Contemplating Mortality and Immortality

The fears or joys that death brings.

NAturally men fear Death, because it ends being, which Nature would preserve: Rachel mourned for her children and would not be comforted, because they were not. When Moses Rod was turned into a Serpent, it was fearful. But when God bids, Fear not to take it up, it may well be handled. Timeat mortem qui Deum non timet, sed si sperare desideras, design timere. It is well said, Pompa Mortis magis terret quam mors ipsa. Groanes, convulsions, and a discouloured face show death terrible. But that Philosopher is not to be followed, who to prepare himself the better for death, set forth death most fearfully: nor yet that Emperor to be praised, who so little esteemed of death, that he died in a complement.

Fear of death kills us often, where death it self can do it but once. The Philosophers thought, that if death (as bad as men count it) were not mingled with bitterness, men would run to it with desire and indiscretion. Ergo mortem concupiscentes, & timentes, aeque obiurgat Epicurus. It is true, life would not willingly be troubled with too much care, nor death with too much fear. Feares betray, cares trouble those succors that reason would yield to both. Multi ad fatum venêre suum, dum fata timent.

Feares multiply evils, Faith diminishes them: yet most men wish, vt mors potius semel incidat, quam semper impendeat, because nothing is so painful as to dwell long under the expectation of some great evil.

Conscience of dying, gives the right sense of death, and the true science of living. For by death absoluitur anima, resoluitur corpus, gaudet quod absoluitur, quod resoluitur, non sentit. Therefore said the Heathen man, Non nego poenas esse quibusdam post mortem, sed quid ad mortem, quod post mortem est? If there be any fears in death, saith a wise man; Quare iuuenes non timent fieri senes? But it is the nature of fear to make dangers greater, helps, less then they are.

When Anaxagoras had word brought him that his dear and only son was dead: Scio, said he, me genuisse mortalem. The sons condition, satisfied the fathers passion without more words. He can never be at ease, nor live contentedly, that lives continually in fear of death. Nil in morte metuamus, si nihil timendum vita nostra commisit. There is no such gentle removal of all life's discontents, as a quiet death.

He that knows not how to end his time, hath lost all his time. Nescire mori miserrimum. Socrates de morte disputabat vsque ad ipsam. When Otho and Cato had prepared all things for their death they settled themselves to sleep: when they awaked, and found themselves upon the stroke of execution, all they said, was, Vita supplicio data est, mors remedio. Cruel tyrants have been told to their faces, that their threats of death, were promises of life. Their swords were favors to the sufferer. Mortall wounds made them immortal. Uiuere non potest, qui mori non audet. Though it be true, that it is in vain to fear what we cannot shun, and fear of death, as a tribute due to Nature, is a weakness: yet fears be not always ill symptoms before death, nor in death: at that instant nature will reluct for love sake to keep still her being. But grace thus distinguishes of being. To the wicked the best thing of all were not to have been. Non nasci optimum. His next best were to live long. It was ill with him that he was borne, worse, that he must die: for he not being sure of a better, would fain be sure of this. Conscious to himself that this dying life, will bring him to a living death. His hope is no longer then his breath. His word is Dum spiro, spero; he flutters inter mortis metum, & vitae tormentum: viuere nolit, & merinescit. With good men it is otherwise, to them the best thing of this life is to have been, for this leads the way ad beatitudinem patriae, to the fruition of their faith. Quid huius viuere est, saith he, sed dijs mori. His word is Cum expiro, spero: his hopes faint not, when his breath fails him. Patienter viuit & delectabiliter moritur. To this man, mori quāprimum is his rather: for that ends misery, and begins felicity. There is no man so valiant as the believer. Therefore he saith unto his soul, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou so disquieted within me? Waite on God.

Soul and Soul are differenced in dying, as well as living. The Atheist dares not die for fear of non esse. The ill liver dares not die, for fear of male esse. The doubtful conscience dares not die, nesciendo; whether he shall be, not be, or be damned.

Only the good man dares and desires to die, he is assured of his hope, his hope is full of immortality. I am thy salvation, saith his Savior: to the other theend of these present miserable miseries, is the beginning of worse, and such as death it self cannot terminate: for that would be happiness enough; if they had but hope, there would be an end at last: the greatest pleasure they would desire, is, the act of death, so that might end their sorrows: but their conscience will not let them lie, or flatteringly persuade them: Adueniet tandem quae non sperabitur hora.

This they know, and grieve to think, that Tophet is prepared for the bad, and Paradise for the good. As the tree falleth, so it lieth: and as death leaveth thee, so judgment shall find thee: he that lives ill, seldom dies well. Live well, and you cannot but die well: practice well doing, and you shall have the comfort of well dying.

Sed quàm amarum erit hoc tempore corporis & animae separatio? We see old acquaintance cannot part without tears. Quid facient intime familiares, quales sunt corpus & anima, quae ab ipso vtere ita iucundissime vixerint? If the Ox loweth when his fellow is taken from him that drew the plough with him, qualem mugitum shall we give when soul and body part? Siccine separas amara Mors: Siccine separas, saith the Book of Kings? The Spirit at this time may be willing, but the flesh will be loath. Egre amittitur, quod valde amatur. Faith will assure, God is thy father; but nature will tell thee, She is thy mother, and thou mayest not yet leave her. In this conflict take heed the mothers side prevail not. She will play Naomi's part, persuade thee earnestly to stay and enjoy the delights of Moab yet a while longer. But resolve thou with Ruth, to see what entertainment is for thee in Bethlehem, for there thou shalt find a Boaz.

In ista hora, every man will make Balaam's suite, (for no man would be miserable, if it were enough to desire to be happy) but such a wish only will not serve. He must pie viuere, that will secure mori. We all desire to shut up our last Scene of life, with In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum. But it is not the last words a man utters that do qualify his Soul. Remember how in thy life thou hast entertained God's Spirit: for as we used his in this life, so he will use ours after death. Qualem quis{que} se fecerit in hac vita, talem se inueniet exiens ab hac vita.

At this hour what would a man give for the redemption of his soul? but poor indigent man, never was any so rich that could pay the ransom of his own soul. A displeased mercy, asks greater satisfaction then thou canst give. Laesa patientia fit furor. Now thou goest to give account of thy Stewardship: that is, temporis amissi, mali commissi, boni omissi. And thy Soul already knows, in conscientia tua, whither it goes, quando egreditur e corpore tuo. And although thou canst carry nothing else with thee, yet this thou canst not leave behind thee; Which is liber conscientiae tuae, that will tell thee whither thou goest, and what thou shalt look for. Tunc quasi loquentia tua opera dicent; Tu nos egisti. Tua opera sumus, non te deseramus: sed tecum semper erimus, tecum pergemus ad Iudicium. Man is a great flatterer of himself, but conscience is always just, and will never chide thee wrongfully. It always takes part with God, against a man's self. It is Magistratus domesticus, that will tell what you do at home, and, saith the book of Wisdom, wickedness condemned of her own witness, is ever timorous, and being pressed with conscience, forecasteth grievous things. Nemo seueriorem seipso habet iudicem.

