of as we ought, assuredly they will work in us through the blessing of God, the same effect. To shut up this, the godly cry, come Lord jesus, come quickly: Now they are in the world, than they shall come to their own: now they are in the skirmish, then shall they be in their victory: now in the tempestuous Sea, then in the quiet Haven: now in the heat of the day, then in rest and cool evening: now in place absent from Christ, then with him following wheresoever he goeth. Now their life is hid with Christ, but then shall they appear with him in glory, and that glory for ever and ever, without change or end. 1 john 4.2.    

Comforts against the fear of Death: by which the Christian Soul may be made willing to her Dissolution. CHAP. V.  
THE fear of death is not one of the least temptations to a weak Christian: for, Death is not only fearful to a natural man, whose hope is in this world, being in it own nature the most terrible of all terribles; as Heathen men have termed it: for which cause wicked men are aghast at the apprehension of it, as appears in the example of B●ltazar, of Hamon, and others being as unwilling to die as the Bear unto the Stake, and the Swine unto the Shambles: but even the godly themselves have some combats and conflicts in this kind, as had our Saviour Christ himself, Ezekias, and David, etc. by reason that Nature abhors her own abolishion, and fears the dissolution of the soul and body, which are naturally as unwilling to be severed and sundered as two friends, that have been borne, and bred, and brought up together, are loath to depart, and to take their long leave either of other: therefore to make that easy and facile unto thee, which of itself is harsh and difficult, that thou mayst submit thyself willingly to that which all flesh have undergone and must undergo of necessity. Arm Grace against Nature, and the Spirit against the Flesh, with these comfortable considerations.  

1 God calls for thy soul.  1 Consider that by corporal death, God only calls again for that soul which at the first he created and infused into the body, to inform and animate it, and that this Soul of thine flits not out of her terrestrial tabernacle by chance or haphazard, or casualty, or fortune, or by the Climacterical year, the revolution of sevens and nine, or by the position of the Heavens, or course of the Stars, or by thy disease, or sickness, occasioned by bad diet, superfluities of meats or drinks, overgreat heats or taking of cold, or the like accidents, which are but mere instruments of thy mortality; but look at the superior Agent, GOD himself, who hath now determined and disposed thy death: Hab. 9.27. who hath numbered thy days and appointed thy limits: who turns thy dust into his dust, Gen. 3.19. thou being a Son of Adam, and calls for thy Spirit to return to him that gave it, Psal. 90.3. Eccles. 12.7. And therefore seeing it is the Lord that calls, be thou as willing to sleep with thy Fathers, as Samuel was to awake out of his natural sleep at Gods call, 1 Sam. 3.10. Think that thy Soul is given unto thee as a precious pledge to be safely kept, and therefore grudge not to return thy holy pawn to God the chief owner, when he requires it, but commit it to him, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and loving Redeemer. Why should the Tenant at will, stand out with his Landlord for an old rotten Cottage, when he would remove him to a better Mansion? why should the Soldier be refractory to leave his station and place, to be otherways disposed of by his General and Commander? Now thou art here but a Tenant at will, thou hast no feesimple of thy life: thou art a war-faring Soldier, professed in Baptism, therefore like the Centurion's Soldiers, be willing to go when thy Captain bids thee go, Mat. 8.9.  
2 Let this comfort thee, that thy sins, 
2 The sting of death is taken away.  the cause of thy death, is taken away by the Messias, Christ; in whom thou believest, by whom thy sins being pardoned, thou art blessed, Psal. 32.1. his death being the death of Sin, and the conquest of Hell. Hos. 13. 1 Cor. 15. And therefore comfort thyself with David's holy Meditations, encouraging thy soul to return unto her rest, because the Lord hath been bountiful unto thee, since he hath delivered thy Soul from death (even the second death) thine eyes from tears, and thy feet from falling: and since thou shalt walk before the Lord, even with the four and twenty Elders, in long white robes, in the Land of the living, Psal. 116.7.8.9. For all thy bitter grief in corporal death, (which yet is sweetened to the Elect) the Lord will deliver thy soul from the pit of corruption: for he hath cast all thy sins behind his back, as he did Ezekiahs', Esay 38.17. And therefore as there is no danger in handling an Adder or Viper, or any other Serpent, when her sting is taken away, so there is no peril in Death, since Sin, which is the sting of Death, is to thee, not imputed, but in the mercies of God, pardoned, and in the merits of Christ covered. 1 Cor. 15. Rom. 8.1.  

3 jonas 4.2. Exod. 34. God is present at thy death.  Remember, that God is the same God unto thee in thy death, that he was in life; good, gracious, propitious, merciful, and mindful of thee in thy last and greatest exigent. Enoch found it so, who walking with God in his life, was taken away by the same God, in his death, that he was no more seen. Gen. 5.24. Therefore it was jobs dying comfort, that his Redeemer lived, whom as he desired, so he hoped to see with the eyes of his body, as he had beheld him, with the rest of the patriarchs, with the eyes of Faith, job 19.25. This consideration made him confident in the midst of his combats, that though the Lord should kill him, yet he would trust in him. job 13. This made prophesying jacob, joyful in his last farewell out of the few and evil expired days of his Pilgrimage, in the enjoying that Shilo, the blessed Messias, and his salvation, which so long he had waited for, Gen. 49.18.33. This made old Simeon so comfortably carol out his Swanlike song a little before his death: every particular of which ditty expresseth his delight to die, and his desire to depart, when he had the world's Saviour in his arms, and his Spirit in his heart, Luke 2.25.26.27 28.29. And sure if thou have the same grace, and feel God in so many particulars now gracious unto thee in thy life, as did Enoch, job, jacob, and Simeon; thou oughtest upon the same grounds, to settle thy heart in the sweet assurance of God's special presence in thy last dissolution, that he will make thy bed in thy sickness, and send thee that very Comforter, his own Spirit, which according to his promise he sent his Disciples, even when all external comforts fail; if thou now worship him in spirit and in truth. john 4.24. For Solomon the wisest of men, from the wisdom of God, taught, what David his Father blessedly felt, 1 Kings ch. 1. v. 48. ch. 2. v. 1.2.3. v. 10.11. that the righteous hath hope in death: 
Pro. 14.32  even then when the wicked is cast off by reason of his malice, as was Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod, and others. And therefore you of the Israel of God, you the Seed of Abraham, the friends of God, fear not, for the Lord is with his Servants, with those whom he hath chosen, and he will be with you, and not cast you away; but will strengthen, help, and sustain you: yea again I say, Fear not thou worm jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel, Esay 41. v. 8.9.10. & v. 14. If the Lord be thy friend (as he was a friend to Abraham, to Lazarus, 
james 2.23  and to his Disciples, and is still to all that seek him and his grace,) then sure he will play a sure friends part, he will stick fast to thee in thy last conflict, in this thy warfare, remembering thee even in death, as he did his friend Lazarus, john 11.11. Therefore apply David's meditation, as balm to thine own sore, in thy fears: and say to thy soul, Why art thou sad oh my Soul? and why art thou so disquieted within me? still trust in God, and give him thanks for the comfortable help of his presence. Though I walk through the shadow of death, yet will I fear none evil, for thou art with me, thy Rod and thy Staff shall comfort me, Psal. 23.4. God is my God, even the God of whom cometh my salvation. God is the Lord, by whom I escape death: by whom indeed death is no death. Psal. 68.20.  
4 Remember what death is properly to the godly: not a dying, but a departing: 
4 Death is no death to the godly.  Luke 2.29. not an abolishion, but a dissolution: Phil. 1. a losing out of Prison, a Goal-delivery to the soul; not a curse, but a blessing; a freedom and a liberty out of captivity; not pernicious, but precious in the sight of God is the death of his Saints, Psal. 116. A walking with God. Gen. 5. A going to our Fathers in peace. A gathering to our people, and A yeeldding of the spirit, Gen. 25.8. Gen. 49.33. A sweet sleep, Deut. 31. A rest of our flesh in hope, Psal. 16. & 116. A resting from our labours, Reu. 14. with divers such Epithets that the Scripture gives, speaking of the death of Abraham, jacob, Moses, David, josias, etc. and the rest of the Saints of God. Oh then, why shouldest thou fear thy freedom? Doth any jewish, Turkish, Romish, or Athenian Bondman, take it ill to be enfranchised? Doth any Apprentice distaste to be made a Freeman? Is any Prisoner daunted with the news of his delivery out of cold Irons? Is any Captive discomforted when he perceives the means of his ransom? oh then why shouldest thou be daunted with that messenger that is sent from the King of heaven, to deliver thee from all the maladies and miseries of this life? from all the distresses, crosses, and cares that are incident to this mortality, in bonds, sickness, diseases, pains of body, burden of mind, incurable sores, with an hundred such like afflictions, which make life to be loathedly unpleasant and unprofitable besides? 
Vita vix vitalis.  Is any man afraid of his bed? is not rest comfortable to a journeying footman; to a traveling pilgrim, or a drudging labourer? Oh how glad is he to repose his wearied limbs in his wished couch! Oh how acceptable is sleep to refocillaite and recover the over-spent spirits, and to revive the decayed powers! Now thy death is but a sleep, as the Word testifies: there being such a proportion betwixt death and sleep, that the Heathen could term sleep the Image of Death, 
Somnus Imago mortis. Frater mortis. Homer.  and the elder Brother of Death: and our graves are our beds, in which our bodies resting and sleeping, the holy Ghost, whose living Temples they were, watching over them when they are dead, shall rouse them up at the last day in beauty, glory, and splendour, like the Sun; refreshed, like a Giant ready to run his Race.  
5 Further, 
5 We shall know and enjoy our friends in glory.  (to enlarge and diffuse this meditation a little further) doth any man dislike to accept of these opportunities, where he shall not only see and visit, but enjoy the company and conference of his friends; his longed for, his loving and beloved absent friends? their sight is gracious, the communion and conversation with them is more gracious: now by death we come to enjoy 
a Gen. 1.15 Numb. 27. Deut. 32. , and to joy in the presence of our friends, who have broke the Ice before us, and have led the way to this common Inn of death: we shall see the face of CHRIST, we shall look upon him, whom our sins have pierced, behold his wounds in his glorified body, as the Angels now behold them; we shall inseparably be united unto him, and so joy in him, that our joy shall be full, in those blessed mansions which he hath gone before to prepare; we shall live and converse with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, and the ancient patriarchs; with David, josias, Ezekias, etc. and all religious Kings; with Samuel, Esay, jeremy, john Baptist, and all the holy Prophets; with Peter, Andrew, Philip, and all the blessed Apostles; with Matthew, Mark, Luke and john, the sincere Evangelists; with Paul, Steven, Peter and james, and all the constant Martyrs, zealous Confessors, and Professers of the Truth; yea, and all the rest of the faithful, whom we shall know to the increase of our joy, especially those whom we have here known and seen, even as Adam knew Eve in the Creation, 
Gen. 2.23. Mat. 17.4.  and Peter knew Moses and Elias in Christ's Transfiguration (a type of our Glorification) whom before they had never seen. To conclude therefore, now is the time, when in the Church triumphant, all that have been within the Covenant of Grace, and under the Gospel in the Church militant, shall come to the Mount Zion, and to the City of the living God, the celestial jerusalem, and to the company of innumerable Angels, and to the Assembly and congregation of the first borne, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the Spirits of just and perfect men, and to jesus the Mediator of the new Testament, Heb. 12.22.23.24. Now, what great harm is there in going to our friends? especially, such friends as these be, who in knowledge and wisdom, in glory and excellency, in love and amity, do far surpass all friends upon earth. 
6 Death frees from sin, and from thy soul's enemies.   
6 Consider the fruit and happy effect of Death, in freeing thee from sin, and all miseries the punishments of sin: that stroke that kills thee will kill also a monstrous Mother and a wretched Daughter, Sin and Sorrow: for, as Death is the death of the body, so it is the dissevering of sin from the body; Sin that brought forth Death is destroyed by Death, even as the Viper kills the dam that bred him, and as Nero murdered Agrippina that bore him: that which pulls down the house of the body, destroys Sin the troublesome and unruly Tenant that dwelled in this house. Now, is it not a joy to thee, to be rid by any means of such an unworthy and unwelcome guest, as Sin, which is always quarreling with thy best friends, as the Spirit and the Grace of GOD within thee? Art thou not glad to be freed from such a Make-baite, as this body of sin, this old Adam, which is always stirring up civil broils and combats within this little world of thyself? always plotting and contriving the ruin and destruction of thy better part, thy Soul? Art thou not glad to have such a fire quenched, as thy burning lusts, and rebelling concupiscences, the worst burning Fever that ever came to man? Art thou not glad to be rid of a slothful, luxurious, riotous, vain, wanton, vicious, rebellious Servant, which is always grieving and offending thee, provoking thee to evil, hindering thee from good, sluggish to do well, forward to all evil? such a guest, such a quarreler, such a fire, such a rebel, such a servant is thy Flesh; dull and dead, and lumpish, slow and sluggish to every good duty, private and public; prone and propense to every sin; always soliciting, importuning, trying, and tempting thee, with as great importunity as Potiphars' Wife did joseph, to abase and abuse thy soul and body, in every filthy pollution, to commit spiritual whoredom with the world, and the flesh; still grieving thy God, and offending his majesty, abusing his mercy, crucifying Christ, turning his grace into wantonness, vexing his Spirit, quenching the motions, and hindering the operations of his Grace; taking part with Satan thy foreign enemy, like an inmate traitor, and domestical conspirator. Now, Death dislodgeth this guest; quells this quarreler, hangs up this Achitophel, quencheth this lustful fire, executes this rebel, cashiers this servant: for even as the ivy dies that twines about the Oak, when the Oak is cut down; so the cutting down of the body is the kerbing and curing the sin in the body, which sin lives and dies, hath his birth and death, with the subject wherein it is resident: for he that is dead is freed from sin, Rom. 6.7. Therefore, Mors metuenda non est, quia est finis peccatorum. Ambrose.  
Now, as it frees thee from sin, so the cause ceasing, the effect ceaseth also: it frees thee from all the miseries that grow, as fruits, from this cursed Tree: even all the pains and labours of body, and vexations of spirit that are incident to this mortal condition. This made the Wiseman praise those that were dead, before those that are living. Eccle. 4. and to prefer the day of death before the day of life, Eccles. 7. And made some of the Philosophers in their Heathenish Paradoxes affirm, that it was best for a man never to be borne, the next best, to die soon; because in respect of the many miseries of this life, which they saw into with their natural eyes, they thought Nature was a Mother unto all other Creatures, and a Stepdame unto man; 
Theophrastus.  therefore job that drunk as deep in this cup of common afflictions incident to human nature, as ever any mere man, in this respect desired death; Even as the Servant desired the shadow, and as the Hireling looked for the end of his work, job 7.2.  
7 Consider that God doth not only deliver thee from the evil of sin and the evil of punishment present, 
7 It delivers from the evils present and to come.  but by taking thee now away he hath a purpose to free thee from future temporal evils, which perhaps he purposeth to bring upon that place and people amongst whom thou art: for indeed this is the Lords ordinary proceeding, to deliver his Servants from the evils to come, whilst the wicked are chained in earth, and reserved for further plagues. Thus he took away good Augustine ere the Goths and Vandals overranne Hippo, where he was Bishop: this the Lord promised, as a special mercy to good josias, that before he would accomplish his threat against judah, he should be put into his grave in peace, and that his eyes should not behold the evil, 2 Kin. 22.20. And thus he saith of the merciful men and righteous, that they are taken away from the evils to come, that Peace shall be upon them, and they shall rest in their beds, when the Witches Children, the seed of Adulterers and Whores, a rebellious people, shall perish and consume, Esay 57.1.2.3. Apply this favour of God to thine own particulars, for the strengthening of thy faith, as also enlarge it, by the meditation of these evils, which are foretold in these last times, Mat. 24.4. v. 24. etc. Luke 21.25. 1 Tim. 4.1.2. 2 Pet. 2.1.2.3.  

8 It secures thee from the fight with Sin, to triumph with God.  8. Remember, this corporal death thou art to undergo, puts a period to a most perilous and dangerous fight, with which in this life thou wast continually exercised, in which fight thou didst often faint, was often soiled, often wounded, more often put to fight, (even to fly to Heaven for help, succour, and refuge) then ever the Israelites were occasioned to fly and cry unto GOD, against the 
a Deu. 44.45  Amorites, 
b judg. 10.10 judg. 3.8.  Amonites, Amalekites, 
c Exod. 14.  Egyptians, Philistines, or any of their mortal enemies. Thou canst tell well what these enemies were, the deceitful World, deluding Flesh, and deceiving Devil, 1 Tim. 6.4.18. Ephe. 6.12. 1 Pet. 5.8. 1 john 2.13. The lust of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 john 1.16. How oft have they soiled, how oft have they foiled thee? What burnings hast thou had from thine own boiling concupiscence within, and from Satan's fiery darts without? What bloody bicker hast thou had with thine own rebellious heart? What civil broils betwixt Grace and Nature, two armed Champions, struggling within thee, like jacob and Esau in Rebeccahs' womb? What combats hast thou had with thine own corruptions, thine own flesh rising against thee, as Absalon against David; encouraged and counseled by that Serpentinely politic Achi●phel, the Devil, how to dispossess thee of a better kingdom than any earthly Monarch ever gave, even the Kingdom of Heaven; driving thee from the Castle of Grace, and preventing thee from the Throne of Glory? What troops of lusts out of thine own bosom, and breeding, like the black guard of Ruffians, and Swashbucklers, have joined issue with the Flesh against thee, the Devil being the grand General of those slavish and sinful Legions? What wounds and wracks hast thou received from Pride, Luxury, Worldliness, carnality, Ambition, Anger, Emulation, Malice, Covetousness, sensual Delights, carnal Desires, etc. the scars whereof are yet remaining, though their rancour be cured by repentance? how have these successively, and oft successfully, set upon thee, one after another, like the Lion after the Bear, and Goliath after the Lion, against David; oft-times all together? What oppositions hast thou had with Luxury, when Covetousness hath been conquered? how hath Ambition lift up his head, when Lust hath been bet down with the Hammer of Mortification? If Ambition hath been quenched, how hath Anger boiled? how hath Pride puffed up, Wrath inflamed, Envy gnawed thy distracted and distempered heart? how have pestilent Passions (like Hydra's heads cut off) risen up one after another: nay (like the heads of the Serpent Amphisbena) one against another, all against thy peace? Now, when Death comes it is the death of all these thy deadly enemies; thy rest in the grave is a rest from all these perturbations: the bearers of thy Hearse carry thee (like the Roman Worthies) in a triumphant Chariot; then thou hast the Conquest after these tumultuous and various conflicts: therefore lift up thy head, and rejoice in thy deathbed, for now thy warfare is at an end, and thy reward which thou shalt now possess amongst the blessed conquering Spirits in glory, shall never have end. Now thy soul like the Aeagle, shall mount aloft, singing upward with the little Lark, taking the wings of a Dove, it shall fly out of this enclosing house of the body, and be at rest, safe and secure from the snares of the hellish Fowler: free from the snares of the world, never to be besmeared nor entangled again with the lime-twigs of the catching and entrapping flesh. Sugar and sweeten the bitter cup of thy death with this Meditation; and if thou truly hate sin, love the Lord, detest thy corruptions, and fight against thy spiritual temptations: this triple peace which thou shalt enjoy; first, from thine enemies; secondly, in thy Soul; thirdly, with thy GOD, the God of peace, amongst, the Angels of peace, in the Kingdom of peace, will be thy dying peace.  
9 Thou mayst enlarge this Meditation, 
9 It frees thee from conversing with the wicked.  by pondering the griefs and vexations that thy soul hath been pinched with here, not only for thine own personal sins, Original and Actual, of Omission and Commission, but for the sins of others, of this wicked world in which thou livest, and of wicked and ungodly men amongst whom thou livest, which now thou shalt be freed from: for, alas, what man, hath any fear of God, any spark of Grace, living, trading, trafficking amongst ungodly, ungracious, and profane men, as Noah lived amongst the Worldlings, Let amongst the Sodomites, joseph and Daniel amongst Idolaters, as Esay, jeremy, and Ezekiel amongst a sinful, beastly, hardhearted, and rebellious people: seeing their abominations, hearing their fearful and horrid blasphemies, when like Dogs they set their mouths to bark against heaven that hurts them not; like Toads and Serpents spitting daily and deadly poison, in their devilish oaths, even in the very face of God, upon no occasion, without any temptation, but only of custom, gracelessness, madness and malice against the Lord himself; besides other harsh sounds coming from their worldly, luxurious, and carnal hearts, with a thousand such like impieties, and horrid villainies, amongst professed Christians, more enormous than have been, or now are, amongst the very Turks, jews, and Pagans, nay, amongst the Beasts themselves: who, I say, hearing and seeing these things, can have any joy or comfort in this life, in the few and evil days of his Pilgrimage? Who could be contented to live in a Palace in pomp, where he should every day hear his dear Parents, his Father and Mother, railed upon and reviled; his Brethren traduced; his own Country and countrymen vilified? this were a rack and torture: Oh what joy have we then to live in this world's Prison, where daily and hourly we hear God our Father, the Father of Spirits, jesus Christ, our elder Brother, blasphemed; his Name abused, his glory eclipsed, and his children calumniated; our Brethren, Saints by calling, Citizens of the Celestial Jerusalem, used as the off-scouring of the world; mocked at by the mocking Michols, and railed upon by the Satanical Shemeis of our age: being mere subjects of sport, (as CHRIST was to the jews, and Samson to the Philistines,) to the devils Apes, profane men in their Pest-house-Play-houses, and in their devilish and drunken merriments, in Taverns, Alehouses, Tobacco-shops, and Brothell-houses: who, unless he have an heart of flint, hardened like the nether-Milstone, can be freed from remorse, division, diwlsion? who unless a Myrmidon, or hewn out of Caucasus (as was once feigned) can temper from tears? who can be otherways (if he be Gods) than a mourning Dove, an howling Ostrich, and a solitary Pelican, in this world's wilderness and Desert of sin, for all the sins of the sons of men? who can but mourn with the holy Saints in former times, for all the abominations of the City? Ezek. 9 4. Whose heart is not vexed with Lots, for the unclean conversation of millions amongst us, whose works of darkness, in these days of light, shall justify the Sodomites in judgement, 2 Pet. 2.7.8. who cries not, Woe is me (with David) that is constrained to live here in Meseck, and to dwell in the tents of Kedar? Who prays not with Samuel, for a sinful people? 1 Sam. 12.23. Whose soul is not wounded with the sins of the times, that break out in such abundance? Who could not be content to be free from the smell, stinks, and infection of them? What comfort is there to have any converse or commerce with such, more than with bruit Beasts and wicked Spirits, that commit such sins, (as Intemperance, and Luxury and Drunkenness) which beasts and Devils commit not? Now ponder well Death's lenity in this corrosive: 
Psal. 31.15  Death stops thine ears from hearing the Blasphemies of the multitude wherewith they blaspheme. Death hoodwinckes thine eyes from beholding such vain and filthy objects, as made the Heathen Democritus pluck out his eyes that he might not behold; Death chains thy tongue from talking, with, or talking of such obscene subjects; Death, God's Messenger, plucks thee away, 
Gen. 19.16 22.23.  as the Angel did Lot, out of the Sodom of this world, and carries thee to Zoar, a City of refuge, the new and true jerusalem; from whence thou shalt come again with thy Saviour in the clouds, to see these wicked ones cast into burnings, Mat. 25.41. but never to hear them more blaspheming: from which judgement thy soul shall return to heaven again, with her old companion the body, now awakened out of the dust, and glorified, where thou shalt always after to eternity hear the Quires and Melodies of Angels and heavenly Spirits, carrolling out their new Songs, and Haleluiahs', to the glory of the Lamb, Apoc. 5.9.  
10 As Death frees thee from the conversation, so from the corruptions of wicked men, 
10 It frees thee from corrupting by the wicked.  which as it is not the least safety, so it should not be the least joy and tranquillity to a Christian; and the rather, because the danger of infection by them is here so imminent as fearful. If any think himself safe and sound, and on a sure ground in this kind, as too many are too bold; let him know that it is as safe for sound Apples to lie amongst the rotten, for sound Sheep to feed amongst the scabbed, for clear eyes to look earnestly on those that have sore eyes, for a healthful body to converse with the infected in the pest-house; as for thee to live and converse with the wicked, and not to learn wickedness, with the froward without frowardness: nay, it is as easy to touch pitch and not be defiled: the experience of God's Saints leave it recorded: that when the Saints are amongst sinners; first, either by Imitation of them; secondly, or compulsion by them; thirdly, being brought into straits by their wiles; fourthly, by their temptations and seductions; five, in extremities amongst them; sixtly, by the overswaying of their own human passions; or by some such means they are infected with them: these things occasioned joseph to swear by the life of Pharaoh, 
Gen. 42.15  amongst the Egyptians; Abraham twice to use simulation, 
Gen. 12. Gen. 20.  dissimulation, or equivocation, in two profane Courts; David to feign madness, in the Court of Achish, 1 Sam. 21.13. Peter to deny his Master amongst the high Priests Servants, Mat. 26.74. the true Prophet to eat bread with the false Prophet, 1 Kings 13.15.16. the Children of Israel to commit Adultery and Idolatry with the Daughters of Moab. Numb. 25. All these have failed, or fallen for company (as one breach brings down another) amongst wicked men, which is thy case now, and hath been. Now Death delivers thee from ever conversing, much more from corrupting by wicked men.  

11 It secures thee from the malice of the mighty.  11 Let another of Death's commodities comfort thee, in that it very much doth privilege thee from the madness and malice of the malevolent Monsters of the world: thou art now secure from the pushing horns of the Bulls of Bashan, from the sword of injustice, from the arm of tyranny. Though mad Saul send for devout David, to kill him in his sickness, 1 Sam. 14.15. yet none can harm the body of a dead man: first, it may by kept unburied, for a time, as great Alexander's was; secondly, arrested for debt, into which a good Christian may fall in life, 2 Kin. 4.1. thirdly, be wounded and mangled, as Hector's was by the Grecians (living Hares may leap over a dead Lion;) fourthly, digged up again, as Pope Formosus body was by Stephanus his successor, and as Bucers was by the Papists (an act more befitting Swine than men:) yet it cannot be hurt or harmed, because it is insensible of pain; and therefore need not fear Phalaris his Bull, nor the Persecutors wild beasts; nor the Papists fire and Faggot, and burning chamber, nor the most exquisite tortures of the greatest Tyrants: for thy spirit, it returns to the Father of spirits, thy soul to God that gave it, even as the beams of the Sun reflect upward again, towards the Sun, from whence they came.  
12 Besides, thy good name, 
13 It clears thy good name.  that especially is cleared by death: for, we oftentimes see that by the emulation of aequals, the envy of inferiors, the hatred of superiors, and the wickedness that is in the hearts of all, good men in their life time, by God's permission, for causes best known, some secret, some revealed, 
james 3.6.  have been wondrously abased and abused, censured, calumniated and scorched by the malicious and malevolent tongues of such as have been set on fire by Hell, oftentimes to the very eclipsing of their good name for a time: 
Psal. 31.20  being poisoned and besmeared with their Aspish venom; whose good names it pleaseth God to restore again unto them, 
Esay 58.8.  at, or after, the hour of death, making the lustre and splendour of their graces then to break out like the light at the noonday, dispersing all the clouds of scandal, which have in their vapours ascended from the foggy and filthy Quagmires and Marish of ignorance and Malice. Who either denies or doubts of this, may see it in the Glass of the Word▪ and observe it in the experience of other ages and our own. What oppositions had Moses the meekest man on earth, 
Josh. 1.2. Heb. 3.2. Deut. 34.10 11  the faithful Servant of GOD, in his life time, in the place of his Magistracy, amongst a rebellious people, though he discharged the greatest function that ever was committed to any mere man, the best that ever any did, that was but flesh and blood? 
Num. 11.1. Psal. 78. Num. 16.3  yet how was he upbraided, scandalised and slandered, his Commission from God contradicted? he was thought to take too much upon him, accused as a destroyer, 
and 41.42  or at least a deluder of the Lords people, concerning the promised Canaan: yet the same Moses had been worshipped as a God of these ancient Idolaters after his death, if the Devil could have had his purpose, in exposing his dead body unto them, being resisted by the Angel, Jude 1. v. 9 So was David not a little disgraced by the mockings of his wife Michol, 2 Sam. 6.20. the railings of Shemei, 2 Sam. 16.5. the calumnies of his tyrannous enemies, by whom he was esteemed as a fool, reviled as a murderer, verse 6. accounted as an Hypocrite and vile man, ver. 7. yea, even the drunkards made songs of him in his life time: now David is esteemed as the sweet Singer of Israel, as the man after Gods own heart, after his death. So, in our times, what broils and turmoils had that worthy Calvin, zealous Luther, reverent Beza, judicious Zanchy, moderate Melancthon, learned Peter Martyr, Oecolampadius, and others in foreign Countries; Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, etc. amongst ourselves at home: what filthy blots and aspersions were cast upon their good names? how were their doctrine and doings misconceived? their lives and learnings questioned and censured? their works and writings wrested and misse-interpreted? all that they said or did, preuerted or corrupted, by the malicious enemies of the truth, both within, and amongst themselves, and abroad amongst the Papists: insomuch that it was one of Melancthons' dying Comforts, that by death he should be freed (as his words are) from the barkings and bite of some dogs, in the form of Divines: which was the measure that the rest found, (as indeed in the whole course of Scriptures, the greatest enemies that ever the Church and zealous Teachers in the Church had, were of their own rank and profession, false Priests, false Prophets, Scribes and pharisees, and false Apostles,) in which respect as the same Melancthon once hoped and in a manner prophesied, that the afterages would judge more candidly and sincerely of him and his Works after his death: even so he, and others, now find it: for, (notwithstanding the Blasphemies which Romish Rabshakeh's, Feverdentius, Coc●leus, Bolserus, and others, belch out against these German and Belgic Lights, and the rest of the Host of God, whose tongues are no slanders) how hath the Lord honoured & famoused those worthy labourers in his vineyard, even in their good names, since their dissolution? all of them being accounted pillars (notwithstanding the detraction of these Romish Caterpillars) in the house God: all of them in their zealous and learned Labours, (like Oecolampadius, as his name imports) shining as precious Lights in the Church, which never shall be wholly obscured till he that is the light of the world come again to judgement. This we daily see verified, that (to the comfort of the surviving) though zealous Pastors, men of exquisite parts and pains, have been in the day of their Ministry torn and reviled amongst these Swine and Dogs, to whom they have given holy things: counted as fools and deceivers (as the jews, and Christ's Countrymen, accounted Christ) mad men▪ 
Acts 26.28  (as Festus thought Paul) and ravers and ragers in the Pulpit (as the jews held jeremy) yet after the setting of their Sun, they have been longed for, 
jer. 18.18. jer. 20.7.8.10.  their loss lamented▪ (chiefly of the household of Faith) and their names honoured, in the hearts, and minds, and mouths of multitudes, when the wicked in all their power and pomp being magnified of their fawning Parasites for a time, in the sudden damp of death, have had the glimmering of their glory put out, their honour laid in the dust, and their names (like their rotten carcases) rotting and smelling and stinking in the nostrils of God and good men: as may beseen in the life and death of Herod, Antiochus, Nero, and others. For, I pray you, 
Acts 12.23  who is now more famous after death, Nero or the persecuted Christians? julian, or the poor Saints which he butchered? Herod, or john whom he beheaded: Pashur, or jeremy whom he imprisoned: Gardiner, Bonner, and such bloody Butchers, or our English Martyrs whom they burned? Surely the candle of the wickeds glory is put out, and there remains the impure filthy stinking snuff of an evil name, their glory is their shame, 
Prou. 10.  Phil. 2.19. but the memorial of the righteous is precious, smelling like Balm and Spikenard diffused; 
Psal. 112.9  yea, their name shines like the Stars in the shady night of death, or rather like the Sun, the cloud being removed, flourishing in the storm of death, like the Laurel, which is green when the Winter is foul. Though CHRIST himself be counted a Samaritan, an impostor, one that was Belzebubs friend, a poor Carpenters poor Son in his life, yet in and at his death, he is justified, approved and famoused as a righteous man as an innocent, as a just man, as the Son of GOD, by the testimony that was given of him, first, by 
a Mat. 27.24  Pilate; secondly, 
b ver. 19  pilate's Wife; thirdly, the 
c Luke 23.48  Passengers that smote their breasts; fourthly, the 
d Mat. 27.54  tears of the Daughters of jerusalem; five, the 
e Mat. 25 4  Centurion; sixtly, and 
f ver. 51.53  judas himself; Seventhly, yea, 1. the vail of the Temple; 2. the stones; 3. the Sun; 4. the Elements; 5. the raised bodies of the dead Saints, give a real and an honourable testimony of him; 6. thus shall it be with thee if thou be'st a member of Christ, though thou be'st misse-reported, and sinisterly censured, as 
g job. 15. ch. 22.33.34.  job was of his friends; 7. yet in thy dissolution principally, thy name shall be raised, like the fire from under the ashes of ignominy. It was the Heathens Comfort that he should leave a good name behind him: so let it be thine; it being one of the greatest earthly blessings, above Gold and Silver, Prou. 22.1. yea, as a precious Ointment, Eccl. 7.3. this Ointment smells the sweetest when the box of thy body is broken: thou carriest this Ointment (as dead bodies are anointed) even to the grave with thee▪ and it lives, when all other earthly things die to thee and thou to them. Therefore be thou cheered with the thought which comforted the Pagan, Nemo me, etc.  
Let none be-moist my Hearse with helpless tears.  
From Learning's mouth Fame flies to vulgar ears.  
14 In death thou shalt have an excellent and notable both trial and demonstration, 
14 It tries and declares thy graces.  as also exercise of thy graces, as first, of thy Faith; secondly, thy Patience; thirdly, thy Constancy; fourthly, thy Christian Courage; five, Fortitude; sixtly, and the Spirit of Prayer, by which, first, others shall be strengthened; secondly, the weak shall be confirmed; thirdly, and all that are present with thee, and amongst whom thou livest, encouraged in their Christian courses; fourthly, thy sincerity in thy profession approved; five, God's graces in thee magnified; sixtly, and above all, his name glorified.  

15 It is the good inheritance of the godly, and the horror of the wicked.  15 In thy death thou shalt be distinguished from a carnal and a profane man: for commonly the sick bed shows the sickness or the health of the soul: the death shows the life, dividing and judging the estate of the visited, as Gid●on divided his company by lapping of water▪ judg. 7.1. and as the Ephramites were distinguished from the Israelites by pronouncing Shib●l●th. For look at the godly from time to time, and the last acts they did, and the last words they spoke, were the most sacred, seasoned, and sanctified of their whole life, (but it hath been contrary in the wicked) and God is the same God to thee that he was to them, if thou be'st a believer. Look into particulars: the last speeches of dying Saints, as they have been full of grace, so they are worthy relating, and remembering, and applying. 
Acts 7.60.  The last period of S. Steuens life was prayer for his enemies, and for his own soul: 
1 Kings 2. v. 1. to. 11.  the last words of David, holy exhortations to his Son Solomon, to observe the Statutes and Ordinances of the Lord, and the disposing of some particulars, of which he gave him cautions: the last acts of old jacob, 
Gen. 48. Gen. 49.  Prayer, and prophesying, concerning his sons and posterity: the like comfortable end made Abraham, job, old Simeon, Moses, 
Gen 25.8. job 42.17. Luke 2.  and other of the Saints in the old and new Testament. The like we read of Ambrose, whose conclusion in his deathbed was, that he was neither ashamed to live, nor fearful to die, because he had a good lord 
Vide cent. Magd. sic Grin. in Apotheg. morientiu●.  Bernard's death was grounded upon the sure hope and Anchor of God's mercy, though he lived in corrupt times. Oecolampadius told his visitors news, in the last speech he uttered, namely, that he should shortly be with the LORD JESUS. Mr. Calvin with David's heart repeating David's Psalms, mourning in the Spirit, for his sins, his soul was sent out of his body, like Noah's Dove, out of the Ark. Melancthon, in his last farewell to life, professed he was exceeding willing to die because it was the Lords will, praying for a happy and joyful departure, he had his desire presently sealed. Peter Martyr, gave a comfortable farewell to his brethren and dear friends, acknowledging salvation only in Christ the Redeemer, in which faith as he lived so he died. That half miraculous man Luther, in his death abounded as with prayer so with praises and thanksgivings that the Lord had revealed Christ unto him, and made him an instrument to discover Antichrist, and to oppose him. Anna's Burgius cried in her last cries, Lord forsake not me, lest I forsake thee. Mauritius the Emperor, in his last fainting, gave glory unto GOD, that was righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. Saint Augustine wept upon his sick couch for many days together, and so was his soul ferried to Christ in a flood of tears, as Peter walked to Christ on the Sea of waters. I might give your meditations matter enough to work upon, in reflexing upon infinite examples, related by Authors, to which every faithful Minister that useth to perform this duty of visiting the sick, like a spiritual Physician, discerning the estate of the soul, adds his Probatum est, in joyful experience of many, whose dying hath been suited and sorted to their living, both gracious, both glorious.  
Why then shouldest thou fear? for to the righteous there shall be peace at the last, Esay 57.2. therefore live by Faith, believe the Promises, and apply them, and be comforted in God's mercy to others: but as for the wicked, it is not so with them, they shall be like the chaff scattered in the wind; for, there is no peace to the wicked saith my God, Esa. 57.21. the prolong of their wicked life ends in a fearful Tragedy in death: for, though in respect of the body, and the outward man, 
Eccles. 2.16  there is the same condition to the wise and the foolish, to Nabal and Solomon, godly jonathan perishing in the field as well as wicked Saul, 1 Sam. 31.2.3. Ezekias struck with the plagues boil, Esay 38.21. Asa gouty in his feet; nay, 
2 Chron. 35 23  even good josias wounded in the Battle, and the rest of the godly being afflicted in sickness as piteously, and dying oft times as painfully, whether in a natural or a violent death, even as the wicked, (as appears in the exquisite torments of the Martyrs in the Primitive Church, in the crucifying of Peter and Paul with their heads downwards, 
Ar. in probls. de cruse.  etc. yea, even in the very Passion of Christ himself:) yet in respect of the inward man, and dispositions of their souls in death, there is as great difference betwixt them, as there was in their carriage and conversation in life. And therefore as you have heard the godly praying, or praising and blessing GOD, speaking graciously, sending out their spirits joyfully, and dying comfortably: so profane men die either carelessly and blockishly, for the most part, their hearts being frozen, and their consciences benumbed and scared, without any touch in soul or remorse for sin; which kind of dying though our sottish silly common people commend as the most happy and blessed death, when they go away quietly like Lambs, as their stupidity and blindness think: yet indeed they die like Beasts and Dogs, without any life of grace, or feeling of the Spirit, in the power or comfort of it; nay, senselessly like stocks and stones, as is said of Nabal, whose heart was like a stone within him, 1 Sam. 25.37.38. or else desperately and ragingly, impatiently as impenitently, belching out blasphemies against both the Majesty and the Mercy of God. Thus judas cries he hath sinned in betraying the innocent blood, 
Mat. 27.3.  but hath no Faith to apply that blood to the washing away of his bloody treason. 
2 Mach. 9.13.  Thus Antiochus Epiphanes dying, is tormented inwardly with the gripes and convulsions of conscience, as with the rage of his sickness: so julian the Apostate, in his last act of life, from his infected lungs sent out venom against Christ, calling him in derision, victorious Galilean. Thus Eccius dies execrating his Popish on-setters in frustrating his golden hopes, when they had clapped their hands to animate him to bark at Luther and the Protestanrs. The like end made Latomus, Hoff-maister, Spira, and other Antichristian Champions, being not unlike in their sin. Thus Gardiner dies, confessing that he had sinned with Peter, but could not repent with Peter. Cornelius Agrippa, cursing his attending Spirit, that stood by him in the form of a black dog. Others parallel in the like sins, making like proportioned ends: unless it be in some particulars, as once in the Scripture, 
Luk. 23.43  in the Thief upon the cross, that a thievish and licentious life should have the promise of Paradise in Death: which as it was, first, the conclusion of Christ's life; secondly, the present magnifying of the power of his Passion: so it is not to be urged, nor peremptorily pleaded; 1. in defence of ill livers; 2. nor imitated in deferring repentance; 3. nor presumed upon, no more than a man ought to presume to be a Traitor, a Witch, a murderer, in hope for a pardon when he is to be turned off the Ladder: because some one man in an age, hath by God's providence this privilege, to be reprieved and released from these facts committed. For, in place of one example that hath had his inveterate old sores cured, his crying treasons pardoned at the last hour, (like Gregory's good thief that begged heaven) we have millions that have perished, rot, and consumed, in body and soul, in the last exigent of life: as they have not spared GOD, living; God hath not given them any tokens of his favour, but rather of his wrath and indignation, dying: forgetting them dying, as in their life they forgot him; turning away his ear from hearing of their prayers, 
Psal. 66. 2●  though they howl upon their sicke-beds like Wolves, Ose 7.14. because in their health and prosperity, they have like deaf Adders, stopped their ears, in not hearing his Law and Word, and in not considering the cries of the poor, Prou. 28.9. Prou. 21.13. Prou. 15.8. Therefore for thy present instruction and future consolation, work thou out betimes thy salvation with fear and trembling. 
Phil. 2.12.  Give all diligence to make thy Election sure. Break off all thy sins by repentance. Dan. 4.24. Turn to the Lord with all thine heart, in fasting, weeping and mourning, joel 2.12. Turn from the wickedness thou hast committed, with the Ninivites, jonah 3.7.8. Wash thee and make thee clean, Esay 1.16. Cleanse thy heart from evil thoughts, jer. 4.14. Leave thy formality in Religion▪ and worship the Lord in truth and spirit, john 4.24. Get faith, and learn to live by faith, Hab. 2.4. and to die by faith. 
john 1.47.  Be a Nathaniel in thy dealings with men; let thy heart be upright as thy hand, joh. 1.47. 
Psal. 41 1.  Remember the poor and needy, than the Lord will remember thee in the day of thy sickness: 
Luk. 16.22.  Christ will visit thee as he did jairus Daughter, and Peter's wives Mother; he shall be thy Physician, when the simples of Nature, and the arm of Flesh fail; his Angels shall pitch their tents about thee, and carry thy flitting soul, as they did Lazarus his, into the seats of the blessed. Make use of this, and the LORD give thee understanding in all things.  
16 As the examples of the Saints of God, 
16 In death desire Christ, as he by death desired thee.  that having lived conscionably, and died comfortably, must comfort thee in this hour, so their willingness to die must encourage thee willingly to drink of that cup which the Lord offers thee, without resisting or relucting. Look upon old Simeon, singing that Swanlike song, prophesying his death; Lord, now le●t●st thou thy Servant depart in peace, Luke 2.29 But especially of Saint Paul, weary of this mortality, desirous to be disburdened of the burden of his corruptions, to be delivered from the body of sin, Rom. 7. to be present with the Lord; to be dissolved and to be with CHRIST, 2 Cor. 5. Phil. 1. But the best precedent that we have in life and death, as the best comfort, is the practice of Christ; who although he feared death as man, desiring conditionally the passing of that bitter cup, yet nevertheless we shall see in him a great alacrity, cheerfulness, propensity, and willingness to die: for, 
Mat. 10.38 and 16.21.17▪ 22.23 Luk. 18.31.  besides his often conference with his Disciples about his death, the frequent nomination of it upon all occasions, which shows how vehemently he was affected towards it, the tongue speaking from the heart's abundance, all his words and acts declare it: for to show his desire to die, 
john 4.32.  he counts it but a Baptism, or as it were, a sprinkling of cooling water, Mat. 20.22. nay, it is meat and drink to him to do his Father's will, which was that he should die▪ he counts it a journey to go, which he was willing to undergo: nay, he was even pained until it was passed: when it came to the push that his hour was come, he seeks death as it seeks him; 
joh. 18.4.7  he goes forth to meet and welcome it as his friend, 
Gen. 18.2. joh. 19.30. Gen. 8.8.  as Abraham and Lot to meet and entertain the Angels; he offers himself to the instruments of his death, his back to the smiters; and finally, his soul is not taken from him compulsorie, but as he commended it, so he resigned and gave it up, to his Father willingly; he gave up the ghost having power to lay down his life, sending out his spirit, as Noah did the Dove out of the Ark, which after three days returned again to quicken the body, from heaven, from whence also Lazarus his soul returned after four days. Now apply this to thine own particular: art not thou a Christian, so denominated of CHRIST? then every one of Christ's actions ought to be thy instruction, chiefly in his death, all whose dying gestures are worthy to be writ in thy heart, in letters of Gold. Did he then undergo such an extraordinary, unnatural, painful, shameful, cursed death, the worst that ever was; for therefore Christ died the worst death that ever was, both for the ignominy of it, and the exquisite tortures in it, that a Christian should not fear any death, since every death is sanctified unto him in the death of Christ. Did Christ not only endure his pangs and pains in death so patiently, 
Esay 53.  as a Lamb before the shearer, but was even desirous of this bitter pill, for the joy that was set before him, and the love he bore to redeem thy enthralled soul? and art thou scrupulous and timorous of a natural and an ordinary passage from life to life through this dead Sea? Wilt thou mutter and murmur, and show thyself refractory to come to the King's Court, when thou art so gently summoned, by such a sweet messenger as a lingering sickness? Hast thou so little longing to go to him by the rupture of a weak thread of life, who was so desirous to come to thee from heaven to earth, from the earth to the Cross, from the Cross to the Grave, even through a red Sea of blood? thorough Pikes and Spears, and nails and thorns, being dieted in this his bloody march with the bread of affliction, and the water of tears; with gall & vinegar? oh hast thou so little delight in him, so little desire towards him? so small liking of him, so little love to him? that thou list not step over the narrow bridge of this life, to meet him, to greet him, and to enjoy him? Expostulate with thy soul how it comes to be so dull, so dead, so lumpish, so leaden: how it is that thou professest thyself to be a Spouse of Christ 
a Eph 5.21 Ose 2.19. , a member of Christ 
b Ephe. 5.30 , a branch of Christ 
c joh. 15.5. , (which thou must believe and profess if thou hast any part in him 
d joh. 15.6. ,) and yet hast no desire to put off the outward mantle of this bodies covering, to be inseparably embraced in the arms of this Bridegroom; not to lean with john, but for ever to rest in his bosom; to be joined to thy Head? to be fixed in this union? But if Christ's love and desire to die, and to die for thee, be too high a pitch for thee to soar to, which yet ought to be aimed at, yet imitate the desires and the patience of the Saints in this kind, so far (as the Apostle speaks of himself) as they imitate Christ: for as the examples of the wicked are recorded for our detestation, 1 Cor. 6.10. so the examples of the godly are written for our comfort and consolation, Rom. 15.4. You have heard (saith james) of the patience of job, 
jam. 5.11.  and what end God made with him. You have heard of the desires of Paul and Simeon, of the graces that appeared in David, jacob, Steven. etc. Ambrose, Augustine, etc. Calvin, Luther, etc. and what ends they made, with God. Then, thou using the same means that they did, even Faith and Repentance; why shouldest thou demur, or be unwilling to go that journey which they have gone?  
17 Yet if examples and precedents of others, 
17 Death is the common Inn of all flesh, where thou shalt be refreshed. Esay 38.2. Numb. 27.13  as of Christ and Christians set not an edge on thy desires to die; yet let the mutability, brevity and uncertainty of life, with the certainty of death, cause thee to make a virtue of necessity: as Esay said from God, to Ez●kias, thou must die; and as God to Moses, thou shalt die; so he saith to thee, Set thine house, set thine heart in order, for thou canst not live, thou must die; nay, thou canst not long live, and thou must soon die, certainly die; therefore it is wisdom for thee, (as in outward things) so in this, to do that voluntarily, which thou must do necessarily, and compulsory: thy life thou knowest is but a short life, frail, and brittle as glass. As it is a flower for the mortality of it, Esay 40.7. A smoke, for the vanity of it, Psal. 102.3. so it is a house of clay, soon crushed down, job. 4.17. A tent or tabernacle, soon plucked up, 2 Cor. 5.1. A shepherds Tent, soon pulled down, Esay 38.12. A Ship in the Sea, Wisd. 5.10. soon sliding, soon overthrown by the Rocks, overblown by the winds: nay, as a weavers Shuttle, job 7.6. for the volubility of it: as a dream job 20.8. as a shadow, job 8.9. for the vanity of it; nay, vanity itself, which is nothing, it being in very deed nothing in respect of eternity.  
Learn therefore by this mirror of dying Moses, so to spend these thy days of vanity, that for shortness of days in this world, thou mayst with Moses, and all the glorious Saints of God, enjoy eternity of days in the world to come.    

SIMEON'S dying-Song. HANDLED IN six Sermons.  LUKE 2.29. Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace, according to thy Word. 
IT is the Position of some, 
Plus exempla quam praecepta.  that Examples move more than Rules; that Practice persuades or dissuades above Precepts, either in Imitation or Emulation of Virtue, or Detestation of Vice: and above others we are pronest to write after the Copies of great men, and to tread in the steps of old men. Therefore the Scripture propound unto us the patterns of the greatest of men, even Kings who were as good as great, 
Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis.  
a 2 Sam. 15.31. Ch. 23. 1 Kin. 2.10  David, 
b 2 Chro. 31.1.2.  Ezekias, 
c Chro. 34.3.4.  josias, 
d Chr. 15.8  Asa, 
e 1 King. 22.41.  jehosaphat, etc. that we should follow their footings so far as they followed Christ, and walked with God. Of the most aged amongst men, as of 
f Gen. 25.8  Abraham, 
g Gen. 9.28.29.  Noah, 
h Gen. 5.27  Methushalem, 
i job 42.17  job, etc. and here of old Simeon, whose lives and deaths are so many pleading Orators, and preaching Sermons, to excite us to Christian courses, that like them we may live holily and die happily, and arrive at the common Haven of all flesh peaceably and safely. Now amongst the rest, I have called out and selected Simeon, as a Candle set on a hill, as a Beacon on fire, to give light to the world (if she will open her blinded and beetle eyes) how to walk to Zion, through this vail of life, even in the dark and 
k Psal. 22.4.  shadowy night of death. Simeon a fit object for us to reflect the eyes of our intellectual powers upon, in the prosecution of this sad and sable subject of death: in which consider, first, the Title of the Text; secondly, the Text itself.  
For the Title, Antiquity, and our Church denominates it, The Song of Simeon, merely Swanlike and Cygnean, 
Canti● Cygnea.  pious and prophetical. I might easily run Descant and Division upon it, sorting it out into his several parts; showing. 1. the Ditty; 2. the Matter; 3. the Manner; 4 the Harmony; 5. the Time; 6 the Tune: with all such observances in vocal Music, substantial and circumstantial; even from the ground of this Scripture. But my part now is, rather to sigh then to sing, unless Dirges and Madrigals, fitter for Heraclitus his part then Democritus, yet I cannot but so far condescend to this Cantion, as to commend this divine Canticle for the excellency, and to consider in it, the ground of it, nature▪ and propriety. For the excellency, it is of that purity and perfection, that I wish it might be a rule and a square to our irrigular and unlimited licentiousness in singing, that our hearts were rightly tuned by the Spirit of God as was Simeons', verse 25. 
Redargution.  that our tongues were the Pens of this ready Writer in our Ditties, 
Psal. 45.1.2  that so we might sing the praises of the King: but alas, our Songs are commonly rather from Sod●me then from Zion; rather sensual then spiritual, carnal then Christian, Satanical then sacred, rather to the honour of Bacchus, Priapus, and Venus, pleasing the Flesh▪ the World, and the Devil, the world's worshipped Trinity; th●n to the glory of the immortal and indivisible Trinity: witness the vain, vile, wanton, vicious, loose, licentious, venereous Songs and Sonnets of Poets and Poetasters of our times: 1. Which may not only be seen extant: 2. but even are chanted and carolled out, by Fools and Fiddlers, unprofitable Moths of the earth; which live either in no calling, or in a sinful calling: 3. heard, received, applauded, approved, laughed at by all the licentious Prodigals, loose gull-Gallants, Epicures, and Carnalists, ordinarily in every Ordinary, Inn, Tavern, Alehouses, and the like: Oh therefore whose heart smites him in this kind, let him reform this sin, whether active or passive, in delighting or desiring to say, sing, or hear these Organs of Satan, and those bellows of sin and uncleanness. Turn now the stream another way, let jordan run backward. If thou be'st afflicted, pray: take out this rule, so did Moses, Manasses, David, the Israelites, and all God's Saints. Art thou merrily affected? 
james 5.13.  sing: but what? Psalms, Psal. 119. Hymns, and Songs, and spiritual Psalms, making melody to the Lord in your hearts: therefore as I would propound David and Ezekias, as true patterns for all mourners; so Simeon and Zachary, as spectacles to all singers. As in Instrumental Music, the strings that are out of tune, must be set up to those that are in tune: so when thou singest vanity thy heart and tongue, which are distracted, distempered, and out of tune, must be set in the right Key, as was Simeons'; than thou shalt sing at thy departure out of this world's Prison, as 
a Acts. 16.21  Paul and Silas did in Prison. Thou shalt sing Hosannas in Heaven, when thy Friends sing thy Funeral Neniae on earth.  
The ground of this Song is Christ, the Messias, Saviour, and salvation of Israel, the Redeemer of his people, as the Word calls him 
b Luke 2.69 ; as the Angel christens him from 
c Mat. ●. 21  God; which Saviour, as he was promised to 
d Gen 3 15  A●am, the promise renewed to 
e Gen. 15.5.17.6. Gen. 12.3. Gal. 3.8.  Abraham; prefigured in the Levitical Law, and those Mosaical Types and Ceremonies, Aaron's Rod, the Pot of Manna, the watery Rock, the scapegoat, the brazen Serpent, the blood of sacrificed Beasts and Bullocks, and the like; prophesied of by all Prophets 
f Act. 3.24. , great and lesser, from Moses 
g Deut. 1.15 and 7.37.  to Malachi: so being now revealed and exhibited, is the ground of Simeons' Song, and the matter of his inward mirth, breaking forth like a fire long kept in, into these outward Modulations.  
His practice is our precept; 
Use.  all our joy must be in Christ, and for Christ. In Christ rejoiced the patriarchs, when they did but see Christ's day a far off, thorough the cloud and the veil, as did 
h john. 6.56 Heb 11.13  Abraham. In Christ rejoiced the Prophets, 
i Esay 53. ch. 5●. ch 55.  Esay, 
k Ier●4 ●4. 5.  Ierem●, Ezekiel, etc. in the heat of their persecutions being refreshed with the vision of that incarnate Babe, 
l Esay 9.6.  Prince of peace, branch of jesse, eternal Counsellor, which they did preach, and of whom they did prophesy. In Christ rejoiced the Apostles, Peter, james and john; yea, Paul 
a 1 Cor. 15.  himself in the midst of stripes, whips, and imprisonment 
Ch. 5.41. . In Christ rejoiced the ancient Martyrs, Policarpus, Ignatius, Cyprian, even like the three Children in the midst of the fire 
c Dan. 3.23. . In Christ rejoiced the ancient Fathers, Augustine, Jerome, Bernard, etc. witness their words, works, and writings, amongst the rest, of him that could say, Deus meus & omnia, my Christ and all things; Wife, Child, Friend, Father, joy sufficient, efficient, in life and death. Nay, lastly, as with Christ, so in Christ, and for Christ, rejoiced the 
d Luke 2.14  Angels in earth and in heaven 
e Reu. 5.11.12 : be glad then oh ye righteous, and rejoice ye that fear the Lord, as the Angels 
f Luke 2.10.  to the Shepherds, as Esay to the Church, 
g Esay 9.6.  For, unto us a child is borne, and a Son is given: For, to us is borne a Saviour, in the City of David, which shall deliver all his Israel from their sins, Matth. 1.21. Luke 19.10.  

Redargution.  Many and manifold are the joys of the sons of men, as dangerous, as divers; few with those sons of God by Creation and Adoption, Angels and Saints, rejoice in, or for Christ; but sinners according to the diversities of their darling sins, solace their souls in such contents, as I may call merely Antichristian, and against Christ, and the Lords anointed, in which they please themselves and displease him; content their flesh, but crucify CHRIST, and grieve his Spirit. Nabal 
h 1 Sam. 15 , and Balthasar 
i Daniel. 5. , the Epicure and Drunkard, hath joy enough in his feasts and festivals: the colour of the wine delights his sight, the relish his devouring sense, like a base Bagpipe, he makes such Music as the Devil danceth at, when he is full. The Usurer, the worldling, 
Sibila● m● ropulus, etc. Horace.  and the miserable able miser hath his heart ravished when his eye reflexeth upon his glittering Idol, and golden God, the Calf that this beast bows too. The impure Onan 
k Gen. 38. , filthy Fornicator, and inexcusable Adulterer, which like to Salomon's fool 
l Pro. 7.7. , goes into the harlot's house, and like jeremy's neighing horse 
m Ier 5 8. , without understanding 
n Pro. 6.32. , runs after his neighbour's wife, like the Ox to the slaughter 
o Pro 7.22. , to his own destruction 
p Pro. 6.32. ; delights himself (as the Swine in the mi●e, as the Toad in the puddle, as the Panther with excrements 
q Gesner. Pliny , as the Scarabean Fly with ordure and filth, as the Devil his Father 
r Io●. 8.44. , amongst filthy Hogs 
s Lu. 15.16. ,) with his unclean courses and discourses; feeding his appetite with strange flesh 
t Pro. 23.27 , as the lusting Israelites with loved and loathed quails ᵛ, as the Italian Pselli and Mersi feed on poison: his chief joy is to touch and taste Sodomes' Apples, and the forbidden fruit; his only Paradise, the joying in, and enjoying here (which he dreams of hereafter,) a Turkish Heaven, a Mahumetaine portion of Wine and Women: as for Christ he having no heart at all, Hosea 4.11. can have no heart to him, neither in delighting in him, or desiring him, no more than the very Devils themselves, who quaked and trembled, and made out cries and exclamations, at the very sight of him, Luke 8.28.29. so all other Libertines amongst us, have some 
v Mar. 6.17  Herodias or other, some one beloved sin which they more love and like, and joy in then in the world's Saviour. As some in their carnal companions and wicked associates, with whose dispositions and conversations, as they receive as much infection in their soul, as their bodies from a pest-house; so they have their refections, as 
u Dan. 5.1.2  Baltazzar and Sardanapalus had with their Queens and Concubines, and so in the rest. Well, these carnal and common Christians, which have as much zeal to Christ, and love for Christ, as common women, plainly demonstrate that they have the spirit of Satan, and not the Spirit of GOD, as had Simeon. And therefore as they joy not in Christ, neither doth he joy in them, no more than a chaste Bridegroom in a whorish Spouse, as they desire not him, he desires not them, nor their company in his Chamber, no more than he did the foolish Virgins 
x Mat. 25.11.12. ; as they delight not in him, he delights not in them, no more than a man delights in his crucifier and tormenter; as they love not him, so he loves not them, no more than he doth Cain 
y Jude v. 11  and Esau 
z Mal. 1.2. Rom. 9.13. , whom the LORD hated. As Peter said to Simon Magus, so I say to them, They and their money perish together 
a Act. 8.20 , they and their lustful pleasures perish together, as did Z●mri and Cosbee 
b Numb. 25.14.15. ; they and their Gold perish together, as did Achan and his wedge 
c Josh. 7.24. ; they and their Idols perish together, as did the Israelites and their Calf 
d Exod. 32.20.35. ▪ they and their sins perish together, as did the murmuring Rebels in the Wilderness; they and their companions perish together, as did Corah and his complices 
e Numb. 16.31.32. : cursed be their sins, and their Societies, like Sim●on and Levi, brethren in iniquity 
f Gen. 46.5.7. : So let them perish, Lord, that are thine enemies, like the untimely fruit of a woman. If any love not the Lord jesus, let them be accursed, Anathema, Maranatha. If any rejoice not at the birth of a Saviour here with Simeon, let the Sun of all their carnal joys s●t, and be eclipsed in the cloud of death.  
Secondly, as we must joy in Christ, so we must joy and rejoice, and be thankful for Christ; yea, for all the blessings and the benefits that we receive in and from Christ, temporal and spiritual, external, internal, or eternal: so was Simeon here, his song is Eucharistical and gratulatory, for the revelation of Christ; he blesseth God that he lives to see the conduit and the fountain of all blessings to his Church, Christ the Messias. And since his Devotion is our Instruction, Christians must be thankful for Christ. Thus all the faithful and believers when Christ was borne offered up their tributary praises, the sacrifices of their souls, breaking out into holy Hymns and Songs. The Angel did carol out, Glory be to God on high 
g Luk. 2.13 14. , so the Eastern Magis 
h Mat. 2.10 11. , the zealous Shepherds 
i Luke 2.20. , glorify God: the blessed Virgin magnifies the 
k Luke 1.46 47.  Lord: Elizabeth, and the prophesying Babe within her womb 
l Ver. 41. , leap and rejoice: Anna 
m Luke 2.38. , Zachary 
n Luk. 1.68 , and Simeon, are not behind with their parts, in continuing their praises; and so must we with our best hearts and affections, make up the Choir, since we have no less interest in, nor no fewer privileges by Christ, than they.  
The Reasons to enforce this duty, are these:  
First, if the Saints of God in the old Testament were so thankful for their temporal protection, preservation, and redemption from their outward enemies, the Egyptians, Amalekites, Canaanites, Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, etc. by temporal saviours, Moses, joshua, Gideon, japhte, Samson, David, etc. as may be seen in the spiritual Songs of Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam 
o Exod. 15. v. 1.2.3. v. 20. , and Deborah, and Baruch 
p jud. 5.1.2 , and David 
q 2 Sam. 22  and judith 
r judith 26.1.2.3. : how much more ought we to burst forth into praises, for our spiritual deliverance from the Flesh, the World, the Devil, that Pharaoh, and from his Egyptian yoke, from Hell, Death, and Damnation, by that Messias, of whom these earthly and terrestrial saviours were Types and figures.  
Secondly, gratulation and thankfulness is a duty commanded Psal. 50.15. 1 Thes. 5.18. therefore we must not be immorigerous and disobedient to God's command, no more than Paul was to the heavenly vision 
s Act. 26.19 , unless we be found fighters, and rebels, and traitors against God.  
Thirdly, it is a species, and part of Prayer, and so of God's spiritual worship, Phil. 4 6. Ephes. 6.  
Fourthly, by this duty we glorify God which is the end of our Creation, Psal. 50.23.  
Fiftly, 1. It is a seemly thing, and becometh the Saints to be thankful, Psal. 33.1. 2. It is a very good thing to praise the Lord, Psal. 92.1. 3. It is a pleasant thing, and praise is comely, Psal. 147.1.  
Sixtly, the very Heathens have commended it, and the beasts have performed it in their brutish manner, to their benefactors, as appeareth in Androdius his 
t Livy.  Lion.  
seventhly, an unthankful man is hated of men, accounted as a Viper, and an unprofitable burden to the earth 
v Terrae inutile pondus. : the very light of Nature, and common humanity cries out upon it.  
Eightly, God upbraydes and brands his dearest Children for the omission of this duty, 2 Chron. 32.25.  
Ninthly, the omission of this is a sign of a proud heart, and brings down God's wrath. Ibidem.  
Tenthly, this is the conversation which we shall have in heaven, even to praise God, especially for the redemption of the world by Christ, Phil. 3.20. Reu. 5.9. Reu. 19.1.3. This is the life that the Angels lead, therefore we ought speedily to enure ourselves to it.  

Use.  This must excite us to be more careful in performance of this duty: It is a blame and a blemish to be unthankful to man, as judas was to Christ, as the jews and Abimelech to Gideons' Children 
u judge 9.16 17.18. , as Pharaohs Butler to joseph 
x Gen 40.23. ; much more to God. It is a sin, and an abomination to be unthankful to God for temporal and outward blessings, as health, wealth, life, liberty, children, etc. so for the use of the Creatures. Christ upbraydes the nine Lepers for this sin Luke 17.17 18. And sure those that use the Creatures profanely, as Dogs, and Swine, and beasts, never looking to the holy and religious use of them, as sanctified by the Word and Prayer 
y 1 Tim. 4.5 , they are worse than the Doves and Elephants, that at least look up to heaven when they eat their meat: but if we be unthankful for the Incarnation, Death, and Passion of the Creator, that in his humanity was made a creature 
a Gal. 4.4. , and subjecteth to death 
b Phil. 2.8. , to redeem us the slaves and vassals of sin and Satan, from the first and second death 
c Rom. 4.25. & 5.18.19. ; our sin is in a higher die and grain of ingratitude: we are more not only unchristian, but viperous, and inhuman then the savage Geteses and Sauromiataines. Alas then, how many are unlike to thankful Simeon? hour many are seemingly and hypocritically thankful for outward things? they are ready in every company to thank God oft times in the Pharisaical pride of their hearts 
d Luke 18.11.12. , for full basquets and rich storehouses, abundance of Talents, fruitful wife, for their Olive branches, their children, but the same men are neither vocally nor really, in words or works, thankful unto God for Christ jesus, for the benefits we have by him, 1. of Election, 2. Vocation, 3. justification, 4. Redemption, 5. Sanctification, and title to 6. Glorification; for his 7. Word, 8. Gospel, 9 Sacraments, 10. Ministers, 11. ministery: for these, ne verbum quidem, not a word, there is altum silentium, as mute as fishes. All natural and moral men in this are Mutes, and not Consonants, as it is most consonant they should be. Or if they speak a gratulatory word, their hearts are as far from it as heaven from earth; at least their works proclaim open war and hostililie against the Lords Christ, kissing him with judas in outward profession, crying ave, and all hail with the jews, when (their lives being all hell) they cry Crucify him in their conversation, Psal. 3.17.  
And thus much for the Title, now to the Text, Lord now lettest, etc.  
Every word hath his weight without torturing the Text; these things are observable: 1. Simeons' Compellation; Lord: 2. his desires Limitation; Now: 3. the acknowledgement of the Divine Permission; Lettest thou: 4. his proper Appellation, Thy Servant: 5. his desired Dismission; Depart: 6. his hoped Pacification; In peace: 7. his grounded Resolution; According to thy Word: of which in order.  

Simeons' Compellation. In this word, Lord.  
SOme take Lord, essentially for the whole Trinity, jehovah Elohim; some personally, for one of the Persons, for indeed the whole Trinity, and every Person in the Trinity, is oft in the Scripture termed by this word Lord. Some appropriate it here to God the Father, some to Christ the Son, so 
e In locum.  Theophilact and Euthumius: some to God the holy Ghost, so 
f In Lucam. 1 Tim. 3.16  Athanasius.  
Apply it unto Christ, and then you have to consider a great Mystery, a great Mercy, God manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received into glory; for that incarnate Babe, which Simeon hath in his arms, in respect of his humanity he calls him Lord, in respect of his Divinity, From whence we see demonstratively, what all Orthodox Antiquity affirms, the testimony of Scriptures 
g 1 joh. 1.14 Ephes. 4.10 Phil. 2.6.7.8. , harmony of all reformed Churches 
h Of Bohemia, Basill, France, Swevia, see harmony of confessions. , General and Provincial Concels, several Creeds, both Apostolical and Nicene, confirm, that Christ the Messias, the Son of God 
i Mat. 3.17 Psal. 2.7. , is both 
k joh. 17.3. john 1 1.  God and Man 
l Esay 7.14 ; Christus Deus de Patre, Homo de Matre, etc. God of his Father, Man of his Mother 
m Mat. 10.18.23. Luke 1.27.31.34. : of his Father's immortality, of his Mother's virginity: of his Mother without Father, of his Father without a Mother; a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech 
n Heb. 5.10. : without Father as he was Man, without Mother as he was GOD: of his Father without time, of his Mother without seed: not borne without either man or woman, as was Adam 
o Gen. 1.27 ; nor of man without a woman, as was Eve 
p Gen. 2.22. : nor of both man and woman, as are we the posterity of Adam and Eve; but of a woman without a man, Patrem habuit in Coelis, Matrem quesivit in Terris 
q August. de temp. hom. 9 vide hom. 13 , having a Father in Heaven he sought for a Mother in earth; yea, such a Mother as made the Mystery so miraculous, as all things in heaven and earth cannot parallel or pattern it: for these three things in this one are accomplished of GOD, admirably singular, and singularly to be admired; Deus & Homo, Mater & Virgo, Verbum & Caro; to wit, God and Man, a Mother and a Maid, the Word and Flesh, united in one. A Mystery never sufficiently to be admired; Vt propter nos veniret in mundum, per quem factus est mundus; a Mercy never enough to be magnified, of men and Angels; that for our sakes he should come into the world, which made the world; that the Creator of Mary should be borne of Mary, that David's Lord should be David's Son; he which was long before Abraham, the seed of Abraham; the Maker of the earth made of the earth; that as in the nonage of of the world man was made after the Image of God, so in the dotage of the world, God should come in the similitude of sinful man; that God should be made man, that man should be as a God; that God should descend down to the earth, that man should ascend up to the heaven. Oh wonder at this you that wonder at nothing: for my part (saith Cyprian 
r Cyprian ) I do not admire the beauty of the Sun, the colours of the Rainbow, the glory of the Moon, the motion of the Heavens, the fixed stability of the earth, the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, the variety of the Creatures, the alteration and succession of times and seasons, nor any thing else amongst all the Creatures, Celestial and Sublunary; but this I admire, and for ever will, Deum in utero, Creatorem in creatura, etc. God made man, the Creator borne of the Creature, and for the Creature; yea, the mighty God before whom the heavens shake and the Mountains tremble. a little Infant in the arms of a Virgin Mother, in the arms of old Simeon an aged Father: this is such a work, such a wonder, that I say with S. Jerome 
s Hierome. , Quod natura non habuit, etc. that which Naure had not, which Use knew not, which Reason was ignorant of, man's Mind uncapable of, which the Cherubins conceived not; the Angels, till revealed, understood not, which all the Powers of created nature were amazed at, came to pass, when CHRIST by his Incarnation, did unite the Humanity to the Divinity, in a true, natural, real, and Hypostatical 
t Vide Zanchium de incar. verbi.  union.  

