TWO FRVITFUL SERMONS, NEEDFUL for these times: Whereof THE ONE MAY BE CALLED, A Marriage Present; THE OTHER, A Sick-man's Glass.  
Compiled by ROGER HACKET, Doctor in Divinity.  
AT LONDON, Imprinted by FELIX KYNGSTON, for Cuthbert Burby. 1607.   

A MARRIAGE PRESENT.  GENES. 2.22. 
And he brought her to the man; then the man said, this now, is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.  
FOR the better opening and understanding of this Scripture, you may observe: first, who brought her; God, which a little before, had made her out of the rib of Adam. Secondly, whom he brought; Eve, the first of women. Thirdly, to whom God brought her; to Adam, the first of men, the father of us all. Fourthly, why he brought her; to be Adam's wife, 
Genes. 2.18.  for God did not think it meet that Adam should be alone, therefore he made Eve, and gave her to Adam to be an helper meet for him. 
Vers. 20.  Fifthly, adam's accepting and taking her to be his wife this now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. In which words, Adam doth not only show, that God made her of a fleshy rib, that was taken from him: but also that now they two, were become one flesh, being joined together in holy marriage by God and their mutual consents. Thus in these, though briefly, yet you may plainly see, the meaning of this Scripture; And he brought her to the man, etc.  
Whereas it hath been an ancient and laudable custom, 
Zanch. lib. 4. cap. 2. de Matrimo. thes. 2. de consecrat. nupt.  as Zanchius observeth, out of Christ's turning water into wine, at the marriage of Canaan, to grace the married couple with divers presents: I, in stead of better things, have brought unto the Bridegroom and his mate, & to this most Christian assembly, a few country flowers; O let them find grace in your eyes, they are gathered out of the garden of Eden, out of the garden of the Lord. Of which, the first is the Primrose, take you all of this; God gives Eve unto Adam; let all your marriages begin in the Lord; The second is the Maydensblush, a flower for you maidens; Eve comes not, and gives herself, this did not stand with her maidens modesty: but God brings her, and gives her to Adam. So should you attend your parent's pleasure, till he bring and give you unto man. The third is the sweet, cooling, cordial, and low growing Violet: for you the Bride, and for all you women, which either are, or would be joined in marriage with man. When GOD saw that it was not meet for man to live alone, 
Genes. 2. 2●.  he made Eve, and he gave her, to be an helper meet for man. Remember o ye daughters of Eve, that you were made for man, that you were given to man, not to be hurters, but to be helpers mere for them. Show by your obedience, that you are low growing Violets; by your lovely carriage, that you are sweet; by your mild patience, that you are cooling; by your loyal faithfulness, that you are cordial; by your gracious help, that you are like this sweet, cooling, cordial and low growing Violet, the flower that God here commends unto you. The last is the Rosemary, the flower of men; for you the Bridegroom, and for all you married men, that are joined in holy wedlock with your wives: although the Rosemary ouertops all the flowers in the garden, and thereby boasts his rule; yet remember that Rosemary is good for the head, rule with wisdom; helpful to the heart, rule with love: that it is alway green, be always lovely and loyal to your wives. When God had given Eve to Adam, Adam takes her, and of her he faith, this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, there is his love: he cleaves to his wife, and they two become one flesh, there is his loyalty: this God inspired in him, there is his wisdom. Smell sweet o ye flowers, in your native sweetness; be not adulterated with the water of this world: o show yourselves in your proper beauties, 
The Primrose for all.  and be not gilded with the idle art of man.  
The first of these flowers, is the Primrose, of this let us first speak, and as in the first of the year, the Primrose is desirously gathered of all, so let this with the first be accepted of you all. God gave Eve to Adam, let all your marriages begin in the Lord. Let God give the woman to the man, and join man unto the woman: for if he join not, how can the married couple look for a blessing of the Lord? It should not be with you, o ye young men and maidens, as it is with the beasts, that every one should take his mate, and after an unseemly manner come together: but God must give Eve to Adam; of you it should be said, that God hath joined you together. For what is the cause that the bed of many married couples is defiled, that many husbands and wives, jar, as instruments that are out of tune, and want the sweet content of that blessed estate? God gave not Eve to Adam, they were married, but yet not in the Lord. Wherefore let this Primrose, be in the prime of thy desires, seek for a wife at the hands of the Highest, 
Prou. 19.14.  seek to be married in the Lord. For surely as wise Solomon speaketh, houses and riches are the inheritance of the fathers; but an understanding wife cometh from the Lord. 
Genes. 24.9.  This made aged Abraham to charge his servant, and that by oath, to seek a wife for his son Isaak, not among the daughters of Canaan, but among the people where he was borne. 
Vers. 12.  This made his charged servant, to pray to the God of his master Abraham, for success: and God heard his prayer, 
Vers. 58.  and so moved the heart of Rebecca to give consent; 
Vers. 50.  that her brother Laban, and father Bethuel, were enforced to confess, that it was proceeded of the Lord. In such manner offer up your prayers to the Highest, o ye that desire to be married; that he would bless you in this your weighty business, so shall you to your comfort find, 
Toby 7.11.  that your lot is fallen on a good ground, that it is proceeded of the Lord Remember how Sara, the daughter of Raguel, was married to seven, & how every of them, that night they came in to her, that night they died. What was the reason? 
Toby 8.7.  God gave not Sara in marriage to them. After young Toby marrieth, cometh in to her, and liveth: mark the reasons noted in the story, 
Toby 8.4.  he came not in to her for fornication, but uprightly: he prayed to the God of his fathers, God gave Sara a wife to him, they were married in the Lord. Wherefore accept of this sweet Primrose, you that are in the prime and spring of your lives, seek by prayer and all good means, that God may give Eve to Adam, a wife to you, that you may be married in the Lord. 
The Maydensblush for maidens.   
The second flower is the Maydensblush, a flower for you maidens; Eve comes not of herself, nor gives herself to Adam, this doth not stand with her maidens modesty: but God brings Eve, and God gives her to Adam: even so should you attend your father's pleasure, till he brings and gives you unto man. For you sweet maidens bear your father's name, he gave you life, and from him you have whatsoever you seem for to enjoy: will you then rob your father of his child and unkindly despise the author of your life? shall the flattering speeches, and baynfull bats of one, but a few days known, more prevail with you, than parents' words, than all that they have done, and are likely to do for you hereafter? 
Numb. 30.5.  If thou haddest made a vow to God, yet unless thy father approved it, thou shouldest not perform it to the Highest: shall God go from his right, to maintain thy father's power; and wilt thou, to the wrong of thy father, hurt of thyself, keep touch with thy supposed lover, 
Exod. 22.16.  that keepeth no touch and faith with God? In the old Law it was said, if a man had enticed a maiden, which was not promised, and had sayne with her: If the father would not give her to him, the offender was to give a dowry to her, (whom he had humbled) and he might not take her unto wife. Hear o ye maidens, your parent's consent is not only required, as Peter Lombard speaketh, ad honestatem, sed ad necessitatem, not only to grace and honest your marriages, 
Concil. Lateran Can. 51.  but to make them lawful and good. Therefore in the Council of Lateran, those privy marriages which are made, without the parents consent, are pronounced as unlawful, as they that are made, within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity, & affinity. Wherefore o ye maidens, take at my hands this sweet flower of the Maydensblush, it will grace your maidenheads, please your parents, and make you be beloved both of man and God. And when in your espousals, it shall be asked, Who gives this maiden unto wife; cause not thy aged father to withhold his hand, but cause him rather to step forth with joy, and before God and his Church, to perform for thee that blessed work.  
