TWO Treatises, THE FIRST, Entitled, THE FOOD OF the Faithful.  
THE SECOND Death's welcome.  
AT LONDON, Printed by I. R. for jefferie Charlton. Anno Dom. 1605.   

To the right honourable Thomas Lord Garrarde, Barron of Garrardes Bromley: and to the right worshipful his brother in law●, Sir Peter Leigh of Lime, I. C wisheth health, honour, & happiness in this life, and in the life to come.  
I Socrates the Athenians Orator (right honourable) calleth Nobility the pillar of learning, and Plato saith, that a true noble man is a faithful favourite of the learned. And for this reason the Philosophers, Orators, Poets, Divines, and all other writers, consecrate their labours to the Patronage of such worthymen, who are placed in the high sobeare of greatness, and seated in the Throne of Nobility, who can with power, and may with authority defend them under the favourable wings of their safe protection. In like manner, I who am neither sound Philosopher, nor eloquent Orator, nor good Poet, nor profound Divine, have presumed to dedicate to your gracious views, these two Treatises (whose rudeness are far unsuitable to wear the Liveries of your names) for two especial considerations. The first is, because you two be the great favourits of learning, and in you live the sparks of Augustus' liberality, to cherish the Muses, who now for want of succour are almost famished. The second is, which moveth me most of all, to give you a living memorial of the loving duty I bore to your honoured deceased mother, unto whom for many singular good favours, I will ever recognize myself infinitely bounden, for whose sake I suppose I have passed the bonds of modesty in this presumptuous attempt. Yet notwithstanding persuaded by my friends earnest entreaties, and moved by that private duty which I own, to that virtuous Lady your mother (who is now a cohabitor with God) I have emboldened my bashful nature, and as he saith, Commasculavi frontem pudoris limites transilire. Accept therefore (most renowned Patrons) this grateful testimony of my duty, and thankfulness, which I tender for manifold benefits unto you both, whom I make as honourable twins united in the union of my zealous, and duteous affection: I confess it is a trifle, nor a fit object to be be viewed by your severe eyes, yet I hope you will receive it as a token, and earnest penny of my long concealed love, and duty, according to your accustomed, and incomparable gentleness: Philip of Macedon did accept a bunch of grapes given by a Country-swaine; and Apollo did vouchsafe to take a wooden dish as a great gift. So I trust that you (sithence my ability serveth to no better purpose, nor you expect a kind of remuneration) will receive it in courteous manner, and grant this abortive brat (which should have wanted a Godfather, had I not chosen you) to shelter under the defensive shadows of your patronage, giving it the Alms of your approoviug commendation, to  the naked beggary of his threadbare invention: which if it shall please your good honours to cover like Minerva, this forsaken deformed Owl, under the sure target of your tumon it shall be as secure from Critics, as Vlis●es was free from the Greeks', being defended with Ajax buckler. So hoping of your wished defence, I commit it with all submission to your protection, saying, that which Gratian said to his Patron, Vobis soluo quod debebam, et ad huc debeo quod soluam. So duly, and daily praying for you, and yours, I humbly take my leave.  
Your honours in all duty to command. I. C.   

Honoratissimo viro Domino Gerardo, omnibus sapientiae, et virtutis luminibus clarissimo.  

TE mea si tantum anderet sperare patronum  
Gera●dum optaret (rustica Musa) sibi.  
Gerardun? (at quem, phoebe virum) qui lumine mentis  
excellit Phoebum, Phoebigenumque chorum.  
O quem te memorem? Phoebum? tu doctior illo.  
Mercurium? linguae laurea danda tibi.  
Catonem? long superas consultus agendo.  
an Maecenatem? laudat Apollo magis:  
Ergo Gerardus eris, quo dicinomine gandent,  
Macenas, Phoebus, Mercuriusque, Cato.   

MIte supercilij iubar, iubarque sororum,  
Et decus Auglorum, presentis gloria saecli,  
Spe maguus, fama melior, virtutibus amplus,  
Gratus ades, nostris falix allabere captis,  
Vine meis, sed nec curabis vivere mecum,  
Aeternum victure tuis (Gerarde) trophais.    

Ad dignissimum, et clarissimum Equitem Petrum Leigh.  

BEnignitate, gloria,  
honore, claritudine,  
tuum praeesse cateris  
sit omen. Places Deo,  
places patriae omnibusque:  
faves literis, foves literatos:  
hae metae honoris: macte:   

A Spice laetanti librum (dignissime) vultu,  
quo fallas vitae taedia longa brevis.  
Hic Christus satiat sitibundas sanguine fauces,  
et prandere jubet corpore famelicos.  
Accipe gratuito caelestia fercula Christi  
hospitium caelum, Christus et hospes erit.  
Mensa itidem caelum, convivae deniquae sancti,  
ut sedeas, gusts, provocat ipse Deus.  
Nilest quod renuas, nam dantur pharmaca mentis,  
haec medicina animae, pharmacopola Deus.  
Qui te faelicem, lata●tem, glorify antem,  
corpore, mente, polo, per sua philtra dabit.  
Ergo laudetur, placeat, metuatur, ametur,  
hospès et hòspitium, phármacepola, Dèus.    

To the Reader.  
MAy I presume (gentle Reader) out of my penury, to throw a mite into the Treasury of the Church, when others which have larger talents, bury them in silence, nor will let their labours be perused by the common Argos of the ungrateful multitude: yet I like a blind Babius, have boldly attempted this hasty birth of my weak brame to come abroad, hoping that all courteous Readers will shroud it under their favourable wings, & suffer these feare-blasted fruits to shelter under the defensive shadows of gentle acceptation: So blushing that this new spoone-feathered embryon of my rude Invention, hath so soon passed the limits of immodesty, humbly desiring you to pardon my too rash audacity, I take my leave.  
S. G.   

Ad Lectorem.  
FAelices animae pascuntur semine verbi,  
Ambrosiam comedunt, nectare deinde potant.  
Hic gratia sluvij spatioso vortice stillant,  
Et vita pleno gurgite currit aqua.  
Si sitis? mimergas fauces in flumine sacro.  
I seris? invenias ferula lauta iovis.  
Ad hanc te mensam voco, caena parata,  
Tantum dicenda est gratia, gratis habes.  
Tu gratus conviva Deo, gratiosus et ille,  
Qui te commuam reddidit angelicum.   

The food of the soul.  john cap. 6. verse 35. I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me, shall never thirst. 
WHen our Saviour Christ had performed that heavenly miracle in feeding five thousand men with five loves, and two fishes, the people which were satisfied with that gratis cheer, did follow him to the City Capernaum. But when jesus perceived their hypocrisy, that they were fleshly and carnal hearers, and as a good Writer saith, Parasiti qu●s patina conglutinate, hypocrites and belly Gods, whom the trencher doth make friends to Christ: like unto him which when he sweat over his trencher, yet cried out, O quanta patimur pro amore Christi, Lord what suffer we for the love of Christ! jesus therefore reprehendeth these men, saying, Verily, verily I say unto you, ye seek me not, because ye saw the miracles, but because ye eat the loans and were filled. Yet they obstinately answered him, What miracles hast thou done? hast thou commanded the Sun and the Moon to stand still, as josua did? hast thou revived the widows son as Elias did? hast thou made iron to swim as Eliza did? hast thou revived the dead bones as Ezechiell did? hast thou been in the Whale's belly with jonas? or parted the red sea with Moses? Our Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness, Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat: but mark I pray you how jesus did answer them. Nay, (saith he) Moses gave you not bread from Heaven, but my Father giveth you the true Bread from Heaven: For the bread of GOD is he which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world: Then said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this Bread. And jesus said, I am the Bread of life, he that cometh to me, shall not hunger, & he that believeth in me, shall never thirst.  
And thus much for the coherence, and occasion of our Saviour Christ's words: now particularly as they lie in order: first who is this Bread? Which is Christ, persona loquens, signified in this word, I. Secondly, what is this bread? It is the bread of life. Thirdly, the powerful efficacy, and effect of this bread, declared in these words, He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me, shall never thirst.  
And first, who is this Bread, which is, Christ: I am the living Bread which came down from heaven, saith Christ. Ego sum panis vitae, et fons aquae vivae. I am the bread of life, and fountain of living water: Omnia nobis est Christus (saith Ambrose) si esuris, ipse est panis, si sitis, ipse est fons aquae viva, si carus es, ipse est lumen, si infirmus es, ipse medicus, si mortuus, ipse vita gratiae et gloriae. Christ is all things to us, if thou be'st hungry, he is bread, if thou be'st thirsty, he is the fountain of living water, if thou be'st blind he is the light, he is the health of a feavered soul, light of thy life, life of thy desire, heaven of the mind, guide to thy wandering feet, succourer in necessity, helper in adversity: yea he is all things to thee: I am the living bread, saith Christ. The bread which I give is my flesh, and the drink which I give is my blood, my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh & drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the latter day.  