If a man will take his aim by the best men that ever died. That of David, Hezekiah, yea and of Christ himself (as a man) is able to amaze any man. When as our Savior Christ at the point of death, said, Father, if it be thy will, let this Cup pass from me. When David said, Save Lord, for thy mercy sake; for in death there is no remembrance of thee. And Hezekiah wept sore, when he was bid, Put thy house in order, for thou must die. Si Prophetae, si Apostoli, si Martyrs, si Christus ipse, was thus troubled at the hour of death: wretched man that I am, what shall I do? Even as Christ bids me. Be of good cheer, for I have overcome death. Mors morte redempta est. Now there is advantage in death: that death which was the wages of sin, is made the reward of righteousness: and in these forenamed persons it was not death, but the curse of the Law that went with death, which Christ in our persons, and these other persons in themselves, feared.

When Christ was to leave the world, and his Disciples to the world, he left them this word for their learning and their comfort: If you loved me you would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father. In my Fathers house are many dwellings. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also.

Now that death hath overcome death, and Faith hath secured fear: nec me taedeat viuere, nec timeo mori. What can he fear in Death, whose death is his hope? Right precious in the sight of God, is the death of his Saints.

Obsecro te Lucili, said Seneca, cur timeat laborem vir, mortem homo? It is the present condition of men in this world, that makes them willing, or loath to die. Nor life, nor death, are alike to all men: some can as willingly leave the world, nay die, as others can forbear the Court. And as men differ in their condition, so do they in their acceptation of Death: some pleasant their lives, as if the world should always laugh upon them. Et post mortem nulla voluptas. These would do anything rather then die. Others live as if they came into the world but to act a sad man's part and die, these wish a change, hoping it will be a benefit. Therefore well said the son of Sirach, O death, how acceptable is thy remembrance unto him whose strength faileth, that is now in his last age, and vexed with all things: and to him that despaireth and hath lost patience! But contrariwise, O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lieth at rest in his possessions! unto the man that hath nothing to vex him, and that prospereth in all things: yea, to him that is yet able to receive meat! Certainly to this man that thus lives at ease in delicacy with affluence of all things; (for even to use happiness is as difficult as to forbear it) to him it is a sad and bitter meditation, to think that death must take him from all these joys, wherein his heart took pleasure.

O quam amara mors mundum amantibus! Every poor contentment glues his affections to that he likes. When as the best of this worlds contentments are but contemptible. If thy heart be set on Heaven, thy soul will have no pleasure in these low things, look upward. Os homini sublime dedit, coelum{que} tueri. The mind contemplating Heaven, walks beyond eye sight, and at so far a distance discerns God, as if he were at hand, there is his true solace, to converse with God. Who ever they be that dwell in Contemplation of heavenly things, go off rich in thoughts, satisfied in their expectation.

For an antidote against Death, hate sin, and the pleasures thereof, then will death be delightful, nor life doleful: nay, death it self looking thee in the face, knowing thy heart, will change countenance, look upon thee facie non horrendâ, sed blandâ, non terribili, sed amabili. This very day of death. Dies iste, quem tanquam extremum aliqui reformidant, tibi aterni natalis erit.

The good man's hope is even in death: the world-lover ends both hope and happiness when he dies.

Plato discoursing unto one, de contemptu mortis, and speaking strangely upon it, was answered, Fortiùs loqueris, quàm viuis. At ill dicebat non quemadmodum viueret, sed quemadmodum viuendum esset.

How ever the Contemplation of death pleases, yet the sufferance of death pinches. A man satisfied that death is nothing but a bridge, to pass him over to another shore where life stands, and looks for his landing: yet while he is upon the Bridge, (which is but a short step betwixt two lives) his vertiginous brain will grow giddy, and he will before troubled in the passage.

Did not the word Ibis ad Patres, sweeten the contemplation, as did that wood cast by Moses into the the waters of Marah, turning bitterness into sweetness: the thought of death (though it be but a gathering to our Fathers) would be an unpleasing contemplation.

What joys death brings. [ 3]

OVt of the bitter came sweet, said Sampson. When we think upon the separation of body and soul, then it is a sweet contemplation, to consider the conjunction of our bodies and souls with Christ: which being once made by the bond of the Spirit in this life, shall never afterwards be cancelled. For let death, wild beasts, or birds, devour and tear the body from the soul, yet neither body nor soul are thereby severed frō Christ. Non curo (saith Ignatius) si ferarum dentes me moluerint modo pura fiam farina Christo. And yet the body thus consumed, lives not in the grave or belly of the beast, nor yet receives life or sense from the soul while it is in this seat, until the great Assizes, that general Venite comes. But then, look what the condition of Christ was in his death, the like shall be of his members. The body & soul of Christ were severed, as far as Heaven and the Grave were distant: and yet neither of them were severed from the godhead, but both existed in his person: so likewise our bodies and souls, though rent and pulled in sunder millions of miles distant, yet neither of them is severed or disjoined from Christ our head. Qui praedixit, reuixit, this serves to work it.

Human wisdom cannot comprehend this. Weak faith looks for means, and is put to shifts when she sees means fail. But omnipotency works by improbabilities and tells us. There is no faith, where there is either means or hopes. Difficulties and improbabilities are the objects of Faith. Through the Spirit (saith S. Paul) we wait for the hope of righteousness in faith.

Yet in nature we see that in winter season, trees which seem as dead, revive again in the Spring, because the body, grains & arms of the trees, are joined to the root, where the sap lies all the Winter, and by means of conjunction, it conueyes vegitation to all parts of the tree; even so men's bodies have their winter, when they are turned into dust. Homo arbor inuersa, cuius Radix in caelis, rami in terra. Their life is hid in Christ with God. Yet in the day of resurrection, by reason of this mystical conjunction, divine and quickening virtue shall stream from Christ to his Elect, and cause them to resurge from the grave, to life eternal. For the head will not be without the members: where he is, there they shall be also.

It is noted how in that transfiguration, the body of Moses which was hid in the valley of Moab, appeared in the hill of Tabor, which assures that this body of ours, lodge it where you will, is not lost, but laid up to be raised in glory, as it was laid down in corruption. The incineration and dissipation of this dust, shall have a recollection in that day of resurrection.

In the valley of dead bones, did not the Spirit say to Ezekiel, Prophesy upon these bones, and say, O ye dry bones, I will cause breathto enter into you; I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh, and you shall live?