Use.  Oh therefore let us reap the fruit of this Vine, since he is come from heaven to earth, to marry us in our own nature 
v Bern. ser. 2 in Cant. , Nam ut Sponsus & Sponsa in Thalamo, etc. for as man and wife are one in the Bride-chamber, so God and man one Christ in the womb of the Virgin. Oh let us labour by faith to be united and married unto him, to be made members of this Head, Branches of this Vine, Buildings upon this Cornerstone, parts of his Body, Spouses of this Bridegroom, that with the wise Virgins being contracted by faith unto him here in grace, the Marriage may be solemnized in Glory. Then shall we truly be kissed with the kisses of his love 
u Can· 1.1. : Oh foelix osculum 
x Oh foelix osculum, in quo non os ori, sed Deus homini unitur. , etc. Oh happy kiss, which is not a joining of lips, but a joining of loves betwixt God and man.  
Secondly, was this Lord borne man, for us, let us labour to be borne again to him in that spiritual newbirth and Regeneration, which the Scriptures call a new Creation 
a Psal. 51.12 , a holy turning 
b joel 2.12. , change 
c Rom. 12.2. , and conversion 
d jer. 31.18  of the whole man, in the renovation of all the Powers and faculties of body and soul, superior and inferior, both in the intellectual parts, as in memory, will, understanding, etc. as also in the lower faculties, irascible and concupiscible: this new birth which the Prophets have continually urged 
e Esa. 31.6. jer. 3.12.14 Ezek. 18.30 Ose. 14.2. , which john 
f Mat. 3.2.  Baptist and the Disciples have preached 
g Lu. 24.47 , which Paul 
h Acts 26.17.18.  and the Apostles have continually pressed in their Sermons 
i Act. 2.38.  and writings, which our Saviour Christ himself, both in his public preaching 
k Mar. 1.15 , and private conference with Nichodemus 
l joh. 3.3.4. , hath so doctrinally explained, and by application enforced to be performed of all, under pain of damnation 
m Luke 13.3.5. , it is so needful, nay, of such absolute necessity to be practised of all Christians chiefly, that till a man bring forth the fruits of it, worthy repentance and amendment of life 
n Mat. 3.8 , he is but like the barren Figtree 
o Luke 23.7 , corrupt and twice dead 
p Jude v. 12. , without either sap of Grace, or blossom of goodness, fit to be hewn down, and cast into the fire 
q Mat. 3.10 ; nay, a beast and no man; a fox, a Viper, a Dog, 
r Phil. 3.2.  filthy and unclean, as were Herod 
s Lu. 13.32. , the jews 
t Luke 3.7 , and the 
v Tit. 1.12.  Cretians: nay, a horse 
u jer. 5.8. , and Ox 
x Pro. 7.22. ; nay, worse than the Ox and Ass 
y Esay 1.4. , than the Horse and Mule, without understanding, unwise, 
a Rom. 1.29 30. Psal. 14. Rom. 3.12.  disobedient, rebellious, fools 
b Psal. 53. Rom. 1.22. , blind men 
c john 9 31. , natural men, without God in Christ, aliens from God, and strangers from the Commonwealth of 
e Eph 2.12.  Israel, miserable, naked, and wretched men 
f Reu. 3.17 : for whom is reserved Hell 
g Psal. 9.17 , and the second death, wrath 
h Rom. 2.8 9  and vengeance, 
d 1 Cor 9 14  fire and Brimstone 
i Reu. 21 8. , storm and tempest: exclusion out of 
k Reu. 22 15  heaven, and intrusion, and eternal inclusion in the bottomless pit, with the Devil and his Angels 
l Mat. 25.41. , insomuch that as Augustine well, Nasci, & non renasci, generari & non regenerari, for a man to be borne and not to be borne again, to have the nobility of the first birth without the new birth; be he what he will be, Prince or Potentate, King or Kesar: or the world's Monarch, a second Alexander, if he have only generation from Adam without regeneration from the Spirit of Christ, the second Adam; if he be not borne to him by water and the Spirit, that was borne and died for him, coming by water and by blood 
m 1 joh. 5.6 , he had better as the Scripture saith of judas, that he had never been borne 
n Mark 14 21 , nay, that a Millstone had been hung about his neck▪ and he thrown into the Sea the first hour he was borne, for than he should have been damned for his original sins: but his damnation shall now be aggravated for his actual sins; chiefly, for this sin of Omission, in living so long within the Church, without the life of grace, (like a rotten Bough, or wooden Leg▪) No part of the root of jesse 
o Esay 53.2 , or body of Christ, without regeneration, in not believing in, or living like that light which for that end came into the world 
p john 3.19 20 : those which before sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being illuminated 
q Luk. 2.29 , should cast off the works of darkness, and walk like the children of the light 
r 1 Thes. 5.6. , like Disciples of this Lord, who was made man, to redeem Satan's slaves into the liberty of his own Sons.  
Secondly, in Simeons' Compellation, Lord, let it rectify our practice: we use or rather abuse this great and glorious Name in our mouths at our pleasures, not only in rash, vain, and false swearing and forswearing, to which sins there belongs a swift curse 
a Mal. 3.5. , but without reverence, respect, or regard in our ordinary and customary talk, which at every word, and upon every trivial and frivolous occasion, is stuffed out with foolish and vain admiration, as oh God, oh Lord, oh jesus, oh Christ 
b See Mr. Perkins his Government of the tongue , tossing like a Tennis ball this great and fearful Name, the Lord our God, the mighty jehovah, which the very Iewes fear and tremble to nominate at this day.  
Others again, in their Pharisaical Orisons, Paganish Prayers, Heathenish babblings, use this word Lord, in their Tantologies and repetitions, as the Papists the word jesus, even like a Superstitious Popish charm, thinking to be heard for their much babbling 
c Mat. 6.7. ; nay, imagining (which is the gross and foggy ignorance of our both vulgar and vicious common and carnal people) that if even in the hour of death, like the Thief on the 
d Luk. 23.41  cross, or in their old age with Simeon, they cry, Lord, Lord; if they can have time but to say Lord have mercy upon them, they are cocksure of heaven, it is no matter how they live.  
Ans. It is true indeed, if they had the Faith of Simeon and the penitent Thief; if they had the Spirit of God, and zealous hearts, like them, they should be heard and helped: yea, inter Pontem & Fontem, crying betwixt the Bridge and the River, betwixt the Axe and the neck; for, Velox Spiritus sancti gratia, the Spirit is nimble and speedy like the wind, in breathing grace: and, Penitentia vera non sera, True Repentance is never too late, and he that calls upon the Lord shall be 
e joel 2. Act. 2.21.  saved: But alas, than thou must call upon the LORD with such an heart as did Simeon: for, the Lord rejects and abhors all prayers that come not from the 
f Esaey 59.13 Esay 64.7.  heart, as he did Cain's Sacrifice 
g Gen 4. , as execrable and abhominableh. But now, thou that hast lived in sin, in health and in youth, in thy old age, and in sickness, by these sins, art likely to be deprived of God's Spirit, and of thine own heart. For, as Sin quencheth the Spirit, as water quencheth fire: so, it takes away the heart, Ose 4. verse 11. therefore Nabal when he died, he wanted his heart: it was dead like a stone 
h 1 Sam. 25 37 . Now thou Nabal, thou fool, thou stony heart, what profit wilt thou have in crying Lord, Lord? thou mayst cry so till thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth: thou mayst howl upon thy bed like a Wolf 
i Ose 7.14. , and yet the Lord stop his ears from hearing, and fold up his hands from helping. The foolish Virgins knocked and cried, Lord open unto us, yet were shut out, so shalt thou. Mat. 25. For, not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Math. 7.21. But he that doth the will of God, as Simeon did: now, the will of the Lord is, that thou shouldest repent betimes, call upon him, pray unto him, and praise him, but all from a touched heart.   

His desires Limitation. In this word, Now.  
THE second thing observable here is his Desire's Limitation, in this word Now: which denotates the Time present. Which word, like all the rest in the Scripture, hath his weight; for, as S. Jerome once observed, Nulla Littera, nulla Syllaba, etc., No Letter, no Syllable, nay, no Tittle, no Prick wants his energy and force; or is unsignificant in the original. Here Simeons' mind may be thus expressed; Lord it hath pleased thee of thy mercy, not my merit, to give me a revelation, that I shall not see death, until I see the Anointed of the Lord, verse 26. now by the motion of thy Spirit, coming into the Temple, verse 27. I perceive that this Babe that is brought in hither to be done unto according to the custom of the Law, by his Parents, is anointed and appointed to be the Prince, and Priest, and Prophet of his Church; therefore Lord, now I am willing, nay, desirous to depart in peace, since I have in mine arms the Prince of peace, in my heart the spirit of peace, in my conscience inward peace: thou hast kept touch, and performed what thou hast promised: I have my expectation satisfied, my desires accomplished, therefore I desire not to live any longer. I am an aged man, and ready to be gathered to my Fathers; A ripe apple, fit to fall from the tree, I cannot live long by the course of nature, I desire not to live long by the instinct of grace: it is better for me to remove out of this Tabernacle, then to run further in the Pilgrimage of my few and evil days: better to depart in peace, then continue in this world's Prison. I know I must die: never so well, never so willingly as now, even now, when I have in mine arms the conqueror of death, the Lord of life.  
We see in Simeon, 
Observe.  that the godly have oftentimes divers raptures and sweet joys, as in life, so chiefly in their dissolutions. So had Steven, when about to be stoned, he saw the heavens open, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God, Acts 7.56. Such feelings divers of the Martyrs have had at the Stake, nay, even in the heat of flames and fires, so experimentally, that Mr. Glover knew as well when God's Spirit came to him, as a cold body feels external heat or warmth: so comfortably, 
Mr. Fo●e his Martirologie.  that good Cra●mer endured the burning of his (once guilty) hand with less motion, than some abide the Gout or Toothache. Many such ravishments and inward comforts divers of the Saints have felt, (how ever at other times with perplexed job, and penitent David, so dejected, as though they were rejected of God,) that they have desired the Lord a while to withdraw his presence, the weak vessels of their frail nature not being able to contain that fullness of the Spirit which they have felt. Such an ecstasy was Paul in, when rapt up into the third heavens, he heard Verba ineffabilia, words not to be uttered, himself transposed from himself; whether in the body, or without the body he wist not: he was more than in an ordinary ravishment, in his sure Sanctuary that he had against Principalities and Powers, life and death, etc. built upon the sure anchor and Cornerstone of God's love to him in Christ: so in his annihilating and vilifying all things, as Pharisaical learning, birth, knowledge, riches, and the like, as dross and dung in respect of the excellent knowledge of Christ JESUS, and him crucified: so when he was ready not only to go to jerusalem to be bound, but to die for Christ: so in his expectation and assurance of that Crown which Christ, that righteous judge, would bestow upon him, having fought a good fight, and finished the Faith, his affections were inflamed, his Spirit wondrously rejoiced, his heart overjoyed, and his desires transcendent. The like jubilees have many of God's Children kept with their God, in such ecstasies of joy, as have showed themselves (like the Sunbeams through a cloud) through the vail of the flesh, even in outward alterations, and Symptomies.  
Some in their Meditations, having their thoughts so sequestrated, and their spirit so abstracted from all earthly things, that their corporal senses have not perceived outward objects: no, not so much as the sound of Bells near ringing.  
Others have forgot their repast and feeding, the love of Christ being better than wine, and the taste of the Spirit sweeter than honey, and the honeycomb: such things the Papists write of their Aquinas, Bonaventure, Katheran of Sienna, etc. and other their Monks, Friars, Virgins, vestal Votaries; but Surius is unsure in his reports, Lippomanus his lips are not freed from lies, and Marrulus makes and mars many Fables. It is more likely what is writ of Augustine and Bernard in their Soliloquies in this kind.  
Others have expressed their inward raptures, in their very countenances, as Moses and Steven, whose faces so shined, when the one had been on the Mount with God, the other disputing for God, that they seemed like the faces of Angels, Acts 6.15.  
Others have been so carried away in such glimpses of glory as the Lord hath showed them; they have been so inebriated and spiritually drunk with the wine of the Spirit, that they have not known what they have said, as Peter in Christ's Transfiguration, Mat. 12.  
Others have never been satisfied with commerce with God, in speaking with God, and speaking to God, by reading the Word and Prayer: some reading over the Bible fourteen times in a year, as Alphonsus; others as constantly as Cyprian read Tertullian, or Alexander, Homer: others traveling in their journeys, as Phillip's Eunuch, Acts 8. Others at their Tables, as duly as their meat: others praying three times a day, with Daniel; thrice with Paul; frequently, yea at midnight, with David and Silas; so long, so oft, till their knees were grown as hard as the earth they kneeled on, as Jerome in the Desert: others seven hours together, (yet observing none canonically) as Father Latimer: so have they chawed their chud on that hidden Manna which God gave them, having still a godly dropsy, (like the Worldlings golden dropsy) unstanched.  
Others have fallen into bodily dead sows by their heavenly visions, and ravishments of the inward man, as john surnamed the Divine, Revel. 1.10.17. such, Daniel, Dan. 8.16.17. when groveling on the ground, he lay as dead; so Ezekiel by the River Kebar, with many more.  
Now, 
Reason's why the godly have oft extraordinary ravishments.  the Reasons why God doth thus delight, and oft, as it were, over-ioy his Children are:  
First, to give them some taste and feeling of his love and favour to them, even as a Master will oft show to his Servant some argument of his love, and a Father declare to his child some testimony of his fatherly affection: so deals God with his.  
Secondly, to encourage them against crosses: the Mariners heart would break, if he should always be tossed in such storms, as jonas and Paul tried, without ever any merry gales. The traveler would be too much perplexed with continual sh●wrings and tempests, without any intermission or interposition of refreshing Sunny beams: so were the world and worldly woes insufferable and intolerable to a weak and wearied Christian, if the holy Ghost the Comforter, should not wonderfully blow and breath, and reflex upon us.  
Thirdly, that they may have some good relish and feeling of those better and more lasting and everlasting joys, of which they shall have ere long the fruition, of which these are certain Images and Ideas, sparks and reflections: for, even as the wicked and the reprobate, in the rage and hell of their conscience, feel oft-times certain flashings of hell-fire, which are as it were summoners to judgement. Heralds of their damnation, and Prologues of their Tragical execution: so God distills into the hearts of the righteous hidden and holy heats, as it were drops of that fountain of life with which they shall be refreshed; and glimpses from the Sun of Righteousness, with whose beams they shall be ravished.  
Use. 1 
Of Redargution.  This then, first, reforms their minds, or refutes their madness, that think the estate of Grace to be most comfortless. Many millions in the world think the Professors of the Word to be deprived of all inward and outward joys; men as reckless as richlesse, as forlorn in their souls as foworn in their bodies; they appear to them as budlesse and beautilesse Trees, and withered branches: and why? because they cannot discern any thing in them but sighing and sobbing, and wailing and weeping, and Melancholy, and solitariness: they will not be sociable with their neighbours in gossiping and company-keeping, in walking abroad and talking, in prattling and prating at home, in meetings and merriments in Taverns and tippling-houses, in feasts and frolickes, in sports and pastimes, in dallyances and drink, in gurmundizing and gluttony; they neither care for worldly play, as Carding or Dicing, etc. nor to see Plays, the Bawds of loose lust: therefore they marvel how they live since they are never merry. Hence the Lords own Simions, gracious and godly men, such as have set their faces to Zion, framed aright their life, and fitted for death, are censured and derided, as dastards and dotards, as silly and simple, as Monkish, Monastical, Stoical, and uncivil men; nay, as fantastics and fools: hence comes the hellish Proverb, God's follower, God's fools; that, God's Sheep, God's Geese, Gods Gauders, and such like Blasphemies: but alas poor deluded Souls, they must know that as our Saviour Christ had meat to eat which the jews knew not of, and as he was to go whither his Disciples wist not of; so the true Christian and believer hath comforts here, that the world knows not of, and is to go to endless and priceless comforts hereafter, such as worldlings wot not of: here they have the testimony of a good conscience, as had 
* Acts 24. The description of a good conscience.  Paul, which is a continual feast, a continuated Christmas; always jubilee year, the golden bed of Solomon, the beautiful Porch of the Temple, Fidus acbates, a holy and a happy companion. Secondly, they have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit of God. Thirdly, they have those extraordinary joys, and sudden ecstasies, chiefly in their Soliloquies and devotions with God, the Sun of his goodness shining upon them, in the heat and light, in the comfort, and power of the Spirit, even after they have rained, powered, and showered down their tears into the Lord's bosom, which they would not exchange for Crowns and Empires. Fourthly, like Steven and Paul, and Simeon here they are even filled with the holy Ghost, tasting of such joys (which are but the first fruits of the Spirit, and the earnest of their inheritance in heaven) as none know, but those which experimentally feel. For as none knows the love of a Parent to his Child, but those that are Parents; nor of a good Shepherd to his Sheep, a good Pastor to his people, but he that is a good Shepherd indeed: so none knows the comfortable condition of a good Christian, living and dying, but he that is a Christian indeed; a common Christian, a natural man, a wicked man, a civil honest man knows it no more than a young child doth Greek and Hebrew; discerns it no more, than a blind man doth colours; feels it no more, than a stock, or a stone, or a dead man; esteems it no more than Esau doth his Birthright, or the Prodigo his patrimony; then Aesop's Cock, a Pearl: 
1 Cor. 1.23.  accounts of it (as the jews and Gentiles, and all profane men account of the Gospel) even mere foolishness; and therefore they so blatter and blaspheme, and like bruit beasts speak evil of those things, 
Jude v. 10.  and those persons which they know not; but I will assure thee, how ere thou think the poor and penitent Christian, the sincere and zealous, to rave, as the jews thought of jeremy, to be distracted, or mad, or besides himself, as Festus thought Paul, 
Act. 26.24.  as Christ's Countrymen thought of our Saviour, to be simple men, and fools, etc. yet nevertheless they know, with David, that it is better to be a doorkeeper in God's house, nay, to suffer affliction, with Moses and God's people, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin, then to enjoy all the privileges in Pharaohs Court, then to rejoice here for a while, with Dives, 
Luke 16. Eccles. 12.  and Salomon's young man, and then to quake in judgement and be damned in hell: yea, they even in this vail of tears have more joy in their fasting then thou in feasting; more in praying, than thou in playing; more in sighing, than thou in singing; for even in the midst of mirth the heart of the wicked is heavy, when GOD strikes, and Conscience gnaws; but the godly are merry in prison, 
Act. 16.25.  are comforted in persecution, rejoice after stripes, 
Acts 5.41.  praise God, in the deep, 
jonas 2.1.2  and in the Whale's belly, bless GOD after he hath smit them, and exult in Spirit in their old years, as did Simeon. Besides, thy joys are vain, vile, carnal, sensual, like thyself (like the Horse and Ox, that delights only in a good fat pasture, 
Exhortat.  though the Pinfold, and the slaughter-house be the next dish: but theirs are pure, chaste, sincere, heavenly, eternal, like that God that sends them, like that Spirit that works them: therefore get thine eyes opened to see thy misery, and join thyself to them whom now thou despisest, (as Rahab and Ruth did to the true Church) that thou mayst find mercy.  
Secondly, whereas Simeon is now willing to depart, having seen Christ, and so rejoiceth in this expected object: it is observable, that the patriarchs all of them in their times and ages expected CHRIST, ever since the promise of this Messias was made unto our Protoplasts, 
Gen. 3.15.  our first Parents, Adam and Eve: Simeon looks for him here in his generation, so did the Church of jerusalem, so did the rest in their generations. Eve thought he was then come when she bore Cain, confessing that she had received a man from the Lord, Gen. 4.1. Abraham desired to see his day. jacob waited for his salvation, Gen. 48.18. 
Gen. 48.18.  Moses desired GOD to send him to deliver Israel out of Egypt, Exod. 4.13. job was comforted in this expected Redeemer, job 19.25. Yea, 
Mat. 13.17  many Prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which we see, even the Majesty of God clothed with flesh, as a man is shod with Sandals on his feet. And sure the Ancients for this cause much extenuate the Polygamy and multiplicity of wives of the patriarchs, as of jacob, etc. as also in taking their Maids as Concubines; which they say was done, non propter libidinem, sed propter prolem, not for lust, but for multiplying a holy seed: every one in their days desiring to propagate the promised Seed of the woman.  
In which we see Gods great mercy to us now under the Gospel, 
Use. Of Consolation.  more than to those under the Law: for, then came into the world the great Physician of the world, to cure the great Patient, which was the world; which so long did languish; when we stood in most need of him. The former ages had but a glimpse of this light of the world; they saw him but darkly and obscurely, tanquam in speculo, tanquam in anigmate, as it were in a cloud, in a glass, in Levitical shadows; but we see him clearly, even fully, as the Sun at noon day: perspicuously in the Gospel, 
Mat. 2.  even as the Wisemen saw him in the Stable, 
Visi● beatifica.  as Simeon and Anna in the Temple: we have an happier vision of him then they, even as the Angels more than we, he came indeed to the believers comfortably, powerfully, Typically; but we receive him, as Simeon did, personally: he came to Adam, with the promise, in the time of despair: to Abraham, with supply, in time of Sacrifice: to Isaac, with relief, in time of famine: in time of exile, with honour, to joseph: in time of persecution, with comfort, to Elias: in time of battle, with an hand on Gideons' hilt: with an eye, to the stone from David's fling: in time of invasion, with triumph, to Ezekias: always hopefully, helpfully to his Church. For which cause, he is called, The Star of jacob, The Lion of judah, The Rod of Isaac, etc. Typically he came in Circumcision, Rom. 3. in the Paschall Lamb, john 1. in Manna, john 6. in the brazen Serpent, john 3. in the Ark, and on the Altar, etc. He came figuratively, as our rest, in Noah; our increase, in joseph; our love, in David; our peace, in Solomon, our salvation, in joshuah, etc. But now he is come to us personally, 
Vbi venit plenitudo temporis venit ille qui liberavit nos à tempore.  in the assuming our nature, in the fullness of time, saith Paul, Gal. 4.4. to free us from all time, saith Bernard. Note his mercy, he came to us voluntarily, non compulsu Patris, sed consensu sui, not by compulsion from his Father, but by his own consent: Non ex necessitate mandantis, 
Chrysost.  sed ex voluntate venientis, saith Chrisostome. Yea, Vltro venit & sponte, se videndum att●lit, occidendum obtulit, Greg. 
Gregory.  Of his own accord, yielding himself to be seen of men, to be slain for men. Yea, 
Basil.  Prepria benignitas invitavit, misericordia traxit, veritas compulit; His benignity to us invited him, his mercy drew him, his truth compelled him, Basil. Here is his Mercy for our Consolation.  
Use. 2 Oh let us walk worthy of this grace and Mercy, for an use of Instruction: 
Of Instruction.  let us run after the sweetness of his odours; let us follow his footings, since he came to lead us; let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling, since he came to save us, 1 Tim. 4.9. Luke 19.10. 
Luk. 19.10.  Let us return to the Bishop of our souls, since he came to find us, as lost sheep; let us be no more the slaves of the Devil, since he came to dissolve the works of the Devil, 1 john 3. let us entertain him, as did Zacheus, and retain him, 
Luke 11. Gen. 28.  as did jacob, when he would not let him go till he blessed him; let us feast him, as did Matthew; wash his feet with our tears, 
Luke 7.  as did Mary; seek him sorrowing, as did his Mother; prepare for him an upper lodging to eat his Passeover in, as did his Disciples, 
1 Cor. 6.16.  even our bodies and souls, the Temples of his Spirit; let us walk nearer to Zion in this our light, since the Sun is come so near us, nay, even to us, than the patriarchs did in their darkness under the veil and cloud of the Law.  
Use. 3 Let us now come to the trial, and bring our practice to the Touchstone; 
Redargution.  and we shall be found as unworthy of Christ's revelation to us, as unthankful for his manifestation amongst us, 
Luke 10.  as the very jews themselves; nay, let us compare ourselves with them, and we shall justify them, as they did Sodom. Ever since CHRIST dwelled amongst the sons of men, the kind of his usage hath been too unkind; the course of his entertainment hath been too course; the form and manner of his welcome, deformed and unmannerly: the world hath been still so weak through ignorance, as not to know; or so wicked through ingratitude, as not to acknowledge; or so corrupt by nature, as not to welcome the Word incarnate, the Lord of Nature. For, even in his birth at Bethlem, howsoever he had the hearts and admirations of some few, some handfuls; as of Anna, Simeon, Zachary, Elizabeth, etc. As also after, of his Disciples, of Nathaniel, Nicodemus, joseph, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, some healed Patients, convert sinners, penitent Publicans, and such like; yet the grossest and the greatest part, despised and despited him. Look upon him from the womb to the earth, from the Cradle to the Cross, from the Cross to the Grave, and you shall see him still crossed by cursed instruments: so look on him from Bethlem to Egypt, from Egypt to Nazareth, from Nazareth to Capernaum, from Capernaum to jerusalem, from jerusalem to Golgotha; y●● shall see him tossed from place to place, from post to pillar: Herod, the Devil, the jews, the People, the Scribes, the pharisees, the Lawyers▪ the Herodians, the Gentiles, the Romans, the Soldiers; Dogs, and Foxes, and Devils; judas, and Pilate, and Herod; Earth, and Hell, all opposed madly and maliciously even against the Lords Anointed; whose rage from the first hour of his birth, till the last of his death, could not be quenched without his blood; He came unto his own, but his own received him not, john 1.11.20.  
We surely are in the same predicament, 
Application.  if not worse. Compare us with the patriarchs and we come as short of their faith in Christ, obedience and sanctification, as they of our knowledge and illumination; we come nearer unto the infidelity of profane Esau, flouting Ishmael, wicked Cham, cursed Canaan, and their seed, than we do to the Faith of Abraham, Isaac and jacob, etc. to Noah's Obedience, and the holy lives of the rest. For the jews: wherein are we inferior in the highest measure of ingratitude against Simeons' Lord? we lodge him not at all, but cast him out of the Inn of our hearts, with the Bethlems: we shut our gates against him with the Samaritans, when we reject his Word and Ministers: we bid him depart from us, with the Gadarens▪ when we prefer our Swinish lusts before him: we crucify him worse and oftener in his immortal body, than the jews in his mortal, when like mad dogs we fly in his face, and by swearing and blaspheming wound his wounds, tearing and renting every part of his humanity; and yet we will be Christians: But I know not how; unless on the contrary, as the Cynic named his Man: as some say, Mons à movendo, when it moves not; for we move not after the motion of Christ. We are like the Hare, running one way when we look another way. 
Appion. Christus venit ad homines, in homines, & contra homines.  Well, let us look to it, Christ is come to us, john 1.14. but if we come not unto him by Prayer, and into him by Faith, and he into us by his Spirit, john 14.18. he will come to us, and against us in judgement, to our ruin and destruction, Acts 7.31. Oh therefore Kiss the Son lest he be angry, Psal. 2.  
Thirdly, in that Simeons' desire of life was not simply for any love of life, but only to see, and proclaim, and praise Christ the Messias, to bless God for this fountain of blessings to his Church. It is worth our animadversion, more worthy our Imitation, that we ought not simply to desire life for itself, but that we might live to glorify God, and to the good of his Church and Children. This point is plain by the Apostles precept, Rom. 14.7.8. and by his practice, Phil. 2.23.24. For, as here prescribes to others that none should live or die unto himself, but unto the Lord; that whether Christians live or die they should be the Lords: yea, that whether they live in the body, or remove out of the body they might be the Lords, 2 Cor. 5.8.9. So, he himself being in a straight what to do, whether to live in the flesh, or to be loosed and be with CHRIST, is over-swayed with the love of his brethren, to dwell with them still, only for the furtherance and joy of their Faith. So it must be with thee in that rank wherein thou art.  
Use 1 Art thou a Minister? thy desire to live must be only to preach the Word, 
Of Instruction.  for the gathering of the Saints, for bringing home the wandering Sheep, for planting and watering God's Vineyard, for feeding his people with knowledge and understanding, for propagation of the Gospel, for conversion of souls, and addition unto his Church such as shall be saved: and for this end, thy life and thy livings must not be dear to thee; that by Preaching or Printing, Disputing, Conferring, Writing, Praying and Meditating, (the things wherein that holy Augustine and zealous Bernard were constantly and continually employed) thou mightst be beneficial to the souls of thy brethren: yea, for the accomplishment of these ends, as thou art called, A Light, 
Mat. 6.  and Salt, it must not be grievous unto thee to consume and melt thyself in spending thy spirits to give light unto, and to season others. Thy ends in thy Ministry, must neither be ambitious, 
●h. v. 9  like Diotrephes his, that loved pre-eminence, nor to be exalted on the right hand or the left, 
〈…〉. 21  with Zebidee's Sons: not to sit only in Moses his Chair, with the Scribes and pharisees: not covetous like Balaams' and Iudass●s; 
Numb. 22. john 13.  but Christian and conscionable, like Paul's and Peter's, and james, who t●●t they might feed the flock, endured not only labours, and stripes, and imprisonments, but even death itself.  
Art thou a Magistrate? thy desire to live must be the discharge of thy duty, the execution of thy function, the decision of Controversies, the cutting off of strifes, in their causes, courses, and events; the judging rightly betwixt man and man, etc. to be a nursing Father to the Church; to stand for God's Truth and Orthodox Religion; to be zealous for God's glory, to defend the fatherless, right the oppressed, to let the cause of the Widow come before thee, to draw out and use the sword committed unto thee, for the defence of the righteous and the right; for the offence of the wicked and their wrongs: these are the ends thou must aim at in thy place, whether superior or inferior.  
Art thou a governor, a Master of a Family? hast thou a charge committed to thee? thy desire to live, must be rightly to discharge it, and thy duty in it: as namely, provision for thy Wife, and Family depending upon ●hee, walking (like Zacharie) holily, 
Luk. 2.  in respect of God; honestly and unblamably, in respect of man; Christianly and conscionably in thy calling and vocation: for that end, as also that God may have glory; in thy private duties of Religion, as reading, and praying, and instructing of thy Family within the bounds and limits of thy calling, together with a discreet governing of them that are under thy command, by correcting and encouraging as need shall require; that thy house, like the houses of Abraham, joshuah, Crispus, Stephanus, and Cornelius, may be like unto a little Church, wherein spiritual Sacrifices are offered unto God daily and duly: that so thou mayst heat and warm those that are within thee, and that thy light may break out to enlighten others outwardly.  
So all other men, be they what they will be, from the Throne to the Plough, from the King to the drawer of water, from the head to the foot, Physician, Lawyer, Courtier, Student, Tradesman, Artificer, Mechanical man, Husbandman, Soldier, Servant, must live, and desire to live, not to themselves, but that in their places, 1. by their Life; 2. their Labours; 3. their Provokements; 4. their Examples: their light should so shine here, 
Mat. 5.  that others seeing their good works, might bring glory to him who is the Father of lights: to him which is the light of the Gentiles, and the glory of his people, even here Simeons' LORD, whom Simeon praiseth, and to whom he prays.  
Use 2 
Of Redargution.  But sure the lives of most men, from the highest to the lowest, is as contrary to this light▪ and as irregular from this rule, as darkness and irregularity itself: for, if we should make a quere, and an inquisition here, as the Lord will make in judgement, for such Simeon●; 
E●ek. 9  if they should now be marked in the forehead like Ezekiels' Mourners: where should we be inquisitive for them? In the Court? perhaps there might be culled out some joseph, as in pharoh's: some Obediah, as in Achabs': some Daniel, as in Nabuchadnezzars'. In great Houses? some Naaman, as in the house of Rimmon: some jacob, in Laban's: some Chuza and johanna, as in Herod's. In the Camp? some Cornelius. In the City? some Lot. In the Country? some Boaz. Amongst great ones? some Nichodemus. Amongst private men? some nathaniel's, that desire to live no longer, than God may be glorified of them, in them, and by them. But compare them to the multitudes that swarm in every corner, of Court, Countries, and Cities, of all sexes and sorts, (like Egyptian Locusts and Grasshoppers) that live only to themselves, and for themselves, that limit themselves in themselves, in effecting their own proud, covetous, vain, ambitious, sinister ends, and carnal desires, without any reference or relation to God's glory, or the good of others? and they are very few: one of a City, and two of a Tribe, jer. 3.14. like the after-Vintage, and the Harvest glean; like the few names written in Sardi, Apoc. 3.4. as for example, in particulars, ah si fas dicere? sed fas.  
In the Sons of Levi, how many there be that live of the Altar and serve not at the Altar? that scum away the fat, but pollute the the Sacrifice, like Elie's Sons? that seek sua, non suos, their own gains, not the people's good? Qui se pascunt, non oves; that feed themselves of the flock, but not the flock, over which the holy Ghost hath made them Overseers? that seek for nothing (as was once truly said of the ancient Abbots, Monks and cloisterers,) but a lazy life and carnal command, Otium cum honore; against whom these, and all such complaints as these, which Gregory and Bernard took up in their times, might be well used and urged? I say, how many there be of such, I rather leave to the consideration and deploration of such as have any eyes or hearts, then to the expostulation of this place: only I say, whether such are Simeons', or Simons, or Sinon's; like Jude, or like judas, who sees not?  
Secondly, for the Magistrates: what are the aims and ends of most of them? To discharge those duties that the Word enjoins them? which those worthy Lights, Moses, Phineas, joshuah, Samuel, Nehemiah, Solomon, have by their precedent and practise laid before them? No verily: for, than we should not have the Sabbath, which above all days should be sanctified, so profaned; so much drunkenness abounding, uncleanness overflowing, Oaths breaking forth, by God's Law capital and criminal, and by death penal, unreformed; nay, unreprehended, unremoved, yea, unreproved: which shows that many of them live only to the satisfying and serving of their own covetousness and unconscionableness, like Ahab, Festus, and that infoelix Felix; or licentiousness, like Herod; but neither unto GOD, nor to do good, unless to themselves.  
Thirdly, as we see the motion of the head and Eye, Ecclesiastical and Political, of Ministers and Magistrates, merely natural, (like that of the Elements and Beasts) after which the whole bulk of the body, of the people, moves: so in the heads Economical, we shall see little spiritual. For, what is the aim of Masters and Mistresses in their households regiment? is it God's glory? the good temporal and eternal of those that are under them? do they live, or desire to live that by their means their households might be the households of Faith? their wives Christ's Spouses? their Children Gods Children, and Heirs of of Grace? their servants Gods Servants, the Lords Freemen? their Kinsmen, of the spiritual affinity and consanguinity of Christ? that their strangers within their gates, with them might enter in at the Gates of Zion? Are these their ends? Cuius contrarium verum est, the clean contrary (or at least contradictory) is verified in most. Let experience speak: look into their houses, into their regiment, into their carriage and disportment; and ye shall see their exercises such as were used in the Siege of Thebes, covetous carding and dicing, or wanton and promiscuous dancing: you shall find more shows of Religion in the use of the Word, in the house of a jew; more seeming prayers in the house of a Turk, Papist, or Pagan (who prey oftener to Saints and Idols than they) then in their houses, which are rather dens of Devils, and cages of unclean Birds, than Churches. What are the desires of such who sees not? What their deserts who knows not? who fears not?  
In the same rank are the rest: where is the Tradesman, (as job of the good Messenger) one of a thousand, let him stand forth, whose heart tells him, that truly and sincerely in his Trade and Calling he aims aright? and so all others, let their souls speak. Who in their traffic and commerce with men aim at GOD, at the profit and emollument of others, and not wholly, or for the most part, at themselves? Who in serving of man seeks directly and immediately to serve God and not rather himself? Who seeks grace and godliness, and not gain? such an one erit mihi magnus Apollo: I would travel far on my feet to find such a Phoenix.  
For the other sort, that live either in no calling, or in a sensual sinful calling, such as riotous Prodigoes, profane Esau's, vain Gentlemen, gull Gallants, reckless Ruffians, licentious Lechers, graceless Gamesters, filthy Brothellers, Queans, Courtesans, and beastly Bawds, with all the rest of that restless and reckless crew: alas, what good do they in the world? what aim they at, but like Swine to feed? like the rich Churl, to go bravely and fair deliciously with the Sabarites and Sardanapalus, to invent and wallow in polluting pleasures, to feed their fancy, please their own humours, content themselves, delight the flesh, and damn the soul? living to eat, eating to live the life of sin; doing as much good to others, as the Moth to the garment, the Caterpillar to the fruit, the Cantharideses to the Ointment, spoiling and infecting (like plaguy people) whom thy live amongst. Therefore these and all these, 
Terrae inutile pondus.  as they are unprofitable burdens to the earth, they shall be swept away from the earth like jabin and Sisera, and the Sodomites, even into hell, Psal. 9.17. As they glorify not God, which was the end of their Creation and Redemption (which thy forget) so God will never glorify them. Therefore let us all, both men, with Simeon, and women, with Lydia, Dorcas and Deborah, etc. do good here in life, that we may receive good in and after death: live, and desire to live only to God, and for God here, that we may live with God for ever hereafter.  
Fourthly, and lastly, here we are to take notice of that which we have observed in Moses before; namely, that Simeon is willing to die: for the whole Text imports and carries it, that there was in him no unwillingness to die; not so much as in show: but a great willingness, propensity, and disposition to his dissolution, whether we take his words here as Optative, Oh that thou wouldst let thy Servant depart, as some do: or Indicative, Now thou dost let, etc. or Precatory, Lord, now let, etc. or plainly, as they are here; all import perspicuously that he died voluntarily.  
From whence note, that a good Christian is willing to die: we may see this, as in Simeon, so in Paul. Phil. 1.23. who desired to be dissolved, and to be with CHRIST. The like might be instanced in the death of Moses, 
Deut. 34.  who at God's command, went as voluntarily up to the Mount to die, and to be sacrificed himself, as Abraham went to sacrifice his Son. So, if we consider the death of the patriarchs, of Abraham himself, of jacob, of David, etc. that died naturally: as also of Saint Steu●n, 
Mat. 27. Acts 7. ●  of our Saviour Christ himself, in the Scripture: as also of blessed Martyrs that were put to death violently, we shall find that they went unto their deaths, and into the Grave, as voluntarily as Noah into the Ark; taking God's stroke upon themselves as patiently as Aaron did, 
Leuit. 10.  when God smote his two Sons, Nahab and Abihu; and as Eli did samuel's report of his houses ruin, 1 Sam. 3, The Saints very last words, being of the same strain and Dialect with Simeons', import so much, as we may see Moses, Deut. 32. (with this good old man here) concluding his life with a Swanlike Song. So also David. 2 Sam. 23. So Babilas the Martyr, feared not that his soul should return unto her rest: neither did Ignatius care when he died, 
Euseb. lib. 3 c. 30. Vide Grin. Apotheg. morientium.  or of what kind of death he should die; nay, though he were grinded by the teeth of Lions, because he was the Lord's Manchet, and must be made clean bread for Christ. So Melancthon, almost in the same words with Simeon, If it be the will of God I am willing to die; and, I beseech him to grant me a joyful departure. With many more.  
Now, the Reasons which make the child of God so willing to die, are many, the principal are these.  
First, 
Si qua dies bona est, velocibus praeterit horis. Innimica tenacius haerent.  because he finds no good in this life, no joy, no content, more than a Prisoner in his bonds, a bird in the snare, or a beast in the gin: his joys being imperfect, and mixed with a thousand sorrows, having for one Sunny day a hundred tempestuous storms: his best days being like Jacob's, few and evil; his worst, many and miserable.  
Secondly, 
Nil boni in vita, nil mali in morte.  because there is nothing in this life, which gives true and solid satisfaction to his soul, finding (with Solomon) all Sublunary things to be vanity and vexation of spirit, as Honours, riches, wisdom, wealth, knowledge, Babel's building, Moses and daniel's Egyptian and Chaldean learning, Croesus and Crassus his wealth, Midas his gold, Polycrates good success, Ezekias his Treasure, Nero's Music; all other things which should do good to the nature of man, or delight the mind of man, giving him no more content, than air and wind to an empty stomach: for, as a Quadrangle cannot fill a Triangle, but some corner will be capable of more; so the whole circuit of this round Orb, this Quadrangular world, cannot content, the heart of man, which Anatomists say is Triangular in the form; God only, Christ and his Spirit, the blessed Trinity, that made the soul, can fill it with true delights, and fulfil the true desires. In which respect the Christian, to whom all things else are bitter, but Christ, is not quieted till he enjoy Christ, no more than the animate or inanimate creatures are at peace till they have their rest in that centre whitherto they move: his heart still trembling till it be with God, like the Needle touched with an Adamant, still quivering and shaking, till it look directly to the North Pole: and therefore as Noah's Dove, sent out of the Ark, found no rest to the sole of her foot, till she returned into the Ark again; so the true Christians, the Lords mournful Doves, find no resting place here, till their souls return to the Ark of their strength, that God, that sent them out into their bodies, even as the jewish Tabernacle had no rest, but was carried from place to place till it entered into Canaan. Exod. 26.1. & 33.7.  
Thirdly, because of the crosses and afflictions which are incident unto him in this life: for, as the whole human nature is subjecteth to the Cross, so chiefly the Christian. The world which is a Paradise to the carnal, 
Psal 34.19 Act. 15.21  is a Purgatory to the Christian; Many are the troubles of the righteous; all that will live godly in Christ must suffer affliction; every Disciple must take up one cross or other, if he will follow Christ, which crossway is the way to heaven; every child of God is corrected ere he be received: the purest Gold must be in the furnace; the Lords own Wheat is thrashed, winnowed, and grinded: and God's trees must be pruned: Vt unda undam, as wave succeeds wave, so cross succeeds cross, as David's Lion succeeds his Bear, 1 Sam. 17.37. and Goliath the Lion, 1 Sam. 18.27. and the Philistines Goliath, and Saul the Philistines, 1 Sam. 21. Now the Christians death is most welcome, that changeth his M●ra to Naomi, his bitterness into beauty, which delivers him from dangers and dolours, 
Gen. 19  as the Angel did Lot from the fire, 
Dan. 3.  and the three Children from the flames, and Daniel from the Lions: 
Dan. 6  death (like Zerobabel) delivers the Lords Israel out of Babylon, Zach. 4.6. therefore death must needs be welcomed like a day of deliverance, a year of jubilee which brings joseph out of Prison, 
Gen. 41.  
Gen. 31. job 41.12.  jacob out of servitude, and job from the dunghill. Mors enim mal●r●m remedium, & portus humanis tempesta●ibus, Plutarch. de consol. ad Apol.  
Fourthly▪ in respect of their sins which cleave so fast on, which they cannot shake off; Sin, with which they are at opposition and deadly feud, dog's them at the heels, like a Sergeant: waits on them, like a Catchpole: insinuates into them, like a claw-back: creeps into their bosoms, as a Serpent stings them at the heart, like an Adder: follows them, as their shadow: sticks close to them, like their shirt upon their skin, their skin upon their flesh, and their flesh upon their bones: insomuch that it burns and frets them as Dianiraes' poisoned shirt did Hercules, and as the Tick vexeth the Ox: which makes them cry out in the anguish of their souls, 
In me duo armati, Amor & Odium, jacob & Esau, Caro & Spiritus, etc. Hier.  with Paul, and the faithful, Rom. 7. O● miserable man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of sin? They complain of the strife of the Flesh and the Spirit, as Rebeccah of the struggling betwixt jacob and Esau. Now death comes and rescues, and makes thy bail, and plays the Midwife, and ends the broil, therefore welcome to the well disposed.  
Fiftly, they are here Pilgrims and strangers, 1 Pet. 2.11. as was David, and the rest in their ages: they are here exiles and banished men, as Children put forth to nurse from their Mothers, as Scholars and Pupils sent to foreign Schools, and to far Universities: and therefore their returning home to their own Country, their restitution to their provided Kingdom, their fetching home to their Father and friends, their retiring to their Father's house, though it be through the shadow of death, must needs be acceptable.  
Sixtly, they know that the day of their death is better than the day of life, Eccles. 7.3. because they die prepared, their souls purged, their hearts by Faith purified. As they have entered into the first degree of eternal life in this life, when they believed, and received the gifts of the Spirit, the earnest of their Salvation; so they enter into the second degree in death, 
August. in. job. Qui cupit dissolui, & esse cum Christo, non patienter moritur, sed patienter vivit, & delectabiliter mo●itur.  when their souls are carried into heaven, and they die in assurance of the third degree, when body and soul shall be reunited to participate of happiness, as they have lived together in holiness.  
seventhly, they die, as with a desire, so in an expectation to see and behold the face of Christ; of which, with Steven, they have some glimmering in their deaths: and therefore death to the godly, so far as regeneration rules, is no more burdensome than the stripping off the clothes, unto a loving Spouse, to go into the Marriagebed of her contracted Bridegroom. Hos. 2.19.  
Eightly, they have kept a good Conscience with God and man, like Paul, Acts 24. And therefore they fear not judgement, no more than a true man fears to look the judge in the face.  
Ninthly, wherein they have offended God, they have their sins remitted, and therefore fear not to hold up their hand at the bar, since they are quit before by Proclamation of all the promises in the Gospel, and have the Kings Pardon sealed them in the Sacraments.  

jacula praevisa minus ferunt.  Tenthly, they have oft in life enured themselves to think, speak, record and meditate of death, even as did Christ their head, and his Servants, jacob, Moses, and Paul, as appears in the Word, and therefore Deaths dart foreseen, 
Praemoniti, Praemuniti.  wounds them less, being forewarned of it, they are forearmed for it. Even as the Soldier that hath been long trained, and in many skirmishes▪ is more courageous in the main Battle, and as he that hath long exercised himself in foils, is more hardy to fight with sharp: so the petty conflicts that the godly have had in their own breasts with Death's fear, make them more hardy to encounter Death's force.  
eleventhly, they entertain it as a reward for their work, as a rest from their labour: as willingly as the hired labourer receives his hire, and reposeth his wearied limbs, Dan, 12. Esay 57.2.  
Twelfthly, they are persuaded, and have their Faith grounded in an happy and blessed change, they expect a Metamorphosis, and an alteration, a comfortable transmutation of Earth for Heaven, of the Sea for the Haven, of Grief for Glory, of the outward Court, for the Sanctum Sanctorum, of a Mortal for an Immortal body, of Enon for Salem, Sodom for Segor, Egypt for Canaan, the Wilderness of Sin for the Land of Promise, of a House of day terrestrial, for a House celestial above the Clouds, 2 Cor. 5.1. And therefore they are as willing to make this exchange, as a poor beggar would be to exchange his poor rags for some Prince's robes, or some poor man to leave his smoky, rainy Cottage for a pompous Pavilion and decked Chamber in the Court.  
To reap the Vintage of this discourse, 
Use.  the use to us, is first of examination, in that it is an argument of a good man to be willing to die, as here was Simeon. Lay thou thy hand on thine heart, and search in thy soul what propensity and disposition thou findest in thyself to die. Many arguments there are in the Word and trials both of a holy and a happy man, both affirmative, in showing what he doth: and negative, in showing what he avoids, David points at him in the first Psalm, as also in the 32. Psalm, verse 1.2. as also in the 15. Psalm. So doth our Saviour Christ, in the first eight Verses of the fifth of Matthew. So the Apostle Paul in the 2. of Cor. ch. 7. ver. 11. with other such places; as namely, delighting in the Word, meekness, mourning for sin, hunger after righteousness, etc. care to please God, Fear, Zeal, Indignation against sin, not letting Money to Usury, and the like: yet sure there is no greater evidence of an honest and holy heart, than so to walk uprightly with God in life, as always to be willing to embrace the strictest Summons of death; to be as ready to depart out of this world, as the Israelites were to depart out of Egypt.  
Again, it is most usually a note of a soul either altogether soiled in corruption, or endued with a smaller measure of Sanctification, to be violently possessed with a continuated fear of death: and therefore in this particular find out thyself, and try in what case thou standest; for, the more unwilling thou art to die, commonly the more Nature rules in thee, the more earthly, fleshly, and carnal thou art: the more willing, commonly the more Grace reigns, the more thou art holy, heavenly, and spiritual: in which case you shall observe, that the desire to live or not to live, to die and not to die, hath oftentimes ebbed and flowed, according to the measure of grace or corruption, of sin or of sanctification. Every man may find this in his own heart usually, upon the search.  
Hence it was, 
Luke 8.33  that our Saviour Christ having the greatest measure of grace, was most willing to die, amongst all the sons of mortal men, as appears in the Gospel, by his often speaking of his death, as desiring it, Mat. 10. ●8 So 16.21.17.22.23. by his hastening judas the actor in it, john 13. in calling Peter Satan, that dissuaded him from it, Mat. 13.23. yea, in accounting it his Baptism, Luke 20.50. yea, his meat that he was to eat, john 4 32. yea, his exaltation, ver. 28. yea, a thing that he desired, Luke 22. And when he came to act the bitter part in this dying Tragedy, how voluntarily did he send out his soul? He gave up the Ghost, saith the Evangelist: the spirit was not taken from him, (for no power could do that) but he gave up his Spirit into the hands of GOD his Father; Emisit, non amisit Spiritum, he sent out his Spirit (as Noah sent the Dove out of the Ark) willingly, it was not taken from him compulsorily. Now, that which holds in the Head, Christ, in some proportion holds in the Saints, his Members, who are conformed into the similitude both of his life and death; the nearer they come unto Christ, by the union of Faith, the more they participate of the Spirit of Christ in life; the more willing they are to go to Christ, and to have a further communion with him, in and after death.  
Note 2 It is not so with the wicked, for the further they run from God in life, the less joy they have to be fetched before him by death; the less grace, the more grief to die; the more vile, sensual, and sinful their days, the more they desire to prolong them, being as unwilling to die, as the Bear to the stake, or the Bull to the ring.  
The reasons are these:  

Reason's why wicked men are unwilling to die.  First, because they have their pleasures in this world: to which they are wedded, and with which they are intoxicated and bewitched, as Ulysses and Diomedes companions with Circe's charms, and Calipso's Cups, till they be turned into beasts. Now, what delight hath the beast, but in fair feeding, and carnal companying, according to his kind? neither they, being as loath to leave these pleasures, as the child his babble, or the fool his folly.  
Secondly, Death deprives them of their worldly promotions, 
Acts 12.  it throws Herod from his seat, and Balthasar from his Throne, 
Dan. ●.  it expulleth Monarches from their Countries, and with as great a sway as that Antichristian man of Rome kicks off their Crowns, deposing Kings, disposing Kingdoms, laying their honours in the dust. And therefore no marvel that the proud Imps of Lucifer fear it, as haughty Hammon did the Gallows.  
Thirdly, it plucks them from their profits; it takes Nabal from his Sheep; Ahab from his usurped Vineyard, and Midas from his Gold, which worldlings are as willing to leave, as the dog the Flesh-pot, as the hungry Kite the savoury carrion: to live in the earth always, it is their desire, as much as the water is desired of the fish, and the Air of the Bird, and the earth of the Mole: they are as content to build tabernacles here, as Peter was upon the Mount, Mat. 17. but to go into the earth, that is, d●rus sermo, a harsh word; they are as willing to leave the world, as the Bird, the Beast, and the Fish, are, to forsake their nourishing Elements; as the starved child is to part with the desired dug. Oh Death, how bitter art thou to a man whose portion is in the world? saith the Wiseman. Ob mors mordens; bitter indeed as gall and wormwood.  
Fourthly, Death deprives the wicked not only of their goods, but of their Gods, what ever they make their Idols, and give their hearts unto; whic● Idols they as unwillingly leave, 
judg. 17.  as M●●hay did his, and as the Papists their Idolatrous Mass; 
Gen. 31.19  as Rachel did her Father's Idols, which she concealed and covered.  
Fiftly, Death takes them away from their pleasing companions, which they are as loath to part fro, as Elisha was to leave Elias, as Ruth to leave Naomi, but most unwilling to exchange them for the company of Devils and Hellhounds.  
Sixtly, they are unfit and unprepared for Death: they have not made their accounts strait; they have not Oil in their Lamps; they have abused their Talents of gifts external and internal, and therefore they quake to be brought by Death to render an account of their Stewardship, with the wicked Steward: to meet the Bridegroom, with the foolish Virgins: to be called in eoram before their great Master, with the wicked Servant that smote his fellow-servants, and with the other unprofitable Servant.  
seventhly, they have no hope in death, except a vain and wan hope, such as perisheth like the untimely fruit of a woman. Death (like Michay to Ahab) never prophesieth any good to a wicked man, and therefore he is as unwilling to die, as a Thief and Malefactor to be brought before the judge; as a bad debtor before his creditor; as a Swine to the slaughter: for, as the Swine by a natural instinct, knows that he is good for nothing but the Shambles; so, the wicked, by the rage of his own conscience, which is like the flash before hell fire; and by an Historical Faith, whereby he believes there is a hell, and everlasting fire for such as he is; Fornicators, 
Esay 30.33 Mat. 25.41 Revel. 21.8. 1 Cor. 6.9.10 Jude 4.13. Mat. 7.23.  whoremongers, drunkards, wantoness, thieves, covetous, impenitent, unbelievers, and all other workers of iniquity; he knows that he is good for nothing but to be burned, and to be stubble and fuel for that flame. And therefore as the Swine shows his dislike of the Shambles and his slaughterer, by whining and crying and repining; so the hoggish, 
Epicuri de grege p●rcus.  Epicurish, carnal man, shows his discontent and disobedience unto God, and to his summons by death, by muttering, murmuring, barking against heaven, and blaspheming.  
If we apply this point by use unto our times, 
Use.  we shall find infinite millions and multitudes of carnal and wicked men, swarming like the Egyptian Locusts and Grasshoppers amongst us; for alas, how many are there, which bear up their heads high, and set up their crests, exalt their horns, and prank up their peacocks plumes, lifting up themselves above others in the pride of their hearts? boasting like Braggadochies, of their birth, valour, learning, wit, wealth, parts, and prowess; showing much drunken, and swaggering, and ireful, and revengeful valour, in their base and brutish passions: and yet the same at the imagination and apprehension of death, show themselves as errand cowards, as the Arcadians Clineas or Dametas; altogether daunted and dismayed like Gorgon at the sight of Medusa's head: they quiver and quake like an Aspenleaf, shake and tremble like the Aguish sick man: at the thought of it their heart trembles, their blood is con●ealed, and like Balthasar in the like case, their countenance is changed, and their knees smite together: the sound of death to them is the most harsh of all sounds, and puts them sometimes in a deadly sown; the noise of the roaring Canon is not so fearful to the fainting Soldier, nor the Lightning and Thunder was so terrible to Nero, as the summons of death to such natural men, whether by the Harbinger thereof, Sickness, or from the condemning voice of a judge, or by such means, for these reasons before mentioned. What doth this argue, but a guilty conscience, a secure soul, a hardened heart, a carnal mind, and a main measure of infidelity, incredulity, and want of faith, in the remission of sins, the resurrection of the body, the immortality of the soul, and hope of a better life: which considerations, as they have moved the ancient and modern Martyrs, Ignatius, Policarpus, Laurence, Cyprian, and others in our precedent age, French, German, and English, to subject themselves to the mouths of Lions, flames of fire, and all other tortures and torments, which Madness and Malice could invent, etc. So the diffidence of these, the want of the persuasion of God's love, and expectation of wrath and vengeance after this mortality, makes wicked men entertain Death as Ahab did Elias, even as their greatest enemy, as their jailor, their Sergeant, their Butcherer, their Executioner, as the curber of their delights, and procurer of their curse. Yet that I be not mistaken, I do not here condemn all fear of death, and make it such an essential note of God's child, as though every one that feared God did not at any time, or in any respects, fear to die: or that wicked men might not sometimes, and upon some servile respects, with some show of alacrity undergo death: for, First, I know that there is in all men a natural desire to live, which caused Ezekias to mourn when he was to die, Esay 38.10. And David to pray that his soul might live, Psal. 6.4. and Psal. 119. As also our Saviour Christ to desire the Passage of the cup from him, Luke 22. There being a natural desire in the best of God's Saints to live. Nature fearing her dissolution, and the body and soul being as loath to part as two friends that a long time have lived and loved together. Secondly, beside, I know God's Children may be desirous to live, as to glorify God more: so, for some other good ends propounded, as for the better setting their estates to their successive seed: for the establishing their houses, for to dispose of their Children in some religious courses: which was the cause that Ez●k●as desired to live, say Interpreters; because when the Prophet brought this message of death to him, he was without issue, and left none to succeed him in his Kingdom, as God's promise was to his Father David, 1 King. 8. ●5▪ 3. Thirdly, a godly man is sometimes in distress and perplexity of mind, as David was when he made the sixth Psalm. at which time he is unwilling to depart, till GOD shine upon him again with his favour. Fourthly, a godly man may pray sometimes against some kind of death; as our Saviour Christ did, praying not simply against death, but against that cursed death of the Cross; fearing not death, but the curse of the Law that went with death. Fiftly, I know that even natural men have made light account of death, such as the Decians and the Fabritians, Curtius and Codrus, with others amongst the Romans, and Athenians, that exposed and spent their lives for the good of their Country, I know even of obstinate Heretics, such as the Gnostics, and the Circumcellions: more lately Michael Sernetus; many modern Papists; yea, the late Arrian burnt in Smithfield, have some of them undergone death more willingly and cheerfully then those that have had in them far more grace and sanctification: 
Wicked men may die willingly for sinister respects.  but some of these have embraced death so welcomly, out of a moral desire of doing good to their Country, or out of vainglory, to be spoken of, like those Heathen; or out of obstinacy, or desperate madness, or perverseness against the truth, or Diabolical delusions, or erroneous conceits, or Atheism, or opinion of merit, or chiefly pride of heart, to be magnified and famoused of their favourites, or some other sinister ends, not for God's glory, or hope of any better condition after this life, as these Heretics. So that my conclusion still holds, notwithstanding these doubts and scruples, that Grace kisseth God's rod, though in the hand of Death▪ Nature barks and bites at the hand that holds the rod: God's Sheep going quietly to their graves, like Lambs to be sacrificed; carnal men gruntling and complaining like Swine to be butchered.  
Use 3 Thirdly, since that Grace is willing, Nature unwilling to her dissolution, all are to be exhorted to use the means to help forward their spiritual part, to be more willing to curb their carnal part, 
Means to make us die willingly.  in it nilling. The means are two: first, privative, for the removal of the impediments which lie in the way: secondly, positive, in encouraging us to enter the way of all flesh. What the causes are that cause the carnal man to sing Loath to depart, you have heard; as namely, the loss of his pleasures, profits, preferments, promotions here, with the like; in all which things we must look to our hearts, and be watchful Centurions over our affections, lest they be carried with too violent a course and torrent, in the prosecution and pursuit of these terrestrial and earthly things; we must not be mad upon the world as worldlings are: let us not place our affections on things below, but on things above, where CHRIST sits at the right hand of GOD: let us use this World as though we used it not; as we use Physic and wines, modice, medice, with moderation and mortification, as a Student useth recreations, for necessity, not vanity: let us not fall down and worship the Devil, though he would give us it all: let us not bow the knee to Baal, nor adore the golden Calf, nor sell our souls for the trash and the dung, the 
* Silver and Gold.  white and red dust of it, as judas did: let us touch riches tenderly, with our hands, not with our hearts, as we do Thorns, because they are Thorns: let us not love va●ne pleasures, lest after their B●eish honey we feel their Waspish sting: when these charmers charm to delude us, let us be as wise as Serpents, stopping both our ears (as she doth) with the tail and the earth; remembrance of our ends (of which the tail is an emblem) and of our earth, whither we shortly must. Thus must we first learn to practise this hardest point of Christianity, in dying to the world, ere ever we can be willing out of faith and feeling to die out of the world: for alas, what causeth men that they have as little heart to go into their Mother-earth, as the Mole hath to come out of the earth; but only that they love the earth too well? being desirous ever to live upon the earth, but never to lie in the earth. Why list not worldlings return to their dust, but only that (as true children of the old Serpent) the curse of the Serpent is upon them to lick the dust, minding earthly things here, their end being damnation hereafter. Phil. 3.17.  
Secondly, when this is performed, in breaking off thy desires from the world, which is Terminus à quo, the place which thou leavest, then fix thy eye upon another world, Terminus ad quam, the place whither thou goest. Look not too much at the grisly face of Death, which will aghast thee; but at the end of it, where thou shalt see as many comforts as Elishaes' Servant saw, to encourage thee. Even as he that is to pass over some great and deep River, must not look downward to the water, but must cast his eye to the bank on the further side: so look over the waves of death, and fix the eye of thy faith upon eternal life. Look not at Death in the glass of the Law, in which it is set out, as a curse and the downfall to the gulf of destruction, but in the Crystal Glass of the Gospel, as it is changed and altered so by the death of CHRIST that it is a sweet sleep, and resting cool harbour.  
First, therefore consider, how there is a blessing accompanies and attends thy death, pronounced by the Spirit itself, Reu. 14 13. which is alone sufficient to stay the rage of thy affections in the ordinary fear of death: for, who fears blessings, since even profane Esau sues for a blessing, and even the very Heathens so much desired that blessedness which their Philosophers, of all sorts, so much disputed, but never so sound determined as God doth here?  
Secondly, the same Spirit calls it, A resting from thy labour. Now even the Ox, Horse, and Ass, desire resting from labour, to be untied from their tasks, unloden from their Burdens all the creatures and the Elements, which groan under vanity, desire cessation from motion: every thing aims at his quiet and rest, and dost not thou? Now death, I pray thee what is it, but a buster of bonds; a destruction of toil; an arriving at the Haven; a journey finished; thy co●summatum est; thy quietus est; thy laying away of an heavy burden; even sin itself, which (as Erasmus wittily) is heavier than Gold, Silver, Led, and Iron, in that the weight of it weighed and pressed down the Angels of light into the pit of hell, and pained Christ our Saviour our substitute, on the Cross? What I say, is this death, but the shaking off of gives, and an end of banishment, a period of grief, an escape of dangers, a destroyer of all evils; Nature's due, countries joy heavens bliss. Woes Haven; the Key to open the door to Christians, as it did to CHRIST, Luke 24 26 of blessedness, rest, and immortality; dignifying, nay almost Deifying whom God hath elected, 
Nil boni in vita, nil mali in morte.  and called in grace, and called to the grave? this is the right partition of it into his parts and passages, as Antiquity hath christened it, and our age hath called it, and the godly have found it: Oh then, why shouldest thou boggle at it, since there is as little hurt in death to the good, as there is little good in life to the bad, as we shall further prove in some particulars hereafter?  
Thirdly, let this cogitation animate thee to sing Simeons' Song, in being at least willing, if not desirous to depart, because God takes thy part in thy departing, if thou be'st his: thou hast as the Promise, so the Performance of his comfortable presence. It hath been the Lords constant and continuated custom to be with his Children, like a friend at need, in their distress, whose exigents and extremities have been his opportunities. Thus he was present with Noah▪ in the Flood, Gen. 7. with Lot, in Sodomes' flames, Gen. 19 with jacob, in his flight from Esau, Gen. 33. with joseph, in Dodons' pit, and Putiphars' prison: with Moses, when he went to Pharaoh, when he was with Pharaoh, and fled from Pharaoh: with Israel, in the Red Sea, Exod. 14. with David, in Saul's pursuit, 1 Sam. 19 with Eliah, in the Desert, 1 Kings 19 with Elisha, when the Syrians came against him, 2 Kings 6. with Hezekiah, in his sicke-bed, Esay 38. with the three Children, in the fire, Dan. 3. with Daniel, in the den of Lions, Dan. 6. with joseph and Mary, and the wise Magis, flying from Herod, Mat. 2. with Christ, in his combat with Satan, Mat. 4. and he will be with thee in thy last conflict and trial: for, this is his Promise, which he keeps more inviolably than the Decrees of the Medes and Persians, to be with thee when thou passest through the waters, and through the rivers, & through the fire, that thou shalt neither be overflown nor overblown in any temptation, Esay 43.2.3.4 5.6. etc.  
Now God will manifest his presence with thee these three ways, either in moderating or mitigating thy pains, as the words of that Prophetical promise do import, making death no more dolorous to thee, than many ordinary crosses and afflictions which have befallen thee in life, as some of the Saints have tried it.  
Or, by the inward and ineffable comfort of the Spirit, which occasioned Paul to rejoice in tribulation, since even then, the love of God was shed abroad in his heart by the holy Ghost, Rom. 5.35. yea, even in his grievous sickness, it seems when he had received the sentence of death, as the sufferings of Christ did abound in him, so his consolations did abound through Christ, 2 Cor. 1.5. God is the chief Physician, and chief visitor, when any of his Patients are afflicted, in his own person ministering unto them, staying them with flagons, & comforting them with apples; with his right hand holding up their heads, and with his left embracing them. Cant. 2.9.  
Thirdly, he sends a victorious Host, a guard of Angels to be keeper's, and Nurses unto his Servants, to hold them up, and bear them in their arms, as Nurses do young Children: and to be their champions and guards against the Devil and his Angels, Psal. 30. All these comforts with many more, going along with thee, like the Cloud and the fiery Pillar with the Israelites, should cause thee to march valiantly, even through the Pikes ●f death, to thy appointed Possession. And so we pass in this passage of Simeon, to the third Point.   