O blessed meat, O celestial food: O heavenly Manna: it far excelleth the Poet's Ambrosia: would to God that all of us daily might eat of this Manna: would to God that all of us which travel in the Wilderness of this world, might lodge at such an Inn, where God the father is the host, the holy Ghost, the hostess, the Church the Inn, the cross the sign, and Christ the meat, and drink. Aristotell must dine when it pleaseth Philip, but here thou mayst have store of spiritual food for the repast of thy soul, and take it when it please thyself. Say but thy grace before this blessed banquet, and then sit down and satisfy thy hunger. The more thou eatest, the more it increaseth, like to jupiters' nectar, the more it is drunk of, the more it overfloweth. Neither needst thou use, the counsel of Lysander, which he perscribed to his Daughters, to drink with a drop of wine a spunful of water. Thou mayst drink as much of this precious wine as thou wilt, neither canst thou infuse any mixture of water, but of the water of eternal life. This meat is of the like quality with the stone of Thracia, which whosoever findeth, is never after troubled, so whosoever eateth of this meat, is never after grieved: labour therefore to get this meat which endureth to everlasting life. No water was so good as that which came out of the Rock, no meat so delicate as Manna which came from heaven, no wine so wholesome as that which Christ made of water at the marriage of Cana, no oil so precious as that which the Samaritan had, no rob so costly, as that which the father gave to the prodigal son, no bread, no food, no meat so profitable, as this meat of the soul which endureth to everlasting life. This meat is water to refresh us, and wine to cheer us, this is bread to strengthen us, and Manna to nourish us, it is a treasure to enrich us, and a pearl to adorn us, it is a fire to purge us, and salt to powder us, it is a trumpet to call us, and wisdom to instruct us, it is a way to direct us, and life to revive us, it is a Lantern to guide us, and a buckler to shield us, it is physic to recure us, and a salve to heal us: if we have this meat, this Manna, this bread, we shall have no need of Elizens to increase our oil, no need to beg at the glutton's gate, or to send unto Naball the churl for food: if we have this treasure, we shall not need to rob the Egyptians, if we have this pearl, we shall not need the gold of Ophire, if we have this water, we need not draw water at jacobs' well, Naaman needs not wash his feet seven times in jordan, the sick needs not to go to the pool of Bethesda: for this precious meat, and inestimable Manna will purge us from all leprosy of sin: So that we shall loathe to drink of the slumbering cup, of the devils sorceries to bewitch us to sin: this bread is Homer's Moly, and Pliny's Centauria against all lustful enchantments: for this bread, this spiritual food, will so cleanse our minds, and purify our hearts, that we will always detest the eye-pleasing baits of carnal desires, and wholly delight ourselves with this inestimable treasure: carnal voluptuousness is transitory and fading; the minutes that lackey at the heels of time run not faster away, then do those pleasures: but this spiritual food, this bread of life, is not like palate-pleasing dainties, whose sugared sweetness once relished is presently gone, but it yieldeth the hungry soul an everlasting fruition of most ravishing pleasantness: labour therefore for this bread which bringeth to everlasting life.  
The Bees do labour to get a little honey:  
Mella stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas.  
But this bread is sweeter than honey, or the honeycomb. Our forefathers did eat of the Acorns of the Oaks, and thought them pleasant meat. And we which by Ceres' huswifrie have learned to bury the reviving grain, do think that Bread most delicate food. O foolish Caterers, let us rather learn to bury in our hearts this reviving grain, that in this general famine of true Christian food, we may with joseph provide abundance of this bread of life, for the benefit of our souls: then should we not have such spiritual penury, and dearth of religion, if our heart's were made fertile to bring forth the seeds of our soul's nourishment and sustenance. Labour not therefore for the bread that perrisheth, but for this bread which remaineth unto everlasting life.  
Ay but will some say, where shall we find this spiritual food, this bread of life? I tell thee Christ is this bread of life. Ay but will he perhaps reply: how shall I come to Christ to get this food? I bid thee go to the scriptures, (Christ's treasury) where thou shalt find this Manna, this Bread of life, there is plentiful store, take and satisfy thyself; neither needst thou go far to seek it, as David did the Ark of GOD, or as josias did the Book of the Law; Neither canst thou desire with the Glutton, that one from the dead might arise to teach thee how to find this bread of life: for now adays (thanks be given to GOD for it) the dispensers of this bread of life be plentiful, who may without fear or peril show thee the compendious way to seek this bread of life. Now Obadia need not fear Queen jezabel, to bide an hundred Prophets in a Cave. Moses need not fear King Pharaoh, and say, I have a stuttering tongue: jeremy need not fear the jews, and say, I am a child: for now the Ministers of God's word are maintained, and preserved, and may freely without danger, & boldly without fear, dispense of this bread of life. Yea & every one of Christ's faithful children, although he be not an head in the mystical body of Christ, or an eye, or a leg, yea if he be but an hand, yet he may gather of this bread of life, if he be but an ear he may hear of this bread of life, or a tongue, he may praise this bread of life, or a mouth, he may receive this bread of life. Labour therefore for this bread which endureth to everlasting life: I am the Bread of life: O jesus art thou the bread which givest life? Thou art a guide to our ways, a guardian to our persons, a counsellor in our doubts, a comforter in misery, a patron in necessity, and wilt thou be bread also? Thou art our keeper, our shepherd, our defender, our Saviour, & wilt thou be bread also? O jesus, thou art light unto our eyes, music to our ears, contentment to our souls, & wilt thou be bread also? O loving jesus, O merciful redeemer, O blessed Emanuel, O jesus, we give thee our bodies, our souls, our substance, our wealth, our honour, our friends, our Children, our life, and all that is ours: jesus we are not our own but thine, claim us as thy right, keep us as thy charge, love us as thy children: jesus fight for us when sathan cometh, heal us if he woundeth, revive us if he killeth, receive us if we fly into thy merciful bosom: protect us when he approacheth, detect us when he cometh: jesus thou art our food in the day, thou shalt also be our repose in the night: jesus make us pliable to thy will, resigned wholly to thy pleasure. jesus forsake us not lest we perish, leave us not lest we be overcome: jesus direct our intentions, correct our follies, erect our cogitations, protect our endeavours: jesus grant us sorrow for our sins, fear for thy judgements, love of thy mercies, thankfulness for this bread of life: I am the bread of life, that is, I am the bread of an immortal & heavenly life, not of this mortal and earthly life: for else Christ might rather have said, I am the bread of death, and not of life; for this life is a living death, and a dying life. But Christ is not bread of such a life. But, he is the bread of an immortal, and never fading life.  
Happy therefore is he which is at this hanquet, & tasteth of this bread of life: Neither is this an imaginary fruition, or a painted banquet, resembling the hungry cheer, which the birds had that fed themselves with Zeuxis painted grapes, until with picking at shadows they waxed so lean, that they were glad with Esop's Cock to scrape for a Barley corn. But with this bread of life thy foul shall be so cherrished, with this Manna thou shalt be so wonderfully delighted, that ever after thou shalt loathe the flesh pots of Egypt. Hic panis est corpus meum, this bread is my body, and therefore thou canst not mislike it. O you Ministers, the faithful dispensers of this hallowed bread of life, feed duly Christ's flock with this bread of life. Christ said to Peter Pasce, pasce, pasce, feed, feed, feed: Feed with this bread of life, with your doctrine, with your alms: Feed first with this bread of life, for it is the bread of salvation: Secondly feed with your wholesome doctrine, that Christ's sheep do not surfeit with vice, and so need the corsive of his correction to amend them. Thirdly, feed with alms: but what shall I press you to that? Nay I must in conscience spare you, for the case now so stands, that you are liker to live of alms, then be able to give alms: and therefore till happier times come, wherein your divine function may more bounteously be rewarded, I will spare you for that point, for necessity hath no law. In mean while feed with this bread of life, & spend your breath happily in the fires of devotion, crying alarm spiritual 'gainst soul vice, and all wickedness: so at last you having not defrauded Christ's children of this bread of life, may have a most bountiful remuneration for your painful labours, and enjoy all heavenly happiness, and celestial joys, tasting this bread of life, which is prepared for all Gods faithful children: And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the first parcel of my text, I am the bread of life.  
Now it followeth that I should briefly speak of the powerful efficacy, and effect of this bread of life. Which by the tongues of Angels cannot be so well declared, as by these our saviours words, He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. After a man hath tasted of all manner of delicate meats, yea although he hath caroused new grapes in Alexander's cup, and plentifully paid that daily Tribute to the stomach, which the law of our nature exacteth, yet that food will not satiate him for ever, so that he shall never hunger, or thirst after. But this bread, this bread of life hath another power, and effect, for he that eateth of this bread, shall never hunger, or thirst more.  
We read in the fourth chapter of Mathewe, that man liveth not by bread only: but I say, man only liveth by this bread: for this bread is the bread of heaven, which giveth life unto the world. Therefore be careful to seek for this bread, for Christ doth not forbid us to seek for this bread: he saith in Matthew the sixth chapter; Be not careful what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, behold the fowls of heaven, they sow not, neither reap, nor carry into their barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them: the Lilies do not labour nor spin, yet Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these: therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or how shall we be claothed? but seek ye the Kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be ministered unto you: yet in all these exemplified admonitions of our Saviour Christ, he doth not forewarn us to be careless for seeking of this bread of life: will Christ forbidden us to seek himself? Christ is this bread of life, feed on his flesh, and nourish your souls: he is the oil, and lamp, with which the five Virgins entered into the Bridegrooms chamber. He is the Lord of life, the way of life, the bread of life.  
Believe in this Lord, come unto this way, eat of this bread, you shall never hunger, or thirst after. But some man peradventure may object, can bread extinguish hunger, and thirst? When a man is dry and thirsty, he doth not use to eat bread: I answer, that the Hebrews do use this phrase, panem comedere, pro caenare, for to sup, as Master Caluin here well noteth: so we say in the Lord's prayer, danobis quotidianum panem, give us our daily bread, signifying all necessary things belonging to a man; eat of this bread of life, and you shall not need to say, give us our daily bread, for you shall never hunger, or thirst after: He that cometh to me, shall not hunger: accedat ad Christum omnis anima: let every soul come to Christ, and he will refresh it: I will (saith he) feed the hungry soul, and refresh all faint hearts. I am the strength of the feeble, the succour of the hungry, a refuge against evil weather, a shadow against heat: I am a continual feast, where all hungry & languishing souls may satisfy themselves with celestial food. O well are they, and happy shall they be, which sit at this heavenly Table, and eat of this blessed, and spiritual meat, the price and redemptian of their souls. Hear is Manna which the children of Israel shall never loath: the wise Ethnic man's saying upon a feast, here taketh no place: Prima cratera (saith he) ad sitim pertinet, secunda ad hilaritatem, tertia ad voluptatem, quarta ad insaniam: The first cup belongeth to thirst, the second to mirth, the third to pleasure, and the fourth to insobrietie. But at this feast of the Soul, it is quite contrary, for the more thou drinkest, tanto propriores ad animae sanitatem, et salutem: thou art so much the nearer to the health, and welfare of thy soul. Calisthenes said to Alexander, that he had rather carouse old grains with Diogenes in his dish, them new grapes with Alexander in his cup, for of all the Gods (quoth he) I love not Esculapius. But whosoever drinketh in this cup, shall not need Aesculapius' physic, for it is a present remedy, & a sovereign restorative against the maladies of a sinful soul: it is an excellent potion, and a most wholesome purgation to expel the leprosy of a sinne-seavered soul.  