If any think, this Resurge again, which is so wonderful, is not peculiar, but common unto all, both good and bad, (as good men love not to be happy alone) its truth, yet, it is not by the same cause, nor to the same end. For the wicked rise by the power of Christ, to be judged and condemned. But the godly rise by the virtue of Christ's resurrection, to receive eternal life. Vita mortem assumpsit, vt mors vitam assumeret.

Therefore they collect truly, who say, that the rotting of our bones is no death, but a being asleep; and that sleep must needs be sweet, which hath peace with rest, and rests in safety.

Awake then thou that sleepest, arise, come and live: he whom thou lovest, sleepeth, but thou wilt come to awake him: till when his couch of ease, is his coffin, the grave his bed, wherein he lies never troubled with dreams or fancies, what shall become of his body, till it rise again.

I am the resurrection and the life; (saith Christ) He that believeth, though he were dead, yet shall he live: the arrest of Death shall not always keep him. Well said S. Augustine, The bodies of Saints shall be raised, tanta falicitate, quanta felicitate, with as much ease as happiness. Nam mors tantum intermittit vitam, non eripit; death doth not disannul, but discontinue life. By our rising, we are remitted to our better right, a life which never dies, a morning which hath no Eve nor ending. Me thinks I hear death say of life, as John the Baptist said of Christ: He that cometh after me, is before me. Which is life.

O sweet word Life. The best Monasyllable in the world. God's own Attribute. Deus viuit. And my soul (saith Job ) shall live, for my Redeemer liveth. And is this life, but the child of this word Death? then blessed also be the word Death, the mother of life. I will no more call thee Marah, but Naomi; for thou art not bitter, but sweet; more pleasant, though swifter in thy gate then the Row or Hind. The Stoike could say, Mors est quae efficit, vt nasci non sit supplicium. But what saith S. John? I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, whose works follow them, they die no more, death hath no more power over them, all tears are wiped from their eyes.

Compare together the benefits of life and death, and you shall clearly see, how that death which seems to dispossess us of all, puts us in possession of more thē that all.

It is but being which we have by Nature, or by Birth; our better being is by Grace; but our best being is in glory: there we cannot be, till death have conveyed us thither. Esse naturae est, been esse gratiae, optimum esse gloriae. Better therefore is our last being by death, then was our first being by birth. Dici{que} beatus ante obitum nemo. Birth brought me into the world, but that was misery, allowing no vacation to sorrows. Ne natalem quidem excipit. For crying was the first note of my being. Calamitatis futurae propheta. Death carries me from a world of miseries, to a world of felicities. Dies mortalis est fatalis Natiuitas. Here I dwell in a house of clay, whose foundation is dust: Death brings to an habitation made without hands, everlasting in the heavens. Ad excelsa sublatus, inter felices currit animus, excipit{que} illum coetus sacer. Birth brought me to converse, and have commerce with men, death brings me to have communion with Saints, and fellowship with Angels; yea, to enjoy visionem illam beatificam. The immediate fruition of God and Christ.

Old father Jacob, when he was told of his son Joseph's power in Egypt, was not satisfied to hear of his honors, but enquires of his life: intimating that life to come, is better then all the honors that are in Egypt, or fortunes that are on earth: nor yet did Joseph's life content him, without being present with him, and therefore said, I will go down and see him: counting it better to behold with the eye (and yetmost sins begin and creep in at the eyes) then to walk in desires. Implying, that the best things that are, pleasure us not in their being, but in our enjoying them.

What then shall be the joy, when soul and body separated for a season, shall meet again in joy, and mutually enjoy one the other? The sense of this delight and contentment did well appear in that meeting betwixt Jacob and Joseph, whom mutual loss and separation for a while, did more endear each to other.

Intermission of comfort hath this advantage, that it sweetens our delight more in the return, then was abated in the forbearance.

And was Jacob glad to leave his country, the land of Promise, to see his younger son Joseph, though in Egypt. What then shall be the souls joy to end a pilgrimage in a strange land, and go to see his elder brother Christ in heaven, an inheritance more pleasant then that land of Goshen, freed from all the encombrances of this Egypt? Therefore said S. Paul, I desire to be dissolved, that I may be with Christ. For this tedious mortality, pleasant it how man can, will be intolerable, if death do not disburthen it; because long living so loads us with sin, as the burden thereof tyres every man at last. It is such an inmate, as will roost in us as long as life affords it houseroome: nor will it lodge alone, but still one sin will call in another: but through death, the very body of death, and burden of sin, are both cast out together.

Since then the life I now enjoy, is beset with death, tends to death, and ends in death, I will no longer mistake terms, calling that death, which is life; and that life which is death. Hanc esse mortem, quam nos vitam putamus: Illam vitam, quam nos pro morte timemus, said Lactantius.

More divinely said S. Augustine, Per vitam ad mortem transitus est, per mortem ad vitam reditus est. Therefore the Pagans did not ill, to celebrate the day of their death with mirth; and the day of their birth with mourning. For although the soul be then infused, when man is made; yet it is new borne, when man dies. His body being the womb, and death the midwife, which delivers that to sorrow, this to glory.

The Prophet Jeremiah so little joyed in his birth, that he said, Let not the day wherein my mother bare me, be blessed.

Quis pauet? quis flet? quis eget? quis errat? Solus (heusortes!) homo sperat, optat alget, voluit, explorat, queritur. Malorum omnia plena, said a divine Poer.

But to assure there are joys in death. What saith the Scripture unto well dying men? Rejoice, and lift up your heads, for now your Redemption draweth near.

When Death is to be prepared for: and how.

IT was the saying of the divine Philosopher Plato. There is nulla salutar is Philosophia, but perpetua mortis meditatio: and sine ista meditatione tranquillo esse animo nemo potest. Scipio was wont to say, Mortis meditatio, Is vita sapientis: and that it was the most honorable Philosophy to study a man's mortality. Politics say, Totâvitâ discendum est viuere. But saith Seneca; Hoc magis miraberis, Totâ vitâ discendum est mori. Fools would fain do in the end, that which wise men do in the beginning, Prepare for their end: but careless men think, that the signiory and government of times is at their commands, to do what they list, when they list. We have little power over the present, much less over the future. Therefore King David cried betimes; Lord, let me know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, and how long I have to live. All the days of mine appointed time, saith Job, I will watch, till my changing shall come.

Change, the great Master of the world, that hath Time for his Agent, abuses many men with the hope of time. It is true, Time is a servant equal to all men: it holds pace, and flies as fast in idleness, as in business; so as time well spent, diminishes our time: yet when it is employed in timely preparation, it lays up time as treasure for a future time, and so is rather a husbanding, then consuming of time.

He lives in safety that watches his time. Diem perdidimus, said Vespatian. But in reckoning of time, most men miscast-time, counting that first which is last, and that last which is first; beginning our accompt from the day of our Birth, whereas our deaths day is our first day. For in the accompt of life, our last day of life, is the first day to life. We then ceasing to die, when we leave to live.