His acknowledgement of the Divine Permission. In these words, Lettest thou.  
IN which phrase observe, that what ever comes to pass, is by the letting and permission of God, whether in life or death for, there is nothing done in the world, but that which the Almighty will have done, either by permitting it to be done, or by doing it himself. Or, as the same Augustine, All things are either done by God's help, or suffered to be done by his permitting, Domino vet adiwante, etc. yea, even those things which are done contra volu●tatem, against the will of GOD, yet are not done, praeter eius voluntatem, besides his will: by which will, with Hugo, 
Enchir. cap. 101.  I mean his good pleasure, his operation and permission; yea, even in Sin itself, the cause of death, God he hath a work. God works in every evil, but he works not evil, nor evilly, 
Lib. de sac. c. 7. part. 4.  as the Papists slander Calvin to teach. Ag●t in malo, etc. he works in the evil, first, by permitting; secondly, by disposing: by permitting I say, not by provoking. For, though God offer the sinner objects (to use Augustine and Bellarmine's Similitudes) and leaves a man to himself, yet he inclines not his will to evil, and therefore is not the cause of evil, no more than the Shepherd by setting hay or grass before the Sheep is the cause of the sheeps feeding: or the Huntsman by showing the Greyhound the Hare or Deer, is the cause of his running, but only the dispositions and inclinations of both to run, and to feed.  
Secondly, by ordering and disposing sin: for this is the property of the divine wisdom, saith Clemens, Vti utiliter, 
Strom. l. 1. Aug. Ench. c. 101.  etc. to use those things profitably, which are done perversely. De malo opere, etc. God out of every work that is evil works that which is good; even as in the first Creation he brought light out of darkness, and as a wise Physician out of poisoned Serpents and venomous beasts, extracts a preservative against poison. Thus he disposed of the Treachery of Joseph's Brethren, and the Treason of judas against Christ, to his own glory, and the good of his Church: in the preservation of old jacob and his Seed, and the salvation of his own Elect Israel. Therefore as in one act of the death of Christ, 1. God; 2. Christ; 3. the Devil; 4. the jews; and 5. judas wrought, but not from one cause: 
Aug. ep. ad Vincent. 38.  the Devil suggestingly, the jews maliciously, judas covetously, Christ executively, in delivering himself; God decretorily, in decreeing; and dispositively, in disposing the death of his Son to the saving of the Elect, and condemning of the Reprobate, being the rising and falling of many in Israel. The like is seen in other sins, wherein there are divers agents; some sinful but GOD always sinless: 
Aug. de Gen. ad lit. imp. c. 5. De civitate Dei lib. 11. c. 17. Mors non naturae conditio, sed poena peccati, de praed. & gratia. c. 11.  for, Peccatores in quantum peccatores, etc. God makes not sinners so far forth as they be sinners. but only ordereth and disposeth them: being as the best Creator of those wills that are good, so a most righteous disposer and orderer of those wills which are evil. But as for Death, which it the punishment of sin, not the condition of Nature; God is not only the permitter and provident disposer, but the just inflicter of it; yea, vitae necisque arbitrer, the author and maintainer, as of life, so of death: for, it is he that forms the light, and creates darkness; he makes peace, and creates evil, Esay 45.7. What evil? Not the evil of sin, 
Non mal● culpae, sed poenae.  but the evil of sorrow, of sickness, of troubles, banishment, famine; yea, Death itself, Leuit. 26.  
This point is worthy our further enlargement: namely, that all death, for the Time of it, the Place of it, the Matter, the Manner, the Cause, the Occasion of it, is immediately from God, operatively, penar●ly, or permissively.  
For the Time: 
Every death is determined by God.  if death come in the morning, or midday, in the evening, or Cocke-crow of life; in the Infancy, or childhood, or nonage, or youth, or adolescency, or perfect age, or decaying, declining, or decrepit old age of our years: if it crop us in the sprout, or the Spring, or the Summer, or the Autumn, or the Winter of our time, God that is Palmoni, a secret numberer, hath numbered our days and measured our time: for the LORD makes our days as it were an handbreadth. Psal. 39.5. eclipsing our life's light as it pleaseth him, in the sun-rising, or in the meridian of our days, as he did with good josias, the virtuous Prince Edward the 6. that worthy spirit Picus miramdula, our English josias, Prince Henry, with divers others. Again, sometimes he adds unto our days, as he did fifteen years to the reign of Ez●kias, Esay 38. extending and drawing our the thread of our life to a large extent, as he did the years of Abraham, 
Gen. 25.8. job. 22.17. 1 Chron. 29.28.  job, and David, who died all in a good age, full of days, going to their graves, as a Rick of Corn cometh in due season into the Barn, job 5.26.  
For the Place, whether we die in the fields with Saul and jonathan; or in our beds, with old jacob, Gen. 49.33. or on our beds, with Sisera and Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 4.5. or in the wars, with the Amorites and Amalekites: or in time of peace▪ as did Solomon, or by land, or by sea, as did the Egyptians, God hath appointed that place for us to lay down our bodies in, and no other, even as he appointed a dying place for Moses in the land of Moab, Deut. 34.1.5.  
So for the Manner of death, whether it be natural, when we fall from the Tree of life like ripe Apples: or if it be violent, when we are by force shaken down like green Apples: God gathers us to our Fathers. God shows himself in this act, not only when immediately he strikes by himself, with his own hands, 
Numb. 16.30.31.32.  as he did Dathan and Abiram, whom the earth received; Nadab and Abihu, whom the fire consumed, Leuit. 10.2. with others; for which cause the Lord is said to rain from the Lord, fire and Brimstone upon Sodom, Gen. 19 As also to have smit Naball for his churlishness towards David; 1 Sam. 25. ●8. but even those that are cut off by an external agent, whether by Satan himself, as were jobs Children, or by others, 
job 1.18.19  voluntarily or involuntarily, they are executed by the decree of the supreme essence.  
Thus whether we consider Children murdered by their Parents, (as was the Son of Constantine the great, of Antoninus Caracalla, of Brutus, of Darius, of Cambyses, and Medea, if we believe Histories.) Or Parents slain by their Children, as was Senacherib by his Sons, Esay 37.38, Frederick by his Son manfred, Agrippina by Nero, Semiramis by Ninus, Ulysses by Thelegon, Phocas by his Son Heraclus, etc. Or the blood of Brothers effused by Brethren, as Abel's by Cain, ammon's by Absalon, Te●cles by Polymies, Remus by Romulus, Argeus by his Brother Ptolemy Philadelphus, etc. Or if we consider Husbands slain by their Wives, as the Husbands of the fifty Daughters of Danaus▪ so the Husbands of those thirty Sisters of Albina, slain by their wives, Agamemnon by Clitemn●stra, King Sarematar by Circe's, Antoninus the Emperor by his Wife Luulla. Or if we ponder Wives butchered by their Husbands, as Poppea was by Nero, Queen Glosinda by Chilpericus, Fausta the Empress by Constantine, as also the Wife of Mithridates the King of Pontus, of Egnatius, Calphurinus, Periander, and divers others, who have perished by the mischief of their Mates. Or if we reflex upon Servants that have murdered their Masters, as Zimri slew Elah his Lord, 1 Kings 16.9.10. Or apostate Subjects, vile Traitors, that have effused the blood of the Lords Anointed, as jaques Clements, and Ravallack in their assarsinations and massacrings of the two renowned French Henries, etc. Or lastly, one man killing another, either suddenly, as Ehud slew Eglon with his Dagger, judg. 3.21. or treacherously as joab did Abner and Amasa, as Rehab and Baanah did Ishbosheth, 2 Sam. 4.5.6. or combatingly in a Duellie in the field, or any other ways; in all these, with all the rest of this nature, we must say as the Apostles said of Pilate, Herod, and the jews, concerning the death of Christ, that these murderers have done whatsoever the Lord's hand and council had determined before to be done, Acts 4.28. For, who is he that saith it cometh to pass, and the Lord commanded it not? Lamen. 3.37. For, even all things that are, and that happen, Deus disponendo praescivit, & praesciendo disposuit, saith Tertullian, God hath foreknown them, foreseen them, and disposed of them. If of all things, then of the lives and deaths of men; yea, even of murdered men: for though God prohibit and forbid murder, Exod. 20. yet he decrees that act which in man is murder, but in God is but an act of justice. Again, the very material part or subject, is of God, I say the naked act of murder, as it is an act, as it is from the living soul, as it is from the motion of the hand, is from God, without whom neither the hand nor any part could move in any natural motion: but the formal part and deformity of the act, which makes it properly murder, that is from the Devil and from corruption; yet not without God's permission, by the substraction of his grace (which Hugo calls the cause of all sin,) from the Agent, and for some righteous ends in respect of the Patient.  
The life of this point, 
Use 1. Of Redargution.  like the blood in the veins, lies in the use: if meets with the corruption of these that refer not death unto his true cause and ground, erring, not knowing the Scriptures: for, is any man strangely afflicted with wondrous and woeful diseases, 
Death comes not by fortune.  as the Gout, Stone, Stranguillio, Sciatica? etc. Is any infected with the plague? smit with Leprosy? wounded, or slain by his enemy? bruised by falling from his Horse, or the like? but chiefly, is he taken away suddenly, in his full strength, in his case and prosperity, when his breasts are full of milk, and his bones full of marrow? job 22.24.25. Presently, we break our into these terms; Sure he had ill luck, he had bad chance, he had ill Fortune: or else we shoot our fools bolts, as the Listrians against Paul, when the Viper stuck to his hand, Acts 14. Sure this man was a great sinner, etc. or as the jews of those upon whom the Tower of Silo fell, and whose blood Pilate mingled with their Sacrifices, 
Luke 13.2.  Sure he was a greater sinner than the rest: or as others of the blind man, john 9 we must needs know whether he or his Parent● have sinned, For the first: it is a pitiful thing, that Christians living so long in the heat, and light, and Sunshine of the Gospel, should be so darkened in their understandings, and so vain in their imaginations, like the once unconverted Gentiles, as to turn the glory of the immortal God into a vile and abominable Idol; to attribute that which is proper and peculiar unto God, unto Heathenish Fortune; a word, which as Augustine and Lactantius in their days banished to the Pagans from whence it came; so I wonder that the light of Preaching hath no more discovered the blindness of it, and no more reform the error of it, that it is no more rooted out of our hearts, and unsettled our of our heads: but that we must needs make it, as the Ephesians their Diana, some great Goddess, as the Sorcerer Simon made himself some great man. I wonder, that with the Romans we must build Temples, and sacrifice unto it, in disgrace and despite of God, and disparagement of his providence, taking the Crown from the Creator's head and placing it on an Idol, which is a mere Idea, a fiction, and Chimaera in nature: not knowing, or at least not acknowledging with the Scripture, with Antiquity, with Jerome, Augustine, 
jerom. in jer. c. 12. Aug. de gent. cont. Manich. c. 2.  and others (called now Fathers, as james and john were called Pillars) that there is no evil in the City (that is evil of punishment, in which predicament Death is,) which the Lord hath not wrought: that nothing comes to pass, fortuito casu, sed judicio Des, by chance, but by choice; nothing happens by hap-hazzard, but by the peculiar previdence and providence of God; that the will of God is the supreme cause of all things that are.  
Not a hair falling from our heads, 
Mat. 10.29 30  not a Sparrow falling to the ground, much less a sickness or a disease growing upon our bodies, much less a day, or an hour, or a minute falling from our life, without the determination and permission of him, that hath numbered our days, and set down the period of our age.  
Therefore let us banish all thought and opinion of Fortune unto the very Geteses and Sauromatanes. 
Exhortat.  Let us also suspend our thoughts and our opinions of our Brethren, when God doth sore afflict them in life, or suddenly inflict upon them some strange death: let us not judge lest we be judged, let us not enter into rash and precipitate censures of others: we may be further deceived in God's mercies towards them, or his proceedings with them, than was Eliphaz, 
job 2.3.4.  Bildad, and Zophar, in the case of job: then the Disciples were in the case of the blind man, john 9.12. For it may be that this man whom thou seest lying sick, a Lazar by the highway, begging with those blind men in the Gospel; him whom thou seest groaning in an Hospital, raving in Bedlam, etc. nay, whom thou seest drowned in the waters, stabbed in his bowels, led to execution, to be topped off like a fruitless Tree at Tyburn; is not a greater sinner than thou, neither he nor his Parents have sinned more than thou and thine, but that the glory of God might be made manifest, that he might be an example unto thee, that thou mayst take warning by his harming, lest thou also perish: for God's works (as his Word) are for thy instruction, whether they be works of Mercy or of justice.  
Use 2 Secondly, is it so, that death is by the permission of God? Nay, is it so, that thy death, and so the death of every child of GOD, is not only foreseen but foreappointed of God? then the consideration of this special providence of God, must be a motive amongst others which we have used, and are to use to incheare us against death. Oh how ought this to add life and spirit unto thy faintings, that God considers every circumstance of thy death, as the time when, and the place where, and the manner how; the beginning of sickness, cause, original, continuation, and end? that every fit in thy sickness; nay, the very pangs of death are particularly set down in the counsel of God? Did God so (as he did David) when thou wast an Embryo, without form, in thy mother's womb, when thou wast made in a secret place, and fashioned beneath in the earth? Psal. 139.15.16. and doth he not now thinkest thou behold thy trouble? Will he not strengthen thee in the bed of languishing, and make all thy bed in thy sickness, Psal. 41.2.3. In the 56. Psalm, v. 8. David prays that the Lord would put his tears into his bottle. Now consider with thyself, hath God a bottle for the tears of his Servants? much more hath he bottles for their blood: and much more doth he respect their pains and miseries, with all the circumstances of sickness and death. How did this comfort the Church of jerusalem in the death of Christ, in that nothing came to pass in it, but that which the foreknowledge and eternal counsel of GOD had appointed. Acts 4.28.  
Thirdly, the Meditation of this point must teach thee to possess thy soul in patience, to kiss God's Rod, to subject thyself like an obedient child to his correcting hand, to couch down like Issacar under thy burden; what misery soever in life, what manner of mortality in death doth befall thee, because it is the Lords doings: it is a message from thy King, an errand from thy Father, a summons from thy judge, a Love-token from thy Bridegroom, a warning from thy General, therefore to be received with all love and loyalty, submission and subjection: without muttering and murmuring, belching and barking against God, as the manner of some is. Oh consider the practice of David, Psal. 39.10. I held my tongue (saith he) and said nothing: Why so? because thou Lord aidst it. The same consideration sealed up the lips of Aaron, when two of his own Sons were consumed with fire, Leuit. 10.3. So Eli, when he considered it was the Lord that threatened him and his house, was content that he should do what seemed him good, 1 Sam 3.18. joseph thus revives his brethren when their hearts failed them in a great perplexity, Gen. 43. Fear not (saith he) for it was the Lord that sent me before you. Oh observe how the very meditation of God's permissive providence arms him and his against grief, impatience, and discontent: open thou the box and apply thou these Cordials, and Mithridate to thy own particular. I warrant you who ever had a window into Simeons' Soul had seen no small jubilee of joy in his inward man, arising even from these very thoughts, that it was the Lord that let him depart in peace, after he had embraced the Prince of peace: to whom that thou mayst conform thyself, let this one motive move thee, besides many more. Namely, the greatness of this sin of impatience; a sin not only condemned in the Word, Prou. 14 29. & 19 vers. 19 if it be but against man (much more if against God, as that of jobs was, job 3.1.2.3. etc.) but also punished most severely in the Lords own people, as ye may see at leisure in every Chapter almost of Ex●dus and Numbers, 
Exo. 14.11 & 15.24. & 16. v. 2.7. & 17. v. 21 Numb. 11. & 14. v. 1.26. & 21.5.  it never scaping scotfree, but bringing a greater judgement with it then that which did occasion it? As, do the people murmur for Quails, for Water etc. against God, against Moses, and against Aaron? they shall be plagued with Pestilence, and Serpents, and Death, and Murrain and mortality. Oh than if thou wilt be angry, be angry with thine own sins, the occasion of all crosses and of all curses; the causer of Terrors and Consumptions, and Burning Agues, and Biles, and Botches, and Plague-sores; yea, of Death itself, Leuit. 26.16 22. Wherefore is the living man sorrowful? Man suffereth for his sins, Lament. 3. Sin was the cause of Ezekias botch, of Gehesies and Miriams' Leprosy, of the Philistines Emerods', of the Egyptian plagues; and therefore Christ bids the blind man sin no more, lest a worse thing befall him, john 5.14. For, Death by Sin entered into the world, Rom. 5.12. which Sin still continueth Death's sting▪ we carrying that sting in our bosoms, that will kill us: oh then pluck this sting out, drown Sin in the salt Sea of repentant sorrow, as the Mariners cast jonas into the Sea: and the cause being removed, the effect will cease. The tempest shall turn to calm when thou turnest to Christ, though thou hast outward pain thou shalt have inward peace, and shalt depart in peace.  

Doctrine.  Secondly, in that God limits, and lets, and permits our departure, it teacheth us, that the days of man are so determined, as that no man, no means can protract them, or detract from them, beyond and beside their limits: for God which hath appointed the seasons and times for every thing, Acts 1.7. & ch. 17. hath determined also the days of every man's life, as he did jobs, job 14.5. which life as it is like a weavers Lombe, Esay 38.10. so it must last till the last thread thereof be woven, like an Hourglass running till the last minute of time be expired, before which time this thread cannot be cut by the power of men and Angels, this Glass cannot be broken: all external created power cannot cause the Lord to alter what he hath written in the numbering of our days, no more than Pilate would change what he had written upon Christ's Cross.  
Object. 1. 
Object.  But here a scruple may arise concerning Ezekias, who was told from God that he should presently die, Esay 38.1. yet after there were fifteen years added to his days, 2 Kin. 20.1.  
Answ. First, God's will is always one in itself, like God himself, how ever in respect of us it may seem contrary or contradictory, as it is secret and revealed. Secondly, there was no change of will or decree in God, 
Mutatio n●● in Deo, sed in homine.  but in Ezekias himself, who received the sentence of death like the Ninivites conditionally as the Thief may receive the sentence of death from the judge, unless he carry himself after, more carefully, or get the Kings Pardon presently. For, all Legal Threats, as also evangelical Promises, have their relation and reference unto the condition of Faith or Infidelity, of Repentance or Impenitency, by the performance or not performance whereof we avoid or incur the curses denounced: or are capable of, or not capable of the promises propounded: therefore when God stayed the execution, and as it were reprieved this good King, he did nothing but what he determined, for he decreed by this threatening to bring him to the sight of his sins, and so to repentance, that he might live.  
Object. 2 Object. 2. job complains that his breath is corrupt, that his days are extinct, and that the grave is ready for him, job 17.1. So David complained that the Lord had weakened his strength in the way, that he had shortened his days; yea, he feared that God would take him away in the midst of his days, Psal. 102. vers. 23.24. So Solomon tells us, that the fear of the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened, Prou. 10.27. than it seems a man may die before his limited time.  
Answ. There are two ages or times of man: the one a ripe age, suppose seventy or eighty years; the other unripe and green. Now, all men naturally aspire and desire the first; which if they attain not to in some measure and proportion, they are thought to die before their time, but yet nevertheless they accomplish their decreed date. And therefore though job and David complained of the shortening of their days, yet they deceived themselves, for the one lived after that an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons sons, even four generations, job 42.16. the other died old and well stricken in years, 1 Kings 1.1. but both of them (not seeing the Sun of God's favour through the cloud of the Cross) remembered not that God's power is seen in infirmity, 2 Cor. 12.9.  
Object. 3. Yet it is said that blood thirsty men shall not live out half their days, Psal. 55.23.  
Answ. First, that is which they desire to live; Secondly, or which in nature they might live to, so Basil; Thirdly, 
In Psal. 55  God hastens judgements upon crying sins, such as that of Murder, and Sodomy, and uncleanness, as he did on Sodom, Onan and joab. For, when sin once cries like cain's sin, or is ripe like the sins of the Amorites, God is provoked and cuts off the workers of it, 
Secreta esse possunt judicia Dei, nunquam iniusta.  sometimes suddenly, sometimes secretly, never unjustly; Fourthly, good men as they participate of God's blessing, long life, Exod. 20. ver. 12. or else of life eternal, if they be taken away with josias, in youth, which is better: so wicked men fearing death as a judgement which they fear, it shall fall upon them: for whatsoever a wicked man fears, in a slavish and servile fear, that shall come upon him, saith Solomon, Prou. 10.24. A proud man fears disgrace, he shall be disgraced; yea, proud Herod shall be eaten with Worms, and that Ester and Mordocheus, and those jews which Ammon feared shall bring him to the Gallows. If Achitophel fear that his counsel shall be rejected, it shall be rejected. If the Thief and the Seminary fears Tyburn, they shall be topped there. The covetous man fears poverty, it shall betide him or his, he shall vomit up his sweet morsels, his substance which he hath devoured, job 20.15. some part of his ill gotten goods, like the coal in the Eagles nest, shall set all the rest on fire. If jeroboam fear death, as Abijah threateneth him, the Lord will strike him that he die, 2 Chron. 1▪ 2. ver. 12. ver. 20. and so all other wicked men.  
Object. 4. But if our death be determined may carnal reason object, than we need use no means to prolong our life, as Physic, recreation, etc.  
Answ. If God have ordained thee to live long, he ordained the means also to prolong thy life; as he sent joseph before to provide the Land of Egypt for old jacob and his Sons to live and to trade in, when the Famine was in Egypt, for their preservation, G●n. 34.10. and as he provided a Whale to receive jonas that he drown not: so he hath ordained means, as meats, drinks, clothes, diet, Physic, Music, exercise, careful circumspection in the use of thy body, and the like, that thou perish not: to which means if thou be'st not subordinate, thou art guilty of thine own death, because thou withdraws thyself from without those limits and bounds that God hath appointed thee to walk in; and so art found either a fighter against, or at least a tempter of God, Deut. 6.16. It is worthy considering, that though God had told Paul, Acts 27.24. that all that were in the ship with him in that Cretian tempest, should be safe, yet nevertheless when some would have leapt out of the ship, he tells the Centurion, v. 31. that except they abide in the Ship, they could not be saved; they must stay still and bestir themselves (validis incumbendo renijs) if they will be safe; yea, they must eat meat to, for their health's sake, vers. 34. so what God hath decreed either concerning thy body or soul, thy temporal or spiritual estate, in life or death, thou must use means, for the well being and preservation of both.  
We may out of this box, thus opened, 
Use.  draw out this treacle, namely, to go on constantly and courageously in our callings and Christian courses in the performance of good duties, belonging to the first and second Table, to God or man, commanded in the word, commended in the practice of the Saints, notwithstanding, all not only oppositions and calumniations by the scoffing tongues of Ismaels', but even piercing persecutions of the worlds Nimrods', and the bloody Bulls of Basan; what though they menace thy massacring, determine thy death, as those cursed crew of Ruffians did Paul's, Acts 23.14. yet they cannot hurt a hair of thy head without God's permission: no more than the jews could do aught against Christ, but what God had before determined.  
Thirdly, in that Simeon here appeals unto God's permission, in respect of his departure: it is plain that he took not leave of himself to depart; he asks leave you see, as a Soldier of his General, to depart out of the Camp; as a Scholar of his Master, to go home; as an Attendant, to be dismissed of the Court. From whose particular we may extract this general observance: that it is unlawful for any man to let out his own life, or the life of another man (unless the Sword of Magistracy be put in his hand) no man must lay violent hands upon himself, or upon another: Deus vitae necisque arbiter, God is only the disposer of life and death. And therefore for the first, how ever the world pretend reasons and excuses, for to make this bastard-brat of self-murder (which comes from Satan and our corruption) legitimate, as proceeding from magnanimity, greatness of courage, or the like; or at least would extenuate it, or make it tolerable, if not approveble and laudable, when it is a curer of all other crosses, as Cato Vticensis held it; or a preuenter of sin, as in Rasis, in the apocrypha, and Lucrece in Histories, etc. yet nevertheless the practice is detestable, the sin damnable, and therefore both in Reason and Religion avoidable.  
First, because it is against a double commandment, Legal and evangelical: it breaketh the sixth Commandment: for if a man must not murder others, he must not murder himself, even as if a man must not steal from another, he must not steal from himself, his wife, his children (which I would have all Carders, Dicers, Drunkards, etc. and selfe consumers of their substance to consider,) if he must not do the lesser sin, he must not do the greater.  
Secondly, the Apostle saith, A man must not destroy his own body, but nourish and cherish it, Ephes. 5.  
Thirdly, it is against not only the light of Grace, but even of Nature; nay, of corrupted Nature: every creature, from the Lion to the Worm, from the Eagle to the Wren, (as Tully notes) seeks it own preservation, fugitque nociva, flies the contrary. Now the more unnatural that any sin is, the greater, the grosser it is: Incest is a greater sin than Adultery; Adultery, than Fornication; Bestiality, than all: wantonness with a man's own body worse than actual pollution with a woman, because more unnatural: so in murder, Fratricide, the murder of thine own brother is worse than Homicide, Manslaughter; Parricide, or Patricide, King killing, or the murder of Parents, worse than either: but Semicide, or self-murder worst of all, because most abhorring and swerving from the very spark and instinct of nature.  
Fourthly, a man sins not only thus, 1. against God; 2. against Grace; 3. against Nature; 4. against his own Body: but also he sins, 1. against the State, 2. against the king, 3. his Country, 4. the Church, 5. the Commonwealth, 6. his Friends, 7. his Family: for every man is pars Reipublicae & communitatis, a part of the State both Political and Ecclesiastical, he is a member of both bodies, and therefore hath not interest in himself, to be active in his own death, he must be merely passive. Partem Patria, partem Parents, etc. Besides, saith the Orator, his Parents, and his Friends (as his Country) for whose good he was borne, as well as for his own, challenge a great interest and prerogative in him: all whom he frustrates, and so directly sins against all, by cutting off himself, even as he sins against the head that cuts off the hand or foot in the body natural.  
Fiftly, this course is as cureless as cursed, as fruitless as godless; for it prevents not misery, but procures it; it redresseth it not, but a man runs further into it, like the fish that leaps out of the Frying-pan into the fire: like him that goes from the English pillory to the Spanish Strappado, that they go from the hell of Conscience into a real Hell, is to be feared in selfe-murtherers, though God only can determine it.  
Sixtly, it argues Madness, Distraction, or Frenzy, and so the world censures.  
seventhly, Impatiency, that a man cannot attend and wait the leisure of God to release his cross.  
Eightly, Muttering, murmuring, and Israelitish fretting against God, and so rebellion against the Almighty.  
Ninthly, Cowardliness, and faint-heartedness, that a man will not endure that which might be inflicted on him.  
Tenthly, unthankfulness, not to preserve this jewel of life which is bestowed upon him.  
eleventhly, Selfe-killing is noted as a mark of Desperation, and brand of Reprobation, as in Saul, judas, etc.  
Twelfthly, the practice of it causeth not only the actors, but their actions, profession, posterity, Country, nay, Christianity itself to be evil spoken of: their names rot and stink (as do oft-times their bodies.) Besides, they are denied Christian Burial, being (like excommunicate persons) cast out of the Church as unsavoury Salt.  

Use. Of Redargution.  All which Reasons (with many more) being so plain and pregnant against this sin, argue and demonstrate unto me, that many men are not only irreligious but unreasonable, that dare perpetrate, and commit this horrible riot and outrage upon their own bodies in self-murder. Neither can I but deplore, as I do wonder, to see how the Devil doth daily get ground and advantage on human nature, in this inhuman, unnatural, and belluine sin, which even the bruit Beasts detest and abhor. How many have we read of, how many have we heard of, how many have we seen culpable in this kind? What weeks do pass but our souls are made sad, and compassionately send out sighs at the Tragical falls and fearful ends of Semicidian selfe-slayers, the knowledge whereof we receive by the intelligence of our eyes or ears? How oft are our hearts made cold, and we occasioned to smite upon our breasts at the undoubted relation, or our own visible sight of many, not only amongst the ignorant, profane, irreligious, and impatient common people, (that know not what belongs to God, or themselves, to their duties in life, or their estates after death:) but even of Scholars, learned men, great men, that make away themselves, some by hanging, more by drowning, most of all by stabbing themselves, or by cutting their own throats? The frequency of which events Crowner's (who by juries find out the principal indicted causes of these murders) well know: whose office Satan and man's corruption hath made, as more painful, so much more gainful, then in former ages, wherein Christians lived and died more like Christians, at least more like men, or less like Pagans and natural men, but chiefly less like unnatural and brutish men than we do, in this and other sins, in these our cureless corrupted times, degenerate and declining days, etc. For, let a man peruse all Histories, and look at the carriage of Christians in their lowest exigents, when they were most exposed to most miseries such as are particularized, Heb. 11. When the sword had the keenest edge against them, in the hands of the ten first Roman Persecutors, when some one week saw the slaughter of more thousands then there be days therein, yet nevertheless we read of few or none that were their own slaughterer's, but in rest and patience, they ran through fires and waters, and burnings, and boilings, and bitings of beasts, even into the mouth of tyranny itself in passive suffering, rather than they would rid themselves of these exquisite torments, by more easy (though more unlawful) selfe-killings: but alas, such are the impieties, such the impatience; nay, such the Atheism of these our desperate days, that every cross (yea, though trivial, though but in imagination) must be removed with some, by a real curse of Self-murder. If we cannot be one selfe-caruers, we think thus to be one selfe-curers: if not selfe-brokers selfe-brokers to have what we will, we are selfe-butcherers against God's will, like toyish children we will take pet and die. The loss of an office, the rising of an aemulated Corrival in the Courts, the forfeiture of a Bond, the feeling or the fear of poverty, the turning out of service, the frown of a great man, the brawling of a Wife, the miscarrying of some, or the charge of many children, the overthrow in a suit at Law, the rejection of a suit in Love, (to omit weightier matters, distress of mind, distraction of heart, rage of conscience, despair of mercy, etc.) even these are arguments sufficient (and efficient to) in the devils Divinity, whereby he pleads and prevails with such whom the Lord hath left to him, and to themselves, to make their own hands their own executioners: which particular sin if there were no more in man (though it be accompanied with Legions) as it strengtheneth my faith in those first points in all Christian Catechisms, 
See Vrsimus and Bastingius Catechisms, in principio.  of man's misery, whose nature being vitiated and adulterate in the fall of Adam, is now grown monstrous and outrageous, both in the quantity and quality of sin: so it confirms my hope in Christ's second coming, concerning the propniqiutie and dearness of the last expected day of the world's dissolution, seeing not only Iniquity doth abound, and Sin (Satan's daughter) is more fruitful than ever, even in monstrous births; but the Devil the Father rageth (Lion-like;) and (like jehu) marcheth against man more vehemently with redoubled force and fury, knowing that his time to raven in is but short.  
These premises pondered, because Satan is as wily as ever he was, as powerful, as potent, as politic, more malicious; as thou art more weak than those which he hath assaulted and vanquished in this kind (for Saul and judas in all outward respects, were in all probability stronger than thou) as thy nature as wicked as theirs▪ (for all branches that come from Adam's stock are naturally corrupted) and as it is most likely that thou shalt be tempted by this Serpent, even to this very sin of letting out thine own blood, which like other sins is in thine own● power; (for what man amongst many can say that he hath not had many thoughts and motions injected and darted into his heart by Satan for to perpetrate this sin?) So in God's fear let every Christian arm himself against it, even with a constant resolution, like good job, by whom Saint james patterns us to trust in GOD, though he kill him: to fall rather into the hands of God with David, 2 Sam. 24.14. then to fall upon his own sword with Saul. 
1 Sam. 31.4  Discuss David's prohibiting argument, when he was provoked to kill Saul; 
1 Sam. 26.9.10.  Shall I lay mine hand (saith he) upon the Lords Anointed? Surely no, The Lord's hand shall be upon him, not mine, he shall stay his day. Thou as a Christian art the Lords Anointed, what ever Satan importune, the world's crosses occasionedly urge, yet lay not thine hand upon the Lords Anointed: it is more unlawful for thee to slay thyself, then for David to kill apostate Saul: stay thy day, wait the Lords leisure, in rest and confidence shall be thy strength, GOD will relieve thee in the cross, 
Zach. 12.10  or release thee from the cross. Labour for the Spirit of Grace against the impatiency of Nature, and the Spirit of Prayer against Satan's Temptations, and the Spirit of Patience against the world's crosses: learn out of Epictetus his School, sustinendo, abstinendo, by abstaining from the evil of sin, by sustaining any cross, the scourge of sin, not to mutter against thy Creator, not to mar his Image in thee his chief creature.  
Lastly, that thou mayst prevent this sin itself, as a point of instruction, neither unpleasing nor unprofitable, I think good to acquaint thee with the causes (at least the occasions) of this sin, of Self-murder, so far as I can gather them Historically, is matter of fact, even from the very Heathens, from whose Candles we must borrow a little light to see into this point: that so as is the Maxim both of Philosophy and Physic, subla●a causa, ●ollitur effectus; the cause being removed, the effect may cease.  
Use 3 The first and chief cause of this crimson sin of Self-murder, 
Of Instruction.  (besides the Devil tempting and triumphing over his conquered vassals) is rage of conscience: for some have been so stung with Hellish furies (as was Nero after he had murdered his Mother Agrippina, slain his Brother, his Friends, 
Matricide Nero proprij vim pertulit ensis. Auson.  his Masters, as Suetonius reports) that they have constrainedly attempted the quenching of this fire with the effusion of their own blood, chiefly when there is joined with it despair of mercy, as in Pilate, whom Gregory Turo●ensis relates to have killed himself after he had condemned Christ. The like whereof josephus records of Herod, after he had butchered his three Sons, 
In natricia.  Alexander, Aristobulus and Antipater. The Scriptures instance in Saul after his Apostasy from God; and in judas, after he had betrayed CHRIST, etc.  
2 Others some have been overcome by madness or Frenzies: as Lucretius that Philosophical Poet, about the forty year of his age, 
Statius lib. 12. Thebaidos'.  saith Politian: Hercules, that burned himself, being madded with his enchanted shirt, that was dipped in the blood of the Centaur: Ajax, 
ovid. lib. 13. Met.  that died enraged when Achilles armour was adjudged from him to Ulysses: to which are to be added such as being surprised with passions of love or hatred, oppressed with Melancholy, overheated in their spirits by study or the like, have been madded and so murdered.  
3 Others have killed themselves in the violency of their diseases, 
Polit. ibid.  as Silius the Poet: Festus the friend of Domitian, 
Martial. lib. 1.  Indignas prem●ret pestis, quum rabida fauces, etc. Messula corvinus the Orator, that by reason of an ulcer in his mouth, pined himself to death, as Celius testifies.  
4 Others in pride of heart, and discontent, as Homer, because he could not resolve the riddle of the Fishermen: Aristotle, because he could not find out the reason of the frequent ebbing and flowing of Euripus. So Brotheus that burned himself because he was deformed:  
5 Others to prevent the luxurious desires and designs of Lechers, 
Ovid in Ibin.  and to preserve their own chastity, as Sophro●ia, that Christian Lucrece, as Eusebius calls her, that by killing herself freed her chastity from the continual assaults of D●cius: Damocles the beautiful Boy that escaped the Sodomy of Demetrius by Selfe-drowning.  
6 Others being ashamed to live, have not been ashamed by self inflicted death, to deprive themselves of life: as chaste Lucrece after she was defiled by proud Tarquin, whose death not only Claudian Stroza, Sabellicus, 
Lib. 1. in Eutrop. Lib. 1. Erotic.  and many of the Heathen bewail, but even some Christians speak and write of it, with remorse. So Cornelius Gallus, that excellent Poet, Virg●ls friend, that for shame killed himself, being accused, and it seems guilty, of misdemeanours in his government, being Precedent of Egypt, saith Ammianus; 
Lib. 17. rerum gestarum.  or as Tranquillus writes, because he was interdicted Caesar's house, because he was too tongue-sawcy, saith Ovid, that makes it his blemish: Se linguam nimio non tenuiss● mero.  
7 Others to prevent that shame and further blame which their misdemeanours or the prevailing of their enemies had brought them too: thus Cleopatra when Anthony was overcome, lest she should be carried captive, applied Serpents to her breasts, 
Lib. 1. car.  which Plutarch and Horace say she kept for that purpose, whom her Maids, Neaera and Charmi●, accompanied in the like death. So Dioclesian the Emperor fearing an ignominious death from the threats of Lacinus and Constantine, drank poison, saith Aurelius. So Oppia, a vestal Virgin, deflowered, kills herself for fear of further punishment. The like did Fanius Cepio when he was apprehended in a Conspiracy against Augustus. The like is related of Cardinal Wolsey, to have poisoned himself in the Highway betwixt Cawwood and London, when he was sent for to answer such Articles as were against him: neither was Achitophel's witty folly awanting in this kind, who thought by hanging himself to be rid both of present shame, his counsel being despised, and future blame, from the foreseen prevailing part of David: 
1 Sam. 31.4  and Saul pretends this as his best argument to kill himself lest the uncircumcised Philistines should fall upon him and mock him: and Abimelech will be guilty of his own death, rather than it be said that a woman slew him.  
8 Others out of vainglory and desire of fame, as Empedocles the Sicilian Poet, who to be accounted immortal threw himself into Aetna, Deus immortalis haberi, 
Hor. in art Poaetica.  dum cupit Empedocles, etc.  
9 These that have desired the immortality of the soul after death, have upon false grounds used this unequal means of killing themselves, as did Cleanthos, Crysippus, Zeno, and others besides Empedocles, as did Cleombrotus also, after he had read Plato's Phedo (the Book which Cato read also before his death) all whom Lactantius for that cause of making away themselves, in his third Book of False Wisdom, Cap. 8. recites and refutes.  
10 Some have been deceived by the devils Delphic Oracles, (as Codrus amongst the Athenians) to preserve their Countries by their own voluntary deaths.  
11 Others have been so overwhelmed in the floods of Passions, and so transported from themselves in the eager pursuit of their desires, that they have sacrificed themselves to their beloved and adored Idols, suppose these be fictions, 1. of Dido's kill herself for the love of Aeneas: 2. Sapph, for the love of Phao: 3. Phaedra, for Hippolytus: 4. Phillis, for Demophoon: 5. Hemon, for Antigone: though they be all testified by Authors. The first instanced by 
a In Aeneid.  Virgil, 
b Lib. 3. fast.  Ovid, 
c Lib. 2. & Lib. 8.  Siluis, 
d In Manto  Politian, and all that have followed Virgil: the second by 
e Lib. 5. Siluarum.  Statius: the third by Ausonius: the fourth by 
f Lib. 3. de stellis.  Pontanus: the fifth by 
g Lib. 7.  Prepertius, (to say nothing of those that have cast themselves into floods and rivers, and so drowned, at the command of their Mistresses, as Pontanus instanceth in Galeatius, Caelius in T●magoras,) we have too many pitiful precedents even in our times, of no small number of foolish Flies, and deluded doters, who are profuse of their blood, which inconsiderately they expose to effusion in single combats, or madly they let out with their own hands, either when their supposed lawful love, or lawless lust is crossed by their corrivals, or rejected of their beloved ones.  
Lastly, and most ordinarily (to omit him that killed himself, by the instinct of God's Spirit, who also killed his enemies, that Typical Samson, whose fact was particular and inimitable) most make away themselves out of impatiency under the Cross, joined with Infidelity and Atheism, neither greatly believing or regarding any future estate after death. And therefore as the crosses and miseries incident to this our mortality are divers and manifold, so many snares hath Satan not only for the souls, but the bodies of unbelievers.  
Some, in the extremities of war have warred with themselves, and let out their own blood with their own hands, ere they would fall into the hands of their enemies: which was Saul's case when the Philistines pressed sore upon him. So Cassius and Brutus, 
Se gladio fodit Brutus, Cato fodit & ille, qu●m t●muit Caesar. Pamphilius Sax●s.  the murderers of Caesar, murdered themselves, saith Plutarch, with the same weapons with which they stabbed Caesar, being overcome by Anthony and Augustus at Philippos; for Which Io●ianus and others blame them. The like parts in the like Tragedies, acted Cato, when Pompey was overcome of Caesar, who of the City Utica, where he dispatched himself, was called Vticensis, saith Pliny and Gellius. So Dolabella▪ one of Caesar's favourites, when he was vanquished by Cassius in his Sirian wars. 
Lib. 5.  So usurping Fla. Fimbria in his conflicts with Sylla; at also Gnorban, when he was banished by the same Sylla. So Norbanus, 
Lib. 13.  when he was overcome by Scipio. So Otho the Emperor, 
Autore Livio.  after one battle lost in his wars with Vitellius. So Petreius, one of Pompey's Captains foiled by Caesar: Labio, by Octavius: with many more. As Portia, 
Martial. Lib. 6.  Cato's Daughters destroying diet was hot coals after the death of her Husband Brutus: 
Plutarch.  and as Aria accompanied her Husband Petoes proscription, with her own death; so divers other Wives have voluntarily accompanied the dead ashes of their Husbands: as also Husbands of their Wives, as Plantius of his Wife Erestilla: 
Valer. de amore coniugali.  so Mark Anthony when he heard but a false rumour of the death of Cleopatra, 
Eutropius Lib. 7.  aggravating his troubles with Augustus (saith Oresius) killed himself. Some have taken to heart the crosses of their Children: as Boetus that killed himself at the Tombs of his daughters Hippo and Miletia, 
Lib. 26. Siluis lib. 2  who being deflowered by some Spartan young men, were cast into a pit: so old Gordianus is by Marcellinus reported to have hanged himself, when he heard his Son was slain in the wars: so Mopsus threw himself down from a tower when he saw his sons dead before him: 
Statius lib. 11. Theb.  so jocasta the Mother affrighted with the horrible spectacle of her two Sons Eteocles and Polynices, that had slain one another, would live no longer. So Children have followed their Parents Funerals, 
Sic Lib. 5. Sylu.  as Erigone that hanged herself when her Father Icarus died. So Brothers and Sisters have sympathized in sorrows, and in Selfe-murthers, one with, and one for another; as juturna (Daunus his Daughter) that drowned herself after her Brother Turnus was overturned by Aeneas, 
Paulus sed Diaconus.  Others in a despairing repentance, for killing other, out of the horror of conscience, and Gods remunerating vengeance, have killed themselves: as Argobastes after he had caused Valentinian the younger to be strangled at Vienna. So Ecelinus the Tyrant after innumerable slaughter of others, made havoc of himself. Lesser Crosses have occasioned others self destruction, as the loss of friends, scandal of name, miscarrying of some things, which they over-weeningly loved in life: as Terence that drowned himself, because some hundred and seven Comedies, which he had turned out of Greek into Latin, perished by Sea: 
Hor. in Epode.  so Hipponax the Poet made Bubilas the Painter hang himself by his jerking jambickes. In all which particulars, these desperate salves that they used, were worse than their sores. These were Heathens that knew not God, nor the sovereign good, nor the true being or beatitude of man; the most of them they wanted illumination from the Sun of Righteousness, and Sanctification from the Spirit of Grace; they were in the shadow of death both in life and death, and were under the power and Prince of darkness, 
Acts 26.18  who ruled so powerfully in them and over them, that oft times they have made away themselves for little or no cause, as have also some in the rank of Christians, (as Celius and Crinitus write of one Laurence a learned Florentine, who threw himself into a pit in the health and strength of body: as also of one Peter Leonius an excellent Philosopher, and a singular wise man, that did the like, no probable cause being known or suspected in either:) Let us fear the Fates and the untimely falls of such Cedars whom God hath cut down, with the Axe of death, put into their own hands: let us by faith in CHRIST, and repentance from dead works, be reconciled to that God who by our provoking sins may justly deal with us as he hath done with them: in giving us over to Satan and ourselves. But above all things let us fear to commit sins, or live in sins against conscience: for the rage of conscience (the effect of witting, willing, unconscionable and customary sins) is the blatrant beast that kills so many in selfe-murthers: The spirit of a man may bear his infirmity, but a wounded conscience who can endure? saith he that was once, 
Solomon.  no doubt, touched in conscience for the sins with which his soul was soiled.  
Lastly, let us take heed of Cain● sin, despair of mercy, lest it work that effect in us that it did in him and judas; both who offended GOD more in this sin, chiefly the last, in effusing his own blood, then in shedding the blood of Abel or of Christ himself. Apply the promises to thy soul by faith, fons vincit sitientem; 
Augustine.  there is a fountain of Grace, and a Well of the water of life, 
Mat. 5.6. Mat. 11.28  always open to the thirsty sinner; which Fountain is greater than the puddle of sin, and hath a stronger mundifying virtue, and abstersive power to cleanse the soul, than jordan to purge and purify Naamans' Leprous body.  
I might prosecute another use against those who by a continuated custom of sin are indirectly and effectively, though not intentionally (for every man in sin, commits it, 

Omnia appetunt bonum.  
Immo malum sub specie boni.   sub specie boni, under the show of some deluding good, as our first Parents did, a truth which even Philosophers saw) but I say in respect of the effect, selfe-murtherers: for there is no sin wherein a man practically and actually lives, but as it is damnable to the soul, so it is prejudicial and dangerous to the body, the death of both: and that if we consider it in his causes and effects, whether natural or supernatural. Natural, instance in some: doth not fond lust cause dry bones? doth it not consume the moisture? dry up that radical humour which is the nurse and fountain of life? doth it not inflame the blood, cause burning Fevers? etc. To speak no worse, in bringing such diseases, that even modesty suffers me not to name, as that French (or Neopolitan) disease, that Anthony's fire, which burns to the consumption of the body and confusion of the soul. Doth not Drunkenness cause Dropsies? doth not strong drinks over-heate the blood? For to whom is woe? to whom is sorrow? to whom is strife? to whom is murmuring? to whom are wounds? and to whom is the redness of eyes? Even to them that tarry long at the Wine, to them that seek mixed Wine, which Wine though it be pleasant both in the colour and the taste, yet at last it bites like a Serpent, and hurts like a Cockatrice, Pro. 23. v. 29.30.31.32. The like may be said of all other intemperancies in meats: by the immoderate excessive abuse whereof many have laid their stall-fed pampered carcases untimely in the dust. Insomuch that Physicians considering the innumerable diseases that flow from that unclean sink of Epicurism and gluttonizing, have set it down at an Axiom, Plures gula quam gladio: that the insatiable belly hath slain more than the Blade.  
What should I speak of Avarice and Covetousness, which wastes and consumes the spirits by a mad and eager pursuit after the world; every cross and loss whereof goes to the heart of the wretched worldling like a dart or a dagger? Of Envy, which frets the heart as the Moth the Garment, and eats into it, as the rust into the Iron? with the destroying and deadly effects of other such sins. I might be large in the causes supernatural, in confirming that Divinity, which not only Protestants commenting, 
Aret. in locum. Bernardin. de sena, art. 3. cap. 4.  but Papists alleging that place in the Apocalypse, chap. 3. vers. 3. If thou watch not I will come on thee as a thief, etc. have taught and affirmed, that GOD accustometh for the punishment of careless and negligent sinners, to cut off time from them, and to shorten their lives, for their misemploying and misspending the same, in omitting all good duties, and committing outrageous sins: God taking from them that which they have, or at least seem to have 
* Mat. 25.29. Tom. ult. ser. 13. ●. 3. & 4. & Tom. ult. ser. 18.  which is Time; a jewel so precious, that as zealous Bernardine de sena, oft acknowledgeth, if the traffic and merchandise of it might be carried to hell to be sold, for one only half hour there would be given a thousand worlds, if the damned had them. Hence it is, that we see many murderers, riotous persons, malefactors, swearers, swashbucklers, cut off by the Sword of the Magistrate, or of the enemy, in war, or private quarrels, or by God's sword, the devouring Plague, or such means, even in their youth and strength, when by the course of Nature they might have lived longer: according to the threat of the Psalmist, that bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days. Psal. 55.23. And that Prophetical threat of job, 
job 15.32.  that the sinful man shall die ere he accomplish his days, and that his hand shall be cut off like a Vine in the bud, even when he is young and tender in the blade, ere he come to any ripeness or maturity. To which God himself hath reference in the fifth Commandment, which at it annexeth the promises of long life to children that are obedient to their Parents, (how ever some are taken away soon, as was josias, whose short life on earth is rewarded with life eternal in heaven) so it intimates the curse of abbreviating and shortening the life of those that are immorigerous and refractory to their Parents and Fathers, whether natural, civil, spiritual, or heavenly: illustrated in that whether fiction or true History, 
Pomerium de Sanctis. Bernardin Sevensis.  which the Papists relate of a young man in the Village of Catalunna, near Valentia; who being disobedient to his Parents, and withal a thief, being deservedly hanged about the years of eighteen, a pretty while after his death, he hanging on the Gallows, his beard began to sprout, his brows waxed wrinkled, his hairs grey, like a man of ninety years: at which all being astonished, it was revealed to the Bishop of the place, how that same young man, after the course of Nature, might have undoubtedly lived ninety years, and so should have done, but for his disobedience and other sins the LORD by a violent death cut off from his life, so many years as are from eighteen to ninety. Whereupon Saint Jerome well observes, 
Hier. epistola 21.  that as shortness of life is a punishment and judgement against sinners, so from the beginning of the world a sin hath increased in several ages, God hath shortened the years of sinners more and more. Which is plain, if we compare our days with former times.  
Hence it is, 
Haimo, sic Hector Pintus in Esaiam 38.  that (as Haimo and others note, if God had called Ezekias then when he threatened him, it had been sins desert, not Nature's course: and when at his tears and prayers, fifteen years were added to his days, than his sin was pardoned, and he permitted to run even that whole natural race which he should have run, if he had not sinned: 
Molle●us Wolphius in Psal. 102 ver. 24. Vide Marlor. in expos. Eccl. in Psalmos.  for which cause David prays that the Lord would not take him away in dimidio dierum, in the midst of his days; that is, say Expositors, he prays that according to his demerits God would not as an inflicted punishment, unseasonably cut him off, as he useth to do and deal with profane men: but that he would permit him to enjoy and accomplish the residue of his years, which in his determination he had appointed he should live, if he had persisted obedient. All which may be a Spur and motive to stir up impenitent and ungracious wicked men to look to themselves, and to break off their sins by Repentance, lest both from causes natural and supernatural, as the effect of their quelling and killing sins, they be found Selfe-murtherers: being not only actually even whilst they live, dead in their souls, like the wanton widows Paul speaks of; 
1 Tim. 5.6.  and the Bishop of Sardis: 
Apoc. 3.1.  but in proxima potentia, in the nearest probability of the death of their bodies, even as he that hath eaten poison is but a dead man though living, because potentially dead: and as a condemned malefactor is dead, though living, because Legally and Civilly dead: so, these are dead whilst they live, like condemned Traitors▪ standing at the King's mercy, when ever he will take away their lives: the case standing with them as with Adam and Eve after they had eaten the forbidden fruit. Fear and tremble ye wicked ones, lest God take away life from you, life natural and eternal: as he threatened to take away the Kingdom of God from the jews, Mat, 21.43. giving the abused treasure of your life to those that know better how to estimate it, and use it to his glory, and to the working out of their own salvation.   

His proper Appellation. In these words, Thy Servant.  
NOW we come to the fourth part in this Song, in Simeons' Compellation, entitling himself God's Servant, with a special application in this pronoun Thy: 
In locum.  Piscator gives a note of the significancy of the words in the Greek, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Sernum tuum: id est, Me: thy Servant, by a Senechdoche: as the Virgin Mary useth the phrase in the same Figure, Luke 1.48. by an elegancy of speech proper to the Hebrews; testifiing their reverence to him to whom they speak, as in the History of Joseph's Brethren we hear them thus submissively speaking to joseph; Thy Servants came to buy food, Gen. 42.10. They might have said, We came, in brief, but they express their reverence. So for the same cause, Gehezi answers his Master Elizeus, 2 Kings 5.25. and the woman of Tekoa, David in the same terms, 2 Sam. 14. when they might have used the pronoun I, or Me, they have expressed their reverent respect to God or man, as also their humility; yea, and the account they made of the countenance and favour of those they spoke to, as here Simeon did. For, if he would have given titles to himself, he might have called himself one of the Seniors and Elders of Israel, one of the Prophets, 
Vers. 30.31 32.  here prophesying; or a Rabbi amongst the jews; a Teacher and Explaner of the Law; a Doctor in the Schools of jerusalem, being about the time, or succeeding jesus the Son of Sirack, that writ the Ecclesiasticus, 
Anno ante Christum. 40.  or jonathan the Chaldean, that turned the Hebrew Bible into the Chaldean tongue. He might have spoken of the number and excellency of his Scholars, such as Gamaliel, 
Simeon Hilleles c. de sacra Script. p. 359.  under whom Paul was instituted, that was his Son, or his Auditor, as Zanchie thinks: with other such privileges, in respect of his place, dignity, age, profession, estimation, but he singles out, and sequestrates this Epithet from the rest, and appropriates it to himself, Thy Servant; counting it his chiefest dignity to perform any duty to his heavenly Master.  

Doctrine. The chief delight & desire of a Christian is to be God's servant.  This aught to be our chiefest practice: every Christian should be of Simeons' mind, striving, studying, endeavouring to deserve, joying, delighting, and rejoicing in his conscionable and constant desires to serve God.  
First, we have not only Simeons' practice here, but many precedents, 
Reasons and Motives.  Reason. 1 which have preceded, and gone before us in this particular, men of most eminent greatness, excellent graces, shining gifts, high places, Gods of the earth, temporal saviours, instrumental converters of the Christian world; of the blood Royal, allied to CHRIST the Prince of Peace, Esay 9.6. both by birth natural and supernatural, yet have as desiredly as deservedly passed by all other titles, in the exchange of this, to be accounted and called the Servants of God. Thus Moses, as by the Lord himself, he is dignified with the title of God's Servant, I●sh. 1.2. yea, a faithful Servant in God's house, by the Spirit of God, Heb. 3.2. So he counted it greater glory to be a poor Shepherd, and keep the Prince of Midians sheep, that so he might in his solitary Soliloquies meet with God on Mount Horeb, Exod. 2. and serve God with his afflicted people in the Wilderness, then to be called the Son of Pharaohs Daughter, and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season in a Heathenish Court, Heb. 11. So David that pious and potent Prince, the sweet Singer of Israel, with greatest alacrity carols out this in his holy Hymns; Lord, I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant, and the Son of thine Handmaid. So Paul, though an Hebrew of the Hebrews, a jew by Nation, a learned Pharisie by education, an Apostle by Profession, a pillar of the Church by his Ministerial Function, yet with all these national and Apostolical Privileges, he joins this as the chief, A Servant of jesus Christ. Nay truly (that which the Antichristian Saul of Rome calls himself hypocritically) a Servant of the servants of the Lord for Christ's sake, 
servus seruorium Domini.  a Servant to the Saints, to the Church, all things to all, to win some. So holy Jude, the Brother of james, of Christ's kindred according to the flesh, prefixeth this as the best branch of his Pedigree, A Servant of jesus Christ, Jude verse 1. That which was the chief grace of Simeon, Moses, David, Paul, Jude, aught to be our glory, to serve him, who is Lord of Heaven and Earth.  
Reason. 2 Secondly, God wondrously and worthily esteems of his Servants, as appears by those honourable titles in the Scripture with which he advanceth them, for he doth not account them Servants, 
1 john 3. Mat. 12.49.50.  but Friends; yea, Sons; yea, Heirs; yea, Christ's Fellow-heyres, Rom. 8. his Brethren, his Sisters, his Father, his Mother, his Domestiques, and of his Household; yea, Citizens with the Saints, and Burgesses of the Heavenly jerusalem, Ephes. 2.19. yea, his Members, 1 Cor. 6.15. The Temples of the holy Ghost, vers. 19 2 Cor. 6.16. Spiritual men, 1 Cor. 2.15. New Creatures, 2 Cor. 5. Freemen, john 8. Holy men, 2 Cor. 6. The Lords anointed, 1 john 3. True Israelites, john 1. The Lords first borne, Heb. 12.23. God's peculiar people, royal Priests, 1 Pet. 2.9. Elect of God, Col. 3.12. Vessels of Mercy, Rom. 9 Children of the Marriage-Chamber, and such as excel even their neighbours, Mat. 9 yea, excellent ones, Psal. 16.3. with such other titles of eminency, and dignity, with which his Servants are advanced. Now, if it be a grace to be called the Sewer, the Chamberlain, the Cupbearer, etc. to an earthly Monarch, as Nehemiah was to Artaxerxes, then what lustre and excellency is their in such high and honourable places, which the attendants in God's Courts do daily enjoy?  
Thirdly, only the Servants of God are acceptable unto God here, and shall have a glorious reward hereafter. Heb. 12.28.  
Fourthly, the Church and Children of God esteem and approve of such as serve Christ truly and sincerely, Rom. 14.18. as for others that are either strangers from the Commonwealth of Israel, without the Church; or servants to their own lusts and sinful ends within the Church, that serve not the Lord in spirit and truth, they esteem them as debashed and vile men, unworthy of the common air, unclean Birds, unsavoury salt, the earth's burden, the Church's bane, Satan's Imps, Nature's shame, heavens exiles, Hell's Inheritance, and the devils due▪ in that case wherein they stand, till by the power of the Word and Spirit they be brought from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, from the service of vain Idols, to the living God, Acts 26.18  

Use 1. Of Redargution.  If we, according to our use, apply this by use, we shall find Miriades and Millions of such as have the faces of men, and the names of Christians, and go under the common rank of God's Servants, as far from Simeons' desires and delight in this point as the Devil himself, that never since they were borne of their Mothers, did either know, or will, or affect or practise, or think of the least measure of the service of God. Examine their knowledge, and you shall find them as ignorant how God is truly to be served as the Geteses and Sauromatanes, and those Paganish people that never heard of God. Let thousands that might be culled out, both in the City and Country, that are under the means, and that have dexterity of wit, strength of intellectual powers, soundness of judgement, in attaining, discerning, and judging the things of this life, that belong to their Callings and Functions. Tell me the difference betwixt a civil, moral, temporary, general Faith, and saving Faith, (without which God is not served and pleased) with the marks, proprieties, and effects of the same. 
Multitudes that live under the means are ignorant how God should be served.  Let them distinguish unto me betwixt that godly and that worldly, that Christian and that carnal sorrow mentioned 2 Cor. 7.10. Let them show me the true qualities and conditions of such a prayer as prevails with God, and fetcheth a blessing from the Throne of Grace: the Notes and Adjuncts of that Confession of sins to which Remission is promised 1 john 1.9. Pro. 28.13. Let them tell me wherein the evangelical Repentance of the child of God in his new birth, or after his fall, differs from the Legal Penitency of judas, Esau, and the Papists; with other such like Mysteries and Principles of Divinity: the knowledge of which is a good means both for honouring of God, and saving of their own souls: and I shall be very glad that my strong jealousy and vehement suspicion of their blockish ignorance, is desiredly removed. I know many like the naughty Servant, know the will of their Master, that do it not, Luke 12.47. like the Athenians that know how to do well and will not: that know how to speak well and to work ill, like that carnal Cardinal that declaimed against whoredom, and practised ere he slept, what he inveighed against: such, like the Armenian Dragons, have hot mouths, and cold hearts: yet an hundred times more we have in this our marvelous light, that do no more know how to begin, prosecute, or finish any part of the service of God: then a new admitted Colledge-Student, a freshwater Soldier, an unexpert raw servitor, a rude Prentice, know what belongs to their places, functions, professions, to the customs and conditions of their place, the first hour of their admittance: a fearful case for such as have had so good means, and have profited nothing.  

2 Part of the Use.  A second branch of this repose extends to those who want not only the skill, but the will to serve and worship God, unless in a will-worship, such as they themselves conceit and imagine is sufficient, though mixed with such filthy dregs and dunghill of Ignorance, profaneness, superstition, formality and hypocrisy, as makes God loath and abhor their offerings. How many are there in the common fold of Christianity amongst us, that in this main duty of hearing the Word, and the voice of the great Shepherd, in the ministery of us the Vnder-shepheards? for one Sermon that they here lend their ears and hearts to, an hundred times to the voices of strangers, whether Seminaries and Jesuits, the Pope's Factors; or Stage-Players, the devils Preachers; or other such Charmers, which infatuate and bewitch their souls, as the false Apostles did the Galathians, Gal. 3.1. I speak not of the manner of their hearing, without all preparation before, without all reverent attention, submission, or faith in hearing, or meditation and examination of themselves and their families after hearing, whereby the word is made unprofitable to them; yea, the savour of death to death: But when do they hear at all? or whom? where is their David's delight in the Law and Statutes of God? where is their longing after the Congregations and Assemblies of the Saints? after bethel? where is their soul's sickness after the house of God? to come and worship in the holy Temple? there were such men when David, Ezekias, josias, Anna, good Simeon, and the Primitive Saints were living, whom Augustine called the Lords Ants, that every day would hast into the Lord's Barn, to fetch corn, the bread of life, as the Israelites gathered Manna every morning. But our age affords Drones, and Wasps, and Grasshoppers in their stead: the neglect of God's public worship in the solitary seats of many unfrequented Churches, in the thronged fields, and tippling-houses in many Parishes. In this our numerous people (wherein our Land like a full Beehive, might cast many swarms) shows that most have less will to serve God, than the Devil, the world, or their bellies. But to leave the church-service, wherein man sees thy defects and defaults better than thou thyself. Tell me vain men, in the truth of their souls (if there be any truth in you) what sacrifices many of you, chiefly you the common and vulgar people have offered unto God in private? where is the furrows and wrinkles in thy face? thy bleared Leah-like eyes, that thy tears have made, being occasionedly distilled from the Limbeck of a sorrowful soul for thy sins? where was thy last Bochim, place of weeping? thy last M●spez, where like a true Israelite thou didst pour down water before the Lord? When didst thou take up David's course, in washing thy Couch with tears, and thy bed with weeping? Where didst thou mourn like Ezekias, 2 Kings 20.3. Alas thy dry eyes and stony heart, polluted soul and guilty conscience tells thee this part of God's Service is yet omitted. Moreover, where didst thou volley out thy broken sighs for thy Sodomitish and crying sins? What times, morning, evening, day, or night? What place, what Chamber, Closet, Gallery, Garden, Grove, Wood, Field, can witness thee, smiting upon thy breast with Ephraim, jer. 31.19. ashamed of thy sins, with the Princes and judges of Israel, like a Thief taken in the manner, jer. 2.26. casting down thine eyes, and knocking upon thy breast with the penitent Publican, Luke 18.13. mourning like a Dove in the Desert, and a Pelican in the Wilderness, for thy transgressions and enormities? this part of God's service is pretermitted. 
Psal. 4.  When didst thou commune with thine own heart in thy private Chamber, searching the secret sins of thy soul, with the light of the word, finding out thy present corruptions, and recounting the bypassed follies of thy youth, in the bitterness of thy soul: confessing them unto God with the repenting Prodigal▪ laying open the wounds, Leprosies, and ruptures of thy soul to Christ thy Pihsitian? I doubt this sacrifice of a wounded soul, a broken heart, and a contrite spirit, is either not at all, or very coursorily performed: this service and sacrifice pleaseth God too well, Psal. 51.17. for the Devil to suffer it to pass without long delays, many interruptions, and in too many, absolute omissions. But lastly, tell me seriously, how oft hast thou poured out thy soul before the Lord in Prayer for the pardon and remission of sins, for a new heart, a renewed soul, 
Psal. 51.1. v. 12.13.14 jer. 31.18. Mat 9.24.  for conversion, and turning to God, for increase of Faith, for the holy Ghost, for the gifts of Grace, Wisdom▪ Chastity, and the like, as David, the Apostles and Disciples of Christ, 
Luke 17. Psal. 119·76. 77. Luke 23.42 2 Cor 9 1 Kings 3.  Paul; and other of the Saints have done? hast thou done this? I ask thee not whether thou hast oft babbled or not, like the Heathen and our ignorant Papists, in pattering over thy Lord's Prayer, as they do their Pater Nosters and their Auees, without Faith or feeling, without heart and affection, with that lip-labour that Christ condemned in the Gentiles, 
Mat. 6.5. Esay 29.13.  and God in the jews? Neither do I ask thee, if Parrat-like thou hast said over thy Creed, and thy ten Commandments, sometimes when thou didst rise and go to bed; which are as far from being Prayers, as the Devil is from truth, or as ignorance is from knowledge, that tells thee they are Prayers which are none. With these Heathenish and Idolatrous Services perhaps thou had lodened the Lord, as the jews once overwearied him with the like vanities, Esay 1.11.12.13. But I ask thee how oft thou hast indeed prayed? how oft indeed with a Sacrifice of Prayer, kindled with zeal, inflamed with the fire of the spirit, heated with fervency, directed with knowledge, grounded on Faith in the Promises, prosecuted with Humility and Reverence, attending with Constancy and Perseverance, accompanied with Repentance for sin, and her handmaides Contrition and Confession? how oft I say with such a qualified Prayer, hast thou approached the Throne of Grace? put up thy petitions to heaven? knocked at the gate of Grace, for graces to be given, sins forgiven? how oft with such Incense hast thou visited the Lords Altar? Seven times a day, with David? nay, three times with Daniel? nay, once? nay none in many days, will thy heart tell thee, if it continue not still hypocritical, deceiving thee as Satan hath deceived it? Well, and yet thou thinkest to be saved: But upon what grounds? rotten God knows. Indeed every one that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved: so saith the Prophet, so the Apostle, joel 2.32. but thou callest not on the name of the Lord, saith thy heart, at least not as thou oughtest to do, which makes thy prayer an abominable sacrifice, therefore thou thus continuing shalt not be saved.  
But let me go further with thee? Dost thou pray in private? that's well: but dost thou pray for, with, and amongst thy family, in thine own house, as did Abraham, joshuah; and the faithful in their days? here thou art mute: and thy heart gives the negative. It is apparent God is as frequently and as fervently served in the Houses, Tents, Tabernacles and Camps of many savage and Scythian Soldiers, as in thy house. Mahomet hath better service in most families of the Turks, and the Devil of the Virginians, than God hath in thy house.  
For, Prayer is such an excellent part of God's worship, that it is oft used for the whole service of God, as Gen. 4.26. and elsewhere, being a duty whereby as man is profited, so wherewith God is wonderfully pleased, and his name glorified, Psal. 50.15. even in all his Attributes (both 1. in his Wisdom, in acknowledging that he is infinitely wise in knowing our wants: 2. in his Power, in that he is able: 3. in his Mercy, in that he is willing: 4. in his Omnipotency, and his Omnipresence, that he is always ready and present to hear and help his Church and children: 5. as also in his Knowledge, in that we confess him by Prayer to be the s●archer of the heart, and the only Intelligencer of the desires of man:) Now where this principal part of God's Service and Worship is omitted, or but slubbered over, (as Elies Sons did the Sacrifices) in public or private, how can a jealous and a zealous God endure it? When thou omittest, neglectest, despitest, or despisest this whole Service of God, how shall the Lord be pleased with thee? thou depriving God of the principal part of his Glory, he will frustrate thee of thy hoped glory: for, who ever are glorified of the Lord in heaven, must glorify him in some measure on earth.  
I might also examine in this Quere, how thou performest other parts of God's service; namely, those which are Eucharistical and Gratulatory, in praising God for his blessings temporal and spiritual, as did David in his Generation, with others, Psal. 100 Psal. 130. A duty though commanded by God, Psal. 50.15. and as a part of his Service, so of his Glory, Psal. 50.23. yet neglected as frequently as foully, as it was of the nine cleansed Lepers, Luke 17.17. and of Ezekias, 2 Chron. 22.25. whereby God's wrath is kindled against many a man, and his seed and posterity, as it was against judah and jerusalem. Secondly, they are both deprived of former blessings for their ingratitude, and God's hand shut from pouring out any new mercies into the riven dishes of such unthankful souls.  
Many more parts of God's service omitted by an ungracious and ungrateful world might be prosecuted: whereby it plainly appears that there are great troops and swarms of profane and godless men amongst us, that have not God in all their thoughts, like the Hypocrites in job 27.10. that have no delight in God, such Atheists as David describes in the Psalmist, Psal. 14. Psal. 53. and as Zephanie, jeremy, Esay, Ezekiel, and the rest of the Prophets have still cried out against, that never seek unto God, that never call upon him: Nay, which think it vain, and a thing neither behoveful for them, nor beneficial to them, to call upon God, as the cursed jews did in Malachi, 3. v. 14. Nay alas, which is more, as many carnal and careless Idiots amongst us, discover with their lewd tongues, the thoughts of their poisoned and perverse hearts, they think it concerns not them to serve God, to hear, read, pray, confer, meditate, and do such duties, (to which, 1. God, 2. their endangered souls, 3. their general and special callings, 4. their usurped name of Christians, 5. their vows in Baptism, do oblige, bind them, and enjoin them:) but that these things are proper and peculiar to clergymen, Churchmen, learned men, Scholars, Preachers, holy-day-men, (as they unholy call us.) They are not book-learned they say, (though they be hell-learned from a sophistical Devil, to dispute against their own salvation;) besides they have other things to do, 
john 11.  Marthaes' part to play, to look for the world, to provide for wife and children: for such is their Atheism and Infidelity, they dare not trust God for a rag, or a crust of bread, without their own sinful cark and worldly care, notwithstanding all his promises, Mat. 6.33. of giving them earthly things, if they seek and serve him: 
How few aim at God's Service in all their ways & works. ) Hence it is, as their actions declare their affections, many think no otherwise of their Creation, but that they were borne and brought into the world, even to seek and serve the world and themselves, not God: and so to go to heaven in a string (as it were) as strait as a line when they are dead. Oh how many Husbandmen think this the end of their living, to delve, and dig, and plow, and sow, and reap, and eat, and drink, and get his rents; and spend his pence in his Sunday-pots: to serve his Cattle, Horse, Oxen, Kine, and Sheep; himself serving God no more than the very Beasts and Bullocks, amongst whom he converseth? These are also the thoughts, this the life of many a daily Labourer and Hireling: thus also many unsanctified Tradesmen, Merchants, Mercers, Haberdashers, Shoemakers, Tailors, etc. and other Shopkeepers, only propound gold and gain, as the end of their labours and travels under the Sun: how to load themselves with thick clay; to bestow their Sons and Daughters in great matches and high places; to give great portions to their Children, 
Virtus post Nummo●.  rather of goods then of grace, and to leave their substance to their babes: and to these ends the service of God, even upon his own Sabbath, must be subordinate, his worship must be dispensed with, in whole or in part, by themselves and those whom they have in charge, journymen, Servants, or Prentices. Thus also some irreligious serving-man conceits no other end of his living, moving, or being, of his years, strength, and vigour, but to serve his Master at his Table or at his turns; or his Horse, or his Hawk, at his appointment; besides his misspent time and means in the prosecution of his own servile and slavish lusts: as for the Service of God, to which me thinks he hath as many leisures and opportunities in his vacancies from any needful moral employment, as any of the sons of Adam: he counts the thought of that ridiculous, the practice preciseness, not worthy his generous spirit: his time is wholly spent and misspent, either in civil attendance, according to his place, 
Mole agendo. nihil agendo, alit●r agendo. Seneca.  or in idleness doing nothing, or in reading vain Books, or seeing Plays, or frivolous discourses of Horses or Dogs, or worse subjects; in which things the heart, it seems, is most employed in private, else could it never so frequently, by the tongue, vent out such froth. In which remissness and neglect in and of God's service, joined with that loose profaneness which accompanies most of their professions, I think them much secured and hardened by the exemplary irreligious courses and discourses of their Masters for the most part, whose ordinary both words and works▪ in, and about, either the world or their pleasures, and traded recreations (as their corrupt affections bend) usually matched with a key-coldness, neglect, if not contempt (at least an indifferency) in the public and private worship of GOD, (serving GOD no oftener nor no better, either in the Church or their domestical Chapels, then will stand with civility) reads a preceptory and practical lecture to all the Servants; that they should not be more forward and zealous in good duties than their Masters, neither to outstrip them in God's service if they mean to sleep in a warm skin, and not to expose themselves to the censure of more precise than wise, and to continue in their Master's favour.  
So the mercenary hired Servant, either for the Plough or Cart, or such like, generally throughout the Land, what doth he more think upon (besides sin and vanity) then even to do his days tasks, like the hackney horse, his ease and Provender, his bed and his victuals being the very God that he sacrificeth unto? Tell him of aught else to be done in Religion, you shall prevail as much as Lot with his Sonnes-in-law, they think you scoff. Hence it is that this clownish rout in most places, are so forgetful of GOD, and blockish even to admiration, that they neither know, or understand, or can repeat the Petitions of the Lords Prayer, the ten Commandments, or the Articles of their Creed, or can otherways prepare themselves (as I know experimentally in too many Villages and Parishes) for the receiving of the Lords Supper, which they usually do receive (as judas did the Devil and the sop together) then first by putting on their clean clothes about Easter time: secondly, ask their Master's blessing: thirdly, muttering over such imaginary Prayers as before I have spoken of: fourthly, going to Church to receive their Maker and that day to be God's Servants (as they sa●) and at afternoon to walk abroad in the fields, and drink (sometimes to drunkenness) promiscuously young men and women together, in the Alehouse, and then GOD is stoutly served that day: in which predicament and height of sin are their ignorant and profane Country-Masters. Nay, such a crust of Atheism & security is grown upon the hearts of most Servants, that in most Families I have seen of Husbandmen, Plowmen, Grasse-men, yea, and of some Gentlemen to (in the North parts chiefly) I have seldom observed God served at the tables, either of Masters or men, by saying Grace and Thanksgiving, when like Hogs and Dogs they have served themselves with the usurped Creatures.  
This is the cold and crooked Service that our God gets of innumerable multitudes of Miscreants, that are as unmindful of him, as they are unmerciful to their own Souls.  
I speak not of all, I know there are a remnant in Israel that forget not God nor bow to Baal: neither do I disgrace or disparaged any of those professions for the sin of the persons, no more than I blame the Calling of the Apostles for that judas was a traitor: yet I cannot but bewail the great forgetfulness of God, and neglect of his worship amongst us, in this our outward prosperity, beautified with the marvelous and miraculous continuated light of the Gospel. Thus did Israel as we now, as appears by the reiterated phrases in the Psalmist, and elsewhere, that in their prosperity they forgot God. The Lord hath laboured to excite and waken us as he did them, by plague, pestilence and other judgements from the Heavens and all the Elements, yet our heads are still heavy, and our hearts are asleep. Let us fear the rod of Ashur, the invasion of foreign powers: let us not provoke him to procure out cries, and o● service, by giving us over into the hands of Chaldeans and Assyrians. If ever Israel be carried captive (which God forbid) and be oppressed with a Spanish or a Romish yoke, we shall then wish that we had drawn near unto God in the Sunny day of peace, ere we had been humbled like Manasses, David, and Israel, by pressures and afflictions.  
A third part of this use extends itself to those, 
3 Part of the Use.  that running into a further degree of sin, and measure of iniquity (as indeed sin (like ill fame) still grows greater in his progress, 
Vires acquirit eundo.  and swells more vast and poisonous, like the Dragon that hath eaten the Serpent, after once one sin be retained) do not only in their own particulars, and with those that depend upon them, neglect, reject, and refuse the service of God, though they wear the Livery and Cognizance of their Master, being called Christians, but they malign, calumniate, and storm at others that are more zealous and forward than themselves, emulating (as it is said of the Greyhound, that thinks much that any thing should outrun him) that any should outstrip them in the sincerity or measure of grace, or outrun them in the course of Christianity, accounting with politic Gallio, Religion to be but Ceremonies and circumstances, quirks and quiddities, 〈◊〉 the Lords true nathaniel's that serve him in truth, in whose spirit is no guile, Psal. 31.2. to be but foolish and frothy fellows, more precise than wise, God's followers, Gods fools, as Mich●l thought David, 
● Sam 6.20.  nay, mad, distracted, raving men, as the jews, Christ's Kinsmen, and Festus esteemed CHRIST, jeremy and Paul: yea, God's faithful Servants, as they have always been, so still are, as signs and wonders in Israel in this our blinded age: Esay 8.18. Yea, monsters, even to the great men of the world, as David was, Psal. 71.7. Yea, a scorn, reproach, and derision to them that are round about them, Psal. 79.4. accounted as men of an odd fashion and carriage from all others, Wisd. 2.15. nicknamed Precissians, singularists, humorists, factious, hypocritical, and the like: which censures they undergo from natural and carnal men, but chiefly from those that have in them some moral goodness (as julian himself had) for our civil, honest men, and formal hypocrites, 
Tripart. hist. lib 6.  
Civil honest men most enemies to God's Servants.  contenting themselves with mere external shows and shadows in the Service of GOD, without any sincerity of heart, or life of Religion, flattering and securing themselves in that dangerous and damnable estate wherein they feed their souls with a vain & an airy hope, that they are as safe as the best, think whatsoever is more in God's Servants, than they find in themselves, to be preciseness, and affected singularity, as needless, as fruitless in their frivolous conceits.  
And hence ariseth their Ismaelitish scoffs, and tongue-persecutions, against those that are more aeminent and transcendent than themselves in many graces, because the conscionable carriage and gracious deportment of the Servants of God, doth swart, censure, and condemn their outwardness and formality, at which they are as oft gauled and grieved, and fretted at the very heart, as they compare their tinkling Cymbals with the others holiness.  