The precious stone Sandastra hath nothing in outward appearance, but being broken, it poureth forth beams, like the sun: so this bread of life hath not an outward glea of superexcellent goodness, but taste it, and then it poureth forth such admirable excellency, that thou shalt never hunger any more. Therefore the shepherds of Christ's flock, should only feed his lambs with this bread of life.  
When they be hungry, they should fill them with this Bread of life. They should cry unto them always, Come unto Christ, and he will give you the bread of life, so that you shall never hunger or thirst any more. The Ministers should have a continual cry, not like the Swallows, which have matutinum cantum, a morning song, or as the Grasshoppers, meridianum cantum, a noon song, or as the Owls, vespertinum cantum, an evening song, or as the Cocks, antelucanum cantum, a song before morning, but they should have a morning song, a noon song, an evening song, and a song before day light, to awake Christ's slumbering sheep to come unto Christ, and eat of this bread of life, so they shall never hunger or thirst more. He that cometh to me shall not hunger, & he that believeth in me, shall never thirst.  
To believe in Christ, is the total sum of all Christian religion: For our faith in the death, and passion of our Lord, and Saviour jesus Christ, is the sure foundation of our salvation. Fides in Christo (saith S. Jerome) est fundamentum humanae saluationis: Faith in Christ is the foundation of man's salvation: without this faith, all our virtuous actions, & good endeavours, be in vain. So saith S. Augustine, Sine fide falsa est omnis virtus, without faith, all virtue is in vain: Sine fide impossibile est placere Deo, with out faith it is impossible to please God: Sine fide omnis labor vacwo. Without faith all our labour is frustrate. Faith is the porter of heaven gate, and not Saint Peter.  
He that hath faith, yea but as much as a grain of mustard seed, shall be able to remove Mountains: Wherhfore let us labour to get this faith, which being obtained, we shall not need any other treasury: let us lay up this jewel in our hearts, which will enrich us ever after. The Anatomists say, that in the heart of a man, there is a little whole, which hath nothing in it. Whereupon a good writer saith, that this little Cabinet and Cell of the heart, God doth reserve for himself, to be a chamber, and a private mansion for him to dwell, & keep therein: let us therefore bestow upon our gracious Lord this precious gem, this excellent ornament to adorn, and beautify this inward chamber. That when it shall please the Lord to call us to the high star-chamber over our heads, he may Antipelargein, that is, requite us with far more sumptuous jewels, and richer ornaments, making us cohabitors with Angels, and the admired paragons of all perfection: let us therefore confidently believe in Christ, desiring him most hearty, and unfeignedly, to give us of this bread of life, which is the only restorative against hunger, and thirst. Avicen like a fool said in his Aphorisms, that gold was the best restorative. No, no, this bread of life, is the most heavenly remedy against all diseases: it is a poison for vice, but a life-giving potion for virtue. It is the bread of death for carnal gluttony, but it is the bread of life for spiritual hunger. If thou be'st famished, eat of this bread, and it will revive thee: it can heal all leprosy of sin, and remove all maladies from a sin-sick soul: it is the nectar of our salvation, and the Lethe of our iniquines: taste but once of this bread of life, & thou shalt ever after loath the sugared cares, and bewitching damties of lustful affections: look daily upon this bread of life, and thou shalt ever after hide thine eyes, and stop thine ears, which are now captived vassals to behold, and hear the legerdemain of humane juggling desires: all siren songs of carnal concupiscence, and vices lovelines, which now are imprinted in thy breast, shall be quite canceled out, after thou hast once digested inwardly, and thy soul hath had an happy concoction of this bread of life: it purgeth all the hidden corruption of man's folly, & giveth working pills to vomit up original transgressions: it is the present remedy for a body, which lieth in a consumption of grace, to taste of this bread of life, with in a short space by the unspeakable hidden operation, will make a blessed recovery for this languishing creature. If thy soul be hungry or thirsty, behold two sacramental rivers flowing out of the Paradise of Christ's body, in the one, thou shalt find this bread of life, in the other, this water of life: taste either of them, and thou shalt never hunger, or thirst more; yea the power of this bread cannot be sufficiently declared by the tongue of the worthiest Orator. Wherhfore let us only satisfy our souls with this bread of life, whose power, and efficacy our daily Orator Christ jesus, hath declared unto us in these words, He that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. Wherefore to draw to a conclusion, let us from the bottom of our hearts, desire Christ jesus evermore to give us of this bread, that when the glass of our life is run out, and with the Phoenix we may discern the term of our days, and with the Swan discover our fatal end, that it would please him to feed our hungry souls with this spiritual food, this bread of life, and place them at his heavenly table, to satisfy themselves with this celestial banquet: yea when our breath vanisheth, our eyes wax dim, and we turned out of the houseroom of this transitory world, repair unto our doomsday house, where the worms (the dead men's lawyers) shall take their fees out of us their grave-clients, and our bodies shall be their bread to satiate their hunger, yet thou (O jesus) would vouchsafe to give us thy body, the only bread of life, for to nourish our hungry souls, that by the wings of a lively faith we may fly up to the heavens, and enjoy that age of unspeakable pleasures: the eternal father through the merits of his dearest son, by the sceptre of his holy spirit, so rule our hearts, that we being righteous as Elias, and our prayers fervent as those of Elias, they may pierce the clouds, and open heaven, and thence bring down this bread of life, this dew of divine grace upon us, and satisfy our souls with this mystical banquet of Christ's body. O Lord inflame our tongues with the zeal of devotion, that our prayers may be fervent, and may make a sweet incense to pacify thy wrath, that thou blotting out all our unworthiness out of thy memory, mayst graciously hearken to our petitions, and mayst grant us this inestimable treasure, the price, and ransom of our soul's redemption: if the Lions seek their meat of God, if the Ox know his owner, and the Ass his masters crib, grant unto us a most careful desire to crave this meat of our souls, and to wait and seek for this bread of life, that we which were created by a consultation of the Deity, redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, sanctified by the holy Ghost, may be partakers of this blessed bread of life, and in the end, and without all end, sit at his heavenly table, reigning together with the Trinity in the Kingdom of heaven, to which be all glory, power, praise, and dominion, both now, and for evermore.  
FINIS.   

A SHORT AND necessary Treatise, entitled: Death's welcome.  
By Sa: Garey.  
AT LONDON, Printed by I. R. for jeffery Charleton. 1605.   

❧ To the most puissant Emperor, and Conqueror of all the world, Death, greeting.  
LIfe (saith the Philosopher) is but a borrowed dream of pleasure, a vision of delight, a pageant of transitory happiness, and Death is a Harbinger of eternity, a bringer of felicity, a Messenger of glory; it is a pirate of life, and yet a pilot to life, a conductor to the heavenly haven of bliss, the Angel to keep Paradise, wherein none enters but by the entrance of his fatal sword. Sith therefore (o Death) thou art the Groome-porter to let out life, and let in life, the remover (as Aeschilus' calleth thee) of worldly sorrows, the deliverer (as Cicero saith) of troubled minds, the jailer which art content with the fees of our life, to set our Souls at liberty, I here invite and welcome thee to the loathsome banquet of my body, fat thy pale cheeks with the cates of my life, and glut thy hungry appetite with my vital spirits, only do me this favour, that I may say my Grace at this last supper, and then sit down upon my dying bed, and drink up the sweet drop of sour life, and the scraps, and dead bones of my body, and carcase of my flesh take away, and keep them in the doomsday house, until my Soul by the lively wings of faith, descending from heaven at the general resurrection, be united one to another, and there enjoy an endless age of pleasures, to the which (o Death) soon bring me, that I may say to the worlds misery, which I say to thee, farewell.  
Your loving, and until you come living friend, Sa. Garey. Tu nil rescribas, attamen ipse veni.   

❧ A Treatise, entitled Deaths welcome.  
THE principal motive which doth encourage a man to welcome and embrace death, is the assured hope of the future life, and of those joys, which he shall enjoy in the never fading kingdom.  
Therefore S. Paul saith, Unless the dead be raised again, what advantageth it me to have fought with beasts at Ephesus? For unless there were a resurrection of the dead, and an immortal life to be obtained after this our pilgrimage, why should we live in jeopardy every hour, & suffer such persecution in this world, & not rather follow the rules of the Epicures, eat, drink, for to morrow we shall die: and upon our graves, engrave the Epitaph of Sardanapalus, which he writ a little before his death,  
Cum te mortalem noris, presentibus exple,  
Delicijs animum, post mortem nulla voluptas,  
Et venere, et plumis, et caenis Sardanapali.  
This I say, were the best pleasing life, to eat with the Epicure, sleep with Endymion, carouse with Alexander, & with the rich man in the scripture, to flatter ourselves, saying, Soul thou hast much goods laid up in store, eat, drink, and take thy rest. Who would endure the mocks and scorns of the world, who would be roasted with Laurentius, or martyred with the Apostles, unless they hoped, that after the vessel of their bodies were seasoned in the womb of the earth, they should arrive at that blessed undiscovered country, where is no mediocrity of joy, no end of pleasure. So then we Christians, who are illuminated with the bright sunny beams of Christ's Gospel, will reject such Epicurian opinions of godless Atheists, who believe there is no resurrection, no crown of glory remaining for them after their life is ended: but S. Paul teacheth us an other lesson; For (saith he) if the dead be not raised, then is Christ not risen, & if Christ be not risen, them our faith is in vain. And in another place; If in this life we have hope only, then of all men we be most miserable.  
So job said, when he was overwhelmed with a sea of sorrow; I am certain that my redeemer liveth, and that I shall rise out of the earth in the latter day, and that I shall be clothed again with this skin, and see GOD in my flesh, yea I myself shall behold him, not with other, but with these same eyes.  