Solebat dicere Fabianus, In tria tempora vita diuiditur, quod est, quod fuit, quod futurum est, ex his, quod agimus breue est, quod acturisumus, dubium, quod egimus, certum. Reckon first with time past, and you may make time to come certain: make your salvation certain, saith Saint Paul.

The Skeptics put a fortasse up on all things in the world. But said S. Augustine, there is no one thing in the world to be named, where this word fortasse had not place, except you speak of death. Hîc solùm fortasse locum habere non potest. Death, as it is said of the kingdom of heaven, comes not by observation. He lives not, that knows where, when, or how he shall die: yet noneliues but knows he must die. Mors omnibus finis, multis reme dium, quibusdam votum, de nullis melius merita, quam quibus accidit antequam vocaretur. Therefore said one, dementiae est, it is more then folly not to be prepared for death. Sed si mors veniens praemeditatur, tunc superatur. The preparation for death, is the fruition of life. Nemo propter Canos & Rugas diu vixit: yet never man preserved himself from dying, by forgetting death. The very Heathens, by natures instinct, provided themselves for death by sacrifices to their gods.

Solomon saying, the day of death was better then the day of birth, inferred that there was a fair way of dying well: whereunto two things were most requisite.

First, a timely preparation before death. Nam facile sustinet, qui expectat mortem. Seneca said, Saepe debemus mori, nec volumus; morsmur, nec volumus. We ought often to prepare for death, and we will not: at last we die indeed, and we would not. In hoc error omnes versamur, quod non putamus, nisi senes ad mortem vergere, citamur nec sensu, nec aetate. Mors quo faciliùs obrepat, sub ipsovitae nomine latet.

If you intend preparation for death, you must avoid all procrastination, Nescis enim quid serus vesper vehat. This vox Coruina, that always cries, Cras, cras, couzens many a man, making him perdere hodiernum, trusting upon tomorrow, saith Tibullus. I am mala finîssem letho, sed credula vitam spes alit, & meliùs cras fore semper ait, but trust not to that: Ille sapit quisquis, Posthume, vixit Heri. Solomon saith, Ne gloriêris in crastinum, nescis enim quid superventur a pariet dies.

By deferring, we presume upon that we have not, and neglect that we have. Quod in manu fortunae positum est, disponimus; quod in tua est, dimittis. Which made the Heathen Poet, diuino furore instinctus, utter hoc salutare carmen, Optima quaeque dies miseris mortalibus aui, prima fugit.

Therefore, noli tardare, delay not thy prepare for death, til thou feelest the approaches of Death. Recordare nouissimum, & non peribis in aeternum. Do the work of of the day in die suo. No man can promise himself a morrow.

Every man hath his day. Est & dies hominis, & dies Domini. When man's day is past, then God's day comes.

The case therefore of those men is mostvnhappy, who after forty or fifty years of days, in their mis-spent time (for it was not vita, but tempus ) and now ready to die, are even then to learn how to die, when they are in the Act of dying. Quae tam stulta mortalitatis obliuio, inde velle vitam incoare, quo pauci perduxerimus?

It was a sweet speech, and might well have become an elder body, which a young innocent child used lying in extremity of sickness: Mother, what shall I do, I shall die, before I know what death is, I pray you tell me what is death, and how I should die? Certainly, multum interest, peccare aliquis nolit, an nesciat. But there is nil miserius morienti, quam nescire mori; nay saith one, Tolerabilior est non esse, quam nescire mori.

Since then it is a thing as well natural, as necessary for a man to die, Quisquis ad summum peruenit, ad extremum properat. It is no thanks to a man to pay that willingly, which he must do of necessity. But in paying of this debt, wisdom counsels thee two things:

First, to consider the time when.

Secondly, the means or manner how.

For the time, seek not death in the error of thy life. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years approach wherein thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in you. Before the silver cord be loosed, or the golden ewer broken. Before the Almond tree flourish, and the Grasshopper be a burden. Before the keepers of the house shall tremble, the strong men bow, the grinders cease. They wax dark that look out by the windows, and the daughters of music be brought low.

Old Barzillai, being in this case, refused all the pleasures of a Kings house, though he was gently entreated by King David.

Age, or sickness, will make a man unapt either to compose, or dispose himself to death. Tunc tibitarda sluunt ingrata{que} tempora. It is no good time then to prepare to die, when it is a burden to live.

Thy best health affords but time good enough for this business. Therefore dedicate not all thy time to business, for that as well as sloth, may rob thee of thy time.

Do you desire some signs of death, before you take this course? Tres sunt mortis nuntij, casus, infirmitas, senectus. Casus dubia infirmitas grauia, senectus certa denunciat. Casus nuntiat mortem latentem, infirmitas apparentem, senectus praesentem.

When man begins to be sick, his senses are wholly busied about the pains of the disease.

The Physician is then conferring with thee of the state of thy body. The Lawyer is consulted with, about thy worldly state. The Minister touching thy souls health. Thy friends are then unwelcome, strangers trouble thee, visits, offend thee: thy own servants cannot please thee, other men's discourses tire thee, to speak thyself spends thee, and to be silent grieves thee, not to be told how thou doest, vexes thee, to be told how ill thou art, discomforts thee; but it most of all afflicts thee, to see thy wife, children and kindred, weeping and lamenting by thee.

Thus miserably we poor men at this time are distressed and distracted, made unfit for anything, when, as God knows, a due preparation to death, requires all the faculties and strength, of a sound, perfect, and whole man.

Every man naturally, when he comes near the goal of death, even for some intrinsicall cause, though unknown to himself, is then weary of himself, entertains life with a tedious dislike. Tunc iniucunda est rei poenitendae recordatio, distasting everything, neglecting the very thought of all human affairs.

But then thinks, O how am I straitened till it be accomplished!

This should have been done when strength of understanding served. Nam serum est tunc viuere incipere, cum desinendum est.

The little Be, so soon as flowers spring, goes abroad, views the gay diapry, and the diversity of the flowerie fields, sucks the choicest of them, fraights her thighs, carries to her hive, makes a cuurious comb, and so by times hoards up honey in Summer against the Winter. Why is the winter harder to the Grasshopper, then to the Ant? only prudency and imprudency differs them.

Think not thou the winter of thine age, a time fit enough for this work. Mauna must be gathered in the morning; it is too late to prepare when time is past before you begin.

Repentance also begun in the time of sickness, is commonly as sick as the party, yielding then, when it cannot resist, and then preparing and repenting, when all other helps and hopes fail.

Sound repentance and fit preparation must both be timely, not then forsaking sin, when sin forsakes us; and wishing time, when time is past. Omnis motus naturalis velocior est in fine, the end of time, affords little time.