4 Part of this Use of Redargution.  But leaving those whited walls and painted sepulchres, to his justice or Mercy, that sees their rottenness and guilded rubbish: there are another sort of men, if I may call them men (forgetting what the very composure of their body, and the instinct of Nature tells them) which being void of all grace, and empty of goodness; neither knowing, nor willing, nor working what is pleasing and acceptable to the Almighty, deriding and detesting good men, and disliking good duties with the former sort: as neither fearing God, nor caring for his worship, nor furthering his service, nor favouring his servants: casting behind their backs all thought of God, and their own salvation: they serve themselves and their own end, their lusts, their darling sins, and consequently the Devil, Gods and their mortal enemy. And of this sort there are not so few, but they may brag (as the Spirits in the Gospel) of their number, their name is Legion. 
Many that live amongst Christians are the devils servants.  All places, professions, trades, callings, conditions, estates, sexes and sorts, and ages, from youth to grey hairs, afford trained Soldiers in these sinful services, marching to hell under the conduct of the Prince of darkness, the God of the world and worldlings, that rules in and over those children of disobedience. Alas, how many be there of covetous Mammonists, churlish Nabals, that as truly as David and Simeon professed and confessed to the Sovereign Creator, Lord, I am thy Servant; so they say to Mammon, to the Wedge of Gold, to their Silver Shrine, their Mettall-Idoll, Lord, I am thy Servant? How many Epicures, Drunkards, and riotous persons, whose belly is their God, 
Phil. 3.17  and their end damnation, say to the devouring gulf of their unsatiable guts, I am thy Servant? How many lustful livers and lascivious lovers, offering the sacrifice of their unclean bodies to bewitching women, say to Asmodius, the unclean Spirit, Lord, I am thy Servant? How many proud aspiring spirit in Court and Country, flying in their thoughts faster than Pegasus or Mercury upon the wings of high hopes, plumed with the feathers of their self-conceited worth, making greatness, not goodness, the mark of their mounting, may say to the high climbing Lucifer, Lord, I am thy Servant? 
The jews  How many such saying desperately (with that Nation which once was called stubborn and crooked) Surely we will walk after our own imaginations, 
jer. 18.12  and do every man after the stubbornness of his own wicked heart: jer. 18.12. forsaking the Rock of the field, and the Cedar of Lebanus for the cursed Thistle; the fountain of waters for broken pits, the living for the dead the great jehovah for Belzebub, and the God of Eckron: the God of Abraham for the Gods of Nations; the service of God for the service of Sin and Satan; the Devil may justly claim and challenge them in death, plead and prevail to have them in judgement, since they have by an explicit or implicit cou●nant (as it were) sold themselves like Ahab and jeroboam, to work wickedness in their life time, as wittingly and willingly dedicating and consecrating themselves to his service, as did once desperate Raffus▪ who (as is reported) upon the two sides of his Shield painted God and the Devil, 
●i tu nolis, iste rogitat.  with this Motto, If thou oh God, wilt none of me, here it one will, offering himself to him who was not a little glad of him, the unkind kind Devil, who retains and gives Liveries to all comers; yea, and wages to, such as himself hath, the world in show, but fire and brimstone in substance. Esa. 30.33.  

Use of Exhortation.  Oh consider this, you that forget both God and yourselves, his service & your own souls, you that make your members weapons of unrighteousness to fight against God, wounding him with his own weapons, the strength of your bodies, and the powers of your souls, which you have received from him: now at last offer up your bodies a living sacrifice, 
Rom. 12.1.  holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable serving of him, Rom. 12 1. Give up your members as weapons of righteousness unto God, Rom. 6. vers. 12.  
These eyes of yours that have been full of adultery, Iud● 7 2 Pet. 2.14. haughty and proud, 
Sins of the eyes.  Pro. 6 17. mocking and scornful, Pro. 30.7. 
How all the members that have served sin must and may serve God.  wandering, Esay 3.16. Now let them be Doves eyes chaste eyes, like David's eyes, lowly and humble: Cast away the abomination of your eyes, Ezek. 20.7 Let them not regard vanity: job 31.1 Shut them up from seeing evil: Esay 33.15 Make a covenant with them as job did: Let them not look upon a woman, but let them look up to the Holy One of Israel, even as a Servant looks to his Master: Psal. 123.2 Set no wicked thing before thine eyes, Psal. 101.1. but set the Lord always before thine eyes to do the thing that is right, Psal. 16.8.  
That Tongue of thine which hath been a principal servitor of Satan's, 
Twelve Sins of the tongue  being set on fire by Hell, james 3 6 the flame breaking out, by 1. lying, 2. swearing, 3. forswearing, 4. filthy, 5. cursed, 6. guileful speaking, 7. vain words, 8 idle babbling, 9 profane jesting. 10. corrupt communication, 11. slanders, 1●. revilings; with such other enormities in the whole course of thy life and conversation, to the dishonour of God and the pollution of the good name and chastity of thy neighbour. Now let it forsake the old Master's service, in these sins: set a watch before thy mouth, and keep the door of thy lips, Psal. 14.3. Lie not, james 4.11. Let thy lips speak no guile, Psal. 34.13. but speak the truth to thy neighbour, Zach. 8.16. So thou shalt show thyself a righteous man, Prou. 13.5. Swear not, neither by Heaven, nor by Earth, etc. james 5.15. but, Let thy communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for what is more cometh of evil, Math. 5.17. Put away filthy speeches, Col. 3.8. Neither name fornication, nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not comely, Ephes. 5.3. But corrupt good manners, 1 Cor. 15.33. Now also Put away from thee a froward mouth, Pro. 4.24. and cursed speaking, Col. 3.8. Avoid also idle and vain words, for which thou must give an account, Mat. 5. Be as flow to speak as swift to hear, james 1.19. (since thou hast two cares, but one tongue) for, in many words there cannot want sin, Prou. 10.19. Therefore avoid vain repetitions and babble, Mat. 6.7. In speaking either to God or man, speak no vain words, Esay 58.13. Thus keep thy mouth hereafter bridled, that thou sin not with thy tongue, Psal. 39.1. Neither is it sufficient that thou now purpose that thy mouth shall not offend in these and such like sins, Psal. 17.3. But as thou hast been tongue-tied heretofore, and mute, in speaking aught which was good, to God's glory or thy neighbours good, now it is most consonant to that end and office, which thou hadst the use of speech given thee, let thy tongue be a consonant to serve God, to sound out his praises continually. Psal. 34. Sing to the Lord all thy life and praise him whilst thou livest. Ps. 104.33. Yea, if thou praise him before the morning-watch, as did that holy-hearted David, Psal. 119.147. yea, if at midnight thou rise to give thanks unto him, Psal. 119.12. If seven times a day thou praise him▪ v. 164. yea, if thy mouth daily rehearse his righteousness and salvation, Psal. 7.15. yea, if all the days of thy life thou praise thy God, Psal. 146.2. and make his Statutes thy Songs in the house of thy pilgrimage, Psal. 119.54. yea, not only praising him, but praying to him early in the morning, Psal. 5.3. job 8.6. yea, at evening, and at morning, and at noon day: so oft as thou eatest: thou dost but t●at service for which thy tongue was created: it is Gods due and thy duty: so let thy tongue also serve man, Gods-Image, in God and for God. Let thy words be good, and to the use of edifying, that they may minister grace to the hearers. Let thy speech be always gracious and pondered with Salt, Col. 4 6. Let thy tongue spread abroad knowledge, Pro. 15.7 that it may be as the wellspring of life: Pro●. 10.11. Utter the words of grace: Eccles. 10.12. that thy lips may feed many. Prou. 10.21. If God have enriched thee with knowledge, minister a word in season to him that is weary, Esay 50.4. confirming him that is ready to fall, and strengthening the weak knees. job 44. So thy tongue shall glorify God, thus employed, Psal. 50. be a testimony of the sincerity of thy heart, Mat. 16. and it shall assuage the sorrow of the afflicted. job 16.15.  

Sins of the ears.  So for the other members of thy body, thy Ears, if thou hast not served thy God in and by them, now begin: hast thou served Satan with them, either in hearing what thou shouldest not have heard, profane Interludes and stage-plays, filthy Songs, scurrilous talk, whereby thou hast opened those two doors to let in sin into thy soul? or hast thou refused to hear what thou shouldest have heard? hast thou turned away thine ear from hearing the Law? Prou 28. Hast thou had heavy and uncircumcised ears, jer. 6.10. Psal. 40.8. Hast thou been an Idol with ears and heard not, Ezek. 13.2. A deaf Adder stopping thine ears at the voice of the Charmer, Psal. 58.4. now serve God with that little part of thy body: now stop thine ears at the hearing of sin, Esay 33.15. and open them to hear what the Spirit saith, Rex. 2. cause thine ear to hear wisdom, Prou. 2.2. Give ear to understanding, Prou. 14. Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayst be wise now in the latter end, Prou. 19.20. Be wise, and hearken to the corrections of life, Prou. 15.3. Hear the Word of God: Sat at Christ's feet with Mary, Luke 10.39. Hear with heed taking, Luke 8.18. Hear with an honest heart, vers. 15. Hear and forget not. james 1.24. Hear and practise, vers. 22. so thou shalt serve God with thy hearing.  
Moreover, for thine Hands: 
Sins of the hands.  if with them thou hast not served God, working wicked works to provoke the eye of the Lords glory, Esay 3.8. either in committing evil, 1. stealing from thy neighbour, 2. taking Bribes in thy place, 3. Idleness in thy calling, or in omitting good duties, first, either of Piety to God, in stretching out thy hands in Prayer: secondly, or of charity to man, in closing them towards the poor. Now keep thy hands from doing evil, and consecrate them unto the Lord in doing good, so thou shalt be blessed, Esay 56.2. Exod. 32.29. If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, job 11.14. If thou hast stolen, steal no more, but work with thine own hands, Ephes. 4.28. Keep them innocent and pure, Psal. 24.41. Shake thine hands from taking any gifts, Esay 33.15. Let no blot or stain cleave unto them, Ilb 31.7 Strengthen them to do good works, Nehem. 2.18, Open thy hand to thy brother, to the poor, to the needy, Deut. 15.11. Stretch thy hand out, of the increase that God gives thee, Prou. 31. And stretch out thy hands also to the Lord. Psal. 143. yea, in every place lift up thy heart with the hand to God in heaven, 1 Tim. 2. Lament. 3.4. So shall thy hands serve God.  

Sins of the feet.  For thy Feet: if they have declined and made haste to deceit, job 23.11. if they carried thee with lewd company out of the way of God's Commandments, to vanities or to vices, to filthiness or to follies, to Plays or to Brothell-houses: now remove thy foot from evil, Prou. 4.26. Make strait steps to thy feet, Heb. 12. Refrain thy feet from the paths of the wicked, Prou. 1.15. And keep the way of the righteous, Prou. 2.20. So shalt thou serve God and keep thy soul. Prou. 16.17. Walk not in vanities, job 31.5. nor in the counsel of the wicked. Psal. 1.1. but run the ways of God's Commandments. Employ them to carry thee to the house of God, to the holy Exercises of Religion, where God is served: Delight to stand in the gates of jerusalem, Psal. 122.2. looking narrowly to thy foot when thou interest into the house of God, Eccles. 4.17. Thus did those two good Anna's in Samuel and Luke, a mother and a widow: as also good David, and here old Simeon, rightly and religiously use their feet in God's service, in visiting so frequently, so constantly, so zealously the house of Prayer, where they met with God, with Christ, and with a blessing upon their seeking and serving God. And so must thou, if thou set thyself with thy heart and soul, and strength, and spirit, and mind, and body, to serve the Lord as they did, consecrating these and the rest of thy members, parts and powers, external and internal, to God's service, which that thou mayst more willingly perform, let these Motives for conclusion of this Use, add Spurs unto thee to run along with old Simeon to the service of this best Master, to whom I recommend thee.  
First, thou wast created for God's service: 

Motives persuading to God's service.  
1. From the end of our creation.   as the Apostle instanceth in one sin, so I may in all: the body was not made for fornication, nor uncleanness, nor adultery, nor drunkenness, nor for any other works of the flesh, which are recited Gal. 5.19. but for the Lord, 1 Cor. 6.23. and the Lord for the body. Therefore David makes this an argument, that we should fall down and worship the Lord, because we are the Sheep of his pasture, and the work of his hands, he hath made us, not we ourselves. Doth any man keep sheep but he will eat of the milk of the flock, and be clothed with the wool? Doth any man build a Palace, a Castle, or a sumptuous house for his enemy to dwell in? Did the Lord thinkest thou oh vain man, that servest thy lusts, thy pleasures, the World, the Devil, form and frame this excellent Fabric and composure of thy body, more sumptuous, artificial, magnificent, than the Egyptian Pyramids, than Salomon's Temple, than all splendent and glorious buildings under the Sun, that are made of Lime, Stone, Led, Wood; Glass, Metals, and the like, and did infuse (as it were inward proportionable furniture) such an understanding spirit, an immortal soul, into this external structure and building of the body, for the Devil his mortal enemy to dwell in? to take possession and keep habitation by his eldest Son, Sin? Will any earthly Monarch suffer a Traitor, a Tyrant, an Usurper, to intrude upon his Territories, to dwell in his fortified Cities, to possess his Crown, and usurp his Throne? I trow not. And will the King of Kings suffer it? Can a mean man endure another man, which means to abuse him, to enjoy his Table, his Bed, his Wife? chiefly that she to whom he is betrothed and wedded, should prostitute herself to his enemy? And will the Lord that is as a zealous, so a jealous God, suffer thy spiritual whoredoms, and fornications, with the triple enemies of thy soul, the deceiving Flesh, deluding World, and destroying Devil? Will he endure his Sanctuary to be polluted; his Temple abused, the holy Vessels profaned? Thy body is the Temple of the holy Ghost, 
2 Cor. 3.16, Ch. 6. v. 19 2 Cor. 6.16.  thy members called Vessels: now if thou suffer this great Temple-spoyler, this Dionysius, the Devil, to abuse thy vessels, by offering them to him by uncleanness, to pollute this Temple, this body of thine by sin: he that thus destroys the Temple of God, him will God destroy as he threateneth severally twice together. Take heed therefore that thou suffer not any sins to take up the best rooms in this earthly Tabernacle and Temple, lest by hardening thy heart, corrupting thy conscience, depraving thy will, blinding thy mind, eclipsing thy reason, dulling thy memory, disordering thy affections, spoiling and defiling thy whole man, giving over that body of thine which God made for himself, to be sins Brothell-house, and the devils Playhouse, wherein all sins are acted, lest the Lord burn thee down stick and slower, either with fire from heaven, as he did Sodom, or with fire in hell, as he did Dives. Prepare thy body and soul therefore betimes: dress it, and sweep and garnish it, as a Chamber for Christ to keep his passover in, that the destroying Angel may pass over thee, when he comes in judgement.  

Or homini sublime dedit, etc.  I might add secondly, how fitly by Creation thou art made in every part, as an Organ and Instrument to God's service: with a body upwards to heaven (whereas all other Creatures look low and groveling upon the earth) with eyes to look up to the Hills, and to the heavens, from whence cometh thy help; 
Et refert quaelibet herba Deum.  and down upon the fragrant and verdant earth, fit to behold how every creature Celestial and Sublunary, in their kind, as it were in a dumb Oratory, tells thee there is a God, and a God to be served: beginning and continuing the Choir unto thee, to sing and ring forth his praises; thy tongue fitted to speak Magnalia Dei, the wonderful works of God: and to confess to God's glory, as joshuah tells Achan, Josh. 7. those numerous and heinous sins of thine wherewith thou hast offended God, more than all the unreasonable creatures: how ever the ill Angel either strikes thee dumb (as the good did Zachary) or if thou speakest, Satan oils the Clock of thy tongue to strike after his setting, and move after his motion. Thy head abounding with moisture more than the heads of many Birds, and Beasts, ready to distill into thine eyes, that thou mightest weep for thy sins more than the rest, as having more and more monstrous sins to weep for, than all the rest of the other Creatures: and so I might speak of all other parts of thy body, and faculties of thy soul, superior and inferior, as Will, Reason, Memory, Understanding, Fantasy, the Heart, with the Affections thereof, all fitted for God's Service in the same symmetry and proportion.  
From considering thy Creation, 
2. Motive from out Preservation.  think of God's great largesse and bounty towards thee, in thy Preservation: GOD having fed, fostered, educated, nourished, clothed thee, from thy first forming in the womb, till this present minute and moment of time, wherein thou livest a rebellious sinner against thy God: of protecting thee even in thy Infancy, Childhood, Youth; in the weakness of the first, forwardness of the second, and rashness of the third: from many eminent dangers, to which thou wast subject; and reserving thee until this present hour, in health and strength, from the fury and force of the Elements, Fire and Water, etc. From the might of the Creatures; the claw of the Lion, paw of the Bear, horn of the Bullock, tusk of the Boar, tooth of the Dog, venom of the Viper, sting of the Serpent; all which thy sins have armed against thee, disarming thyself: as also from the malice of the Devil, and his substitute infernal Spirits, who (without God's restraint) would have torn thee in pieces and carried thy soul (as they will do the sinners in Judgement) in triumph to hell. Now do not all these constant and continuated mercies of thy Protection, Preservation, Reservation, so long, so loving, so large, with the addition and multiplication of so many and manifold undeserved positive blessings? Do not all these (I say) call for, urge, require, plead for, yea, prevail for thy heart, thy obedience, thy service, to such, so good, so great a Master? Sure, if thou givest it not him now, frankly, freely, willingly, heartily, desiringly, thou art a monster of men, without grace or good nature: but especially if thou payest the Lord evil for good, sins for favours, and servest Satan for him, thou art an ungrateful Viper, and condemned of the very Heathens. Neither will God be so abused. Make it thine own case: thou takest a desolate Infant (as Pharaohs Daughter did Moses) and bringest him up; or thou entertainest a Servant, givest him meat, drink and cloth, wages, countenance, house and harbour, etc. wouldst thou take it well, if this thy adopted fostered child, this thy so much favoured Servant, should reject thee (thou still out of thy love continuing his means and maintenance) and serve thy mortal enemy? Now make Application: thus thou dealest with God, in serving (notwithstanding all his favours to thee, temporal and spiritual) him who is the professed enemy of God, of Christ, of the Gospel, of the Church, of man, of thee, and of thy salvation, the Devil.  
Thirdly, consider thy Vocation, 
3. Motive, from our Vocation.  thou art called from darkness to light: The grace of God hath appeared unto thee, teaching to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godlily in this present world. Tit. 2.11. Therefore, as an obedient Child to thy Father, as a dutiful Servant to thy Master▪ fashion not thyself to the former lusts of thine ignorance, but as he that hath called thee is holy, be thou holy in all manner of conversation▪ 1 Pet. 1.14. The night is past and the day is come, cast away therefore the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light: Walk honestly as in the day, not in chambering and wantonness, not in gluttony or drunkenness, not in strife and envy, but putting off these (as a man puts off an old garment when he puts on a new) put on the Lord jesus Christ, and take no thought for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, Rom. 13.12. I pray you let us ponder, that what arguments the inspired Apostle Paul useth to the Romans, Philippians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, to incite them to the sincere service of GOD, the same may be urged and pressed upon us in this Land; yea, upon all the Christians in Europe, or elsewhere: for as we now are parallel with them in the knowledge of God and of Christ, by the preaching and revelation of the Gospel of Christ, so we were once nuzzled, and blinded with them, in the same cloud and mist of ignorance and unbelief, sinners, of the Gentiles, without God in Christ. And therefore since God hath called us (whether by the ministery of Paul, or of joseph of Aramathea, or of Simon Zelotes, or who else, it skills not) to the knowledge of his truth, and to his service, by the voice and sound of the Gospel, let our conversation be such as becometh the Gospel, Phil. 1.27. God might have placed thee oh sinful secure man, amongst the jews, Turks, or Pagans, or thou mightst have continued with thy forefathers, wrapped and enueloped in the Egyptian darkness of Popery, where the light of his Truth should have been hid from thee: but now that his ways are revealed to jacob, and his salvation to Israel; since thou hast heard his Word, if thou wilt not fall down and worship him, and work his will, CHRIST the object of the Gospel, as a stone which thou stumblest at, and a rock of offence, shall fall upon thee, and dash thee to pieces: better thou hadst never heard of Christ, then now with Herod to mock him, when with the Childe-murthering Herod thou pretending to worship and serve him, thou dost but serve thyself and thine own ends, by all lewd courses, sinful and sinister means whatsoever.  
Fourthly, 
4. From our Redemption.  this is the end of thy Redemption from the slavery and bondage of thy spiritual enemies, from the power of darkness, of Sin, and sins punishment, the second death, even to serve God: so run all the streams of the waters of the Well of life: so Zachary prophesieth: Luke 1.74.75. so Paul persuades the Corinthians, that being bought with a price, they should glorify God in their bodies and their spirits which were Gods. So Peter presseth the same upon the dispersed jews, commenting, as it were, upon, and enlarging Paul's price that was paid for man's redemption, showing first negatively what it was not; not any of these corruptible things, as gold and silver, the earth's redundance; not pearls & precious stones, the treasures of the Land and Sea, the Indians store, and the Fishes hidden virtues, etc. then affirmatively, it was a bloody booty that bought us, and not every kind of blood; not the blood of Goats or Bullocks, of Men or of Angels, but the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb undefiled and without spot: and the end of all this great Mystery, greater Mercy, in redeeming man from his greatest misery, what other was it, as also of our Vocation? Sure nothing else, but 1. holiness, 2. and the fear of God (which is the ground of his service) 3. and renounciation of a vain conversation, as appears by the Contexts, 1 Pet. 1.14.15.16.17.18. So is Titus, a pattern of a good Preacher, taught to press and preach this point; that the end why Christ gave himself for his Church, redeeming us from all iniquity, was that we should be a peculiar people unto him, zealous of good works, Tit. 1.2.14. with infinite the like places, plainly demonstrating that as redemption by Christ is not general and universal; (for then judas, Herod, Pilate, Esau, and others, sons of perdition, ordained to condemnation, should have been redeemed) but limited, proper and peculiar to his Elect, to his Church, to his People. Such as are his Sheep hear his voice, obey, and serve him; so those that continue still in their sins, frozen in their dregs, incredulous and unbelieving, impious in their living, impure in their conversing, given over to strange lusts and vile affections, making their belly their God, and the like, are so far from having any benefit by Christ, that he is unto them a rock of ruin, a stumbling-block, and a stone of offence, the falling of many in Israel, like the word and Sacraments, and all things else, unto the wicked contemners of his worship, and condemners of his servants; the savour of death unto death: they accounted enemies to his Cross, such enemies as he will slay, as he hath threatened, their end being condemnation.  
Fiftly, out Profession, me thinks, 
5. From our profession.  should be a main inducement to our practice in this point: for so reasons both the Prophet and Apostle if we account God our Father, as we do, Mal. 1.6. Luke 11. then where is his honour? if our Master, then where is his service? And sure if we call him Father which without respect of persons judgeth every man, then let us pass the time of our dwelling here in fear: otherwise we borrowing the same vizards which the pharisees long since cast off with their lives, we should be branded with the same note of painted sepulchres and whited walls, and adjudged to the same woes and Anathemaes that they were, being in the same predicament of gross and formal hypocrisy.  
Sixtly, the Good procured, 
6. From the reward of God's service.  and Reward promised, the Wages expected, should not a little woo us and win us to this service: for, all would retain to such Masters who are most able and willing to work their welfare; where they may have the best present helps, and future hopes of preferment and promotion. Now, who is able to promote, if God do not? 1. Wealth, 2. Worship, 3. Honour, 4. Peace, 5. Protection in danger, 6. Approbation, 7. Acceptation, 8. outward Blessings, 9 reward of Inheritance, 10. Curses removed, Plagues escaped, all these are the Pedisseques, the handmaides, and Attendants, and Servants, that attend and wait upon, and serve those that serve the Lord, as may be instanced and enlarged in their particulars.  

First reward, wealth and riches.  For Riches, Wealth, and outward blessings, as they are promised, so they were given and exhibited unto Abraham, Isaac, jacob, job, David, Solomon, etc. with infinite others, as an encouragement to the Service of GOD, as the fruits of their Faith, as the reward of Religion: Godliness is great gain, and hath the promises both of this life and of the life to come, and who consent and obey must eat the good things of the Land. That this Position is no Paradox, that Grace is the way to gain, and Piety the means to prosperity, as is Psal. 1. so let any (to stand upon no more places) read Exod. 23.25. and he will confess that this is as true, as God himself is true. If any man be troubled with that scruple which perplexed job, jeremy and David, in their time, that the slaves of Satan are in outward peace and pomp, and seeming-prosperitie, when God's Servants are in the ebb, and going down the wind, the same Scriptures salve and satisfy the sore of this Objection, where it was first made, to which place I refer you, Psal. 73. and job 21.  
The second meed and reward of God's servants, is Honour, 
Secondly, Honour·  that continuing as inviolable, is the Decrees of the Medes and Persians, which God avoucheth to Samuel of rejected Saul, Those that honour me I will honour them, 1 Sam. 2.30. Them whosoever, whatsoever, wheresoever they be, 
Quoscunque qualescunque ubicunque  Kings and Kesars', poor and peasants, that perform homage and fealty unto God, holding their souls, their lands, and their lives in Capite from God, those the mighty jehovah, who only can set up and pull down, advance and deject, will honour, they shall be gracious in his eyes, dreaded of their enemies, as was joshuah and David; and honoured of all those that are round about them.  
This is God's Law of Parity, 
Lex Talionis.  ratified in the high Court of Parliament in Heaven, and put in execution in earth, 1. Abraham, God's friend, 2. joseph, 3. Moses, 4. Samuel, devoted to God's Service, proved the truth of this Promise, the first honoured in the presence of his friends, of his neighbours, of his enemies, Gen. 18.18. & Ch. 20.3.23.6. The second found store of Honour where ever he came: in his Master's house, in the Prison, in the Palace, Gen. 39 & 40. & 41. The third honoured by working Miracles for deliverance of God's people, for confusion of Gods and his enemies, Exod. 14. Ch. 16.32. The fourth increased in honour as in years, growing in favour with God and man.  
Infinite such examples might be recited, the time would be too short to show how Gedion, Baarack, job, David, etc. the faithful Servants of God, were exalted from the Threshing-floore, judg. 6.11. judg. 4.6. From the Sheepfold; yea, from the Dunghill, job 42.12. to sit with Princes, yea, to be Princes of the people, Psal. 78.70. Psal. 113. vers. 7.8.  

Sin brings shame and other judgements.  So that if it be so that all affect honour and eminency, me thinks, we should take the right course to effect what we affect, even by serving God. Not to seek it, as Mary sought Christ, where it is not, preposterously and carnally: either of the world, as the ambitious jews did, john 5.44. nor from the vain breaths of men, as the hypocritical pharisees did, john 12.43. Much less at the hands of the Devil, as Balaam did. Num. 22. by Devilish courses, and sinful impieties, and horrid villainies, 
Nimrodians Nabuchadnezzar. Erostratus.  as those that built Babel's Tower, and he that built Babel, and he that burned Diana's Temple, did. Genes. 11.3. By Rebellions and Treasons, as Absalon did, 
Rebellions and Treasons.  2 Sam. 18.18. as the Papists by King killings, and Powder-plots: as our drunkards by their unreasonable quassing, by quarreling, fight and stabbing; as our vain and vicious Gallants in their falsely supposed manhoods: nor by any other horrid sin whatsoever; for the way of sin is the way to shame and dishonour.  
For, as wicked and ungodly men serving the Devil, whose Children they are, joh. 8.44. by serving sin, I john 3.8. suffering it to reign in their mortal bodies, Rom. 6 12. are called and accounted the enemies and haters of God, Rom. 1.30. Rom. 8.7. unruly and untamed Heffers, H●s. 4.16. Spurners against God, Deut. 32.15. A rebellious and a false seed, Esay 57.3.4. Conspirators, and such as stretch their hands out against God, as job and jeremy call them, jer. 11.9. job 15.25. Despisers of the Spirit of Grace, Heb. 10.29. Stout against God in their words, Mal. 3.13. Contemners of his ways, job 21.14. Setting their mouths against heaven, Psal. 73.9. Despising both the Word of God, with the jews, 2 Chron. 24.19. Psal. 50.17. and the Works of God, as did the Gentiles, Rom. 1.21.22. And the Ministers of God, as the Elders of Israel, and the People, did Moses and Samuel, Exod. 16.8. 1 Sam. 8.7. And the jews, CHRIST and his Disciples: 
1 Kings 20.28. Dan. 3.15. 2 Kings 19  but even the person of GOD himself as did the Aramites, Nabuchadnezzar, Senacherib, Rabsekah, and others: so the Lord hath threatened to despise such despisers, 1 Sam. 2.30. to deride such deriders, and to lay their honours in the dust, Psal. 2.4. Cursed are they of the Lord, like the inhabitants of Meros', judg. 5.23. even with all the curses pronounced from Mount Eball, Deut. 27. Because they serve not the Lord, the Lord accounts basely and vilely of them, even as of Oxen and Asses, Dogs and Swine, Esay 1.3. 2 Pet. 2.22. As dross and dung, and unsavoury Salt, fit to be cast away: yea, though Coniah, the Son of Ieho●akim, were as the signet upon the Lords right hand, yet if he despise the Lord, he shall be plucked thence, accounted as a despised and broken Idol, or as a filthy vessel, jer. 22.24. & 28. Nay, though Saul be a King, if he reject and forsake the service of God, God will reject and cast him away to, 1 Sam. 15.16. Yea, jerusalem, if she refuse to obey her God, shall be an habitation of Devils, Reu. 18.2. The jews, though Ruhamah, shall be Loruhamah, though Ammi, God's people, yet if they forsake the service of God, they shall be Loammi, none of God's people, Hos. 1.6.9. But (as at this day it is seen) a disgraced, despised, and contemptible Nation: and so will the LORD deal with all other wickedly wretched contemners and despisers of his Glory, his Word, his Works, his Ordinances: they shall be blamed and shamed, and come to an ignominious and odious end.  
Every creature shall conspire their destruction that serve not their Lord and Master, 
God's hand shall be upon his enemies in many judgements.  the Creator. The Angels shall smite them, as they did Pharaohs first borne, Zenacharibs' Host, and Herod, Acts 12.23. Men shall laugh at them, and the righteous shall have them in derision, Psal. 32.6 7. They shall not continue in honour, but be like the dumb beasts that perish, Psal. The Devil shall triumph over them, and cry at their deserved Plagues; So, so, there goes the game. They hiding their sins, and not confessing them to God's glory, shall not prosper, Prou. 28.13. Their souls shall be smit with fears like Pushur and Cain, Gen. 4. jer. 10.3. There shall be no peace to them, but sonitus terroris, a sound of terror round about, Esay 57 job 15.20. etc. For their good names: these shall rot and perish, Prou. 10.7. even like their wealth and substance, upon which Gods curse shall seize, Deut. 28.16.17.18. They shall be made a wonder, a Proverb, and a reproach amongst all people, an astonishment; an ●issing, and continual desolation, Deut. 18.37. jer. 25.9. And for their seed, it shall not prosper: the sword shall destroy them, job 27.14. for, the Lord will root out the memorial of the wicked from the earth, Psal. 34.16. Therefore as David concludes to the comfort of God's Servants after the enumeration of many blessings, Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord: so I may say in these particulars, and many more plagues denounced from the mouth of GOD, as in Leuit. 26.16. Psal. 49.12. Psal. ●07. 10. Prou. 3.33. upon the wicked in this life, besides those which they shall feel and find in their death, job 13.26. Psal. 49.14. And in judgement, Dan. 12.2. Esay 2.11. Reu. 1.7. Reu. 6.15. Mat. 25. and 41. and in hell, Mark 9.43.44. Luke 13.28. Revel. 9.6. Lo thus shall the man be plagued that serveth not God.  
If any believe not these testimonies, let him look his own face in the glass of the examples of Pharaoh, Herod, Nabuchadnezzar, Holofern●s, of julian the Apostate, Valerian, Antiochus, Nero, Domitian, Decitis, Dioclesian, 
Theod. lib. 3 c. 11. Euseb lib. 7. c. 20. Lib. 7.14.  Baiaz●t, with infinite others, from the Word. and Histories, as they are recorded by the Maccabees, Tacius. Suetonius, Dion, Orosius, etc. and they will speak, that from the beginning of the world till now, sin always brought shame, and that Gods dishonour brought Gods disfavour, death to the body, damnation to the soul: which considerations may be whips and goads to drive us to the duty urged.  
It is contrary with the godly, their service is the path way to honour: the people that hearken unto God's voice, are a precious people unto him, high above all Nations, in praise, in name, and honour, Deut. 26.17.18.19. Ask the verdict and censure of all the Prophets, and Apostles, and the Servants of God, Esay, Micah, S. Paul, S. james, S. Peter; yea, of Christ himself: 
Holiness is the way to honour.  and according as they were inspired by the Spirit of Truth, and knew in their own experience, they will say that the way to be great, is to be good: to rise, is to fall; to be exalted, is to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, 1 Pet. 5.6. The way to seek glory, and honour, and immortality, is to continue in well doing. Rom. 2.7. to be fixed, established, and to endure for ever, is to believe, and to fulfil the will of God, Esay 7.9. 1 john 2.17. and that the only thing that is good for man, is to walk with God, M●c. 6.8. Yea, T●lly and Aristotle, that made Honour the subsequent and effect of Virtue and Goodness: the Egyptians that painted it betwixt Humility and Labour: the Romans that so composed their Temples, that a man must first pass by the Temple of Humility and Virtue, ere he could touch the Shrine of Honour; saw with the eyes of Nature, that the way to be great is to be good. Yea, to serve that goodness, which the Heathens only conjectured, but Christianity defined to be the sovereign good, and that is God himself; who is both more willing to prefer his Servants to earthly dignities here, if it be good for them to be exalted: yea, and infinitely more able than Assuerus was to honour Mordocheus, Hest. 6.6. Nabuchadnezzar Daniel, Dan. 5.7. Pharaoh, joseph; yea, or Saul any of his Captains or followers, for all his baosts of his Fields and Vineyards, 1 Sam. 22.7. since his alone is Greatness, and Power, and Glory, and Victory: since all that is in heaven and Earth is his, Riches and Honour, Power and Strength, etc. as David acknowledgeth, Hannah singeth, and Cirus confesseth, 1 Chro. 29. 11.12. 1 Sam. 2.7.8. Ezra 1.2.  

God is most ●●herall of all Masters.  For, I pray you, what was the most that any of those great Monarches could do for any of their Favourites and Followers in their chiefest graces, when they set their wits a-work, what to do for such a man whom the King will honour? Clothing in Purple, and royal apparel, setting on their heads a Princely Diadem putting a Chain of gold about their necks, Rings upon their fingers, mounting them on their Steeds, or setting them in a gorgeous Chariot, with Proclamations before them of the King's favours towards them, was the chief lustre and eminency that earthly Kesars' could dignify their chiefest Servants withal, Gen. 41.42.43.44. Hest. 6.9.11. etc.  
But what are all these Honours that the King of Egypt, the King of the Medes, or of the Babylonians could proffer in respect of that Honour which God bestows upon the meanest of his Saints and Servants? Surely toys and trifles: for in stead of these fine Linens and royal Robes that are exposed to the corrupting Moth and consuming Time, God will cloth his with the external and internal Robes of Grace, the righteousness of Christ, Esay 49.16. Rom. 13.14. they shall not have a fading but a flourishing, not a mortal but an immortal Crown, not of Gold but of Glory; that is, they shall not have a Chain of Gold only, Psal. 45.13. but of golden Graces knit together by Saint Peter, 1 Pet. 1.4.5.6. etc. In stead of a Ring they shall be placed as Signets on the Lords right hand, jer. 22.24. I cannot say they shall ascend up in a chariot (though Elias were so taken up) but they shall be advanced to choice mansions in such a Kingdom as surpasseth all the Kingdoms of the earth, as much as the Sun the Clouds, or Salomon's Throne jobs Dunghill, Ephes. 2.6. john 14.2. Rou. 3.12. where they shall be Kings and Priests for ever, Reu. 1.6. Such honour have all his Saints. Psal. 149.9.  
If any man object that he sees no such honour that God's Saints have: that they are rather made here a gazing stock to men and Angels; despised, reviled, and evil spoken of; yea, reputed as the filth of the world, 1 Cor. 4.9.12.13. and the offscouring of all things.  
Answ. It is true indeed: But of whom? Of such, whose neither praise nor dispraise is to be respected: of profane men, children of Beliall: of fools and naturalists: (for so are all ungodly men termed, Psal. 14.1. Psal. 53.1. Luke 12.20. jer. 4. etc.) Of such we are reputed fools for Christ's sake, yet are we wise in Christ; though weak, yet strong; though despised, yet honourable; 1 Cor. 4.10. Honourable, though not with wicked men, yet we shall be hereafter, when we must sit in joint Commission with Christ, in judgement upon them. In the mean space we are honoured of God, and if he be with us who can be against us? Rom. 8.31.  

God's Servants best regarded and rewarded.  Besides, if this Motive will not fix upon thee, yet let the greatness of reward, the excellency of the wages, the liberal allowance of God's Servants stir thee up at last to sing this best part of Simeons' Song with heart and voice, that thou wilt be God's Servant: It is a blasphemous scandal that the jewish Atheists cast upon God, that it is a vain thing to serve God and they had got no profit in keeping his Commandments, Mal. 3.14. For, sure there is a reward for the righteous: doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth, Psal. 58. 10. A reward even in this life, even before the Sons of men, Psal. 31.19. Even at David was anointed long before he was crowned, 1 Sam. 16.13. 2 Sam. 2.4. So here the Lord anoints us with the oil of Gladness in the Church militant, though we have not the Crown (till Christ's appearing) triumphant, 2 Tim. 4.8.  
Yea, even here the Lord is a Sun and a Shield to his Servants, he gives grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that live uprightly: Psal. 84.11. For what good thing doth man's heart desire which God doth not promise and perform to his league Subjects?  
1 For their Wealth: he gives them wealthy wages; an hundredfold, Mark 10.30. He builds the Hebrew Midwives houses, Exod. 2. and gives his Servant David a great portion; for, he loveth the prosperity of his Servants.  
2 For Health: the Lord will make their bed in their sickness Psal. 41.3. Yea, the voice of joy and health is in the habitations of the righteous, Psal. 110.1.  
3 For Strength: the Lord, himself is their strength, Psal. 27.8. and they shall be strong in the power of his might. Esay 6.10.  
4 For Fame: their memorial shall be blessed; Prou. 10.7. yea, their righteousness shall shine as the light, and their judgement as the noonday, Psal. 37.6. even as Salomon's did to the furthest South.  
5 Yea, their Enemies, that have traduced them, shall will they nill they, acquit them, and justify them, even as Saul twice justified David's integrity, 1 Sam. 18. and Chap. 26. and Pilate, pilate's Wife, the Centurion, nay, even judas himself, together with the Sun, the Earth, and the Stones, acquitted CHRIST, (who is termed Gods righteous Servant in Esay,) and proclaimed his innocency.  
6 Nay, rather than they should want their deserved commendations, God himself will praise them living and dead: as he did in Moses funeral Sermon, john 1.  
7 Nay, justifying them even against the accusations of the old accuser Satan, as he did, job, job 1. Hence we have these Encomiums of David, Ezekias, Asa, josias, Moses himself, with others in the old Testament, to be men after Gods own heart; men of upright, perfect, and relenting hearts, and of meek spirits.  
Hence also Christ himself so famouseth the Centurion, the Canaanitish woman, the good Servant, Nathaniel, Mary Magdalene, etc. Hence Paul so commends Mnason, Gaius, Philemon, Appia; etc. Luke in the Acts, Steven, Dorcas, the noble Baraeans, Bernabas, with others, for their Faith, their Sincerity, Zeal, Alms deeds, Liberality, Hospitality, Love to the Word, searching the Scriptures, Holiness, with other Graces: so much doth God delight in the flourishing fame of his Church and Children.  
For Peace: 
True Peace.  where righteousness flourisheth, there is abundance of peace. Peace keeps her Throne amongst God's Servants, for though they be at war with the black Prince of Hell, and his black Guard the wicked, and with the World, and chiefly with their own corruptions; yet they have peace with GOD, with Christ, with the Angels, with the Church, with her Children, with their Brethren, with the Creatures, with their own Souls and Consciences, such as none knows, save those that enjoy it.  
For Favour: 
GOD grants the suits of his Servants.  they are in wonderful grace with their Masters: they have freedom of access to the throne of Grace, upon all occasions; the golden Sceptre is always stretched out unto them: they may have easier access to the God of heaven, and more gracious welcome, with obtaining of their Suits, and Petitions, and Prayers, than any Courtier with a temporal Prince: it being as truly verified of God towards his Servants, (as it is recorded of Augustus Caesar and trajan, these morrally good Emperors) that he never sent any discontented or empty away that was a suror to him. Witness thou Solomon when thou didst pray for Wisdom; thou Paul, when for strength against Satan's buffets; thou Ezekias and David, when you called for deliverance from enemies; you Israelites, when you cried in bondage; thou Moses, for preservation at a dead lift; thou Prodigo, thou Publican, thou penitent Thief, thou Manasses, thou mourning Mary, when you prayed, and sued with tears for mercy; thou Anna, thou Isaac, thou Zachary, with thy Wife Elizabeth, entreating for Children: nay, lastly, let the experience of all God's Servants for this five thousand years, speak; and speak thou mine own Soul, in thy young yet true experience, what thou hast found and felt, and declared in the great congregation: if ever petition were put up from a sorrowful soul, a believing and a touched heart, a zealous spirit, that received not a gracious answer in every request concerning body or soul, that concerned either God's glory to give, or his servants good to receive. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous, thou wilt shine upon him with the light of thy countenance, and with favour wilt crown and compass him as with a shield. Psal. 6.12.  
For Mirth: the Lords Servants shall rejoice and sing for joy of heart, Esay 65.14. they shall rejoice with joy unspeakable, 1 Pet. 1.8. and their joy shall no man take from them. john 16.22.  
For Pleasures: 
The godly have a taste of heaven here.  though they be not fatted with the carrion of the world, like the devils Crows, nor taste not of this bitter Ratsbanes, sweet-sower poison of Sin, which at last stings like a Cockatrice, yet they have pure and perfect pleasures, such as the world's swine never tasted▪ they are fed with hidden Manna, they keep a constant jubilee, and a perpetual Christmas; feasting Christ, as feasted by him, in that communion they have with him, in the Word, the Sacraments, Prayer, etc. In which they are satisfied with the fatness of God's House, and drink abundantly out of the rivers of his pleasures, Psal. 36.9.  
These wages with many more, are as the earnest penny, and the Hirelings entering penny, (with us called the God's penny) which God gives as assurance and part of greater and better payment hereafter; being but a little portion and pittance of that which they shall have hereafter? but as the Prologue to the Comedy, as a Beaver to a Banquet, as a Mite to a mountain of Gold, as the Candle light to the Sun. For hereafter indeed is the great reward, Mat. 5.12. so great, so shining, that as it hath dazzled the Aegle eyes of the dearest of God's Servants, when they have set themselves to behold it▪ 
Tom. 10. ser. 1. lib. Medit. c. 18 Dicere quantum volo, non valeo.  as of Augustine and others: so I can but show it you afar off, as Moses was showed Canaan, a type of Heaven.  
Then, for the comfort of those that have employed their bodies and their souls in God's service here, & to provoke others now to sacrifice their bodies to God as is most reason, as the Apostle calls it, a reasonable service, Rom. 12.1. let them know these bodies shall then be like the Angels in heaven, Mat. 22.30. they shall shine as Stars, Dan. 12.3. yea, at the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father. Mat. 13.46. For their Souls, they shall be glorious, without spot or wrinkle, Ephes. 5.17. they shall behold the face of God in righteousness, and have fullness of joy in God's presence. Psal. 16.11. For their estate, they shall be Kings, and reign with God, and Priests to sing Haleluiahs' unto him, Reu. 1.6. (for as they have served Christ on earth, so they shall serve him in glory, Reu. 22.3.) yea, and they shall be judges to, to sit upon thrones, and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel, Mat. 19.28.  
I could tell you further of their joys out of the Scripture, in their eminency, excellency, fullness, glorious greatness, and perpetuity, Psal. 36.8. Mat. 25.11. Esay 21.11. 1 Cor. 2.20. how incorruptible the Crown is, how steadfast the Kingdom, how constant the joy, how everlasting the feast, how secure the rest, how endless and infinite the pleasure is which is provided for God's servants after their departure out of this vail of misery, 1 Pet. 5.4. Reu. 21.6. 2 Thes. 3.7. john 16.22. Heb. 12.28. etc. with all the accruments, and additions, and amplifications incident to this point: either in respect of the place, the highest heavens; or the company, innumerable Angels, the congregation of the first borne, God the judge, Christ the Redeemer, Heb. 12.22. etc. but I contract my sails, and leave the rest to your search and meditation, and to the spirit to make application; only desiring every soul that is as yet a slave to his usurping sins, to consider, as Hell that he gains, so the gain that he looseth, that is, Heaven: think of it seriously and betimes, lest thou think of thy gaining loss thou getst by sin, when thou must for ever stand to the bargain, as the rich Dives did in Hell, when he saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, Luke 1.6. when his bad and base choice was repent, but not redressed.  
Lastly, if these blessings, here and hereafter, 
God blesseth the wicked oft for his servants cause.  move thee not, yet lend me thy patience a while to peruse and ponder the curses, and plagues, and evils, that thou shalt avoid, by being God's Servant. Many a man thou knowest is exempted from many common calamities, by the countenance of some great man, to whom he retains, as from being a common Soldier in the time of war, and the like: so in any common plague or judgement the Lord knows how to deliver his; yea, though thousands fall on their right hand.  
And surely this is a wondrous privilege that the Saints have: first, that as God blesseth oft the wicked for their sakes, as he did Laban for Jacob's cause, and Potiphar and Pharaoh for Joseph's cause: his blessings being not only upon the houses and families, but upon whole Nations, Countries and Cities, for the cause of his Servants (even as heathenish empires, amongst the Babylonians, prospered for daniel's cause, and so Cyrus, Artaxerxes and Darius for the cause of Ezra, Nehemias, and other captive jews that served the true God: and the Heathenish Romans for the persecuted Christians causes, as Histories manifest) and as it is a further privilege, that God oft not only preserves from dangers, but saves from destruction, sinful, Sodomitish, and profane places and persons, for their cause to, as he did those in the endangered ship for Paul's cause, and Noah's kindred for Noah's cause, and would have spared Sodom for abraham's and the righteous sake, if they could have been found: so it is a wonderful prerogative to, that when the Lord by the provocation of the unrighteous, is minded to bring destruction upon a Land or Country, he first delivers his Servants; 1. either by death, as he did josias▪ and good Augustine, before the sacking of Hippo by the Vandals. 2. Or by conveying them to some other place, as he did Lot, when Sodom was burned. 3. Or by providing some means for their escape, as the Ark for Noah, when the World was drowned. 4. Or by saving them by his immediate Power and Mercy, as he did Moses and the Israelites when the wicked were drowned, even Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, 5. Or when his own Servants are by men appointed to the sword, he rescues them with their enemies whom he sets in their stead, as he rescued Ester, Mordechai, the jews, Daniel, and the three Children, when wicked Haman and others their accusers, in their rooms, satisfied the Gallows, the flaming fire, the mouths of the Lions, etc. saving the Corn and burning the tars. 6. Or if his Servants fall into the same temporal punishments with others, as jonathan that was slain with Saul, and good Zwinglius that dyed in battle, which is usual: yet even thereby the righteous are brought nearer heaven; and the more violent their death is, the sooner they are in joy, when the godless shall be thrown down to Hell, even as with the same Fla●le is beaten chaff to be burnt, and pure Corn to be preserved.  

These ruling sins are damnable without repentance.  I could draw out these Motives ad infinitum, and from the Estates, and Excellencies, and Privileges of God's Servants, in these and other peculiars, in which thou hast no part nor portion, so I might if the point were not too tedious and burdensome to thy memory, press thee as much on the left side, from the consideration of thy fearful estate, in the case wherein thou standest, being (as thine own heart tells thee) the servant to many a reigning and ruling sin; and so consequently no servant of God (unless like the wicked Servant, the false Steward, and traitorous judas) thy deserts being a Halter and Hell. For as Christ said it of Covetousness, so I say from Christ's ground, Mat. 6.24. thou canst not serve God and Mammon, God and the World, God and the Devil, God and thy Belly, God and thy Bags, with the Usurer; God and Herodias, God and Rimmon, God and Baal, Christ and Antichrist, God and Babel's beast, God and the Pope: no more than one man can serve two Masters; no more than one River, by one stream, can run two ways at once; no more than one man can move upwards and downwards at one time; no more than one woman can love lawfully the bed of her Husband, and the bosom of a stranger; or one man his own Wife and the body of an Harlot. For, God and Sin are opposed ex diametro, and will no more mix then oil and water; nay, than fire and water, than Heaven and Hell.  
Now then being a Servant to sin, thou consequently art none of God's Servant: for his servant thou art to whom thou obeyest; yea, if it be of sin unto death, Rom. 6.16. and so by an immediate dependence and relation, thou art the slave of him, that is the basest slave in the world▪ that is, the Devil, for he that commits sin is his, 1 john 3. who was the first, and still continues the author of sin, of lies, murders, blasphemies, and the like.  
Now then see thy danger: 
The case of Satan's captives opened.  as he causeth thee to lie as he did Ananias and Saphira, Acts 5. and to swear, as he did Senacharib, and to commit Adultery, as he did Herod, with other sins, as he did David and Peter, when he sifted, tempted, and rose up against them. So, so long as thou livest in sin, he is entered into thee, as into judas, john 13.27. and doth possess thee; thou art in his power; Acts 28.18. He rules thee as the Horseman doth the Horse; he hath thee as a Bear by the snout, as a Dog in a chain; thou movest after his motion: oh thy fearful subieiection. Thou art under the most deceitful Master, the most deluding Laban in the world, who for delight that he pretends thee, will pay thee damnation that be intends thee; as he hath done to Laban himself, Cain, Esau, judas, and all that have served him. Besides thou art under the most massecrating merciless tyrant in the world: Phalaris, Busiris, Nero, Dionysius, Pharaoh, with all their bulls, and their burnings, and their burdens, (of his invention, as our Papists Powder-plot was) were merciful men in respect of him: for he lays the heaviest burden in the world upon thee, even that which priest himself out of Heaven into Hell, pushed Adam out of Paradise, and priest Christ himself upon the Cross; and that is sin. And after thou hast laid down this brutish body of thine in the dust, he hath prepared intolerable and eternal burnings for thee in his own Territories; whose fires the burden of thy sins must kindle and maintain, and the River of God's wrath increase and make more violent. Oh therefore betimes cast off this more than Egyptian yoke; forsake the service of thy old sophisticating Master, Satan; and serve thy new and living Master, Christ jesus, so shalt thou not only avoid those plagues temporal and external, which are threatened to those that disobey God, Exod. 23.33. Deut. 7.4. Deut. 28. Deut. 29.45.46.47. etc. Esay 1. Psal. 7. etc. which I pray thee ponder at leisure: as also those eternal hereafter. But thou shall be partaker of all those blessings and bounties which God hath revealed and prepared for those that serve him.  
I thought to have added another use, namely, as the matter, so to have prescribed the manner and form of God's service, with the parts of it, with those several carriages that those must use for their actions, their affections, their speech and words, at home and abroad; what use to make of all their time, with their several stints and tasks in the performance of several and successive sacrifices and services. But I will not dull the Reader by this prolix point. I refer thee unto some of my Brethren that have writ well and worthily of it: as Mr. Rogers his Christian Directory; Mr. D. Hill, in his Tract how to live well, by way of Questions and Answers; Mr. Cooper his Christian Sacrifice; which I wish not only in the hands, but writ in the hearts of all that intent God's service, and their own salvation.   

His desired Dismission. In this word, Depart.  
THE fifth part, according to our Texts first division, now comes into our examination, and that is Simeons' Departure or Dismission, the Latin compriseth this and that which we called the Divine Permission, in one word, Nunc dimittis, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Nunc est tempus ut dimittas, etc. è vinculis corporis, as Piscator renders it; Lord, now it is time that thou unloose me from the bonds of the body: from which reading, which I think warrantable and natural, these Points arise. First that even the Lords Simeons', godly men, and so consequently all men, must die for the matter of death. Secondly, that death is only to man a dissolution, for the nature and manner of death. Thirdly, that this life is but a short life, out of which we are every day ready to depart, like him that is about to take his leave of his visited friends. Fourthly, that this life is but a miserable life, in which we are bound and fettered, death being our unloosing. Fiftly, that our natural death is but one, and once, which is our dismission from the earth. Sixtly, that the soul is immortal, not dying with the body, only departing out of the body.  
For the first point: it is plain that godly men die; sanctified Simeon that spoke this is dead: it needs no confirmation but experience, as he that will not believe that the fire is hot, let him put his finger to it; if any believe not that the godly dye as well as the wicked, let him look at their Sepulchres amongst us, as Peter tells the jews, that the Patriarch David was dead, and his Sepulchre was amongst them.  
The Reasons why the godly dye are these: 
Why the godly dye.  first, because they are involved and wrapped in the common sink of original sin, with the rest of Adam's posterity, and therefore they must participate of death, the common punishment; from which no persons, orders, or degrees are excepted or exempted, no not infants themselves, Eccles. 3.1. Psal. 49.10. Heb. 9.27. To explain this.  
It is confessed by all Divines, that GOD which is called the God of the living, only created life, and not death: which being a privation of life, was never in the number of those Ideas and forms which were from all eternity in the mind of the Creator, but was brought in by sin, for which it is now imposed penarilie upon all flesh, Rom. 5.12. so Ch. 6.23. 1 Cor. 15.21. From whence it is consequent, that if man had not sinned, man had not died. I say not man could not have died; for his body being compounded of the four Elements, and so of four contrary qualities, heat, cold, moisture and dryness, in themselves repugnant, was naturally mortal; yet he should not have died, if he had not sinned: but should have been preserved and upheld by a special, singular, and supernatural grace. Which grace of original justice being lost by original sin, man also lost the privilege of immortality, and became mortal.  

Simile.  Even as (to use the Schoole-mens Similes) a Ship upon the Sea, her sail hoist, the wind blowing, & the waves working, must needs naturally follow the motion and working of the Sea: but if this Ship be tied to an Anchor, by some strong Cable, she is held, fast and fixed, without any far fluctuation: but if this Cable be cut, she goes whither the winds and the waves drive her. Or as a man's hand is subject to be wounded by sword, dagger, or dart, but if he have on a good Gauntlet the hand is safe; which Gauntlet being plucked off or broken, the hand is exposed to danger: So, Man being naturally mortal, yet being armed with original righteousness against the stroke of death, being tied and chained with the golden chain of special grace, should not have moved in the natural course of death: but as soon as ever man by the instinct of Satan, tied himself with the cords of sin, God took away that other chain of Grace, disarmed him of munition and armour, and exposed him to be carried through the swift torrent of this present life, by the violence of the contrary qualities of the Elements, even into the dead Sea, or Sea of Death. 
Mare ●●●tuum.   
Secondly, because of the relics and remainders of their original sins and corruption, which are still resident and fixed in them, (howsoever pardoned by Christ) the godly must die, that so these remnants may be quite taken away and abolished, and the root of old Adam absolutely stocked up.  
Thirdly, flesh and blood (of which they partly consist) cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, but must first be changed. 1 Cor. 15, vers. 50.  
Fourthly, that as by other crosses and afflictions, so by dying they may in some sort be made conformable to their head Christ, in his death and sufferings, Rom. 8.29.  
Sixtly, that the godly might have experience of God's power, in the resuscitation and raising up of their dead bodies.  
seventhly, that the godly may have sweet and comfortable experience of the difference betwixt this mortal life and that immortal glory in the life to come, which will be so much more joyous, as they shall taste their prepared joys through the jaws of death, as Samson did his Honey in the lions belly: for as it is a misery to have been happy, 
Miserum est fuisse foelicem.  so it sets a better edge and relish on any mercy, when it comes by an exemption from a former experienced misery: even as deliverance was more grateful to the Israelites after their Egyptian yoke, and as honey is more sweet to him that hath been dieted with Aloes; so joy in glory shall be more joyous extracted out of the pains of life, and pangs of death unto the godly.  

Use of Consolation.  Hence let the Saints sing, clap their hands and rejoice; let the joyful shout of a King be amongst them, in the sweet contemplation of the unlimited mercies of God, towards them; that whereas in Adam as they were branches of his stock, and so fruitful in unrighteousness, in his sin, so endamaged and endangered, by their original corruptions, besides their actual transgressions; that God might in justice have punished them both with the first and second death, according to that menace in Paradise, to our Protaplasts: In that day which you eat of the forbidden fruit, you shall die the death, 
Aug lib. 3. de ciu. Dei. Quadratus die me deserueritis per inobedientiam, ego vos deseram per justitiam, etc.  (as Augustine interprets it) in that day which you forsake me by rebellion▪ I will forsake you by my just judgements execution: yet it hath pleased God so far to mitigate both the guilt and the punishment of both, that in and by Christ they being redeemed from that second, that eternal, sempiternal death of the soul; the temporal death which is only a change of a worse life for one infinitely better, is so far inflicted, or rather imposed as makes for God's glory, and their own greater good.  
Secondly, 
2. Use of Commination.  let this withal terrify the wicked which are out of CHRIST, and as yet have no more part in him then the Devil and judas (by reason of their witting and willing sins, by which voluntarily and frequently they crucify him again to themselves) that if the godly must have their teeth set on edge in dying the first death of the body, 
Phil. 3.17.  for these sweet fruits which proved sour Grapes, that Adam and Eve tasted in the Garden, by reason of these remainders and relics of corruption that are in them: how much more shall they, as they are threatened, as God hath decreed and denounced, drink the dregs of God's wrath, even to the bottom, not only in tasting the first death but the second; not only that which is the separation of the soul from the body, but which separates both body and soul eternally from God, at they are corrupt and fruitless trees, twice dead: so if the godly which are trees of righteousness, planted by the rivers of Grace, 
C●m co●ritur Cedru● Paradisi, quid faciet Virga Des●rti?  be plucked up, that they may be transplanted in glory, much more shall they by stocked up by the Axe of death, cut down in wrath, like the barren Figtree, and thrown into Hell fire: yea, as they are called dead coals, Psal. 17. and God a consuming fire, Deut. 9 Hebrews the last, etc. so they are as sure to burn (unless quenched by repentance) as they are fit to burn.  
Neither doth the Lord take such away ordinarily, by a natural and peaceable death, as he did Simeon here: but oft-times in the whirlwind of his wrath, by some unnatural, and violent, and sudden death, as the fruit of their provoking sins. 1. Sometimes for their abuse of his worship, as he did Nadab and Abihu: so judas that came from the Communion and hanged himself: as also the Corinthians who died for their unworthy receiving the Sacrament. 2. Sometimes for rebellion against Magistrates, as Corah, Dathan, and Abiram. Numb. 16. 3. Sometimes for abusing the Servants, Prophets, and Ministers of God, as the two and forty Children whom the two she Beeres slew: the two Captains with their fifties, that came to lay hands on Elias, 4. So for murdering the Saints, as Achab and jezabel. So the ten persecutors, infamously famous for the abundance of Christian blood which they shed, came all to fearful ends, according to the curse threatened, Psal. 56. Psal. 139. & Math. 26. that Bloody men shall not live out half their days: and, They that smite with the Sword, shall perish by the Sword. 5. For gurmundizing, gluttony, and drunkenness, as jobs Children, job 2. Balthasar, Dan. 5. and the Israelites slain whilst the Quails were in their mouths, Numb. 11. 6. For covetousness, as Ananias and Saphira, Acts 5. 7. For Lust and Luxury, as Cos●ee and Zimri, and the unclean Israelites, Numb. 25. 8. For Tyranny and oppression as Pharaoh and his Host, Exod. 14. 9 For Pride against God, as Herod, Acts 12. 10. For the effect of pride and malice, Blasphemy against heaven, as Senacharib and his pestilent Parasite Rabsekah, 2 Kings 19 as also for other sins.  
But now we are to hoist up sails into a Sea of matter, 
Doctrine. All must die.  which flows either necessarily from the Text, or by consequence of this last proved point, and by argument from the greater to the lesser, from the better to the worse; that if Simeon and the Saints must die, then unsanctified sinners: and so from the specials, and by inductions from all particulars the general may be concluded, that all must die. So much the Text gives us leave to touch; for if we be here, as Tully intimates, Tanquam in diverserio; as guests lodged in an Inn: or as those that come to a Mart, a Market, or a Fair; or as those that come to visit their friends, not to inhabit long here, but to depart, as Simeon here imports. Then hoc commune malum, this departure is the designed lot to all the world's passengers: We here give no reasons of the point, omitting or pretermitting them, till we come to distill some comforts against death: only for explanation or further satisfaction. Ponder the premises, that since the godly which have no sin, 
Psal. 32.1.2. Non ut non sit, sed ut non imputetur.  I mean (with David and the Augustane Confession out of Augustine) no imputed sin, must die; since children that have no actual sin do die, because the stain of the root is propagated to the branches, as Augustine, 
De praed. c. 2. & lib. cont. ●ortunatum. cap. 2. In Lucam.  Anselm and Ambrose have in more phrases explained, if Adam himself did die, not so much as he was a created man but as he was a corrupted sinner. Then sure as life was the fruit of his obedience, if he had stood; à Deo donante, from God's free giving; so death is inflicted upon his fall, à Deo vindicante, from God punishing.  

Moriendum est omnibus. Tully Tus. 9 lib. 1.  And as now it is God's Statute-Law enacted, that all Adam's Sons partaking of Adam's sins must die, so it must be executed: nay, we see it is executed. Philosophers, and Poets, and the learned Heathens, who themselves, since their works and writings have felt the smart of death's stroke, have acknowledged it, Christians have confessed it, Experience hath ratified it in the consumption and consummation of all ages, all sects, all sorts, persons and professions, that all must die: omnia peribunt, etc. ay, thou, he, they, and every man beside, that are, were, shall be, this way slides. We have God's statutum est for it, that as in Heaven all live, and none must or can die; in Hell all die an eternal death, and none must or can live: so in earth all must die, and none can for ever live. This is an inevitable yoke, imposed on all flesh, Nam rigidum ius est, etc. the Law is strict, unalterable; to strive against the stream unavaileable: 
Lanificas nulli tres exorare Puellas,  
Contigit, etc.  
The unpartial Fates, to whom we all are under,  
With rule imperial cut life's thread asunder.   
Many means have Galenists and Physicians used for the preservation of life: many Works and elaborate Books are extant, of the conservation of health; but never none writ, or disputed of the exemption from death, because it were in vain. If any Physician could administer such a simple that would perpetually prolong life: if any Lawyer could plead the case with Death, not to enter violently upon their body (which is his tennant-right) and prevail. If any Divine did preach that sinners should not die, and perform it: the first should have more Patients; the second, more Clients; the third, more Auditors, than ever had any of their fellows in their functions: But to teach, or plead, or practise this point, which the Devil gulled our first Parents with in Paradise, You shall not die, were to be a Liar like him, it were to build Castles in the Air, 
Hom. lib. 2 od. 3. sic od. 12. od. 28. etc.  to sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind: for, Omnes una ma●et nox, etc.  
Death's tract we all must tread: our life's fair light  
Must be obscured, and set in Death's dark night.  
How many glorious Lights in the world, Kings, Kefars, Emperors, Popes, Potentate's, Dukes, Earls, Lords, Barons, etc. Learned, wise, prudent, potent, etc. have already perished, and vanished, like Comets and blazing Stars, leaving no more tract behind them, than a Serpent that goes over a stone? of whom we retain nothing but the Images corporeal of their bodies, or mental of their minds; by the help of some Painters, or their own or others pens, that have only showed to posterity, that such men there once were, but now are not. What have we saving the Images of more than an hundred famous Emperors of the East and West, Christian and Heathen?  
Amongst the rest, where are the seven Henry's, the six Constantine's, the five Ottoes, the five Charleses', the five Lodovicques, the four Leo's, the three Theodosijs, the three Fredericques, the three Tiburiusses, the two Clandij, the two Albert's, the two Anastasijs, the two Martians; the two Rodulphs', the two famous Caesars for war and peace, julius and Augustus, with the rest? Is not the lamp of their life extinct? Those whose voices commanded the Nations, are they now able to speak? (as it was said of Alexander) those that were able once to deliver others from death, could they free themselves?  
Besides, where are now more than two hundr●d of Roman Bishops, and triple Mitred Popes: some of whose roaring Bulls made once all Christendom quake and shake? Where are now the twelve Gregory's, the nine Bonifaces, eight nocently Innocents', the seven Clements, the six Alexanders, six Urbans, six Adrian's, twelve Benidicts, the five Celestines, the five Nicholass, the four Sixtusses, the four Sergij, the four Anasta●ij, the four Foelixes, the four Eugenij, the three Silvesters, the three Victors, the three Lucijs, the three Iulijs, with the rest? Do they not all know now that which 
* As Alexander 6. john 11. joh. 22. etc.  some of them Atheistically in words, in writings, and in life, have denied? that their bodies were mortal, their souls immortal? that there is a Heaven for the godly a Hell for the wicked; but no Purgatory passage to either the one place or other, for either sort?  

The deaths of the world's Worthies of all kinds epitomized.  Besides, where shall we se●ke but amongst the dead, for all the Roman Caesars, the Egyptian Ptolemy's, the Latin Murrhanes, the Alban Siluies, the Syrian Antiochusses, the Arabian Arabarcques, the Argive Abantiades, the Persian Achaminedes, the Theban Labdacides, the Lybian Lybiarcques: and all the rest of those renowned Kings which had such divers denominations from their worthy Predecessors, and from those Countries over which they ruled?  
Nay, to come nearer home: where are all our English Kings, that have awfully swayed the Britain Sceptre since the Conquest? Where are the two Conquering courageous Williams, our three Richards, our six Edwards, our eight Henries? Hath not Death made a Conquest of them? Have we any remnants of them saving their Westminster Monuments; their Ensigns, their Virtues? Could their Sceptres, Crowns, Colours, Honours, Mitres, Power, or pomp of these Potentates, resist Death's all-subduing, all-subiecting rod, which brings under more, than Mercury's charming wand in the Poet? No verily.  
Non ducis imperium, non regia Mitra, coronae  
Pontificis summi, etc.  
Both conquering Dukes, and Princely Crowns,  
The mitred Popes, proud Cardinals,  
Imperial Sceptres, Prelates Gowns  
Death vassalizeth and inthrals.  
So, if we should continue in this Quere, and demand what is become of all those worthy Generals, joshuah, Gideon, etc. Achilles, Hector, Ajax, Melciades, the Gracchies, Camillies, Fabians, Asdrubal, Hannibal, etc. Or those triumphing Conquerors, Cyrus, Alexander, Scylla, Marius, Cassius, Scipio, Metellius, Valerius, Pompey, Caesar's, Antony, Octavian, Claudian, Aurelius? Death hath carried them in triumph, as they others. Abstulit, etc. For, 
Hor. lib. 2. cap. 16.  speedy Death stopped stout Achilles' breath.  
So, where are those huge and vast Giants, the Sons of Anack, the Nimrods' of the world, Tipheus, Anteus, Enceladus, Titius, Polypheme, Atlas, Hercules, Cacus, Orestes, etc. as terrible in their times, as Goliath was to the Israelites? Now it is a wonder (no terror) to see their ashes and their bones: now fearful Hares leap over dead Lions (as the Grecians scoffed at dead Hector.)  
So, if we should reflex upon these learned Lights and Lamps, in Divinity or human Learning; the Fathers of the Greek and Latin Church: grave Tertullian, learned Origen, witty Bernard, eloquent Chrysostome, zealous Augustine, judicious Jerome, and the rest. Or upon these wise Heathens, deep Philosophers, Aristippus, Empedocles, Democles, Zenocrates, Anaxagoras, Pythagoras, Diogenes, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the seven Grecian Sages, etc. Or upon these famous Orators, Pericles, Isocrates, Alcibiades, Gorgias, Pollio, Lucius, Crassus, Zenophon, Hortensius, Demosthenes, Cato, Cicero, Quintilian. Or upon these Laureate Poets, Eschilus', Pindar, Euripides, Aristarchus, Hesiod, Menander, Simonides, Sophocles, Anacraeon, Eunius, Statius, Persius, Claudian, Varro, Plautus, Lucan, Homer, Terence, Ovid, Virgil, etc. Or upon these famous Legifers, and lawgivers, Mercury amongst the Egyptians, Lycurgus amongst the Lacedæmonians, Solon amongst the Athenians, Numa amongst the Romans; as also upon Androdamus, Philolaus, Beceorus, Carneades, etc. Or upon these profound and famous Lawyers, Ulpian, jason, Drusus, Bartolus, Baldus, justinian, D●cius. Or upon these expert Physicians, Hermogenes, Disippus, Celsus, Nicomachus, Eschulapius, Hypocrates, Avicen, Galen, etc. Skilful Astronomers, Astrologers, and deep Mathematicians, Thales, Manethes, Promethius, Eudosius, Protagoras, Berosus, Archites, Zoroaster, Ptolemy, Anaximander, etc. Or subtle Geometricians, Polemon, Pausanius, Marinus, Theodorus, Di●aearchus, Nicephorus, Euclides. Or these accurate, and faithful Historiographers, Thucydides, josephus, Herodotus, Diodorus, Egisippus, Isodore, Eutropius, Livy, Sallust, Plutarch, Appian, Pliny, Suetonius, ●'ossi●onius, Orosius, Eusebius, Tacitus, justin, etc. Or these exquisite musicans, Zenophocles, Himenaeus, Amphion, Chiron, Arion, Linus, Philades, Orpheus, etc. Or these famous Painters and Carvers, Timantes, Aristarchus, Timagoras, Pirasius, Zeuxis, Apelles, Phidias, our English Michael and Raphael, with infinite more, of worthy spirits, either inventors, or perfecters of Arts and Sciences, whether Liberal or Mechanical; such as have been Eupaters', well-willers and Benefactors to human Societies, which Antiquity hath dignified, living as more than men, accounting them as Heroes and Semidians, and Deified as Gods; are they not all dead like men? Have they not gone the way of all flesh, as David saith of himself? 2 King. 2. Yea, though some of them were Metaphorical and terrestial Gods, (as David prophesieth of all Princes) they are dead like men: their honour is laid in the dust: an Epitaph writ upon a marble stone, a Monument, or Statue erected to them, or for them, an Enchomiasticque Verse in the numerical lines of some Poet, or a narration what they have been, or what they have done, good or evil, in the works of some Historian, is all which is left of them (even as a linen shirt was that remained of that victorious Saladine:) yea, these whom we have deservedly called worthy spirits, as Alexander, Tamburlaine, julius Caesar, Prince Arthur, in former times: as also the rest of those nine Worthies amongst the Heathens, and those other nine amongst Christians in former times: as also that Noble Sidney, that ingenious Picus Mirandula, that subtle Scaliger in our times; have now their earthly tabernacles, (the lodges and organs of such purified spirits, and heavenly inspired souls) dissolved; their bodies descending as their better part ascending: and so it shall be with us, and with all of us.  

Ovid ad Liviam.  Tendimus huc omnes ●etam properamus ad unam, etc.  
Th'Earth is our common Haven thither sail we,  
Death's bonds to break, alas, how small prevail we.  
That which was said to Adam, 
A true descant of death.  is said to every one of us, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return, Gen. 3.19. Michael Glyeas amplifies it thus, as he is alleged by Bramami●lerus the German; pulvis es, ex pulvere es, etc. Dust thou art, of dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return. As if one should say of the congealed Ice. Aqua es, ex aqua es, & in aquam redib●, water thou art, of water thou art, and into water thou shalt be resolved: (for the Ice is an excellent emblem of our bodies, which are more brittle than Ice.) Neither is it any otherways with our terrestrial bodies, in some proportion, then with the celestial. For as all the Stars, how ever glistering and glorious, arising in the East, move to the West, some in a faster, some in a slower motion: so we move to our earth, as naturally downward as stones and those heavy things: for, Omne grave deorsum; the earth is our proper centre, to which we move and decline, some sooner, some later.  
And as the Planets Saturn, jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Sol, Venus, Luna, move in their proper motions; some quickly within a short space, some slowly circling the Heavens: as the Moon within a month, the Sun in twelve Months, etc. which their courses being finished, they return again to the place from whence they had their first beginning of motion: so we being fixed in our places and stations in this life, in our special callings, when we have finished our course and done our task, we move directly into that place from whence we came, even into the bowels of the earth, some in a quicker, some in a slower motion: some in their youth, some in their age; but all of us now or then.  
Serius aut citius, metam properamus ad unam.  
We all do tend one way: and soon or late  
We claps our earth in life's expired date.  
With Brutus, we kiss our mother; we. go to lodge in this common Inn: our general mother, the earth, receives us into her bowels again, as the Fish Scylopendra swallows her little fry, and some Bird her young ones, in some common danger, which they safely cast forth again, as the Whale did jonas: with the little silk-worm when our web is spun we die, which death we can no more avoid then the tall Cedar, or green Poplar can avoid the Axe of the husbandman; or the sailing ship the blustering wind, or cloud threatening waves: for of all things in the world it is most certain we shall die, all other things are exposed as much unto uncertainty as to vanity. A man knows not how prosperous his journey shall be by Sea or by Land: if he make a bargain it is casual and uncertain whether it will be thriving and saving or no.  
If a man marry a wife it is uncertain whether he catch a Fish or a Frog, a Shrew or a Sheep; a Rebeccha, or a Xanthippe. If a man beget a child, it is uncertain whether he prove a wise man or a fool; rich or poor, and so in all other human things in this life there is casuality and incertainetie, only that we shall end this life and die, we are most certain. Every thing in the world preacheth and proclaimeth this unto us. The Sun that riseth and setteth daily over our heads, tells us our life's Sun shall set: the clothes upon our backs, that wear and waste, are memorials to us of the wearing and wasting of our bodies: the graves under our feet tell us, that others must tread upon us as we tread upon others: the dust that blows in our eyes tells us, that we are but dust; yea, the bodies of Beasts, Birds, and Fishes, that we eat for meats, in our dishes, tells us, that our bodies shall be meat for Worms: Intentant omnia m●rtem; All tell us, death is as certain, as the hour is uncertain.  
The natural causes of death (besides these causes that Divinity gives) prove our death. 
Natural causes of death.   
First, the Elements striving and wrestling within our bodies in their discord, setting out of tune the Harp of our Health, tells us, that some malignant humour predominating, will ere long break asunder the strings of life.  
Secondly, this Messalina, this unchaste and unsatiable woman, called Materia prima, the first matter, always burning with lustful appetites, and desires of new forms, still plots the corruption of her old subject.  
Thirdly the radical humour consumes after it be come to his height of augmentation, like the Sea that recoils and ebbs when she is at full: which moisture though it be restored again by diet or Physic for the quantity, yet it is not so pure as the spent for quality, saith Fernellius.  
Fourthly, the blood, as it grows old, begins by little, and little to condensate and wax thick, and so corrupts.  
Fiftly, the Spirits waste by use and labour, (which wears even Iron and hardest metals) the body and the mind by corporeal and mental exercises, like two unthrifty Heirs, spending them faster than the father and fosterer of them the Heart, can digest and gather them: all these say die we must; nay, that die all must: Rich Dives as well as poor Lazarus, Solomon as well as Naball, the wise as well as the fool, fair Absalon as well as foul Thirsites, Musical Nero as well as harsh Menius, tall Saul as well at little Zacheus, godly jonathan as well as his ungodly Father; high and low, rich and poor, one with another, participate of the common condition of human nature, once to die. Yea, the Princes of the earth cannot withdraw their necks from this yoke; 
Psal. 82.6.  even those that are Gods on earth shall die like men; though mighty Potentates, like Nabuchadnezzars' Image, be high and tall in birth and blood; though their heads be of Gold, in wearing golden Crowns; though their breasts and arms of silver; though they were as rich as Croesus or Crassus, and had silver, with Solomon, like the Seas sand; though their bellies were of brass, made as it were a cauldron, wherein the stomachs heat boils so many meats which the mouth as Caterer provides, and the palate as Sewer tastes; though their thighs be of Iron, in respect of potency and power, yet their feet that props all this are of clay, their end is earth; the stone from the mountain, the corner stone crusheth them, sends some means or others of their mortality: which crushing cannot be prevented; there is no writ of privilege to exempt any from it, no persons, no place, no persuasions can procure an immunity from not dying. Death is as inflexible as unresistible: inflexible, for eloquence which charmed Argus, will not charm Death. Tully's tongue could not save Tully's life, when Antony sends for head and tongue and all; (no more than john's zeal could stop Her●dias malice to save his head;) Achitophel's policy, Aesop's wit, Mithridates his being a good Linguist, Aristotle's Philosophy, Philo judaeus his learning, Demosthenes' Oratory, Arion's Harp could not move inexorable Death for an hours sparing, when their glass was run. Nay, beauty which is the best persuader (though a dumb and silent Orator) can find no more favour with Death than Lais did with cold Anaxagoras. For sure, Rebeccha, Bathsheba, Ester, Helena, Irene, Absalon, joseph, with others more, men and women, were goodly Creatures, yet if a man could now see their sepulchres, he should see (that like that fair Lady, which was found lying besides Prince Arthur in Glastenburie, whom Mr. Speed mentions) all beauty is but dust: and as inexorable, so unresistible: Nobleness and Royalty are unable to encounter it; Alexander, julius Caesar; and most victorious Princes, have veiled their Bonnets, and done homage to it; yea, it hath preyed upon Agamemnon, and Nabuchadnezzar, as a Thief and Pirate upon rich prizes. Old age is venerable, youth is lusty, but death reverenceth not the grey hairs of the one; for though Adam, Enoch, Sem, Methusalem, Malaleel, jaired, Noah, Heber, and others, in the primitive times; as also Arganton, Nestor, Valerius, corvinus, 
Silius lib. 3 de Argant. ovid. lib. 14▪ de Syb. Propertius lib. 2. de Nestore. Sic Iwen. Sat. 10.  Epiminedes, Metellus, Terentia, Clodia, Hipocrates, Sibyl, and infinite others amongst Christians and Heathens, lived so long, that the Historians write, and Poets sing, that, Tercentum Messes, etc. That they lived their one, two and three hundreds, yet though their life's day were very long, at last came Evening Song.  
Neither respecteth it the green locks of the young, but like an Eagle and Vultur seizeth on the flesh of Infants; as in the murder of Bethlems' Infants, and in the death of many Children younger than David's Child, that died. Experience saith, that Prima quae, etc. 
Seneca in Her. sur. Hor. carm. lib. 1. od. 28 Hor. carm. lib. 3. od. 11.  The hour that gave them breath, did end that hour in death, as Seneca saith of others: Yea, Mista etc. Both young and old, Death's cruel arms enfold. Et fugacem, etc. The man can neither fly him, nor the youth pass by him.  
Hazael was as swift as a Roe, and Atlanta was too swift for a woman, yet Death overtook them. Goliath was a great fellow, but Death was greater. Samson was strong, 
judg. 15.  but Death was stronger; it killed him that killed a thousand with the jaw-bone of an Ass; 
Enceladus jaculator audax. Hor. lib. 3. odd. 4. Dan. 8.  it cut down him that plucked up trees by the roots. That Enceladus that great darter, could not shun his darts, neither can any: for it is like that Ram●ne which Daniel saw in his Vision, that shakes his horns against the East and the West, the North and the South, and the beasts are notable to resist him. It is like a Haruester that with his Sickle cuts down all, Corn and tars, good and bad.  
Mors resecat, mors omne necat, nullumque veretur.  
What ere it meets with, up it shears,  
For none it favours, none it fears.  

Mors à mordendo. Vel à morsu vetiti pomi.  It is a mad Dog that bites all, as it hath his name (like the Usurer) of biting, so Mor● mordet omnes, etc. It bites all, yea, even the biting Usurers, and grinds those that grind the faces of the poor. It is a fire unsatiable, burning the green ivy and the cragged Oak; young and old. It is a Tyrant over Tyrants, 
junenal. Sat. 10.  bringing them to their graves, cum eaede & vulnere, (as it did Nero and Domitian) with bloody heads. It is like the Sea, terrible, not to be dramd, not to be turned out of his channel; carrying all away with it, by as many ways as there be ways to the Sea: all waters run to the Sea, and all men tend to their earth. 
Me vestigia torrent, omnia te adversum, spectantia nulla re●rorsum. Prou. 7.  It is like the Lion in the Fable, to whose den many Beasts went, but none returned. It accepts as many as comes, like the Harlot in the Proverbs, but none returns, since (like those Oxe-like beastly fools that go in to a whore) they go into the chamber of death: like a covetous Niggard, it receives all, but parts with none. Spaires none neque moribus nec aetati: Nay, saith a Papist, nec Matri vitae, nec vitae; neither the Virgin Mary (which they say is the Mother of life) nor CHRIST the life itself: then much less will it spare us: for, Pallida mors equ● pulsat pede; etc.  
With equal foot it knocks the gate  
Both of the rich and poor estate.  
And that so indifferently, that as one saith, if he should make choice of a judge in the whole world, he would choose Death: it is not corrupted like a corrupt Officer, but is as unpartial as imperial. Thus much for the necessity of dying.  
Now it is time by Use and Application to bring home, what hath been said, 
Use.  unto the heart of every Reader.  
First therefore, from the necessity of death, let it teach us not too much to be in love with life, or with any thing in this life. What a folly is it for a man to set his heart upon a strange woman, in a strange Country, whose face it is likely he shall never see more? If Samson had known how soon he should have been taken from his Dalilah, he would never have so doted on her: if Sichem had known how speedily his lusting love to Dinah would have occasioned his destruction, he would rather have loathed her before his folly with her (as Ammon did Thamar after) then have loved her. If we did but ponder how soon we are to leave these perishing pleasures, and profits, which will be our ruin, and irrevocable destruction, we would cast them from us, as a menstruous cloth, we would hate them as we do a Toad, detest them as we do the Devil, and fly from them as Moses from his rod when it turned into a Serpent. Oh the thought of death may moderate even lawful affections, and curbethem in their idolatrous exorbitancy, from being immeasurable, least by a violency of desires they be carried away after any outward thing that we do enjoy, and may cause us (as it did the holy patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, primitive Christians, ancient and modern Martyrs,) to leave father and mother, wife and child, house and land; portion and pence, for Christ's cause voluntarily, as Moses did the pleasures of Pharaohs Court, since (as Horace hath it) Linquenda tellus, etc. We must leave them, will we nill we. Necessarily, and sure, if we ought to leave in affection the good things that we live by, much more we ought to leave both in Affection and Action, the sins that we perish by, ere we leave the world; lest we die as wicked men have died before us, as wretchedly as wickedly.  
Secondly, since we must all die, 
2. Use of Instruction.  and that as we have heard, because we have sinned, then if we love life, (as all do naturally) let us hate sin that deprives us of life. 
Those that love life must hate sin, the cause of death.  A man that loves his Wife dearly, cannot love him that would make a breach betwixt them, or divorce him from her: he that loves his life, me thinks, should not love the intentive murderer, that plots and contrives his death. This disturber, this destroyer, is Sin: It is a right Faux, a plotter of thy perdition, a right Catiline, a conspirator of thy calamity: it watcheth opportunities, as the Fox doth the Hare, as the Lion doth the Dog, as jael did S●sera, as judith did Holofernes, and as Delilah did Samson, when to deceive thee, when to destroy thee: yea, even when it fawns upon thee, and flatters thee, and plays with thee, then (like the Cars play with the Mouse) it purposeth to pray upon thee. Thus it fawned and flattered upon Adam and Eve, and offered them (as Witches and poisoners offer Children) an Apple to play withal, but by this Apple it killed them, so hath it done all mankind beside, and wilt thou favour it?  
Zealous was his spirit that once expostulated with one, as I now with thee. Peccatum omnes maiores tuos occidit, & tu fovis? Sin (saith one) hath slain all thy Predecessors, and Ancestors, and wilt thou make much of it? wouldst thou desire to look upon, and gloriously to sheath that Sword or Knife that killed thy good Father, thy kind Mother, thy special Friend, thine only Child? This, Sin hath done, or will do. Couldst thou find in thy heart to bid those Varlets welcome that did kill the Kings of France? Now canst thou find in thy heart to entertain and retain that sin in thy soul, which hath killed all the Kings in Christendom? then perish thou by it with the rest: if thou wilt not be warmed be harmed. But sure to love that sin that not only hath killed thy Progenitors, but that labours to embrew his hands in thy blood to, that sweetens his temptations to poison thee, that spreads his gins daily to trap thee, that bends his bow still ready to strike thee, that lies in ambush still to surprise thee, and yet to trust it, and follow the lusts and commands of it, to obey it, is great folly: but to make it thy bosom-friend, to lodge it in thine own bed, to set it at Table with thee (as David did his treacherous Companion) to carry it about with thee, to suffer it to have free access every day to the Castle and best Chamber of thine heart, through the doors of thy ears▪ and the windows of thy eyes, and the entrance of thy mouth, to acquaint it with all thy secrets; I say it is extreme madness▪ For the pleasing of sin, thou dost prejudice thine own life, temporal, spiritual, and eternal, and displeasest GOD; and wilt provoke him to cut thee off; for whereas other Kings destroy only the foreign Castles and Cities of their enemies, to establish their own Crowns: so GOD, for sin destroys the City and Castle which himself hath built and made, the body and soul of sinful man.  
Thirdly, 
3. Use of Mitigation  this consideration of Death's command over every created nature consisting of body and soul, whereby all human flesh is designed to the grave, serve notably to comfort and erect the poor dejected and rejected worms of the world; and to deject and cast down the high looks and elevated thoughts of the proud and potent: for, if both the one and the other consider well, that as they had both one original and beginning from the earth, their foundation being from the dust and clay, and that both of them ere long shall be paralleled and equalized in the grave, where they shall see corruption. Neither shall the mean man too much distaste his own estate, and emulate the mighty; neither shall the proud Potentate exalt his Crest, and insult over the poorest Peasant.  
Alphonsus in one word resolves what it is that equalizeth the poor man with the Prince, the Mechanical with the Monarch, and that is the grave; some say, sleep (in which the poor man participates half his life time with the rich; nay, oft-times in the better share; the poor Labourer sound sleeping when Agamemnon and Assuerus are watching, when jeroboam and Nabuchadnezzar are troubled in their thoughts about golden Calves, and such things, as they dream and dote upon; which made Caesar willing to buy the bed of the indebted poor man of Rome, who slept better than he:) but whether that Death's younger brother Sleep, 
Death only makes the Prince & the Peasant equal.  work always this effect or no, it is as little material as it is uncertain. I am sure Death the elder Brother, brings all states and conditions to this parity.  
Hence the witty Painters pictured it (like loves Cupid) blind, and without eyes, hitting and hurting at random, Kings, Princes, Popes, Prelates, Lords, Lownes, etc. without difference and distinction of degrees, Crowns, Diadems, Sceptres, Mitres, Pals, Robes, Rotchets, Rags, Purples, and Leathrens Pelts, being all Ensigns of his Trophies.  
Subtua Purpurei veniunt vestigia Reges,  
Deposito luxu, turba cum paupere mix●●.  
The rabbling rout and purpled Kings  
Are all alike Death's underlings.  
Yea, Mors Sceptra Ligonibus aequat.  
There Sceptres and the sheep-hookes sympathise;  
The Carter doth the Courtier equalize.  
This thought much possessed Augustine and Bernard in their Meditations, and therefore they send us to the graves and sepulchres of the deceased, 
Aspice divitum tumulos, etc.  to see if we can find any difference in their bones, and munmiamized earth, save only in the external pomp, and superficial varnish of their Monuments: nay, sure there is no difference at all, unless (as once it was said wittily) that the corrupted bones and putrefied bodies of the rich, being more crammed and fatted with surfeiting and drunkenness, do smell and savour more strongly than the withered carcase of the frugal and abstenious poor man.  
This Consideration caused the witty Cynic, when he was upbraided by Alexander, 
Diogenes.  what he could find him to do amongst the sepulchres of the dead (for indeed there was his choice study,) Oh (quoth he) I am here searching for the bones of thy Father Philip of Macedon, and I cannot discern them from others. An answer as sound as Satirical, as dogmatical as it was dogged: for, 
Seneca in Agamemnon.  Victor ad Herculeas, etc. For, though a man could conquer more than either Philip or Alexander in their times, and could extend his conquest beyond Hercules his Pillars, yet his portion of earth shall be but a few feet, no greater than the meanest of his vassals, when he shall meet it out with his own dead body, as Alexander himself was forced to confess, when by an occasioned fall he was constrained to imprint his body in the dust.  
And sure if Alexander had rightly applied to himself either Diogenes his girds at his ambition, or his inclining dying condition, he would neither have so soared over all the world beside, living; neither should he have subjecteth himself to the quipping censures of the wisest in the world, dying: for as it is recorded after he was dead, and his bones were put in a vessel of Gold, divers Philosophers meeting to see this dead and unexpected dumb show. One quipt at him thus; Yesterday he that treasured up Gold, now Gold him. Another thus; Yesterday the world would not content him, now a Sepulchre of six feet must contain him. Another thus; Yesterday he pressed the earth, now the earth presseth him. Another thus; Yesterday he ruled the world, now Death overrules him. Another thus; Yesterday all the living followed him, now he follows all the dead: and every one had the like diversity of Descant; the last knits up all their censures thus, Heri multos habebat subditos, etc. Yesterday he had many subjects, now all are his equals. Thus did these living Hares insult over this dead Lion: so will the meanest insult over thee in the like case, though thy lofty looks now overtoppe thine equals; though thy pride trample upon thine inferiors, as Pope Alexander did on the neck of Frederick▪ and dare contest and contend with thy superiors: therefore leave thy haughtiness, and learn humility; do not magnify thyself against those that are mightier, or above those that are meaner than thyself; scorn not to sit at table with him that must lie in the same bed with thee, I mean, in the earth: look not at thy white feathers and proud plumes with the Swan and the Peacock, but at thy black feet, the earth, thy original. Quid superbis pulvis & cinis? Why art thou proud, dust and ashes? what art thou but dust? If Honourable, Noble, Worshipful, Witty, Wealthy, Learned, Beautiful; thou art but honourable dust, noble dust, worshipful dust, witty dust, learned dust, beautiful dust. This is the proper adjunct to all the best and the rest of thy Epithets. What is one piece of dust, of sand, of slime, better than another? Why boasts thou of thy Babel, of any thing within thee, or without thee, thy best things being none of thine but Gods, thy worst the Devils and thine own, not worth a proud thought, thou thyself being the earth's, and none of thine own.  
Neither let the holy, humble, pious, poor man-be tootoo much dejected, either at his own meanness, or at the greatness of the insolent insulting debashed men of this world, who overtoppe them, and over-droppe them to, as the high Oaks do the lowly shrubs: but let them have patience awhile, and they shall every way parallel them.  
As men in the Scripture are compared to Trees, so the Comparison holds well. Go into a Wood and Forrest, thou shalt see as great difference of Trees in their kind, as of the Stars in their kind; some Ash, some Oak, some Cedar; some tall, some small, some strait, some crooked, some young, some old: but now, mark these Trees cut down and burnt in the Furnace, in the Ironworkes, or the like, and tell me if thou canst distinguish betwixt the ashes of one tree and another. Look at the accounts of the Merchant, one Compter stands for an hundred pound, another for twenty pound, another for twelvepences, another for a cipher, this for more, this for less, but when the account is done shuffle them all together, and who can tell the difference betwixt this Compter and that, they are all but base metal. So in this life there is difference betwixt man and man, in respect of inferiority or Superiority, Magistracy or ministery, Prince and Subject, Master and Servant, one man is of more value, (as David's Soldiers said of him) than a thousand others: one spreads out his boughs like Nabuchadnezzar, (as Daniel interprets his Vision) far and near: one is high in place, like a tall Cedar, another like a lowly shrub: one is a Figure, another a cipher. But now when the Axe of Death cuts all down, when like Compters we be all shuffled together, and put in the common box, the Grave, than who can say, here are the ashes of Alexander, here of poor Irus?  
Besides, 
Similes, illustrating Death's effect in aequalizing all.  thou seest a Stage-play (as it is to be doubted thou seest too many) there thou observest one acts the part of a King, another of a Captain, another of a Reveller, another of a Gentlemen, another of a Gourtier, another of a Pander, a Knave, a Clown, a Fool; thou wouldst think some vain fellow in his borrowed bravery to be a King, or in his acted knavery and folly (as is most likely) to be a very Knave and a Fool: but when the Play is done, they are all alike, Rogues by Statute, if they wander; or silken Beggars howsoever.  
In this our life we act divers parts, some Comical, some Tragical; some in this kind, some in that, upon the Stage of this world: in the time of acting, one is by his place and office a King, another a Baron, a third a Knight, a fourth a Squire, another a Physician, Lawyer, etc. one a great man, another a poor Mechanical Artificer, according to our several ranks and callings. But now when the Stage shall be dissolved; the world burned, our parts acted, we shall be all alike in respect of our interred bodies: and we shall be judged all alike in our particular or general judgement, according to the works which we have done in the body, therefore since we are all earth, as like as one Egg to another, since all of one metal, and like Leaden pellets, cast in one mould; since all of one cloth, differing a little in the shape; since all must go alike to the earth, and all be alike in the earth: let us not be too much exalted with greatness, like the Horse which is proud of his trappings, which must be pulled off us when we are stabled in our Graves: nor let us be too much dejected with our meanness of place and condition, since Death will bring the two unequal lines of the high and low estate to be parallel in the centre of our earth: at which time Se●a●s Epitaph will fit the Tombs of both rich and poor: 

Seneca in Agam.  Hic servus, dum vixit erat, nunc mortuus idem,  
Non quam tu dari magn● minora potest, etc.  
This poor man whilst he lived, a servant was;  
Now dead: the rich, in nothing doth surpass.   
Thirdly, since we must all die, 
3. Use of Direction.  it behooves all of us, and every one of us, to meditate of Death, and to prepare ourselves for Death, even as he that is to take a journey, or to depart into some foreign coasts, thinks of it, contrives it, and fits and furnisheth himself for it: especially if he be upon going, and that his voyage must presently be undertaken. Thus the case stands with us, our long Voyage (called here our departing) must be undergone; it is unavoidable, undisspensable, for the matter; unlimited, uncertain, where, when, and how, for the manner; yet hastening and approaching, for the time: therefore it stands us in hand to provide, we must bestir ourselves to prepare our viaticum.  
The fatal and imposed necessity of this departing we have manifested, and might further manifest the necessity of dying, 1. From God's Decree, which is immutable, Heb. 9.27. Esay 14.24. Mal. 3.6. 2. From man's sins deserving, Rom. 5.12. 3. From the change that GOD by Death will make in our bodies, Phil. 3.21. 1 Cor. 15.35. job 14.14. 4. That the godly may be rewarded, Esay 23.18. & Ch. 26. v. 19 and vengeance rendered on the wicked, Esay 24.8. 26.21. 5. Because we are form only of dust and clay, which cannot last, Gen. 3.19. job. 4.19. 6. From the nature of all flesh (yea, even of the long keeping Peacock) which will not keep for any long time from rotting and corrupting. 7. From the defect of radical moisture, job 8.11 Esay 7.10. All which are so strong inducements to warrant that we shall die, that in respect of the premises, man above all other creatures is said to be mortal, as both the Psalmist calls him, and Philosophy defines him. 
Homo est animal rationale, mortale.  An Epithet appropriated to him, above the rest of the creatures (though they die as well as he) to put him in mind of death, more than them, of which it seems he is forgetful. But a great many more Motives we have of our settled and serious preparation for this unwelcome guest, Death, from the consideration as of his forcible, so of his speedy entrance: which will not, nor cannot long be deferred nor delayed: for, as ravening Time, this old devouring Saturn, hath already swallowed down all former ages; so he comes with as swift a foot to devour us, and all the earth's children in his gurmundizing jaws. Swiftly indeed, for as an Arrow out of a Bow, as a ship on the Sea, as a Bird in the Air; nay, as our thoughts, so swift is our time: and how ever we run on in sin, yet every day runs on with us to our graves, marching vehemently with jehu; our life sliding away, whether we eat, drink, walk, or talk, like the Ship that sails, how ever the Passengers perceive not: nay, 
Sen. Epist. 24.  Tune quoque cum crescimus, vita decrescit; even when we grow and increase, than our life doth decrease. Yea, so mortal are we, and so momentany our life, that even whilst we live we may be said to be dead, not only potentially dead, (as he that is poisoned, or the thief condemned, is said to be but a dead man) though the one be yet wrestling for life, and the other unexecuted; because the one is potentially, the other civilly dead in Law, even so we are dead in Law, as Adam and Eve were, because we have sinned like them, but we are for the greatest part even actually dead.  
For, let us take the life of man as it is divided into seven parts, Infancy, Childhood, Adolescency, Youth, Manhood, Old age, and the Decrepit old age. Now in these successive ages, what is the latter always save the death of the former, 
De 4. Novissimis. pag. 90.  as both Inchinus and Seneca have wittily noted? What is Childhood but the abolition and death of Infancy? what Adolescency but the death of Child hood? 

How inliving we die  
Nay are dead in part.   Youth of Adolescency; Manhood of Youth; Old age of Manhood; and Decrepit age of Old age, and of Decrepit age Death itself is the Death. Which truth though our eyes be blind to see, and our hearts dead to ponder, yet our tongues (like Caiaphas his prophesying against our wills) confess it. For I pray you, when an old man, or a man of middle years finds an unaptness and unableness in himself to perform that which in his youth he did and delighted to do, what is his phrase? Oh, saith he, that whirled is passed with me; intimating that he is dead and departed from the world, in respect of that age.  
Oh then how had even the very Child need to prepare for his final departure, since one part of his life is dead already, his Infancy? how the youthful Ephebus, that hath two parts dead, and but five at furthest to live? how the youth, that hath three parts dead in him, and but four to live? how the lusty man that hath four parts of time spent certainly, and hath but three parts to live and those uncertain: how the old man chiefly, that hath acted five parts of his life already, and hath but two to act, uncertain, by reason of his faltering tongue, and dried brain, whether he can act these or no, before Death strike him non plus? But chiefly the Decrepit gray-headed man, who is dead six times, and now hath but one age upon his weak and wearied back, about to rest him in his grave? How should these premeditations excite our preparations? that as we are compared to fruit in the Scripture, being called the fruit of the womb, the fruit of the loins, etc. so betimes to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance, ere we fall, like mellow fruit, from the tree of life: If we have passed some ages we are dead to those, even as in fruit, the flower is the death of the bud, and the fruit is the death of the flower. Therefore let us be fruitful in doing good, ere we be plucked away, and be no more.  
Oh how soon fruit perisheth? How soon doth it ripen, how soon rot? How do the Worms that breed of it, and in it, consume it? The North and East wind blasts it: the Mill dew infects it, Caterpillars spoil it: now by violence it is plucked from the tree; now rotten-ripe it falls and so festers. So it is with all the seed of man, the fruit of woman, we have all one manner of grafting, and of growing, but a thousand different ways of decreasing and decaying: 
Omnibus est eadem laethi via, no● tamen unus  
Est vitae cunctis, exitijque modus.  
All have one way to life, one way to death;  
Yet many ways doth stint our vital breath.   
More ways lead to the Sepulchre then to any Princely Palace, Molle patent adi●us, etc. Meander's Labyrinth had not so many windings as Death hath ways.  
Hos Bell●, hos aequora poscunt, etc.  
Wars, waters, fancies, frenzies, love, mad lust,  
Besides diseases do dissolve our dust.  
As Seneca and Silius once sung, as pithily as Poetically. 
By how many means we die.  Histories of all times, places, and persons, Sacred and human, consort and confirm this experienced truth. The old World we know was drowned; so was Pharaoh with his Egyptians. Sodom and Gomorrah, Ziglah, the two Captains and Companies of fifties, that came against Elias; Nadab and Abihu, Achan, and his family, burned. Herod eaten with worms: daniel's accusers devoured with Lions: the mocking children, with she Bears: the Philistines smit with Emerods': the Israelites cut off many thousands in the days of Moses and David by Plague and Pestilence. Bethlems' Children and the Sichemites, butchered by the Sword: jerusalem and Samaria, by the sword and Famine: Er and Onan, killed by the Divine power: Ananias and Saphira thrown down dead by an Apostolical Spirit: Simon Magus his neck broke by Peter's Prayers: julian killed with a Dart by the Prayers of the Church.  
If we would wade into Heathenish Stories, we might add to the Catalogue without number, such as have perished by water, as Hylas in his Colchos voyage, Orontes, Lucaspis, Palinurus, jearus, Laeander, Sapph, Menander, etc. whom Virgil and Ovid so oft mention. by fire, as Sardanapalus, Empedocles, in Aetna: Phaeton, Dido, in the Poet. Some destroyed by wild beasts, as many Martyrs in the Primitive persecution; as Satur●einus by a Bull, Ignarius, Policarpus, by a Lion; Felicitas, by Leopards; Milo the wrestler, by a Wolf; Ba●il●ns slain by a Hart; Hatto the Bishop of Mentz; eaten with Mice; lovely Adonis, cunning Dedalur, prophesying Idmon, torn in pieces by Boars. Some by Dogs as Euripides the Poet, dogged Diogenes, weeping Heraclitus, Philosophers; apostate Lucian, etc.  
How many have been strangled upon the Cross, not only Martyrs, as Andrew, Peter, 
divers examples of several sorts of deaths.  Gorgonius, Simeon the Son of Cleophas, Peter, Aulanus, etc. following their head Christ: but even many Kings as Polycrates, the Spartan Leonides, Sindualdus, Arnulphus, Hanno of Carthage, etc. Besides Malefactors, such as Helen the Grecian Whore, Daphitas, the Grammarian, etc. and such as have hanged themselves, as judas, Achitophel, Phillis, Erigone, Biblis. Some have been stoned to death by others, or shot with arrows, as Achilles by Paris, Procris by Shafalus, Acron by Romulus, Hyrene by Sisinnius; yea, a stone from a wall, as upon Abemelech, out of a sling, as David's against Goliath, or thrown with the hand, as that which Patroclus threw upon C●brion in the Trojan war (besides the fall of walls, such as that of the Tower of Shilo) hath been the death of many. I cannot reckon all the means of our mortality, Hoc opus, hic labour. So many Creatures as I contemplate; nay, so many things inanimate as I see, me thinks I see so many Actors in the Tragic fall of man. The Thunder in the heavens hath slain many in earth; if that which Virgil writes in the first, third, and sixth of his Aeneidos of Enceladus, and other Giants, slain by jupiter, Ajax by Pallas, Ovid of Typheus', Propertius of Semele, be a fiction: yet the report received of the death of Anastatius the Emperor, Zoroastres the Magician, 
Pliny.  Tullius Hostilius, by Thunder, and that which we have heard and seen in this kind, is Authentic: What heaps and havoc the Sword hath made in war, let these millions speak, that have perished not only in the wars, betwixt the Kings of Israel and judah, in which in one battle there sell fifty thousand betwixt Ahas and jeroboam, 
josephus lib. S. ant.  saith josephus: as also betwixt the judges and Kings of Israel, with their enemies, when Achab slew an hundred thousand Syrians, Gideon an hundred and twenty thousand Midianites. But even in th●se amongst Christians, when Charles Martill in one battle slew three hundred and fifty thousand Goths. In those amongst Pagans, Caesar bragging of an eleven hundred and ninety thousand that had fallen under his conduct: besides those in civil wars betwixt him and Pompey, Scylla and Marius, etc. besides those that fell in Tamberlaines Trophies over the Medes, Albans, Mesapotamians, Persians, Parthians, Armenians, Turks, etc. In Sicinius Conquests in forty five set battles: of Hannibal's over Cornelius Scipio, Sempronius, Flamminius, Aemillius, and Terentius, where there were slain at once forty Senators: of Alexander over Darius, slaughtering an eleven hundred: of Crassus, killing twelve hundred of Spartacus Army: Lucullus two thousand of Mithridates' Troops: Ptolemy fifty thousand of Demetrius' host. Others more in many main battles recorded by Sabellicus, Livy, Plutarch, Volateran, testify, how much human blood the sword hath effused; how many Tragedies poison hath acted, not only the sudden and frequent falls of so many Mitred Popes out of Peter's supposed usurped Seat, doth declare, but the dismal deaths of famous Emperors and Kings, as of Constantine the Son of Heraclius, Zimisces after one years reign, of Carolus Caluns', of Henry of Lucelburge, Lothar of France, Lodovicus Balbus, Dioclesian of Dalmatia, Lucullus, of whom Pliny: nay, of Alexander himself, 
Lib. 23. c. 3  with infinite others, who were as certainly poisoned as Socrates and Pope Victor.  
Nay, so easily is the thread of our life cut, so soon our web untwisted like Penelope's, or rather swept away with the Spiders, that even in our meats and drinks we may suspect, that Mors in ●lla, Death is in the pot: have we not the testimony of Sextus Aurelius, that ingurgitation of meat, and too much repletion not being concocted in the stomach, occasioned the deaths of Septimius, Se●erus, and Valentinian Emperors? Doth not Ignatius ascribe the fall of jovinian to the same cause, as also G●egory Turonensis imputes the sudden death of Childericus the Saxon, being found dead in his bed, to the same crudities and suffocations by intemperancy. The like censure gives Eusebius of Domitius Apher, that overcome of his meat, died at Supper. Neither doth Hermippus indite any thing for the death of Archisilaus but his excessive ingurgitating of Wine. As I myself once in Cambridge, saw a drunken dog in form of a man, vent out his soul, with disgorging his exonerated stomach.  
Neither are we only subjecteth to our dissolution by too much repletion, occasion of so many diseases; yea, of death itself, that plures gula quam gladio; the paunch destroys more than the sword: but the defect of meat and drink hath contracted the lives of many in all parts, and those no less mighty. Millions have tried woefully the massacres of famine in the siege of jerusalem and Samaria, Narriners by Sea, Cities in siege, Soldiers in the Camp, and the poor in dearth: yea, this hath been the cruelest death that Tyranny and jealousy could invent. Thus was Richard the second dispatched of his Countrymen: thus was Boniface the eight plagued by Philip: Boniface the sixth by one Cincius a Roman Citizen, Aristo the Poet by the Athenians: Earl Vgoline by his ungrateful Countrymen: thus were Orator, Fortunatus, Foelix, and Silinus Martyrs, pinched at Alexandria, and perished.  
Nay, so soon we are and are not, that God doth not only sometimes with his own stroke immediately from himself, cut us short; sometimes mediately by man, for, and in the midst of our lawless lusts, as Cosbie and Zimbri were slain of Phinees, Arcibiade● of Lysander, saith Plutarch, john the twelfth, by the Husband of a Whore, in the midst of their filth: (as it is reported by Tertullian, that Spensippus the Platonist: by Pontanus, that Beltrand Herrerius: by Paulus Diaconus, that Rodoald King of the Longobards: by Cornelius Tacitus, that Tigillinus the Ruler of the Watch: by Celius▪ that fair Phaon: by Pliny, lib. 7. that Cornelius Gallus, and Heterius, Roman Gentlemen: and by other Authors, that others have perished in their pollutions in the very venereous act:) but we perish sometimes even in, and by our lawful affections, even the overmuch opening and dilating of the heart in overioying, and the too much contracting of the same again by over-sorrowing, hath brought thousands to their graves without grey hairs.  
How many Authors have we to testify that which seems more incredible, that an overioying may presently deprive us for ever after enjoying any of the joys of life. What was the reason that Sophocles and Dionysius, both of them being victorious in the censure of the Critticques, for their exquisite Tragedies, died suddenly, saith Pliny, lib. 7. c. 37. even of an over-ioy, as Valerius and Volateran also think, how ever Lucian and Sotades alleged by Crinitus, think contrary? The like is reported of Chilo embracing his Son, crowned at the Olympic games: of a Roman woman at the safe return of her son, which she thought was slain in the wars at Canna: of Philippides, when his Laureate Poems were preferred: of Diagoras of Rhodes, when his three sons, saith Gellius, lib. 3. not. at. or his two sons, saith Tully, lib. 1. Tusc. were victorious in the public wrestlings: of Philemon, when he saw an Ass eat Figs prepared for the table: all who tell us, that even this affection of joy, with a sweet tickling (like that stinging of the Serpent Dipsas) may kill: much more may sorrow (as jacob confesseth, and judah intimateth in Genesis, hasten our heads to the grave, ere our hairs be very grey: Grief being to the heart (unless it be godly grief for sin, which never hurts but heals, 2 Cor. 7.10.) that the Moth is to the garment, the Caterpillar to the fruit, eating the heart (like Promethius his Vulture) bringing death as the Apostle also saith, 2 Cor. 7.10. But if these things be able to overcome this Microcosm, this little world of Man: if Fire, and Water, and Famine, and Fullness, and Thunder, and Stones, be able to sunder us from half ourselves (our bodies) as the furnace can the Metals; if all the Creatures, the lions paw, Boar's tusk, bulls horn; nay, the least of the Lords host, the Gnat, the Fly, the Louse, the Mouse be armed against us, as against Pharaoh and Hatto, be able to give us our parting-blow, to set us packing hence; nay, if our own affections be sufficient to infect us: how much more are we endamaged and endangered by diseases and sicknesses? to which as man is more subjecteth than any other Creature, as Galen and Hipocrates have observed, because he hath sinned more than they, which sin of his is the cause of all maladies in the outward man, Leuit. 26. Deut. 28. john 5.14. So there is not the least sickness or disease, but it hath conquered where it hath assailed. How many hath the Fever extinguished, men of fame, Emperors and Kings, as Antonius, Autipater, Vespasian, Leo, Go●fred, Tacitus, etc. Antony and Columbanus Monks, were forced by it, the one sort to leave their Crowns, the other their Cels. As others by other diseases, some by the Flux, as innumerable common Soldiers in several Camps; yea, trajan the Emperor, saith Platina: some by the Gout, as Septimius Severus, and justin the younger, etc. Some by unknown diseases running betwixt the flesh and the skin, as Heraclius, Michael Paphlago, etc. Some by Apoplexies, as Paul the second, Pope; Valentinian the Emperor, saith Diaconus; Lucius Ami. us verus, saith Aurelius; as also Francis Petrarke: Some by aches in their bones and sides, as Crassus the Orator, Boniface the ninth, as Gregory the cleaventh, by a pain in the belly: nay, what member is there in man▪ wherein Death rules not by the help of diseases▪ in the head, by Apoplexies; in the ears, by Worms; in the eyes by Inflammations; in the nose, by Flux of blood; in the mouth, by Cankers and Putrefaction; in the tongue, by Ulcers and tumors; in the brain, by Frenzies; in the temples, by Contusions; in the breast by Stops, and Impostumes; in the hands and feet, by the Gout; in the legs, by Swellings; in the belly, by Colics; in the reins, by stony and gravelly matter; in the arms, by dolour of the Arteries; nay, in the heart itself, by Fears, Palpitations, Convulsions, Dilatations, and Contractions, by variety of Passions. What shall I say more?  
mill modis lethimiseros mors una fatigat.  
This Tyrant Death by many a fatal dart,  
Doth wound and wreak each living mortal part.  
A fly is able to choke us, as it did Pope Adrian; a Pin, or a Needle, or a prick with a Knife to destroy v●, the fall from an horse to crush us, as it did Selenchus the Syrian, Lego the Frenchman, Earl Fulke, Nipheus, Leucagus, Remulus, Thymetes, Amicus in Virgil, Aeneid. 10. Agenor in ovid. The sting of a Serpent is sufficient to kill us, as it did Laocoon the Trojan, mad Orestes, desperate Cleopatra, Demetrius Ptolemy's Library keeper, with others. Yea, as our life is but a breath and a vapour, so the very smoke and vapour is sufficient to choke us, as it did Minos of Crect, Luctatius the Orator, Zoe the wife of Nicostratus, yea, Thurinus that sold smoke, saith Erasmus in his Adage, perished by smoke.  
If I should recite all the casualties incident unto this dying life of ours, and amplify out of Histories, how one hath been killed with the fall of a stone upon his pate, out of the claws of an Eagle, as Eschilus' the Poet: some by the fall of the house; others by the fall of their beds, as Eupolis the Poet: some by dust blown into their throats, as johanna wife to Andrew, Brother to the Sicilian King, and the like accidents. If I should but recite the multitudes that Gods hath swept away by the devouring Plague and destroying Pestilence, which I think since the beginning of the world, hath killed more than there be now in the world, or relate the late devastations that it hath made in Belgia, Italy, France, England and other places. Or if I should set down how many have died suddenly, even in their seeming health, as Fabius Maximus, Volcacius the Senator, Alaricus the Emperor; some in their journey, as Alphonsus of Spain; some doing the work of nature, as Arrius the Heretic▪ and Carbo the Roman; some in their superstitious Orisons and Devotions, as A. Pompey, and M. junencius, when they were sacrificing; some in sacking the Temples, as Gaudericus the Vandal; some in writing Letters, as Cardinal Orescence from the Council of Trent, and Terentius Corax; some in the first day of their investing to Honour, as Caninius the Consul; some in their mirths; some in their meats, as Manlius Torquatus, and Osilius the Actor; others in their Baths, as Sauseius the Scribe; besides these that daily experience adds in this kind, it would make the securest Soul meditate of his inevitable dying, and prepare his soul for her speedy departing; especially considering that Quid cuiquam contigit, id c●iuis, that which happens to any one, may happen to every one. All these recited examples of abbreviated life and approaching death, being glasses for us now surviving, wherein to see the face of our mortality; every man's grave showing us this Motto; hody mihi, cra● tibi; To day to me; to morrow to thee: Death being pictured on every Tomb to be seen with an understanding eye, in form of an Archer, now shooting over us, at our enemies; now short of us, at our acquaintance; now on the right hand, at our friends and blood; now on the left hand, on our Servants and attendants, with his bow bend, and his arrows drawn, and his aim taken at our own hearts; only staying till GOD bid him shoot; which how soon it will be GOD knows, 
Quis scit an adijciant, etc.  
Who of us all the sons of sorrow,  
Knows that his life shall last to morrow.  Nun fragiliores sumus, quam si v●trei essem●s? Are we not more brittle than glass, saith Seneca? nay, Vitrum etsi fragile, tamen seruatum diu durat, Epist. ●3. Glass if it be safely kept continues long; but all the diet and keeping in the world, though we should eat Pearls with Cleopatra, bathe daily in new milk with Poppea, fare daily deliciously with the rich Churl; consult with a Physician in every act we did; yet we could not long continue. All the means we can use will hardly draw out our life to that length that Birds and Beasts live; for Ousels, Eagles, Hearts, etc. that fulfil their hundreds, occasioned Theophrastus to complain of Nature as a stepdame to man, whose limits as David notes, are threescore years and ten (for the rest of his life is either a death or disease, 
Ipse senectu● morbus  in his decrepit days.) The patriarchs lived their nine hundreds and above, 
The long lives of the Patriackes.  as Adam and so Eve, their nine hundred and thirty, Seth nine hundred & twelve, Enos nine hundred and five, Caynan his son nine hundred and ten, Malalehel nine hundred sixty and two, jayred nine hundred sixty and five, Methusalem nine hundred sixty and nine, Noah nine hundred and five, etc. but we hardly attain to our ninety: but if a man live past ninety, to ninety and seven, or ninety and eight, with Livia and Perpenna; or to ninety and nine, with Statilia; if he pass his Climacterical of sixty and three, we count him an old man; but if he attain to his hundred (as did Valerius corvinus, and Metellus, Abbot Paconius, and Titus Paul's Scholar) we account him very aged: but if he exceed his hundred, as Heroditus writes of some of the Egyptians, and some of Masinissa the Numedian King, to an hundred and four, as did Hipocrates; or an hundred and five, with Xen●philus; or an hundred and seven, with Terentia; or an hundred and eight with Homer; or an hundred and ten, with Guarinus, and Helias the Abbot; or an hundred and twelve, with Cyrus a Bishop; but chiefly to an hundred and twenty, with Romualdus the Hermit, we admire and wonder at him, as much as former times wondered at their hermits. 
The shortness of our present days demonstrated.  And well we may, since our life seems to be but the Epitome and Compendium of former years: so short, so momentany, that as the Scripture compares it, to a flower, to grass, to smoke, to clay, to dust and chaff which the wind scatters, to a bubble, a blast, a breath, a vapour, a dream, a shadow, a weavers shuttle, and such fading things: so Antiquity hath called it a winged woman, fruitful of sins, yet swift. Ambrose saith it is like the glory of the world, 
In Lucam.  which the Tempter showed CHRIST in the twinkling of an eye; like the Vision which Esdras saw, vanishing in a moment, Esdras 1.8. like jerusalem's Temple, that was soon destroyed: for as one stone was not left upon another in that material Temple: so shortly, one bone will not be left upon another, in the temple of the best compacted body living, which (saith Inchinus) is nothing else but Carne●-glacies, fleshy Ice, or Icy flesh, soon thawed and dissolved; a clayey frame (saith Pontanus) standing on the pillars of a little breath, ready every day, it is so ruinous, to fall in manus Domini, into the Lords hands, of whom we have it as tenants at will. The largest limits of our Lease being but a day, for so David and Moses, when they play the holy Geometricians and Arithmetitians, in measuring and numbering their time, go not by years and months, but by days: yea, and to some it is but a short Winter's day; to the longest that lived, 
Aristot. de hist. animalium.  a Summer's day; in which he that hath the most prosperous Sunshine may be compared to those Flies that breed in the Sun near the River Hipanis, which appear in the Morn, are in their full strength at Noon, 
Homo Ephimeron.  and die at Night. Whence came the Proverb, Hominem esse Ephimeron, that man is a continuer for a day, beyond which determined day he cannot here abide. 
Four causes of the long continuation of things.   
Other things are continued long by extrinsical means, or intrinsical qualities within themselves: some by their extreme cold, as all sorts of Metals; some by their exceeding heat, as Pepper, Ginger, and the like; some by motion, as Water and Wine, that by motion are kept from putrefaction; some by continuation of the parts with the whole, as the Sea that corrupts not in the whole but in the parts, as may be seen and felt in the creeks in Essex that come from the Sea; but man being made mortal, and so having that Epithet more fitly appropriated to him then any other creature, neither by his natural composition can, nor in the wise God's disposition must continue long upon the earth, neither can any Physical means preserve him unless a Metaphysical power do uphold him, and cause him▪ to hold out to his old years as Simeon here did.  
Is Death so certain, and Life so short? 
Use. 4. Of Instruction.  then let us learn to bestow it well, so long as God lends it. Absalon after a long time knew not how to pacify and appease his Father, we have but a short time allotted to pacify and appease our displeased GOD, therefore let us speedily labour our reconciliation; let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling. As Abigall speedily met David and appeased his wrath, 1 Sam. 25. and as David speedily met the Lord by repentance after his numbering the people, 2 Sam. 24.10. and as Peter went out presently, and wept bitterly, after the denying his Master, Mat. 26. So let us who in the whole course of our life have as much displeased as we have dishonoured our GOD, instantly have recourse to the throne of grace, that the Lord may smell the sweet sacrifice of our broken hearts, ere wrath go from the Almighty to our destruction▪ Oh our days are few, and our sins many, we have been barren in good, fruitful in evil, plentiful in sinning, 
Our many sins are to be mourned for, and why.  penurious in sorrowing. If David's sins were more than the hairs of his head, ours are more than the sands in the Sea▪ and if he washed his couch with tears, we had need wash our souls with floods of waters, turning (like Niobe) into fountains, and like that old convert Pelagia, be Pelagus lachrymarum, a Sea of sorrow, as we have been unclean sinks of sin; nay, if we should now for ever shake hands with sin, and have no more commerce with the flesh and the world, but live retyredly, mortifiedly, piously, and penitently, as the old hermits pretended; and if we should live Noah's and N●stors years, and every day weep as much as Mary Magdalene did at her spiritual marriage with Christ, as much for ourselves as the Daughters of jerusalem did for Christ: nay, if we should weep out our eyes, like some penitents that Cassianus mentions, remembering with Ezekias our former vanities in the bitterness of our souls, it were not a sufficient recompense for our forepast rebellions, nor a satisfactory sacrifice for our former sins.  
But what shall we say to those that in this short life make a long and a continuated custom of sin, never redeeming the time, 
Use 5. Of Redargution.  or thinking of their few and evil days, or of the reckoning they must make when they are expired but passing their time in jollity, singing to the Tabret and the Harp; letting the reins lose to all licentiousness, making their bellies their God, planting here their Turkish Heaven of Wine and Women, wallowing like Swine in all lusts, like Sardanapalus amongst his wantoness, serving no other God than Mammon, or Goddesses than Venus; making Dogs and Horses, or such base Creatures, their beloved Idols? They think no more of death than the stiffnecked jews, that made a league with the grave, and a Covenant with Hell (such as some lazy Pastors make with their people,) that if these will never trouble them, they would never think of these.  
What is the estate of these that live merrily as they say, like Pope john, in corporeal and spiritual pollutions, like Pope joahn: these must try experimentally, what that cursed Pope once jested at Atheistically, that there are long pains in another life for these that misspend their golden days in graceless impurities and impieties in this short life: 
The profane man's practice.  these they both make this their short life shorter by their sins: both as every sin wastes the body as it wounds the soul, as also in that they provoke God to cut them off short, either by his own hand, as he did Absalon, Er, Onan, and the Sons of Heli, or else by the sword of the Magistrate. And they hasten and prolong their plagues and pains perpetual; They lead their lives in joy (saith job, Ch. 20.) and suddenly they go down to Hell: Oh they go like thieves laughing to the Gallows, and like traitors dancing to execution. Oh how suddenly is their candle put out!  

Exhortat.  Let me speak to such in the conclusion of this Use: in God's fear let them consider that this life is called a valley of tears; here therefore they must sow in tears, if they will reap in joy; they must have a wet seed-time, if they expect a blessed Harvest. Let them ponder what Christ saith, Blessed are they that mourn, Mat. 5. As also, Woe be to you that laugh: let them think what Christ did; wept oft, laughed never, his Prophets and Apostles seldom or never. Let them know further, that God calls to weeping and mourning, and baldness, and sackcloth, Esay 22. which call they have not yet answered: for behold, joy and exultation, upbraiding God, and braving his command, even to his face, with their hellish proverbs, as, Hang sorrow; Cast away care; As long lives the merry man as the sorry; Let us be merry, we know not how long we have to live; like the scoffing Atheists amongst the jews, Let us eat and drink, to morrow we shall die: Oh thou knowest not how long thou hast to live; therefore retort that temptation back again to Satan thus: 
How we must sow in tears in this short seede-●●me of life.  Therefore I will be sorry for my former sins; I will be (if at all) soberly and mortifiedly merry; therefore I will set my soul in order, and the house of my heart in order, like Ezekias, otherways I shall be worse than Achitophel that set his house in order ere ho hanged himself; To morrow it may be I shall die, therefore I will not eat and drink inordinately, lest I be taken away to hell, as was the rich Churl and Baltasser▪ in the midst of my cursed cates and drunken cups; I will not any more serve the Devil and my belly in chambering and wantonness, in surfeiting and drunkenness, but I will put on the Lord jesus Christ. It is now time that I should awake from the sleep of sin, ere I sleep in death; I will arise up that Christ may give me light. Oh alas, what fruit have I had in the unfruitful works of darkness, whereof I am now ashamed.  
Lastly, think with thyself how small cause thou hast of this thy irreligious profaneness, & carnal security, and besotting sensuality. Hath a traveler any cause to be merry when he is far out of his way, hath few friends, nothing to spend, stormy weather above his head, Pirates lying in wait to rob him, night approaching, and uncertain whether ever he get to his iournyes end? Thou art in this world a pilgrim and a stranger: Heaven is thy country, (from thence came thy soul) thou art out of the way that leads thither, thou art in the broad way to hell; thou hast few friends, God, Angels, Devils, Man, and the Creatures are against thee: thou hast little to spend, thy good Talents▪ and stock of Grace is already gone and spent, like the Prodigoes, on thy lusts, Luk● 15. thou hast no more means to help thyself, than the wounded man that traveled to jerico, that had not twopences: there is a storm over thy head, God's wrath hangs over thee in a cloud of vengeance: Pirates, the infernal Spirits, lie in wait for thy soul: the night of thy death is near: and thou art uncertain of salvation; nay, the word excludes thee and such as thou from apprehension of any comfort from that, since thou walkest in the shadow of death, in the way to damnation.  
Consider again what occasion of sports and merriments and sensual sollaces a man can have in prison, in cold irons. Did Manlius and R●gulus, and Musius Scae●ol● take delight in their, prisons and pressures? Now here thou art as it were in prison, like joseph in the stocks, like Manasses in fetters, and in tribulation: the world itself is but a prison in respect of heavens palace, and thou in this prison living in security, like the old Worldlings, art enthralled to thine own lusts, and so a slave to Satan who plots thy destruction, as Achitophel did David's. 
What use we are to make of our short time.  Therefore hear counsel and receive instruction, since thou art here in a strange Land, like Israel in Babel, sit down by the Rivers of water and weep, hang up thy haps and Instruments; use not carnal company that cause thy careless security and thy forgetfulness of God and thine own soul: remember whence thou art, where thou art, and whither thou art going; make that use of thy time that joseph did of the seven years of plenty; provide against famine; agree with thine adversary whilst thou art in the way▪ ere thou come before the judge, as Cat● counsels to do something in youth worth thy relation and remembrance in age: and as travelers use to perform some exploit in their travels worthy their thoughts and discourse when they come at home, so treasure up those graces in life which may stand thee in stead after life; provide against a rainy day; gather now honey from the flowers of virtuous actions, into the Hive of grace; work whilst it is day, ere the night come; do good to all whilst thou hast time, Gal. 6. wait at all times with job, until thy changing come, even as thou waitest for the times and seasons, in Winter for the Spring, in the Spring for Summer, in Summer for Autumn: thou canst not enjoy thy sins long, thou must leave them, or they thee violently; therefore break them off (as Daniel counseled Nabuchadnezzar) voluntarily by Repentance and Almsdeeds; get a certainty to thy soul; conclude something, like Ambassadors that go to foreign Courts, and have but a short abode allotted, that may make for thy eternal peace hereafter, when thou comest before thy Prince; make something certain here ere thou goest hence; in every thing thou undertakest thou lovest a certainty; if thou journey, thou wouldst rather go by Land then Sea, because more certain; dost thou purchase, thou wouldst make sure work of Lands or Tenements? dost thou walk on Ice, thou poysest every foot-step ere thou set thy foot, ere thou venture thy body? so in every thing thou wouldst be sure. Oh make sure work for thy soul, that as Ezekias prayed for peace and righteousness all his days, so there may be peace to thy soul after thy days. Oh make use of that precious time that is allotted thee; take it by the foretop, it is bald behind.  
Go to the Pismire thou sluggard: learn of the Beasts; the Ant sees it will not always be Summer, the Crane and stork think it will be another season, the Birds take the Spring prime to build their nests; store thou up faith, with her fruits, chiefly Repentance from dead works. Now begin, Ars longa, vita brevis, Life is short, but the Art of well living and well dying, which is the Art of Arts (even that which the best Master taught in the best Chair, Christ upon the Cross,) that is long: therefore Nulla dies sine linea, Every day learn some line; take out some lesson in this Art: sing not out thy time here with the foolish Grasshopper; loiter not with the idle men of Belial, lest thou incur Christ's check; play not the fat bellied Monk; and Epicurish Abbey-lubber, lest thou smart for it (as the 
* When the Abbeys were visited in king Henry the 8. time.  cloisterers once did in this Land) in the day of the Lords visitation. Learn to live the life of grace, that thy death may be gracious and precious in the sight of GOD, as one of his Saints, that so thou mayst die not only naturally, like a man, as thou must, but Christianly, like a Christian man, as thou oughtest: which that thou mayst the better do, as in other things thou contrivest how to do well, that which thou purposest to do; (as thou forecasts thy building, ere thou build; thy journey, ere thou travel,) So, oft remember how thou mayst die well, since thou must die; and that is by living well, whilst thou here runnest the short race of thy life.  
A good man like a good Tree, brings forth fruit tempore suo, in his due time and season: this Life time is, tempus tuum, thy time; Death is tempus suum, God's time: therefore begin to mend the ship of thy soul in the haven, in thy health, not in the tempest of sickness, not in the Sea of death. I end my counsel as I begun; this life is as short as sinful, therefore spend it well.  
Point. 2 Secondly, in that Simeon here desires his departing the nature of the word signifying a losing, 
Life is laborious & Miserable.  or an unyoaking, being a Metaphor taken from Oxen loosed out of the yoke, after labour; or from Prisoners set at liberty; may well and warrantably administer unto us the consideration of the nature of that life which we lead, to be as miserable as mortal, as laborious to the body as dolorous to the mind; as also it may open our eyes to see something more clearly into the nature of death, with his bounties and benefits, in that it is not only a curber of Sin, but a curer of Crosses, an unlooser from labours.  
For the first, that whether you call it a curse or a command, which was imposed on the first man, that in the sweat of his brows he should eat his bread, till he returned to his earth, from whence he came, Gen. 3.19. all man's seed since, in their several generations, have been exposed to. Do we not feel yet the smart of the forbidden fruit? Are not our teeth set on edge by it? Are not all things under the Sun full of labour? Are not the works of Grace, the works of Nature painful? the actions of the body, the actions of the mind, the operations of the soul and spirit laborious? Is it not a pain to pray, a pain to repent, a pain to study, to contemplate, to discuss, to discourse, to number, to divide? Is it not painful to write, to indite, to preach, to counsel, to exhort, to persuade, dissuade, urge, move? Let every knowing man and experienced spirit speak.  
Are not works manual and mechanical painful? (even as the Arts liberal are?) Is it not pain to plow, delve, dig, sow, mow, to work in Goal works, & Mettall-mines, in brick and clay, is an Egyptian bondage? Nay, is there not onus; as well as honour; a labour, as well as an honour in every Calling? Are not Princes, and superior Magistrates, Governors in houses, Colleges, and Corporations, (like the heavenly Bodies) as much in motion and labour, as in veneration? Virtues, vices, pleasures, profits, riches, poverty, wanton youth, covetous old age, all have their burdens? What callings without their crosses, from the Sceptre to the Sheephook? what sex without his sorrow?  

No place is privileged from four things.  Whither shall a man fly, 1. from Satan tempting; 2. from the vanity of his own heart; 3. from the bitings of venomous tongues; 4. and from the crosses of the world? I have oft thought, if there were any place in the four parts of the world, to avoid these four, thither to fly: but there it no Asilum, or Sanctuary from them, or any of them, under the Cope of Heaven. These always follow, as the shadow the body; and (like proud T●rquin in Rome) challenge a perpetual Dictatorship in the whole life of man. What day sets over our head without his evil, either of Sin or Punishment? Adam must eat his bread in his brows sweat; Cunctis diebus, all his days, in heat and sweat, toiling and moiling; man must weary his body and weaken his spirits, till he keep his eternal Sabbath in Heaven.  
Bring me the man that hath not yet drunk of the common cup of human calamities incident to life, and I shall more admire him, than the Grecians did Achilles that could not be wounded. I never read of any but Polycrates, who was thought to be without the gun-shot of Fortune, by the deluded Heathens; yet his death was as dolorous as his life prosperous. I am sure, mitred Popes, crowned Kings, invested Emperors, triumphant Conquerors have seen the turning of Sesostris wheel, and have experienced so many miseries that they have cried out, some of them, Miserum est fuisse foelicem, it is a misery to have been happy: others, solus vives, Vacia; that the private life of Vacia the Roman was far safer than their public, guilded, guileful pomp: others, with Cyrus and Augustus, have thought the Regal Crown not worth stooping for: others, have left voluntarily their Courts and Palaces for secure and penitent Cels.  
If we had no more examples of the miseries of greatness, either by birth, blood, 
Examples of human calamities.  command, or desert, then in Nabuchadnezzers' dejection amongst Beasts, being one of the greatest of men; in Manasses his imprisonment; in Sampsons' grinding in the Mill; in Agag hewed in pieces; in Adonizebecks eating crumbs, like a Dog, under his enemy's Table; in Alexander poisoned, and left unburied; in Caesar stabbed by his pretended friends; in Bellizarius, a blind Beggar, after his Conquests; in Baiazet's Iron Cage; in Socrates and Seneca's poisoning; in Cleopatra's, Iezabel's, Agrippina's, and other infamously famous Queens and Queans, perishing, to omit all the rest in this kind, it might verify the Paradox, that Humana vita non est vita, sed calamitas, Man's life is no life: Vita vix vitalis, an imaginary life, and a real calamity; in which ann● paves, aeru●●nae multae, the years are few, the griefs many: yea, so many, so manifold, so constant, so continuated by successive crosses, which follow one another (like the waves of the sea) like the Messengers that came one after another, to job and David, to bring ill news of the death of their Children, every day having suam & malitiam, & militiam, his wrath and his warfare; that even the very child entering the lists into this military world, as soon as it comes from the mother, cries and weeps: the first note it sings is Lachrymae, taught only by provident Nature. The Males (saith a witty Popish Postiller) from Adam cry a; and the Females from Eve cry e, e; which put together make a Note of sorrow. Nondum loquitur, at tamen prophetat, (Augustine) Before it speaks, it prophesies, as though at the birth it had that prognosticating spirit, which Carden saith some men have at their death, as though it did see some evil present, foresee and fear more to come.  
I might go along (with Innocentius) in this subject, and show the several maladies and miseries incident to every several age, from Infancy to Decrepit old age: how like several Beasts we carry ourselves, till Death bring us to the Shambles: how pitifully Childhood wallows like a little Pig, in dirty places; and like Ducks and Geese, swattles and dabbles in wet and filth? How Youth is a lascivious Goat; Adolescency, an untaimed Heiffer; Manhood, a stern Lion; Old age a sluggish Ass, that only bears a more precious thing than Isis, even that which bears it, an immortal soul.  
I might anatomize man further in all his parts and weakened powers, showing the several diseases that cease upon every member, where they challenge their seats and thrones. I might enlarge the crosses incident to every Function and Vocation: but referring you to the Fathers, chiefly Bernard and Fulgentius, 
De conditione vitae humanae. De contemptu mundi.  and to zealous Papists, chiefly Innocentius and Stella, besides him that in English hath writ the miseries of man's life, leaving you to their vintage, I only rest with the taste of these Clusters, which we now further press forth by use.  
Is it so that this life which we live is so laborious (as the world wherein we live is wicked? 
Use 1. Of Instruction. ) then the less good that we find in the life natural, we must labour to counterpoise it, by purchasing the life spiritual: the more discontent we find in the life of Nature, the more comfort and content we must seek and search for, in the life of Grace, which like Elishaes' salt cast into jordan, seasons all the maladies of life. Now, if thou wouldst live the life of Grace, and have peace and joy, even by a dry passage as it were in the red Sea of this World, then do those things that concern thy peace.  

Twelve means of true peace.  First, abstain from sin: for where it reigns there is no life of Grace. Sin quencheth Grace, as water fire: Sin will kindle a fire within thy soul, to burn with secret flames; for, the wicked are like the raging Sea.  
Secondly, as one of Christ's true Disciples, subject thy will and soul to Christ: it is his promise, thou shalt have peace in him, and he will send thee the Comforter.  
Thirdly, frequently confess thy sins to God, more balm of inward joy, thou shalt have from the chief Physician, the more thou dost lay open the ulcers of thy sick and wounded soul.  
Fourthly, use frequent and fervent prayer, shut thy Chamber-dore, play not the Pharisaical hypocrite, and Christ shall enter in and say Peace be to thee, as he did to the Disciples.  
Fiftly, keep the Lords day strictly, neither doing thine own works and will, nor Satan's, nor speaking thine own words nor his, but God's word and will in public and private duties: this brings much familiarity with God, and hath the answer of many hidden joys from his Spirit: It is a spiritual rest to every Christian, as it was promised a rest to the Israelites.  
Sixtly, read and meditate in ●he Word of GOD: They shall have much peace that delight in thy Law, saith the Psalmist.  
seventhly, suffer injuries patiently; sustain and abstain, and thou shalt feel within thine own heart God taking thy part: for, Qui patitur est victor, etc. He that suffers overcomes himself, the world, his enemies, and is Christ's friend.  
Eightly, contemn earthly vanities, they divide and distract the heart.  
Ninthly, be employed in a Calling: the idle are tossed with a multitude of foolish fancies and fond desires.  
Tenthly, be meek, so shalt thou enjoy the earth with joy. Mat. 5.  
Eleaventhly, get an humbled and a contrite heart, that is the seat of Grace, and throne of God. Esay 57.15.  
Twelfthly, do righteousness, the fruit whereof is peace and joy. These things belong to thy peace, which if thou practise, thy light shall shine to the dark world, and thou shalt have a lightsome Goshen in the life of Grace, even in the darksome Egypt of this wretched world.  

Use 2. Of Redargution.  Secondly, is life so laborious? are our days so dolorous? Then these come within the compass of a just Redargution, that are so drenched and drowned in the things of this life, so besotted and bewitched with the painted beauties of this earthly jezabel, the World, that they can neither spirare nor sp●nare coelestia, that they have as small hopes as they use small helps for Heaven in a better life, but setting up here their rests, & stinting their aims at earth, they desire (as Peter upon the Mount) to build tabernacles here in this vail below, never caring for that building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5.1. Alas, let such know that in their aery hopes they feed but on the wind, with the Chameleon: they embrace but a cloud, with Ixion, in stead of juno: they touch Sodomes' Apples, and are deluded with beautifull-dust: they embrace shadows for substances, and place their desires upon such obiects● as are unworthy of an immortal soul and a heavenly inspired spirit.  

The vanity of life with all the things in life truly discovered.  For, I pray you; what is life itself, yea, long life, which they so dote upon and long after, but a most irksome and tedious pilgrimage, environed with infinite perils, and upon most light occasions lost? or what is any thing in life worthy our liking and affections? What is the body itself which we so pamper, but coagulated dust, guilded over in the out covering with colours, and set up with the props of proportion; the slave of the mind, and prison of the soul: sperma fetidum, cibus vermium, man's excrement, worms nutriment? What is the Beauty of the body but a well coloured skin, far inferior to the beauties of the Sun and Moon, these heavenly bodies? Besides, if we could see within, we should see a filthy Golgotha, and rotten dunghill.  
What is Strength when Samson is bound by a woman; since the greatest things and most worthy of a man are effected by the sinews of wit, not by the strength of sinews? are not both Strength and Beauty the flowers of the body, which one blast of a Fever will deface and shake all to fitters? What are the Pleasures of the body but (like the body itself) sensual, sinful, pecudine and vile; Diseases being the Usury that Pleasures pay, and perpetual Sorrow the bond; as the Poets feign of jupiter, that he joined Pleasure and Sorrow together in an Adamantine Chain, when he could not agree them in a difference that they brought before him. Besides, are not these corporal Pleasures enjoyed of the Beasts more than of man, more strongly, vehemently and longer? Are they not the works of darkness, and used in the dark? is any man so impudent that dare use them publicly for shame? Are not distempers, diseases, distractions discredit to our good name, loss of substance to our estate (when they devour their Idolatrous users of them, as Acte●n● Dogs did their Master) fruitless repentance to the mind, dullness of wit, corrupting of the heart, darkening the understanding, decaying the Souls Intellectual powers; Impatiency of a man's self, hatred of all virtues, inclination to all vices, their bad fruits and base effects? Are not nominie, ignobility, imprisonment, deformity, sickness, imbecility, blockishness, and Stupidity, their Pages and Attendants?  
For Riches (the vulgars' God) what are they but the long expenses and provisions for a short journey, oppressing the bearers▪ heavy burdens to sink the Ship of the Soul? For, Gold and Silver▪ the Helena that the world doakes on, the Lais that most are enamoured upon (as the beasts upon the Panther's skin, for his seeming lustre) what are they but red and white dust, the base excrements of the earth, blown away with the wind of every casualty? Pearls and precious Stones what are they but the spoil of Fishes, good only in the estimation of the Lapidary, and in their owner's imagination, no● in their own nature, nor in any helpful effects?  
Nobility, what is it but an opinion, or lot of birth, being our Ancestors not ours, also oft wrongfully acquired by oppression and cruelty?  
Glory, what is it but a puff of wind, the vain inflation of the earth, uncertain, momentany, oft wicked, like his father the multitude, who this day have Hosanna for a man; to morrow, Crucify him: that in one hour will make one more than man, and then a murderer, as they did Christ and Paul?  
Power, and a Kingdom, are but a spacious molestation; Pulchrum malum, a beautiful evil, a guilded poison, a Crown adorned with counterfeit gems, a sea of evils? Honour (if it come not from Virtue) a frivolous and perverse conceit? Dignity, if desert beget it not, what is it but the bastard of an uncertain father, oft acquired by suit, craft, fraud, ambition, sinister means and wicked Arts?  
Lastly, to draw together the sails of our speech; in one word, what is the World, with all her jezabels' paint and peacocks plumes, with which she deludes her lovers? What is Life, and the best things in life, with which her Amorettoes and Idolatrous Adorers are so delighted? hath not Solomon by a divinely inspired spirit, given in his unpartial and infallible verdict, as one that knew most in this kind of all mere men, Vanity of vanities, and all is but vanity, saith the Preacher. And as there is little good in life to be loved, so there is nothing but evil in this life; 
Maelum culpae, malum p●n●.  either in it own nature, as is the evil of sin; or penal, the fruit of sin: either crosses, such as the godly try; or curses, such as the wicked feel. The due meditation whereof hath caused many zealous spirits, Augustine, Ambrose, Chrysostome; Bernard, Fulgentius, as also Pontanus and Stella, with many more, to write several Tractates, which I think (as the Spider draws her web) they drew from themselves, and from the feeling of their own hearts, concerning the contempt of the world, and the not loving this life: 
unicuique sua cupiditas est tempestas.  some comparing it to a Sea, in which every man's turbulent desires are a tempest: some to a dark and dangerous Wood, wherein are many wild Beasts, Bulls of Basan, devouring Wolves, Herodian Foxes, poisoning Basilisks, 
The world anatomised by sundry Similes.  fiery Dragons: for, the Scripture gives the true moral of Pythagoras and Ovid's fictions in their Transmutations, men in shape are beasts in conditions, Tit. 2.12. Esay 1.4. etc. Some to a Net, that is spread for all, but catcheth and retains only foolish fishes. Others say it is an ungrateful Host, that entertains and retains, yet pills and spoils all that trust it, still dislodging, dismissing, forsaking, forgetting his old Guests, to retain new. Some say, it is like the darksome Egypt, wherein is plague upon plague, at last devastation to all that are not the true Israel of God. Some compare it to the Firmament in continual motion. Some to a solitary Desert, wherein is the roaring Lion, the Devil; the Scorpion and Dipsas, the old Serpent, wicked Spirits, thieves, Thorns of sins, and barrenness of grace. Some unto the Night: First, because of the blindness and ignorance that is in it: Secondly, the drowsy and secure sleep of sin: thirdly, the wild beasts of the night, Heretics, Schismatics, etc. Boars of the Forest, Foxes that spoil the Vines; the night, the time of foraging, in which also the enemy sows tars of sins and Heresies, the one to corrupt the good Wheat of Sanctification in the heart, the other of Illumination of the brain. Others, with holy job, make it a place of warfare and combat, wherein we are to fight with several enemies of sundry natures, as David did, with a Lion, with a Bear, and with Goliath: some being within us, crafty Sinon's, our own lusts; some without us, like armed Philistines, the lust of the world; some above us, Satan in the Air; some on the right hand, some on the left, as prosperity and adversity; some before us, as the forbidden fruit of Sin; some behind us, the barking mouths and biting tongues of malevolent men. Some to a prison, wherein though it feed the body, yet it fetters the soul, like that wherein joseph had favour, yet he was kept fast. Lastly, Fulgentius compares it to a fair Amazon Maid, with these Mottoes writ upon her head, I have wit and policy: upon her brows, I have comeliness and beauty: upon her breast, Here is strength and agility: on her right hand, Here are riches and prosperity: yet under her feet, Haec omnia vanitas, All these are but vanity: and so let us account them. Love not the world▪ much less the lusts of it, concupiscence of the flesh, of the eye, and pride of life. Imitate CHRIST thy head, he despised the pride and pomp of it, in refusing a Kingdom, in washing his Disciples feet, john 13. in preaching & practising humility, Mat. 11. in sustaining temptations and trials, Mat. 4. in assuming our flesh, in choosing his fishing Disciples, in dying upon the Cross: he crossed the covetousness of it, by possessing nothing▪ not so much as Foxes and Birds; in commending the godly poor, Mat. 5. in dying naked upon the Cross, he crossed the lusts of it, in his innocent and spotless chastity, in being borne also of a chaste Virgin: so thou▪ if thou be a right Christian after him, if one of his Church, despise these terrestrial things, seek for celestial, Col. 4.1.2.3. etc. tromple the Moon, these momentany things under thy feet: use the world as though thou used it not▪ look at it and the things of it, as at a Lion in a grate, subject not thyself to it, be not the slave of it, come not within the reach of it, it will tear thee, and (as the Panther and Hyena deal with Beasts) by fawning devour thee: look at it therefore, and like it, as a Pilgrim▪ a strange Country, as a traveler his Inn, only to lodge in it for a few days or nights: always be in readidesse with old S●meon to depart as the Israelites were ready in a trice to depart out of Egypt: love this life so, that thou wilt willingly lay it down, as thou puttest off thy garments when thou goest to bed, when GOD calls thee to sleep in thy grave.  
Thirdly, both from these premises, 
3 Use.  we may gather an use of Instruction; as also from the Text, we may ground a doctrinal observation, concerning the nature of death, comfortable to the godly, to whom all things; yea, death itself happens for the best, 
Rom. 8.  chiefly if they groan under the Cross: for, if life be so burdensome, death must needs be beneficial that unlooseth our yoke, and takes the burden from our weakened nature's wearied shoulders. 
The benefits of death to a Christian under the cross.  Therefore death comes to the good man, to the crossed Christian, as Moses to the Israelites in Egypt, to deliver him: it comes to the godly, as Pharaohs Daughter to M●sos fluctuate on the waters, as the Ark to Noah, as Obediah to the persecuted Prophets, to preserve them; as the Angel to Lot in Sodom, as Abraham to Lot in captivity, as David to his captive Wives, to rescue them; as the Angel to Peter in Prison to set them free; as the Angel to CHRIST in his Agony; as jonathan to David, to comfort them in extremity; as Joseph's Chariots to old jacob, to rejoice them; nay, as God's Chariot to Elias, to carry them into the place of joy; as the Angels to Lazarus, to carry them into Abraham's bosom. What shall I say more? as jonas his Gourd to cool jonas in his excessive heat; like Saul to those of Mount Gilead, to help them in time of distress; like the year of jubilee to the Bond man; like the long looked for husband to a loving wife; like news from a far Country like meat to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty; like a messenger from GOD, with this message, Affl●xite, non-affli●am amplius, I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more, as God said in effect to Abraham, faith Augustine: 
Aug.  thou hast had tentationem fides, the trial of thy Faith, now receive benidictionem pro fide, a blessing for thy Faith; blessing us, as the Angel did jacob, after we have wrestled with the world's woes. Therefore the godly dead, as the Latin bears it (as is well observed) are not so much said to be dead as delivered, as removed, as redeemed from the world's warfare: 
Mortui, i● est emeriti, quia rude dona●t, & absoluti à militia.  Therefore Plutarch calls death Malorum remedium, & portus humani● calamitatibus, evils reliever, and calamities calmer: vitae ianua, saith Bernard, & perpetuae securitatis ingressui, the gate of life, and ingress to a sempiternal security: the only Physician that asks no fees (not so much as thanks) and yet cures all cares inward, all diseases outward, better than Homer's Moli, than the Balm of Gilead, or that marvelous Linguists Mithridate: yea, it cures all.  
Dat cunctis legem, recipit cum paupere Regem. 
De con●o. ad Apol.   
It spareth none, and yet be friends even Kings,  
And cures the cares of poor mean underlings;  
And therefore God oft-times, as our Proverb is, takes them away soonest whom he loves best: as many Parents know, that oft-times lose their Joseph's, even that child, whom (by the appearance of graces in them) God and they love the best, the rest being left them, whom they do not so deservedly love. Hence it is, that when there were but four in the world, Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, God took away Abel the best of them (for he permitted his death though Cain gave the stroke) and he suffered the worst of them to live still (saith Ambrose) as the greatest blessing to the one, 
Lib. de Cain & Abel.  and for a continuated plague and punishment to the other. Yea, Christ himself the spiritual Abel, whose blood speaks better things for us then Abel's, was cut down like a flower in the prime of his years, at the age of three and thirty, in the midst of his age, which he might have lived by nature, though he was beloved of his Father above all creatures, Angels and M●n. Lazarus was not a little loved of Christ as the jews noted, john 11. in his resuscitation, yet he died young; and though he wept when he raised him up again, to show his power, he wept (saith Granatensit) because he was reduced and brought back again to the miseries of life.  
Hence it is not altogether a Fiction in Herodotus (if his Works as they are 
* By Mr. Stephens in his World of wonders.  defended, are no Fables) that when the Father of Leobis and Biton entreated the Gods for the greatest blessing upon these his two Sons, in the morning they were found both dead in their beds. The like Boon was granted to Trophomius and Agamedes, that built the Delphic Temple to Apollo: the Moral at least of all which, and such like, is this, that to many a speedy death is better than a prolonged miserable life: 
Aug. de ciu. Dei. lib. 14. c. 25  nay, that we never begin truly to live till we die; justus non vivit, etc. The just man never lives as he would, till he come to that place where he cannot die. Therefore let the Meditation of these things comfort us in death, and encourage us against the terrors and fear of death.  
I confess (as we have already enlarged another point) that death is fearful to all flesh, both man and beast, 
Exhortat.  much more to a wicked man: stout stomachs have been aghast and turned cravens at his griefly face, even as all the Troops of Israel were affrighted when they saw Pharaoh behind them, and the red Sea before them, the two jaws of death, ready to swallow them. And surely even a resolved Christian cannot free his soul from reluctation when he looks only at the corruption of the flesh, the paleness of the face, the dissolution of the members, the obscureness of the grave, the lodge with worms, the solitariness of the sepulchre; and lastly, the dissipation and annihilation of every part: but when he considers again, Nature's course, God's Injunction, his disposing Providence, Christ's Passion, the bodies Resurrection, the freedom and exemption of the soul from her enclosing prison, the jubilee of the body from all bondage and servitude: Faith prevails and Fear flies.  
Even as those that come from a City to a Country Village, Tradesmen, or the like, 
Hom. de Divite & Lazaro.  when their business is well dispatched (saith Chrisostome) return into the City with joy again: so the Christian soul that comes from the new jerusalem, the heavenly City, to traffic here in the low Countries of this earth, by the Organs of the body, if it have well executed the duties of Piety, Charity, and Christianity, to GOD and man, may with joy return like a Ship Royal, loaden with precious Merchandise, from whence it came: for, such a man dies not, but departs.  

Death is only a departure out of life, not a final destroyer.  From whence we slide into the third point, briefly, concerning the Epithet which Simeon here gives to death; he calls it a Departure. From whence we may see partly into the nature of that which we call Death: it is only a Departure, a going, or transmigration from one place to another. Therefore when Abraham speaks of his barrenness, he useth this phrase, Ego vadam absque liberis, I depart this life, 
Hom. 36. in Genes.  or go away without Children. Chrysostome notes his phrase, and thereupon implies, Ecce justus ille ut philosophatur, etc. That Abraham doth truly in that word, going away, philosophize and dispute of death: which Basil, 
Hom. de Martyrio.  applying to the ancient Martyrs, calls Migratio quaedam ad meliora, etc. A migration to a better habitation: Philosophy calls it▪ The privation of all heat; 
Compar. aquae & ●gnis.  so Plutarch: or, Privatio vitae, the privation of life; so Sealiger, Exercit. 307. Sect. 23. All which titles and terms may still hearten the Christian to confront it in the very face courageously, according to Bernard's counsel, Volo mortem, 
Epist. 100LS.  si non effugere, etc. That since they cannot fly it, they should not fear it. justus mortem etsi non caue●, etc. since the just man is not cautelous to prevent it, let him not be too timorous to encounter it: nay, rather let him enter the lists (as the Persians went to battle) joyfully, and with a shout, since it is but a Bugbear, or a shadow without substance, a Serpent without a sting, a superficies, no positive thing of itself, but the corruption of the subject that God and Nature subjects unto it: at the worst to the worst, an Executioner of a Rebel; 
M●rs bona bonis, mal● malis.  good to the godly, a rewarder of a faithful Servant; Joseph's Chariot to bring good jacob from the Land of penury to the Land of plenty, Et qu● non ad meliora festinet? saith Cyprian in his Sermon upon death, Who will not hasten to exchange for the better?  
Lastly, me thinks, here is notably implied the immortality of the Soul; for, what is it which departs but the soul out of the body, which flies out when Death opens the door that held it in, like a Bird out of the Cage, living else where, in pleasure or in pain, in acts seperato, in a separated act: as also the Resurrection of the body may not unfitly be concluded; for, in a departure betwixt man and wife, friend and friend, there is a constant hope of meeting again: so these two friends which live and love together (like jonathan and David) the soul and body shall meet together at the Resurrection: both which points of Christianity as Simeon believed, and taught his Scholars, (being a great Rabbi and a Master in Israel,) so he seems to me, to allude here unto both, and to profess his faith in both.  

The body departing shall return again at the Resurrection.  To begin with the base part, the body, that it shall rise again; however it be a Mystery scoffed at (because unknown) of the jewish Saducees, scoffing Athenians, Brainsick Philosophers, stupid Stoics, hoggish Epicures, disputing Peripaticians: however denied by all the rabblement of these Heretical Valentinians, Simonians, Carpocratians, Cerdonians, Severians, Basilidians, Hierarchites, and all the Libertines: yet it was the faith of all the patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, from the first hour that by revelation of the Spirit, or by the Word, it was manifested to the Church of God: it was the faith of 
a Psal. 17.16 Psal. 49 15.  David, of 
b Dan. 12.2.  Daniel, of 
c Ezek. 37.10.  of Ezekiel, of 
d Esa. 26.19  Esay, 
e job 19.25.26.  job, 
f Act. 24.15 Acts 17.32  Paul, 
g john 11. Arguments to prove the Resurrection of the body.  Martha, john the Divine, of all the Saints, and so of Simeon.  
Let these Arguments confirm thine: first, Christ thy head is risen; he is the first fruits of them that sleep, and the pawn that thou shalt rise, being a member of his, 1 Cor. 15.20. where my flesh and blood is, there shall I be, (saith Cassiodorus) our joseph is in Egypt before us.  
Secondly, the redemption by Christ extends to thy body, as to thy soul▪ which body must rise again, else Christ's Passion were fruitless and forceless.  
Thirdly, the body, which (like Simeon and Levi) was brother here in sinning, with the soul, must in Gods equal remunerating justice, be raised, to suffer in an equal measure and proportion, as it hath sinned.  
Fourthly, God's promises which he hath signed with the finger of his Spirit▪ sealed with the blood of the Lamb, to the Elect, of peace and Immortality, cannot be of vigour and virtue unless their bodies rise.  
Fiftly, the inseparable union twixt Christ and his Church should be disjoined, if the body rise not.  
Sixtly, many absurdities would follow, which Paul adds 1 Cor. 15.14.15.16.17. whither I refer you, as that all preaching, professing, and practise of Christianity were else in vain.  
seventhly, if in other cases witnesses be to be believed, than those five hundred Brethren mentioned 1 Cor. 15.5.6.7.8. Cephas and the twelve, james and the Apostles, Mary Magdalene & Paul, that testify Christ's resurrection, by necessary consequence confirm ours, Rom. 8.13. which depends upon Christ's.  
Eightly, these that have been brought to life again after their departure, either by the Prophets, as the widow of Sarepta's Son, by Elias, 1 Kings 17.22. or the Shunamites Child, by Elizeus, 2 Kings 4.35. And the dead Soldier by touching Elisha's bones, 2 Kings 13.21. or by the Apostles, as Dorcas by Peter, Acts 3.40. Eutichus by Paul, Acts 20.10. or by Christ himself, as the widow of Naims' Son Luke 7.15. jairus Daughter, Mat. 9.29. Lazarus the brother of Martha and Mary, john 11.44. and those which appeared in the holy City, when Christ rose, and ascended up to heaven with him, 
Semi. de Passione.  (as Augustine thinks) are all Praeludia Resurrectionis, types and figures of our resurrection.  

Illustrations from nature, that our bodies shall rise.  Ninthly, we have many resemblances both in the great Book of Nature, and the little Book of Grace; in the word, and in the world; isaack's surviving in sacrificing, whom Abraham received in a figure, Heb. 11.19. Aaron's dry Rod that budded and blossomed, Numb. 17.8. Ezekiels' dry bones that came together, bone to bone, & flesh to flesh, Ezek. 37.8.9.10. jonas delivery out of the Whale's belly, are instances in the Word. In Nature: the Summer, living of Trees, Herbs, Plants, etc. yea, of Corn itself, 
1 Cor. 15.36 37.38.  in their seeming Winter's death, when their sap is in the rout: these beasts, as some Bears, and Mice, etc. which sleep all Winter, and seem to revive in the Spring: Swallows, Bats, Flies, Gnats, 
Pompon, Mela de situ orbis, lib. 3. c. 9  etc. which by the suns heat seem to revive out of their cold sown: the Arabian Phoenix, which by her selfe-burning, preserves the individuum of her kind: the Sea-Vrchin, that rejoins after her rending in pieces, after she tastes the salt water: Serpents that are renewed by casting their old skins; the Sea-Lobsters by casting their old shells; the Eagle by casting her old bill: Mechanical men that renew many things that are old; Image-makers that make again their brassy pictures by marring them; Bell founders that mend their mettall-worke by melting; the silk-worm, 
See the Book writ of the Silk worm.  that lives in the preservation of her kind, by enclosing herself in her Clue, and dying: nay, man himself, that in his generation receives life into his flesh, bones, sinews, and vital powers, from a little liquid seed; that in his preservation oft lives again, out of 'sounds, and ●●ances, seemingly deprived of breath and life; that in his augmentation, eating, and by natural heat concocting and digesting the dead flesh of Goats, Sheep, and Bullocks, makes them his own living flesh. All these speak unto my understanding, and confirm my Faith, that though Death swallow us that are now living (as the Whale did jonas) bind us (as the Philistines did Samson) lay us in our sepulchres, and roll a great stone upon us (as the jews did upon Christ) yet we shall come to shore again; break these bonds (as the bird the snare,) and we shall be delivered, we shall flourish like Noah's Olive tree, after we have been under the water: yea, these bodies of ours, subject to diseases, crushed, crazed, bruised, distempered, pained; the head, with Megrim; the lungs, with suffocations; the joints, with Gouts; the stronger parts themselves with shrinking in of the sinews: these bodies which have borne the burden of the day, 
Origen periarct. lib. 3.  shall once with the Angels sing Haleluiah; these bodies of ours, I say, shall rise, besides these mentioned, we have many grounds of it: as first, the will of God that will have it so, john 6.39.40. Secondly, the oath of God that it must needs be so, Heb. 6.13. Thirdly, we have double Hostage for it; 1 the souls of the Saints lodgers under the Altar, Reu. 6.9.10.11. 2. Their body's lodgers in the graves, as our pledges till all things be restored, when they and we shall be perfected together, Heb 11.40. Fourthly, the pawn of the Spirit within us, Rom. 8.11. All which, are so many nails in the Sanctuary to fasten our hope. Neither shall we only rise but rise the same bodies for substance, though altered for quality, to our further perfection. We shall come again (I say) the same bodies in which we have departed hence: the same bones, blood, arteries, skin, flesh, veins, sinews, parts, members, job 19.25. However, I cannot say in the same age: for, there shall be neither child nor old man, saith the Prophet; that is, 
Esa 65.20.  neither weakness of youth, nor infirmity of age, but all shall be flourishing and perfect, like Adam and Eve in their Creation, some say, from Ephes. 4 13.  
The consideration of our return after our departure, 
Use Of Consolalation.  and of our resuscitation at the general Resurrection, for before that time none are, or shall be glorified in their bodies, neither the Virgin Mary, whose Assumption is but a fiction, nor Enoch, nor Elias, nor the body of Lazarus, nor of those that rose with CHRIST Mat. 27.52. 
In his Sermon called The Christians Watch.  (as Mr. Leigh proves pithily against all Papists) It is a matter of singular comfort; it is the Anchor of our hope; the life of our Religion (wherein it differs from Paganism and turcism;) the hand that holds up our drooping souls in the Agonies of death; Fiducia Christiano●um, 
The Christians comfort in the Resurrection.  resurrectio mortuorum (saith Tertullian.) This made the ancient Martyrs go to the stake, and burning place, as we go to our beds; this is that redemption of our bodies, which Paul mentions, Rom. 8.23. the time of our refreshing, which Peter magnifies, Acts 3.19. the time of our jubilee and rejoicing, vyhich Esay foresees in the Spirit, and exulteth, Esay 26.19. when the hungry shall be satisfied, Mat. 5.6. when mourners shall be comforted, Mat. 5.4. when there shall be no more grief, nor sorrow, nor pain, when there shall be a year of jubilee, an end of our journey, an accomplishing of our warfare, a cessation from labour, a wiping away of tears, Reu. 17. verse 17. Chap. 21.4. a putting off this mortal, and a putting on of this immortal, 1 Cor. 15.42. A change of our vile bodies, that they may be like his glorious body, Phil. 3.22. Oh be glad of this ye Saints, rejoice and sing even as the little Birds are glad when Winter casts off her rugged mantle, and Summer brings his flowery Spring; as Beggars would be glad to put off their rags, and be clad with Regal Robes. Let these comfort themselves in hope of this change and renovation, whose bodies are subjecteth to infirmities, weaknesses and maladies: 
De ciu. dei lib. 22. c. 20  for, than it shall cast away (never to resume) all infirmities, impurities, deformities, tardities, saith Augustine.  
Asa shall not be gouty, nor Moses stammer, nor Mephibosheth lame, etc. let Cripples, Lazars, Beggars, Bedlams, lame Soldiers, Hospital men, Spitlers, and all other impotent, distressed, diseased persons, apprehend this comfort, being converted Christians and believers.  
Let all weak and wearied wights use this Meditation of the Resurrection, as Jacob's staff to rest and rely on, in their passage over this world's jordan; as the cliffs of the rocks to the Doves, and the stony rocks to the Coneys, to shelter them from the fear of death, the hunting Nimrod of the world: for, here is Medicamen●um vulneris, etc. a precious Cordial in all thy crosses, whether public or private, of body or mind: nay, Aqua vitae, to revive thee, when thou art dead sick, or sick to death, to know that the minute or the moment of thy afflictions here, shall be succeeded (nay exceeded) with an eternal weight of glory hereafter, at the resurrection of the just, 2 Cor. 4.17.18. Thus the godly, David, job, nay, Christ himself, the afflicted Primitive Christians, that under Antiochus were racked and tormented, solaced their souls in the midst of their anxeties, with this melodious Meditation of the Resurrection, Psal. 16.9. job 19.25. Acts 2.26. Heb. 11.35. Which only apprehension pulls off the vizard from Death, plucks off his Lion skin, exposeth him as an Hobgoblin, or mere scarecrow, to the godlies' dirisiou.  
Let Atheists and Epicures fear him, that have their portion in this life: let Infidels and unbelievers fear him, whose hopes of any better estate are languishing, and faint, and perish with their souls: let his name be as terrible to careless impenitent worldlings (as the name of Tamburlaine and Zisca once to Cowards) which like guilty felons, fear the face of the judge: but let those that have learned Christ better, and know in whom they have believed, entertain it as Cornelius did Peter, as the Galathians did Paul, as Peter did the Angel that brought him out of Prison, as that which makes the happiest exchange of a Mansion terrestial for a City celestial, a vail of tears for mount Zion, a region of death, for the land of the living, an earthly tabernacle for an house eternal in the Heavens, 2 Cor. 5.1. For, who is so improvident or imprudent, that desires to stay in an old smoky decayed Cottage, ready every day to fall on his head, when the Landlord offers to re-edify it and to make it better (since even Miso & Rats by Nature's instinct, fly from an house that is inclining to fall.) Now this clayey Cottage of thy body, which is upheld by the weak prop of breath and vapour, is every day declining; bless the providence of the World's great Architect, that when it falls, by resuscitation, will raise the frame and the fabric a thousand times both fairer and firmer than the first.  
Secondly, 
Use 2. Of Direction.  let the thought of the Resurrection be, as a consolation to thy heart, so a direction to thy life. Must body and soul meet together, and either be blessed together, or else for ever burn together after their departure? and doth their everlasting weal or woe, bliss or bane, depend upon thy good or evil life here? Oh then, 
Let us live holily to rise joyfully.  spin the short thread of thy abridged life well and worthily, that so it may tie a blessed peace to thy soul: run thy short race here well, that thou mayst obtain an eternal Crown hereafter: pass the time of thy dwelling here with fear: think as once S. Jerome that zealous spirit thought; Quoties commedo, etc. as oft as I eat, or drink, or walk, or talk, or rise up, or lie down, I always hear the Trump sounding▪ Surgite mortui, etc. Arise ye dead, and come to judgement. Think of dying and living again, of departing and returning, of reviving, and strict unpartial judging; which thoughts let them not perish like abortive fruit, but fix them by these effects.  
First, every day awake out of the sleep of some sin, ere the dark night of death come, now in this life's light that God lends thee.  
Secondly, let it be a spur to prick thee to all good, and gracious actions.  
Thirdly, a bridle to restrain thee from sin, both in the action and affection.  
Fourthly, let them be means to rouse thee from the bed of security, and to set thee on thy feet (as the Angel did Elias) in thy journey toward heaven.  
Fiftly, as water poured out, to cool the furnace of thy furious affections, even in thy youthful and burning blood.  
Sixtly, a Dial or watch to direct thee how to spend thy time well.  
seventhly, as a Fan to winnow thee from the chaff of sin.  
Eightly, as a wind to scatter and disperse thy inordinate passions,  
Ninthly▪ as pail or Park to keep thee within thy limits and bounds.  
Tenthly, as a Counsellor to redeem thy time.  
Lastly, a holy director (as if was to Paul himself) to cause thee in every thing to endeavour to keep a good conscience towards God and man, Acts 24.15.16.  

The immortal soul dies not but departs.  Thus we have seen that the body must return to take part with the soul after the dissolution: the same foundation will bear this truth, that the soul is dissolved, it dies not: for which cause Paul calls his death a dissolution, Phil. 1.23. it departs, it dies not: therefore Simeon calls death only a Departing; and in the mouth of these two witnesses it is evicted that the soul is immortal: Death kills not the soul, but only lets▪ it out as Noah's Dove was let out of the Ark, at a man is let out of prison and fetters: for, Plato calls the body, Ergastulum animae, the Prison of the Soul; as Luther calls it the Ass of the Soul; 
Sóman▪ i. Sémá.  and Erasmus, Sepulchrum animae, the sepulchre of the Soul. Now, death only breaks open this prison door, unties the fetters of the senses, unlooseth this Ass, rolls away the stone from this Sepulchre, le's out the soul, sends grave de●rsum, leave sursum, the gross body downward, the soaring soul upward: the soul is put here in saccis vilibus, in a base sack, as joseph put his golden Cup and silver treasure in Benjamins sack. Now, Death (like Joseph's Steward) opens the sack naturally, or rips it up violently, takes out the treasure untouched; if any thing perish the sack is unripped, the body destroyed; the soul is as safe as Joseph's silver: for, it cannot die, being unmateriall, and a form abiding in itself; which form cannot be taken away (like roundness or squareness from a Table) because it subsists not in the matter, but in itself.  
Secondly, the soul is impenetrable, insufferable, it suffers not of any external agent, from the fires heat, or airs coldness: it receives no hurt from the frozen Ice of Norway, or the scorching Sands of Africa, therefore receiving nothing whereby it should decay, it cannot corrupt, or mar, or die, since nothing in the whole world is contrary to it.  
Thirdly, man is desirous of immortality: Now, how could he desire it, and discuss of it? how should man so labour and seek for immortality, some by skill and policy, some by martial exploits, as Hercules, Thesus, etc. some by Sovereignty, as Alexander and Caesar; some by Books; nay, some by villainies, as the burners of Diana's Temple; unless man's soul were immortal? for, Ignoti nulla cupido.  
Fourthly, God by creation infusing it, or by infusing creating it, gave unto it in the first original the gift of immortality.  

Reason's proving the soul's immortality.  Fiftly, the rage of conscience in the wicked, their souls accusing them of secret sins, as Cain, and Nero, and Herod, of their murders; judas of his Treason, etc. their inward horror appearing by their pale faces, trembling joints, dejected looks, as was seen in Baltazzar and Felix, Dan. 5.6. Acts 24.25. their consciences, like Magistrates, commanding them to execute themselves, shows they are more than mortal.  
Sixtly, the effects of the soul, in numbering, dividing, discussing, discoursing, remembering, affecting knowledge, desire of blessedness, respect to glory, etc. show it immortal.  
seventhly, if the Soul were not immortal man should not resemble GOD, neither in Creation or Regeneration have any part or participation of the Image of God, or any revelations from God, or communications with the Spirit of God and our spirit.  
Eightly, else there should be no difference betwixt us and Beasts, whose souls are in their blood, Gen. 9.4.6.  
Ninthly, else there should be no use of judgement, of the day of doom, or of Christ's second coming.  
Tenthly, else were the godly of all men most miserable, if their hope were only in this life, 1 Cor. 15.19. the Sons of Belial whose portion is oft greater in this world, than the Lords own Saints (as David, job, jeremy, in their times have complained) should else be in better case than they.  
But since the Sun of this truth shines clearly in the Scriptures, why should I give any more Reasons, which are infinite, both in Philosophy and Divinity: so adding light to the Sun, and water to the Sea.  
First, is not the argument that our Saviour Christ used against the Sadduces, from Exod. 3.6. authentic against Atheism? God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and jacob, therefore the souls of Abraham, Isaac and jacob are living still though they be dead themselves.  
Secondly, was not Enoch translated that he should not see death? Gen. 5.24. Heb. 11.17. then enoch's soul still lives.  
Thirdly, had not daniel's prayer been an ignorant and frivolous wish, as some note, praying for Nabuchadnezzar, 
D. Willet his Hexapla in Da●i●lem.  Oh King live for ever, Dan. 2.4. If the life of his soul had not been the object of his wish?  
Fourthly, doth not Elias pray that the soul of his Hostess Child may return again into him? therefore it was not dead and extinct: (it is no matter where it was, it is as absurd to say that it was in Limbo puerorum, as Papists do, as that the soul of Lazarus and jairus Daughter was in Purgatory) suppose it were in heaven: 
Mat. 17.  it was living where ever it was, even as the souls of Moses and Elias were living and gave motion to their bodies being upon the Mount with Christ.  
Fiftly, Christ promiseth Paradise to the penitent Thief, Luke 23. the very day of his dissolution, of which he had livery and seizure, and present possession in his living soul, for his dead body hung all that day upon the Cross.  
Sixtly, Lazarus dying was carried into Abraham's bosom: what was carried? his Soul, Luke 16.22. as the wicked Angels fetched the soul of the secure Churl to Hell, Luke, 12. verse 20.  
seventhly, john saw the souls of those under the Altar, that were killed for the Word of Christ, Reu. 5.6.9.  
All which, with infinite more, being so many Arrows shot against Atheism, do evince that the soul is immortal, and that the spirits of the just, here with old Simeons', after their departure from the body, return to God that gave them, Eccles. 12.7. A truth that the very Heathen saw by the light of Nature, as appears by their Writings, by Antiochus his Epistle to Lisius, wherein he thinks his dead Father translated to the Gods, 2 Mach. 11. ver. 23. Plato in his Timeo. Tully in his Divinations, and in his Book of the sleep of Saeipio: Pythagoras and the pythagoreans: Thales Milesius, Hermes, Euripides in his Tragedies: Plutarch in his Consolatory Epistles: Seneca in his Book of immature death; yea, the Poets in their fictions of the Elysian fields, and the like, aim all at this, more like Christians at least Christian Philosophers and Poets, that the Heavens are aeterna animarum domicilia, the eternal mansions of good souls departed. 
Use 5. Of Consolation. Chris. What death is to the godly. lib. 2. de morte.   
Let us believe this by the light of the Word, which they saw by the poor spark of Nature; and let the thought of it still encourage thee (which is the Nail that I drive at in all this discourse) to look Death boldly in the face, since to the godly it is but Titulus sine re, a bare title without any subsisting; a bare name, a blank without a Seal: good (saith Bernard) to the good in regard of rest, better in regard of security, best of all as the way to life and immortality, being as Ambrose calls it, alleged by Pontanus, the birth day of thy eternity, the repairer of thy life's ruins, not abolishing but establishing thy best being. Therefore Summum nec m●t●●as diem, etc. Fear not thy last fate▪ rather desire it with Paul, because it is but thy dissolution; be thankful for it with Simeon, because it is but thy departure; wait for it with job, because it is thy changing; then fear it, or fret at it, with the natural and moral men of the world. For, why should that either fear thee or fret thee, that cannot hurt the best, the greatest part of thee? If the gold be saved, who regards the loss of a rotten purse? If the Pearls within be preserved, who cares for the breaking of an old chest? If the costly Merchandise and loading of the ship be safe, what Merchant respects the ruins of a rotten Barge? If the living souls be not endangered, nor the best of the stuff endamaged, we care not so much for the burning of an old house: we respect not the loss of the Cradle, if the child be safe: the mangling of the clothes, if the body be unwounded. Now, that which the Gold is to the Purse▪ the Pearls to the Ch●st, the Wares to the Ship, the good Wines to the Cask, the Honey to the Hive, the Housholder to the House, the Child to the Cradle, the Body to the Garments; that is the Soul to the Body as much more eminent and excellent as the thing contained exceeds the continent. If death do fetter the Body, and free the Soul, where is the loss? what is the cross?  
Secondly, 
Use 3. Of Redargution.  is the Soul immortal and the Body mortal? then execrable is the folly of the multitude; and lamentable is the dotage of all sorts from the highest to the lowest, that spend & misspend their years, days, strength, wit, wealth, and all their Talents, in pleasing, contenting, satisfying, and fulfilling the desires of the flesh, with the affections and lusts thereof; in decking, adorning, feeding and pampering this sluggish Ass, this rotten Carrion, the body, which perhaps shall take up his Inn in the earth to morrow, and be meat for worms; in the mean space neglecting and not regarding the soul, which is to live for ever.  
Oh how many millions of men and women to, even amongst common Christians, may be arraigned, accused and convicted of this folly and dottage (that in other things are politic Galli●'s and plotting Iezabel's) yet in this are witty fools, in preferring the Purse before the Gold, the Cask before the Wine, the Hive before the Honey, the Body before the Soul?  
How many spend years, and months, nay, all their precious time in hawking, hunting, whoring, carding, dicing, etc. in scraping and gathering yellow dust together, in doing works moral or sinful, their own works or the Devils? how many in doing nothing, or doing evil, or as good as nothing? How many women spend many days and hours, in tricking and trimming the painted sepulchres of their souls, I mean their bodies, in a Glass, who (never considering how the glass of their time runs) spend not a month in a year, a week in a month, a day in a week, an hour in a day, in the public or private worship of GOD, in looking into the Glass of God's word, prayer, meditation? etc. How many Citizens, and Countrymen, of all sorts, spend the whole six days in catering and purveying for the body, who grudge God his Sabbaths, for the provision of their souls? such men, either they think they have no souls, or that their souls shall die with their bodies like the beasts, living like Libertines and Epicures: as their faith is like the Saducees, which denied any Spirit or Resurrection, 
josephus antiq lib. 8 c. 2. & de bello jud. lib. 2. c. 7.  or soul's immortality, as josephus testifies of them. Oh we had need cry to such deluded frantic men, and tell them, that they have souls, and souls immortal, to reign with GOD, or to be plagued with the Devils, after their departing out of the body.   

His hoped Pacification. In these words, In peace:  
NOW follows the last part of this holy Hymn; Simeons' Qulet●s est, or his Pacification, God suffering him to depart in peace. Calvin and Bucer renders Simeons' mind thus; Nunc libenter, sedato & quieto animo moriar; Lord, now I depart willingly, with an appeased heart, and a settled soul, since I have seen thy Christ.  
From whence I gather, 
Doctrine.  that a good man that lives piously, always dies peaceably. It appears here in Simeon, so in the rest of the Saints; as in Abraham, to whom it was promised, Gen. 15.15. that he should go unto his Fathers in peace, 
Godly men always die in peace.  and should be buried in a good age: which promise was plenteously performed to Abraham, for he yielded the spirit, died in a good age, an old man, and of great years, Gen. 25.8. So Isaac, the Son of Promise, gave up the ghost, and died peaceably, being old and full of days, Gen. 35.29. Neither was the death of good jacob, that prevailing Israel, discrepant to his holy life; for he died quietly, making an end of his charge unto his Sons, he plucked up his feet into his bed, and gave up the ghost, Gen. 49.33. After the like manner was the death of chaste and merciful joseph, Gen. 50.26. of penitent and patient job, after he had seen his sons and his sons sons, even four generations, job 42.16. Of zealous and sincere David, 1 Kings 2. after he had counseled and charged his Son Solomon to walk in the ways and Statutes of the Almighty. 
Deut. 34.  Of Moses the faithful Servant of the Lord, who died when his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated, though he were an hundred and twenty years old, God himself being present at his death and burial. So joshuah that courageous Leader of Israel, Josh. 24.29. Aaron the Lords Priest, who died before the Lord in the Mount Hor, Numb. 20.28. Eleazar Aaron's Son. Josh. 24.33. Samuel the Lord's Prophet, 1 Sam. 25.1. with all the rest of God's Children, patriarchs, Prophets, judges, Kings, Martyrs, Confessors, the learned Lights of the Church, such as Ambrose, Augustine, etc. as they have lived holily, they have died happily: of which in their several Histories they have given demonstrations, most of them, if not all, in these three particulars.  
First, 
Three things demonstrate that the godly dye in peace.  that they were gathered to their Fathers in a mature and full age, full of years; reaped like a Rick of ripe Corn into the Lord's Barn, taken like mellow Apples from the Tree of life: in which full age Abraham, Isaac▪ jacob, joshuah, job, with the rest before mentioned: as also the patriarchs before the Flood, which outlived them, with others of the faithful, did blessedly yield their spirits, and quietly slept in the Lord; which blessing of long life being the promise annexed to that fifth Commandment of Obedience, is peculiarly incident to the godly rather than the wicked, whose sins (as the ivy kills the Oak) ordinarily abbreviate their days: or if any of the faithful die young, or in their middle age, before they have attained to the years of their Fathers, either by a natural dissolution, as josias; or by a violent death, as the ancient and modern Martyrs; either they are taken away from the evil to come, as Augustine was immediately before the siege of Hippo, by the Goths and Vandals: or else because they are ripened already in grace, and come to that maturity, which GOD, in his foreseeing wisdom knows they would or could attain to, and so are fitted for glory: or else they testify the truth here to others confirmation, God's glory, and their own consolation.  
Secondly, the Elect usually have their wishes, 
The godly oft have their desires before, at, and in their deaths.  and the fruition of their desires ere their departure, to the great satisfaction of their souls; the contentation of their hearts: the corroberation of their faith, and the sealing pledge of God's special love unto them: thus Simeon ere his death, had CHRIST in his arms, which was the desire and longing of his heart. So Abraham saw Christ's day before his death, in the spirit, and rejoiced: what did old Israel so long after in the whole world, (except the sight of Shiloh, the Messias in the flesh,) as to see his darling joseph? which longing of his the Lord satisfied at the full ere his death▪ for, his dying eyes did not only see Joseph's face, but his seed, Ephraim and Manasses, Gen. 48.11. What did Moses desire more than the fruition of Canaan, the promised Land? Now, even before the Lord shut his dying eyes, the Lord took him up into a mount, and as a relish and a taste of his favour, gave him a sight of Canaan, Deut. 34. ver. 1.4. In what could David's heart be more settled, then to see his Throne settled in Solomon his Son; which his desire was accordingly accomplished, for his eyes did see what his heart desired; for which he blessed God 1 Kings 1.48. And the like ordinarily falls out, as many aged Christians at this very day can bring in their experienced probatum est (as many that are fallen asleep before them could have testified) how the Lord hath heard their requests, and granted the desires of their souls, in these and these particulars before their deaths.  
Thirdly, the godly express the hidden joy, 
The last words of holy men are holy.  and inward peace which they find within their souls, by their seasoned and sanctified words of grace, which they breath out as a sweet Perfume, from holy hearts, to the refreshing of others, upon their sick beds, with which they usually wind up the thread of their life: words so good, so gracious, that they are worthy to be writ in Letters of Gold, and for ever to be remembered, as they are recorded in the sacred Cannon, and collected by holy men, from the Saints of latter times.  
For example, what a sweet gratulatory speech is this of Simeons', in his farewell to the world? Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace, etc. Every word having his weight and Emphasis. Ponder the last Sermons that Moses, and joshuah, and Samuel, these faithful Servants of the Lord made immediately before their deaths, unto the Israelites, God's chosen people: how zealously they persuade to the service of the true God, dissuade from Idolatry and false Gods; enumerate Gods special mercies, exhort to obedience, dehort from rebellion against God and their Superiors; proclaim the promises to the obedient, pronounce mercies to allure, denounce judgements to terrify the disobedient; blessing GOD by gratulatory Songs for his benefits, and blessing the people in their Tribes (Deut. 32. & ch. 33. Josh. 12. 1 Sam. 12.) and a man shall see the peace they had in their hearts, by the grace of their lips.  
The last words of jacob were blessings and prophecies. Of joseph, were admonitions and cautions: the one to his Sons, the other to his Brethren, 
See 1 Sam. 22. & 23.1  Gen. 49. Gen. 50. The last words of David were his charge to Solomon his Son, concerning God's worship, and the government of his Kingdom, 1 Kings 2. vers. 3.4.5.6. etc. The last words of Steven, the first Martyr after CHRIST, were prayers for his Persecutors, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, Acts 7.60. Last words revealed of the Thief on the Cross, 
Gregory.  that bonus Latro, good Thief, that so happily stole Paradise, were; Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom, Luke 23. The seven last words that Christ spoke upon the Cross, to the Daughters of jerusalem, to his virgin-Mother, to his beloved Disciple john, to God his Father, 
De Passione.  to the penitent Thief, as recorded by the Evangelists, explained by Ferus Nahumius and Guevarra: these, and all these of holy men in the sacred Cannon, 
Mons Cal●●riae.  and of Christ himself (as one speaks of Cyprians Epistles) referunt pectus ardore plenum; show their deaths were full of peace as their lives were full of grace.  
If I should instance in all the rest of this kind, and set down at large, 
What speeches the Saints have uttered in their deaths.  the gracious words, like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, that have proceeded out of the mouths of Saints, even when they lay upon their sick couches, drawing their last breath (testifying their faith in Christ, their hope of Heaven, their zeal for God's glory, their sorrow for sin, their sealed pardon.) Or when they were to be martyred, and sacrificed by fire, as they are collected and recorded by Ecclesiastical Authors, Eusebius, Nicephorus, 
Apotheg. morientium.  the tripartite History, the Centuries, Mr. Fox his martyrology, Grineus, Mr. Perkins, and others; to whom I refer you; It would easily appear that where the Premises are Grace in Life, the Conclusion will be Peace in Death.  
Let us chew the cud in the Meditation of some particulars. 
How to die well. Euseb lib. 3. cap. 30. Idem lib 4 c. 15.  The last words of Peter in his crucifying death were thus to his wife; O Coniux, memento Domini, Oh Wife remember the Lord jesus. Of Polycarpus, were praises and prayers. Of Cyprian, Salus mea, virtus mea Christus Dominus, Christ the Lord is my strength and my salvation. Of Ambrose, Nec pudet vivere, nec piget mori, etc. I neither am ashamed to live, nor grudge to die, because I have a good jesus both in life and death. Of Augustine, 
Paulin. in eius vita.  It is no great matter that wood and stones fall and ruin, or that mortal men die, using that sentence of David's Psalms; which also Mauritius the Emperor used, 

Possidon. in eius vita.  
Oswaldus M●conius de Zwingli●, anno 153●.   when he was slain by Phocas his Centurion: Just is the Lord, and righteous is his judgement. Zwinglius thus, when he was wounded in the wars mortally, Well go to, they may kill my body, my soul they cannot. Erasmus dying in the house of Jerome Strobenius, breathed out his soul, crying thus. Chare Deus, etc. Dear God, oh God my mercy, deliver me; make an end, oh Christ, and save me, Peter Martyr, saith Simler and Bullinger that were present at his departure, confessed his faith, acknowledged Christ his Saviour, expounded and applied Scriptures, exhorted his Brethren, and in his death was wholly divine. 
Obijt anno Christi. 1564.  So was Oecolampadius that burning Lamp in God's house, who supplied with the oil of grace, gave a wondrous light, even in his death, as appears by Grineus his Epistles to Fabritius Capito, and others. Luther's death resounds joyful praises for God's revelation of the truth unto him, and victory over the Romish Antichrist. Calvin (as Beza reports that heard him) with David's heart dies, not speaking, but sighing out David's Psalms. 
* See a little Book from the Martirologie gathered, called, The deaths of holy Martyrs.  Ridley, Latimer, Hooper, Saunders: with many more constant Professors, died desirous of the fire, saluting the Stake, professing their Faith, confirming their Brethren, and calling upon God.  
If I should ascend a little higher, 
How great men have lived and died good men.  and look into the sick Couches of Emperors, Kings, Queens, Dukes, Earls, Nobles; which, like those Bereans, Acts 17. were truly noble indeed, I should occasion you to magnify God's mercies, in calling some great ones, who by their works and words, as living so dying, testified that their Graces did equalize their Greatness. I might instance in Charles the fifth, in Theodosius the great, in Maximilian the second, in Stephen King of Poland, in Frederick the third, Prince Elector; in Ferdinand; in Queen Anne Bullen; in joahn Grace, the Duke of Suffolk's Daughter; with divers others. To omit the last words of Chrysostome dying in his exile, of devout Bernard, of Ignatius the Martyr, of these Belgic Lights, Philip Melancthon, Tremellius, Musculus, etc. with mamy more: some whereof thankfully recording the benefits they had received from God in life, spiritual and temporal; some, pouring, out their souls for the good of the Church; which they have bequeathed unto Christ; some discoursing of the vanities of this life of the fruits of sin, of the miseries of man; some rejoicing in the Spirit, for the mitigation of their pains, the consolations which they felt from the Spirit, their union with Christ, their happy passage into Paradise, their transmigration unto their Saviour; exulting at the joys of Heaven which then they have seen, as Moses saw Canaan, and in part tasted: nay, some as it were by a Prophetical Spirit, illuminating them as it did jacob and joseph, fore seeing and foretelling what should happen after their deaths; as john Husse and Jerome of Praige did, concerning the Papacy, have all of them, here with Simeon, departed in peace.  
And though some amongst the Heathens, as Cyrus, Caesar, Augustus, Titus, Tratan, Severus, Adrian, Pompey; as also some of their Philosophers and Poets, as Aratus, Socrates, Aristotle, Anacharsis, Antisthenes, Theophrastus, with others, have spoke, to admiration, concerning the necessity of dying, the miseries of life, the exprobration of Tyranny, the soul's immortality, the true God, which they called The thing of things, to whom they have called and committed their Children; as their Apothegms and speeches are recorded by Plutarch, Zenophon, Laertius, and others, yet they have come so far short of Christians, either in their civil acts and moral works living, or their words dying, that it is as easy to discern betwixt them, the strength of Nature, and the fruits of the Spirit, as betwixt conduit water and Aqua vitae by the taste.  
Now the Reasons why the godly depart in peace are these. 
Reason's why the godly depart in peace.   
First, the Promise of God, which must needs be acccomplished, that Peace shall come; that they shall rest in their beds every one that walketh before the Lord, Esay 57.2. which promise as it was verified in Enoch and Elias, that walked with GOD, so it shall be in all the faithful.  
Secondly, they have peace with God, with whom they are reconciled by Christ, which is their peace; and therefore they must needs have peace in God, going out of the world to God, who have had peace with God in the world, from whom they have been absent in the body.  
Thirdly, they have that peace of God in their own conscience, which passeth all understanding, Phil. 4. which setteth them in an assured persuasion of the love of God to them in his Christ, the Lord shining in their hearts with the beams of his Spirit, and the memory of all their well done deeds then reflexing upon their upright consciences, fill them even full of hidden joy, and inward peace.  
These Reasons might be amplified, 
Cavils removed that blemish the deaths of the Saints.  and many more added, but I hasten to the Uses, being only intercepted with some Objections of carnal reason, which must be removed.  
Object. 1. The first is this; Death is the wages of sin, Rom. 6.23. the curse of the Law, Gal. 3.10. the enemy of Christ and his childs, 1 Cor. 15. How then can it be good?  
A●s. I answer, the nature and property of death is altered by the death of CHRIST to the godly, to whom it is a short cut to heaven; it is only a curse to the reprobates, whom it sends to hell; even like the red Sea, that drowned only the Egyptians, but gave a passage unto God's people into the Land of Promise.  
Object. 2. Christ, Ezekias and David, prayed against death, therefore it brings no peace.  
Answ. We have showed the reasons of Ezekias and David's prayer before: the first wanting Issue to succeed him, the second being afflicted with an issue of sin, which was not healed, which caused for the time, both their doubts and fears: 
Mat. 26.39  for our Saviour Christ, he prayed not against death simply, for he died willingly (else his death could not have merited) he prayed for the removal of the cup of his Father's wrath, being the curse of death.  
Object. 3. The godly oft die suddenly, therefore not peaceably: for, sudden death is a judgement against which we pray.  
Answ. Death is not evil because it is sudden (for the last judgement shall come suddenly, and yet not evil) but it is evil to the unprepared, as to the wicked Mammonist, Luk. 12.20.21. Secondly, it is never sudden to the Christian in respect of preparation, either more or less, general or special; which preparation, if it be the shorter, God accepts in their intention, 
Heb. 11.17  as he did Abraham's sacrificing of Isaac, as he did David's in building him a Temple: if they have no more time then with the Thief on the Cross, to implore Christ to remember them; with the Publican to give one knock on their penitent breasts, with Peter to give one shriek unto Christ, crying, Help Master, who dare say but with that outcry they awaken Christ? If Moses and the believing Israelites had been cut off suddenly by Pharaohs Sword, or the surging waves, if Peter had sunk when he walked on the waters, if the Disciples had been lost when they were tossed in the tempest, if Paul had been drowned when he suffered shipwreck, we should have thought their deaths sudden in the execution; but who durst have censured them in respect of preparation? no more than we censure Mephibosheth that was slain in his bed, or Bethlems' Children, or those that perished in the French Parisian Massacre, by the devils means, & the Duke of Guise; or jonathan that was slain in Battle; or Abner that was killed by joab. Nay, I know none of judgement that dare censure the fowls of jobs Children, and of Lot's Wife, that were taken away in the act of seeming sins: 
Quest. ad Dulc. c. 24.  I think with Augustine that God respects not, quo modo, after what manner, as quales morimur, what manner of ones we die, in Christ, or out of Christ. We came not together hither, but like the Labourers in the Vineyard, some at one hour, some at another; so must we go forth, some sooner, some later.  
Object. 4. But some of the godly rave, rage, blaspheme, behave themselves like frantic men; nay, seem to despair.  
Answ. First, these are the effects of their Melancholy, or are to be imputed to burning Fevers, the Colic or other violent diseases, the fruits only of their infirmities, or at the most the temptations of Satan, which the devil must answer for, not they, being rather passive in these sins then active: and therefore they not arguing any want of love towards God, any deliberate purpose of sinning, but weakness of Nature, tenderness of conscience for sins committed, they hinder not their peace.  
Secondly, we see ordinarily, and I can speak it by certain experience, in the visiting of many, that these by God's mercy recovering again the use of Reason, they seriously repent of these infirmities, their faith appearing like the Sun from under the darkening cloud.  
Thirdly, these and all other unknown sins, are pardoned and buried in Christ's death, to these that are in Christ, Rom. 8.1.  
Fourthly, in the matter of salvation God oft works by contraries, and by the gates of Hell brings his Servants to Heaven. Therefore let us not play the arrogant Critics in condemning those that have lived well, either of Impiety or Hypocrisy, by their deaths. Let us look into their former courses of life and conversation: let us judge charitably and Christianly, as we would be judged in the like case.  
Object. 5. But God's Saints are at their deaths most of all molested, assaulted, and tempted by Satan; some in one nature▪ some in another, as was the good Mr. Knox, and Mris. Katherine Stubbs, and others. How then can they die in peace?  
Answ. Many of the godly (God tying and chaining up Satan) die, as here old Simeon, and others before recited, as a Torch or Firebrand, without sense of pain or trials, Esa. 57 vers. 1.2.  
Secondly, Exercentur in praelio, ut maiori remunerantur praemio, they are exercised in the last combat, that they may receive the more joyful Crown of conquest.  
Thirdly, by Faith, Prayer, and God's Word they resist Satan as Christ did, Mat. 4.4.7. and he, like a Crocodile, pursued, flies away, james 4.7. 1 Pet. 5.9. for, the godly, in that hour laying hold upon the promises, flying unto Christ, he managing their cause, the holy Spirit assisting, when Satan looks for the greatest victory, he receives the greatest foil.  
Object. 6. But some that go in the rank of the godly, have died of the Plague and Pestilence, 
Numb. 25. 2 Sam. 24.  which hath been usually sent as a judgement for the sins of disobedience, uncleanness, diffidence, etc. upon the Israelites and others, from which the godly are promised to be preserved, Psal. 9.10. How then die such in peace that die of the plague?  
Answ. First, that promise of preservation from the Plague in the Psalmist, is to be understood of those jews that in David's time were untouched with it.  
Secondly, than the Plague came by God's immediate hand, now by means.  
Thirdly, the godly are preserved from it, as it is a curse, but not as it is a fatherly correction: for, do we not think that many Christians in Corinth, died of the Plague, 1 Cor. 11.30.31? 
Vide pag. 30.38.45.54.92.36. Hinningi Grosijs.  In these great Plagues which Grosius hath mentioned in his Tragical Histories, which have swept away whole Countries, with these that have raged in particular Cities, as in Venice, in Florence, the year of our Lord▪ 400. in which thirty thousand: or in Constantinople, when Leo Isaurus ruled, wherein there died three hundred thousand Citizens (as both Volateran and Aegnatius testify,) shall we say that none of these died the Servants of God? Shall we censure Alphonsus the eleventh King of Spain, that good Ladovicke, with his Son john, many zealous Divines, as Beza and others, for bad men, because they have died of the Plague? Suppose it be an accursed death; did not Christ, the penitent Thief, Peter and Paul which were crucified by Nero, with their heads downwards, die an accursed death, even the death of the Cross.  
Fourthly, beside, is it not God's visitation like other diseases?  
Fiftly, is it not oft-times sent, 
Lib. de Mortalitate.  as Cyprian well notes, as well for the sins of those that live, it of those that die, as appears in the Plague sent upon David's Sheep, when he the Shepherd sinned in numbering of them.  
Sixtly, is it not a disease, though sharp, yet short, and more tolerable than the Stone, Dropsy, Gout, Palsy, or the French disease?  
seventhly, did not David desire this kind of death, rather than either Famine or War?  
Eightly nay, have not Gods Saints, as namely, job, for many months together been troubled with a more grievous malady?  
Ninthly, is not God very merciful to many that die of the Plague, that have their senses and memories, till the last hour? are not those blue spots which appear, God's tokens, as they are called, forewarning them that have them, as God did Ezekias, to prepare themselves, for they must die?  
Lastly, is their any death, much less this, can hinder the soul after her d●arting from God's present and immediate fellowship, or the body from a glorious Resurrection? and, what if none visit the afflicted in this sort? the fewer that gaze on them, the fitter they are to look up to God. And what if they die and want solemn burial? what prejudice is that to the body's resurrection, or soul's salvation?  
Object. 7. But some of the godly dye of Famine, as did Lazarus; from which God promiseth to preserve them, Psal. 34.  
Answ. First, it is uncertain whether Lazarus died for want of food, or the violence of his disease.  
Secondly, this death is rare, and seldom falls out, God providing for his (as he did for jacob and Elias even in Famine) but if this happen, God arms his with patience, and strengthens them with the assured hope of life eternal, as he did the persecuted Hebrews, who were exposed to nakedness and hunger, Heb. 11.38.  
Thirdly, the Promise is conditional, as all others are that concern these outward things, which fall alike to all. Eccl●s. 9  
Fourthly, some understand the place in the Psalmist, concerning the souls of God's Saints, which are fed with the hidden and precious Manna of the Word, to life eternal, john 6. Apoc. 2.17.  
Object. 8. But some are slain by their enemies; these die not in peace.  
Ans. Yes: for no death can separate God's Children from his love, Rom. 8.38.  
Secondly, though they kill the body, as Cain did Abel's, the Philistines Jonathan's, yet (as Zwinglius said in the like case, as you have heard) they cannot kill the soul.  
Thirdly, it is a privilege if they die in God's cause, and procures them a greater increase of glory. Apoc. 14.13. Mat. 5.8.  
Object. 9 Lastly, it is objected, that some of the godly, as Samson and Rasis, have killed themselves, others have done the like in our days. How have these died in peace?  
Ans. For Rasis, it was a weakness in him, 
Vide Polani Synt. de inter. Scrip. Lelius de expresso dei verb●.  if he were a good man, or a wickedness if he were not. For Samson, what he did was typical, as he prefigured Christ's death, that overcame dying.  
Secondly, it was by a special instinct and motion of God's Spirit inimitable: no more than Abraham's sacrificing his Son, for those which our experience instanceth in. I confess it is a ticklish point, and the knot is hard to be loosed.  
I know that Saul, Achit●phel, and judas, that killed themselves, are noted in the Scripture for reprobates. And it seems that those which do this inhuman deed, do not for the instant think of hell torments, yet what then? God never forsakes his chosen: Secondly, his mercy is bottomless; from the Ocean of which mercy, he may distill some drop of grace at the last point of time.  
Thirdly, this act is done commonly in some Frenzy or predominant Melancholy, when they are not themselves.  
Fourthly, Satan is a wily Serpent, that observes his advantages, and the Lord knowing his malice and wickedness, and man's frailty and weakness, punisheth this sin, (as he did the first sin, 
Adam's sin in Paradise  wherein this Serpent was chief actor) more in Satan the agent, then in man the patient.  
Fiftly, many Selfe-murtherers live after the self inflicted fatal stroke▪ and repent ere they die. Let us judge the best of them, and pray to GOD to give us grace never to yield to the like temptations. Amen.  
And now these Doubts discussed, these Objections removed, we come to the Uses.  
The first is this: 
Use 1. Of Instruction.  is it so that the Servants of the Lord do die in peace? we must then if we mean to die well, as the Lord shall enable us, learn to live well. 
He that would die well must live well.  If we will die in peace, we must live the life of grace: for, it is not ●am vetus, quam verum, so proverbial as true; Qualis vita, finis ita, as is the life, so is the death. Instance in all particulars in the Scripture, from the first line in Genesis, to the last Letter of the Revelation, and we shall never see otherways, excepting one example of the Thief upon the Cross, which is particular, miraculous, upon a special occasion, to magnify the effect of Christ's blood, and the power of his Passion, to eternize his mercy that gave life even at his death; and to show and demonstrate his Deity, that at the lowest ebb of his crucified Humanity, was able to save a soul, to strengthen the Disciples, and allure the unbelieving Gentiles: I say, excepting him, which is an extraordinary example, and not to be propounded as a precedent by any presumptuous soul; we shall not find any one that lived ill and died well; but that had the Prologue of their evil life shut up with the Tragedy of a damned death. 
Gen. 4.  Look upon Cain the murderer, that desperate Run a-gate, 
Gen. 7. Gen. 4.24: Gen. 38.8. ●0.  on the licentious Worldlings, on Lamech the seventy time avenged Polygamist; on polluted Onan, and wicked ere; on unclean Sodom, 
Those that have lived wickedly died wretchedly.  with her Sister Gomorrha, Gen. 19 25. on rebelling Israel, hardhearted Pharaoh, obdurate, superstitious, and irreligious Egypt, Exod. 6.7.8. & ch. 14. on disobedient Saul, 1 Sam. 15. on lying, jesuitically aequiuocating Gehezi, 
Examples.  2 Kings 5. on thievish Achan, treacherous Achitophel, traitorous judas, adulterous and murderous Herod, bloody joab, covetous Ahab, persecuting jezabel, deluding Ananias, deceiving Saphira, cruel Antiochus, proud Hamman, usurping Athalia, rebelling Absalon, with millions more: look at their lives, observe their deaths▪ peruse their Stories, parallel their doings with their sufferings, and tell me if they have not sealed up and concluded sensual and sinful lives with cursed deaths: 
Amos 6.2.  nay, as the Prophet saith, Go ye to Calneh and see, and from thence go you to Hamath the great; then go to Gath of the Philistines: look upon joppa, behold Tharsus, wonder at Niniveh the pride of Assur, 
Esay 13.19  gaze upon Babylon the beauty of all the Chaldees honour. And as you pass by, cast your eye upon jerusalem, that virgin Daughter Zion. And if you please reflex upon proud Troy, renowned Carthage, famous Constantinople, learned Athens, rich Thebes, warlike Numantia, populous Samaria, ancient Rome, old Antwerp; and when you have viewed them all, in the Map of your retired Meditations, tell these renowned places, these wonders of the world, that sin hath sacked them, that pride hath been their period, that their faults have caused their falls; that they have been miserable because unmindful of God and of themselves; that they with their inhabitants, because they have wanted grace, have wanted peace.  
But if these be to general for thy application, descend into particulars; 
The fearful ends of Heretics and persecutors, in every age.  run over Histories, read the Tragic parts that wicked men have acted upon the Stage of this world, and mark their ends, when Death hath struck them Nonplus. Leave all other sins and sinners; look on these that either have broached errors Heretically, or resisted or persecuted the truth obstinately and cruelly, and you shall see them dying horribly: 
Euseb. lib. 7. cap.▪ 20. Theod. lib. 1. c. 14.  you shall see blasphemous Cerinthus killed with the ruins of an house, as he was sitting in a Bath at Ephesus. Manes, the Father of the Manichees, exposed to the teeth of Dogs, 
Sabellicus lib. 5. c. 4.  with his skin slain off by the command of a Persian King. Arius, 
Euagrius lib. 1. c. 7.  that hellish patron of the Arians, voiding out his bowels with his excrements. Olympus, struck with Thunder, by a threefold Dart from Heaven, for his blasphemies against the Trinity. 
Anno 1553.  Nestorius' perished in Egypt, by the rotting of that tongue of his which denied Christ's humanity. Tandemus, 
Euseb lib. 10. c. 8.  that Gygantean and profane contemner of the Word and Sacraments, cloven to the brain by a sailing Priest. 
Eus. lib. 3. c. 13. Oros lib. 7 c. 11.  Michael Sernetus burned at Geneva. Maximinian the Tyrant, smit with a sudden plague from GOD, his eyes swelling, his whole body burning, so died. Cruel Domitian, the next persecuter after Nero, slain by his Wife and Servants, and buried like a Dog. 
Eus. lib. 9  Lucius Verus cut off by an Apoplexy, the eleventh year of his cruel reign. Maximinus the Thracian, murdered by his Soldiers. Decius drowned in a puddle. Valerian, King Sapours slave, after his persecutions, had his skin plucked off his rotten carcase. Dioclesian with his Collenge, butchering seventeen thousand Christians in thirty days, consumed miserably, in his Frenzy, by a lingering disease, and his fellow hanged himself. 
Vide Zonaram. annalium lib 2. Eus. lib. 8.  Valets the Arrian Emperor, burned in his Inn, by his pursuing enemies.  
What need I give Coale-worts twice sod, and set before you again those dishes that have been cooked by all authentic Ecclesiastical Authors that are of credit, concerning the miserable death of julian the apostate, whose blood his own hands threw into the air: 
Cent. 1. c. 12. Hist. Eccles.  of Aurelian smit with a Thunderbolt: Commodu● strangled: of Paulinus possessed with a Devil, after he had martyred Martinian and Processus: with divers others, in which the Antichristian Popes, as they have acted the chief parts in filthiness, blood-guiltiness, and superstition, so if we observe their ends, as they are recorded by Platina, Onuphrius, etc. and their own Writers, we shall see they have died fearfully and desperately, as they have lived damnably: as may be instanced in Silvester the second, Alexander the sixth, Heldibrand, etc. and others: all which instances, with all other examples, that jews or Gentiles, the Christian or Pagan world afford unto us, are nothing else but comments upon that Maxim which S. Augustine draws from his own experience, when he saith, Nunquam memini male mortuum, etc. I never remembered any to have died ill, that have lived well, and hardly doth he die well, that hath lived ill.  
Therefore to extract another Use from these premises. 
Use 2. Of Redargution.  Is it so that only the Servants of God, the Lords Simeons' dye in peace, and none else? then the madness of those men is to be mourned (as Samuel mourned for Saul) and their ignorance or obstinacy is to be pitied, that flatter their own souls, and secure themselves they shall die happily, when they have no care nor conscience to live holily. 
Numb. 22.  feign would they, with Balaam, die the death of the righteous, but they will not live the life of the righteous: they would act Simeons' part in death, but they will not labour for Simeons' Spirit: they would die like Jude, but live like judas: die like the Sons of God, live like the sons of Belial: die like Saints, live like sinners: die like David, but live like Dives, in chambering and wantonness, in surfeiting and drunkenness, in delights and dalliance, in pleasures and pomp: they would be with Christ on Mount Zion, but they will not follow him to Mount Caluarie; they will not be crucified with him; nay, they will not crucify one lust, nor sacrifice one sin, nor mortify one member, for the love of Christ, for the love of their own souls: they will not pluck out their right eyes, cut off their right hands, throw away those sins that are as dear to them, as either eyes or hands; for gaining of God, for purchase of Paradise, for conquest of a crown: nay, they will rather carry both their eyes, and both their feet, all their dear and darling sins (whither judas carried his Hypocrisy, and Herod his Lust) even to death with them, even to the grave with them, even to judgement with them; then cast them off (as the wild Beast hunted, casts away his stones, for which he is pursued) to save their life by dying; nay, to save their souls by dying to sin. Do these men believe the Scripture, that tells them, 
Gal. 6.6.  as they sow so they shall reap? Nay, do they believe Experience, that in every Garden, Field, and Seedeplat shows it? Do they credit the holy Oracles, that if they live after the flesh, they shall die; but if they mortify the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, they shall live? Rom. 8.13. And do they, (nay, dare they) then go on in sin and think notwithstanding to reap salvation? Are they but dead men all their life, even dead in sin and trespasses, without the quickening Spirit, Ephes. 2.1. ver. 5. and do they think to be living men in death? Do men use to gather grapes of Thorns, and figs of Thistles? they know to the contrary: and think they that a good death will grow of a bad life? 
An ill life is the usual Prologue to a Tragical death.  let them never hope it. I ask such men as jezabel asked jehu, 2 Kings 9.31. jehu, jehu, did Zimri prosper, that slew his Master? I trow no. So I ask every licentious loose sinner; Did ever any sinner die well without repenting, that offended God his heavenly Master, by treasonable sinning?  
Apply all these precedent examples to thine own soul, and make them thy precedents: read them over again, and remember them; and parallel thyself with them. Art thou a Thief? look how Achan died, that was a Thief, Josh. 7. Art thou a Whoremaster? look how the Sodomites died; how Er and Onan died, Hophni and Phinees, that were unclean. A Whore? look how whorish jezabel died. A Swearer? look how blasphemous Rabsakeh and Senacharib died, 2 Kings 19 An Idolatrous Papist? look how the Idolatrous Israelites died. A Drunkard? look how drunken Nabal died, 1 Sam. 25. Art thou addicted to any other sin? look whether those that have run in the same race, in the same sin, have prospered or perished; have died ill or well: if they have prospered, follow them; good luck have thou in thy journey: if perished (as they have) then in Gods fear retire, Faciant ali●na pericula cautum, let their harming be thy warnings; Praemonitus, praemunitus. Be not more insensible than Birds and Beasts: the Bird will not fly into the Net, or light on the Limebush, or run into (the Snare, where she sees another Bird flackering before her. Thy Horse, as thou art traveling, will not follow the tract of another horse that sticks fast before him. Oh be not thou like the Horse and Mule, without understandng: thou wouldst not follow another into a gulf, a Turne-poole, a pit, a Quag-mire; oh follow not Sinners (as the Beast the drove to the slaughter) thorough the jaws of a desperate death, into the pit of damnation after death, that have gone the very same way, in the very path of that sin wherein thou livest. 
The vain hopes of wicked men.   
But thou thinkest perhaps to escape scotfree, or that GOD will be more merciful to thee then to them. Nay, that cannot be, he is the same GOD that he was to judge, if thou be'st the same soul to sin. What desert is there in thee to plead sparing more than in them? nay, rather less. Si in jerusalem scrutinium, quid faciet Babylon? If he spared not jerusalem's sin, he will not spare thee, a Sodomite, a Babylonian: if he spared not the sins of the jews his own people; nay, of judas his own Disciple, he will not spare thee, a sinner of the Gentiles, a slave to Satan: if he spared not Cedars, great Kings, he will cut down Shrubs, such as thou: nay, thy case shall be worse than these forerecited; because thou hast had more mannuring and watering than they, more Grace offered, more Gospel preached, now in the day of thy gracious visitation.  
But thou hopest to recoil and retire out of the way of sinners. Indeed back again by repentance is the better way; to unweave again (as once Penelope did) the web of thy sins. But when will this retiring be? Thou purposest in thine old age. Oh fool! who hath given thee a Lease of thy life till thou be'st old? The rich Churl saith, Soul, take thine ease, thou hast laid up enough for many years, when he had not one night to live: here was a short Epitome: perhaps the cases stand so with thee.  
Pelles tot Vitulorum quot Boum.  
To the Market comes to be sold  
As well the young sheep as the old.  
Go into a Golgotha, a Churchyard, thou shalt see as many young skulls as old; little, as great: observe Funerals, and thou shalt see the Fathers oftener mourning for their dead Children, than Children for their deceased Parents. Apply to thyself what hath been spoke of this point.  

It is hard to leave the custom of sin.  But thy carnal heart saith, that thou canst leave thy sin when thou wilt, and repent, and that GOD will accept thee. Art thou so persuaded? dost thou think the custom of sin is so soon left? is not Custom another Nature? Can men that have been accustomed, leave to swear by their Faith and their Troth (the jewels that they pawn to Satan and the World upon every trivial occasion?) and canst thou leave greater and grosser, more pleasing and more profitable sins when thou wilt? Canst thou not leave such sins, which thou mayst as well spare as the dirt from thy nails; namely, thy vain words, thy oaths and blasphemies? and canst thou leave these that have nearer alliance with thee, and stand thee in more stead? Is an inveterate sore, a long reigning Disease so soon cured? Is that Devil that hath taken long possession, so soon cast out? Can the Aethyopian leave his blackness, and the Leopard his skin? then will it be easy for thee to do well that still accustomest thyself to do evil.  
Besides, thou thinkest thou canst repent when thou wilt. Thou mayst as well imagine that if thou wert dead thou couldst revive and live again when thou wilt (for a wicked man is a dead man, living in the life natural, dead in the life spiritual) thou mayst as well think to work a Miracle when thou wilt; for, it is no greater Miracle to raise a dead body (as Christ did Lazarus) then to raise a dead soul: 
None can repent when he will.  to turn stones into flesh, than a stony heart into a fleshy that can repent. Indeed if Repentance were in thine own power, there were policy in it to defer this fight with sin (as Fabritius lingered to fight with his enemies) and still to taste the sweet of sin: but it is not in thy power to repent, it is the gift of God. Acts 5. ver. 31. from whom this grace and all other come, james 1.17.  
ay, but thou hast Scripture for thy purpose: so hath the Devil his Scriptum est: is it not written, saith the ignorant Lay-man, or the carnal Caviller (that remembers no other Text but this, which he wisely urgeth to his own destruction) that, At what time soever a sinner reputes from the bottom of his heart, the Lord will be merciful, etc. It is true, that at what time the sinner reputes, he shall be pardoned, as Mary Magdalene, the Publican, and others were: but the Lord saith not, that at what time soever a sinner sins, he will give him Repentance: 
Aug.  Qui dat poenitenti veniam, nescis an dabit peccanti poenitentiam. Repentance is the gift of Grace, it comes not from Nature: a stone hath as much power to mount up to the Church Steeple of itself, as a wicked man to repent of himself. Therefore dally not with sin; be not deceived, God is not mocked. If thou couldst leave the traffic and commerce with sin when thou wouldst, and repent from thy heart, sin might with greater show be retained, and with less danger: but since the longer thou continuest in it, the more thy heart is hardened; since (as the Prophet speaks of Wine and Women,) so every other sin takes away the heart, Ose 11. and makes it incapable of any Christian duty; let it be thy wisdom (as Daniel counsel Nabuchadnezzar) to break off thy sins betimes; leave sin ere it leave thee; begin at length to live ere thou die: for, (as Similis once said of himself) though thou seest many years, thou livest but those that are piously and penitently spent.  
Now redeem the time which thou hast misspent: now is thy Harvest lead home: now provide against the rainy day of thy last day; now in the calm of life, arm thyself against the tempest of death. Oh it will be too late to think of leading a good life when life is ended, too late to buy after the Market is done, too late to traffic after the Mart, too late to sail when the Tide is past, and the Sea is rough: therefore prepare a medicine before the wound, Sero Medicina paratur. Hear not the voice of the Serpent, Eritis sicut Dij, you shall be like Gods, to puff you up with pride; but fear, and believe the voice of God, Moriemini, ye shall die like men: for this death prepare betimes; now is the acceptable time; now is thy time, thy day, thy hour, thy visitation; now the voice calls, Christ knocks, the Angel moves the waters, Moses and the Prophets persuade; the shortness of thy life, multitude of thy sin, difficulty of repenting, thy Hourglass running, time spending. thy former fruitless living, danger of deferring, death approaching, all urge, move, plead, for a converted soul, a holy heart, a renewed life, that thou mayst die a blessed death, find a joyful resurrection, and enjoy a happy glorification.  
Lastly, to conclude this Text, for this time, 
Doctrine.  and so this Work (having exceeded my purposed and proposed brevity) let me only offer unto your considerations this meditation, that there is a direct and a certain method and rule as of living so of dying well, 
There is a way laid down in the word, to a blessed death.  so plain, so perspicuous, that some have writ whole Tractaites of this subject; from whose Harvest I will not be ashamed to glean something (as Ruth out of the field of Booz) and insert their ears into this Garland, borrowing some few grounds of him, whom I heard as a Master out of Moses Chair, living 
* Mr. Perkins. Mr. Sutton in his Book Learn to Die. , and reverence dying. If any therefore demand in this great and main point of all points, what course he is to take, that with old Simeon he may die in peace; for Resolution of this case of Conscience, I say that to die well, there are two things requisite, A preparation before death, and A right disposition in death. This Preparation is twofold; general and special: general, is that whereby a man prepares himself to die throughout the whole course of his life: to this the Scripture continually exhorts, when it enjoins us straightly to watch and pray, to awake from sleep, to prepare to meet the Bridegroom, to be in a readiness, every day (like Soldiers that expect their General) against the second coming of CHRIST to judgement: not to have our hearts oppressed with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of the world, lest that day come upon us unprovided, as the thief upon the careless householder; as the snare upon the Bird, as the Flood upon the old world, as fire upon Sodom, as desolation upon jerusalem: A thing that stands us all much upon, as a duty not to be omitted. First, 
Death is certain, yet uncertain.  because of that uncertain certainty that is in death, certain for the matter, (as before we have proved) uncertain both in respect of the Time when, which none knows, whither morning, evening, midnight, or Cock crow: in Winter, Summer, Spring, or Autumn. Secondly, in respect of Place; for none knows where, whether at home or abroad, by Sea or by Land, in his bed, or in the field. David died in his bed, jonathan in the field; the deceived Prophet, and Amasa, in the highway; Abner at the Court; Icarus, Helle, Aegaeus, by Sea (from whom the Aegean, and Icarian Sea, and Hellespont were named:) three Popes, john the first, john the fourteenth, and Celestine the fifth, died in prison: nay, some have died in the very Privies, as Arius, and 
* Lampridrus.  Heliogabalus, two Monsters, and there had Saul died had not David spared. Therefore Mors omni loco te expectat, 
Seneca.  tu expecta eam, since Death expects thee in every place, expect thou it. Thirdly, for the Manner, no man knows how he shall die, whether of a natural or violent death: josias was shot by the Archers and died, Eglon was thrust in at the fifth rib, so was Abner, so was the late French King: some suddenly, as Fabius the Roman, Gandericus the Vandal: some of a lingering disease, some of a burning Fever, some of a cold Colic, some this way, some that, according to the phrase: 
Vt moriar scio, nescio ubi, quomodo, quando.  
I am assured to die, yet do not know  
The way that leads to death, when, where or how.   
Therefore we are speedily to prepare for this journey of death, since it must be gone, and we know not how soon we shall be enforced to travel: in other matters moral, the Axiom may beseem the most politic, Deliberandum est diu, quod perficiendum semel, that we should determine that deed with deliberation, which we purpose to put in execution: but in this weighty work, the less we are in demurring, and the more in action and doing, the better it is: to learn to die is Ars Artium, an Art of Arts, which all the Schools of the Gentiles could not teach without Theology; great Rabbis in humanity, are mere Idiots in this heavenly Science. It stands us in hand then every day (as the Pythagoreans in Philosophy) to be proficients in this Mystery: for therefore is the last day unknown, that we should prepare ourselves every day: and the rather, because our last day is the inchoation of our perpetuated sorrow or solace: the day of our Marriage with the Lamb, or of our massacring with the roaring Lion; Vt in illo die, Mors inveniet, 
Heb. 9.27.  Dominus judicabit, as the Tree falls, so it lies, as death at that day shall leaves us, so shall judgement find us: 
The pains of hell are without remission or redemption. Esay 30.  many changes and conversions from evil to good, but at that day there is no change no conversion, Nulla remissio, nulla redemptio, no remission, no redemption: If Death find us barren Trees, so it cuts us down, so hell-fire burns us in that Tophet prepared of old. If death cease upon us impenitent sinners, as it did on Cain and judas, so judgement finds us, so Hell holds us, so the unclean Spirits torment us: there we shall continue more millions of years, then be Atoim or moats in the Sun, than Bees in Hybla, then there were Locusts in Egypt; nay, more than there be Sands on the Seashore, piles of Grass on the Ground, or Stars in the Heavens, in such exquisite torments, that Perillus his Bull, Diomedes his wild Horses, Maxentius his tying the living to the dead, till they die with stink and Famine; the French Burning-Chamber, Spanish Inquisition, tearing with Lions, boiling in Oil, pinching with burning Pincers, and the like, are pleasing Baths, cooling Harbours, and refreshing recreations in comparison: never to be relieved, never to be released, not to be ransomed with thousands of Goats and Rams, with rivers of Oils, not with all the Masses, Trentals, Dirges, etc. and trumpery of Romish Superstition; nay, not with all the Prayers of the Saints in earth or heaven: nay, if Noah, David and Dani●l should entreat, if the Virgin Mary should mediate, if all the Angels should supplicate, either the remission of their sins, or intermission of their sorrows and plagues, it were bootless and fruitless.  
Oh then, how much doth this mature and preparatory repentance concern every soul, that by it the union being made betwixt Christ and their souls, their sins being washed away in the blood of the Lamb, the Lord at that day may freely accept them, and seeing no iniquity in jacob, 
Numb. 22. Psal. 32.1.  nor transgression in Israel, may cover their offences, and not impute their sins to their deserved condemnation? In omitting or pretermitting of which duty, we may justly blame and exclaim against wicked and secure worldlings, that never think of this weighty work, 
Repentance is not to be deferred till sickness, or death.  till by sickness they be summoned to their dissolution: then, with the unrighteous Steward, they begin to shuffle and bustle a little, to make all strait, in some superficial and hypocritical Repentance, like Ahab. 
● King's. 21.  Which preparation of theirs, for their passover out of this world, is at that time very preposterous, because then all the senses and powers of the body are occupied about the pains and troubles of the disease. Besides, Physicians to be consulted with, 
Plurimis intensis minor, ad singula sen●us.  Friends to be conferred with, Household affairs to be set in order: a Will to be made; order taken how debts must be either paid or received: neighbours coming to visit; oh how do they divide, how distract the sick party! Is that a fit time of this preparation? When so many Irons are in the fire, it is likely this great one will cool: much less is it convenient to defer it till the hour of death, as is the practice of carnal and careless men, imagining that if they have but time to say, God forgive me, Lord have mercy on me, with the Publican, but especially to run over the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, which they use in ignorance and superstition, as Popish Charms, without any faith, fervency, and feeling; they hold themselves cocksure of salvation, though their preparation be not so good, as the jews for their Passeover, as a Christians is or aught to be, for his ordinary hearing the Word, and receiving the Sacrament. Do not these men presumptuously think (like blind Bayards) that they have God, and his Grace, and his Mercy at command; that they can repent when they list: the contrary experience whereof improves their folly, discovers their delusions, and shows that they build on the sand, and rest on a broken staff; 
The danger of deferring discovered.  for, was there not a time when Esau sought the blessing with tears and found it not? Would not judas fain have repent, as appears by his hypocritical confession, Mat. 27.3.4.5. and yet a Halter was all the comfort he got? Would not Anti●chus Epiphanes had mercy, when notwithstanding his expired life ended in misery? Would not the foolish Virgins have entered the bridegrooms Chamber, when it was past time, but were excluded? And doth not the Lord threaten that many shall seek to enter in at the strait gate but shall not be able? Why so? Because they seek too look, when the time of grace is past. And indeed it is just with God to reject them in adversity, that have rejected him in prosperity; not to hear when they call, though they howl on their beds like Wolves, that would not hear when he called by his Word, and the motions of his Spirit; to forget them in death, that would not remember him in life; to harden those that would not be softened.  
Consider with thyself what reason there is to the contrary: is it reason that God should accept the Winter of thy life, thy barren and frozen soul, when thou hast offered up the Spring, Summer, and Autumn of thy years to Satan? that he should receive the evening Sacrifice, when Mammon, or Lust, hath had the morning? that he should be pleased with thy lees and dregs, when thou hast given the best wine of thy blood to the Devil? will he pledge Satan in such a cup? will he take the refuse, and offals, and leavings of Sin? It is possible he may, I do not limit the unbounded Ocean of his mercy, but it is not probable he will.  
Make it thine own case: wouldst thou entertain an old decrepit Servant, that is able to do thee little or no service, and give him great wages, that hath spent his youth and strength in the service of thine enemy? I trow not. Will any General admit of a lame Soldier past service, that hath served all his life against him, in his enemy's Camp? will God admit thee into his service, entertain thee into his Camp, receive thee into his House, reward thee in his Kingdom, when thou hast spent the prime of thy years in the service, nay, in the servitude and slavery of Satan? I say as Augustine said to such a deferrer as thou, Non dico saluabitur, non dico damnabitur, I will not say thou shalt be saved, I dare not determine thou shalt be damned: I leave thee in the hands of God, that hath thee as the Potter hath the Clay, as the Smith his Iron, as the Carpenter his Wood, as the Creator his Creature, to harden or soften thee; to make thee a vessel of honour or dishonour; to glorify himself in his Mercy, in thy conversion; or in his justice, in thy confusion.  
But thy heart tells thee, and Satan tells thy heart, that thou mayst repent at thy last hour. Thou mayst indeed if God will, but (to drive thee from this false hold) it is not likely thou shalt repent truly and sincerely. It is said, judas repented in his death, so the Word is, Mat. 27. verse 3. he had a Legal sorrow in him, yet he is called a reprobate for all that: it is too true, that Poenitentia sera, raro vera, late Repentance is seldom true Repentance. It is commonly as sick and weak as is the party; it is not voluntary and free, as that is which brings salvation, 2 Cor. 7.10. but usually constrained and extorted, by the fear of hell and other judgements of God: for, crosses and afflictions and sickness, will cause the grossest Hypocrite that ever was, to stoop and buckle under the hand of God (as did Pharaoh twice) and to dissemble Faith and Repentance, and every other Grace of God, as did Ahab; as though they had God's graces, as fully as any of God's Servants, whereas they are altogether destitute of them, naked and blind, like the Laodiceans. 
Reu. 3.18.  And that such repenters commonly counterfeit, it appears by this demonstration: True Repentance is a turning to God; so the Word calls it, joel 2.12. an aversion from sin, which is his Terminus à quo: a conversion to God, Terminus ad quem? so most Divines hold it. Now where is the turning from sin in such repenters? They forsake not sin, but sin forsakes them: they leave their evil ways, because they must leave the world: they leave sin in action, but hug it still in affection: if they had a new Lease of their lives, they would begin new sins. Nay, Si nunquam morirentur, 
Gregory.  nunquam peccare desinerent; If they should never die, they would never desist from sin, as appears in the practice of these pretended repenters: for, if God do recover them from their sicke-beds, and take his hand off them, do they go their ways and sin no more, john 5.14? Nay, do they not return to their former bias; Canis ad vomitum, like Dogs to their vomit again, and Swine to their wallowing? insomuch that though the world say they are mended, yet Christians can see no amendment in them, but they keep their worst wine unto the last, and their end is worse than their beginning?  
Yet for all this which hath been said, the Thief on the Cross sticks much on the stomachs of many? Why may not they live as ill as he did, and yet defer their repentance till the last, and be saved as he was? I have unloosed this knot before. But to give still further satisfaction.  

The thieves repentance upon the Cross examined.  First, it may be, (nay, it is likely) the Thief was never called before that time, so much as outwardly: that, he never heard Christ's Sermons before then that he saw him; which thou dost, or mayst do, in this light of the Gospel: therefore if he had died impenitently, he should have been more excused than thou.  
Secondly, as his example is extraordinary, so it is particular: now, particulars are not to be urged for a general practice.  
Thirdly, his example is singular, we have no more late repenters saved but he. We have him indeed (saith Augustine) that we should not despair, if we do defer; and yet we have but only him, him and no more in the whole Scripture, that we should not presume. You know his other fellow-theefe, that lived as he did, died not as he did, but impenitently, scoffingly, and desperately: so have all other obdurate wicked ones died, as we have proved out of the Word. If then Satan, and Nature persuade thee still to live in sin, thou mayst repent at last, with the good Thief, and so be saved: think that it is more probable thou shalt die impenitently, with the bad Thief, if thou continue thy courses, and so be damned.  
Thou knowest, amongst many Traitors, the King pardons some; but for one that is pardoned, an hundred are deservedly executed: were it not folly to attempt treason upon hope of pardon, because some one is pardoned amongst many? but it is greater folly to live impenitently till death, because one Thief was in that case saved, when as we have instanced in Cain, judas, Herod, etc. and an hundred more, that as they lived in iniquity, died in impenitence, and now are damned eternally.  
Therefore to conclude, 
Exhortat.  let me heat thy heart a little, and inflame thy affections to prepare speedily for thy dissolution: to take time before thee, it is bald behind; to work whilst it is day, ere the night of death comes, harden not thy heart any longer, but to day hear his voice, that calls thee, as it did Samuel and David, to awake and to seek his face: Cry not with the Crow, Cras, Cras, to morrow, to morrow, but this day with Noah's Dove, come into the Ark: yet jonas cries in the streets, jonas 3.4. yet the Angel stays Sodomes' flames, Gen. 19 yet the weather is fair to build an Ark in, Gen. 7.5. yet the Prophet cries. Oh judah, how shall I entreat thee? Hos. 6.4. yet the Bridegroom tarries and stays the Virgin's leisures, Mat. 25.7. yet the Apostle beseecheth for Christ's sake, that thou wouldst be reconciled, 2 Cor. 5.20.  
Oh therefore prepare oil betimes, with the wise Virgins, enter whilst the gate is open, seek the Lord whilst he may be found, call upon him whilst he is nigh, wait for thy Masters coming with the good Servant, build the Ark ere the Flood come, prepare thy soul ere Death come: this is thy time, thy day, tempus tuum: Death is God's day, tempus suum, and his time. Now is the time to repair the Ship of thy soul in the Haven, but the tempestuous Sea of Death is no fit time: the breach is to be made up in the time of peace, not in time of war. Now make peace, in the day of peace, with the God of peace, that with old Simeon thou mayst die and rest in peace, and remain in glory. Thus much for preparation.  
Now the manner of this Preparation consists in some particulars, which we mean to prosecute.  

Meditation of death is a principal part of preparation to die in peace  The first whereof is Meditation: Memento mori, must be every man's Motto: a point that as the Scripture in●oynes, so the Saints have practised, and the Heathens have approved this principle, that To●a hominis vita, mortis meditatio, the whole life of a man ought to be the meditation of death: the best Scholars that ever were in the School of Christianity, have been taken up in this thought. Adam was no sooner created, but God his Schoolmaster catechizeth him in this point of death: he calls him Adam, rubra terra, red earth; he casts him into a sleep, the Image (nay, as the Cynic calls it) the Brother of death: he tells him, if he sin, he shall die the death. When he had sinned, he forewarns him that he shall return to his dust from which he came: he makes him garments of Beasts skins, that had died for sacrifice, to show him that he was mortal, like those Beasts whose skins he wo●e: he sets him to dig and till the Earth, to put him in mind both of the dusty matter whereof he was made, and into which he and all his posterity must be dissolved. Adam, it seems, took out these Lessons, and taught them his Children; for though he called his eldest Son Possession, yet he called his Brother Abel, Vanity, when he had more experience of the vanities of life, and life itself.  
In this Meditation the patriarchs were wondrously taken up, the very form and fabric of their Mansions, not dwelling in seiled houses, as we do (though they were both greater men and of greater means) but in Tents and Tabernacles, such as they use in the wars, ready upon all occasions to be removed (even like the Booths in Sturbbish-Faire) show, that they did constantly ponder of their own removals; nay, their tongues expressed the abundant thoughts of their hearts in this kind, Abraham confessed himself but dust and ashes, Gen. 18.17. jacob acknowledgeth his life a Pilgrimage. joseph gives order for the burial of his bones, Gen. 50. The greatest purchases which we read the patriarchs made, or that ever they spoke of, was only a place to bury their dead in. Moses so thought of his mortality, that he makes a Psalm wherein he both acknowledgeth man's frailty, and infers this Petition pathetically, that the Lord would teach him, 
Psal. 90.12.  and the Israelites, to number their days: which Psalm the ancient Fathers used in form of a Prayer. job waits till his changing come, job 10.14. David makes no other reckoning of himself then of a Pilgrim, Psal. 120.3. and Peter accounts his continuance here, but his abode in a tabernacle; 2 Pet. 1.3.  
Oh that such thoughts did possess us! they would make us more familiar with Death, and it more welcome unto us; for, jacula praevisa, minus faeriunt, Darts foreseen do the less harm. Oh, how many sins would they cut off, (as Hercules did the heads of Hydra,) which are the only weakeners of our Faith, wonders of our souls, workers of our woes, and disturbers of our dying peace. Therefore saith the Wiseman, Remember thy end, and thou shalt never do amiss. For, as the Bird directs herself by her tail flying, and the ship it directed by her stern, sailing, to avoid the Rocks: so is a Christian conformed and confirmed in an happy course, preserved from the Soule-splitting Rocks of sin, by the thought of death.  
First, it mortifies from the world: 
Effects of death's meditation.  he easily contemns all, that thinks he must die, (saith an old Hermit) for, what cares a condemned malefactor, that fits himself for his every hours expected execution, for thousands of Gold and Silver.  
Secondly, it curbs the pomp and glory of the world: for what cares old Berzillas for all the pleasures of David's Court, when the keepers of his house, his hands, tremble; 
Eccl. 12.3▪ ●  his legs, these strong men bow themselves; when his eyes, the windows of his body, wax dark; when his ears, the daughters of Music, are abated; when the Grasshoppers, or bended shoulders, are a burden; and his teeth, the Grinders, cease? he thinks rather of returning to Gilead, and dying in his own Country, then of jerusalem's Court, 2 Sam. 19  
Thirdly, it curbs pride: Quid superbis pulvis & cinis? saith Bernard; Oh, how can dust and ashes be proud? meditatio mortis, etc. 
Augustine.  the meditation of death is the nail of the flesh, which fixeth all the proud lusts thereof to the wood of the Cross. What Peacock can be proud when he looks at his black feet, the earth from whence he is, and whither he tends. Therefore even amongst the Heathens, saith Caelius Rodiginus, when their Emperors were crowned, as a counterpoison against pride, they were carried unto the sepulchres of dead men, and there it was demanded of them, what one should be made for them. So Climachus reports of that good Basil, that the very day wherein with great joy and applause he was propounded Doctor and Pastor to the people, as an Antidote against pride, he made one to tell him thus; Pater, sepulchrum tuum nondum est perfectum; Father, thy sepulchre is not yet finished. The like thoughts, amongst others, Augustine used, when he found himself tickled with secret pride, with the applauses of the people, for his exquisite Sermons.  
Fourthly, it is a means of temperancy, and a restrainer of intemperancy, and a curber of carnality and Epicurism. Hence it was that the ancient Egyptians, 
Lib. 3.  as Heroditus reports, in their Gemalia and Feasts of great and Noblemen, there was the portraiture of a dead man, in wood, which was round, like a Globe, had to every guest to behold, with this Motto writ on it, In hanc intuens, pota & oblectate, talis post mortem futurus.  
Beholding this use merry glee,  
For as this is, so thou shalt be.  
Hence it is that Augustine, as he would have a man always to think upon these quatuor novissima, four last things, Death, judgement, Heaven, Hell; so chiefly in their Festivals and meetings, wherein Satan chiefly beguiles men, as he did Adam and Eve by eating. And sure, amongst other things, this made that Cynic Philosopher so abstinent, because he was continually amongst tombs and sepulchres: but sure the meditation of their Tombs and sepulchres, 
De orig. Monich.  caused Paul●s Symplex, Macariu▪ Pambo, and other hermits in Hospinian, to be so abstenuous, even to a marvel, if not to a miracle. I wish the Tricongij, Biberij, and Heliogabuli, I mean the Epicures and Belly-gods, that eat and drink till there be as little Grace in their Souls, and Wit in their Pates, as their be Wines in their Pots, that they would drink out of an earthen vessel, with Agathocles; or looking upon a Deaths-head, as is the fashion in some Countries; or that a dead man's skull were presented unto them the first dish at their Table, as it is in the Court of Prester-Iohn: or at least, that if the picture of Death which I have seen in the bottom of some cups, will not, yet that the sight of the dead creatures before them, might call unto them as Phillip's Boy to Philip, Memento te esse mortalem, Oh Epicurish Glutton▪ remember thou art mortal: or that they would ponder the voice which S. Jerome always imagined, even when he was eating and drinking, Arise you dead, and come to judgement. Perhaps these thoughts would make them put their knives to their throats as Solomon speaks, and dam up the gulf of their inordinate appetites.  
Fiftly, this thought would work in us contentation in every estate, as it did in job, who in the midst of his afflictions, comforts himself with this consideration, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The thought of this, that we shall carry nought away with us but a Coffin, or a winding sheet, should keep us within compass of too eager pursuit in purchasing, or impatiency in parting with this unrighteous Mammon.  
Sixtly, this thought of death is a notable means and spur to further our Repentance: it will cause us, if any thing, not only with Ezekias and Achitophel, to set our houses in order, but our hearts to: for, what so hastened the repentance of Niniveh as the belief and thought of jonas his Sermon; it was time for them to bestir themselves, when they had but forty days to live. So when Elias tells Ahab that the Dogs shall eat him and jezabel, he makes some superficial show of repentance. So the third Company of fifty, with their Captain, that came by violence to fetch Elias, when they saw the two other Captains with their fifties, consumed with fire, they seem to relent, and deal with the Prophet by entreaty.  
If then meditation of death have such force, both in the godly and wicked, both in Christians and Pagans, to incite to virtue, restrain vice, curb covetousness, cure pride, bridle lust, moderate murmuring, keep in intemperancy, procure repentance, cause mortification, and do every way so correct a vicious life, and so direct a happy death: since of all other Meditations this strengthens the mind, as of all other meats bread strengthens the body: since it is as needful to a good life as wings for Birds, sails for Mariners, tails for Fishes to swim, wheels for Coaches to run, as Climachus makes the comparisons: since you see the holy patriarchs, Abraham, jacob, joseph, job, Moses, David; nay, I may add our Saviour CHRIST (who was most frequent in discourse with his Disciples of his death, his Passion, his hour, his crucifying; nay▪ even than when he was transfigured in glory, having two dead men with him, 
Mat. 17.  Moses and Elias, and talking of his death when he came from the Mount, (as appears in the Evangelists) did so oft think of death: since the Saints, after Christ's death, Augustine, Jerome, Basil, Bernard; the devout hermits; nay, even Ethnic Kings and Philosophers, made such good use of this Meditation, as we have proved: then let the thought possess us that are now living, of our inevitable dying▪ that it may work in us the same effects that it did in them.  

Exhortat.  Oh let us think of it in our prosperity, in our pleasures; let us meditate of it in our Orchards, in our Gardens, as did joseph of Aramathia; who (john 19.41.) had his Sepulchre in his Garden, even the place of his recreations: let us think of it in our beds (those Emblems of our graves,) in our Closets, in our Cloisters, in our Walks and Galleries, that so remembering it in every place, expecting it at every hour, it may not come upon us unprovided, as the storm upon the Mariner, as the enemy upon the drowsy Centinel, as David's Company upon the drunken Amalekites, 
●nua●un● urbem somtio vinoque sepultum.  as the politic Grecians upon the secure Trojans. Death is like the Basilisk, it hurts not if it be spied betimes: if Death spy us first, it kills us, as the Basilisk doth the traveler; if we spy it first, we kill it, as the traveler doth the Basilisk, as Ambrose makes the Application: and therefore as Aristotle writes of two Fountains, the one whereof if a man drink, it makes him laugh so much till he die; if of the other, it both hinders laughter, and prevents death: 
Et risum impedit, & mortem.  these two fountains are the Remembrance and the Oblivion of death: the last is like poisoned water to kill us, the first like strong distillatorie waters to revive us.  
Yet alas, for all this who thinks of death? 
Expostulation.  there is such a general crust of Security grown over this Land, that it is to be feared we are exposed to the same dangers that jerusalem was, the cause of all whose plagues was, she knew not her visitation, she remembered not her end, Lament. 1.9. Oh how few number their days that they may apply their hearts unto wisdom? How few think of their ends, till sickness end them, till Death say to them as GOD to Ezekias, Thou must die: and as the Prophet to Ahaziah, Thou shalt not come down from thy bed to which thou art gone up? 2 Kings 1.4. How few look into hell ere they leap into it? How many Arithmeticians are in the world, that number all things but their days; their corn, cattle, sheep, stock, money, wares, and the like; that are as wise Serpents in every thing, excepting in foreseeing their death? How many, like careless debtor, still run into the debts and arrearages of former sins with GOD, their patient Creditor, never thinking of the day of account, the strictness of the judge, the closeness of the Prison, the Sergeant at their backs, Death ready to arrest them? How many sleep out their time, like Salomon's sluggard? How many cry, Soul take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry, singing to the Tabret and the Harp, stretching themselves upon their ivory Couches, saying (like these Epicures, which Tertullian blames in his Books of the Soul) Oh Death, what have we to do with thee? trouble not thou us, and we shall not trouble thee: yea, though we have so many Monitors, every day, in all the things of Nature: the Sun setting over us, the graves under us, 
Monumentum, quasi monens mentem.  though we see many Tombs even in our Churches and Monuments (as the word signifies) to admonish us; Crosses and Sicknesses, Death's summons, that tell us Death is approaching, vellicat haec aures, atque ait en venio; yet nevertheless, as the sight of one object or colour takes away the eye from beholding another: the thought of the world, and the lusts thereof, takes away the thought of death. And as Absalon carried on his Mule, whilst he hung by the hair of the head, was thrust through three times by joab; so our souls being carried here upon our flesh, (which Augustine, Hugo, and Luther, call the Ass of the soul) whilst our thoughts are climbing, and fixed upon the high Tree of Honour, Pleasure, Preferment, Death, like joab, comes and kills us with a triple Dart that we see not, Time past, present, and to come: never thinking of these darts till we feel them, no more than the fish of the hook till it hold her; yea, though we see daily, wiser, wealthier, holier, healthfuller, and younger than ourselves, go to their graves, yet this thought still reigns in us, that we shall not die till we be old, as Seneca notes, Non patemus ad mortem, etc. yea, 
Ad Mart.  even such as think they shall be happy after death, think little of the day of death; 
Lib. de gratia novi Test.  Tantum vim habet carnis & animae dulce consortium, saith Augustine, such force hath that sweet consort betwixt the soul and the flesh. But it is more which Tully notes, that there is no man so old, but he thinks he may live one year longer, though he use his third foot when one of his other feet is in the grave already: and this makes even old so incline in their thoughts and desires unto the Marriagebed, who in the course of Nature, have but a few steps into their graves; yea, to associate themselves with such young yoake-fellowes, that if Sophocles were living, he would blush once again for shame to see them; and Cato should have more matter to laugh at, then to see an Ass eat Thistles: in which we verify Christ's prophesy, that as in the days of Noah, we marry and are married, never thinking of death till the Flood come. This makes such an inundation of sin, as delights Satan, who takes as great delight to steal away our hearts from the thought of Death, as Absalon did to steal away the hearts of the people from his Father David: for, he knows full well, that if we should think of Death, we should not practise sin: he knows that as the Serpent, when she stops the one ear with her tail, the other with the earth, she will not hearken to the voice of the Charmer; so the Lords Doves, that are as wise as Serpents, laying their ears to the earth, remembering their mortality, will not be deluded with the charms of his temptations: he knows that his hook baited with riches, will not be bit upon if a man remember himself, brevis incertique huius iteniris, of this his short and uncertain journey: he knows he will not sin, that knows after death he shall inherit Serpents and Worms. For which cause when he would have us to sin, he hides the grisly head of Death, casting the scum and mist of some deceiving pleasure before our eyes, (as they say jugglers do in their tricks,) showing us only sins pleasure, (as the Panther shows his pleasing spots to the Beasts) to deceive, hiding his head, that he may devour us.  
Therefore to conclude this Part, as our Saviour Christ said, 
De paup. amand.  Remember Lot's Wife: as Nazianzen saith to oppressors, Remember Naboths' Vineyard: so I bid those that are terrigenae & Brutigini, the sons of the earth, Remember their earth: nay, God w●isheth thee to remember thy earth, Oh that they were wise (saith God, of Israel) and would remember the latter things, Deut. 32.29. Oh that we were wise even in this particular! oh how should we avoid many snares of Satan, that prevails over us, even by our security in this kind? And therefore Quos viu ●ntes blanditijs decipit, etc. whom he deceives by fraud living, 
Greg. in Mor.  he devours by force dying. Oh how should we be prepared for the second coming of CHRIST, if we had but an eye to the pale Horse and him that sits thereon! Apoc. 6.8. Oh that we had but the wisdom of the Cock, that eating his meat, hath ever an eye upwards, to look at the Eagle or the Hawk! Oh that we, as we look downwards with the eye of Reason, to the things of this life, would with the eye of Faith look up for the coming of Christ, who as he rose like a Lion, is ascended like an Eagle, and will descend again to judge us: then should we be fitted, with the good Servant, come when he will come, to entertain our Master with joy, Mat. 24.23.  
But alas, woe be to the secure world, we neither think of judgement general nor special, after death or in death: sometimes indeed deed we can say, we are all mortal, but (ex usu magis quam sensu) as some pray, it is a word rather of custom then feeling: we seem to be a little more moved when we follow a Funeral, than we weep and wail, and cry out, This is the end of all flesh: but as soon as we are at home, the most we do is a carnal fruitless mourning for the dead; we make no spiritual use of it to die to any sin: in which, as some compares us, we are like to Swine, who when some one in the Herd is bit with a Dog, all flock about and gruntle, but presently it is forgot, they fall again to wallowing and rooting: or, like little Turkeys and Chickens, who if the Kite or Buzzard swap and catch one, all the rest with their dams, are in an uproar, but instantly they fall again to feeding: so when Death that devouring Dog, that ravening Kite, that preys upon all flesh, snatcheth away any of our Friends and Neighbours, we complain and exclaim of life's brevity, the world's vanity, we mourn and pretend mortification; we lament and seem to repent, but within few days all is drowned in the Leth of Oblivion: we forget Death, as Nabuchadnezzar forgot his Dream; we fall again to our former sinful security, and so we continue till we die, excaecati, insoporati, impraeparati; excecated, insoporated, unprepared. God reform this, and teach us, as David prays, Psal. 38. the number of our days, and make us wise to salvation.  
Besides this Meditation, which we make a part of preparation, to the attaining of this peaceable departure, other duties are to be adjoined: some whereof are to be performed in health, some in sickness, some in the immediate summons of Death itself: of all which briefly in these subsequent directions.  
First, let him that will die in peace, 
The life of Faith brings peace in Death.  live by Faith, Hab. 2.2. let him not content himself with an Historical Faith, such as the Devils have, james 2.14. nor with a Civil Faith, such as mortal men have, and as the Heathens have; nor with an Implicit General Faith, 
See D. Moss, his Sermon of the Faith of Devils.  which the Papists have, even the cobblers Faith, to believe as the Romish Church believes: for alas, all these kinds of Faith bring no more peace and comfort to the soul, in any extremity, then cold water to a man that is in a sown. And therefore many men are deceived, which think they show themselves exquisite Christians, and have enough to salvation, if to their Pastor or others, in their sickness, they can repeat and render their Faith, according to God's Word, and the Articles of the Creed; with a renunciation of all points of Popery, of Heresies, and Superstitions: for alas, this general illumination, this knowing Faith, which only swims in the brain, without a particular applying justifying Faith, which works by Love, and brings forth the fruits of Prayer, Repentance, godly Sorrow for sin, Zeal, Sanctification, new Obedience, etc. never heats the heart, nor comforts the conscience, nor hath the answer of any sound peace from God. Oh therefore labour for a justifying saving Faith, for a special and an applying Faith; such as Paul preached to the convert jailor, Acts 16.31. Philip to the baptised Eunuch, Acts 8.37. such a Faith as is commended in the ancient patriarchs and Primitive Worthies, Hebrews the eleventh Chapter; such as CHRIST commended in the Centurion, Mat. 8.10. and the Canaanitish woman; Mat. 15.28. such as Thomas had after his incredulity, calling Christ his Lord and his God; john 20.28. such as Paul had, when he professed that he lived even by Faith in jesus is Christ, Gal. 2.20. such as Simeon here had. Oh get Christ into thy heart by Faith, as this good old man had him in his Arms▪ and in his heart, and thy death shall be peaceable like his.  

Repentance the means of peace with God.  Secondly, if thou wilt die in peace, repent speedily of thy forepast and present sins: for, sin hinders all true peace; There is no peace to the wicked, saith my God, twice for sureness in express words, Esay 48. verse 22. so Chap. 57.21. Iniquity makes a division and separation from God, Esay 59.2. even in life, much more in death: for then the souls of the wicked go to Hell, Psal. 9.16. much more in judgement▪ Mat. 7 23. Where there it plain and palpable whoredom discovered there can be no peace betwixt man and wife: all sin is whoredom, and sinners are called Adulterers and adulteresses, james 4. verse 4. they are spiritually and corporally polluted by the Flesh, the World, the Devil; for which cause, rebellious Israel and judah are compared to Whores and Harlots, jer. 3. v. 8.9. etc. Now, if any wicked soul should ask with a desire of resolution, as the two Messengers of jehoram, and as jehoram himself asked jehu, Is it peace? Is it peace? 2 King. 9.18.19. Is there peace, or shall there be peace betwixt God and my soul? I resolve him roughly from God, as jehu did jehoram, verse 22. What peace? What hast thou to do with peace, since thou wantest Grace, the inseparable companion of Peace? 2 Tim. 1.2. What hast thou to do with peace, whilst the whoredoms of thy Mother jezabel, and her witchcrafts are great in number? whilst the pollutions of that whorish jezabel, thy unclean soul, are daily increased? whilst thy Treasons and Rebellions against thy God (which, as Samuel tells Saul, are like the sin of witchcraft, 1 Sam. 15.23.) are with an obdurate and obstinate heart continued? Was there any peace to Absalon, though a Son, when he was a Traitor against his Father? Can there be any to thee, not a Son of God, but a slave of Satan, rebelling against the Father of Spirits? Had Zimri peace (saith jezabel to jehu) that slew his Master? 2 Kings 9.31. Zimri was a Traitor, and slew Elah, as he was drinking till he was drunk, in the house of Arza his Steward (an usual end for drunkards) 1 Kings 16.9.10. jezabel argues well; Can Traitors have peace? look to it jehu; thou art a Traitor against Ahab: sure Traitors seldom or never die in peace. Witness, Absalon, Sheba, Adoniah, our English Traitors, Romanized seminaries, treacherous Conspirators, Lopus, Squire, Titchburne, Babington, Parry, etc. our late Powder-plotting pioneers, the French Ravillack, millions more, which being like joab, men of blood, have come to their ends (as is said of Tyrants) cum caede & sanguine, with blood and slaughter. Oh then, how canst thou, a worm of the earth, a wretched man, because a wicked man, living in treasonable sins, with a heart as hard as the neather-Milstone, rebelling against so great, so glorious, so potent, so powerful a God, once hope that ever thy grey hairs shall come to the grave in peace, or that thy soul after her flitting, shall rest in Abraham's bosom the place of peace. Can a man have peace in Rome, and be opposed against the Pope, the usurping Herod (that supposed earthly God, as his flattering Parasites call him?) oh then, canst thou dust and ashes, be opposed on earth against the mighty jehovah, the God of heaven?  
Christ that opened the eyes of the blind, open thine eyes to see, and thy heart to believe, as he did Lydia's, Acts 16.14. and give thee, at last, a resolution to break off thy sins by repentance, Dan. 4.84. the enemies of thy peace, lest God break thee like a Potter's vessel, and tear thee in pieces, whilst there is none to deliver thee, Psal. 50.22. Oh, sue for pardon for thy sins, seek for peace to him which is the Prince of peace, Esay 9.6. seek for peace by him and his merits, which was ordained to be thy peace, and to work thy reconciliation, C●l. 1.20. so thou shalt shut up the last period of thy life with inward peace, and go to keep an eternal Sabbath, with him, that is the God of peace.  
Thirdly, that thou mayst die peaceably, invre thyself to die daily; and that after this manner.  
First, every day mortify some sin, nip some Serpent in the head; crucify every day some corruption, set upon thy lesser sins, and so get ground of thy greater sins: 
Three ways how to die daily.  as in particular, leave thy dangerous and damnable custom of swearing and blaspheming, by these degrees: first, break off thy Civil Oaths, 
First die to sin.  as in swearing by thy Faith, Troth, Christendom, etc. Secondly, then set upon thy Ridiculous and Childish Oaths, as by Faith, 
How to leave the damnable custom of Swearing.  Fakins, Trokins, Bodikins, 'Slid, Sounds, Cock and Pie, with the like; whereby thou seekest to mock and deceive God, who will not be mocked: Gal. 6. Thirdly, then invre thyself to leave thy Superstitious Oaths, as by the Mass, Rood, Cross, by our Lady, and by Popish Saints: etc. Fourthly, so proceed against thy Heathenish and Idolatrous Oaths, in swearing by the Creatures, (as Laban and jezabel by their Idols, Gen. 31.53. 1 Kings 19 verse 2.) as by men, by S. Peter, and by S. john, etc. by the Heavens, the Earth, by Fire, Sun, the Light, Meat, Drink, Money, etc. or by the parts of thy body, as Hands, or the like, or by thy Soul; all condemned, Mat. 5. ver. 34. james 5.12. And so with a courage set upon thy impious, horrible, fearful, damnable, blasphemous Oaths, as by the Lord, by God, the eternal God, by Christ, by jesus, and such like; or by the parts and adjuncts of Christ, by tearing his Humanity (as the jews did his body; by dividing him, as the Soldiers did his garments, Mat. 27.35.) in blasphemy, by his Death, Passion, Life, Soul, Blood, Flesh, Heart▪ Wounds, Bones▪ Sides, Guts, Arms, foot, Nails, etc. of all which I tremble and quake to think, write, and speak, though thou makest no more scruple of such Hell-bred Oaths, then of thy ordinary words: so deal with all other sins (of which thy soul is as full as a Serpent is full of venom, and a Toad of poison) Crucify them by degrees, and die to them daily, else thou diest for ever if thou die 〈◊〉 in them.  
By this course thou shalt take away the sting of Death, which is Sin; for, the strength of Death is Sin, 1 Cor. 15. even as the strength of Samson laid in his hair, judg. 16.17. which sin, when it is subdued, Death itself is as easily conquered as weakened Samson was by the Philistines, verse 21. yea, it can do thee no more harm, than a Dragon, Viper, or angry Wasp which have lost their stings.  
Secondly, die daily to the world, 
Secondly, die to the world.  love it not, nor the things of it, that so thou mayst more happily die out of the world, and more hopefully entertain thoughts of a better world. And in this case do as Runners use who oft run over the Race before they run for the Wager, that so they may be better enured and acquainted, when they come to try their ability: or, as is said of Belney the Martyr, that being to suffer by fire, many days before, he would hold his hand a pretty while in the flame, so to prepare himself to sustain the pains of Martyrdom, which he was to undergo.  

Thirdly, Bear crosses patiently.  Thirdly, die daily, by invring thyself to take Crosses and Afflictions patiently, as sicknesses in body, troubles in mind, loss of goods, of friends, and of good name, etc. which indeed are little deaths, even petty deaths, not only Prologues of death, but Preparatives to death: for which cause GOD sends them to his children more than to the wicked, even to wean them from the world, and prepare them for death (as the Nurse weans the Child from the Teat by doing bitter Aloes upon it) and sure he that bears Crosses most patiently, is well prepared to die peaceably, as appears by S. Paul, 1 Cor. 15.31. who by making good use of afflictions, died daily: it holding commonly, that Mors post crucem minor est; Death is less dolorous after the cross.  

Fourthly, Prayer oft prevails for a peaceable departure.  Fourthly, pray seriously for a peaceable departure: it is confirmed by examples of all ages, and experience of all God's Servants, that he that prays well speeds well. jacob and Abraham's Servant had God's blessings upon their journeys, as an effect of their Prayers, Gen. 24. Gen. 27. Thou shalt find God's presence even in that hour of the last journeying of thy soul from her earthly Mansion to her heavenly Country, if thou pray for this grace particularly and effectually: therefore as thou oughtest to pray continually for other 
a Lu. 18. 1. Eph. 6.18.18 Things to be prayed for, that death may be prosperous.  things, so even in health and prosperity pray frequently and fervently: 1. That God would make this backward, repugnant, and nilling nature of thine, willing to her dissolution: 2. Prepare thy unprepared soul: 3. Subdue thy corruptions: 4. Purge out the dross of thy sins: 5. Give the patience to kiss his correcting Rod, when he whips by sickness or diseases: 6. Secure thee in thy last and greatest conflict: 7. Support thy weakness: 8. Aid thee against Satan's force and fraud: 9 Strengthen thy Faith: 10. Renew thy decayed graces: 11. Give thee the power and comfort of his own Spirit: 12. Not to visit thy sins in justice but in Mercy: 13. To preserve thy soul from the Hunter, and thy darling from the Lion: 14. To give his Angels charge over thee in thy extremity: 15. To keep thee from 1. Impatiency, 2. Frenzy, 3. Distraction, 4. Idle fancies, 5. Raving, 6. Raging, 7. Blaspheming, etc. lest thy death be scandalous: 16. To touch thy tongue with a coal from the Altar, that thou mayst speak, 1. to God's glory, 2. and to Edification: 17. To die the death of the righteous: 18. Lastly, to receive thy soul into that new jerusalem which is above. Such Prayers we have upon record in holy Writ, as of David, Psal. 39 and Moses, Psal. 90. true patterns of our Prayers in this kind. And sure, who ever approacheth oft to the throne of Grace, and supplicates to a pitiful God, from faith and feeling in these and the like petitions, he shall be sure to find an answer from God, even when he lies upon his sicke-bed, as the fruit of his former desires. Besides that his former acquaintance with God, in speaking to him, and talking, as it were, with him oft-times in life, by Prayer, will increase in the sick Patient, even a holy boldness, in a filial fear, to come to that God, (as one friend to another in extremity) with whom he hath so oft conversed and conferred with, by the Word and Prayer, in health and prosperity.  
Fiftly, that thou mayst depart in peace, make sure to thy soul the inheritance of life eternal, even here in this thy life natural: for as worldlings are something at quiet when they have made sure such houses, lands, leases, and purchases, as they have long gaped after; so, assurance of life eternal is the only pacification to the spiritual man; this is the lot, the portion and inheritance that his soul longs after, the estate that he prefers before all the flesh-pots of Egypt, or the jewels of Egypt. Now for the purchase of a fixed place in the heavenly Canaan, thou must provide these treasures: 1. saving Knowledge, 2. Faith, 3. Sanctification; of more price with God, than Gold, Pearl, and precious Stones, with men. For the first, there is no traffic with God, or purchase from heaven without it, john 17.3. This is life eternal, to know God, and whom thou hast sent jesus Christ. For Faith, the Truth affirms it with asseveration; Verily verily, he that heareth my word, and believeth in him that sent me, hath eternal life, john 5.24. john 3.16. For Sanctification, whosoever submits their hearts and lives to the regiment of the Spirit of Christ, they are the children of God, Rom. 8.14. Now God hath an heavenly inheritance for all his Children: get therefore these graces, and salvation instantly comes to thy heart, as it did to Zacheus house. Luke 19  
Sixtly, it will make much for thy dying peace, to do all the good thou canst in life, to all men in general, to the Church, the Saints, and household of Faith in special, by thy 1. Wit, 2. Wealth, 3. Power, 4. Place, 5. Authority, 6. Credit with great men, (as Nehemias and Mardocheus did to the jews) or by any other means whatsoever. Therefore hath God put it into thy heart to build an Hospital for the distressed; to give some annual contribution to the poor; to mend some common ways for a public ease; to erect or repair some Grammar-school, for the training up of youth; to found some Fellowships or Scholarships in some College, as a furtherance to learning; to plant some Library, for a help to good Letters (like that famoused BODLEY, the Phoenix, in this kind, of our time;) or to erect and maintain in some barren place, a preaching ministery (the best work of all, because conversant about the best object, the saving of souls;) or any the like: Oh then strike whilst the Iron is hot; go about this work speedily, even as speedily as David went about the building of God's house, who would not have given any rest to the temples of his head, till he had finished what he intended, had not God stayed his resolution.  
And here I cannot but take notice of the preposterous charity of some, that do little or no good living (unless to themselves, and those to whom Nature ties them) yet after their death they do some good, by their Deputies, and Assigns, and Executors (which oft-times aiming at their own ends, by some qui●ques and evasions, prove executioners of the desires of the deceased, rather than Executors) yet suppose the Will be Legally performed, what may be censured of thine intent, that hast been close-handed in life, and now art seemingly open-hearted at thy death? First, that thou givest what thou canst no longer retain: Secondly, or thou givest to good uses, what thou hast got by ill means: or thirdly, that conscience accusing thee, thou wouldst stop the mouth of it, by this sop, cast to that barking Cerberus within thee, as judas did, by casting away his thirty pieces of silver, the price of blood, Mat. 27. Fourthly, or else from some opinion of satisfaction for bypassed sins, or present merit, with our blinded Papists: but chiefly the censorious Critical world will judge, that if thou hadst not parted with the world, thou hadst not departed with thy bewitching wealth: therefore All that thine hand shall find to do, do it with all thy power, Eccles. 9.10. For there is neither work, nor invention, nor knowledge in the place whither thou goest: to Salomon's counsel I join Paul's; Do good to all whilst thou hast time, Gal. 6.10. Do what service thou canst to God's Church, to the Commonwealth, to every particular man, chiefly to the poor members of CHRIST.  
Oh what a comfort will it be to thee, if thou hast been bountiful and beneficial to the distressed, when thou canst say on thy sick Couch, with Nehemias in another case; Lord remember me concerning this good work, and concerning that good work, Nehem. 13.22. Oh blessed is he that judgeth wisely of the poor, the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble: the Lord will strengthen him ●pon his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his bed in his sickness, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 41. ver. 1.3.  

A good conscience in life, brings peace in death.  seventhly, keep a good conscience with God and man, that it may be a continuated comforter unto thee, as in life, so in the agonies of death, as it was to Paul in all his pressures, Acts 24.16. and as it is to the Saints in all their sorrows a continual feast, Prou. 15.15. a perpetual Christ-tide, a jubilee in the jaws of death, a peace passing all understanding, Phil. 2. For, as the want of this is the Rack and gibbet unto the wicked, the greatest heaviness and plague, Sirach. 25.15. as the Wiseman terms it; a plague of plagues, an evil which goes beyond all evil that tongue can speak, as even 
a servus in Mustell.  Plautus and 
b Lib. de moribus.  Seneca have thought it: the greatest wound and grief that can be sustained, as Solomon determines it, Prou. 18.14. nay, the very flashes and Prologue to hell, as judas Latomus and Hoffmeister have tried it in their despairing deaths: so the enjoying of a good conscience is the greatest joy; 
c Hugo lib. 2 de anima. cap. 9  Hugo calls it the Temple of Solomon, the Field of Benediction, the Garden of delight, the treasury of the King: the house of God, the habitation of the holy Ghost; the Book sealed, and shut, to be opened in the day of judgement; the very thing (saith Ambrose 
d Lib. 2. de officijs. ,) that makes a blessed life, yea, and (I may add withal) a blessed death: for, to use the words of 
e Bern. in Serm.  Bernard, as he prepares a good dwelling for God, whose Will hath not been perverted, nor Reason deceived, nor Memory defiled, so God prepares a dwelling for him that is pure in heart and soul, Psal. 15.1.2. and in whose spirit there is no guile, Psal. 32.2. Of which blessed mansion they have some taste even in death, that keep a good conscience in life.  
Hence is it that the godly take there deaths patiently like sheep, sing joyfully like the Swan, as Martyrs have done at the stake, and as did our good Simeon: when the wicked dye like Swine repiningly, like the Hiaena ragingly.  
Naturalists 
f Cicero lib. 1. Tuscul. quaest.  write, that the warm sweet blood recoiling to the heart of the Swan, tickleth her with such a secret delight, that it makes her sing even in her death. chose, when the Hiaena is in dying, the black and distempered blood gathers to her heart, which makes her sad and mournful. This is worth applying: the conscience of holy actions so warms the hearts of God's Servants, with that inward joy, that they die singing their Hosannas, triumphing and rejoicing in spirit: but the consciousness of wicked ways and works of darkness, oaths, uncleanness, profaneness, etc. like streams of black blood recoils back upon, and clogs the hearts of the Sons of Belial, which makes them die as woefully and cursedly, as they have lived recklessly and wickedly: oh therefore good Readers, who ever you are, Ministers or Lay-men, keep a good conscience I entreat you, with God and with man, in all your ways and walkings, in your courses, callings, functions and trade; that in your deaths you may show yourselves the Lord's Sheep, the Lords Swans, like Simeon; not the devils Swine and Hell's Hiaena's.  
Now thou art to be directed in some duties in thy sickness, the probable summoner of thy death: for, though God only know when death is nearest, he having as the keys of the heavens, and the keys of the heart, so the keys of the earth, and of the grave, of life and of death, 1 Sam. 2.6. yet it is probable that life is nearest expiring, when sickness is approaching; as the walls are nearest ruin, when the Cannon is laid to batter them. Now these Directions I refer to these three heads. First, respect God; secondly, thyself▪ thirdly, others.  
In respect of God: first, renew thy former repentance, seek earnestly to be reconciled to God in christ; get more assurance of the Mercy, Favour, and Love of God towards thee; gather together all thy spiritual forces; strive and wrestle courageously against Diffidence, Distrust, Infidelity, and Despair, like an active runner, show some brunts as it were of inward strength, even when thou seest the Goal, and art nearest the end of thy race. Now, for strengthening thy Faith, and renewing thy Repentance the better, take this course.  
First, when Sickness or Infirmity seizeth on thee, consider that it ariseth not from 1. Chance, 2. Fortune, 3. Rawness of Wether, 4. Ill Air, 5. Bad Diet, 6. Catching of cold, or the like (which are either no causes at all, or else only secondary) but by an immediate providence.  
Secondly, search out the cause for which God afflicts thee, and thou shalt by the light of the word and of thine own conscience, find, that the cause is thy sin: other causes there may be, as CHRIST shows in the case of the blind man, who neither sinned nor his Parents, john 9.2. As 1. trial of Faith; 2. of Patience, as in jobs case; 3. exciting to Prayer and Repentance, as in Ezekias case, Esay 38.1. 4. to prevent sin, to which Nature and corruption inclines; 5. the Humiliation of pride; 6. manifestation of the works of God oft cause the Lord to visit even his own sons with sicknesses and divers diseases, but in Gods revealed will, sin is the ordinary cause, as appears, Deut. 
Six causes of sickness besides our sins.  28.21. Leut. 26. etc. Sin caused the Egyptians Botches, Exod. 9.10. the Philistines Emerods', 1 Sam. 5.6. the Widow of Sarepta's sons sickness, 1 King. 17.18. and therefore when CHRIST cured the bodies of his Patients, he first remits the sins of their souls, & so removes the cause, Mat. 9.2. john 5.14. as in the blind man, and the sick of the Palsy.  

Five duties to be done in sickness.  Thirdly, when thou hast felt thine own pulse, and laid the finger on the right cause, which is sin; then by examination of thine own heart find out what special sin causeth thy present scourge: oh search thyself thoroughly, Zeph. 2.1. examine thy soul narrowly, Psal. 4.4. Play the self Constable, make privy search in every room within the house of thy heart, for thy secret sins, as for privy Traitors.  
Fourthly, when thou hast found them out confess them, bring them to the strict bar of God's justice, arraign them; nay, be thyself a Witness against them; yea, a judge to condemn them, as Paul prescribes the Corinthians, in the like case, 1 Cor. 11.30.31. and as David practised in his own particular, Psal. 32.5.  
Fiftly▪ supplicate and entreat the supreme judge of Heaven (that may condemn thee, or reprieve thee) to pity thee, and pardon thee. jeremy and Hosee will direct thee how to put up thy supplications in forma pauperis, as a poor penitent, and what words to use, that will plead and prevail for pardon, Lam. 3.40.41. Hosee 6.1. David sets thee an holy Precedent, most beseeming thy imitation, who when he was sick, at least upon the occasion of his sickness, penned special Psalms of repentance; as namely, Psal. 6. the 22. the 38. the 29. which I prescribe to be read of thee, repeated, and applied with David's heart: also, as spiritual Physic, 1. to purge the ill humours of thine heart; 2. to quicken thy dullness, 3. to excite thy deadness; 4. to inflame thy desires; 5. to comfort thy conscience; 6. to strengthen thy faith. 7. to prepare thee to Prayer: 
What Scriptures are fittest to be read of a sick man.  read seriously the History of Christ's Passion, recorded, Luke 22.23. Chap. the 29. Psalm, the 42. Psalm, the 51. Psalm, the 143. Psalm, the 14. Chapter of job, the 11. the 14. the 17. Chapter of Saint john Ecclesiastes Chap. 1. Dan. Chap. 9 Romans Chap 8. the 7. Chap. of the Apocalypse, 1 Cor. 15. Chap. these will give thee some holy heat.  
Thus thou hast the true preparatives in thy sickness in respect of God: they are the more worthy remembrance because so few follow them; for alas, how many that have lived long in the bosom of the Church; are so far from renewing their▪ Faith and Repentance, that when they lie sick and are drawing to their deaths, they must be catechised (as Christ did Nicodemus, and Philip the Eunuch) even in the main doctrines of Faith and Repentance; like as some new converted Pagans were in the Primitive Church. There be few Ministers acquainted with visiting the sick, but they shall find that men that have been under the means, twenty, thirty, or forty years; do, at the end of all, begin to inquire as the jews of Peter, Acts 2. and the jailor of Pa●l, Acts 16. what they should do to be saved; not yet knowing the means and the way to salvation: which argues the great security of our age, and contempt of God: oh take thou heed betimes, use all good means beforehand, that thou mayst be able in sickness, to put in practise these spiritual exercises of Repentance and Invocation.  
The second branch of the sick man's preparation concerns himself; and that either his soul or his body: for the soul.  

D. Maxeys' Sermon on the Agony of Christ. Laboravi in gemitu meo.  First, the sick party must arm himself against the fear of death, and feeling of sickness. Death is very fearful to all men, even to the godly, as one observes well in David for all, who though he were neither daunted with Saul's malice, nor the Philistines hatred, nor Absalon's Treason, nor Achitophel's treachery, nor in grappling with a Lion, nor in fight with a Bear, nor encountering Goliath, yet when Death began to close with him, and lay hold on him, than he cries out; Oh I am troubled above maesure. Oh spare me a little, Psal. 6.3. & 39.13. Therefore, thus encourage thy present feeling, and greater fear.  
First, that sickness, and so death, is the rod of a Father, not the whip of a judge, the correction, not destruction of a Son, Heb. 12.6.  
Secondly, since it is the Lord, say with Eli, L●t him do what seems good, 1 Sam. 3.18. His will be done on me, in me, and by me: on me, in suffering; in me, by his grace working; by me, in obeying.  
Thirdly, Christ thy high Priest and Intercessor is even touched with a fellow-feeling of all thine infirmity, Heb. 4.15.  
Fourthly, against death's fear, 1. 
Short furnitures against the feeling of sickness and fear of death.  consider the estate of thy life, which life is but a vanishing Vapour, james 4.14. a Weathercock which turns at every blast, a Wave which surgeth at every storm, a Reed blown with every wind, a Warfare as doubtful as dangerous, fear not the vanishing of a Vapour, the turning of a Weathercock. 2. Consider thy body as a body of sin Rom. 7.24 the souls prison, the minds jail, the spirits cage: no Bocardo dungeon, sink, puddle, pit, is so noisome to the body, as itself is to the heavenly inspired soul. Now since death is the leaving of this body of sin, as Augustine calls it 
b Super johan. : it is not to be eschewed, but embraced, saith Chrisostome 
c Super Mat. 11. 4. Reason's why the sick man should set his soul in order. . Other encouragements I leave to their due places.  
The second duty which concerns the soul, is this; thou must set in order thy soul, reconciling and recommending unto God this desolate darling of thine, after the manner afore said: for, as the sickness of the body oft comes from the sin of the soul; so, the curing of the one, oft procures the health of the other: but if thy sickness be to death, by this course: 1. thou shalt die more quietly, 2. more comfortably, 3. give good example to thy visitors, 4. leave a comfort to thy surviving Friends.  
Now, for the performance of these things the better, others ought to assist thee, as others brought the sick of the Palsy to CHRIST, Mark 2. james tells thee that the Elders of the Church must be sent for, jam. 5.14. which Elders were not only Apostles, but ancient men endued with the spirit of Prayer, and gift of Miracles; a gift which not only many Parents had, but even Christian Soldiers, saith Tertullian, de corona militis, c. 11. In these times S. james his rule still holds: though then those gifts cease, yet make thou choice of such Christians, as have the spirit of Admonition, Exhortation, Prayer, etc. for to their prayers for thee a blessing is promised, james 5.15. their prayers, if they be fervent, may prevail for the restoring of thy spiritual life, or corporal health, as the prayers of 
d 1 King. 17 17  Elias, 
e 2 Kin. 4.31  Elizeus, 
f Act. 20.10.  Paul, and our 
g joh. 11.14  Saviour Christ, prevailed for whom they prayed; but chiefly, send for thy Minister, or some faithful Preacher: for, he will play the part of a spiritual Physician; 1. he can unrip thy ulcers, 
10. Reason's why the sick must send for his Minister.  search thy sores better than thou thyself; 2. set before thee thy sins; 3. cast thee down by the Law; 4. raise thee up by the Gospel; 5. comfort, 6. direct, 7. instruct thee; 8. speak a word to thee in due season from God; 9 be thy mouth to speak, from thee, and for thee, to God; 10. pronounce thy pardon on earth, which shall be ratified in heaven, upon trial of thy Repentance, john 20.23. The practice of the world and worldlings is condemnable in this case: for alas, instead of sending for knowing and zealous men, which could comfort them with such consolations wherewith they themselves have been comforted, 2 Cor. 1.4. and in some measure restore them, Gal. 6.1. they send for their carnal friends, entertain and welcome profane men that come to visit them; from whom they receive as much comfort as judas did of the Scribes and pharisees, when he was in despair, Mat. 27.3.4. First, either they say nothing to them (like jobs friends, that were silent seven days, job 2.13.) and in silence look upon them (like a Deer at gaze. 
The small comfort that a sick man gets from carnal visitors. ) Secondly, or else they speak to little or no purpose; saying to the sick party, they are sorry to see him in such a case, they would have him take (that which themselves want) a good heart, and be of good courage and comfort, but wherein and by what means, they cannot tell. Others more vainly and profanely, that they doubt not but he shall do well enough, and recover, and that they shall be merry and drink and carouse together, as they have done before, etc. and they will pray for them if they will, when alas, all their prayers are nothing else, but the Apostles Creed, or the ten Commandments, and the Lords Prayer uttered without Faith, Feeling, and Understanding; and this is the common comfort that sick men get of their neighbours and friends, when they come to visit them: alas, we may say (as job of his friends) miserable comforters be they all.  
Secondly, herein many men are also culpable, 1. that they either send not for a Minister at all; 2. or else for such a one as is as good as none, a cloud without rain, a dry pit without water; such a one as wants the tongue of the learned, to speak to him, or the heart of the humble, to pray for him, unless in saying (as they say) some set prayers; which good Sir john is as far from truly praying, as the sick Patient is from profiting by them. Or thirdly, if they send for a Minister it is preposterously, when it is too late, in some main exigent, when they see no way but one; 
The Minister is to be sent for before the Physician.  Oh then send for a Preacher, send for a Minister, as Pharaoh in his deep distresses, knowing no means of evasion, sends for Moses, and sends for Aaron, Exod. 9.27. whom in his welfare he both despised And despited. If jannes' and jambres, Astronomers and Astrologers, could have helped Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron should never have been sought to, nor God by their means. If Physicians and Galens' Art, Nature's Simples (nay, with some, if Sorcerers, and white Witches and Satan's power) or the virtues of the waters, or aught else, could comfort their souls or cure their bodies, the Preacher should be unsought to, or unsent for of many, that in their health have hated him and his doctrine, as much as Ahab hated Michay and his Ministry, 1 Kings 22.8. 
Vbi de●ini●▪ Theologus, ibi incipi● Medicus.  Oh what an unequal course is this, that although till help be had for the soul, and sin, which is the root of sickness, be cured, Physic to the body seldom avails? (for which cause the Physician should begin where the Divine ends;) yet usually the Divine begins when the Physician makes an end; nay, oft when life is making an end: the Physicians are sent for in the beginning of sickness, we in the end of life, when a man is half dead; yea, when he lies drawing on, and gasping for breath, as though we were able then to work Miracles, and recover him.  
If I knew not these things by experience, if I had not been present with some, of whose sickness I never heard, till I came to the closing up of their dying eyes; if I had not spent much spirits with some that were no more intelligent what I prayed, or what I said, than stocks and stones, who for a good space before, in their sickness, had strength of Memory and natural powers, I should not now so occasionedly have given thee a caveat to prevent the like preposterous course, when God casts thee on thy sicke-bed.  
Now follows such duties as concern the body of the sick man: they are two; 1▪ using, 2. right using the means. The means is, good and wholesome Physic, which we must esteem as an ordinance of God for our recovery in this case. For how ever many (chiefly the vulgar and common people) despise Physic as a thing needless and unprofitable, having from blindness and ignorance a prejudicate opinion of it, yet the Scriptures approve it, Mat. 9.13. the Saints of God have practised it. Ezekias by the Prophet's prescription, applied to his boil, a lump of dry Figs, 2 Kings 10.7. which Figs, 
Galen lib. 1. de arte curate. c. 6.  even Galen prescribes as an ordinary medicine to soften and ripen tumors in the flesh: therefore the cure was not altogether miraculous, (as some think) but in part natural. Besides, 
The lawful use of Physic plainly proved.  did not the Samaritan, Luke 10.34. pour into the wounds of him that traveled from jerusalem to jericho, Wine and Oil; which Valesius makes a right Physical practice; Wine serving to cleanse the wound and ease the pain within; Oil to supple the flesh, and assuage the pain without: to which kind of curing it seems Esay hath relation, Esay 1.6. Besides, as the phrase is, as there is no sore but there is a salve for it, so God hath given unto some men, Art and Skill, how to apply the medicinable virtues that are in Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Herbs, Plants and Fruits, etc. to the cure of man: which who so neglects, neglects the means, and so directly tempts God; in which respect his death can neither be so comfortable, nor conscionable, as if he had submitted himself to this ordinance of God. Therefore since thou mayst use Physic lawfully and commendably, let it be thy care in the second place, to make choice of such a Physician, as is skilful and conscionable.  
I know there are some of great 
h Forrest de urine. Indicijs lib. 3. Lang. lib. 2 Epist. 41.  judgement, that do accept against the skill of those Physicians that administer to their Patients upon the bare inspect of their Urine, without further knowledge of their estates; affirming this judging by the urine to be very deceitful, since the water of him that hath the Pleurisy, or the Inflammations of the Lungs, or the Squinancy, as also of him that hath a quartan, or any intermitting Fever (chiefly if they have kept a good diet from the beginning) looks, for substance and colour, as the water of a whole man. Others take also exception against those which will administer no Physic, nor use Phlebotomy, without the direction of judicial Astrology, a supposed Art, in which there is much superstition, little certainty 
i See Heidon against jud. ●s●ro. S● H●i● is preservative against the poison o●●p●osed prophecies. , whereas it is thought that it is a far better course to consider the matter of the disease, with the disposition and ripening of it, as also the courses, and Symptoms, and Crisis of it, then to minister Purgations, and let blood▪ no otherways then they are counseled by the constitutions of the Stars. But I meddle not with their Mysteries; I see but with others eyes in this case; I know the Cobbler is not to go beyond his last, only make thou choice of a meet Physician for thy health, as thou art careful of a good Lawyer for thine estate, and of a good Divine for thy soul. Meddle not with Empirics, Quacksalvers, Women●Physitians, and the like, who oft do more harm then good.  
Now, in the third place, 
What to do in taking Physic.  use this means of Physic conscionably: 1. Let it be sanctified unto thee (as thy meat and thy drink) by the Word of God and Prayer, 1 Tim. 4.3. 
5. Rules observable in the use of physic.  Commend it to God's blessing for restoring of thy health, if it be the will of God. 2. Humble thy soul, that God may heal thy body. 3. Persuade thyself that it can neither prevent old age nor death, but still prepare thyself for thy departure. 4. Rely not only upon the means, but wait God's leisure in blessing the means. 5. If thou recover, be thankful to God: a duty much neglected (as it was of Ezekias, as also of the nine cleansed Lepers in the Gospel) so of many in our days, for which the Lord is angry even as he was with them, 2 Chron. 32.24 25. Luke 17.17. wherein they are more unthankful unto God than the Ephesians were to Esculapius, that writ in Tables all the cures done by Physic, and hung it up in Diana's Temple, where Hipocrates found it.  
Thus thou hast the duty to be performed in sickness both in respect of thy soul and body, for the furtherance of thy peaceable departure.  
I should now conclude, but that the cursed custom of the world calls me in conscience to condemn the practice of those, that contrary to these prescriptions, from the Word, in their sickness, seek for help from Satan, (as Ahazia that sent to Baalzebub the God of Ekron) and that either directly, or secondarily, when they run to Conjurers, Soothsayers, Charmers, Enchanters, Witches, Wizards, Wisemen, and Wisewomen, (as the unwise deluded Countrypeople call them) who are in far more respect with the common people (and some great ones too) and more sought after, then either God is sought to by prayer, or the Physicians for Physic: for, if any of these simple souls be in any extremity, by sickness or diseases, or their Wives, Children, etc. even as they do also (like beasts) for their beasts and cattle: such a Wiseman, such a Wise-woman, such an old Hag, such a white Witch, such a shee-divell must be sent to. 
Earnest invectives against such as in extremities seek to Witches and Charmers, with disswasives from such Idolatry.  Alas, what is this, but to run from the God of Israel to the God of Ekron, from Samuel in Ramoth, to the Witch at Endor, from the Rivers of Samaria to the Waters of Damascus, from the living to the dead, from God to the Devil? What is this but to fall down and worship the Devil, to sacrifice to him with the poor Virginians, and the Heathenish Savages? Oh Atheistical Sots, is there not a God in Israel?  
Therefore take thou heed of this cursed course, and Satanical practice in thy sickness: for alas, to run a whoring after such, is not the way to cure thee, but to kill thee; for this heinous sin usually provokes the Lord to plague the practisers of it, even with death itself, as the Lord himself threatens, that he will purposely set his face against those that work with Spirits, etc. yea, and that he will cut them off to from amongst his people, Leuit. 20.6▪ So the Lord verified this threat in Ahazia: for, because he did seek to Baalzebub, and not to the God of Israel, in his sickness, God sends Elias directly to tell him, that for that cause, he should not come down from his bed, but should die the death, as indeed he did, 1 Kings 1.6. So Saul was slain notwithstanding that he went to the Witch at Endor, 1 Sam. 31.  
Oh that our common people would read and remember this, 
Against seeking to Witches & Charmers, in sickness.  that in stead of getting help by such Satanical means as thy use, they provoke the Lord (as Paul tells the Corinthians in another case, of receiving the Sacrament unworthily, 1 Cor. 11.29.30.) to plague them either with further diseases, or else with death itself, as he did Saul and Ahazia.  
Secondly, suppose thou shouldest get help, it is by the devils means, and who would go to such a filthy Physician?  
Thirdly, if by this means thou be relieved, thy soul is a thousand times more prejudiced; the cure of thy body is the curse of thy soul; thou procures the health of the one by the sickness of the other; so thy salve is worse than thy sore: therefore when Satan and his Instruments can help thy health, so much as Superstition and Idolatry in seeking to them, hinders thy salvation, than I shall say to thee (as Elizeus to Naaman (Go in peace, even to the house of Rimmon.  
Others there be that use other means, which have no warrant: of which kind are those that use any manner of Charms or Spells, or that hang about their necks Characters and Figures, either in Paper, Wood, or Wax, etc. which are all vain and superstitious, because neither by creation, nor by any ordinance in God's word they have any power to cure diseases: for, words do only signify, Figures can but only represent.  
Indeed I confess, there are some things that have some virtue in them, being hung about the neck, as white 
k Galen. lib. 6. & 10 de simple. Medic.  Peonie in this kind, is good against the falling-sickness; and Wolfes-dung, tied to the body, is good against the Colic; so there are many the like, which have not their operation by Enchantment, but from an inward virtue: but all Annulets and Ligatures, etc. which work not by some virtual contract, must needs have their power from the Devil.  
The last duty which must be done in sickness, is relative, concerning others: of which briefly, even as we have spoke of those that concern God and ourselves. Others I call either our Enemies or our Friends: those without us, or our own Families.  
First, to thy enemy thou must be reconciled; forgive him, and desire to be forgiven of him: thou art now about not to offer a Lamb or a Bullock, as in the Levitical law, but thyself, thy body, thy soul a sacrifice to GOD, Rom. 12.1. Oh then first be reconciled to thy God ere thou offer thy gift, Mat. 5.23. Now, if the party whom thou hast injured, either be absent, or present and will not relent; yet thou in seeking peace hast discharged thy conscience, and God will accept thy will for the deed.  
Secondly, if thou hast wronged any man by any manner of Injustice whatsoever, secretly or openly, thou must make restitution, evil gotten goods must be restored, be they gotten by Usury, Oppression, Extortion, keeping the pawn, the pledge, or by any sinister means whatsoever: the LORD strictly enjoins it, Leuit. 6. vers. 1.2.3.4. Zacheus practised it, Luke 14. The Law of Nations and of Nature approves it, and the very Law that is writ within us doth press and urge it.  
The practice of the world is against both these rules: for alas, are there not many whose malice is (like coals of juniper) unquenchable? The throwing of dust amongst buzzing Bees, makes them quiet; but the summons to their dust, causeth not some to leave their waspishness: they carry wrath boiling within their breasts, as in a Furnace, even to Tophet, the fire and Furnace of Hell; never purposing to forget nor forgive; nay, wishing that their very spirits could torture and torment their enemies after their dissolution. And for restitution, how few be there that once dream of it, 
Reconciliation with enemies, & restitution in wrongs, in sickness to be practised.  much less determine it? in which case they come far short of judas, who at his desperate death would restore those thirty pieces which he got in life with the price of blood, Mat. 27.4.5. In which those men do not only prejudice their own souls, but their Children also and posterity, even in earthly things, in leaving to them riches wrongfully got, which bring deservedly the curse of God upon all the rest of that estate which they bequeath unto them; according to the phrase: 
De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres.  
Goods evil got, who ere enjoy them,  
Help not the third heirs, but annoy them.  like that coal of fire which the ravenous Eagle carried to her nest, which set all the rest of the nest on fire.  
Thirdly, thou must have a special care to provide for the peace, welfare, and prosperity of those that are committed to thy charge, that it may go well with them after thy death.  
The Magistrate, after the example of Moses, 
Deut. 31.1. josh▪ 25. 1 King. 2.  joshua, and David, must provide for the godly and peaceable estate of that Town, City, or Commonwealth, over which he is set, 
Magistrates, Ministers and Masters must provide for the good of their charges, even after their death.  that pure Religion may be maintained, outward Peace established, civil justice executed, etc.  
The Minister, as much as he can, when he is in dying, must cast to provide for the continuance of the good estate of that Flock, over which the holy Ghost hath made him Overseer. Thus our Saviour himself, the chief Shepherd, had a care of his Flock, ere he left them; he moderates the mourning of the Daughters of jerusalem; gives Commission to his Disciples to teach all Nations, Mat. 28. ●9. comforts them with the promised Comforter, john 16.7, Thus Peter endeavoured, that those to whom he writ and preached, should have remembrance of what he taught them, even after his departure, 1 Peter 1.15. If Peter's pretended Successors stood not so much on their personal succession, as they should in the right of succession, labouring to imitate the doctrine of Peter, of the Prophets, and Apostles; nay, if this care of doctrinal succession were in the Ministers of the reformed Religion, we should not have here so much blindness and ignorance, where once was light; there so many Schisms, Errors and Heresies, where once was an unity in verity; elsewhere so many Wolves come into the rooms of faithful Pastors, Acts. 20 ver. 29.  
Thirdly, if thou be'st a Master of a Family, thou must set thine house in order, as the Prophet from God commands Ezekias, Esa. 38.1. Now for as much as all Scripture is from God, 2 Tim. 3.16. 2 Pet. 1.20. and all examples are for our learning, Rom. 15.4 what was said to Ezekias, is said to every man, Set thine house in ordrr. For, Order (saith Nazianzen 
l De moderatione in disputat. ser●anda. ) is the mother and preserver of all things. Now for the procuring this order in thy Family, do two things: 1. concerns the temporal: 2. the spiritual estate of thy Family.  
For the first, make thy Will and Testament, thou shouldest make it in thy health, as Abraham did 
m Gen. 17. , who in his health makes a Will and gives Legacies: but chiefly in thy sickness, as did Isaac 
n Gen 27. ; and jacob in that prophetical Testament of his. Gen. 49. So some thus set down Christ's Will on the Cross 
o Luke 23.46.52. joh. 19.27. Luke 23.43.34. : he gives his Soul to his Father, his loving Mother, to his beloved Disciple john, his body to joseph of Aramathia, to the penitent Thief Paradise, to the jews his heartiest desires, when he prays for them, etc. Now, 
5 Reason's why a sick man must make his Will.  it is not a matter of indifferency, but a thing that conscience binds thee to, even to make a Will, and to distribute thine inheritance, as Siracides counsels, Syr. 33.22. for thus discharging a good conscience, thou mayst more freely depart in peace, as a man takes his journey more freely when he hath set his house in order.  
Secondly, 
Rom. 16. 1●  so thou cuttest off many contentions, and stayest many suits in Law.  
Thirdly, thou takest away scandal and offence, and so preuentest a woe threatened, Mat. 18.7.  
Fourthly, thou shalt be thought a wise man, and not die like a Nabal and a fool, in setting all at six and seven, and so shalt leave behind thee a good name, as a precious Ointment, Eccles. 7.3.  
Fiftly, thou shalt in this imitate God, who is the God of order and not of confusion.  
Now in the manner of making thy Will, let the Rules be, 1. the Law of GOD, 2. of Nature, 3. of that Nation whereof thou art a member, 4. of common equity. If thy will be against any of these rules, it is culpable. First, than it is Gods will to prefer thine own blood, in disposing of thy estate, before others; as GOD tells Abraham, that Eliazer, a stranger, shall not be his heir, but his own Son, 
4. Maine rules in making all Wills.  Gen. 15.4. The like, God commands the Israelites, that if any man die, his Son shall be his heir; if he have no Son, his Daughter; if no Daughter, his Brethren; so descending still to the next of kin, Numb. 27.8.17. It is a fault then for any man to alienate his goods or lands wholly from his blood and posterity, the light of Grace and of Nature to, condemns it; even the very Schools of 
p Lib. 2. de rep. polit.  Plato and 
q Lib 2 c. 8  Aristotle.  
Secondly, those are culpable, that give all to the eldest, and little or nothing to the rest; or all to Sons, nothing to Daughters: for, though it be equal that the eldest have more than the rest: First, because he is the eldest, the Re●ben, and first strength of the Father. Secondly, because Stocks and Families are preserved in their persons. Thirdly, that they may do special services to the Commonwealth: yet it is exceeding unequal to give so much to the eldest, as though he should be my young Master, and a Gentleman, and the younger borne to bear the wallet; as though he only were a Son, and the rest Illegitimate. Fourthly, in the Laws of equity, remember him with something, or her, in thy Will, that have been trusty and faithful Servants to thee: gratify in thy death, their loves, labours, and strength spent for thee: deal not with them (as the Spaniel with the water) shake them not off when thou hast no more use of them. Secondly, allot some Legacies to thy friends, as memorials of thy lasting love. Thirdly, as thou art able remember the Church of God, and those that are in it, poor Ministers, or poor Members. Fourthly, such Societies in the Commonwealth as thou hast lived in.  
Now, concerning the spiritual estate of thy Family, teach, instruct, exhort, admonish, and pray for every particular person in thy Family. In this, read, and imitate the example of David, 1 Kings 2. the whole Chapter. Exhort thy Wife to be the Spouse of CHRIST; thy Children, God's Children; thy Friends, God's Friends; thy Servants, Gods Servants: so shall God, and God's Spirit, give that testimony of thee, that he did of Abraham, Gen. 18.19. even for instructing thy Family after thee. The practice of these Precepts concerns thy peace, both in sickness and in death.  
Lastly, when thou feelest Death approaching, coming near to the Agony and pangs of it; then, with the Mariners, stern aright, to get into the Haven: there is the greatest danger, and if recovered the greatest joy.  
Now labour, as thou hast lived, so to die by Faith. Now apply the Promise to thy Soul; trust in it, let it quicken thee, as it did David, Psal. 119.49. Comfort thyself (as that persecuted Patriarch did, 
A christian carriage prescribed even in the hour of death.  when Death was before him) even in the Lord thy God, 1 Sam. 30.6. Now let God be the strength of thy heart, even when thy flesh fails, and thy heart also, Psal. 73.26. Now with the Israelites, look to him with the eye of Faith, of whom the brazen Serpent was a figure, even when the Serpent Death embraceth thee to sting thee, john 3.14. Now call to mind all the former mercies of thy God, to thy soul, and suck spiritual sweetness from them. Now, with Moses, cry unto God, even when thou seest the dead Sea, (as he the red Sea) before thee, Exod. 14. Now pray with all thy powers and spirits; love the Lord with all thy heart and affections; rejoice that thou art going to meet thy Bridegroom: now mourn and weep more than ever, that thou hast offended so good, so gracious, and so loving a GOD: Now, with Ezekias, remember thy former sins, in the bitterness of thy soul, turn thyself to the wall and weep in the secret silence of thy Soul, Esay 38.3. that so thou washing thy soul with penitent tears, thy CHRIST may, at that instant, wash away the pollutions of it with his blood: that so it may be presented spotless before the Lords Tribunal, whither it is approaching: that so (as it is said of the Dove and the Eagle, that when they have plunged their wings in the water, they are better fitted for their flight) thou plunging thyself into the troubled Bethesda pool of thy repentant tears, distilling from the Limbeck of a remorseful heart, thy soul may take the wings of a Dove, and fly out of the Cage and Coat of thy body, to her eternal rest in Abraham's bosom. Now with Simeons' heart, sing Simeons' Song: now awaken all thy powers, to praise the Lord; so (as in singing we ascend to higher notes,) thy soul leaving the earth of thy body, shall with the Lark mount still higher and higher; nay, it shall be carried up on the wings of waiting Angels, till it be transcendent amongst the Quires of those heavenly Hierarchies, that sing continual Halleluiah's unto the once incarnate, now deified Lamb, even Simeons' Lord, that sits upon the throne. To whom, with the Father, and the eternal Spiri●▪ a Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, as his due, and our duty, from the ground of our hearts and souls, be ascribed all Honour, Glory, Power, Majesty, and Mercy, of us and all Churches▪ now and for evermore. Amen.    

Necessary Encouragements, and Comforts, against the grievances of several Crosses.  
Because that many are too much dejected, and disconsolate, at the death of their friends, Parents for Children, Children for Parents, Husbands for Wives, and Wives for Husbands, Brother for Brother, and Friend for Friend, mourning (like 
* jer. 31.16.  Rachel for her Children) and will not be comforted: let these Motives move thee to take truce with thy tears, and not to sorrow as did the Heathens without hope.  
1 KNOW and acknowledge that it is GOD that hath taken away thy friend, the pleasure of thine eyes, thy Wife, or the like; therefore, as God said to Ezekiel in the like case, Mourn not, nor weep, neither let thy tears run down: cease from sighing, and make no mourning for the dead, Ezek. 24.16.17. Murmur not as did the rebellious Israelites, when their Brethren were taken away, Numb. 16.41. Kick not against the prick. Act. 9.5. resist not God with a stiff and uncircumcised heart; Act. 7.51. but, like an obedient child, embrace the stroke of thy Father, and kiss the rod.  
2. The Saints of God have been patient spectators of the deaths of as near and dear friends, as any thou hast parted withal; whose Patience, in this cross, I propound unto thee to imitate, as james propounds jobs Patience to be imitated in every cross, james 5.11. Thus Adam and Eu● saw the death of their son Abel, Gen. 4. Noah the destruction of the whole world, by the Deluge, Gen. 7. Abraham, of Terah his Father, Gen. 11.32. so, of his dear Wife Sarah: Gen. 23.2. L●t, of his Wife: Gen. 19 26. Isaac, of his Mother, and of Abraham his tender Parents: G●n. 25.8.9. jacob, of his Father Isaac, Gen. 35.29. of his beautiful and beloved Rachel. Gen. 35.19. Thus when Aaron saw his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, devoured with fire from the Lord, he held his peace: Leuit. 10.2.3. job blessed God as well when his Children were slain, as his goods embezzled: job 1.21.22. for Eli lamented the loss of the Ark, rather than the slaughter of Hophni and Phinees; for which his Daughter in-Law also was more moved, then for the death of her Husband: 1 Sam. 4. v. 18.19.20.21.22. David more bewailed the spiritual death of the souls of Ammon and Absalon then the corporal deaths of their bodies, thy dying in their sins of Incest and Treason 
a Crimina doluit, non exitis filiorum Amb.  2 Sam. 14.14. Lastly, the Virgin Mary and john the Disciple, stood by the Cross of Christ in his Passion, only with compassion 
b Stan●em lego, stentem non lego. Ambr. in orat. suneb. , without that outward lamentation which Christ condemned in the Daughters of jerusalem, and in them, immoderate mourning in all; Mat. 27.56. Luke 23.28. which particulars, chiefly the last, as Ambrose applied them in his Funeral Oration of Valentinian the Emperor, so they must be laid to heart in our application and imitation in every Funeral.  

Gen. 5.  3 If he died in the Faith of Christ, he is translated (like Enoch) from this life to a better; from this vail of misery to eternal glory: he is a Citizen of Heaven, an inheritor of a Kingdom. 
Luk 12. 3●.  Sorrow not for his triumph, he is gone to possess a Crown in Glorification, which was granted him in Predestination, promised him in Vocation.  
4 He is blessed, being dead in the Lord, Apoc. 14.  
5 He is returned home to his Father's house; he is gone to his better friends, even to the company of innumerable Saints and Angels, and to the Spirits of the just, Heb. 12.22.23. Mat. 22.30. Reu. 15.11. Mat. 8.11. 1 Thes. 4.17.  
6 He is inseparably united unto GOD, the chief and perfect Good: first, whom to see is tranquillity: secondly, whom to rest in is Security: thirdly, to enjoy is Felicity. Being incorporated into that City; first, whose King is Verity: secondly, the laws Charity: thirdly, the Dignities Equity: fourthly, the Life Eternity; 
Augustine. Prosper.  in which he shall be sempeternally blessed, joying in, and enjoying, first, a certain Security; secondly, a secure tranquillity; thirdly, a safe jocunditie; fourthly, happy eternity; five, an eternal felicity.  
7 He is now married unto his Bridegroom CHRIST, to whom his soul was contracted in earth, and the Marriage-feast is now solemnized in Heaven: now, thy mirth, not thy mourning, becomes a Marriage, Hos. 2.19. Mat. 22. Phil. 1.23. john 12.26. & 17.24. Luke 33.43.46. Reu. 7.17.  
8 Consider that his warfare is now at an end: his journey is finished, and his work is accomplished: if GOD had had any more work for him to have done, he should have lived longer: for, as God sweeps away the wicked when they are at the height of sin, as he did Er and Onan, Gen. 38. the Sodomites, Hophni, Phinees and Absalon; so the godly in the height of Grace.  
9 He was here a Pilgrim and a stranger, as were the patriarchs, Abraham 
c Heb. 11.9 10. Cham 13.14. , Isaac 
d Gen 47 9 , jacob 
e Psal. 39.14.  David, and the rest; now he hath hoist up sails, he is gone home into his own Country, therefore why shouldest thou grieve at his happy voyage and safe arrival?  
10 Thou hast not lost him 
* Amici mortui non amissi sed praemissi. Bern. , but left him; he is not dead but departed; nay, (as Christ said of jairus his Daughter, and 
f john 11.11.  Lazarus,) thy Friend, thy Damsel, thy Daughter, be it he or she, is not dead but sleepeth; and (as 
g Verse 2●.  Martha believed) there shall be a time when they shall waken. Now, what mother grieves that her unquiet child sleeps and takes the rest? many weep because their Children will not, or cannot sleep, few because they do sleep.  
11 He shall be restored unto thee again at the Resurrection of the just, even in his body, Psal. 17.15. job 19.25. john 5.29. as his soul is now immediately gone to God, as did the soul of Lazarus, Luke 16.22. of Stephen, Acts 7.69. of the penitent Thief, Luke 23.43. yea, of CHRIST himself, verse 46. where it remains in joy, Mat. 25. v. 21. & 23. so the body shall be reunited to it again, participating with it in glory 
h 1 Cor. 2.9.  unspeakable and 
i Mat. 25.46. john 3.16.36. 1 Thes. 4.17 2 Tim. 2.10 2 Cor 4.17.  everlasting. Therefore mourn not excessively for him, like the Gentiles, the Epicures, and Sadduces that have no hope of the Resurrection.  
12 Though he cannot come to thee, as the dead Dives desired, Luk 16.24. yet ere long thou shalt go to him, as David said of his deceased 
k 2 Sam. 12 23  Child; yea, thou shalt in all probability, know him again, in thy Glorification, as Adam knew Eve in the Creation 
l Gen. 2.23 , and as Peter knew Moses and Elias 
m Mat. 17.4.  in Christ's Transfiguration. Therefore have patience for his absence, till you meet again to your more mutual comfort, as 
n Gen. 46.29.30.  jacob met with joseph in a better place.  
13 His better part is yet living, 
Mors non interitus sed introitus, non obitus sed abitus.  his soul is immortal, john 11.25.26. only the Cage of the body is broken, and the soul, like a Bird, hath taken wings, and is at rest.  
14 His estate is now bettered, and far more blessed than it was: of a Bondman being made a Freeman. Freed by Death:  
First, from Sin, Rom. 6.7. to which here he was sold 
o Rom. 7.14 , as joseph 
p Gen. 37.28.  was sold to the Ishmaelites.  
Secondly, he is freed from the miseries of this life, the punishments of Sin 
q Rom. 6 23 , as from a prison, by this Goal-delivery Death: his pains 
r Gen. 3.16.17.18.19.  in this life 
s Lu. 16.25 , concluding in the pleasures of the next.  
Thirdly, he is free from the Gunne-shot of the world, and from those evils which are foretold in the last times, Mat. 24. Luke 21.25.26. 1 Tim. 4.1.2. 2 Tim. 3.1. ad 9 Chap. 4. ver. 3.4. 2 Pet. 2.1.2.3.  
Fourthly, from the vanity under which all the Creatures groan. Rom. 8.20.21.22.  
Fiftly, beside, he is with Triumph and honour recalled from exile and banishment, as was once Themistocles amongst the Athenians, 
judg. 1.7.8.9.  and Iphtah amongst the Israelites, to receive dignities in his own Country, from whence his soul came. Now, are any Parents sorry, when their Children, of Bond men, are enfranchised; of Prentices, are made Freemen? Is any man grieved that his distressed and disgraced friend is recalled home from Banishment, and that by the King himself? Now, this is thy case, if thou take pains to apply it.  
15 In thy exceeding sorrow thou laments what could not be prevented: for he was one of the Sons of Adam 
t Gen 3.19. Heb. 9 ult. , therefore borne to die 
u Pro. 26.6. Quod generatur corrumpitur. Quod oritur moritur. Seriu● aut citius metam properamus ad unam. ; he could not escape the stroke, as the Swallow by flying. For, the God of Nature now confirms the Principles of Nature; that whatsoever hath motion by generation, must have a cessation from motion by corruption.  
16 Thy case is not alone, but thou hast millions and thousands, both in the Christian and Heathenish world, sailing, at this instant, all along with thee in the Sea of sorrow, driven with the winds of their own sighs and sobs, for the like, or greater crosses than thine, bewailing public and private calamities. 
Solamen misoris socios habuisse doloris.  Therefore if companions in grief (as the phrase is) mitigate grief, then let society assuage thy Sorrow.  
17 Thy impatient sorrow, 1. hurts thyself, 2. preiudiceth thy health, 3. consumes thy moisture, 4. occasionedly shortens thy life, 
1 Cor. 7.16.  5. Discontents thy friends, 6. displeaseth thy God: therefore either moderate it, or leave it off: or, (which is best of all) turn the stream of it, from a natural to a spiritual, from a carnal to a Christian sorrow for thy special sins, which is that godly sorrow 
x joel 2.12 13. v. 17.  commanded of God, 
y 1 Sam 7.6 Esay 38.3. Mark 9 24 Mat. 26.75 Luke 7.  practised by the Saints, 
z 2 Cor. 7.10.11.  causing repentance unto salvation, never to be repent of.  
Thy extreme sorrow for the dead is as fruitless as faithless, as unprofitable to the dead, or to the living, to others and thyself, as unpleasant: therefore let David's considerations when his Child was dead, be thy directions, 2 Sam. 12.22.23.  
The Lord is still living, who is thy Head, thy Husband, thy Father, thy Mother, thy brother, thy sister, all in all unto thee, if thou hearest him, believest in him, and obeyest 
a Luke 8.21  him: therefore, as David in another extremity, comfort thyself in the Lord 
b 1 Sam. 30 6.  thy God: happy is he that is ready to leave all for Christ's sake 
c Mat. 10 37.38.39. ; that can say with one of the Ancients, 
d Deus meus & omnia.  My God and all things: my God, my Guide, my Rock, my Defence, my Salvation 
e Psal. 18.1. , therefore that love which thou didst bear to them that are gone, sequestrate it from the dead, and reflex it upon God: there is danger in our earthly love, whether natural to our Child, conjugal to our marriage Mate, or moral to our Friend: in which we may soon offend, in the defect of too little, or in excess of too much. For which cause, God being a 
f Exod. 20.  jealous God, and not enduring that our hearts 
g Pro. 4.23  should be set on any thing in loving it, too much, over, or above, or beside, or equal with himself, oft deprives us of our loved Idols. Therefore he hath crossed the loves of his dearest Saints in this kind: of two Wives Iacob● Rachel dies, which he loved above Leah 
h Gen. 29.30. Ch. 35. v. 18 ; of twelve Sons, Jacob's joseph is sold, his darling, more than the rest 
i Gen. 37.4 v. 23.24. Ch. 39 ; of many Children, David's Abs●lon and Adoniah 
k 1 Kin. 1.6 , whom he most pampered, soonest perish; of all David's Friends he soon sorrows for his best Friend▪ his halfe-soule jonathan. Thus perhaps it is with thee: thine own 
l 2 Sam. 12.3.  Sheep from thine own bosom, thy turtle-dove, thy loving Hind, thy Wife, the fairest male-Lambe in thy Folds, thy Heir and eldest Son, thy strength, thy Reuben, or thy Friend, thy second self, is taken from thee; perhaps thy heart was more upon them then upon God, therefore God hath taken away the occasion of thy Idolatry.  
Then there is danger in earthly love, but there is no danger in loving, overloving, our loving God. The speech was as seasoned, as the heart was sanctified, which I once heard of a young Gentlewoman; Lord, thou hast deprived me (quoth she) of my dear Husband, of mine only Son, whom I loved too dearly. I see now thou wouldst have my whole love thyself: Lord, take it all, thou shalt have it, thou art worthy of it, it is too little for thee.  
20 Lastly, think with thyself, that if those whom thou bewailest were sensible and capable of thy immoderatenes in this kind (as they are not) they would say unto thee, as God said to 
m jer. 31.16.  Rachel, and Christ to 
n Luke 8.59  jairus, and to the 
o Luke 7.13.  Widow of Nain, lamenting their Children, Weep not: nay, as he said to the bewailers of his Passion, 
p Luke 23.28.  Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves: I am well, your case is worse; I have conquered, you are still fight; I am in the Haven, you are fluctuate on the Sea: and therefore as it would be a means to restrain the Papists Idolatry in praying to Saints and Angels, if they had but eyes to see how they enforce upon them this Idolatrous worship, which themselves have 
q Acts 14. v. 12.13.14.15. Apoc 19.10 Reu. 14.7. Acts 10.25.26.  prohibited, and directed unto God: so leave thy sorrowing, till thou consider how little notice they take of it, how little they desire it, or delight in it, for whom thou sorrowest: being to no more purpose, then to pray to the dead, or for the dead, which is gross Superstition. This made even E●nius the Heathen Poet, forbid that any should weep for him after his death; which, Solon and others ambitiously have desired.  
Other Motives might be urged, to move thee to moderation in this point; yet I would not so reform this abuse in the excess, as though I condemned the mean in mourning: this were to run from one extreme to another: let this therefore conclusively determine for thy judgement, and direct thy practice, that it is lawful to deplore the departure of the dead; as the 
r Gen 50. v 3. v. 10.  Egyptians lamented jacob seventy days, and his Children seven days; as 
s Gen. 23.2.  Abraham mourned for Sarah, the 
t Deut. 34.8  Israelites for Moses, for 
u Numb. 20 29.  Aaron, for 
x 2 Chron. 35.24.  josias, for 
y 1 Sam. 25 1.  Samuel, 
z 2 Sam. ●8. 33.  David, for Absalon, for 
a 2 Sam. 1.11.12.  jonathan, for Abner, the faithful for Steven, the women for Dorcas, etc. yea, the very cruel Scythians, Hircamans, Sabeans, the savage Indians, Lothopagians, etc. howsoever they be not so curious in burying their dead is we: some casting them on dunghills, some unto Dogs, some into the Sea, some into the fire, etc. yet they show some motion and mourning for them. Then, if jews and Pagans mourn; why not Christians? And indeed as it is a curse to the wicked. as it was to jeconiah, that none shall say, alas for them, when they are dead, jer. 22.18. so the godly aught to be lamented: First, because they did much good in their places, Acts 9.39. Secondly, because the world was bettered and blessed by them, Prou. 11.11. Thirdly, we may fear some judgements after their departure, Esay 58.2. Fourthly, because the wicked will be more ready to sin, and there are fewer left to pray for the wicked, and to stand in the gap, as did Abraham, Moses and Phinees. Fiftly, because they were worthy lights and ornaments in the Church or commonwealth where they lived, Lam. 4.20. as was josias, for which cause we may even wear mourning apparel to express our sorrow. So the wicked to, may be bewailed; because, for aught we know, they are gone down into the bottomless pit of perdition, the place for wicked men, Psal. 9.17. the place whither 
b Numb. 16 33.  Corah and Dathan, and 
c Acts 1.25  judas, and 
d 2 Sam. 18 33.  Absalon went unto, for aught that is to the contrary: yet we must mourn in that mean: First, that we discover not our own self-love, because we have lost some good by them: Secondly, nor hypocrisy, in seeming to mourn: Thirdly nor distrust, as though there were no resurrection: 1 Thes. 4. Fourthly, nor excess, knowing that they are but gone a journey, and we shall quickly overtake them: no for ever sent away from us, but for a time sent before us.  

Comforts against the Cross of sickness and diseases, however intolerable and incurable.  
BEcause Sickness and Diseases, which distress and distemper every part and power of the whole man, are very burdensome to the flesh: as, besides their present pains, being the Heralds and forerunners of Death, tending to the dissolution of Nature, let these Considerations be so many Cordials and spiritual lenitives, to mitigate and assuage the extremities or permanency of thy dolours in either kind: For, misery cometh not out of the dust, neither doth affliction spring from the Earth. job 5.6.  
1 Consider that this visitation is the message of the Almighty God: it comes not by chance or Fortune, colds, surfeitings, sweatings, etc. are but the means, God's hand throws this stone at thee, for it was he that smit 
a Exod. 7. Exod. 8.  Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, and the 
b 1 Sam 5.9  Philistines, etc. and cast 
c Esay 38.  Ezekias upon his sick couch. Therefore storm not, murmur not, he hath sent it, and who hath resisted his will? Rom. 9 19  
2 Consider the nature of this God, 
Eph. 2.4. Exod. 34.6 joel 2.13. jonas 4.2. Heb. 12.7. 1 Cor. 10.  under whose hand thou groanest; that he is rich in mercy, of tender compassion, abundant in goodness and truth, and loveth thee in his CHRIST, correcting thee of love as a Father, not punishing thee as a judge: for though these sufferings be plagues to the wicked, as were the plagues of Egypt, of Sodom, and of Moab, yet to thee and all the Elect in Christ, they are but fatherly chastisements.  
3 Consider Gods gracious ends and purposes in these thy visitations.  
First, to draw thee to the sight and sense of thy 
d joh. 5.14.  sins, the cause of this effect; that so repenting of them, thy soul's sickness may be cured.  
Secondly, thou art judged in this kind, and chastened of the Lord, that thou shouldest not be condemned with the world, 1 Cor. 11.32.  
Thirdly, to break and pull down the pride of thy heart, a sin which the Lord abhors and detests, both in the wicked, as he did in Herod, Acts 12. and in his own children, as in Ezekias, 2 Chron. 32.25. for which cause he brings down thy heart through this heaviness, because thou hast rebelled against the word of the Lord, Psal. 107. v. 11.12.  
Fourthly, to try thy Faith and Patience, whether thou wilt kiss his rod, and cleave to him in adversity as thou promisest in prosperity: for, God delights to try his like gold in the fire; as a Master tries the fidelity of his Servant, and a Father the obedience of his Child: and therefore according to the sincerity and measure of our graces in this life (as we see in God's proceedings with Abraham, job, David, yea CHRIST himself) shall our trials and our afflictions be, both inward and outward.  
Fiftly, to shake off thy carnal security: for prosperity makes thee forget God, as did the Israelites, Manasses, 
c Psal. 30.6.  David, etc. but this visitation drives thee home by weeping-Crosse to thy Father, as it did them and the prodigal Child, Luke 15.  
4 Remember that thou worthily deservest this Cross of sickness, as a punishment for thy sins, the sins of thy youth and of thy age, omissive and commissive: sin being the cause and original of all diseases, Agues, Fevers, Consumptions, Plague-sores, Leprosies, and the like, Leuit. 26. v. 14.15.16. john 5.14. Therefore as God from time to time hath visited the sins of others, both of the righteous and the reprobates, so he hath found out thee: he that punished the Israelites with divers and sundry plagues, for 
f Numb. 16 49  rebelling against Moses and Aaron, and for 
g Numb. 24 3.12.  murmuring against God, he that plagued 
h Exod. ch 8 Ch. 9 Ch. 10 Ch. 12 & 14  Pharaoh with Frogs, Lice, Blood, Death of the first borne, and Drown, for contempt of God, hardness of heart, and oppression of his people. He that smit the 
i 1 Sam. 5.9.  Philistines with Emerods' in their secret parts, for their abuse of the Ark: King 
k 2 Chron. 26.19.  Vzziah with Leprosy, for abusing the Priest's Office: Gehezi, for his 
l 2 Kin. 5.27  Covetousness: the 
m 1 Sam. 6 19  Bethshamites with death, for prying into the Ark: the 
n 1 Cor. 11.36.  Corinthians with sickness and death, for profaning the Lords Supper: 
o 2 Chr. 16.10.11.12.  Asa with diseases in his feet, for imprisoning the Prophet: 
p Sueton.  Domitian, 
q Sparta. lib. 2. c. 12,  Hadrian, 
r Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 3.  Valerian, Dioclesian, Maximinus, julian, Aurelian, Arnolphus, Antiochus, Herod, and others, with incurable diseases and death itself, 
s Ruffinus, Niceph. etc.  for their pride, blasphemy, persecutions of his Children, and the like sins: Cerinthus, Arrius, and others within the Church, with sudden judgements for their blasphemous Heresies; nay, even his own people with the plague of threescore and ten thousand men, for the mistrust of David his Servant 
t 2 Sam. 24. , that God which never suffered sin to go unpunished in justice, if it were not pardoned in Mercy: he that sees no iniquity in jacob 
u Numb. 23 21. , nor no sin in Israel, in covering the transgressions of his Children 
x Ps. 32.1.2 , and remitting the eternal punishment to the penitent in respect of their souls: yet there are causes sufficient for him, some secret, some revealed: 1. Both in respect of God: 2. of his Church: 3. of the wicked: and 4. of thyself; that he should exercise thee with temporal afflictions here, as he did David 
y 2 Sam. 12.10.11. , as with sickness, diseases, etc. Therefore, as the Israelites found out Achan the Thief 
z Josh. 7.24 , the cause of their plague; the Mariners, jonas 
a jon 1.15. , the cause of their storm, whom they punished condignly: so, find thou out by a diligent search, thy Achan, thy jonas, thy special sin, which occasions this blast and storm of sickness: put Achan to death, crucify that sin, cast jonas into the Sea, drown it, or wash it in a flood of tears, as did Peter 
b Zeph. 2 1. , and Ezekias 
c Mat. 26. ▪ and CHRIST will wash thy wounds with his blood, he will recover thy soul and restore thy sick body, if it be good for thee, or renew thy state in a heavenly mansion provided for thee 
d Esay 38.3 . Depend upon God for the issue, have recourse unto him by Faith, in the first place: look upon the brazen Serpent as soon as ever thou art wounded 
e john 14.2.3. , and thou shalt be healed and helped; either thou shalt be delivered from this cross, as was Ezekias 
f Mum. 21. john 3.14.15. ; or have patience to endure it, as had job; or a happy issue in it, 
g Esa. 38.21 22.  as had David: but run not in the first place to the Physician, with Asa, 1 Chron. 16.12. nor to Charmers, Witches, and Conjurers, as did Ahazia, to Baalzebub the God of Ekron 2 Kings 13. as Saul to the Witch of Endor, lest thou perish as he did, lest thou pay the Devil thy soul, as our ignorant superstitious common people do, for curing thy body, the wages that he requires, lest thy medicine be worse than thy disease; but Return unto the Lord, he hath spoiled thee, and he will heal thee, he hath wounded thee, and he will bind thee up. Hos. 6.1.  
5 God inflicts less upon thee than thy sins deserve, though thy pain be great: for as we are all by nature sinful, Psal. 51.4. Corrupt and abominable, and gone out of the way, Psal. 14.3. Psal. 53. all offending in many things, james 2.3. so he might condignly pay thee the wages of thy sins, death, damnation, Hell fire, Rom. 6.23. Rom. 21.8. for indeed it is the mercy of God, that we are not utterly consumed, because his compassions fail not, Lament. 3.22.23. He hath not dealt with thee after thy sins, nor rewarded thee after thine iniquity, Psal. 103.10  
6 God afflicts thee not so much as he might and could: for, as thou hast sinned in every part, in thy tongue, in thy head, thy eyes, thy feet, Rom. 3.13.14.15. as every member hath been made a weapon of unrighteousness to fight against God, Rom. 6.13. so he could rack and rent, torture and torment thee in every member: even as he will deal with the reprobates in hell. Doth thy head ache with the Shunamites child? 2 Kin. 4. ver. 18. he could make thy heart ache to; he could scorch thy tongue like the rich Gluttons, Luk● 16 24. burn thee within thy bowels, as he did A●tiochus, &c. Is one member distressed? he could smite thee with boils from the crown of the head to the sole of thy foot, as he did job, job 2.7. Therefore it is kindness to punish one part, when all have offended.  
7 The Saints and Servants of God have endured greater extremities, then as yet thou wast ever enured unto: thou hast heard as of the patience so of the pains of job, thou hast not felt a Flea's biting in respect of him, and yet there was peace to him at the last, job 42. ver. 17. Look upon the Patients of Christ, that heavenly Physician, in the Gospel, one good woman troubled with an issue of blood twelve years long, 
Luk. 8.43.44.  which had spent all she had upon the Physicians, yet at last cured. An other woman vexed with a spirit of infirmity, 
Luke 13.11.12.13.  eight and fifty years, that was bowed together, and could not lift up herself in any wise, yet loosed by CHRIST from her disease. 
john 5.5.6.7.8.  A man that was diseased eight and thirty years, lying at the pool of Bethesda, yet at the voice of Christ rose up, took up his bed, and walked.  
How long, think you, was Lazarus pined with hunger, wanting crumbs; pained with ulcers, wanting comforts; rejected of men; his best Physic the Dog's tongues, ere he were carried by the Angels into Heaven, Luke 16. I might instance in the Cripple that was lame from his mother's womb, that sat at the gate of Salomon's Temple, called Beautiful: 
Acts 3.2. v. 6.  and in that other impotent Cripple at Lystra, which were both of them healed and helped: the one by Peter and john; 
Acts 14. v. 8.  the other by Paul and Barnabas, Acts 14.8.9.10. In Aeneas that kept his couch eight years, sick of the Palsy, yet in the name of Christ made whole, 
john 9 v. 6.7.  Acts 9.33.34. In him that was blind from his birth, john 9.2. In those two blind men that cried after Christ, Mat. 9.27. All which by faith, received their sight from him that is the light of the world. So, in those whose Sons and Daughters were dispossessed of those tormenting Spirits, 
Mat. 9 ● 29.  wherewith from their Cradles, they were possessed, Mark 9.21. verse 25. Luke 9.42. Mat. 15.22. with all the rest of the halt, blind, dumb, maimed, etc. that were cast down at JESUS his feet, and healed, Mat. 15.30.31. If I should set before you, in order, David's sufferings in this kind, you would wonder; who though he were a King, a Priest, and a Prophet, a man after Gods own heart, yet endured dira & dura, hard and harsh pressures: GOD so tempered his cup, that he occasionedly cries out, that by reason of his outward and inward sorrows, there was no health in his flesh, no rest in his bones, his wounds stinking through corruptness, his loins filled with sore diseases, no sound part in his body, his flesh trembling within him, and the terrors of death coming about him, his heart panting, his eyes dimmed, his strength failing; every way so perplexed, that his extremities cause him not only to cry and call, and complain and groan, but even to roar and bellow out, (like an Ox pricked,) in the bitterness of his soul, Psal. 55.4.5. Psal. 38.2.3.4.5.6.7.8. etc. yet for all that so freed, so comforted after, that his heart was filled with joy, and his mouth with laughter; that he broke forth into praises unto his God, with joyful songs for his deliverance. Apply this Mithridate of these examples to thine own ruptures. Did not the LORD love those whom he so visited as well as he loveth thee? Did he release those, and can be not release and relieve thee? Is the Lords hand shortened, that he cannot help? or his care heavy, that he will not hear? Esay 59.1. etc.  
8 Thy dolours are nothing if they be compared with the sufferings and Passion of Christ the Messias, 
Psal 22. Esay 53.  neither in their vehemency or continuation; all his whole life, from his Cradle in Bethlem, to his Cross in Golgotha, being a dying life, or a living death; exposed to the malice, madness, opprobries, and calumnies of his enemies, Herod, and Herodians, Scribes, pharisees, Sadduces, jews, judas; to 1. poverty, Hunger, 2. Thirst, Weariness, etc. which miserable life was concluded with such a death, so ignominious, for the shame of it, Phil. 2.8. so dolorous, 1. both in respect of pains of body, by the Nails and Thorns, in the sinewy parts of the body▪ 2. and of griefs of mind, for the ingratitude of the jews, the treason of judas, the faintness of his Disciples: 3. and of the tortures of soul, in the apprehension of the wrath of his Father, that in his entrance into it, he sweat water and blood in the Garden; in the undergoing of it, he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me! All concurring together, make such a confluence of sorrows, that thy greatest pains are but pleasures and refresh: nay, the sufferings of all the Martyrs; 1. Steven, john Baptist, 2. james, 3. Peter, Paul, Laurence, etc. and the rest do not poise and parallel it in the least particulars. Now, canst thou grudge against thy God, for afflicting thee deservedly, that art nocent, being his Son by Adoption, when he imposed so much upon his own Son by Nature, being innocent, only made sin for thee, Rom. 4. vers. 25.  
9 By these sufferings thou art made conformable to the Image of Christ, Rom. 8.29. who by many tribulations entered into glory, Luke 24.26. 
Non debent sub spinoso capite membrae esse mollia.  It is unseemly for the members to go one way when the head goes another; if thou be'st a part of Christ's body, than a head of thorns must have pricked members.  
10 There is no grief so great, but the Lord can, and will in his due time, ease and relieve thee, as he hath promised, Psal. 50. vers. 15. yea, from thy most grievous diseases, Exod. 15.20. Psal. 34.18. For, when did any of the Lords Children cry unto him, but he heard and holp them, Psal. 107.13.14. God is able to help, he will help, he knows how to deliver his out of every tentation, and will deliver them, Esay 5.2. Esay 59.1. 2 Pet. 2.9.  
11 Christ thy high Priest is touched with a fellow-feeling of thine infirmities, having had experience of them, in thy own nature. Heb. 4.15.16.  
12 This sickness of thine is the Herald and Summoner of thy death, the warning-piece of thy departing: it is needful that this earthly house of thine, thy terrestrial Tabernacle be pulled down piecemeal, by sickness, that thou mayst be clothed with a better house from heaven. 2 Cor. 5.1.  
13 This thy sickness is an excellent Tutor to catechize and instruct thee in the School of Christianity, it reads (as it were) a Divinity Lecture unto thee in Christ's own College, 1. of the 
* Gen 3.18.19.  fall of Adam; 2. the miseries of man in life; 3. his mortality in death; 4. the desert of sin; 5. thine own wretchedness and unworthiness; 6. thy corruptions original; 7. thy transgressions actual; 8. the vileness of man; 9 the Equity, justice, Majesty, Mercy, Goodness, and Greatness of Almighty GOD: beside, it fits and prepares thee for a better life.  
14 Remember how many gross and reigning sins this thy sickness hath cured, or, at least, kerbed in thee, besides those which it hath restrained? 
Quod medicina corpori, hoc morbus animae.  how hath it quenched in thee the fire of Lust? how hath it pulled down the head of Pride? how hath it bridled thy Anger? how restrained thy Malice? how dammed up the stream of inordinate passions? of headstrong, lustful, luxurious, covetous, and carnal affections? For, to whom sickness is sanctified, it is Physical to the soul, as medicines are to the body: thy soul is sick of the Lethargy of sin, scorched with Lust, inflamed with the burning Fever of Concupiscence, distempered with the cold palsy of Covetousness, coldness of Zeal, tympany of Pride, swelling of Emulation, with a number of such like infirmities. Now, as Physic is ungrateful to the Patient, yet wholesome; so is sickness to thy body: but take it patiently, because God thy Physician prescribes it for goods ends.  
15 As this thy sickness cures many sins, so causarily and occasionedly, it prevents many, to which thy nature is inclined. How many do live, and lie, and snort in sin, soiling their souls with all manner of pollutions, that it were better for them to be sick in their beds? How many profane 
a Heb. 12.  Esaw's, 
b Luke 15.  prodigal young men, loose Libertines, like 
c jer. 5.8.  Horses, are neighing after their neighbour's Wives? like 
d Prou. 7.7.  Salomon's Fool, are watching the twilight to sleep in the house of the strange woman; following 
e Verse 22.  her (like an Ox to the slaughter,) to the very Chamber of Death? How 
f Verse 27.  many are drinking daily in Alehouses, Hell-houses, or Taverns; in their German healths, following the sins of 
g Ezek. 16.  Sodom, Idleness, and fullness of bread, and fullness of drink to, like Epicures and Belly-gods, till they break out into all excess of Riot, Blasphemies, Oaths, Beastialities, Swagger, Swear, railings, revilings▪ 
h Pro. 23.29  Fightings, and Bloudsheds; whose states were better to have sober souls in sick bodies, then to have defiled and damned souls in such pampered bodies, 
i Esay 5.11  that are strong to drink Wine, and to pour in new Wine, till they be inflamed? How many are scraping, and scrawling, and scratching for this earth, in which they wroote and dig, like moles and Swine, till they open a pit, from which they leap into Hell, selling their souls for the Mammon of iniquity like 
k Mat. 26.15.  judas and Domas; whose bodies, if they were more sickly, perhaps their souls would be more healthy and holy, and their estate more happy? How many Countrymen ride and run, like mad men, up and down to the City, and in the City, for the term of life, from the Inns of Court to Westminster, not sparing the very Sabbath, to effect their covetous or malicious plots against their neighbours, who were safer at home, sick in their beds, than here to employ their strong bodies and politic pates in the devils Office▪ to be accusers and torments of their Brethren?  
The Whore that hunts for the precious soul of a man; the Thief, that waits like a Lion in his D●nne▪ to catch his prey; the Usurer, that bites to the bones, and devours the flesh; the 
l Pro. 21.17  Gamester, that holds a false Plough; the Player and the Pander, and all the rest of Satan's Factors, that exchange his sins for souls, living in unlawful callings, upon the sins of the people; how much better had it been for them that their Mother's wombs had been their perpetual beds and graves, or that they were all their life time imprisoned in their private Chambers, tied to their couches with the cords of sickness, then to run headlong in such courses to hell, strong and lively, where they shall be chained and pained eternally in the bottomless pit.  
Besides, how many abuse their outward members and senses in the service of sin and Satan, whose case would be easier in judgement, if they had never had them, or by diseases were deprived of them? The unchaste Eye that lusts after a woman, the window that lets lusts into the soul, were it not better plucked out? Oh that Samson, Sichem, Potiphars' wife, and David, had been blind then when they beheld th●se beauties that were there banes! Those whose feet are ready to shed blood, swift to evil (as Hazael) speedy to run to sin; how good were it for them to be lame? those that have hands to perpetrate mischief, were better their hands were withered like I●roboams. Oh what a blessing were it to be dumb, to those whose tongues being set on fire on hell, are a world of wickedness, polluting either the Name, the Word, and Works of GOD, by oaths and blasphemies, so obliging their guilty souls to condemnation and swift vengeance: 2. or the good name of their neighbours, by slanders and calumnies: 3. or their chastities, by filthy and rotten speeches?  
How much better were it for our riotous Libertines and licentious Gentlemen that live here, like the Athenians, to do nothing but hear or see, or tell new things, to be deaf without ears, then to drink in daily such deadly infection through that sense, as the Sponge sucks water, from soule-poysoning Plays.  
Now, how merciful is God to thee, not only by this cross to mortify sin in the inward affection; but to restrain and refrain thee from the very outward action.  
16 This thy sickness it glorifies God, it tends to the glory of God: thou art not punished because God hates thee above others: for, those upon whom the Tower of Siloh fell, were no greater sinners than the rest, Lu. 13.1.2.3. Neither did thou or thy Parents (perhaps) sin above others, as Christ said of the blind man, 
john 9.3.  but that the glory of God might appear; both the glory of his power & free-will in creating thee so, Esay 45. v. 6. v. 9 Esd. 4. as also the glory of his might and his mercy in curing thee: for, so all the miraculous cures that the Lord wrought in the old or new Testament, did tend to his own glory, both in the thankful gratulations of his Saints for them, as in their joyful promulgations and declarations of them. Thus David, and 
m Esay 38.9.10. etc.  Ezekias, in their Eucharistical Hymns, and Songs of deliverance, after their sickness; 
n 2 Kings 5.15. john 9.17. Mat. 8. Luk. 17.16  Naaman his acknowledgement and confession of the true God of Israel; the sick of the Palsy healed, the blind man cured, the Centurion's servant recovered, the Samaritan cleansed, confessing their sins, proclaiming Christ's mercies, and divulging the Miracles, were instruments of God's glory.  
17 These thy Maladies are no arguments that God hates thee; for, in this nature, or some other, God chasteneth every Son whom he receiveth. None ever, either patriarchs, Prophets, or Apostles went to heaven out of the cross way, 
Mat. 22.  by which CHRIST himself went to glory. Therefore as Christ to show his love, pity, and compassion to the diseased and distressed, invited the halt, blind, and lame to his great Supper; and wills others to invite them to their feasts, so he himself will accept them in his Kingdom, as he did 8 Lazarus.   

These Cordials may be applied to every ordinary visitation, ●ut if thy pains be permanent, and thy dolours extreme and durable, yet thus revive thy fainting spirits, and strengthen thyself by these Meditations.  
18 THat at furthest they can but continue this short and transitory course of this life, they shall expire with death: thy days fly as fast as the Bird in the air: the Ship in the Sea, the Arrow out of a Bow, or the swiftest things in Nature. Now, thy Diseases are designed within the limits of this brief and brittle life: they have their date in thy death; at which time they bid thee adieu, never to return, but joys to succeed.  
19 Secondly, they are nothing in comparison of those pure, Celestial, blessed, and eternal joys in Heaven, which we have before mentioned, as they are in the Word revealed; so sweet, so great, that all the Arithmeticians in the world cannot number them, nor all the Geometritians measure them, nor all the Logicians define them, nor the tongues of Men and Angels describe them; nay, if I were all tongue, as Saint john was all voice, I could not express them▪ as thou shalt experimentally feel them, after thy pains have here their period, when thy warfare is accomplished: therefore endure this rod for a time, since thou art an Heir for ever.  
20 Thou art freed surely by Faith in CHRIST from eternal death and the pains of hell: which are fearful in respect of the place, horrible in all the diversities of punishments, painful in the variety of plagues, ineffable, inutterable, endless and infinite in the continuation of time: bless God for this exemption, for this redemption.   

Comforts against the unkindness of merciless friends.  
Objection.  
OH, but this adds grief to thy pains, that thy Friends are unkind unto thee in this thy distress; and thou art destitute of comforters, none compassionates thy extremities.  
Answ. 1. This must not seem strange unto thee: thy case is not singular in this kind, but usual and ordinary. Friends, like Swallows, sing and make merry with thee, lodge and lie with thee in the Summer of prosperity: but take their sudden and far flight in the Winter of adversity: it made the wise Heathen exclaim, Oh friends, no friends.  
2 The Saints have had this measure. Did not good job find his three friends miserable comforters in his greatest exigents? Was there any more comfort in them 
a job 5.13.14.15.16.17.26.27. , than water in a stone, or oil in a flint: they were as a brook dried up. David had some experience in this case, when by reason of Saul's persecution, even his Father, his Mother, and Brethren so far forsook him, his Companion that are meat with him, was so treacherous to him, that he was lest as destitute of true friends, as the naked Bird of feathers: his friends few, his enemies many, Psal. 69. v. 8. ver. 21. Psal. 22.12. Psal. 25.17.18. Psal. 69.4.  
3 Christ himself was rejected, not only of Herod and his Courtiers, Luke 23. ver. 11. 
See Psal. 22.6.7.8.12.13.14. Psal. 69.21.22. applied to Christ.  of the Scribes and pharisees, etc. but even maliced of his own Brethren, john 7. v. 3.4. yea, forsaken of many of his Disciples together, john 6.66. of all in his Passion, except john, Mat. 14.50. denied of Peter 
b Luke 22.57.58. , betrayed of judas, etc. Mat. 26.49.  
4 There is usually hatred amongst the nearest friends by nature, even in prosperous estate, much more in distress: thus Cain hates his Brother Abel, Gen. 4.8. Ishmael persecutes Isaac, Gen. 4.29. Esau, jacob, Gen. 27. ver. 41. Cham mocks Noah 
c Gen. 9.22 , when the old man was overseen in Wine; Michol 
2 Sam. 6.20.  mocks David, over-spent in zeal; and jobs breath did smell distastefully, even to the Wife of his own bosom.  
5 Though the arm of flesh, and thy carnal friends forsake thee, yet GOD, will not reject 
g Psal. 9.10 Psal. 51.17  thee, he careth for thy soul, his love is more constant and continual: the Lord will never despise thee, nor fail thee, if thou be'st of an humble and contrite heart; but Christ and his Father will come in unto thee, and dwell with thee, if thou hearest his voice: and openest the door of thy heart, to entertain and retain them. Ponder these places and chew the cud upon these Promises, Esay 66 2. & 57.15. Psal. 51.17. Reu. 3. ●0. john 14 23. yea, he hath sworn that he will never fail thee, nor forsake thee 
h I●sh. 1.5. Heb. 13.6. . Thus when Christ's friends and favourites 
i Luke 22.43.46. , either sleep or fly, or faint, an Angel comes to comfort him from heaven: so when he was alone in the Wilderness 
k Mat. 4.11 . This is David's comfort, let it be thine, though Father and Mother forsake thee, yet the Lord taketh thee up, Psal. 27.10. He is thy God and thy salvation, Psal. 18.1. Therefore live by faith, Hab. 2.4. Heb. 10.38.  
6 If thy friends have received kindness of thee before time, and now they forget thee, which grieves thee the more.  
First, examine thine heart, whether thou hast not first been by committing and continuing such and such sins: unthankful and unkind to thy GOD, after so many sins pardoned, so many mercies received, so many comforts renewed, so many crosses removed, etc.  
Secondly, God's dearest ones have been more stung with this viperous generation then ever thou wast, as Christ with judas 
l john 18.5 , a Disciple 
m Act. 1.16 & v. 25. , a Devil, a Viper in his own bosom 
n Psal. 41.9 joh. 13.18. . Pharaohs Butler was ungrateful and unmindful of 
o Gen. 40.23.  joseph and his affliction, even after his restitution: the Israelites of Gideon, killing with Abimelech his seventy sons, judg. 9.15.17.18.  
Thirdly, what ever man do God, is a faithful rewarder of all that are his; being not unmindful of the fruits of thy Faith, either in the works of Piety towards him, or of Charity towards thy Brethren.  
7 God hath elected thee and chosen thee, before all time, to life and glory, therefore care not though man reject thee, 1 john. 3.1.  
8 Though thou canst not see thy friends here with comfort, yet ere long thou shalt see GOD as he is, 1 john 3.2.   

Preparatives against Poverty.  
BEcause that Poverty, as it is intolerable to the carnal man, driving him either to despair in God, or to murmur against God, or to take some base and sinister courses against his own soul; so, it is burdensome to the carnal part of a Christian, chiefly concurring with sickness; when Family-charges growing, strength to labour in his calling failing, diseases increasing, friends shrinking back, the means of his maintenance fails: for which cause the wise Agur prayed against it, Prou. 30. v. 9 let these considerations move thee yet to take up this cross patiently, and to follow Christ.  
1 Because it is the providence of God that thou shouldest be poor: the Lord hath tempered these two estates so in this life, riches and poverty, that they may be both to his glory. The rich and the poor meet together▪ the Lord is the maker of them all, Prou. 22.2. Prou. 29.13. He will have the rich and poor mingled together here, Lazarus and Dives, Luke 16. even as he will have Sheep and Goats, Corn and tars, good and bad together (as the Israelites and Egyptians dwelled together 
a Gen. 47.27 ) till that great day of separation 
b Mat. 25.33.34. , therefore submit thy heart, and subject thy soul to the will, the work, the pleasure, and the providence of God.  
2 Thy case is not singular, nor thy cross alone: there are thousands at this day that drink deeper in this bitter cup than thou: how many hast thou heard of; how many knowest thou of God's dear Children, that have and are utterly exhausted and spent? some by shipwreck or Pirates by Sea, some by Fire, some by thieves and Robbers, some by bad Servants, some by bad Debtors and Customers, some by suretyship, some by prodigal and unthrifty Children, some this way, some that; and some by the Surgeons and Physicians, like the woman in the Gospel, which perhaps is thy case? Now, what ever the means be of thy impoverishing. God is the Author of it, afflicting thee with it, as a trial of thy Faith, and to excite thy prayers: or inflicting it as a punishment of thy sins. job knew well that Satan could not stir up the tempest to blow down his house, nor the Chaldeans and Sabeans take away his goods, without a commission or permission from God; therefore with him have thou recourse unto God: say, The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord, job 1.21.22.  
3 Poverty is no token of God's displeasure to thee: for, as it is no argument that the Lord loves a wicked man, because he is rich, so it is no argument that God rejects the godly, because they are poor: nay, where wealth and wickedness, poverty and piety, concur, it testifies God's wrath upon the wickedly wealthy, 
Psal 37.3. v. 18.19.  setting them in slippery places, feeding them like Swine, with the mast of the world, against the day of slaughter: and giving them their portion in this life, as was seen in Nabal, the two rich Churls in Saint Luke's Gospel, with divers others. Besides, it is God's love to his Children to keep them bare here, to that end he may the better bless them. The Servant sometimes hath a greater portion than the Son for a time; the slave is better fed and clad then the Heir, that is kept at hard meat till his inheritance fall, yet the Father loves the Heir better. 
Ponder well, Psal. 49.6.7.8.9.11.12.13.14. & 19.20. read it all and apply it: so job chap. 5.  The poor Sheep that the Housholder means to hold and to keep, goes in a bare pasture, a short common, is straightly folded in the night, kept in obedience by the Shepherd and his Dog, once a year coldly washed and nearly shorn; but his Ox or Bullock that he purposeth to butcher and kill, he puts in a fat pasture to feed, he goes grazing at liberty in Summer, is stall-fed and housed in Winter. Apply this to thine own particular, if thou be'st poor, and poor in spirit, thou art God's Heir of his inheritance, God's Sheep of his pasture. The wicked, though wealthy, are slaves and bondmen, 1. to Satan, 2. to their Lusts, 3. to their Wealth, 4. to the World: they are fat Oxen, fat Bulls of Basan, like the Ox and the Ass that know not their Master, 
Esay 1.4.  like the Horse and Mule, without understanding.  
Now, how much is thy case better than theirs 
Vide Chrisost hom. de Divite & Lazaro, 4 & hom. 13. in 2 Cor. ? thou art crazed in the outward scabbard, thy outward man; but they are false metal 
a Psal. 37.17  which shall be burnt and broken, their souls damned when their bodies die.  
4 A little that thou hast with the fear of God, is better than great riches of the ungodly, see Prou. 16.8. Psal. 37.16.  
5 All things fall out to the best to those that fear GOD; yea, all things 
b Rom. 8.28 , and every thing, as well poverty as riches. GOD is thy Physician, thou art his Patient: the Physician knows better than the Patient what is good for him.  
6 If the Lord had foreseen that a rich estate, and an higher pitch had been good for thee, thou shouldest have had it: but he knows what is best for thee, how ere thy corrupt desires incline this way or that way. The Father will not give the Child a Sword or Knife, though he cry for it, he knows it will hurt him. How knowest thou with what heart thou shouldest have used, 
Mat. 25.  with what hand thou shouldest have employed thy Talents of wealth if thou hadst them? whether in the practice of sin, and works of darkness, as dangerously to thy soul, as a Child, or a mad man, use a sharp weapon, to the hurt of their own or others bodies?  
7 Poverty hinders not the acceptance of thy Prayers, Tears, Cries, and Sacrifices unto thy God. A wise poor man hath not so free access in earthly Courts, to earthly Kings, as silken Courtiers; but, The Lord hears the desires of the poor, he bends his ear unto them, Psal. 10.17. For the sighs of the poor I will up (saith the Lord) and help them, Psal. 12.5. The Lord turns unto the prayers of the desolate, and despiseth them not, Psal. 102. verse 17. Psal. 145. ver. 18.19. The mighty jehovah, the King of Heaven, will hear, and help, and relieve thee, when the haughty, and high minded, and wealthy, and wicked witty of the world, are with their sacrifices rejected 
c Esay 1.13 14 Ier 7.10.11 Prou. 28.9 Psal. 51.16 vor. 7. , like Cain's 
d Gen. 4.5. : For, the Lord heals those that are broken in heart, and bindeth up their sores: yea, the Lord relieveth the meek, but abaseth the wicked to the ground, Psal. 147. ver. 2. v. 6. Agar ᵉ and her Child, in their poverty and distress in the Wilderness, after they were cast out of Abraham's house, cried to the Lord, being like to perish for want of water: so did the Israelites in the extremities of their thirst 
f E●od. 17.3.4.5.6. , and Moses for them, complain unto the Lord in a Land where no water was: so did 
g judg. 15.18.19.  Samson call on the Lord, after his conquest of the Philistines, being ready to faint for drink, and the Lord heard their distress, and granted their desires: Agars' eyes were opened, and she saw a fountain; Moses smit the rock, and the water gushed out; Sampsons' jaw-bone of an Ass sent out a spring of water: many are the like examples. This poor man cried unto the Lord, and he heard him, saith David: so did this, and this, and this. Oh then be thou patient, and penitent, and pious, and thou shalt still find God gracious, in the midst of thy grievances.  
8 Consider, that if thou be poor in thy spirit, as in thy outward estate, thou art rich in Christ (even as the good Servant is the Lords Freeman) thou art the Lord of all the Creatures sublunary 
h Psal. 8.6.7.8. , in title and interest, how ever the wicked (to whom all things are impure,) as Rebels and Traitors to God, usurp them from thee. As thou hast an interest in CHRIST, so to all the Creatures. Christ is all in all unto thee 
i Revel. 3.17.18. : if thou be'st naked, he is the Wedding-garment to thee; if blind, his Spirit is eyesalve; if hungry, he is the Manna, 
k john 6.48 58  the bread of life, the bread of Heaven; if thirsty, he is the fountain of water, of 
l john 4.14.  living water; if in want, thou hast a Kingdom 
m Luke 12.32 ; if kept bare for a time, yet thou art an Heir 
n Rom. 8.17 , and a Coheyre with him; though rejected of men, yet elect of him. 
o jam. 2.6.  Hearken my beloved Brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, that they should be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to them that love him, james chap. 2.6. Let this be to thee like Sugar under the tongue of the Child; let it not go, but suck comfort from it.  

Animus est, qui bene imperat matrimonio & virginitate. Chrys.  9 Poverty is no hindrance to thy salvation: Lazarus was saved, Luke 16. yea, though neither Poverty nor Riches simply of themselves, please God, no more than Marriage or Virginity; but the sanctified heart in the right use of both: there being rich men in Heaven, Abraham, the patriarchs, David, Solomon, job, etc. who were here rich in grace: and impatient and impenitent poor men in Hell, who were here as destitute of goodness, as of goods; of heavenly wisdom as of wealth; of faith as of friends; yet nevertheless there is more peril in the rich estate: 1. both as riches 
p Osea 13.6 Prou. 30.8  puff up the heart: 2. as they are weapons of tyranny and oppression, as in Ahab 
q 1 Kin. 2 1. : 3. as they are got with fraudulency: 4. kept with diffidence and anxiety: 5 means of Idolatry 
r Eph. 5.5. Col. 3.5. 1 Tim. 6.17 : 6. Thorns 
s Lu. 7 8.14  to choke the seed of the Word: 7. Snares of the Devil, to fetter the soul 
t 1 Tim. 6.9 : 8. bars out of God's kingdom 
v Mat. 19.23.24. . Therefore as some Philosophers cast away their wealth into the water, because it hindered their Philosophical studies: so, it were good for rich men, according to Christ's desire 
x joh. 12.8. , command, and Injunction, to cast their wealths on the watery faces of the poor 
y Eccl. 11.1 Luke 14.12 , to make them friends of the unrighteous Mammon, etc. lest they incur the woes denounced, james 5.3.2.3. Luke 6.24. But there are no such baits, and snares, and traps, in Poverty; if the rich young man in Mathewes Gospel 
z Mat. 19.21.22. , had been poor, perhaps he had followed CHRIST, with as great facility and felicity, as Peter, Andrew, james, and john, those poor Fishermen 
a Mat. 4.20 21.22.23.24. ; if his Cable had been untwisted, it had gone thorough the Needle's eye. Oh how comfortable may this cross be to thee, that it cannot of itself, cross thee of Heaven, nor curse thee in Hell.  
10 Besides, the poorer thou art, the fewer Talents thou hast received 
b Mat. 25.14. etc. 29.30. Luk. 19.12 13. etc. : the less that is committed to thy disposing, the easier shall be thy reckoning and thy accounts, when thou shalt be demanded an account of thy Stewardship, and the use of thy talents, at the Lords great Audit, when he comes to judgement, Luke 16.2.  
11 Even for the things of this life, though it appear not so to carnal reason, yet the Lord hath a care of thee, and will administer unto thee things needful, though not superfluous. For, thy heavenly Father, like an earthly father, may see his child need, but not bleed: 
Prou. 10.3.  for, the Lord will not famish the soul of the righteous, Prou. 10.3. Though he suffer thee to want for a time, yet he will help in due season: he brings the needy out of the dust, the poor out of the dung 
c Ps. 113.7 , and joseph out of prison 
d Gen. 41.14. . David never saw the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging their bread. The Lord will replenish the souls of the Priests with fatness, and his people shall be satisfied with goodness, jer. 31.14. job 5 16.19.20.21.22. Therefore cast thy care upon God, he careth for thee. How careful was CHRIST for the two poor married couple, in turning their water into wine? john 2.6.7.8. The like care the Lord hath over every poor married couple, that have small means, great charge: for▪ The eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, and that put their trust in hit mercy, to deliver their souls from death, and to feed them in the time of dearth, Psal. 33.17.18. Thus he fed jacob and his Children, when there was a dearth in Canaan 
e Gen. 43.1 Chap. 47.11 , he sent joseph before into Egypt 
f Psal. 105 16 17.18. , in his special providence to provide for them. So God fed his Israel, like Sheep, in the wilderness, with Angel's food 
g Ver. 39.40 , and water from the Rock. Thus Christ fed his fainting auditors in the Desert with bread and Fishes 
h Mark 6.35.42. , as he did his Disciples upon the shore with the same diet 
i john 21.9 . Yea, he still feeds all his, he feeds even the wicked; he gives a sop to judas 
k joh. 13.26 ; nay, he feeds the Eagles, Crows, and Ravens, Birds and Beasts. Nay, he clothes the Lilies, and will he not feed and clothes thee and thine, oh thou of little faith?  
Ponder well Christ's seven arguments in the sixth of Matthew, against thy diffidence: if thou couldst but rest in him, and rely upon him by faith, though the Lions should want and suffer hunger, though the Lions and and Bulls of Basan, the great ones of the world, should be famished, as were some in the siege of Samaria and jerusalem, yet thou shouldest want nothing that is good. If thou hast faith but as a grain of mustard-seed, in truth and sincerity, which extends to thy body as well as thy soul, ere thou shouldest perish the very Heavens should rain Manna, as it did on the Israelites 
l Exod. 16 15 , the Rock should give her water 
m Exod. 17 6. , yea, the law-bones of Beasts should afford thee moisture, as to Samson 
n judg. 15.19. ; the very Ravens, nay, the Angels should feed thee, as they did Elias 
o 1 King. 17 6. Ch. 19.5.6. , the very Fishes of the Sea should afford thee silver, as they did Peter, Mat. 17.27.  
12 Man's life doth not consist in abundance of earthly things, 
Deut. 8.3.  Luke 12.15. Man lives not by bread only; Mat. 4. God can bless a small pittance and portion unto thee: he can multiply a few Loaves and Fishes to the feeding of thousands 
p Mark 6. Luke 9.13. ; he can increase the little Oil in the Cruize 
q 1 King. 17 14. , and the Meal in the Barrel, to the poor widows, to the sustentation of their families, and the paying of their Creditors, to whom they are indebted, 2 Kings 4.2.3. 
Dan. 1.12.13.  He can make Daniel and his three Companions, prosper, look and like as well with pease and pulse to eat, and water to drink: nay, to be fairer and better liking for three years together, than those Children that eat meat of the King's portion, and drank of the King's Wine, Dan. 1.12.13. ●4. 15. As it is all one for the Lord to save with many or with few, 1 Sam. 14.6. to overthrow whole Armies with a few Water-lappers 
r judg. 7.5.6. , with a Warrior and his Armour-bearer 
s 1 Sam. 14 13 14. , by a Boy, or a Shepherd 
t 1 Sam. 17 50 ; yea, to slay a thousand with the law of an Ass, in the hand of a strong man 
u judg. 15.15 , so it is all one with him to feed and to foster thee with this portion or that, with course meats or cates, to sustain and maintain thee and thine with great means, weak means, small means, no means, or contrary to all means: how many (if we believe Histories and experience) both in sieges of Cities by land, and in storms and extremities by Sea, have been preserved for a long time, even with such meats as nice and dainty stomachs would loath and detest unless hunger were the Cook; as the flesh of Horses, milk of Mares, Frogs, Mice, Rats; nay green Herbs, Plants, Grass, and Leather of shoes. What small portion of bread hath glued and holden the life and spirit together, for many days together; yea, even Tobacco itself, that much used, abused Plant, I have wondered to hear Mariners relate?  
It were much that a Daughter should nourish her Father, by opportunities to visit him in prison, such a time, by yielding her only breasts to be sucked by him, that the expectations of all those that commanded he should be famished to death, were frustrate, (if the Authors may be credited) unless that God's help were able to bless small means above human hopes. Even the crumbs will suffice Lazarus; neither do I think that he died of famine, but either naturally, or by the violence of his diseases: I am persuaded God provided both crumbs and crusts for him elsewhere (if there were such a Lazarus historically, as the most think; and not Parabolically as Salmeron and others discuss,) so will the Lord provide for thee.  
13 The best of God's Children have been as poor as thou now art; even Christ the Son of God by nature 
x Heb. 1.1. , heir of the earth 
y Verse 2. , and of the nations 
z Psal. 2.8. , whose all things are 
a Psa. 50 10 , was here on earth poor. So was job, job 1.15.16. so Elias, 1 Kin. 17.11. begging a piece of bread; the Apostle Paul and Peter, and the rest of the Disciples, poor Fishermen, wanting silver and gold, Acts 3.6. So were there in every place poor Saints, as in Macedonia, in Ierusa●em, and elsewhere, in the Apostles ministery, 1 Cor. 4.11. So from time to time, the most excellent of the Saints, such as wa●ted for the coming of Christ, that they might receive a better resurrection, were without house and harbour, means and munition, 
Heb. 10 34  Tossed to and fro, wandering up and down in sheep skins and grate skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented▪ Heb. 10.24. Heb. 11 35.36.37. To which, besides these before and in the Apostles times, we might add those and many millions recorded by Eusebius, the Tripartite History, and the Centuries: of such that were in the same case, in the persecution, either of heathenish or heretical Emperors; chiefly by Ar●ians, amongst whom were Athaenasius and Chrysostome in their time, as also those that were spoiled by the Goths and Vandals. What need I mention David, 
1 Sam. 21.3.4.  that was almost famished, till he ate the showbread? so the stock of David, joseph and Mary, the mother of Christ, whose offerings of Turtle-doves, for want of better sacrifices, showed they were not rich 
b Luk. 2.24 , yet the Lord supplied their wants to carry Christ into Egypt, by sending the Wisemen of the East, with gold unto them, Mat. 2. even as the Lord will supply thy wants upon the like occasions, for his glory and thy good: or if thou live poorly, or die in debt, as many of the Lords servants have done; yet, if thou have Christ and the riches of his mercies by faith, thou art rich enough, living and dying.  
Object. But this perhaps troubles thee, that thou hast been in a good estate, and art now declining, and at the lowest ebb.  
Ans. Since this is a burden, it is a misery to have been happy, yet even the very Philosophers, as Seneca and others, besides Petrarcke, have prescribed comforts in this cross: but the word hath balm plenty for this sore; the Saints have tried the like, as did job whose plenty ebbed to poverty, job 1. & 2. and did flow again to plenty, job 42. So the Disciples of Christ were indifferent prosperous, till Christ's death, after which they were in storms, Luke 22.35.36. So jeremy for eighteen years had comforts in his Ministry, but, after, whips, imprisonments, and poverty: thou art not exempted from drinking of these cups, neither needest thou fear to pledge the Saints.   
FINIS.   

To the READERS.  
FRiendly Readers these Errors, with others, whether in words or syllables, in misse-quoting or wrong pointing of some places, which have past the Press in my absence, by reason of the close writing of my Copy, I pray you censure favourably and correct friendly.  
Also I desire you to take notice, that as I have added (more than I did preach) some Historical Amplifications from pag. 273. to 278. as also, from pag. 305. to pag. 318. so I have left out the Merginall Quotations as needless for the unlearned, that neither read nor regard them: as for the learned I refer them to Zwinger his Theatrum humanae vitae, Lonicer his Theatrum Historicum, Grosijs Historicae Tragicae, Osiander his Epitome of the Centuries, Textor his Officina, Diogenes Laertius, Valerius Maximus, Fulgosus etc. From all whom I have epitomized these Histories, as they from others.  

ERRATA.  
PAge 60. line 20 for Bolserus read Bolsecus. p. 123. l. 23. for dispertment r. disportment. p 133. l. 13. for Segor r. S●or. p. 169. l. 17. for renijs r. remis. p. 182. l. 8. for Licinus r. Licinius. p. 283. l. 12. for. Croesus' r. Croesus. p. 314. l. 11. for Gods r. God. ibid. l. 28. for Oreseence r. Crescence. p. 456. (in mergine) for Heidou r. Chambers.   
FINIS.