This point of religion concerning our resurrection, the very Heathen Writers have approved, for thus Cato speaking to Scipio & Laelius in Cicero's book De senectute, saith; Dost thou think that I would have undertaken so great labours both by day and night, both at home, and at the war, if my glory should have had the same limits which my life hath? So Plato in his Book De animae immortalit. saith, That the soul of man is immortal, and that it shall live in another world. So Socrates when he did drink the venomous poison, with which he should break of the feeble thread of mortality, said: I am sure that my soul shall live, and that my body shall arise in the second never dying birth.  
But why do I spend my time in a matter so needless to be confirmed, sith the scripture (the oracles of wisdom) be so plentiful of proves: & all Writers do defend this undeniable verity: for who can deny, but that there is a resurrection, and a reward reserved for them, which die in the Lord: if that this life were the only Paradise where we should take our delights, who would not desire a long life with Methusalah, or store of wealth with Solomon, or honour with Haman: but we that know this earth to be nothing else but an element of sorrow, this world to be but a Hydra of renewing cares, will not place our eternal affairs, and treasures of heaven upon the gliding stream, of this uncertain life. For we are surely persuaded, that after the hour glass of this momentary life is run out, we shall be imparadized in heaven, and made free Denizers in that celestial jerusalem, whose joys and praises do superabound all inhuman invention to comprehend: for so saith Saint Gregory; No man is able to tell how great, the joys of the heavenly City shall be. Because (as Saint Bernard saith) the dishes of the heavenly banquet are so great, that they cannot be measured, so long that they cannot be limited, so many that they cannot be numbered, and so precious, that they cannot be esteemed. Yet notwithstanding, that those joys be inestimable, and innumerable, we shall be certain to enjoy them, after this life is finished. For so saith Saint Paul, when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed, we know we have a building given of God, that is, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens: there shall we have joys without measure, pleasures without end. We shall (saith Saint Augustine) see without weariness, we shall love with-measure, and shall give praises without end. Then shall David taste how sweet the Lord is. I am sure (saith he) I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. These joys and the hope of the fruition of that blessed future life, doth inbolden and harden a true Christian against his fatal hour, willingly, and joyfully to leave this world, (which is valles miseriae, as Augustine saith) that he may see the new jerusalem, & that blessed company of Angels, whose glory, whose praises, whose blessedness, whose delights, no tongue is able to express, no heart to conceive.  
Yet that I might give you a taste of those joys, and as it were a shadow of the Sun shine of that glory, which we shall possess after the dissolution of our earthly bodies, I will recite a few things, which I have read in the Scriptures, and in other places concerning the blessedness of that happy life: for the joys of heaven be the only causes which do move and incite us, to live godly in this present life. For what doth make the labourer to work, but his hire: The husbandman to toil but the hope of a good harvest. The Soldier to fight but the hope of victory, and of obtaining of a Garland: so in like manner, what doth stir up mortal men to live religiously, and lovingly to welcome the approach of death, but only the confident hope of that hire, which none of them by virtual merits shall deserve. The hope of that good harvest, wherein they shall reap all contentment of mind. The hope of that wished victory and precious Garland, wherewith they shall be adorned and flourish like Angelis. These be the true motives and inducements, which do give alacrity and bold spirits, to undergo the pangs of death willinly, and encourage and animate all timorous and fleshly minded persons, to be delighted, and their ears tickled with music in the dance of death, when they shall seriously consider, they shall pass from death to life, from mortality to immortality, from misery to joy, from pertill to security, from bondage to liberty, from adversity to prosperity, and in fine, from hell and damnation, to blisle and salvation. Howbeit, that I may give some kind of savour and feeling knowledge thereof, which may allure fearful men cheerfully to expect, and patiently to suffer the jailer Death to lock up the windows of the prison house of their souls, I intent here to rehearse even word for word, what S. Augustine saith in one of his Meditations, namely, the 22 meditation, speaking of the felicity of the future life.  
O life (saith he) prepared by almighty God for his friends, a blessed life, a seeure life, a quiet life, a beautiful, a clean life, a chaste life, a holy life, a life that knoweth no death, a life without sadness, without labour, without grief, without trouble, without corruption, without fear, without variety, without alteration, a life replenished with all beauty, and dignity, where there is neither enemy that can offend, or delight that can annoy, where love is perfect, and no fear at all, where the day is everlasting, & the spirit of all is one, where almighty God is seen face to face, who is the only meat whereupon they feed without any loathsomeness. It delighteth me to consider thy brightness, & thy treasures do rejoice my longing heart; the more I consider thee, the more I love thee. The great desire I have of thee, doth wonderfully delight me, and no less pleasure is it unto me to keep thee in my remembrance. O life most happy: O Kingdom truly blessed, where there is no death, no end, neither yet succession of time, where the day continueth evermore without night, knoweth no mutation, where the victorious conqueror, being joined with those everlasting quieres of Angels, and having his head crowned with a Garland of glory, singeth unto almighty godone of the songs of Zion. O happy, yea & most happy should my soul be, if when the race of this my pilgrimage is ended, I might be worthy to see thy glory, thy blessedness, thy beauty, thy walls, and gates of thy City, thy streets, thy lodgings, thy noble Citizens, and thine omnipotent King, in his most glorious Majesty. The stones of thy walls, are precious, thy gates are adorned with bright pearls, thy streets are of very fine gold, in which there never fail perpetual praises. Thy houses are paved with rich stones, wrought with Zaphires, and covered above with massy gold: where none entereth that is not clean, neither doth any abide there, that is defiled.  
Fair and beautiful in thy delights, art thou O jerusalem our mother: none of those things are suffered in thee, that are suffered here. There is great diversity between thy things, and the things that we do continually see in this miserable life. In thee is never seen darkness, nor any change of time. The light that shineth in thee, cometh neither of jampes, nor of the Moon, nor yet of the bright glistering Stars. But God that proceedeth of God, and the light that cometh of light, is he that gieveth clearensse unto thee. Even the very King of Kings himself, keepeth continual residence in the midst of thee, compassed about with his officers and servants. There do the Angels in their orders, and quires sing a most sweet and melodious Harmony: There is celebrated a perpetual feast, with every one of them that cometh thither, after his departure out of this his pilgrimage. There be the orders of Prophets; there is the famous society of Apostles: there is the invincible army of Martyrs; there is the most reverend assembly of Confessors, there be the true religious persons. There are the holy Virgins, which have overcome the pleasures of the world, and the frailty of the flesh: there be the young men & women, more ancient in virtue, then in years: there are the sheep, and little lambs, that have escaped from the wolves, and from the deceitful snares of this life. There charity reigneth in her full perfection. O happy were I, yea and very happy indeed, if at what time I shall be loosed out of the prison of this wretched body, I might be thought worthy to hear those songs of that heavenly melody, sung in the praises of the everlasting King, by all the Citizens of that so noble City: Happy were I, yea and very happy, if I might obtain a room among the Chaplains of that Chapel, and wait for my turn also to sing my Alleluia: if I might be near unto my King, my God, my Lord, & see him in his glory, even as he promised me, when he said, john, 17. O father this is my last determinate will, that all those, that thou hast given unto me, may be with me, and see the glory which I had with thee before the world was created. Hitherto are the words of Saint Augustine: Mark also I pray you, how Saint john describeth in his revelation the new jerusalem, xxi. And I john (saith he) saw a new heaven, and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea; and I john saw the holy City new jerusalem, come down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband; and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be their God with them. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, neither crying, neither shall there be any more pain. For the first things are passed: and there came unto me an Angel, saying, come, I will show thee the Bridegroom the lambs wife. And he carried me away to an high mountain, and showed me that great City, that holy jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her shining was like unto a stone most precious, as a jasper stone as clear as Crystal, and had a great wall and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve Angels, and the names written, which are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel; and the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass; the foundation of the wall of the City, was garnished with all manner of precious stones; and the twelve Gates were twelve pearls, and every gate is of one pearl, and the streets of the City is pure gold, as shining glass: and there is no Temple, for the Lord almighty, & the Lamb are the Temple of it. There is the pure River of water of life, clear as Crystal proceeding out of the Throne of God, and of the Lamb. There is the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits. There is no night, no candle, or light of the Sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall shine for evermore.  
Now then tell me (o zealous Christian) what needest thou fear death, sith from a most miserable world, thou shalt pass to a glorious kingdom, from miseries to everlasting joys, from labours & troubles, to eternally pleasures and delights. Will not the hope of these rewards move thee to welcome Death? Then hear some more joys, which thou shalt possess in the blessed future life.  
The righteous shall shine as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father; They shall have the inheritance of everlasting life; They shall be as the Angels of heaven; they shall be in Abraham's bosom; they shall be where Christ is, and see his glory.  
The Apostle S. Paul saith, The eye hath not seen, the ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them which love him; we shall be with the Lord, and live with him for ever; we shall be vessels unto honour; we shall have the crown of righteousness; we shall dwell in the City of the living God, the heavenly jerusalem, and see the innumerable company of Angels.  
When Christ our chief Shepherd shall appear (saith S. Peter) we shall receive an incorruptible crown of glory; and S. john in his Revelation saith; To him that overcometh. I will give to eat of the Tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of almighty GOD; The righteous shall neither hunger nor thirst, heat nor sun shall not hurt them: for he that favoureth them, shall lead them, and give them drink of the springing wells: they shall eat, drink, and be merry for very quietness of heart: yea, their gladness and their joy shall continue for ever and ever.  
The wise (saith Daniel) shall glister as the shining of heaven, and be like the stars world without end. My people (saith God) shall dwell in pleasant peace, and safe holds, & shall have continual rest without disturbance.  