Holy Job tells us, If thy bones be full of the sins of thy youth, they will lie down with thee in the dust. Sed mortantur ante mortem vitia, & ad iudicium non sequantur. Whē death hath folded up thy days, all opportunity is past. The Cock crowed, but that Gallicinium, so soft a voice could not awake thee. Therefore Signicinium, louder music, must end the Scene.

It is a great mass of sins that we have wound up, in the days of a long misled life; it will ask long time to untwist this bottom; nay, to rauell it out in many ends, will ask great labor. Great labor, and little time, suite not: Therefore work while it is day, The night cometh, when no man can work. Use not time, as ill husbands do their Farms, let their Lease run out, before they be e're the better by their Farms.

Few and evil are the days of the longest lived man, and yet to every man there is a Triduum lent, the space of three days at least: but sleep not us{que} Quatriduum, lest it be said, He hath lain four days in the grave: I am foetet.

Flatter not thyself by the thieves example, who repented, but in illa hora. That is not set for imitation, but to keep from desperation.

It is a strange thing to see, that old men will not see death, though it be before their faces; nor young men, though it stand at their backs. The old gray-headed man to seem young, had coloured his hair black; but the devil told him he would not be so cozened.

The common fashion is to put men in mind of their death, when we doubt they cannot live. Till the Physician finds some ill symptoms, the patient may not be dis heartened with the name of death. But he is the good Physician of my soul, that tells me of death, when he sees me live in sin.

There is not any man so wicked, who with his good will would die in his sins; yet most so live, as if they believed permission were the Article of their faith all their life long: and the Article of remission of sins, were reserved till the point of death.

But terrible will death be, when the dying man with grief for opportunity lost, will repent that ever he lived, and count it happiness enough, if then he might die and be no more. But that will not be, quia Mors est sine morte. Semper viuit, semper occidit, sed nunquàmpraeoccidit.

That which ends all, is without all end; Remember the parable of the five foolish virgins, and the fair warning Christ gives: Be ye ready, for the Son of Man comes at an hour when ye look not. Ecce venio sicut fur; that is, when you sleep best, and think least of him.

Now as it is wisdom to be prepared for death; so if you will die with peace of conscience, be well resolved in point of Religion before you die, never any man was a looser by believing; for faith is ever recompensed with glory; while thou livest it is not amiss to make doubts: but thou shalt find it a fearful thing, to die in doubt; and the happiest thing under heaven, to be well assured, and clearly resolved in the truth of thy faith before thou diest. This done, then be of good cheer, for thou shalt hear Christ say unto thy sick soul, as he said unto the sinful woman, Go in peace, thy faith hath saved thee. And let all conceited humanists remember what their master Aristotle said when he died: Anxious vixi, dubius morior. O Ens entium, miserere mei.

Now of the way to die well.

Non est res magna viuere: Hoc omnes faciunt: sed pauci been moriuntur. Et illi Mors grauis iucumbit, qui notus omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi. Man is ready to die before he lives, and therefore lived in the world, that he might die to the world, his years come to an end, as a tale that is told: his days deceive him, for they pass as a shadow by Mooneshine, then appearing longest, when they draw nearest to an end. We that now live, live by death; for had not Christ died, we had not lived. Therefore saith S. Paul, My life is not dear unto me, so as I may finish my course with joy.

Do you desire to live a long time: the son of Sirach saith, A man that is made perfect in a short time, fulfils a long time. Et vita ipsa, si scias vti, longa est. Vir bonus bis viuit, saith the Spaniard. Am • liat at at is spatium sibi vir bonus, hoc est viuere bis, vita posse priore frui He lives twice, that leads his first life well. Alexander had a good account of his age, reckoning by victories, not by days. So should Christians count their days by every sin they conquer in that day. Numbering of days, saith Saint Augustine, is not numerus dierum quis sit, but, quî sit.

Tres sunt dies hominis, saith Saint Jerome, Dies Conditionis, dies Conuersionis, dies Resurrectionis. One day certifieth another, saith David. Time lent us, flies away in the time that is lent, every moment coming, being the death of that is past: But weigh well every moment, for it is of so great moment, as that upon it depends eternity of time to come.

Unto dying well, there are three things most requisite.

First, to be often meditating upon death.

Secondly, to be dying daily.

Thirdly, to die by little and little.

Often meditation of Death, brings you to die in ease, alleuiates pains, expels fears, eases cares, cures sins, corrects death it self. Quo modo non morimur, cùm viuitur mortuis? we live with so many deaths about us, that we cannot but often think of dying. Every humor in us engenders a disease enough to kill us, so that our bodies are but living graves, and we die, not because we are sick, but because we live, and when we recover sickness, we escape not death, but the disease.

Do then as the Preacher counsels; what you have to do, that do quickly; For in the grave, whither thou goest, there is neither work, nor discourse, nor travail, nor wisdom, nor conversation, nor fruition of anything; all is entombed in silence, darkness ouershadowing it.

Measure not life, spatio, sed actu, because life is ordained for Action, not for fruition. If thou hast any good to do for the Church, the Commonwealth, or thy Friends, do it quickly. Hast thou much goods laid up in store? make thee friends with thy Mammon, but sing not a requiem to thy soul; say not vainly, Viuamus dum viuimus, sors fortuna vt volet, ordinet: vita iam in tuto est. Remember Hac nocte: know, that after the day of vanity, comes the night of Judgment: then both light and delight go out together. Sadly and suddenly shalt thou find all worldly pleasures turned into waking dreams: Et quae parasti, cuius erunt? All the towers in the air that thou hast built, Vno ictu prosternentur.

On the other side, doest thou eat the bread of carefulness, and drink the water of wearisome affliction? Here is Manna, bread from heaven, and water after which non sities.

There is no such cordial to comfort cares, or temper sorrows, as often and seriously to think of death, and to be acquainted with it betimes; for through acquaintance, death will leese his horror: like unto an ill face, though it be as formidable as a Monster; yet often viewing will make it familiar, and free it from distaste.

It is said that Philostrates lived seven years in his tomb, that he might be acquainted with it against his bones came to lie in it. Some Philosophers have been so wrapped in this Contemplation of Death and Immortality, that they discourse so familiarly and pleasingly of it, as if a fair death were to be preferred, before a pleasant life.

This is well for Natures part, and Moralists think it enough for their part, but Christians must go further, and search deeper. They must search where the power of death lies: They shall find that the power of every particular man's death, lies in his own sins, that death never hurts a man, but with his own weapon: it always turns upon us some sin it finds in us.

The sting of death is sin. Plucke out the sting, death cannot hurt. Quid huius viuere est, diû mori? Dye often, and you shall be sure to die well.