Now as to the parent, God hath given power to bestow his daughter; so also that he do it well and wifely, 
Deut. 7.3.  God requires at his hand. God saith, Thou shalt not give thy daughter to a Cananite. There he gives thee power to bestow thy daughter in marriage, 
1. Cor. 7.37.  but yet no power to bestow her on a Cananite. He that giveth his daughter in marriage, doth well: 
Vers. 39 Eccles. 7.25.  the parent hath power to give his daughter in marriage, saith the Apostle; but yet he must do it well, he must do it in the lord He that hath married his daughter, (saith jesus the son of Syrach) hath performed a good work. Thou hast power to marry thy daughter, but withal perform a good work, give her to a man of understanding, as in that place it followeth. Marry not thy daughter to wealth and worship, but marry her unto a man: for a man may get wealth and worship, but wealth and worship never gets a man. For on thee, thy modest daughter's eyes are fastened, thou art unto her that pillar of light, when thou movest, she moveth, when thou standest still, she standeth; well persuaded of thy fatherly love, and provident wisdom, she resigneth over her will to thine, 
Chrysost. in Epist. ad Coloss. Homil. 12.  and yieldeth herself to be disposed by thee. Seek therefore for a man for thy daughter (as Chrysostom speaketh) which in love shall cherish her, in wisdom shall rule her: now thou art to resign thy power of her, 
Decret. 25.26 Caus 31. Q. 2●. cap. 3.  which once resigned, thou canst not reclaim: now thou art on her tender self to set an head Wherefore do not as Vrban Bishop of Rome, wrote to Sanctio a King of Arragon in Spain, either by thy fatherly authority over awe her; or by the deceiving reasons of wealth and worship, seek to persuade her, 
Matth. 19, ●.  to like a man whom she cannot love. For although thou wast the father of her body, yet God it was that gave her her soul, whose only it is, in a true liking love to join man & wife together. Do not therefore wrong God in his right, in seeking to join those together, whom the Lord neither yet hath nor would have joined: for if thou dost, & thy daughter loath to give any farther nay, yieldeth with her woe, to thy desire; thou hast not performed a good work, thou hast not done well, thou hast not married her in the Lord, thou must bear the blame of their after-varyings, and whatsoever other their fouler faults. Hear o ye maidens, how sweet this flower is, of the Maydensblush, how in joining you in blessed marriage, it requireth Gods, fathers, and also your consents. Wherefore if your parents, or they that are in place of parents, 
Genes. 24.57.  will not call you as Bethuel did Rebecca, and ask of you your free consents; yet mayest thou in thy maidens modesty, without offence given unto thy father, deny to like where thou canst not love, or to give thy hand, where thou canst not give thy heart. 
Mark 10.9.  And with this must all parents rest contented; for to join the hearts of man and wife together, is not the work of man, but of God Otherwise, if contrary to thy liking, thou sufferest thyself to be joined to another; it may boe, o over modest maiden, thou wilt stain this Maydensblush with thy wivish tears, thou wilt be the cause of thine own future troubles, which now may be staned, but then cannot be remedied: thou must eat the bread of discontent, and he in the bed where thou wouldst not be; your after-varyings, if it proceed not to worse, will be a trouble to your friends, and grief unto yourself. Wherefore with you, o maidens, let me leave this flower, it is the Maydensblush. As the father is to give Eve to Adam, so must he do it in the Lord, and with eves free consent. 
The Violet for married wives, first is helpful.   
The next flower that cometh to my hand, is the sweet, cooling, cordial, and low growing Violet. This commends itself unto the Bride, and to every of you that either are, or would be married wives. It is the sweetest flower in the garden of Eden, 
Genes. 2.18. Vers. 20.  and me thinks it best beseemeth you. When God saw, that it was not meet for man to live alone, he made Eve, and he gave her to Adam, to be an helper meet for him. Forget not o ye wives why Eve was made, why she was brought and married to Adam: sure not to be an hurter, but to be an helper meet for man. Of all the flowers in the garden, none is so helpful as is the Violet: of all the creatures, none such helpers meet for man, as is the woman. If man swell with pride, and lift up his nose among his neighbours; she with her lowly and humble carriage, remembers him, that he is no better than his forefathers, which are returned to the earth from whence they came. If man burns in the flames of his fleshly lust; she is the cooler of those flames, to avoid fornication, 
1. Cor. 7.2.  let every man have his wife: 
* Vers. 9  it is better to marry than to burn. If man sparkle with anger, in that unseemly heat; she with her soft and well-pleasing speech, soon abateth that heat, and maketh him to see, 
James 1.20.  that the wrath of man never fulfilleth the righteousness of God. If man be heavy, and unquiered within, either for wrongs imposed, or sustained loss; she as a cordial comfort caseth those his sorrows, and satisfieth his soul with sweet content. What man getteth abroad, she saveth at home, and under him, with his gain and credit, governeth his family and home-affaires, being as Augustine speaketh, 
August. adu. Pollent. lib. 2. cap. 12.  infirmitatis remedium, humanitatis solatium; a medicine of man's maladies, & sweet procurer of his best content. So helpful unto man is this sweet, cooling, cordial, and low growing Violet. Wherefore o ye married wives, remember that man was not made for the woman, but the woman for the man, 
1. Corin. 11.9.  as the Apostle speaketh. Remember you were made to be helpers meet for man, do not degenerate from the cause of your creation. O, how unworthy is it your sweet selves, that as Adam complained of Eve, the woman that thou gavest me, she gave me of the fruit to eat: 
Genes. 3.12.  so thy husband should complain of thee, the woman that thou gavest me, she hath hurt me, she hath enticed me to sin! Although, this will not serve thy husband for excuse, yet this will show, that thou despisest the end for which thou wast created, and with sin neglectest thy imposed duty, to be an helper meet for man.  

Secondly the Violet grows low.  Now after the help the Violet affords, in the second place I pray you consider how it groweth by the ground, it groweth low: even so must all you married wives, grow low, you must be subject to your husbands. This is the sentence of God given on Eve, and on all eves daughters, which may not be revoked, 
Genes. 3.16.  that not only in sorrow you should bring forth your children (which you all do to this day feel) but that your desires must be subject to your husbands, and they must rule over you. In vain thou pleadest for thyself o woman, that thou art one flesh with him. For although that be true that which thou urgest, 
Ambros. de Paradiso cap. 14.  yet as Ambrose observeth, for two causes God commandeth thee to be subject to thy husband. First, because thou wast made of man; but especially, because by thee sin entered into the world, man was enticed for to sin. So Chrysostom bringeth in God in this sort, 
Chrysost. hom. 17. in Genes.  speaking to the woman: I made thee equal, and gave thee Princedom with thy husband, but because thou hast abused it unto thy husband's hurt: from henceforth I make thee subject, he shall rule over thee. Hence it is, that the maiden, when she is married, leaveth to be called after her father's name, and from thence forth is called after her husbands. So Eve of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Hence it is that the woman's contracts and bargains are of no force, either by the laws of God or of man, except the husband do approve the same. Nay hence it is that the married wife, may not perform the vows she hath made to GOD, 
Numb. 30.9. Aug. epist. 199 Annot. in Tertull. de veland. Virgi.  except the husband giveth way to her desires. Hence it is, that to this day, the Persian Ladies, upon the top of their coronets, have the sign of the foot; in token that the top of their glory must stoop, even to their husband's feet. They still remember the ancient decree of Ahashuerosh and his Princes, that all women great and small, 
Hest. 1.20.  must give honour to their husbands; 
Vers. 22.  and that every man must bear rule in his own house. They acknowledge that Queen Vashty, for refusing to come, when the King her husband sent for her; was worthily by the sentence of the King and all his nobles, 
Vers. 16.  put from her royal seat: in that she had done evil against the King, and against all the Princes, and all the people: 
Vers. 17.  in leaving herself an ill example, to all other women to despise their husbands. Thus by the first Law of God, nature, and of nations, this is imposed upon women, that they be subject to their husbands; the same is required in the Gospel. 
Ephes. 5.22.  Therefore Paul, Wines be subject to your husbands as to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the Church. As the Church to Christ, so let the wife be subject to her husband, in all things. Where mark, wives be subject to your husbands, there is the precept; he is your head, there is the reason: as to the Lord, as the Church is to Christ, there is the manner. In what should they be subject? in the end it is said, in all things. It is not enough for you to be good to your husbands, but you must be subject too; as St. Paul speaketh, You must be good, and subject to your husbands. 
Titus 2.5.  Amongst many other reasons alleged for this required subjection; S. Paul saith to the Colossians, It is meet. Indeed meet, that the Moon should give glory to the Sun, 
Coloss. 3.18.  from whom she receiveth all her light: the woman subjection to her husband, from whom she deriveth all her worship. S. Peter, that by their submiss & reverend carriage, 
1. Pet. 3.1.  they might win their husbands to the faith. Nothing more prevails with man, than the submiss carriage of his wife. 
Titus 2.5.  St. Paul addeth a third reason, lest the Word of God be evil spoken of for your sakes. For when women make show of religion, and yet will not be subject and obedient to their husbands, their faults in this are ascribed to the blameless Gospel of our Christ. Wherefore hear o ye married wives, 
Hieron. comment. in Titum.  what S. Hierom speaketh upon this place: Since the husband is the head of the woman, as Christ is the head of man; what wife soever is not subject to her husband, is as much in fault, as man is, when he is not subject unto Christ. (mark his reasons) For the first sentence that God gave (wherein she is charged to be subject) is despised, and Christ's Gospel infamed, when a Christian woman will not do that to her husband, which the Heathen women willingly perform. Wherefore grow low, o ye helpful Violets, be not only good, but be good and subject to your husbands. 
Hierom. Epist. 14. cap. 6.  And as Hierom writ to Celantia, so I to you; Let the authority of thy husband be upholden by thee and let all the house learn of thee to honour him: do thou show him to be a master by thy obsequiousness, to be great by thy humbleness; for in this thou shalt be the more reverenced, by how much the more thou dost reverence him.  

Thirdly the Violet is sweet  Let not this move your patience, o ye married wives, that I present unto you, this low growing Violet; although it grow low, yet, which in the third place I observe, the Violet is sweet. For such are ye women, full of sweetness, full of love. That which is spoken of Christ's Spouse in the Canticles, 
Cantic. 4.10.  hath place in you: Fair is thy love, better than wine, sweeter than the savour of all spices, thy lips drop as honeycombs (so sweet are her words) thy plants are as an Orchard of Pomegranates; so sweet are her deeds. Although God made Eve subject, yet God also made her sweet. Sweet in her favour, sweet in her carriage; by which she mastereth the heart of man, and draweth him in love, unto her liking. Although man be hard and heavy as the iron, that will not bow, or hardly move; yet her sweet love shall be as the Adamant, that shall draw him to her, and cause him to forsake father and mother, the things of high price, and to cleave to her. Wherefore, forget not your nature▪ ò ye sweet Violets: the Violet alway smelleth sweet. Take view I pray you, of your dainty selves, how with sweet odours you are delighted, and with ill savours, you are nothing pleased: and by yourselves measure your husbands; it is the sweet and not the sour, that is grateful to them. I pray you consider, that although the sweet Rose hath prickles, yet the Violet hath none; that it is the sweetness, and not the prickles, that pleaseth man.  

Fourthly the Violet is cooling.  As the Violet is sweet, so is it also cooling; and such should you wives be unto your husbands, for since there are often two unseemly heats in man, the one of lust, the other of anger: the woman as a sweet cooling Violet, is to assuage them both. For to speak, first of the fire of his lust, how it may be quenched, the Apostle showeth, to avoid fornication, let every man have his wife. It is the wife, 
1. Cor. 7 12.  and not the harlot, that should quench those lustful flames. 
1. Cor. 7.9.  It is better to marry, than to burn. For to man, the wife is given a remedy of his lust, a means for him to avoid fornication, a sweet cooler to abate this heat. Withdraw not therefore this your help from your husbands, but give unto them (as the Apostle speaketh) due benevolence; 
1. Corinth. 7.3. Vers. 4.  for the woman hath not power over her own body, but the man. The which cooling help if she shall deny, when he lawfully requireth it; by that she may be in part a cause, 
Vers. 5.  that Satan tempt her husband unto uncleanness; and for that, make him to blame her as some cause of his folly. It may be a fault in him, at sometime to require it; yet is then thy yielding no fault in thee, if otherwise he will not be satisfied; 
August. contr. Jovin. cap. 10.  this is as Augustine speaketh, venialis in uxore, in meretrice damnabilis, pardonable in a wife, though damnable in an harlot. It was an error of Syricius the Pope, who adjudged sinful every carnal conjunction of man and woman; abusing those words of the Apostle, That they that were in the flesh could not please God. For God made male and female, 
Genes. 1.27. Vers. 28.  he willeth them to increase and fill the earth; which yet they could not, without carnal coputation; he said not only of marriage, 
Hebr. 13.4.  but of the carnal use of the married, The bed undefiled is honourable among all men. The which Gregory the great acknowledged, 
Gregor. mag. in Psal. Poenit. 4.  Men are not therefore conceived in sin, because it is a sin for married folks, carnally to know one another: for that is a chaste work; and no fault in the married couple; because the nuptial contract, is not exorbitant from faith, God appointing marriage, and the conjunction too; in that he made them male and female. Wherefore since the bed undefiled is honourable, a chaste work, in the married couple: show yourselves cooling Violets to your husbands, Gods ordained remedies for their lust.  
The other heat, which sometime is unseemly in man, is the heat of anger: by which all inflamed, he is carried beyond all bounds of reason, to do the things that are not good: this also by her mild and patiented carriage, the woman must seek to cool, and to lay the storms of those blustering winds, although it be with the showers of her tears. 
August. confess. lib. 9 cap. 9  For although she may not, as Augustine speaketh in the praise of his mother, either in word or deed resist her moved husband; yet to him she must be a cooling Violet, to assuage his anger, & a means to bring him to his wont quiet. And if to thee o woman, any thing seemeth may be better ordered; as Augustine advised a matron, so I do thee, 
Aug. epist. 199.  Reverently impart it to thy husband, yet alway follow his authority, as thy heads; that all may bless the peace of your house. Yea if thy lot should fall so hard, as that thy husband to thee should prove a Nabal, 
1. Sam. 25.3. Vers. 17.  churlish, evil conditioned, yea so wicked that a man may not speak to him, as the very servants complained of their master; yet do thou perform the part of Abigail, 
Vers. 24.  in seeking to pacify those whom he hath offended; and in all reverence when opportunity serveth, 
Vers. 37.  impart to thy husband his danger and his fault. Thus be to your husbands o ye wives, sweet cooling Violets, to quench the heat of their lust and anger.  

Fifthly the Violet is cordial.  And yet before we leave this Violet, remember that which in the last we observed, it is cordial. Such is a woman to her husband, when she is loyal. She should not suffer any strange fire to burn on her altar; nor in her soil any base stocks to grow, which her husband hath not planted. She must remember that of them two, the Scripture saith, 
Genes. 2.24. Matth. 19.6.  that they are become one flesh, she may not join it to another. If he be not loyal, nor keep faith with her, yet must she with him; 
Matth. 5.32.  she hath vowed it before Christ & his church; she must therefore ever cleave to her husband, and despise all other; and as the Marigold that opens and shuts with the Sun; so alone with him she must open, and with him shut. This is a cordial comfort, most pleasing to the heart of man. For when by her, he receiveth children, that he hath fathered to be heirs of his labours, staff of his old age, in whom his name & memory is continued; it is so welcome to his heart, that no cordial comfort may be compared to it. Neither is she only cordial in her truth and loyalty; but in this, that she is an haven of rest in man's greatest troubles, the ease of his griefs, help in his sickness, a sweet companion in all his sorrows. For, in silence to overpass the rest, only see in the bed of her husband's sickness, how, whilst there is hope, she ministereth with care, and feedeth with comfort: nay she, when hope faileth, how against hope, she plieth the Physician, still seeking for help. Sometime casting up her sighs and eyes to heaven, often be dewing the earth with her tears, entertaining every one with a welcome heart, that will but speak for husband's help. How then can there be a more cordial comfort unto man, than this? Wherefore with you, o ye married wives, let me leave this Violet, although it grow low, to remember you of your subjection; yet since it is so helpful, so sweet, so cooling, so cordial, it is a flower most meet for you; a flower which showeth you what to your husbands you should be.  
The last of the flowers is the Rosemary, 
The Rosemary is for married men.  the which by name, nature, and a continued use, man challengeth as properly belonging to himself. In the which, although it overtoppeth all the flowers in the garden, boasting man's rule; and the Violet low groweth at his root: yet let man remember that it helpeth the brain, strengtheneth memory, and is very medicinable for the head. By which is inferred, that as man is to have the rule over his wife, so he is to rule as the Rosemary, with a sound & not a sick head, to rule in wisdom; in that wisdom, with which here Adam inspired, doth acknowledge his wife, to be bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh, the only helper meet for himself. Wherefore if thy wife be not alway pleasing, but hath in her the infirmities of women; yet of thee Peter requireth, that thou shouldest dwell with her, 
1. Pet. 3.7.  according to knowledge, and give her honour as to the weaker vessel. Thou must dwell with her according to knowledge, thy wise patience must be still continued: thou must give honour to her, as to the weaker vessel, thou must seek to please her in her weak desires. Although thy wife should be as the Moon, which always hath her stains and spots, yea and which sometime with her own disgrace, turneth her body from the Sun: yet must thou still continue a sun to her, not only in reaching to her the light of knowledge, but in relieving her with thy beams of comfort. This is to dwell with her according to knowledge, and as Paul in other words speaketh, 
1. Cor. 7.3.  to give unto her due benevolence. The Philosophers dividing the mind of man, make reason to sit on high, will to hold the middle, the affections to stand beneath: this reason, may be compared to man; this will to woman; these affections unto her desires. Now as the will, will not be enforced, but overwayed with reason, yieldeth to him her ready consent: so must a woman, not by threats and high swelling speeches, but by words of kindness be wooed to give to her man in their different motions, her due consent. For hear o ye men, reason doth not enforce, but seeketh to persuade the will. And although unto you it be given for to rule, yet despise not the counsel of your wines, remember God made them helpers meet for you. Although it seemed grievous in wise and faithful Abraham's sight, to put away the bondwoman and her child, in so hard a matter to hearken to his wife: yet to him the Lord commanded saying, 
Genes. 21.12.  In all that Sarah shall say unto thee, hear her voice. For this is to rule in wisdom, readily to embrace the counsel of thy wife; when thou shalt find it better than thine own: except Abigail had quenched the coals, that her husband Nabal by his churlishness had kindled; 
1. Sam. 25.34.  David had not left, by the dawning of the day, any one in Nabals' house to make water against the wall. Wherefore o ye men, although the Sun rule by day, yet let the Moon rule by night: although you rule abroad, yet let your wives bear some stroke at home; although you rule as heads, yet let them rule also, like to such, as were taken out of your sides. Let the Rosemary be in your hands and heads, rule with wisdom, which giveth to every one, and therefore to your wives their due.  
Another property of the Rosemary is, it affects the heart: even so should your hearts o ye men, in true love be affected to your wives. This you may observe in Adam here, no sooner God brought Eve & gave her to him, but forthwith his soul cleaves to her; but forthwith he saith, This is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 
Ephes. 5.33.  Forthwith he loves her as himself. Let every man (therefore as Paul speaketh) love his wife, even as himself; as himself, o Paul, 
Vers. 25.  nay more than himself, even as before thou hast said, as Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it. For consider o man, what thy wife doth, and hath done for thee. To thee she yieldeth, (which before thee none might ever touch) to take the maiden flower of her unconquered self, the which once gathered, thou canst never restore. For thy sake, she forgetteth her father, and her father's house, and is now called after thy name. To thee she giveth her sweet self, and all the fruits of her first love. By thee, she submitteth her lowly self, to be ruled and overruled: when yet a while, she might be free, not under covert, but of full power. And how then canst thou but love thy wife, which with thee hath left so many known pledges of her unfeigned love? To pleasure thee, she breedeth in pain; and bringeth forth in sorrow, high priced children, chief of man's desires: which are called, not after hers, but after thine and thy father's name; these she bringeth up with care, governeth with love, in pleasing them, seeking to pleasure thee: and how then canst thou but love thy wife, of whom thou hast received children, the surest pledges of a woman's love? If God hath shut up her womb, and for thy sins withholds from thee this desired blessing: yet at board and at bed, at home and abroad, she performeth to thee so many kind offices of her sweetest love; that thou canst not but confess, that Elcanah did to barren Anna, that thou art better to her, nay that she is better to thee, than many sons. 
1. Sam. 1.8. Chrysost. in Epist. ad Coloss. hom. 10.  Surely as Chrysostom speaketh, that beauty was given to a woman, lust unto man; showeth nothing else; but that this by the Almighty was therefore done, that the wife might be beloved of her man. Wherefore as S. Paul speaketh to the Colossians, so I to you; 
Coloss. 3.19.  Husbands love your wives, and be not bitter unto them. For your bitter dealings, nay speeches, nay looks, (for kindness is killed by a bitter look) abates the sweetness of a woman's love, and maketh them hate where they are bound to love. Wherefore o ye men, as the Rosemary affecteth your heads, and moveth you in wisdom for to rule; so let it also affect your hearts, and move you in kindness for to love. Remember, of all the creatures God had made, he found none, worthy a man's best love, and that therefore he made the woman to be an helper meet for him. 
Genes. 2.20.  Do not over much tote on their faults, and please your discontented humours with their wants: this beseemeth not your wisdom, nor your love. For as Zanchius speaketh, He truly loveth who when he findeth in his wife some things that do displease, 
Zanch. in 5. ad Ephes.  not well beseeming her, and scarce agreeing with his profit; doth yet love her, and perform the duties of a good husband to her. 
Chrysost. in Epist. ad Ephes. Hom. 21.  Which, as Chrysostom speaketh, hideth her wants, and gratifieth her in her due desires; which saith not to her, this is thine and that is thine; but which rather saith, all is thine, & I am thine, this is not the speech of him that flattereth, but rather of him that wisely loveth. Wherefore o ye men, although the high growing Rosemary, showeth your rule, yet let it remember you to rule in wisdom, to rule in love.  
And yet before I leave this sceptre of your rule with you, consider in the third place, that the Rosemary (in summer and winter) is alway green; even so should men alway continue, true and loyal to their wives; the same in love and loyalty at the last, the which unto them they were at first; they should in summer and winter be always green. Man should not only forsake father and mother, and all strange flesh, 
Genes. 2.24. Proverb. 5.15.  but even to the last still he should cleave unto his wife. 
Vers. 20.  As the Wiseman speaketh, he should content himself with the water of his own well, of strange waters he should not drink. For when God made woman, he took not two, but one rib from man; neither did he join in marriage two, but one woman unto man; and of them two he said, he spoke not of more, they shall be one flesh. 
Genes. 2.24. Matth. 19.6.  Those whom God hath joined together, thou seekest to sunder, and transgressest the holy ordinance of the highest, in that thou couplest thy body to another, and defilest the bed that should be undefiled. But yet fear, howsoever thou canst beguile and blind the world, thou canst not God: 
Hebr. 13.4.  Fornicators and adulterers God will judge. If thy wife should walk after thee in that sinful way, and should bear for thee strange children (which although thou fatherest, yet thou didst not beget) to sit at thy fires, and to inherit thy goods; thou showedst her the way by thy ill example, and with uncleanness, God hath justly punished thy unclean self. Wherefore despise not, O man, the wife of thy youth, nor let her first love be ever forgotten; keep thy vowed faith with her, 
Proverb. 5.18.  of which both God and his Church are witness. 
Genes. 2.23.  Honour the holy ordinance of the highest, he hath joined thee to one, 
Mark 10.7.  and not to many; he hath willed thee to clean to one, and to forsake all other: he hath said, that you two are but one flesh, 
Vers. 8.1. Cor. 7.3.  that thou hast not power over thine own body but thy wife. Thou mayst not therefore with the wreck of thy faith, breach of God's ordinance, to the wrong of thy wife, hurt of thy soul, ill example of other, defile the bed which should be undefiled, and pollute thy body with other women, which only belongeth to thy wife. Be therefore true and loyal to your wives, O ye married men: you are their heads, thereby you shall teach them to be loyal to you. Let this ros marinus, this flower of men, ensign of your wisdom, love, and loyalty, be carried not only in your hands, but in your heads and hearts, that by this your wives may understand, how much they are beholding and indebted to you.  
Thus have I scattered my flowers, the Primrose amongst you all, let God give Eve to Adam, let all your marriages begin in the Lord. Amongst you maidens, the Maidens-blush, Eve is brought and given unto Adam; so should you by your parents be given unto men; it doth not stand with a maiden's modesty for to go and give herself. Amidst you married wives, the sweet, cooling, cordial, and low-growing Violet; although God made Eve subject, yet he made her an helper meet for man. And lastly among you men, the Rosemary the flower of men; although God hath given you to rule over your wives, yet rule them in wisdom; you are their heads, respect them in love, they are bone of your bones, and flesh of your flesh: and in loyalty ever cleave to them, for with them you are become (and so should remain, distasting all other) one flesh. Now what remaineth, but that we beseech our heavenly Father, to plant these sweet flowers in the garden of your hearts, and to water them from above with the sweet dews of his heavenly grace: that you may daily reap the fruits of all happy content, to your mutual comforts in this life, and increase of bliss in the life to come. The which the Lord give you for his Son Christ jesus sake, to whom with the Father, and the blessed Spirit, be all power, majesty and dominion, both now and evermore. Amen.  
FINIS.   

A SICK MAN'S GLASS.  ISAIAH 38.1.2.3. 
About that time was Hezechiah sick unto the death. And the Prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came unto him, saying; Thus saith the Lord, set thy house in order, for thou must die, and shalt not live.  
Then Hezechiah turned his face to the wall, and besought the Lord, saying:  
Now I pray thee Lord remember, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing in thy sight: and Hezechiah wept sore.  
THis Scripture divides itself into two principal parts: whereof the first is, the message done to Hezechiah whilst he was sick, contained in the first verse, About that time, etc. The second is, the behaviour of Hezechiah when he had heard the message, remembered in the two next verses, Then Hezechiah turned his face, etc.  
In the message we are to observe these five points, first the time when it was done, About that time. Secondly, the person to whom it was done, to Hezechiah that was sick. Thirdly, the person by whom it was done, by Isaiah the Prophet, sent unto him from the Lord. Fourthly, the message itself, Set thine house in order. Fiftly, the reason why the King is advised so to do, Thou must die, thou shalt not live.  
In the behaviour of Hezechiah, when this message was thus delivered to him, we are to consider these three especial points. First, that he turns his face unto the wall. Secondly, that he prayeth, Now I pray thee Lord remember, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is pleasing in thy sight. Thirdly, that he wept sore. Of which when we have briefly spoken, we will seek to apply it, first to this auditory, and then to this our brother deceased. First of the first.  
Concerning the time of Hezechias sickness, and so consequently of this message done unto him, there is great question among the learned. Of whom 
a Rab. D. Kymhs. Rab. Solomon. Lyran. Bullinger.  some in their writings deliver that it befell him, during the time that Senacharib had enclosed him in jerusalem, and there lay in siege before it. 
b jerom. Rabanus. Caluin. Wolphius.  Other (whose opinion I think more meet to follow) that not then, but shortly after; even 
c Jsai. 37.36.  after that the Lord had sent his Angel, to destroy of the army of that proud vaunting and blaspheming Prince, an hundred fourscore and five thousand, and 
d 2. Reg. 18.28.  had put an hook in his nostrils, and had led him back the same way he came, without any hurt done to Hezechiah or jerusalem. Thus then, when Hezechiah and his people were joying, in this their so great and strange deliverance, Hezechiah their King, the very light of Israel and breath of their nostrils, is strooken with a grievous sickness, and hath this message sent unto him from the Lord, that he must die, and shall not live. O earth, how unstable are thy joys, and how are all thy sweets sauced with sour! The brightest sun of man's prosperity is often clouded, nay it hath a time appointed by the highest, wherein it must set.  
The second thing to be considered, is the party to whom this message was sent, it was to King Hezechiah, which was then grievously sick. Behold Kings have no privilege from sickness, no charter from death: nay it was to a good King, 
2. Reg. 18.3.  which did uprightly in the sight of God, like as David before him, whom God prospered in all things that he took in hand; yet was this good King, as though he were unworthy to enjoy the late deliverance given to his people, strooken with the plague, the very fear of the world, and mark of God's wrath. If God deal so with Kings, what are we to look for, the very mean of the people? If thus with good Kings and them of the household of faith; what shall he do unto those which walk in the ways of the world, and have not God before their eyes? Let therefore all flesh hear the message sent unto them from the Lord, Thou must die, thou shalt not live.  
You hear to whom this message was sent, now in the third place consider from whom he received it. It was from Isaiah the Prophet. It was from that Isaiah, 
Jsai. 37.4.  to whom a little before he sent the chief of his Princes, to entreat him to lift up his prayers for them to the lord 
Vers. 29.  It was from that Isaiah which in their greatest fear prophecies deliverance to the people, destruction to Senacharib and his host. It was from that Isaiah whose words he honoured as the oracles of truth, and whose person as the beloved servant of the most high God: from him he received this comfortless speech, Set thine house in order, thou must die, thou shalt not live. And yet not from him but from the Lord, for he was but God's mouth, God's messenger, and therefore here he saith, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, thou must die. This cut off all his hopes, this put an end to all his desires, this stopped the mouths of all such of his Princes and servants, which fed his sick soul with a vain hope of life, and hurt some desire of his recovery. Whatsoever man saith, or thou wouldst, thus saith the Lord.  
And what is that he saith, which is the fourth thing we proposed to be observed? Give order for thy house, or set thy house in order, dispose of the estate of thy kingdom, and of thy worldly affairs, make thy will, and that with speed, lest thou be prevented by death. What meanest thou Isaiah thus to speak? thou seemest to many to be a miserable comforter of the sick, too much to daunt his fainting spirits, too much to trouble his affrighted soul. And indeed, with such speeches, not only the sick, but the standers by, are seldom pleased. Yet this was the word which the Lord God put into the mouth of his Prophet, and which he commanded him to deliver to his sick King. Put thine house in order, thou must die. Hear O my brethren of the ministery, which should be the children of the Prophets, what plainly without all mincing you should speak; and hear O ye worthies and great men of the world, what with patience on the bed of your sickness, you must be content to hear, set your house in order, you must die.  
Neither must you think that this was only required of Hezechiah to set in order his house, and temporal affairs; but principally and above all other, he was to set his soul in order, & to make it ready for the Lord. For he knew that 
a Heb. 9.27.  after death he should be brought into God's presence; 
b Luke 16.2.  to give account of his stewardship, how he had lived, how he had ruled, and 
c 2. Cor. 5.10.  to receive according to the things he had done in his life, were they good or evil. To the end therefore that he might have a prepared soul, and be as 
d Revel. 21.2.  the Bride that had made herself ready, that he might with aged Simeon 
e Luke 2.29.  departed in peace, and with joy approach the presence of his Master the King, is here advised by the Prophet, to set his house, himself, his soul in order.  
Mark the reason (which the is fift thing we observed in the message) a forcible motive to persuade Hezechiah to set his house in order, Thou must die, thou shalt not live. Men for the most in the extremity of their sickness, do hope for life, and if they be beaten from their hopes, yet they will not be driven from their desires. But here to the end that the King might be driven from all hope and desire of life, he delivers this message to him from the Lord, Thou must die; and lest he should feed his soul, or be fed by other, with any vain hope of life, he further addeth, Thou shalt not live. This seemeth a very hard and distasteful speech to be spoken to the sick, which few will abide: yet is it full of true charity and Christian duty. For by this means the sick soul is better moved to remember herself, to bewail her sins, and in a good hope of mercy, to make herself ready for her God. The which all you may behold here verified upon this summons made in this King. Thus much for the message delivered to the King.  
Now let us consider the King's behaviour upon the delivery of this message. He turneth to the wall, he prayeth, he weary. First, He turneth to the wall. Why? doth he it in contempt of the Prophet, repining at the message that was sent unto him, as the manner of some is, which turn aside their heads, when they like not that which is spoken to them? No, he doth not disdain at the message, neither doth he here complain of any his hard usage; 
a Hieron. comment, in hunc loc.  but since he could not for his infirmity go into the Temple, he turns his sick self unto the wall of the Temple, as Jerome out of the Rabbins noteth, withdrawing himself from the world and all worldly help, and in the humbleness of his soul acknowledging 
b 2. Reg. 20.19  that the word of the Lord is good, which he hath spoken by this Prophet. Thus Hezechiah here seeks not to run away from God, or to hide himself from his presence: but presenting his sinful soul before his Majesty, he gins to prepare himself, and according to the advice of the Prophet to set his soul in order. And therefore, to the end he might not be interrupted in his prayers, and private meditations, nor have his senses or mind withdrawn, by the speech or view of any that should come into his presence; he turneth from his Nobles and friends, he turneth from the company, he turneth to the wall of God's Temple, and by this his gesture showeth, that according to the command of God, he seeks in a serious manner, to set his soul in order, and to make it ready for the Lord.  
The which may the better appear, in that which in the second place we observed, which is, and he prayed: for by this it appeareth, why he turned unto the wall, even that he might power forth his soul in a greater devotion before the Lord: and therefore, after he had turned to the wall, he prayeth, saying; Now O Lord I pray thee remember me, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. He doth not here lay open his former godly life, or boast before the Lord of his well doing; as though God were therefore beholding to him, and in his debt, and bound to give ear unto his prayers; but seeking for his best comfort, in this time of his extreme distress, he turns from his Nobles and friends, from his honour and kingdom, and turns to the wall of God's Temple, turns unto God, and prayeth, saying, Now Lord I beseech thee remember me, now in the bed of my sickness, now when nothing in the world can yield me comfort, now when my Nobles, honour and kingdom must leave, and cannot help me, now Lord I beseech thee remember me. And what above all would he have God then to remember? that I have walked before thee, not in falsehood, but in truth; not with a dissembling, but with a perfect heart; and that I have done, not that which is evil, but which is pleasing in thy sight. As if he would have said, It was thy grace that gave me such an heart, so to walk, and so to do: take not away thy grace and favour from me, but thou which hast made me well to live, now O Lord remember me, and make me well to die. My kingdom, wealth and worldly friends, do not now yield unto me the least of comforts, but are matter rather of my grief and trouble: but my comfort is in thee O my God, and in thy mercies, that thou hast made me walk before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and to do that which is good in thy sight. Yea Hezechiah comfort thyself in thy well deeded life, for 
a Revel. 14.13.  thus saith the Spirit, Writ, from henceforth blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, they shall rest from their labours, and (when all things else shall forsake them) their works shall follow them.  
You have heard how Hezechiah prayed: now in the third place it followeth to consider that he wept very sore. And why? was it for the pains he then endured? Indeed the plaguy sores are very grievous. Or was it because he was forthwith to die, to leave his kingdom and the glory of it? 
b 1● Reg. 19.4.  He knew with Heliah that he was no better than his fathers. Or was it because he was to leave his kingdom, in that dangerous time, without a known successor? These were pious tears of a most pious Prince. Yet was not this the only cause of his tears, but when upon the view of himself and of his doings, he saw himself many ways faulty, he bewailed his sins which he had committed, and bedewed with tears his many oversights; being grieved at the very heart, that in a more forward zeal he had not sought the honour of his God. These were the causes of Hezechias tears, and thus did he on the bed of his sickness, with tears, prayers, and turning himself from the world unto his God, seek to set his house in order, and to prepare his soul for the presence of his God.  
Now since 
a August. de cur. pro mort. cap. 2.  these funeral speeches should rather serve to the instruction of the living, than to the idle commendation of the dead: let us seek to apply that which hath been spoken to you here assembled, to do this last duty to your deceased brother. In the handling of which, that we may the more orderly proceed, first, observe the summons made unto you; You must die, you shall not live. Secondly, the end why this summons is made unto you, that you should set your house, your souls in order. Thirdly, the manner how you should set yourselves in order, most lively showed in the person of Hezechiah: first, by turning from the world unto God. Secondly, by praying unto God. Lastly, in weeping and bewailing your many wants and imperfections.  
Concerning the summons: amongst many other, God sends forth four Summoners, to summon all flesh unto his high court of justice. First old-age, to show unto man that he is declining, and that his hoary head waxeth white unto the harvest; but old-age yet dreams of long life, and putteth off to prepare himself for the Lord. Whereupon the Lord sendeth another Sumner, the voice of the Preacher; to remember 
b Gen. 3.19.  man that he is earth, and that he must to earth again: this earth heareth and acknowledgeth to be true, yet he feedeth God with vain delays, and speaketh to his unready soul, 
c Luke 12.19.  thy time is not yet come, yet it is good being here. Whereupon the Lord sendeth his third Sumner, that is, all grieving sickness, which paineth the body, unquieteth the mind, which maketh their wont pleasures very irksome to them; yet 
d 2. Cor. 16.12.  sick man, then feedeth himself with a vain hope of life, seeketh to the Physician, but not to God; and if to God, yet than it is with his heartiest prayers, that he might live. Whereupon the Lord seeing the sons of Adam thus to shift his presence, he sendeth forth his last Sumner, fearful death, which perforce, without delay, or farther shifting, bringeth man, before he is prepared, to Gods high court of justice, there to receive his final doom: this is that which is here mentioned, Thou must die, thou shalt not live. Although thou wast 
a Dan. 4.11.  that goodly tree of which Daniel maketh mention, whose top reacheth up to heaven, and whose branches overspread the quarters of the earth: yet if the most high shall send his watchman to hue thee down, down thou must, thou canst not stand; thy leaves shall whither, thy fruit shall fall. Although thou wast as faithful as Abraham, pious as Daniel, powerful as Eliah, beloved as David, and mights live so many hundred years, as the Fathers are said in the first age of the world: yet in the end, of thee it shall be spoken, which was said of them, 
b Gen. 29.5.27.5.5.  And they died. Nay although thou hadst the utmost of Physics skill, and the Physician waited in thee every change, although thy friends (the comfort of the sick) environ thy bed, and thy pious children power forth tearful prayers for thy longer life: yet loath to departed, thou must take them by the hand, and if thou wilt not set thine house in order, yet thou must die. Thus must all flesh kiss the earth with Brutus, which is our mother; and the very price of beauty 
c job 17.14.  must say unto corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worms & rottenness, thou art my brother, thou art my sister. For we all 
d job 1.21.  came naked into the world, and naked we must return: nay 
e Gen. 3.19.  we were all taken out of the earth, and unto earth we must return again. 
f Hebr. 9.7.  It is decreed that all must die. All, there is none excepted; must, there is no remedy. When Saladine the great conqueror found himself arrested by death, he caused a spade and a winding-sheet to be carried about his camp, and proclamation to be made; These are the conquests of Saladine. Hear O ye bladders puffed with pride, which hunger after the glory of the world, and in your desires have swallowed up the riches of the earth; that a spade and a winding-sheete are the conquests of Saladine, the forth and fruit of your desires. I was all things, said Severus the Emperor dying at York, but now am nothing: this all things O ye great ones, with which now you brave and please yourselves, unto you dying, shall be as nothing. Awaken therefore your sleepy souls, and give ear to this summons God sendeth to you: know that you were borne to die. And pray unto God as David in the Psalm, 
g Psal 90.12.  Teach me O Lord (thou canst not teach thyself, thy wealth and world enchants thy mind) to number my days (that they are 
h Gen. 47.11.  but few and evil, as jacob said) that so at the length thou mayest apply thy heart unto wisdom: to attain that life which ever shall endure, where thou shalt serve God without sin, line without all fear of death, where thou shalt never be taken away from the sweet companions of thy blessed life, nor they from thee. Then shall 
a Philip. 1.23.  death, feared of other, be desired of thee, and in the ruff of all thy greatest prosperity, thou shalt have a longing to be with thy Christ, 
b Psal. 27.13.  there to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  
You have heard the summons sent unto you, from the judge of the world, you must all die, you shall not live. Now consider the reason, why this summons is sent unto you, even to this end, and for this cause; that you should set your house, yourselves in order. By thy house, if thou understand thy temporal affairs, set them in order, dispose of them in time, leave not thy substance a matter of variance to thy posterity: and for that which is thine, let thine heir be beholding to thee, and not to other. For often times it falleth out, when men die intestate and without a will, that they have much of their goods, whom they would to have little: and they that have most, do little thank them, because they have it not of their gift, but by an ordinary course of Law. Dispose therefore of thy temporal affairs, and bind the receivers of thy goods, in a thankful remembrance unto thyself: when by thy made will they see, that that which thou hast given unto them, thou mightest if thou wouldst, have bequeathed to other. And do it in time; for why shouldest thou cause the world to fasten on thee that deserved rebuke, that thou wouldst still live, and art loath to die: or that loath to leave them, thou wouldst carry thy goods with thee unto thy grave? Yea do it in time; for unto what times hast thou reserved these thoughts; when thou shouldest wholly busy thyself, in making thy soul ready for thy God then (as a bird taken in alime-bush, the which the more she fluttereth the more she is limed) thou weariest thy musing soul in thy secular affairs, without all free thought or care of God? And indeed what time is this, 
Bernard. conc. ad divites.  as Bernard speaketh, to make thy will, and to dispose of thine estate, when thy head acheth, thy hand shaketh, thy tongue faultereth, thy heart groaneth, and thy many grievous pains do so trouble thy thoughts, that neither thy writing, nor thy words can well express or make known thy mind? A weak soul thou art then, easily led to do that thou never mindest. Thy will then not thine, but the will of some other, which may best persuade thee. And if then thine, even as thou wouldst; yet see how one word inserted in some place, may alter thy meaning, in some main matter, how two or three witnesses carry away all. In time therefore dispose of thy worldly affairs, whilst thy thoughts are free, affections stayed; and when at thy leisure, thou mayest maturely peruse, that which before time thou hast done. So shall thy testament be testatio mentis, a witness of thy mind, and the will thou hast made, thy will, and not the will of another man.  
And if thou oughtest thus to dispose of thy worldly affairs; how much rather shouldest thou seek to prepare and dispose of thy soul, to cast up thy reckonings, since thou art forthwith, without all delay, to give account of thy stewardship unto God. For as it is 
a Hebr. 9.27.  decreed that all must die, so is it also by the same God said, that after death all shall enter into judgement; 
b 1. Cor. 5.10.  all must appear before the tribunal seat of Christ, that every man may receive the things which are done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil. All, therefore thou; must, there is no shifting; appear, thou canst not be hidden; there to receive what thou hast done whilst thou hadst a body, whilst thou livedst. And what shall then become with thy unready soul, which unprepared, before she looked, and before she had cast up her reckonings, made up her accounts, is to be presented before her judge? Alas, how canst thou look for thy quietus est, or how canst thou but fear thy everlasting ruin? Thou hadst a time to make thy peace with God; now that his black tents are pitched up, and under the arrest of death, thou standest before him to receive thy doom; thy time is gone. 
c John 9.4.  Work therefore whilst it is day, (as thy Saviour adviseth) the night cometh wherein no man can work. Upon which words saith Cyrill, 
d Cyril. in job. lib. 6. cap. 14.  every one of us have our day, and have our night. Our day is the space of our whole life, in which it is given us of God, to work that which shall make to our everlasting good: our night is the time after our natural death, in which no man can work, or wipe away those death-bringing stains, which in the day of his life he hath contracted. It may be then it shall grieve thee that thou hast evil done: yet then, as Austin speaketh, 
a August. de fid. ad Petr. diaco. cap. 3.  thy sorrow shall be without fruit, because than it shall find no mercy in the sight of God. The which Ambrose, speaking of those words of David, 
b Psal. 39.13.  Forgive me that I may be refreshed before I go hence, and be no more seen, most plainly showeth: 
c Ambros. de bon. mortis cap. 2.  David desires to have his sins forgiven him before he died: for he which here doth not receive remission of his sins, he shall not there. The reason whereof Austin giveth, because there may be 
d Jnter Aug. opera de rectitud. Cathol. conuers.  poenitentia dolorem habens, sed medicinam non habens; A repentance which hath grief, but not a repentance which brings relief. And as in another place he saith, there may be 
e August. de fid. ad Petrum diac. cap. 3.  stimulus poenitudinis, the prick of sorrow, but there cannot be correctio voluntatis, amendment of the mind. Wherefore whilst thou livest prepare thy soul, and make haste unto thy God, and pray with Ambrose, 
f Ambros. in Psal. 38.  Here forgive me my sins where I have sinned; except thou forgive them here, I shall not find the restful comfort of forgiveness there. Neither do thou repose thy unprepared soul, upon the vain stays of deceiving Popery; all the Masses, and Dirges, and other shows of piety, which in a blind zeal thy well willers shall procure for thee when thou art dead, shall nothing boot thee, or make thy soul find favour with her God. For, as Chrysostome speaketh, the 
g Chrysost. ad Top. Antioch. Homil. 49.  mariners, when the ship is drowned, cannot help, nor the Physicians when the party is dead. Wherefore now prepare thy soul, for 
h Basil. Quest. diffuse explic.  now is the acceptable time, as Basil speaketh: now is the day of health, this world is for thy repentance, that for thy recompense; this for thy working, that for thy rewarding; this for thy patience, that for thy comfort; now God is helping to all them that do repent them of their evil lives, than he will be a severe examiner of their deeds. Wherefore now, whilst thou livest, set thy house in order, prepare thy soul, and make it ready for the Lord.  
And that thou mayst the better know well to do it, lay before thine eyes the example of Hezechtah, and remember well what he is here said to do. First he turns from his Princes and Nobles, he turns to the wall of God's temple, he turns to God: even so in the bed of thy sickness, turn from the world, turn to God. For whither wilt thou go if thou goest not to him? or of whom wilt thou receive help and comfort if not of him? If thou lookest on thy friends and children, they may bewail thee, but they cannot help thee. If thou remember'st thy wealth and worship, they may be matter of thy grief and sorrow, but cannot then afford thee any small relief. Wherefore turn thyself and soul from them, withdraw thy thoughts, and consecrate that little remainder of thy life in an holy meditation unto thy God. Neither do thou fear his angry countenance, because of thy many and grievous sins: for if in a true faith and an hearty sorrow thou then turnest to him, 
a Luke 15.20.  he will meet thee in the way, he will embrace thee with his arms of mercy, kiss thee with the kisses of kindness, take away from thee the rags of thy sins, and cloth thee with that costly rob, the righteousness of his all justifying Son. Turn thee therefore from the world unto thy God, and when thou canst not turn thy feebled body, turn thy mind. For as 
b Genes. 8.9.  the Dove that was sent out of Noah's Ark, flew here and there over the face of the waters, but found no rest for the soles of her feet, till she returned into the Ark again: so the soul of man, sent by God from the highest heaven, flieth here and there, and wearieth herself with the things of this world, but findeth no true rest nor pleasing content, till she return unto her God again. Wherefore return thy soul unto her maker, and there seek for that, which in the whole world thou canst not find. True it is, that the wicked which are at no peace with God, nor have any hope or confidence in his mercy; they 
c Genes. 3.8.  fly from his presence, as the thief doth from the face of the judge. But alas whither will they fly from his presence, or which of God's creatures can yield them comfort, when he in anger shall set himself against them? or to what end do they slack their coming, which anon perforce must be brought before him, and receive even for this their contempt a more heavy doom? Wherefore let not thy soul be like one of theirs, neither do thou tread in their distrustful steps, but in this be thou like this good King Hezechiah, turn thyself and soul from the world, turn to God.  
And when thou hast thus turned from the world unto thy God, then in the second place consider what Hezechiah here doth, he prayed to his God, saying; Now O Lord I beseech thee remember me. Even so do thou: for unto whom shouldest thou make thy prayers but unto him which best knoweth thy need, and which hath bound 
d Psal. 50.15. Joel 2.32. john 14.13.  himself by promise to help thee in this time of thy need. Although 
e Psal. 121.1.  thou art to look unto the hills, to follow the examples of holy men; yet, as Austin upon that Psalm observeth, 
f August. comment. in Psal. 121.  thou must still acknowledge that thy salvation cometh from the Lord. Wherefore to him lift up thy soul in prayers, and with thy heart cry, when thou canst not with thy weakened voice, Now O Lord I beseech thee remember me. And then do not boast of thy merits and well doing, as though God were therefore bound to help thee, and to yield relief; but rather let thy merits be God's mercy, as Bernard speaketh, 
a Bernard. in Cantic. serm. 61  Shall I sing of my righteousness? nay I will remember thy righteousness only, for that is mine. And yet that thou mayst the better assure thy staggering soul of God's favour to thee in this time of thy need, remember with Hezechiah God's former mercies, beforetime showed to thee, in the progress of thy life: for that God which hath given thee to walk before him in truth, and with a perfect heart; that God which hath given thee to do that which is good and pleasing in his sight; he will not now leave and forsake thee, but he will then hear thy prayers, and as thou beseechest, he will then remember thee. Alas (beloved) in this time of thy need, what can thy wealth and worship steed thee? what can thy friends and well willers help thee? what can then better comfort thy fainting soul, than thy harmless and well deeded life, which thou hast passed in God's fear? these 
b 2. Pet. 1.10. Ephes. 1.4.  thy good works will assure thy soul that thou art an elect vessel chosen of God; 
c Matth. 7.17. John 15.5.  these fruits of thy believing faith will witness to thee that thou art a blessed plant whom Gods right hand hath planted; 
d Rom. 8.14. Ephes. 5.8.  these holy actions of thy spiritual life will speak to thy soul that thou art lived of God, and that he liveth in thee by his grace. This his 
e Ezech. 9.5. & 6.  mark God doth see and will acknowledge in thee, and these 
f Revel. 14.13.  fruits of thy faith, works of piety, when all things else will leave and forsake thee, will not forsake thee; but will accompany thee unto the heavens, and there will present themselves with thee to thy God. How studious therefore should we be in piety? how fruitful in good works? how provident for this oil? how careful to do that which is good in God's sight? since these in the time of our greatest need, make so much for our comfort and relief. Surely to a man that 
g jerem. 17.5.  maketh not flesh his arm, but 
h Philip. 3.8. 1. Corin. 1.20.  reposeth himself on the mercy of Christ, and on his all sufficient merit, a well deeded life will make much for his comfort. Insomuch that in a good confidence of hope, he will say with David, 
i Psalm. 31.5.  Lord into thy hands do I commend my spirit; for thou Lord of truth hast redeemed me.  
And when thou hast thus, according to the good ensample of Hezechiah, prepared thyself: do not thou forget, that which in the last place he is said to do; and that is, he wept very sore: for when the servants of God do see that 
k Psalm. 23.6.  God still followeth them with his helping grace, how 
l Mat. 14.27. Luke 12.32.  in the midst of their troubles, he still speaketh words of comfort to their souls; when 
a Rom. 8.11. & 16. Ephes. 1.13. Hebr. 11.15.  they find that inward witness of God's spirit testifying to their spirits, that when 
b 2. Cor. 5.1.  this earthly tabernacle shall be destroyed, they shall have a building not made with hands, but which is eternal in the heavens; yea when God so far openeth their eyes, that 
c Matth. 17.2. 2. Cor. 12.2.  they see some part of that his goodness, which he will fully show unto them in the land of the living: then 
d 2. Cor. 5.2. Jerem. 31.18. Ezech. 16.61.  all ashamed of themselves and full of tears they bewail their sins, and neglected duties, because they have not sought God's glory in a more forward zeal, nor more carefully have honoured him in the course of their lives. 
e Psal. 126.5.  O blessed soul which thus sowest in tears, for thou shalt reap with joy! O blessed soul which thus dost 
f Matth. 5.4.  mourn and bewail thy sins, for thou shalt be comforted! the Lord shall not forget thy tears, but he shall put them into his bottle. Nay he shall forthwith give thee a 
g Revel. 14.13.  life, in which thou shalt serve GOD without all sin, rest from thy labours, and 
h Jsai. 25.8. Revel. 7.7.  have all tears wiped away from thine eyes.  
Wherefore, O ye that hear me this day, since you are all the sons of Adam, and must to earth from whence you came, since to every of you the heavenly voice hath said, You must die, and shall not live. Set an order to your houses, prepare your souls, and whilst you live, before you be prevented by death, cast up your reckonnings, and make yourselves ready for the Lord. With this good King Hezechiah, turn yourselves from the world, your wealth and worship, and turn unto the Lord. Unto him power forth your prayers, and in the bed of your sickness say, when all help of friends and physic do fail, now O Lord I beseech thee remember me. And that he may the better be moved to hear you then, and to give you secure to your content, during this your earthly pilgrimage, and small abode in this decaying world, walk with your God, (faun not on the world,) in truth, not in falsehood, with a perfect, not a dissembling heart, & ever seek to do, how irksome soever it be to thy flesh, and unpleasing to the world, that which is good and pleasing in God's sight. And when thou hast failed in these thy duties, bewail thy sins and oversights, and with an humbled soul come to the feet of thy blessed Saviour, & grieve not to wash them with the tears of thine eyes, which hath washed thee with his most precious blood. Thus much in the application of this text to you.  
Now resteth it, that we should somewhat speak of this our brother, for whose sake we are here assembled. For since it hath been an ancient and most laudable custom, used by the holy Fathers in the Primitive Church, and continued throughout all ages unto this day; to commend unto the people of God, in their Funeral Sermons, many virtuous men and women: and that to these ends, that they might show their thankfulness to God, for giving such grace unto men; perform their last duty to the deceased, and might stir up their hearers, to be followers of their virtues, that so they might be partakers of their praises: let not these our speeches be unpleasing to any, neither let the studious of novelty, seek to disgrace this laudable custom, which to so good uses of all antiquity hath been approved. For as Hierom speaking of Paula a virtuous woman, 
a Hieron. epist. 27. cap. 13. 2. Chron. 32.33  All assembled themselves when Paula was dead, they thought it a sacrilege, not to do this last duty to such a woman: So since this great and honourable assembly, doth thus honour our deceased to his grave: I cannot be wanting, in this my last duty unto him. And although his senseless corpse perceiveth not that is done unto him; and therefore it may seem to some a thankless duty: yet as a token of our true love, we leave this with thee, O thou beloved, & know as Augustine speaketh, 
b August. de civit. Dei. lib. 1. cap. 13. Jdem de cura pro mort. cap. 3.  That such pious duties do please the Lord. But where shall I begin? in a poor place; of poor, yet honest parents he was borne; advanced by God to this wealth and worship, and made the first of known note in his father's house. Thus God from the sheepfold called David, and gave to this son of the earth to be a Knight, and to sit among the great ones of the City. From out of this root hath sprung twelve living branches, nine sons, three daughters: the gifts of God, and the parents comfort. Bless thy gifts O God unto her comfort, and let the desired memory of their departed father, still live and be remembered in them. Whither shall I go? His affable nature and most lovely carriage, desiring to do good both to poor and rich: his respective duty unto his betters; and ready observance to be at their command: his many employments in this City causes, and faithful diligence wading through all: his answering trust to his reposing friends, and ready hand to help them at all times of need, his kind entreaty of the poorest of his kin, and willingness to embrace the love of strangers: his bounty to the needy at home and abroad, and purse supplying scholars wants, his set weekly contributions to the poor whilst he lived; and Will, giving to them a child's part being dead: maketh me entreat you, (as 
a Basil. Concio, de Sanct. Mamante Martyr.  Basil did his hearers in a funeral Sermon, he maketh of Mamantes the Martyr) that every of you, which have been helped, pleasured, or thus entreated by him; or which can truly witness this his kind and virtuous carriage; would help me with the sweet flowers of your true reports, to adorn his Hearse. That as many the 
b 2. Chron. 16.14. cap. 21.19.  Kings of judah were said to be buried with sweet odours, and divers kind of spices: so we may bury this our brother with the sweet reports of his well deeded life, and the spiced odours of his happy death. And to begin, this is my flower, best beseeming him, and most pleasing me: that as he grew in worship, so he grew in piety. This doth witness with me your morning Sermon, by him (notwithstanding his employments) often frequented: this, the Preachers of the Word in greater love than before respected; this, his prayers with his household, in greater devotion than before time followed. Smell sweet pious flower, spread forth thy odours; he liveth well that liveth with his God. Fellow with your flowers, and 
c Prou. 10.7.  let the memory of the just be followed with praises, when the name of the wicked, as a snuff of a candle shall go forth with stink.  
I will not excuse whatsoever his infirmities: he was a man, and carried about him a body of flesh; yet play not thou the part of a kite or puttock, which passeth over many sweet and pleasant things, and gorgeth himself with garboil and carrion: for if thou dost, many that hear me this day will speak against thy vile and base affection; and to thy face shall show (as Gregory speaketh of his brother Basil) that his vices were better than thy virtues. 
Greg. Nazian. monod. in mag. Basilium.  Cover therefore whatsoever his infirmities with a lovely silence, and since the Lord hath cast them behind him, and drowned them in the bottom of the sea, let them die with him, and with his dead carcase let them be buried in his grave.  
Thus he lived, the love of the world, the desire both of poor & rich. And thus he died, even in the height of all his prosperity, being but newly entered into this place of worship, and as another Hezechiah laid on the bed of his sickness, by turning to the wall, praying, weeping, he makes himself ready for his God. For after he had set an order to his worldly affairs, he withdrew his thoughts from all worldly business: and sought to holy that little remnant of his short life unto the Lord. This his continued silence doth witness, when yet he knew all that came unto him, saluted them by name, but would not have any further speech with them. This that speech of his to me, the first morning I saw him, The Lord hath visited me, but yet he hath not given me over as a pray unto mine enemy: O Lord think upon me for thy mercy, that I may still show forth thy truth. This that which is written of dying Jerome, 
a Eusebius de mort. Hieron.  O my friends interrupt not my approaching joy, do not hinder me from yielding to the earth that which is the earths. For urged to take, by the entreaty of many friends, his last, but fruitless potion, as though in it were life, without it death: for a while he resolutely withstood, and protested he would not take it for a thousand pound. And when he was further moved to take it by one, that loved him and his; he replied, I pray you move me not, you would reckon him unwise, that would take forty shillings when he might have three pound; that would accept of a life in this world, when he might have a life in heaven. Thus, as it is written of Austin, 
b Possidon. de vit. August.  not ashamed to live, he feared not to die; because he knew he had a gracious Lord. The which he further showed: for when the tongue failed, and denied to make known the meaning of his heart; and when many of us that were present, supposed for many hours before his departure, that he was bereaved of sense and knowledge: being at the length to departed this world, of himself, unmotioned, raising up his hands, lifting them unto the heavens, and with the one knocking of his breast, not as an evil servant, but as a cheerful son, he gave up the ghost, and, as it is said of faithful Abraham, went unto his fathers in peace. Wherefore to turn from him again unto you, do not only 
c Num. 23.10.  wish with Balaam, but endeavour whilst you live, that your souls may die the death of the just, and that your latter ends may be like unto his.  
And since he so blessedly lived, and blessedly died: although thou canst not stop the floods of thy kind affection, 
d Eccles. 38.16.  but must needs bring forth thy tears, and make lamentation over the dead, as one that hath suffered a great loss; yet in so great an hope of his assured good, let not the Temple of God be over sad; 
e 1. Thess. 4.13.  weep not as they that have no hope. Although thou criest with David, 
f 2. Sam. 1.26.  I am sorrowful for thee O my friend jonathan, very kind hast thou been to me, and 
g john 11.32.  weeps with Mary for thy brother Lazarus; yet with thy tears go unto Christ, in him seek thy comfort. Neither keep (as Basil speaketh) 
h Basil. Concio. de great. act.  fresh the wounds of thy sorrowing soul, nor seek the means to increase thy grief; but as the weak sighted turn away their eyes, from such things as hurt them: so turn away thy thoughts from all matter of thy grief. For although his body be 
i 1. Cor. 15.42.  sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption: although it be sown in dishonour, it shall rise in honour: although it be sown in weakness, it shall rise in strength. 
k Aug. epist. 6.  He is gone before, we shall follow. God give us so to follow that we may ever rest with him.  
Sit Deo gloria.