Therefore when the Psalmograph did consider the excellent things that are spoken of the City of God, and of the great City holy jerusalem, he cried out, O how amiable are thy dwellings (thou Lord of Hosts) my soul hath a desire & longing to enter into the Courts of the Lord. My heart & my flesh rejoice in the living God: for who can be delighted with the kennel of this life, when he shall read what the divine Eagle, the Eagle of Divines hath spoken of this city, that it is pure gold like unto clear glass: that the streets are pure gold as shining glass: that the shining is like unto a stone most precious, as a jasper stone, clear as Crystal: that the foundations of the wall are garnished with all manner of precious stones: that the twelve gates be 12. pearls: that the keepers of the 12. gates be 12. Angels: that the light is the gloty of God, & the lamb: that the temple is the Lord God almighty and the lamb: that the inhabitants be pure, and that no unclean thing entereth therein: that the Records be the book of Life: that the water is a water of Life: that the tree is a tree of Life: and of the mimunities of the Citizens, that there shall be no more curse, no night, no need of candle, nor light of Sun: and that the estate of the Citizens is this, that they shall reign for evermore. Oh who would not willingly dive into the whitlpoole of devouring Death, and desire that the twisted feeble threads of our life would every hour untwine, so that we might be received into this heavenly foeietie, after the joyful divorcement of Soul & body.  
Balaam wished, that his soul might die the death of the righteous, and that his last end might be like unto theirs: & the Prophet David wished rather to be a door keeper in the house of God, then to dwell in the tents of the ungodly; one day in thy Courts is better than a thousand: & blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will always be praising of thee.  
These joys might allure us to raise our thoughts, above the ordinary level of this world, and to say with Poule, I desire to be loosed from this body of sin, and to be with Christ; no music should be so sweet unto our ears, as the remembrance of death; for death is our faithful conductor to this jerusalem: I have oft wondered at the folly of our nature, which do so abhor to hear the mention of our death; yea even aged men whose spring was past, whose summer spent, and even arrived at the fall of the leaf, and winter colours had stained their hoary head, whose tired ship did begin to leak and grate upon the gravel of their grave, yet how timorously they were amazed, when they perceived, that the trumpet of death began to give his last sound. O foolish imbecility, who would not willingly be luiled in deaths slumbering fits, and close up the day of his life, that from a mortal day he may come to an everlasting morrow. It is they will say themselves, the greatest delight and pleasure in this world, to hear the Nightingales recount their tunes with dainty variety: to see Valleys compassed about with silver Rivers. To see meadows enamelled with eye pleasing flowers; to see Gardens bedecked with roses and lilies, and pleasant shades. Or to hear the Lambs crave their Dam's comfort, with their bleating oratory, yet these be trifles: from heaven you shall hear the Angels singing Alleluia, which will surpass the music of Nightingalls: there is the Eden of content: the Paradise of pleasure. Will you have pastures to pastime in: Mark what Saint Gregory saith, pasma electorum sunt vultus Dei, ubi erit perpetua latitia et securitas: Dost thou delight in shepherd & Lambs? there is our watchful shepherd Christ, & there is the Lamb of God, craving day and night for the comfort of our souls: yet I will sail a little further into the broad Sea of these celestial joys. It will be no small joy unto us, when our souls shall be presented before the Throne of the most blessed Trinity, by the hands of the Angels, and they placing them before the Tribunal seat of almighty God, shall declare our good works, our alms deeds, our prayers, our fastings, our innocency of life, our temperance in diet, our crosses, our tribulations, torments, injuries, and afflictions we have suffered for God's sake. Saint Luke writeth that when holy Tabytha, the great alms giver was dead, all the widows and poor people came about the Apostle Saint Peter, showing him the coats, and garments she had given them, wherewith the Apostle being moved, made his prayer to almighty God, for that so merciful a woman, and by his prayers he raised her again to life. Now what a joy and gladness will it be to us, when the Angels shall rehearse our virtues, and good deeds, which we have performed in our lise. Then shall we fully perceive the value of virtue; there the obedient man shall talk of victories; there shall the Kings come loaden with the spoils of honour. There shall the valiant men enter with triumph, which have conquered sathan and all his devices. There shall the innocent Virgins enter, which have lived chastened in the world, adorned with Garlands of Lilies and Roses; There shall the whole Court of heaven embrace with kisses religious bishops, which have been watchful shepherds over the whole flock of Christ: There shall the constant Martyrs be received, which have suffered martyrdom for the Gospel; There shall the aged men enter, which have with discretion and wisdom passed their days on earth; There shall the virtuous young men receive there reward: There virtue shall be honoured according to her merit. Oh how sweet and savoury shall the fruit of virtue then be. Sweet is the fountain to the weary traveler, sweet is rest to the tired servant, sweet is the cold evening after a hot sunny day; yet much more sweeter will it be to the faithful servants of almighty GOD, and Saints of the heavenly City, to have peace after war, continual quietness after pains, joy after trouble, security after danger.  
Then shall not the children of Israel need to fear Pharaoh. Then Mardocheus need not fear proud ambitious Haman. Then joseph's feet shall not be pinched and hurt in the stocks.  
Then the Widow of Sarepta may cast away her cruse and her meal, for she shall be satisfied with heavenly manna. Then may the blessed Father Saint Jerome take his rest, who in his watchings made no difference between days and nights, beating his breast in his devour prayers, and fight against the violence of the old serpent.  
Then jeremy need not renew his tragical note in his prophecy, saying; O that my head were a well of water, and my eye-lidds fountains of tears, that I might weep day & night for the slain of the Dangliters of my people.  
Then may the stout hearted Soldiers lay down their swords and spears, for there is a region of peace, and a place of tranquillity: for every one in that City, enjoy the fruit of sweet peace.  
That City is situated above all the Elements, where no clouds can arise, no stormy winds can blow, no tempetuous waves can come. There is the lamb of God Christ jesus, embracing his dear spouse the Church, saying, My sister, my spouse, how fair & how pleasant art thou, o my Love in pleasures: thy lips (my spouse) drop as honey combs. honey and milk is under thy tongue: my spouse is as a Garden enclosed with Roses and Lilies, o Paradise of Gardens, o well of living waters, o my well-beloved, thou art the fairest among women. O joyful time, when we shall see face to face Christ jesus, and hear the sweet communication between him and the Church his beloved Spouse.  
Blessed are they (saith holy Tobias) that love thee, and enjoy thy peace. Wherhfore Bernard might well say, If any man should taste in his heart, how great the pleasantness of the heavenly reward is, than every thing in the earth will seem bitter, every comely thing shameful, and all joy sorrowfulness. Also in another place he saith, In comparison of heavenly joy, all pleasure is grief, all delights sorrow, all sweetness bitterness, and all honour horribleness. Wherefore I will exhort all godly Christians, with the grave sentence of blessed S. Augustine, where he saith, O man be fervent in the love & desire of Eternal life, where every action is without labour, rest without idleness, praise without disdain, life without defect; where there is no want, but all superfluity, where there is no good hidden, and no evil present.  
Oh into what an Ocean of joys my joyful tongue leads me, my eyes wax dim at the sunshine of this glory, my pen gins to tire, and yet I will not like a bad Historian, speak of the meanest ioyet, and cut of the course of the greatest happiness. Therefore my tongue, mine eyes, my pen, each of them shall sing a part to make up the harmony of this excessive felicity. It is an unspeakable pleasure to a christian when he shall arrive at this blessed haven, & shall turn back, and look upon the course of his navigation, wherein he hath sailed in the tempestuous sea of his former life: when he shall remember the waves wherewith he hath been tossed, the rocks which he hath escaped, the Pirates, (namely the devil and his Angels) whom he hath happily avoided. When he shall consider this transitory world to be but a dungeon of sinners, where the growth of Virtue is poisoned with the puddle water of penury, where rancour & despite chiefly reigneth, and all goodness is overwhelmed in malice, where virtue is a handmaid to sugared hypocrisy, smooth malice, hidden ambition, smiling envy, wicked tyranny. Besides, when he shall behold so many thousand souls descending into hell, and that it hath pleased the omnipotent King, among so many millions of damned persons, thou shalt be one of that predestinated company, which should obtain such unexpressible felicity and glory. Yea what a glorious sight will it be to thee, to see so many persons having on their heads golden Crowns, and to see the Kingly seats of heaven filled up, and that City builded, and the noble jerusalem repaired again. Yea what a joy will it be to thee, to see archangels, Angels, the souls of Saints, the company of Martyrs, the Sun, the Moon, the glistering Stars, and all other things, each one of them in their course and quality, show themselves obedient to his will, giving veneration, glory, and praise, singing this sweet song, praise, and honour, and power, and glory be unto him, that sitteth upon the Throne, and unto the Lamb for evermore.  
Is not this a glorious company? a joyful country; a happy life; who shall be these so fortunate, and so happy, that are elected for thee. Happy shall I be, if the remnant of my posterity, might come to see the clearness of this jerusalem. To behold her gates wrought with Emeralds, and Zaphires, and all the circuit of her walls built with precious stones, her streets paved with polished marble, and in all her parts shall be sung Alleluia. It seemeth a presumption to desire thee, and yet I will not live without the desire of thee, for by the grace of God, (which grace I hope in Christ shall more and more daily abound in me) I purpose to refuse no labours, pains, and travels, so that at the end of my natural life my soul may rest with my Redeemer. Let tribulations afflict me: let diseases molest me; let my days be consumed with weeping, and tears always run down by my cheeks; let me always drink the bitter wormwood water of adversity; let lamentation and mourning always accompany me: let me be persecuted with captivity. Nay let my head be cut off with john Baptist, or let me be stoned to death with Stephen: yea let my eyes be pulled out of my head, or my flesh be torced with pincers; let vexations pour down as thick as hail, so that all that pass by may behold and see: if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Yet all these griefs would I willingly sustain, if it would please my God, that when pal● death shall shut up the eyes of my body, that my eyes of my soul might still behold, and look upon my Red emer. And that when I shall be stripped out of this mortal weed, and turned both out of the service, and houseroom of this world, yet at last I may arrive at that blessed Haven, the celestial jerusalem, there to be placed among the glorious company of the holy Angels and Saints, & receive an immortal & incorruptible crown of glory. For what will it grieve a man, to have a troublesome-night, so that joy cometh in the morning. The Mariner will not regard a short tempest, so that presently after the storm, there followeth a quiet calm: even so should it seem to us. Although for a short season we suffer sorrow in this world, yet for that short sorrow we shall reap everlasting joy. Therefore let us constantly endure to the end of our sorrows, for he that endureth to the end, shall be saved. Would we not esteem him a foolish man, who would refuse to suffer patiently the tortures of one moment, so that after, he should enjoy perpetual happiness.  