The second step to dying well, is to die daily. Morior, ne moriar, I die daily, saith S. Paul. Singulos dies, singulas vitas putae; qui enim • mnes dies tanquàm vitam ordinat, crastinum nec optat, nec timet. The old saying is as good, Do that every day, which thou wouldest do the same day that thou diest. Bonum est consumere vitam ante mortem: Make that voluntary, which is necessary, and yield that quickly as a gift, which you must pay as a debt at last. Did men know that death were only an end of life, and no more: every man for his own ends would be a disturber of the worlds peace while he lived, and seek to make his own but when he died. He that dies daily, seldom dies deiectedly: so he that will live when he dies, must die while he lives. The widow that lives in pleasure (said Saint Paul ) is dead while she lives. Live holily & you shall die happily. Studeto talem esse in vita qualem velis reperiri in morte.

A living man is subject to a double death: The one natural, the other spiritual. Natural death doth but separate the body from the soul: But the spiritual death separates the soul from God. Of all other, it is the most desperate state of life to live naturally, and to be dead spiritually: Thou hast a name to live, but thou art dead, said Saint John. but of the Prodigal child returned from his evil ways, it is said, This my son was dead, but is now alive.

We count it a fearful thing for a man to be author of his own death. A sinful life slays the soul, and so while we live, we kill or lose our better life. The commandment that says, Thou shalt dee no murder, specially forbids the murthering of our own souls: but certainly that which deprives us of our better life, makes of all other the worst death.

It is therefore a holy wisdom for a man to let his sins go before him. Moriantur ante te vitia. They to die actually, thou here virtually: and so to live, that when thou art to die, thou have nothing to do but die. Atchieuement of riches, pleasures, honors, have been painful; yet if these things leave not us by accident, we leave them by death, and at our death we shall plainly tell them, as Job said, Miserable comforters are you all.

If life delight, then use it, yet so, as a Traveler doth his Inn, for a night and away, and in thy journey follow not the common track. Nam ad Deum faciens iter, per trita si itur, longiùs abitur. But do as the doubtful passenger, ask questions of everyone you meet, that can set you in your right way. Herein be as great a questionist as were those religious Ladies of Rome, who never let Saint Jerome rest for questions, which was the readiest way to heaven. If a man would but compare the Forenoone of his age with the Afternoone, how long the one is and how short the other is, every man would be dying daily. Palmarios posuisti dies. The longest liver hath but a handful of days. Life it self is but a circle, always beginning where it ends.

Erat, quando non erat; sed erit. Time was, when man was not. But how late a beginning soever man had, yet after death he shall be sure never to see end. With the Ancient of days there are no days: And the time shall be, when time shall be no more.

There be two common errors which deceive most men: First, that a man enters not into eternal life, till he dies: when as his calling here begins his life eternal. To Zacchaeus (Christ said) This day is salvation come unto thy house.

Faith prevents time, and makes things future, present. The godly man that hath his present life hid with Christ in God, so lives here, as if his conversation were in heaven, carrying himself not only honestly, civilly and humanely; but beyond natural condition, his life seems super-human, divine and spiritual.

The second error is that however a man lives, yet if at last he seem to die well, then, all is well, and his soul is sure to be saved: this is a bold and a dangerous conceit; for though Misery be the object of Mercy, and Hope the miserable man's god; yet human life hath not a greater friend, nor many times a greater foe, then Hope.

Many would die, did not hope sustain them: more have died, flattered with vain hope. Whoso hopes too much, cozens himself at last. Be not deceived, God is not mocked: not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. In this mortal life enter into the first degree of life eternal or thou mayest die eternally, with Lord have mercy upon us in thy mouth. But have thy part here in the first Resurrection, which is from sin to Grace: and then thou shalt enjoy the second Resurrection, which is from dust to Glory.

The third step to well dying, is to die by little and little Totâ die mortificamur. Naturally we are every day dying by degrees. The faculties of our mind, the strength of our bodies, our common senses every day decaying paulatim.

He that useth this course, every day to die by little and little, to him let death come when it will, it cannot be either terrible or sudden. If we keep a Courser to run a Race, we lead him every day over the place to acquaint him by degrees with all things by the way; that when he comes upon his speed, he do not start or turn aside for anything he sees: So let us enure our souls and then we shall run with boldness the race that is set before us.

To die by little and little, is first to mortify our lesser sins, and not to say with Lot, Is it not a little one? We may not wash our hands from crying and from bloody sins, and yet hug in our bosom some beloved and Herodian sin. Certainly great sins will never be conquered, if little sins be cherished. Saint Cyprian writing consolatory Epistles, to the Martyrs of his time, told them that he that once hath overcome death in his own person, doth daily overcome him in his members: if you mortify the members of your flesh by little and little, you will not fear the cruelty of any exquisite death the Tyrant can devise.

There be a sort of little deaths, as sickness of body, troubles of mind, loss of friends, and the like: use these rightly in their kind, and you may make them kindly helps to dying well.

The right way to bring anything to a good end, is to proceed by degrees. God himself made nothing absolute at first. This great God loves to have degrees kept degreeingly: to grow to greatness is the course of the world, so by little and little to go out of the world, per gradus, not per saltum, is the way to Heaven. Let a man go out of the world, as he came into the world, which was, first by a life of Vegetation, then of Sense, afterwards of Reason. David prescribes us this order when he says, Doce me & duce me, Domine. He will not runnetill he be taught to go. Teach me to do thy will, and lead me into the land: What land is that? There is terra quam terimus: land on earth, which yields us all pleasures, that's not it. There is terra quam gerimus, refined earth, beautified bodies which we bear about us, nor is this it. There is, terra quam quaerimus: the glorious land of promise, that's the land we seek. Into this land, duce me, Domine.

For the manner of dying.

AMongst men it is a matter of chief mark, the manner of a man's death. All men, as men, die naturally; as Christians, they should die religiously. The good man equally can die, or live, for he knows if he live: God will protect him, if he dies, God will receive him. The Prophet David in a Contemplation of Death, ingeminates the word, saying. Domine Domine; exitus Mortis. The issues of Death belong to thee.

A good man by his good will would die praying and do as the pilgrim doth, go on his way singing, and so adds the pain of singing, to that of going. Yet by this Surplus of pain, vnwearies himself of pain. But some wretches think God rather curious, then they faulty, if a few sighs, with a Lord have mercy upon us, be not enough at the last gasp.

There is no spectacle in the world so profitable, or more terrible, then to behold a dying man: to stand by, and see a man dismanned. Curiously diddest thou make man in the lowest part of the earth (saith David: ) but to see those elements which compounded made the body, to see these divided, and the man to be dissolved is rueful. So dependant is the life of man, that it cannot want one element. Fire and Air, these fly upward. Water and Earth, they sink downward. So living man, becomes a dead carcass.

Seneca thought a man might choose his own death, which was some ease to him. Quemadmodum nauim elegam nauigaturus, & domum habitaturus: Ita mortem vti{que} quá sum exiturus e vita. But better saith another, Stulte haec cogitantur: vitam alijs approbare quisquam debet, mortem vero sibi.

But since it is so great a matter to die, so necessary to die well, so dangerous to die ill: Let your life be an acting of death.

Certainly Death hath great dependency on the course of a man's life. There be many that choose rather to die quickly, then to live long sickely. Some that will invite Death to do them the kindness to take them soon out of the world, counting a short death, the happiest hour of a man's life. And for this (saith Tully ) a man is most beholding to Nature. Quod vnum introitum ad vitam dedit, exitus vero multos. Sed non sic itur ad astra. Christians know better ways, as how to live in grace, that they may die in peace. And to whom this grace is given, for him glory is reserved, saith Saint Paul. Many a good man is sore troubled to see men of the best lives, to have distempered and perplexed ends. Some raving, some despairing, some dying suddenly, and seldom have any so bitter draughts, as those whom God loves best.

It is fit therefore to take notice of the causes that be natural. Despair in dying, may arise as well from weakness of nature, as from trouble of mind: but in neither case can this prejudice him that hath lived well. Mark the righteous, and behold the perfect man, for the end of that man is peace.

Rauings, and other strange passions, are many times rather the effect of the disease, then moving from the mind. For upon deaths approaches, choler fuming to the brain, will cause distempers in the most patient soul. In these cases the fairest and truest judgment that can be made, is, that sins of sickness, occasioned by violence of the disease in a patient man, are but sins of infirmity, and not to be taken as ill signs or presages: I will not despair in respect of that man's impatient dying, whom the worm of conscience had not troubled, or devoured living.

David in this case, the better to make his way, prayed, and cried, Lord, spare me a little, O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more.

Indeed to Hezekiah some years of days were lent, but we are not worthy of that favor, we must time it as we may, and be content to live and die at uncertainties.

As a sick man hearkens to the clock, so let us watch Death. For sudden coming of death, finding a weak soul unprepared, makes it desperate, leaves it miserable.

Sudden death of it self is not therefore evil, because it is sudden: but because it may take us away suddenly, our souls unprepared. The good man never dies unprepared, because his perseverance in goodness, is a providence against sudden death.

If a man be always prepared, and have set all even betwixt heaven and his conscience; sudden death is but a quicker passage to heaven, and is not to be accounted a sudden death, but a sudden departure, because it came not vnlookt for.

Though the righteous be prevented by Death (saith the Book of Wisdom) yet shall he be at rest, because he hath made his peace beforehand. His departure is no misery, for his hope is full of eternity. Ezekiel the Prophet (so often styled Son of man ) to him God says, I take away from thee the delight of thine eyes, (which was his wife) with a stroke suddenly, and yet thou shalt not weep. Let not the present pleasures of this life allure thee, nor the cares thereof possess thee, and sudden death cannot surprise thee. Improuisa nulls Mors, cui prouida Vita. But if a man do not prepare to die, he may live seven years in a consumption, and yet die a sudden death. For any time is sudden to him that is unprepared.

They take their mark amiss, who judge a man by his outward behavior in his death. If you know the goodness of a man's life, judge him not by the strangeness of his death. When a man comes to be judged, his life, and not the manner of his death, shall give the evidence with him, or against him. Many that live wickedly, would seem to die holily, more for fear to be damned, then for any love to goodness. To these men there is malum triplex, quod manet in septima. Which is Horrour in exitu. Dolor in transitu. Pudor in conspectu Dei. If my life please God, I am sure my death shall please me: for he that lives well, is sure to die well: but he that lives ill, is not sure to d • e well. Vitae praesentis finem, talem esse oportet, quale futurae est principium.

It is a great happiness to die in ease. Quis tam facile, quando vult, dormit, as he that lays down his life in peace. Yet a good man doth not always die in the exercise of his goodness. But as a wise man when he sleeps, leeses not his knowledge; no more doth a good man his graces, though he die in distemper. For habitudes of goodness do not then leave him, though they cannot then do their office for him.

But the vulgar opinion, if a man die quietly, and go away like a lamb (which in Consumptions and dull diseases, all men do) then sure he goes to Heaven. But if he die distempered, and of frantic behavior (which happens to many through extreme inflammations) then sure he goes to hell, is a judgment from nature, not of Religion; and in this case trust not Natures judgment, for it is arted with subtleties of physic.

Serenitie, joy and peace in a dying man, is a hopeful behavior: yet we see the clear stars that are so delightful to behold, bring forth their Rayes by sparkelings, and dartings, as though they were delivered of their light by travel and hard assays. So good men in their death, have great variety of accidents, many languors, many agonies, many iterated endeavors, travailing of Death, as in a Childbirth. But when the passages of the soul lie open to God without opposition of worldly cares; then it peaceably makes egress with a sweetness, and without disturbance.

Natural causes have their operations; but it is the God of nature that commands them. It is God's property sometimes to work supernaturally by nature.

But trust to this, believe aright and live as you believe, and you shall be sure to die in safety: and the way to end life quietly, is to render it willingly.

Let no contentment of the world so fixe you to the world; as to make you desire longer life. Saepe in hoc esse, Bene, non diu. Shortnesse of life is no unhappiness. Citiùs mori vel tardiùs, adrem non pertinet; been mori aut male, adrem spectat.

The Book of Wisdom saith, He was suddenly taken away, least ill should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

Had present death been evil, or long life good, Cain had been slain, and Abel had suruiued. But Death commonly begins first, where God loves best. His soul, saith the son of Sirach, pleased God; therefore hasted he to take him away.

We see the best men live not longest. And indeed it were injurious to wish that goodness should hinder any man from happiness. He that lends good men to the world, owes them a better turn then to let them live long in the world.

One man seems to die casually, another violently, both by destiny, all men by Decree.

Quē dederat cursum natura, peregi, said the Poet. But the Divine tells us, though Moses died upon one Hill, Aaron upon another Hill: yet both where they might see the land of Promise.

How familiarly did Moses hear of Death, when there was no more betwixt God and him, But, Moses go up and die?

With such a sociable compellation are good men invited to Death, as to a Feast.

The assurance of life after Death.

ALthough my flesh be eaten with worms, these worms turned to dust, this dust blown through the earth, yet after thou hast turned all to destruction: Again thou sayest, Come again you children of men. Redemptor meus, is the word of assurance, My Father, and your Father, saith the Gospel. Meum and tuum, are words of Assurance to men's souls, though in men's states they make all Controuersies. I know that my Redeemer liveth. How do I know it? not by Opinion, but by Faith. Fides non creditor, sed cernitur. Things are not so, because we are persuaded they are so: but because they be so, therefore we are so persuaded. The woman with child, knows she is with child, when she feels it stir lively: So the Spirit of God assures our spirit, when we feel his Spirit in us.

Holy Job saith, Though after the skin worms destroy the body yet in my flesh I shall see God for myself, and mine own eyes shall behold him, and not an others.