Well saith S. Augustine, So great is the fairness, and pleasure of Eternal light, that if one might not live there longer than one day, for this only, innumerable years full of the delights of this life, and abundance of temporal goods, he might rightly & worthily be contented. For in heaven, we shall have light without end, brightness without comprehension, peace without invasion. In this world our senses are benumbed, & frozen with the extremity of miseries coldness, but in heaven there shall such unexpected bliss shine upon us, that all the parts of our body and soul shall be miraculously cherished with the lightning of felicity. In this world, if the whole worthiness of all human creatures were comprised in the globe of one man's breast, yet were not that one man so happy, as the least Saint in Heaven. In this world we are but as it were ships without a Pilot, tumbling up and down in uncertain waves, till we run upon the rocks of self division, or be overthrown by the stormy wind of foreign invasion: In this World we are but as it were tenisbals, tossed by the racked of injurious fortune, but in heaven we need not fear the tempests of adversity, for there we shall dwell with Saints united in perfection; there we shall taste the golden fruit of blessed souls: there we shall have Christ a guide unto our ways, and a Guardian to our persons; there Christ shall be light unto our eyes, music unto our ears, sweetness to our taste, contentment to our souls.  
The state of the Church militant, here in this world, is like the Ark floating upon waters, like a lily growing among thorns, like Christ's ship in the 8 of Matthew, covered with waves, and yet not drowned: But in the second world it shall be triumphant, where it shall gloriously reign for evermore. Man in this world is but an Anatomy of misery, or a spectacle of a dolorous ending tragedy, but in the world to come, he shall be a paragon of glory, and a pattern of endless happiness. Therefore, sith the reward of our godly endeavours, shall be so well recompensed in the future life, let us abandon all vicious pleasures, & never be recalled to the vomit of carnal desires: Let us fight manfully under the banner of our grand captain Christ, until we vanquish all his enemies, the denill & his angels: and for that good service performed in Christ's quarrel, we shall receive at his hands a large pay, namely, an everlasting life, and an immortal crown of glory.  
Now therefore, sith I have (as it were) lighted a candle to the glorious sunshine of this heavenly glory. which cannot any way be better shadowed out, with the best pencil, then by covering it over with the vail of silence, I will speak but very little more concerning this happiness, but will only compare the torments of hell to the joys of heaven. For as beauty seems more excellent, when it is paralleled with deformity, so will heaven show more glorious when it is compared to hell. For as it is an axiom with the Logicians, Of contrary things the reason is contrary: so in this contrariety in heaven, and in hell, he which doth perceive the joys in heaven, may easily conjecture at the torments in hell.  
If the joys in heaven cannot be expressed by the tongues of Angels, than the torments of hell cannot be declared by the best Orator. For as those two places be distant in quality, so their joys and pains be equal in quantity. If that the joys of heaven be infinite, the pains of hell must consequently follow to be infinite. Now then, sith these two opposite places be distinguished with such a contrariety, the joys of the one every man would gladly enjoy, the pains of the other, every man would willingly eschew, it followeth that this is the greatest impediment for a man, not willingly to welcome death, because he is wonderfully afraid, lest he should be punished for his sins in these hellish torments: these torments do engender such a fear in a man, that he horridly quaketh at the mention of death.  
For when a man shall recount with himself that he offered the May crop of his life to the devil, that he sacrificed his blooming years to the service of the devil, and that now the flowers of his youth are blasted, the fruit perish, the body of the Tree groweth to decay, than he shall think with himself, that he being void of the sap of good fruits, shall become fuel for hell fire. When he shall lie on his departing bed, burdened with the heavy load of his trespasses, and vexed with the worm of conscience, and feeling the cramp of death wresting his heart's strings, and ready inpathed in his finally voyage, and not far from the period of his days. Oh how he shall be distracted in his senses, when he should make a free gift of his body and soul to God, and by bequeathment to dispatch the whole menage of all eternity, and of the treasures of heaven: Oh how shall he be mazed, when he shall consider, how the morning pleasures of his youth lulled him a sleep in sin, how the violent heat of the noon of his age did provoke and excite sinful affections, and therefore in the cool and calm of his evening, how can he hope to retire to a Christian rest, and close up the day of his life with a clear sunset, wanting the light of grace, without which every one shall abide in everlasting darkness. These considerations I say, will make a man tremble at the mention of death: for peccati stipendium mors, the reward of sin is death, and these torments in hell fire; therefore when he shall think with himself, that the most virtuous, can scarce attain to heaven in maintenance of years, whose lives were died in the beautiful grain of virtue, how then shall he wretched sinner hope to obtain heaven, since all his life time he hath persevered in sin, & that now death having taken away ability in sinning, and left him to the lees of his dying days, how shall he believe to be enfranchised in that heavenly City, which is not so penurious of friends, that it should be made saleable for the refuse and reversion of every sinner's life. A King which hath lived like an Epicure here upon earth, and in nothing took delight, but like a Nero to oppress the innocent; shall not enjoy the heavenly happiness. (For as Bernard saith) It is impossible to join present, and future delights. And as the same father in another place addeth. He that is fed with earthly pleasures, is counted unworthy of eternal joys; The shining title of worldly glory, shall nothing help to the happiness of that life: they be like bladders which are puffed up with the wind of prosperity, and only do affect the smoke of vain glory; they do not observe the precept, given by Moses unto Princes, Princes must read the Law all the days of their lives, and as josua, let not the book of this Law departed out of thy mouth, but record therein day and night. Their Laws should be axioms, arising out of their own deeds, but they themselves are the readiest to infringe the same. Now then when the lease of the lives of these Stewards, who hold all their possessions by service, is expired, and shall be summoned by death, to appear before their Landlord to give there accounts, how beneficially they have employed their talents, than they will begin to have a feeling sense of there own misery, seeing how ill they did govern the people, over the which the Lord had made them overseers.  
We read that David being chosen of God, to feed his people in jacob, and his in heritance in Israel, did feed them according to the simplicity of his heart, and guided thee by the discretion of his hands. These David's be few now adays; and as the Poeth saith,  
Rex bonus est sapiens, qualem vix repperit unum,  
Mellibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo.  
A good King and wise, such a one as Apollo, being asked counsel of, could scarce find one among all men.  
Yet thanks be given to God, who by his blessed providence hath elected a second David to reign over us, whose loins are girded with righteousness, and faithfulness the buckle of his rains: in whose throne Astraea sits weighing every man's merits by the equal balance of their actions, whose mind is environed against vice, with the clear streams of sweet virtue. And therefore, sith it hath pleased God to set a temporal & transitory crown of glory on his head, he needs not fear, but that in the world to come, he shall be crowned with a far surpassing weight of glory, & there shall taste the heavenly Manna, and drink the nectar of joy: But as for other Princes, who here do taste the Roses of prosperity, shall in the world to come, for their wickedness drink the wormwood of adversity: when they shall recount with themselves, that they have touched the Lords anointed, and done his Prophet's harm, injured the fatherless, oppressed the innocent, profaned the sanctuary of God, & only delighted themselves with the vain pomp of this world, how can they hope that their impure souls should be translated to this pure place of endless comfort? So likewise to descend lower by a lineal degree, throughout all the pedigrees of men. Behold the ministery, who have the oversight of our souls, see if they can boldly run unto the goal of death, who have not led their lives according to their enjoined vocations. The Ministers, which should have two eyes, (as Gregory saith) one of famous learning, the other of an upright & godly life; many of them have one of these eyes, but want the other. And as the same Gregory saith, Many declare that in words, which in life and manners they go against. These have the eye of learning, but want the eye of honest life. Yea many are blind of both eyes, but they be worse than the former: For the Ministers should by their endeavours and honest conversation, reclaim the wicked from the brink of perdition, they should invent medicinable receipts against the ghostly maladies of sinners: they should in the general famine of spiritual food, prepare with joseph abundance of the bread of Angels, for the repast of their souls.  
Yea, they should study spiritual Physic, and be traveled in the scrutiny of the soul's diseases, and be acquainted with the beating and temper of every man's pulse: they should purge their flock from the leprosy of sin; they should lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show the people their offences, and the house of jacob their sins. They are the Prophets of the Lord, that shall bring the messages from the Mountains, and proclaim peace. They be the light of the World, the salt of the earth; they be watchmen, which for Zions' sake should not hold their tongues, & for jerusalems' sake should not cease.  
Now when they shall remember that they have been dumb dogs, which did not bark, when the wolves did tear their flocks. And as Gregory saith, Thou hast seen the wolf and hast escaped, saying, by chance I have escaped all: Thou hast escaped because thou hast kept silence: Thou hast been here in body, thou hast escaped in spirit.  
Or as Saint Bernard saith, when they shall remember, they were Ministri Christi, sed serni anti Christi, or call to mind the strait commandment given by christ to Peter, to feed Christ's flock, and they have been rather wolves than shepherds, which did rather fleece and oppress them, then protect them: when they did imitate, Soldiers in habit, husbandmen in gain, indeed they were neither, because they did neither fight against the Wolves as Soldiers, nor as husbandmen labour in God's vinyeard, nor as Clerks preach the Gospel in the Church, and while they desire both, they confound both. As Bernard saith: therefore their consciences will be perplixed, their minds distracted, nor shall they perceive, the melodious harmony of excusing thoughts, or persuade themselves of that comfortable assurance, that the opening of the book will show, that their names are written in heaven, or shall they taste that continual feast, of a clear conscience, the soul's blessed banquet; they shall wring their hands for grief, when they might have clapped for joy, they shall tremble, when they might have triumphed, they shall weep, when they might have laughed, they shall wish that the Mountains would cover them, & hide them from the sight of God: and these be the causes, why so unwillingly they yield to die, yea even when their forces languish, their senses impair, their body droupeth, and on every side the ruinous cottage, of their frail body threateneth a fall, yea when they may behold their grass wasted, their grapes gathered, their house broken, and nothing remaining but the stock of the grapes, the skin of the flesh, and but one only blast of life, yet notwithstanding they will say with Callimachus, I am too old to live, and too young to die; and they are afraid to close up their eyes, when they hear the Bell of death knelling in their ears: but had rather fight still in this Camp of misery, then by death's paspot, to be conducted out of this world. They had rather with Aristippus prolong life, then with Socrates yield to die; and the causes be these, because they have not been careful in their functions, but have been careless in their lives, dissolute in their actions: they were not the instruments of God, having a sound to teach well, but the bones of the devil, because they did want the feeling: and therefore they having devoted their lives, only to the devil, their conscience do assure them, that they having gorged the devil, with the fairest fruits of their lives, God will not feed upon the scraps of his leavings, & glean the reproof of his harvest, and therefore they be unwilling to departed out of this life.  
But to pass over the spiritual governors, and come to civil Magistrates: The Lawyers they make the laws and statutes limetwiggs, to catch the simple, which should be as it were Sea-marks to avoid shipwreck, for ignorant passengers; they study for to invent, policy, how to palliate committed disorders. The judges imitate samuel's songs, which did not walk in their father's ways, but took bribes and rewards to pervert right. The widows complain, the Orphans are wronged, the poor are not regarded. And (as Isidorus saith) through the love of desire, laws are of no force, he that hath to give, hath also to govern. And (as Saint Augustine saith) a fat Hen doth more prevail with judges then justice, and money more than innocency. They will not regard any plea, unless the evidence contains golden eloquence. But there is another commandment given them in deuteronomy, Wrist not the law, nor know any person, neither take any rewards, for gifts, blind the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous: & as there is a common axiom among the Canonists, Ni nire non debet esse acceptio personarum: the judges, and Lawyers should not regard the great men more than the poor, nor the plaintiffs bags, more than the defendants, in forma pauperis. Woe be unto them that make unrighteous laws, whereby the poor are oppressed. Woe unto that abominable City, whose Rulers are as roaring Lions, whose judges are as Wolves in the Eucning: these threatenings out of the Scripture, will make the Lawyers timorous to die, when they shall recount with themselves, how oft they have trangressed these divine laws, how many bribes they have received to give unjust sentence, how oft they have stopped their ears, against the cry of the needy, how oft they have heard the accuser, & would not hearken to the accused. Rejecting alexander's grave judgement, who did always stop one of his ears, when any one did complain again another, saying, this care I lend the accuser, the other I reserve for the excuser. When I say they shall record their public and private injuries, their connivence at manifest faults, and too much severity at small crimes, their unlawful condemnations, and their partial absolutions, I say these committed offences will so examinate them, and strike such a terror into them, when the stream of their life runneth at a low ebb, and the date of their life here in this world is expired, and they entering into the kalends of death, than they will sit quivering for fear, and knock at the door of their conscience, and there summon a quest of inquiry for their sins, and when they shall come to appear at the Bar of consideration, and there be arraigned, they shall answer as prisoners at the Bar, guilty, guilty. And this is the reason why they are so unwillingly to departed out of this life: in like manner the Tradesmen, who are customers to the world, who have gotten false ware suitable to the shop of such Merchants, whose traffic is to toil, whose wealth trash, whose gain misery: they I say, are unwilling to departed this life, because by their fraudulent dealings, they have purchased an ill conscience, which doth make them sleep like the Nightingalls, who always sleep with a pricked against their breast, so do they sleep, or rather slumber, having a pricking conscience. It always registereth their misdeeds, showing them their offences, and so they have no confident perswasiion that their election is sure. Also the husbandmen, who have long time tilled the earth, and by the sweat of their labours, have increased their worldly possessions, & now perceive by the infirmity of their body, they be not able any more to endure the churlish entertainment of the world, or to prolong the tedious line of life, and recount with themselves what infinite pains they have undergone, for to obtain worldly riches, and never laboured one hour in the field of God's Church, to possess beavenly treasures, sowing the seeds of repentant sorrow, and watering them with the tears of contrition, that they might reap a more beneficial harvest, and gather the fruits of endless comfort.  
Then they will think with themselves, that it is an unseasonable time to alter the course of their unthriving husbandry, when in the April of their years they might have brought forth the flowers & fruits of salvation, and these be the causes why they be unwilling to departed out of this life, and dare not say with father Simeon, O Lord command that my Soul may departed in peace. Nor dare not cry out with David, the pillar of mother Zion, who lived in the childhood of the Church, when the cloud of the Law did overshadow the appearance of the Sun in fullness of comfort, before Christ had opened the storehouse of joy; and yet he being weary of his life, and the burden of his body, cried out, Oh how long shall I live in this prison? And Paul, the notable organ of the holy Ghost, singeth the same long with David, saying; o wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin? So did Father jeremy wish, that the womb had served for his tomb. And so did Esay be wail his birth, and murmured against the knees that held him up, & the breasts that gave him suck. For they knew that the world was but a sea of sorrow, and our life like unto a new ship put into the sea, fleeting to the bottomless swallow, where as the tempestuous winds and waves of this world do beat upon, and always threaten a drowning of life: but when this frail mortal life seems to have broken her wings by the force of death, then presently as immortal she taketh her flight, and lands at a good port: Why therefore should we desire to add more feathers to the wings of time, sith after our dissolution we shall be made lively members, fully knit in our body Christ jesus.  
Ay but a man will say, if I were fully persuaded, that I should be made partaker of this beavenlie life, I would willingly desire to die, and wish that the feeble threads of my life would every hour untwine: But now my guilty conscience doth accuse me, my ill led life doth terrify me, and all my wicked deeds do so molest my mind, that I am afraid to die. Sure this serious consideration of our former offences, doth much amaze a good grounded christian, when he lies upon his dying bed, waiting for the rueful divorcement of his body and soul, having a fettered conscience, which always will assure him, that he having been a sluggish drone in the hive of Christ's Church, shall not taste the sweetness of pleasure, nor the honey comb of comfort in the heavenly City, but he shall be glutted with the sour grape of persecution, of God's wrath, and these hellish torments: that he having been a careless Mariner in this world, and always the ship of his body remaining in the scope of the wicked wind and weather of this world, the Pirate the devil shall make shipwreck of his salvation, and so he perish upon the rocks of eternal ruin.  
But against all these desperable considerations, the saying of Saint Augustine is the best remedy, If thou fear judgement to come, rebuke thy conscience. In the whole course of thy life so live, that thou mayst have a secure conscience: for thou must live here for a time in such sort, that thou dying godly, mayst live for ever. We must die that we may live, and we must live that we may die well. If thou livest well, thou shalt die well, and thou shalt live well, if thou dost follow the holy course which Saint Hierome observed, Whether I eat or drink (saith he) or what soever else I do, always that same terrible trumpet soundeth in mine ears, Arise you that be dead, and come to judgement. For as the same Father saith in another place, He easily contemneth all things, that doth always think that he shall die.  
For he that always takes the memory of death for his unseparable spouse, and bitter sighs for his children, and holy compunction for his mother to depure him from his filthiness, he which hateth the world perfectly, favoureth godliness zealously, endeavoureth to amend his life seriously, obeyeth his superiors gladly, and beareth Christ's cross patiently, showeth good tokens that he will die a good Christian: such a man needs not fear the mention of death, nor need his soul weep in secret, nor his eyes drop down tears, for he may be certain that he is one of that perdestinated company, which shall reign for evermore. But as for a man that hath lived dissolutely, & through the whole course of his life, hath been a notorious sinner, yet for all that he needs not despair; for Christ was not surprised with a raving fever, when in the tragedy of his passion, he made his body as a Cloud to resolve in showers of innocent blood, and suffered his decrest veins to be lanced, to give a full issue for the price of our soul's redemption. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. O ye sinners, behold the Lamb bleeding, and shedding his precious blood to cleanse you from sin, and to save you from sathan, drink up in faith the droppings of his blood, and moisten your souls therewith, eat him and chew him, for he is the bread of life, which whosoever eateth, shall never hunger more. Say with Christestome, Omnis mea salus in passione Christi est posita. For whatsoever doth belong to my salvation, paratum est per Christi mortem, as the same father saith: his death hath made a sufficient ransom for my sins; It is the Lamb of God which doth purge me from all my sins: I fully believe that therefore all my sins shall be forgiven me, not for my merits, but for Christ's death, not for my righteousness, but for God's mercies, which doth extend to thousands, and ten thousands, whose sins in respect of God's mercies, are but (as Augustine saith) one drop in respect of the whole Sea. And (as Bernard saith) the mercy of God is greater, than any misery of ours. Hold up thine eyes to heaven, behold the God of all consolation and mercy, crave of him to pour down the influences of his comfort to help thy unbelief, to confirm thy faith, to strengthen thee with a steadfast assurance of his heavenly Kingdom. Wast away thy wickedness in the Fountain of repentance, and the leprosy of thy sin, in the streaming Rivers of penitent tears. For this heavenly dew of repentance never falls, but the Sun of righteousness draws it up; for it was sweetly uttered by a Divine of sweetest utterance, that repentant eyes are the Cellars of Angels, and penitent tears the sweetest wines, which the savour of life perfumeth, the taste of grace sweeteneth, and the purest colours of returning innocency highly beautifieth. Oh that our hearts were evermore such a limbeck, distilling so pure a quintessence of godliness, drawn from the weeds of our offences; by the fire of true contrition, heaven would mourn at the absence of so precious waters, and earth lament the loss of so fruitful showers. Sure till death close up those fountains, they should never fail running: which if they did always run, we need not doubt of our salvation, but that GOD would wash away all our sins. The world (saith Bernard) had not perished with the flood, if they had betaken themselves to repentance. And as it is in jeremy, If we repent of our wickedness, God will repent of his wickedness devised against us, and as it is in Ezechiell, If the ungodly will turn away from all his sins that he hath done, doubtless he shall live and not die. And again, be converted, and turn you clean from your wickedness, so shall there do sin do you harm. So when the Ninivites did repent, mourning in Sackcloth and ashes, he repent on the evil which he said he would do unto them, and did it not. Examples of repentant sinners, who obtained remission for their offences, be Paul, the sinful woman, David, Manasses, Peter, the thief this day on the cross, this night in Paradise. For jesus is like an evangelical hen, never ceaseth clocking to gather thee under his wings like a Chicken; for it pleased jesus of unmerrited goodness, to leave the ninety nine mist sheep, the society of blessed Angels, to seek the straying sheep, the groat that lost the royal stamp of pure nature: man this lost sheep thou soughtest (O jesus) thou foundest sweet jesus, by death thou foundest him, by bleeding pains thou foundest him, by nailed hands and bored feet thou foundest him, by a thorny Crown, by drinking vinegar, by sweeting drops of blood, by suffering the violent death on the cross thou foundest him. O loving jesus, and tender hearted Samaritan, that of a sick hast salved, of a grievous sinner hast saved him, of a wicked creature, hast washed him in the stream of thy inestimable mercy. Therefore I confidently believe although the flower of my age is faded, the grass withered, and my whole life as a vanishing vapour is passed away, yet when I shall be dissolved, I assuredly hope to be joined fully to jesus my head, and only Vine, wherein I live; although the pursuivant sickness must visit this body of sin, and death must row me over the Seas of this world, yet I hope in the bark of faith, and merits of Christ jesus, and by the Anchor of God's covenants made to the house of David, I shall arrive at that blessed Haven, from whence I shall never more hoist up sails, or launch into the deep of misery, but shall sit imparadised in heaven with fullness of grace, till the day of thy great visitation shall come, when meeting thee in the clouds, I shall enter into the store house of joys, there for evermore to reign.  
If a sinner could thus absolutely confirm himself, & not distrust God's mercy and clemency, without all doubt he would not fear to die: but withal, he must have a settled determination, to mortify his body, to abandon vices, & with the trumpet of a Christian life to sound a retreat from sin, always remembering Christ crucified: For as Bernard saith, The remembrance of Christ crucified, crucifieth sin. And as S. Augustine saith, Then Christ doth sleep in thee, when thou hast forgot his passion. The readiest way, & direct path to go to Heaven, is to swim through the red sea of Christ's blood. The drops of Christ's precious blood reigning down from the clouds of his mercy, must quench the angry flame of God's wrath, which we cannot extinguish by the virtuous water of any merit. It is the oil of Grace, which must purge our defiled hearts: It is the dew of heaven which will make us flourish, being engrafted into the true Olive. It is the wellspring of our salvation, it is the heavenly manna, which all of us should gather up in the wilderness of this world. Love this good thing, in which all goodness is, & it is enough for thee: yea observe but this short lesson which Augustine giveth, & thou art a good Christian: Ama deum, et amices in deum, et inimicos propter deum, et beatus es, Love Christ who loveth thee, love his friends, that love Christ, and thee, love Christ's enemies, that hate Christ and thee, & then thou shalt be beloved of Christ; for loving him, thou shalt be beloved of Christ: for loving them that hate Christ, & thee, the haters shall perish, yet thou loving, shalt be beloved. Love GOD without measure, them shalt thou be happy without measure. Love God withal thy heart, whom thou shalt behold without end, love without pride, praise with out weariness. Therefore, if men did but observe this brief lesson, we need not fear death, but welcome him with a thousand kisses, for that messenger doth bring us glad tidings; for by him we change transitory, mortal, and corruptible things, for certain, immortal, and incorruptible treasures, earth for heaven, sin for godliness, darkness for light, fear for security, travel for quietness, sickness for health, death for life, the company of men, for the company of the omnipotent God, and heavenly angels, the vile pleasures of this world, for the inestimable joys of heaven.  
Oh therefore let us heartily wish to be loson from this life, that we may come to appear before the presence of God: let us say with David, Like as the heart desireth the water brooks, so longeth my soul after thee, o God, O GOD, thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh also longeth after thee, in a barren and dry land where no water is. Let us say with job, It grieveth my soul to live longer in this mortal body. Let us say with holy Toby, O Lord deal with me according to thy will, and command my spirit to be received in peace. For when the lively threads of our life untie, the spindle undo, the web rive, and our natural life endeth, yet the spiritual and essential part, namely the soul, shall be received with Angels, & carried to heaven most lovingly, as a precious relic into the kingdom of heaven. It shall be like a Dove carried on the wings of Angels, into this heavenly Palace: For as Augustine saith, It is the office of Angels to carry souls to the company of the blessed. Now therefore, when Death shall break up your mortal house, imprint this lesson in the forefront of your languishing flesh, yea even when you are half bearest of life, that you remember Christ crucified; remember him to be the only Saviour; remember God the Father, to be a most merciful Father. Fix the eyes of your faith on jesus Christ, & on his merits, on his passion & death, on his blessed body breaking, and his most precious blood shedding, on his triumph and victory over Satan, and his hellish army. Forget not that all your sins are washed away in Christ's blood, & that by virtue of his death and passion, you are made heir of everlasting salvation. Fight a good fight, be not discouraged by the pains of death, never shrink in Death's battle, call upon jesus, for no balm will be more comfortable to a wound, than the name of jesus to death's wound. Put on the Helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, the shield of faith, the sword of the spirit, and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. Fear not, stand fast, quit yourselves like men, for in this spiritual battle, you sight under the banner of the mighty & victorious Emperor jesus Christ; only continue with these weapons, & the day is yours. If sathan tempt you, you may with hearty prayers, (good Orators for your salvation) enchant that Dragon, that he may sleep, while your soul is translated to taste of the golden fruit of blessed souls: persevere in this battle, which is the true complement of virtue: The pain of the battle is small, the glory of the triumph shall abide for ever & ever. For so saith the scripture, To him that overcommmeth, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of Paradise: be faithful unto the death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that overcometh, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: yea to him that overcommath will I grant to sit with me in my seat.  
These precious promises & rewards, may make us courageous against death: follow your captain Christ & you cannot err, for he is the way, believe christ & you cannot be deceived for he is the truth, abide and remain in Christ, and you cannot die the death everlasting, for he is the life: wherefore cleave with strong faith to Christ, and say with that wise man; My mind is rooted and built in Christ, and then you need not fear when death shall give your soul the wings of true liberty, to departed out of your frail flesh, and to fly up to heaven, and rest within Abraham's bosom: for them you shall rest from your labours & travels. For so saith the scripture; the souls of the righteous are in thy hand o God, & the pain of death shall not touch them. In the sight of the unwise they appear to die, but they are in peace; they are as the Angels of God: they are clad with white garments, & have golden crowns upon their heads. They do stand day & night before his Majesty, there they have all joy, solace, and hearts contentments. By death we pass from earth to heaven, from men to Angels, from war to peace, from pain to pleasure, from grief to gladness, from misery to perpetual felicity: we pass by death from this life, which is like a bubble in the water, like a weavers Shettell, like a smoke, like a vapour, like a shadow, like a flower that fadeth, like grass that withereth, it is but a span-long: it is a warfare, it is like a ruinous house ever ready to fall, it is like a cloud in the element, whereof we are uncertain, where and when it falleth. This cloud sometimes melteth in the cradle, sometimes in the chair. Death is like the Sun, whensoever it shineth, it melteth our cloudy life, be the cloud thereof never so thick or thin in years: this life is like an uncertain weathercock, which turnech at every blast; like a Wave that mounteth at every storm: like a reed that boweth at every whistling wind. This world is an exile, a vale of misery, a wilderness of sorrows, a dungeon of sinners, a sea of miseries, where we pass away the wavering days of this uncertain life, sailing as Pilgrims on the waters of this world, tossed by the tempests of adversity, and oppressed by sundry Pirates, the flesh, sin, and the devil, and yet by the Bark of a lively faith, and by the Mariner death, we shall be transported from the flesh pots of Egypt, to eat of comfortable Manna, not in the wilderness, but in new jerusalem: Therefore haste o good God to deliver me from this painful life, to that glorious life, from this wretched mansion, to that excellent tabernacle: from this stormy world, to the calm country of heaven; where I shall have liberty without imprisonment, health without sickness, joy without sorrow, pleasure without pain, in such security, eternity, and perpetuity, as passeth all thoughts. Come therefore Death, thou art welcome, thou art thrice welcome death.  
For when the Tree of my life shall fall down here upon earth, and I shall see my father dust, & my mother ashes, yet my soul shall be carried into Abraham's bosom. Adieu vile life, farewell life, sinful life adiewe: and welcome Death, the Ambassador from my loving Saviour: for by thee my misery shall end. So that (O Death) thou art welcome. Welcome sickness, for my Lord jesus hath now sent thee to fetch me from this prison to his Palace, from a strange pilgrimage, to dwell in the restful Country of Canaan, from these tears and mourning, to the day of marriage (sweet jesus) to be espoused to thee in thy merits for evermore, where I shall live like a Demie-god, having the sight of the glorious Trinity, and the company of holy patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and blessed Saints, & inherit such joys, as neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor heart ever conceived.  
Therefore welcome death, welcome sweet death, for thou shalt remove me out of this prison, & deliver me from this body of sin, to enter into the amiable tabernacles of my Lord, where one day is better than a thousand elsewhere: I shall no more weep by the waters of Babylon, when I shall remember thee o Zion, for now I shall be in Zion, and dwell there for evermore. Come therefore, o death to me at thy pleasure, for it is a pleasure for me to die, come death, o my joy, for it is a joy for me to enjoy thee. Welcome death the beginning of joy, the first fruit of pleasure, when thou commes●●ar well sorrows, adieu miseries, death is the Prince of delights. Arise therefore & make haste o my beloved, my delight, my comfort, for at thy coming my winter is past, and the tempestuous waters of miseries are ceased: thou art Jove's messenger, and glad tidings bringer, o life thou art my death, o death thou art my life: this life is a contintianll death, but after this death hath ceased upon my body, them shall my soul go unto her life. Adieu therefore, o miserable li●e, welcome, thrice welcome death; farewell also o death, welcome immortal life.  
Laus Deo.  
FINIS.