Which numeral Identity gives certainty, that this soul of mine, impersonated anew, and so inanimating my body again, shall give a new being, and a better being unto both.

That soul, the lost pearl, which to find a man would have given all that he had, shall there be found engraven in gold, where as here it was found set but in clay.

What our last thoughts should be.

AS in greatest extremities, good Physicians leave drugs, and minister only Cordials: so deal by thy soul when death approaches, cast away all worldly cares, entertain only thoughts that will animate thy weak body, and refresh thy thirsty soul, as did that dew of Hermon, falling upon the Hill of Zion: nor will I fear how this body of mine shall appear another day. For I am promised by him that will perform, it shall not be found naked: But this covering of flesh being cast off, I shall take this body again clothed with glory, as with another garment.

This doth Saint Paul most elegantly and divinely express, saying: We know, that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building given of God, that is, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heaueus. For therefore we sigh, and desire to be clothed with our house, which is from heaven: Because, that if we be clothed, we shall not be found naked. For indeed, we that are in this Tabernacle, figh and are burdened, because we would not be vncloathed, but clothed upon, that immortality might be swallowed up of life. And he that hath created us for this thing, is God, who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit. Therefore we are always bold, though we know that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. Nevertheless, we are bold and love rather to remove out of the body, and to dwell with the Lord. 2. Cor. 5.

This is so promising and so sweet, as it seems, to transport a man alive from earth to Heaven. Hîc in via es, sed illic eris in Patria. Therefore bait not too long upon pleasures by the way. All the while I lived, said a good man, I was going on my journey towards my country: but now that I am dying, I find myself near home, I am now come to Mount Zion the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

I will not therefore sit down on this side Jordan, but hasten to the City; whither when I come, I shall there see my God face to face: Hear my Savior say, Euge, bone serve. It is my Fathers will to give thee a kingdom.

Is it not enough, that my God is gone up to prepare a place for me, but will he give me a kingdom also? And shall not I be glad, when God shall come and fetch me to inthrone me in this kingdom? Absit.

Now me thinks I hear my soul say, Cur non accedis, Domine? Quid moraris? I have too long dwelt in this sepulcher of earth. And woe is me, that I still remain in Mesech, and dwell in these tents of Kedar. It is enough, Lord, as Elias said in the wilderness, Take now away my life, for I am no better then my Fathers were.

Nay, my soul is now grown so high minded, that she saith, Major sum, & ad maiora genitus, quàm vt mancipium sim huius corporis. Thus rich in thoughts, and great in expectation, doth divine Contemplation make us.

God hath not given a soul to any creature else but Man: Therefore it is but duty in Man to know the dignity of his Soul, which is so heavenly ambitious, as it will not let heaven alone, till it may see, as it is seen.

Grauata est anima mea, my body is a burden to my soul. It hath had honor enough to have been so long companion with my Soul: wherefore now as Saint Jerome said, Egredere, anima, egredere.

The Hermit sitting on his turft, said to his soul, Sexaginta annos seruiuisti Deo, & nunc mori times? Go out of this Ark of flesh, O my soul, for I smell the savor of rest. Celeritas nunc in desiderio, mora est.

Though my soul, as a bird, for necessity sake, hath been fain to stay awhile here upon earth; yet willingly would she be soaring in the skies. But I find that ista vita est mihi impedimento ad id, propter quod viuitur. Specially when I hear my Savior say, Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me, be with me also where I am: That they may behold my glory. To him that is faithful until death, I will give a Crown of life. Therefore, desiderio desideraui ergastuli huius egressum, that I may see facie ad faciem, him whom my soul loveth, and to be (Lord) where thou enioyest thyself, and glorified spirits enjoy thee.

Entertaine thy last hours with such like thoughts. Et hatibi dabunt ad aeternitatem Iter, & in itinere subleuabunt. They will Angelize thy body, and imparadise thy soul, before thou comest into Heaven; yield a sweetness, far beyond the bitterness of Death.

Certainly, a good soul, thus employing it self, in ista hora, will not leave the felicity it shall have in such a transmigration from death to life, for all the joys that life past did ever render her.

Good Saint Augustine, in a high speculation, endeavoring to express this heavenly joy, was asked by a grave old man: Father Augustine, quid agis? A man may as well draw in all the air in the world with one breath, as express to the life that which thou art now about. Though this ineffable joy cannot be expressed: yet it is res generosa conari alta, & mente maiora concipere, quàm quae effici possunt.

Therefore this we may do, some way sample that which we can no way express.

Look as a Bird that hath been long encaged, then chants it most merrily, when she gets loose into the open air.

Or as a sick man, that hath wearily tossed and turned himself in his bed all night, is them comforted when he sees the day break, and the sun beams guild the morning:

Or as a prisoner that feels his chains heavy upon him, longs for releasement.

So it will be with thy Soul, when thou shalt hear thy Savior say, I am thy salvation. Come unto me thou that art weary and heavy laden, and I will refresh thee. Poenitentibus & petentibus pertinet Regnum Coelorum To them that are weary of this durance, and sue for deliverance, belongeth the kingdom of heaven.

Wherefore as a wearied traveler that hath passed a long journey (though perhaps met with some delights by the way) is then gladdest, when he comes within kenning of his country.

Natale solum dulcedine cunctos ducit. Even so thy soul, after many years pilgrimage in the wilderness of the world, being come with Moses to Mount Nebo, and beholding the pleasant land of Canaan from the top of Pisgah, will then laugh for joy, as doth the Horizon, to see the Sun coming as a Bridegroom out of his chamber. Dilectus meus descendit ad hortum suum, ad areolam aromatum.

Of this joy, thy dazzled eyes might have some glimpses, when thou wast in health: but then it was as the blind man's visiō in the Gospel, to whose first sight men seemed to walk like trees. But in this thy new state, thou shalt see clearly men and Angels stand before the Lambes Throne, and hear thyself invited to the Lambes Supper, where thou shalt be brought into the wine seller, and love will be the banner over thee.

Come then, O Shunammite, stay me with flagons, and comfort me with Apples, for I am sick of love: Kiss me with the kisses of thy mouth, for thy love is better then wine; Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest at noon.

Thus with Solomon in a Canticle, and with David in a Psalm, let be the Raptures of thy Soul, which, as in trance, shall be caught up to Heaven, as was Philip by the Spirit, or Abdias by the Angel.

And with an Heroicall alacrity, tempered with a gracious humility, give up thy soul to God, and bid farewell to the world.

It was S. Bernard's, I shall never truly joy till I hear this word. Come you blessed; Nor cease to sorrow till this be past; Go ye cursed.

Dying Saint Stephen, before his eyes were closed, had a faciall fight of his Savior, looked steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And old Simeon, after he had seen his Savior, then rejoiced to say, Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation.