THE STATE OF THE godly both in this life, and in the life to come: Delivered in a Sermon at Chudleigh in Devon: at the funerals of the right Worshipful, the Lady Elizabeth Courtney, the 11. of November, 1605.  
And published for the instruction, and consolation of the faithful.  
By R. W. Minister.  
Whereunto is annexed the christian life and godly death of the said worshipful Lady Elizabeth Courtney.  Psal: 112.9. 
He hath distributed and given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth for ever.  
At London Printed for Roger jackson, and are to be sold at his shop near the Conduit in Fleetstreet. 1606.   

To the worshipful, his good friend, Thomas Clifford, Esquire, grace, mercy & peace from god the father, and from Christ jesus our Lord.  
SIR, you see the effect of importunity, and the efficacy of your favour towards me; in that the sermon which was at first private, in respect of the Audients; is now become public in pespect of the readers. Wherein it resembleth the Image, that is taken out of the painter's shop, where few behold it, and placed in the open market, where every one will censure it. I have delineated two dwelling places of the godly, as my memory, notes and parenthesis of vacant time permitted: th'one fading, restless, and wretched in earth, tother permanent, quiet, and blessed in heaven. And I wish that my labour therein, may be like the liveliest picture and poem, which the more nearly, narrowly, and often it is surveyed, the more it feeds the eye and the mind of the behoulder with delectation: as the judicious, or rather censorious Poet says, both of the one & tother 
 pictura, poesis, erit quae, si propiùs stes,  

Horat. in Arte.  Te capiet magis, & quaedam si longiùs abstes.  
Haec amat obscurum, volet haec subluce videri  
Haec placuit senel, haec decies repetita placebit  Neither can I conceal, that in diwlgating of this sermon, I was both unwilling, & willing: unwilling, because of the slenderness thereof, and the captiousness of these critic times: in which that is usual which Sallust said to Caesar; 
Sal. ad Caesar. de ordinand. rep.  (ad repraehenda aliena facta, aut dicta, ardet omnibus animus) all are earnestly bend to reprove other men's doings, or sayings: willing, because I desired to decipher the sincerity of mine obsequiousness towards her, whose memory I would my tenuity & obseruamcy were able to eternize: & because I was loath to reject your pressing motion, whose more than common courtesies may duly crave the utmost of my possibility. Her perspicuous worthiness, your experimented kindness, mine own propension to endeavour to do good by any means, have more swayed with me, than that I could be hindered to edify the faithful, and induced to withhold good from the owners thereof, by surmising, that the froward will condemn me, either of impudence or flattery. From flattery the universal acclamation of multitudes, that both knew her, and heard of her, will, (I know) acquit me; from the blame of voluntary & shameless intruding myself into the sight of the world, your learned apology (I hope) shall purge me. For malice had wanted one morsel to thrust into her insaturable gorge, had not your forcible persuasions subdued me, and cast me as a pray unto her devouring teeth. Nevertheless, let one tax the prolixity, not weighing the extraordinary occurrents: let another balance in the weights of worldly eloquence, the course & unpolished style; desiring perhaps finer bread than is made of wheat, and rather an eloquent, than learned Physician to cure his malady: let another reprove thinculcating of vulgar observations, and obvious documents: forgetting, aswell that Paul, that noble instructor of the gentiles, (by daily reading of whose Epistles, the golden mouthed father said, that he knew how to divide the word of truth aright) was not ashamed, to write the same things again; as also that ●t becometh rather an Athenian, than a christian, to haunt after novelties: yet they that have their wits exercised, to discern good from evil, sh●l perceive, that I have not erred from the faith; and that I have not depraved the depositum, and talon of wholesome doctrine, committed to the church by Christ, and recommended by the apostle to his scholar Timothy. 
Tim. 6.20, ●incent Liri●. adu. prophā●uat. cap. 27.  I have kept (to borrow the words of mel lifluous Vincentius Lirinensis, on the foresaid exhortation of the apostle) that was committed unto me, not that I have invented; that I received, not that I devised: that I learned, not that I forged of mine own wit; that hath been publicly taught, not privately maintained. As I have received gold, so I have endeavoured to render and return gold: and not to give, either impudently, lead, or fraudulently, copper, and the show of gold, in steed of sincere gold. And in returning it, I have been, (non author, sed custos, non institutor, sed sectator, non ducens, sed sequens: & cum dixerim noue, non dixi nova:) not an author, but a keeper: not a teacher, but a scholar, not a leader, but a follower: and albeit I have arrayed somethings in attire of a new fashion, yet there is no difference in the matter and substance. Wherefore not distrusting, but that as I have put this sermon in writing at your entreaty, the concise sinews and epitome whereof was else likely to have been utterly moth-eaten; so you will patronize it against such malignantes, as either reprehend, that they will not amend, or else are despisers of whatsoever their selves were not agents: with my prayer, that it may benefit as many, as did bear undissembled love unto her, whose happy remembrance hath both wrung it out of my hands, and drawn it into the light and that the faith which I am persuaded is in you, may dwell in you unto the end, as it first dwelled in your worthy grandmother, and in your godly mother, I commit you and yours to the gracious protection of the Almighty, whom I desire to sanctify us through out, and to keep our whole spirit, and soul, and body, blameless, unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  
Yours in the Lord Rob. Wolcomb.   

Revelat. Chap. 7. v. 13.14.15.16.17.  
13. And one of the Elders spoke, saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in long white robes, & whence came they?  
14. And I said to him, lord thou knowest: and he said to me; These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their long robes, and have made their long robes white in the blood of the Lamb.  
15. Therefore are they in the presence of the throne of God, and serve him day & night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne will dwell among them.  
16. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the Sun light on them, neither any heat.  
17. For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall govern them: and shall lead them to the lively fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.   

The state of the godly in this life, and in the life to come.  
Such and so great is the love of god towards his choose people, that he doth not only give them warning of dangers ensuing, but doth oftentimes deliver them from manifold calamities, where with others are overwhelmed. 
Gen. chap. 6.7.8. Gen. 19  So Noah had warning of the coming of the flood, & was delivered from the violence thereof. So Lot had warning of the destruction of Sodom, and escaped the fury of the fire and brimstone. So the Israelits had warning of the kill of all the first born among the Egyptians: 
Exodus 12.  & by the blood of the paschal lamb were preserved from the vengeance of the destroyer. So again the Israelites passed through the red sea, 
Exodu● 14.  as through dry ground but the waters closed on their enemies the Egyptians. So before the captivity, the jews that mourned & sighed for the abominations which were committed in Jerusalem, 
Ezech. 9  had a mark set on their foreheads, and were exempted from the desolation; and other which had not the mark, were not spared, but smitten without pity. And as the lord in the seven trumpets had provided diverse miseries to be inflicted upon men of all sorts, 
cap. 8. 7. etc.  so in this chapter there is a caution and proviso for the godly: for before the four angels by holding the 4. winds do hurt the earth, with hail and fire, or that a burning mountain kill the creatures of the sea; or the fallen star turneth the living waters into mortal wormwood, or the son and moon be smitten till the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads: john saw the vision of those which were numbered and sealed: jews, of all the tribes of Israel, an hundred and forty and four thousand: and after a numberless number of the gentiles, of all nations, 
●. Mare. 13.51.  and kindreds, and people, and tongues; who stood before the throne of god, to worship him and praise him, and were clothed in long white robes, that is, were covered with the unspotted righteousness of Christ, and had palms in their hands, in token of the victory obtained by Christ, against the flesh, the world, and Satan. After this john heard the congratulation and thanksgiving of those which were sealed, for that they were saved and preserved: for they cried with a loud voice saying, Salvation cometh from our God, 
v. 10.12.  that sitteth upon the throne, and from the Lamb. Unto which cry all the angels applaud, and worship God, saying, Amen. Praise, and glory, and wisdom, and thanks, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our god for evermore. Amen. Now these words which I have read, contain the expounding of the vision that john saw. 
junius in Ap●calyps.  In which exposition, three things are to be noted. 1 The question of the Elder, to stir up john to deeper consideration, in the 13 verse. 2 john's answer to the Elder, in the first part of the 14. verse. 3 The reply of the Elder, in the rest of the 14 verse and unto the end of the 17 verse. In which reply the Elder declares, those which were numbered and sealed to be the saints, whom he describes, first by their acts, that is their sufferings, and work of faith in jesus Christ done in the former persecutions, and to be continued in the future temptations, in the 14 verse. Secondly by their glory both present in the 15 v. and to come: partly in their full deliverance from all calamities and annoyances, in the 16. verse, and partly in participation and fruition of all good things, which the remembrance of wonted miseries shall never abolish or diminish: in the 17. v. And this is begun in this life, but accomplished afterwards.  
In that the Elder doth ask a question of john, 
●nterpretatiō●f the text.  whether he knew, who those were, which were arrayed in long white robes, and whence they came: he behaveth himself like a diligent teacher, who being desirous to instruct his scholar in that he knows not, he preventeth him, by inquiring, whither he know it, or not. Whereby the Elder signifieth, how prompt and ready they that are led by the spirit of God, and are endued with knowledge and understanding, should be to inform the ignorant. And in that John yields a modest answer to the Elder, acknowledging his ignorance; by attributing knowledge to the Elder: for in that he saith Lord thou know'st; he saith thus, Lord I know not: Lord thou know'st; lord teach me: he doth advertise us, to be wise with sobriety; and not to be puffed up with an overweening opinion of our learning, but to reckon it no shame and disparagement, to be taught the certainty of those good things which we never learned, 
Marlor: & Sebast, Meyer in Apocal.  Whereas the Saints are said to come out of great tribulation, although the Elder spoke this, chiefly touching the former persecutions by the heathen Empires, and may also be understood of the persecution which Antichrist should raise against the Church: yet generally it may be understood, of the universal troubles and afflictions of this life, in that all the children of God, come from great affliction unto great rest, from misery unto glory, from prison unto a kingdom: from thraldom unto freedom: from death unto life. The long robes of the saints which were washed, is the holiness, righteousness, and innocency of Christ, wherewith the godly being clothed they do walk boldly, and are found just and unblamable before the Lord. And the making white of the long robes in the Lamb's hlood, is when the godly do walk in the faith of christ, and do suffer the cross patiently after his example.  
But how can blood make white? The faithful are washed white with the lambs blood, in that they are purged in conscience from dead works to serve the living GOD, 
Hebr. 9 13. Revel. 1.5 ●. Pet. 1.19.  by the blood of CHRIST, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unto god, an unspotted sacrifice. And here falls to ground the Romish doctrine of indulgences, 
Acts 10.3. 1 john. 1.7. ● Cor. 5.21. ● Cor. 1.15. Acts 20.28. Hebr 10 14.  and dispensation of the superabounding merits of Saints, for if the faithful are sufficiently purged and cleansed by the blood of the lamb, where is the treasure of supererogation of saints? Where it is said, that the godly are in the presence of the throne of god this may be taken, not only for that blessed and quiet worship, which the godly departed out of the body, yield to the lord in heaven, without external and laboursome service: but also for their worshipping of God, while they live in this mortal body: and while they in this life are so devoted to the serving of god, 
Ephes. 2: 6. Col. 3: 1. 2. Cor: 3: 6.  and do so frame their whole life after his will, and do so seek to glorify god, and to edify their neighbour, as if they were already placed in gods heavenly temple, before the throne of God, and before his holy Angels. As for this, that the godly serve god day and night in his temple: 
Psal. 134.1. Levit, 8.35. Luke 18: 1. 1 Thess. 5.17. Luke 2.37. Psalm 1: 2: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leu. 26: 12: 2 Cor: 6: 16: Reu: 3: 20 1 john 1: 3: Gen. 17.1:  the Angel alludes to the office of the old Levites, for otherwise there is no night in heaven: or else by serving god day and night, may be meant, the continual endeavouring of the godly to glorify god, even in all their actions. And that god will dwell among them, or upon them, what doth it signify else, but that as they are gods people, so he will be their God: and as they will pass their life in fear and reverence, as being alway in the sight of god, so god will have familiar conversation among them, and willbe their protector and exceeding great reward. To hunger and thirst no more; is to be satisfied with all good and desirable things: for meat and drink are the chief among the desires and cares of this life: and to eat and drink, 
joh. 6.35: Luke 22.29: Esai. 65.13: Ezech. 34.13:  is in scripture, to lead an happy and pleasant life. By the sun and heat, that after this life shall fall no more upon the godly, must be conceived the end and ceasing of the afflictions, wherewith the faithful are exercised in this life. For as in hot regions, the parching heat of the sun doth much grieve the inhabitants: and th●●re god shadowed his people by day with a pillar of a cloud, 
Exod. 13.11:  from the fervent heat of the sun: so the scorching of affliction doth annoy and molest the godly, as long as they remain in this world: but after the race of mortality is finished, the place of tribulation shallbe found no more. And here even the least drop of consolation, that flows from this one place of scripture, is enough to quench the whole fire & flame of Purgatory. For how may purgatory stand, if the faithful after this life shall no more be accumbred with Sun, or any heat? Who is the Lamb in the mids of the throne; but jesus Christ, The Lamb of god that taketh away the sin of the world? 
●ohn. 1.36:  and who is the great shepherd and Bishop of souls, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  that doth feed and govern the godly like sheep, but Christ? and what is the leading of the faithful to the living waters; 
Ezech 34.3 john. 10.14 Acts 20.28. Psalm 23.1: john 4.10: & 7, 28. Isai. 55, 1. Ezech 36.26.  but that they after this life shall live joyfully, and blessedly, being freed from all calamities? and what is it to wipe away all tears from the godly; but that the fullness of joys shall swallow up all sorrow and cause of sadness? For as the joy of the wicked is turned into sorrow so the sorrow of the godly is turned into comfort. And the Angel saith, 
james 4.9. Isai 65.18: Mat. 5.4 john 16 20.  that every tear shall be wiped away: to give us to understand that the tears of the elect are divers, as their tribulations are divers. One laments because he hath done evil; another laments because he hath not done good: one laments, because he bears the hard rod of affliction, another laments because he is assaulted by vices: one laments because he is absent and a stranger from the kingdom of heaven: & for that the blindness of worldlings is great: another laments, for that gods word is contemned & despised: but the lord will end all tears, & will refresh his people with eternal consolation. And here is overturned the erroneous doctrine of man's merit; for the only efficient cause of the glory of the elect, both here and hereafter, is but one, namely the lamb, the Messias, the mediator, and saviour jesus Christ.  
Although many things offer themselves in this text to our view, and are worthy of due contemplation, yet I have selected only two which at this time shall be unfolded, and made manifest unto you, as meetest for this present occasion & assembly; The first is the state and condition of the faithful in this life. The second is the state & condition of the faithful after this life. For the first, 
●he state of the ●odly in this ●●fe v, 14, 16, 17  to wit the state and condition of the godly in this life, in that it is here said, that they came out of great tribulation, that they shall after this life hunger no more, neither thirst any more, that the sun shall not light on them, neither any heat and that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; this shows, that while the godly are abiding in this life, they endure tribulation, they hunger, and thirst they are annoyed with sun and heat, and they live in the valley of misery, which compelleth to shed tears. And it can be no other wiser, For our Lord & master Christ sayeth, that if any will come after him, & be his disciple, he must deny himself & take up his cross daily & follow him If we will be the true scholars of Christ, 
Luke 9, 23.  it is not enough, to confess or profess him to subdue & curb the vicious affections of our natural inclination, but we must undergo the cross, & tribulation, neither is it enough, once or twice to undergo it, but take up our cross daily. For as one day followeth another, so there is a succession & plurality of tribulations that pursue the godly. If we purpose to build the tower of true Christianity we must first cast on these costs, 
Luke: 14, 28.  & if we will fight battles of unfeigned profession we must make ready to encounter divers & daungerus adversaries. And therefore Paul and Barnabas knowing, that affliction is Turrian unseparable companion of godliness, did not only publish the truth at Listra, Iconium, & Antiochia but confirmed the disciples hearts, & exhorted them to continued in the faith and not to fall away and be daunted through tribulations, affirming, that we must through many afflictions enter into the kingdom of God. This general lot of the godly Paul most expressly declares inferring upon his own precedent, 
2, Tim, 3, 12.  That all that will live godly in Christ jesus, 
Tim 3.12.  shall suffer persecution. ᵈ For whom he loveth, he chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son that he receiverh. If we endure chastening God offereth himself unto us, as unto sons? for what son is it, whom the father chasteneth not; And therefore the Apostle is bold to conclude, 
hebr 12 8.  that if we be without correction, whereof all are partakers, then are we bastards, and not sons. Be hold Noah: behold lot: behold Abraham, Izaac & jaakob: behold joseph behold Moses: were not all these the beloved sons of God? and yet were not all these pressed with tribulations? The time will be to short to speak of job, of David; of the Prophets, of the Apostles who where the true and dear servants of God: and yet were tried in the furnace of affliction. Christ himself was assaulted of Satan, had traps laid in his way by his enemies, was hated of sinful men, and did flee from their fury, felt hunger, & werisomnes of body: was mocked, & scorned, & railed upon, & despitefully entreated & spit upon, and crowned with thorns, & beaten with whips, and at last led to the cross, and to execution, till he died, and gave up the ghost: so that the only example of CHRIST himself, whose whole life was nothing but a passion and tribulation, may suffice to teach us, That the disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord: It is enough for the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord, If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, 
Matth, 10.2  how much more them of his household? f. For if we suppose: that we shall feel no tribulations, we must not imagine, that we can be true Christians Assoon as we begin to live godly in christ (saith saint Augustine, 
Cum c●peri● piè in Christo● vivere, ingre●es torcular, p●parate ad pr●suram. Aug: Psal. 57 ) we enter into the winepress, and we ought to prepare ourselves for wring and pressing, and we must take heed that we be not found so dry grapes, that we yield out no good liquor when we are pressed.  
An heathen Philosopher could say, that the man is most unhapy, unto whom no adversity betideth; it is an argument, that he is contemned of god, as a weak & sluggish person. A swordplayer acounts it reproach to fight with a man of no valour: for he knows that there is no glory to vanquish him that is vanquished without danger. Even so worketh god's providence He setteth upon every one endued with most courage, 
●ihil eo infoeli ●us, cui nihil e ●enit adversi: ●rgumentum est ●deo illum con●mni, ut im●ellem & ig●uum, ●en. in lib. de bovid Dei.  & trieth his power against him. He tried by the fire Mutius, by poverty Fabritius, by banishment Rutilius, by torments Regulus, by poison Socrates, by death Cato, Thus said an Ethnic of those that sought but glory among men & had but vain glory for their reward, but how much more truly may it be said, that god tried job by botches, & Tobit by blindness and Stephen by stones, & the Baptist by bands and prisonment, and the martyrs by infinite tortures? For whosoever desire to return into Paradise: must pass through the fire and water of affliction; whether it be Peter the Apostle, to whom the keys of the Kingdom of heaven were given; 
●mnes qui ●d Paradisum ●dire defide●nt, oportet ●nsire per ig●em et a●uam ●e fuerit Pe●us etc. Aug. sermone ad ●ppium.  or whether it be Paul the Lords chosen vessel or whether it be john, to whom heavenly mysteries were revealed They must needs all say, that without tribulation and affliction, we cannot come to God,  
Neither do the faithful alone suffer tribulation in this life, but misery & affliction is commonly incident to all man kind as holy job saith, man that is born of a woman, is of short continuance: and full of trouble. i H●●ayeth not, 
job. 14.1.  that man and this man are battered with trouble: but he useth the indefinite word (man) that every one might remember his own lot. So that the son of Sirach seems to comment on job when he writes, that great travel is created for all men, and an heavy yoke upon the sons of Adam from the day that they go out of their mother's womb, till the day that they return to the mother of all things. Thoughts and fear of the heart, and imagination of things waited for, wrath & envy trouble and unquietness, rigour & strife, fear of death, and the day and death: these are usual, from him that sitteth upon the glorious throne, unto him that is beneath in the earth & ashes, from him that is clothed in blue silk and weareth a crown even unto him that is clothed in simple linen. 
k Ecclus 40. ● 2.3.4.5.  Every man's life is like a rock in the Sea, beaten upon of the floods on every side: & like a tree on an high and open hill, blown on by the winds, from every quarter: and like a burning candle, which may be put out, by sundry means, but if it be not put out, yet in continuance it burns out itself: and like a butt or mark unto which sorrow shoots, and danger shoots, and misadventure shoots and at last death, that most sure archer shoots, and strikes it dead. What our substance is, namely dust and earth, and what our estate is, namely painful, laborious, and cumbersome, is evident, by that speech of god to Adam after his fall in the sweat of thy face (saith god] shalt thou eat bread, till thou return to the earth: for out of it wast thou taken, because thou art dust, 
Gen. 3.19  and to dust shalt thou return. And therefore the Psalmist affirms our brittle substance and our wretched life, to be motives, why God hath compassion on them that fear him, as a father hath compassion on his children. For (saith he) he knoweth whereof we are made, he remembreth that we are but dust. 
Psa. 103.13.14 1 Chro. 29.15.  This sweet singer of Israel calls himself and every man beside, but a stranger and so iourner, like as all our fathers were, A stranger and traveler hath little or no contentation, till he come to the end of his journey, either he complains of the rain, or of the wind, or of the heat of the sun, or of his lodging, or of his unfitting diet, or of the yrksomnes of his journey: so man hath still occasion to complain of his troubles in this life, and can never enjoy perfect security, while he remaineth here. And upon good reason might the same prophet break forth, and say, Lord what is man, that thou regardest him, or the son of man, that thou thinkest upon him? He stays not here, but declares the cause of his admiration: man (sayeth he) is like to vanity, 
Psalm 144: 3.  his days are like a shadow that vanisheth. As if he had said, though we feed our body never so deliciously, though we cloth our flesh never so sumptuously, though we provide for our life never so covetously, yet our days tarry not, but depart as vanity. Thou that flowest with wealth, and gloriest in reputation; wilt thou know thy weight? thou art ligher than vanity, than nothing: wilt thou know the length of thy days? they are a span: wilt thou know how, and in what sort thou fadest? as a slender picture and image. For when David had desired the lord that he might know his end & the measure of his days, what it was and how long he had to live: he presently gives himself this answer behold, thou hast made my days as an handbredth and my age is as nothing in respect of thee surely every man in his best state is altogether vanity: doubtless man walketh in a shadow. 
Psal. 19.4.5.  And what confidence should we repose in this fickle life, sins the oracle and voice of God commanded Isayah to cry that all flesh is grass, & all the grace thereof is as as the flower of the field: the grass withreth the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the lord bloweth upon it, 
Isai. 4.6.7.  surely the people is grass; One herb may be sweeter than another, one herb may be of more virtue than another, one flower may be of more endurance than another yet at last all herbs whither, and all flowers fade so one man may be wiser than an other; and richer than an other and learneder than another, and honourabler than another and stronger than an other: But the state and condition of all flesh is, to be miserable and mortal. For what is our life? (saith blessed james: 
2, jam. 4.4.  It is even a vapour that apipeareth for a little time, and afterward vanisheth away. Dost thou not mark, how huge and and stately the vapours appear, when they mount upward unto the heaven, and yet how soon they vanish: even in the turning of the hand? Another such thing is this life, though it deck itself with never so glorious pomp, yet it falls away as a bubble: to day a man, tomorrow none. Gregory Nazianzene tompares our life to a top which children whirl, & drive to & fro with the scourge, 
Sursum deorsum, voluitur, revoluitur,  
Et cum videtur stare, consistit minus:  It is tossed up and down, forth and back and when it seems to stand constantly, 
or to move lest it whirleth most. Nazian. carm ex translatione billij. Gen. 11.2. Dan. 4.27.  it falls suddenly. And therefore (if any will follow his counsel) he may in three words describe fully the life of man, Insomnium, fumusue, flosue herbae brevis: It is a dream, a vapour, a flower. If any should be so vainglorius & ambitious, as to build the tower of Babel with Nimrod or a magnificent palace with Nabuchadnezzar, or a pillar to preserve a memorable fame with Absalon: 
2. Sam. 18.28.  yet the hungry teeth of time and continuance would devour the most specious works, and will either consume them before us, or us before them If faith could save from death, Abraham should not have died, if might could do it Samson should not have died, if wisdom could do it Solomon should not have died if riches, dainty fare, and gorgeous array could do it. Dives should not have died if zeal diligent discharge of calling could do it, Paul should not have died: if sanctimony and chastity could do it, Mary the holy & blessed virgin should not have died at a word, if monarchies, & lordships cold deliver from death, Cyrus, Alexander, and Caesar should not have died, And therefore Horace tells his friend Torquatus, that when his glass is run down, & his race finished, 
Car. lib, 4. Ode, 7.  Non Torquate genus, non te facundia, non te Restituet pietas: It was not his noble descent, it was not his pleasant and eloquent tongue, it was not his virtuous life that could restore & recall his days. A jesuit, our countryman speaks of a company of religious men in Rome, which are commonly called the fellowship of dead men, & they seldom or never are seen abroad but in rare & extraordinary processions, & where they go, they carry the portraiture of death made after a ghastly & grisly shape, & this written by it, nemi ni parco. I spare and forbear none. 
Turnerus Devonius. Heb, 9, 27.  I would himself & the rest of the massing Romanists did alway behold that picture: for if they remembered, that it is appointed for all men to die once; & then cometh the judgement: it were marvelous, if they did not begin to be ashamed of their pride, their compass of the sea & land, to make Romish Proselytes, that may be twofold more the children of hell (if it were possible) than themselves are. 
Mat. 23.15.  Thus you see that all men generally are miserable & mortal both the godly & ungodly.  
But why are the godly commonly more afflicted than others? for it is said of the Elder to john. 
v, 14.  that they came out of great tribulation. This is not for the god doth forget them, or for that god cannot or will not deliver them presently out of all dangers, but for that god loves them more than other and draws them nearer and nearer to himself by chastisement and correction, Consider the profitable working, that tribulation and affliction hath in the godly; and who will not ascribe it to gods singular love, that they are afflicted sometimes more than other, to receive thereby always more profit than other? First tribulation stirs us up to repentance for sin, and is a sermon to amendment of life. For the godly are afflicted for their sins; not thereby to satisfy gods justice; but to confess their offences, and to acknowledge their iniquities, and to be purged from their faults, and by temporary correction to avoid the eternal destruction of worldlings. 
1 Cor: 11: 32:  God giveth the reins to the wicked, that they may fall into perdition; and he bestows upon them the blessings of this life, and the fleeting and short joys thereof, because they are his creatures, to the end he may make them inexcusable, and convict them of ingratitude: but he amends and reclaims his children by the cross and tribulation. For as the Urchin or Hedgehog folded up round together in his prickly skin, seems not possible to be opened without killing and flaying it of: and yet if hot water be sprinkled on it, it opens itself immediately: so some that are so hardened and wrapped up in the custom of sinning, as it seems, that death only may end their ungodliness, yet when the hot water of tribulation is powered upon them, they are softened and dissolved, and made open to repentance. This hot water had such an effectual operation in David when he cried, Save me o god for the waters are entered even to my soul. 
Psalm 69: 1:  Again tribulation tries our faith, as the fire tries gold: and as the fining pot tries silver, and as the hammer discerns the purity of the metal. For as gold hath a clear sound under the hammer, and spreads much before it crack, but brass sounds harshly and breaks quickly: so the faithful endure the hammering of tribulation and yield forth the sweet praises of thanksgiving: but the ungodly repine, and murmur, 
Pari motu exagitatum exhalat horribiliter coenum; & suaviter fragrat unguentum. Aug. de Civit. dei, lib. 1. cap. 8.  and bewray their unthankfulness, and crack when they are brought to ●ammering. Stir puddle, and it will smell ●othsomly: stir a sweet ointment, and it ●ill smell fragrantly: even so affliction ●akes the godly to bless god, and affliction makes the ungodly to blaspheme god. Besides this, tribulation breeds patience and exerciseth patience, 
james 1.3: 4:  that it may have her perfect working, and may be entire, and lack nothing. Tribulation works humility in us, and knowledge of ourselves, and a learning of obedience, as Paul says of Christ: that though he were son, yet he learned obedience, by the things which he suffered. 
Heb: 5.8  Tribulation causeth us to long for heaven, and to loath the world, and not to love the things of the world, and not to repose confidence in the love of the world: 
1 john 2: 15  for as the world hated Christ, so it hateth the godly that believe in christ: and because the godly are not of the world, therefore the world hateth them. Tribulation makes us the members, 
john. 13, 18 19  conformable to christ our head, that we may fulfil the rest of the afflictions of Christ in the flesh: 
Col. 1.29.  and that he that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, may be all of one. Tribulation makes for the honour, 
Heb, 2.10.  and praise and glory of god, in that god works deliverance out of affliction: and though he kill, yet he makes alive: and though he bring down to the grave, 
1. Sam. 2: 6:  yet he raiseth up; and though the godly are afflicted on every side, yet they are not in distress; though they are in doubt, yet they despair not: though they are persecuted, yet they are not forsaken: though they are cast down, yet they perish not. 
2. Cor, 4.8, 9  Lastly, tribulation is a testimony and demonstration of the judgement to come, and of everlasting life; for the justice and truth of GOD require, that at length the good should be comforted, and the wicked punished: but for that this is not always done in this life, therefore it shall be performed when the Lord jesus shall show himself from heaven with his mighty Angels. 
2. Thess. 1.7.  And the tribulation of the faithful should excite, and provoke the wicked, to shake off their sins, that stick so fast unto him: For if the time be come, that judgement must begin at the house of god what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? and if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? and if this be done in the green tree, 
1 Pe, 4: 17, 18▪ Luck 23, 31  what shallbe done in the dry tree? for if christ, the green & flourishing tree of righteousness, and the godly that are branches of the same tree, did and do suffer great tribulation; what should the unrepentant and wicked expect, (that are dry, withered, and fruitless trees,) but consuming fire, and the declaration of the just judgement of God?  
Yea but doth not the providence of god sleep, will some say; when the godly are greatly afflicted? and how doth god accomplish this promise, that he will shroud them, and cover them, and protect them, and pitch a tent about them, and dwell among them? certainly he that keeps Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep: the lord is the keeper of his children, 
●sal. 121.4.5.  and their shadow at their right hand: he aids them by the power of his grace, and he gives them that comforter, that shall abide with them for ever: 
●oh: 14. v. 16  he will not leave them as destitute Orphans, but he will come to them, and assist them; 
●. 18. ●. 23.  he will lodge with them, and make continual abode with them, he increaseth their faith, that they may never doubt of his love, but still depend upon him. Can a woman forget her child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? though she should forget her sons, yet the Lord will not forget his children. 
Esai 49, 15  Many are the troubles of the righteous; true: 
Psal. 34.20  but the Lord delivers them out of all. The godly are much pressed; true; but they flourish as the Palm tree; 
Psal: 92.12  which the more it is pressed down, the more it sprouteth up. The rain falls, and the floods come, and the winds blow on the faithful; true: but their house falls not, 
Mat. 7.24:  because it is built on a rock? 
poiesei te●ekbasin  God suffers his children to be tempted; true: but he is faithful and will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able; 
1. Cor. 10. 1●  but will even with the tentation give the issue and way out, that they may be able to bear it. 
Mat. 20: 22  Christ calls affliction and tribulation, Baptism, for that as in Baptism, we are dipped down into the water, but not drowned, or choked in the water; so though we be washed with the water of tribulation, yet we are not overwhelmed therein. And as Noah was preserved from the great danger of the flood, when he and his family were enclosed in the Ark, and the rest did perish that were out of the Ark: 
1. Pet. 3.20:  so whosoever in the church of God do adhere and cleave to Christ, though they be loaden with calamities, yet at length in due season they are delivered: whereas others that are out of the church, are swallowed up by the flood of sin, and of punishments that accompany sin. How grievously was Job vexed by the Sabeans, 
1, 15.16.17 & 2.7. 〈◊〉: 42.12, etc. ●es. 5: 11  by fire from heaven, by the Chaldaeans, by Satan, by his wife: yet how gloriously was he at last delivered? And as round bodies, that are in all parts equally circular may rest, and be settled on each part and side: so the godly are constant in whatsoever estate: for the Lord puts his hand under them, to make their resting place easy and commodious, as the Prophet says: 
●m 37, 24  Though they fall, they shall not be cast off: for the Lord putteth under his hand When the stay and strength is taken from the ungodly, when they shall be oppressed one of another, when woe shall be to the wicked, and evil shall be with them, and the reward of their hands shall be given them: 
●. 10:  then, then, surely it shall be well with the just. For all things work together for the best unto them that love God, 
●. 8.28 ●c.  in tribulation and anguish, in famine and nakedness, in peril and sword, they are more than conquerors through him that loved them. For we are persuaded, that neither death nor life: nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers: nor things present, nor things to come: nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ jesus our Lord.  
Wherefore, since god is ready to help in tribulation, and hath promised to be with us in trouble, and to deliver us, 
Psalm 91 ●  that we may glorify him, and hath commanded us to call upon him in the day of adversity: let us submit ourselves unto god, and draw near unto God, 
james 4.7: ● 10 & 5: 13.  with zealous prayer, and he will draw near unto us: and lift us up. And since affliction is the portion and lot of all the godly, that falls out to them, and attends on them: when we see our Brethren endure tribulation, we must not presently censure them, to be hated and utterly forsaken of GOD: but rather recognise the signs of God's favour towards them. For he that says, 
Nihil aliu● cit, quam at● non conue● aduersariu● Basil in Ps●  that the godly ought not to suffer tribulation; says this; that a wrestler should not have an adversary to encounter him: and if a wrestler strive not, what garland or glory can he obtain? and since none of the faithful have an immunity and privilege from affliction, but have themselves drunk at one or other time of the cup of tribulation; for as noisome and pestilent beasts (saith Basil) seek after a pray, 
●t animalia ●a, nos aerū●etere atque●dere con●unt. Basil. ●sal. 45  and surcease not, till they have found it, so miseries continually hunt after the godly, and find them at length: this must teach us, to show commiseration on the afflicted, and not to turn our eye from our own flesh, because ourselves know the weight of affliction; following the example of Christ our Saviour, who is an high Priest, which can sympathise and be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, because in all things he was tempted in like sort, yet without sin. Finally since tribulation must needs try the faith and patience of the godly, 
●1415.  that after they have been tried, they may receive the recompense; let us not murmur nor grumble against our heavenly Father, who afflicts us for our profit. If the earthly Fathers of our bodies, correct us, yet we reverence them: for though Fathers put their sons out of their sight, and bind them to husbandry, or employ them in an handicraft, or bestow them in merchandise, or send them into the wars, yet the sons are well content, because it makes for their preferment and advantage, should not we much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, 
Heb. 12: 9:  that we might live? A General enjoins perilous service to none but most valiant soldiers, and those that he loves best and whom he would advance; for them he sends out to lie in ambush for the enemy; to demolish some fort, or to invade the main army of the foe. Not one of those that are so sent forth, says: the General hath done me wrong, or wishes me not well; unless perhaps he be a coward and faintehearted: but contrarily, if he be valorous, and worthy of the name of a Soldier, he sayeth thus; the General thinks well of me, he hath a good opinion of me; he favours me; and seeks to honour me, So is the case between GOD and us. 
1 Cor. 9.24  Out life in this world is a warfare, and we all run in a race, let us therefore strive and fight against all afflictions, that the providence of God brings upon us: 
● Tim. 25  that when we have strived as we ought to do, we may be crowned; that when we have fought a good fight, and finished our course, and kept the faith, the crown of righteousness may be laid up for us; that when we have rejoiced in tribulations, 
● Tim. 4.7, 8  (knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience, 
Rom 5, 3, 4, 5,  & patience experience, & experience hope, & hope maketh not ashamed) at last we may come out of tribulation, unto the glorious inheritance of the Saints in light. And thus far of the state and condition of the faithful in this life.  

The state of ●he godly after this life.  Now let us come to the state & condition of the godly, after they are departed out of this world. It is said here by the Angel, that they hunger no more, neither thirst any more, & that the sun shall not light on them any more, neither any heat. For the lamb which is in the mids of the throne shall feed & govern them, & shall lead them to the fountains of waters: 
v,, 16, 17,  and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. The titles and honourable names that are given to the place, where the faithful are after death, do thoroughly manifest the excellency of their estate. For it is called in holy scripture sometimes a kingdom; sometimes the bosom of Abraham, sometimes Paradise, sometimes a place of many mansions; sometimes rest, sometimes the new jerusalem sometimes a city, And all these titles do declare unto us the surpassing comfort which the godly receive, when they are freed from this wretched world. It is called a kingdom, where Christ sayeth to his disciples, fear not little flock, 
Luke. 12, 32.  for it is your father's pleasure to give you the Kingdom. In which words our Saviour useth a most forcible argument to withdraw us from impiety and carefulness for earthly things, and distrusting God's providence, that we shall want things requisite for this present life: for he that gives the greater and better thing will not deny the lesser and inferior; sens than our heavenly father hath of his own grace and pleasure provided the kingdom of heaven for us; 
●n basileian  let us not doubt, but he will give all other things unto us. And albeit our state in this world, be oftentimes base, & needy, and miserable: yet we must refresh our souls with the remembrance of that heavenly kingdom, in which at length we shall reign with Christ: and gloriously triumph over Satan, death, & bell through Christ, if unfeignedly we believe in christ. It is called Abraham's bosom, where Christ saith, that when the beggar Lazarus died, he was carried of the Angels into Abraham's bosom. 
●●ke. 16, 22.  He was carried of the Angels; for that as Angels, are all ministering Spirits, 
●eb 1, 14.  sent fourth to minister, for their sakes which shall be heirs of salvation, and do safeguard the godly by the lords appointment from sundry dangers of this mortal life: so it is their charge & part to convey into heaven the souls of the righteous, when they are loosed from the fetters of the flesh. And as infants do rest quietly in their mother's bosom, so heaven is a receptacle and bosom for the faithful, in which they take their quiet rest and ease, 
Caluin in Har.  after the stirs of this tumultuary life are ended. And it is called Abraham's bosom because as Abra●am was a most constant believer, 
Rom. 4.11 Gal, 3, 7,  and above hope believed under hope, and therefore is called the father of all the believers, so whosoever desire to be gathered into that ●osome after this life they must in this life imitate & follow the faith & godliness of faithful Abraham. It is called Paradise, where ●ur Saviour saith to the penitent thief ●pon the cross to day thou shalt be with me in Paradise: 
Luke, 23.43. Gell lib, 20, cap 20,  the Greeks use that word Paradise for a place that is hedged round, 
The glory of God is described under the figures of blessed things: b●cause we can not else conceive it: as the punishments of the wicked are described by fire. Therefore Christ calls the state of eternal life Paradise. Caluin in Har.  wherein ●or pleasure, either plants and trees are set, frels beasts are pastured and commonly it ●s used for a garden replenished with variety of delights such as was the garden of Eden in which Adam was placed. And as the 70. Interpreters called the garden of Eden by that name, so Christ calls hea●en Paradise, for that as a Garden is ●raught with fair flowers and fragrant herbs and delicious fruits & store of pleasures, so heaven is a place abounding with true blessedness, and the perfection of every good thing which may be imagined, loved or desired. Paul calls it Paradise, or the third heaven, into which he was taken, 
2. Cor. 12, 2, Beza & Piscat in eum locum  & heard words which cannot be spoken, and which are not possible for man to utter: Where (without insisting on the Empyreal heaven, of which Philosophers trifle and make much disputation, 
Mat. 6, 26, Mat, 24, 29, ) we must mark that the scripture makes mention of three heavens, one in which the birds fly, called also the aiel another in which the stars and spheres of the heaven are settled, 
Acts 3.2, Phil. 3, 20. Col, 3, .. Matth, 18, 10 Luke, 16.22. Thes, 4, 27,  and the third, called of Christ & Paul Paradise, in which christ lived, and the holy Angels, & the blessed souls of those that depart out of this life in the faith of Christ, to which christ ascended, & from which he shall come to the general judgement: that the bodies of the faithful may be taken up thither, to remain with the lord for ever: It is called an house of many mansions, or dwelling places: where our Saviour saith to his disciples, in my father's house of my dwelling places. Chrisostome compares the actions of our life in this world, 
john 14.2,  to the sports and plays of little children, that build small sporting houses, and address counterfeit banquet to pass the time withal. 
Homil, 24, in Matthaeum  For many times they gather fishes. whels and clay, and when they have framed therewith their imaginary cells, they glory in them after their manner as much ●s they which have erected lofty galle●yes and stately dining chambers. But as these conceived works perish ●nd quickly fall, and men laugh when ●hey behold children weeping for their fall ●o our buildings and complots in this life ●re ruinous and transitory, and if we were ●ome to the perfect age of men in christ, ●e should perceive, that all these are chil●ish things, and we would bestow all our ●ndeuour in seeking to attain to those axed and unchangeable dwelling places a heaven. For as they that are made ●orthy to be once possessors of those dwel●ng places, ever remain and abide in them 〈◊〉 also are they eternal, and not fading 〈◊〉 earthly mansions and worldly habita●ons, but they are that immortal inheritance, and undefiled, & that withreth not, ●●serued in heaven for us. 
1, Pet. 1.4,  It is called rest ●●d quietness, for so the most heavenly oracle cried to john; Writ the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth blessed: even so sayeth the spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works follow them. 
Revel. 14, 13.  And the way that leads to this blessed rest from all labours, is the way of peace: in which old simeon thristingly desired to departe● when he had embraced Christ jesus in● his arms and had seen the salvation of God that he had so long waited for. W●at rest have the godly in this world, 
Luke, 2, 28, 29  wh●● they continually labour, and travel, and strive, & wrestle, for the combat between the Spirit and the flesh ceaseth not, while we dwell here in these houses o● clay. For though we delight in the law● of God, concerning the inner man, we see another law in our members, rebelling against the law of our mind, & leading us captive into the law of sin, s● that though we would do good, yet we are so yoked that evil is present with us, and though to will be present with us, yet w● find no means to perform that which is good, for in us, that is in our flesh dwells no good thing: & we cannot allo● that which we do; 
Rom. 7.15,  for what we would that we do not, but what we hate, 
Rom. 7.15 & ●  that do we. What is there in the world, but a perpetual fight against sathan and sin and a daily conflict against darts & weapons? 
Cyprian de mortalit. 4  We have a daily & continual and troublesome contending with covetousness, with incontinency, with anger, with ambition with worldly and fleshly cares & snares. Our minds are so straightly besieged with an army of vices; as that it is hard to resist and withstand all iniquity. When covetousness is overthrown: lust riseth up: when lust is subdued, ambition comes in place, when ambition is chased, anger gauls the mind pride puffs up, drunkenness tempts, envy breaks concord suspicion disjoines friendship. The godly mind thus daily suffering, thus daily pressed, 
Illa nostra pa● illa fida tranquillitas, illa s●bilis, & firma et perpetua securiras.  thus daily standing among the swords of Satan: how happy is she, when she mounts to the rest of heaven, where our peace is, our sure tranquillity, our stable, firm, and everlasting security. It is called the heavenly and new jerusalem, 
Gal, 4.26, Reu. 3.12.  to express and represent unto us the unspeakable & unconceaveable joys thereof. For although the old Jerusalem was a most beautiful place, even the glory of the whole earth, being environed with strong walls, defended by the invincible mount Zion, enriched with infinite treasure, decked with all external bravery; yet it lost her glory; and her pomp perished, and it be came an heap of stones, and it was forsaken of God, and made an hissing and contemptible byworde to every nation under heaven. But in this heavenly jerusalem the sacred trinity will abide for ever: and those foundations of the wall garnished with precious stones, those gates which are pearls, & that precious shining as the jasper and Crystal, & those streets of pure gold, as shining glass: and that brightness that needs no sun nor moon to shine in it, and that pure river of water of life; and that tree of life, which gives fruit every month, 
Reu. 21. &. 22,  & whose leaves serve to heal the nations with; do utterly obscure, and eclipse, and extinguish the glorious dignity of the old jerusalem Last of all it is called that city which the faithful seek after, for we have here no continuing city, but we seek one to come sayeth the apostle. 
●eb. 13, 14.  The Greeks', call a city their tongue. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be cause it consisteth of many inhabiters How many the citizens of heaven are may be gathered by the former vision; when john saw a great multitude sealed with the seal of the living God, of all nations and kindreds, and people, & tongues, which no man could number. 
Reu. 7, 9  For they which have made their long robes white in the blood of the lamb; 
Heb: 12, 22.23.24,  do come unto mount Zion, and to the city of the living God the celestial jerusalem, and to the company of innumerable Angels, and to the assembly and congregation of the first borne which are written in heaven, 
Cum quibus in praesentia coniunctisumus vinculo charitatis ibi consortio aeterno coniungendi. Aug Enchirid, cap, 56. Intelligit animas a corporibus separatas et in coelum receptas, Pis●at, in schol. caluin in ep, ad, Heb. c. 12 jun i● paral.  and to God the judge of all: and to the spirits of just and perfect men, and to jesus the mediator of the new testament, & to the blood of the sprinkling, that speaketh better things then that of Abel.  
They that are with Christ, are most happy, for Christ is blessedness, and felicity, and immortality itself: and are not the true believers then most blessed, since they are with Christ after this life, where he is? unless we will doubt of this, that god the father heard the prayer of his beloved son, 
●d Heb. Naz●●z●n Orat. de, ●or●●e Gorg●●ia. ●ohn, 17, 24,  thus praying for his chosen; Father, I will that they which thou hast given me, be with me even where I am, that they may behold that my glory, which thou hast given me? Hear the brightness of Godliness and true virtue itself is many times dazzled and darkened; partly by envy, partly by poverty, partly by slanders and the like crosses, but in heaven godliness shall glitter and shine in her perfect brightness: 
Dan, 12, 3,  for there the wise shall shine, as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars, for ever and ever, and the just shall shine as the sun in the Kingdom of their father. 
Mat, 13, 43,  Hear we are continually subject to fear, and anguish, and sorrow, and death lies ever in ambush for us, in heaven death shall have no place. 
Isai, 25: 8,  But the godly being delivered from the bondage of corruption shall participate of the glorious liberty of the sons of god. 
Rom, 8.21,  Here it is delectable to behold fair palaces, more delectable to enter into them, and to be entertained in them, most delectable to dwell in them always, and to behold the countenance of the lord of them never changed towards us, but still gracious and favourable: how delectable then is it, to behold the radiant palace of heaven; and to be an inhabiter in it, and never to go out of it, and continually to behold the gracious and omnipotent Majesty of God therein? for though we are now the sons of God, yet it is not made manifest what we shallbe, 
opsometha a●● to● Kathos es●  and we know that when he shallbe made manifest, we shall be like him; For we shall see him as he is. Here we know in part, and we prophecy in part; 
1. john 3. ●●  we speak as children; we understand as children; we think as children, we see thorough a glass darkly; but in heaven that which is in part shallbe abolished; childish things shallbe put away; we shall see face to face, & know even as we are known, we shall meet together (in the unity of faith, 
1 Cor. 13.9 & ●  and that acknowledging of the son of God) unto a perfect man, and unto the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. 
Ephes. 4.13  Hear in this life we are regenerate and new borne by the holy spirit of God; for otherwise none can see the kingdom of God, 
●, 3, 3, 5, ●ar, 9, 24,  nor enter into it, but as long as we live here, we are regenerate but in part and we are restored but in part to the image of God after which Adam was at first created; after this life in heaven shall be the perfect renewing of the image of God in us, and everlasting comfort, and abundance enjoying of all good things which are required to the state of entire felicity.  
While we live here, eternal life is begun in us, in that our minds are endued with true and saving knowledge of god, and faith in jesus Christ, (for, this is eternal life to know god, and whom he hath sent jesus Christ, & he that heareth the word of christ, and believeth in him that sent him, hath everlasting life) and in that the life which we do live being engrafted into christ by the spirit, 
●●hn, 17, 3: ●●hn, 5, 24, ●●hn, 3, 16, 36 ●al, 2, 20, ●ol, 3, 3. ●●h, 4, 18, ● Pet. 1.4, ●ol, 3.4.  is the life of god, and a participation of the divine nature: & further, while we live here, we are assured of eternal life, that when Christ shall appear: we shallbe also with him in glory, and that he which hath begun that good work in us, will also make it perfect, even until the day of jesus christ; 
Phil. 1, 6. 1. Cor. 1, 8, Thosse, 5, 23 Rom, 11, 29, job, 10, 28, 2, Tim, 1, 12, john, 14, 23, john, 14, 16, john, 17: 3, Luke, 20, 36, john, 16, 22, 1, Cor, 15, 28 Reu, 21, 22, 2● 1, Cor. 13, 10 Luke, 1.33; Dan. 7, 27.  and that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance & unchangeable, & that none can pluck Christ's sheep out of his hands, for we know whom we have believed, & we are persuaded that he is able to keep that which we have committed unto him but the perfecting of these beginnings is reserved for the kingdom of heaven, where god shall dwell in his elect eternally, where that comforter shall never forsake us; where shall be perfect wisdom & knowledge of God where shall be angelic righteousness, where shall be unspeakable joys in god, where shall be abundance of all good things for God, shallbe all in all things where that which is now but begun, shall be finished and absolute, and where there shall be no interruption, and end of joy and gladness for of that kingdom there shall be none end and an everlasting dominion shall be to the holy people of the most high. And hereupon not without cause doth the prophet set his chiefest felicity in this, that the Lord is the portion of his inheritance & therefore he saith: I set the lord always before me, because he is on my right hand, therefore I shall not fall, therefore my heart rejoiced, also my flesh shall rest in hope, thou wilt show me the path of life, 
●sal 16.5, 8, ●. 11,  and the fullness of joys is in thy presence, and at thy right hand, pleasures for evermore. As if he had said: thou wilt grant me, that having run over the race of this fleeting and frail life, I shall enjoy that most joyful, most pleasant, & eternal life in thine heavenly kingdom. Augustine sayeth, that in heaven shall be the everlasting Sabbath, which no evening shall end. There we shall rest and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love, and we shall praise, Behold (saith he) that which is in the end is without end. Nam quis alius noster est finis, nisi pervenire ad regnum cuius nullus est finis. For what other end is there ordained for the Godly; but to attain to that Kingdom which hath none end? sybil sayeth, 
Aug de Ciu, dei lib, 22, c, 30,  that it shall not be said in heaven. The night is come: or to morrow shall come, or yesterday is paste, neither shall there be that day that is wearied with cares, nor spring, nor summer nor Autumn nor winter.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉:  
There shall be no marriage, nor death no selling nor buying, nor sun rising, nor Sunsetting, for God shall make that long day which shall be endless. 
Sibyl, Orac● lib, 7;  There shall b●e so many and such joys, as all the Arithmeticians of this world are not able to number them 〈◊〉 the Geometritians are not able to weigh them: all the Grammarians, Logicians, rhetoricians are not able to express them in fit terms. For as the Apostle Saint Paul doth witness, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, are such as eye hath not seen, neither ear hath heard neither came into any man's heart. There shall be joy above us, 
1, Cor, 2, 9,  for the vision which we shall see, there, likewise shall be joy under us for the beauty of the heavens and other corporal creatures, there shall be joy within and about us, for the fellowship and company of saints, and Angeles. There salomon's wisdom shall be reputed but foolishness; Absoloms beauty but deformity Azaels swiftness but slowness: Sampsons' might but weakness; 
●hom. Aquin. ●e for, Theol. ●h, 7. chap. 6,  mathusela's long life but frailty, the kingdom of Augustus Caesar but beggary. The saints would not so earnestly have longed after heaven had they not been assured of the surpassing joys thereof. David being hindered by his persecutors that he could not be present among god's people in the temple of jerusalem, he shows his fervent desire towards that place, in which he might serve the Lord, saying: as the heart brayeth for the rivers of water, so panteth my soul after thee O god: my soul thirsteth for god, even for the living god: when shall I come & appear before the presence of god? And when he was exiled & driven out of his country, 
Psal. 42.1.2.  and could not come to the tabernacle of the Lord and the assembly of the saints to praise god, how vehemently doth he bewray how he was affectioned thitherward. O Lord of hosts (saith he) how amiable are thy tabernacles; My soul longeth, yea and fainteth for the Courts of the lord. Blessed are they that dwell in thine house, they will ever praise thee. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand otherwhere I had rather be a doorekeeper in the house of my god, 
Psal. 84.1.2.4.10.  then to dwell in the tabernacles of wickedness. If the Prophet did so long & thirst, pant and faint after the material and transitory temple of Jerusalem on earth; how was he inflamed with a desire to come to the spiritual and eternal temple of the Lord in heaven? When our Saviour was transfigured on the mountain, and his face did shine as the sun, and his clothes were as white as the light, and there appeared Moses and Elias talking with him, Peter ravished with this celestial apparition, said to jesus, Master it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three Tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 
Mat. 17.1.8  If the Apostle were so transported with a slender view and small taste of heavenly felicity, as that he desired alway to adhere and cleave unto it; what would he have done, if he had been fully entered into his master's joy? Hierom notes upon these words of Peter, that Christ is that alone way to go to the glory and joys of heaven; & that we must build & pitch a tabernacle for him only in our hearts; and that we must hear & obey him only; as the voice from heaven taught Peter, 
●at, 17 5  and in Peter the rest of the Apostles, and all believers; and therefore he is bold to say to Peter, erras Petre, sicut & alias evangelista testatur, 
●e eidos he ●gei ●uke 9, 33  nescis quid dicas: thou art deceived Peter; & as another Evangelist witnesseth, thou knowest not what thou sayest; seek not three Tabernacles, 
hieron. in comment in cap 17, ●●att:  when there is but one tabernacle of the Gospel, in which Moses and Elias, the law and the prophets are comprised and briefly repeated. This joyful inheritance of heaven made Paul to say, I count that the afflictions of this present time are not worthy of the glory, which shallbe showed unto us: and again. our light affliction which is but for a moment, 
●om 8.18  causeth unto us a far more excellent and an eternal weight of glory: while we look not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal: 
Cor. 4.17.18  and again; Christ is to me both in life and in death advantage: & whither to live in the flesh were profitable for me, and what to choose I know not: for I am distressed between both; and (though to abide in the flesh is more needful for the Church of christ,) I desire to be loosed, 
Phil. 1, 21, 22 23, 24.  and to be with christ, which is best of all. And therefore the militant Church, and spouse of Christ always seeks Christ her beloved, in the night and troubles of this life; and in the streets, and open places; and warts, and labours every where to apprehend all opportunities to embrace him and doth never suffer him to departed from her, till the day break, 
Can. 3, 1, 2, 3  and the shadows flee away that is, 
Nec cum in● tus fuerit, ce● bitur a quar● do: non ped● passibus, sed ●sideriis quaeri●tur Deus. Ec utique non ext dit desideriu● fanctum foel● inventio, sed tendit. Nūq● consummati● gaudu, defied consumptio 〈◊〉 Oleum magi● illi: nam ips● flamma. B● in Can ser. 8 Heb. 11: 36.  till the darksome and yrksom life be ended; and that glorious appearing of Christ come, when the Church shall be perfectly taken into the communion of Christ, and shall gloriously enjoy all good things. For when the faithful soul hath found Christ, she ceaseth not from seeking: God is not sought by feet, but by affection; and the happy finding of him doth not shake off, but increase an holy desire. Is the consummation of joy, a consumption of desire? No: it is rather as oil unto it, for this desire is a burning flame, sayeth Bernard, And what caused the saints and Martyrs, whom the world was not worthy of, to suffer mockings and scourge, bonds and prisonment; to wander up and down in sheep skins, and in goat's skins, in wildernesses, 
●idetur legen●um esse epuras ●hesan, ●cremati sunt ●un. in parall.  and mountains, and caves, and dens of the earth; to endure to be stoned, and hewn asunder, and burned, and slain with the sword; and yet in the mids of tortures to say with the Christian poet, 
Tormenta, carcer, ungulae,  
Stridensque flammis lamina,  

prudent: periste ●han. de Vincent  Atque ipsa poenarum ultima  
Mors, Christianis ludus est  Torments, and prison, and torturing cools, and burning plates of metal, and death itself, the last punishment of all; these are but a sport and pastime to those that believe in Christ. What caused them so patiently to endure these tribulations and fiery trials, but the full assurance of the invaluable treasure of heaven? For than shall the righteous stand in great boldness, before the face of such as have tormented them; and shall receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown of the Lords hand; but the ungodly shall be scattered and overthrown with thunderbolts, and lightnings, and floods.  

●s. 5, 1, 16, 21,  Out of all this it appeareth, that the souls of the faithful after death are in eternal joy and felicity. Neither is there any mean place to stay them in, for their sleeping, as some dream: or for their purging as some fantasy: but as the soul of Lazarus was presently carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom, assoon as it was unfettered out of the bands of the flesh: 
Luke, 16.22.  and as the soul of the thief was with Christ in Paradise, within four hours after he desired to be remembered of Christ: so our Saviour saith generally of all the faithful, that he that heareth his word, 
Luke 23, 43.  and believeth him that sent him, hath eeverlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, 
Ioh: 5, 24.  but hath passed from death to life? And that we might the sooner believe, that there is no interim and space between the death of the body & the eternal life and joy of the soul, he confirms his speech with a double affirmation, or rather oath, saying, verily, and verily, I say it ●s so. 
Reu. 14, 13, a parti: in posterum: & ut vulgata translatio, amodo; i statim  Also the voice taught john the Divine, that whosoever die in the Lord, and ●n the faith of Christ, they are blessed, and ●est from their labours, and receive the ●eward of their works, and when? Hereafter, presently & immediately after they are called out of this mortal life. This stops the beastly and blasphemous mouth of the Sadduces, 
acts 23, 8  and fully puts them to silence; who affirmed, that there is no resurrection, nor Angel, nor spirit: and of Epicurus the belligod Philosopher, who was a most detestable defender of pleasure, 
●actant. divin. ●stit. l. 3, c. 17  and thought that Man was only borne to enjoy pleasure, and said that the Soul dieth after the death of the body: and of Pliny, who was not ashamed to write, 
●mnibus à su●em a die, eadē●uae ante primū●ec magis à ●orte sensus ●llus, aut corpo●s, aut animae ●àm ante na●lem. Plin. lib, ●. cap, 55.  that it fares with all men after the last day, as it did before the first day: and that there is no more sense and feeling, either of body, or mind, after we are dead, then there was before we were borne: and of Lucretius a far swine of Epicures sty, who impudently opens his unclean mouth against heaven, and says, 
Quod si immortalis nostra foret mens,  
Non tam se moriens dissolui conquereretur,  
Sed magis ire foras, nestenque relinquere ut angnis Gauder et:  If our soul did live for ever (saith he) she would not in death complain of her dissolution; but rather she would rejoice to departed out of the flesh, and would be glad to leave the garment of the body, as the snake is joyful for the uncasing from his old skin. But Lactantius doth most acutely and learnedly confute him, saying; how can it be known that any doth understand that he is dissolved, or else set at liberty, since the tongue is dumb when a man dieth? For while he understands, and can speak, he is not yet dissolved: when he is dissolved: he can neither understand, nor speak. So that complain of his dissolution, either yet he can not, or now he cannot. But (saith) Lucretius before he be dissolved he perceives that he shall be dissolved. What should I say: that we see many in death not to complain of their dissolution, (as Lucretius saith] but to testify, that they do go and depart & walk out of the body, and either declaring this by gesture, or uttering it by words; if they can speak so long? By which it is evident that there is no dissolution, but a separation, which declars the remaining of the soul after death. 
Lactant, diuin, instit, l, 7, ● 12.  For as a candle while it is in the lantern, it enlightens the lantern, & if it be taken out, although the lantern be left dark, yet the candle shines more clearly than it did before: so while the soul is in the body it is the light and governor thereof, and when it forsakes the body, although the body be left dead and insensible, yet then the soul enjoys her proper vigour and brightness. Damnable are all the assertions, that maintain the mortality of the soul: for if she did perish with the body, and had no sense & feeling after death: how can the godly after death be in God's presence, and serve him day and night in his temple, and have God dwelling among them, & be fed, & governed, & led to the lively fountains of waters, and have all tears wiped from their eyes? as the Angel here affirmeth. Clear is that speech of Moses for the eternity of the soul, when he says, that the Lord god made the man of the dust of the ground, 
●en. 2.7  & breathed in his face breath of life. In which words the man of god putteth a plain difference between the foul of man, and the soul that is in other creatures: for the soul (or life) of beasts proceeded from the same substance and matter whereof their bodies were made: but the soul of man is a spiritual and divine thing, which because it proceeded from god, must needs remain for ever. Manifest is the saying of God to Moses in the burning bush: I am the God of Abraham, the god of Isaac and the god of jaacob. He saith, 
Exod, 3, 6,  I am not I was: to show that he is continually their God: and as this proves the resurrection of the body against the Saducees (For if Abraham, Izhak: 
Matt, 22, 32: Quomod foelices, si ex part perituri, Tertu● de resurrec: carnis.  and jaacob be gods; they are altogether his, and they cannot be throughlie blessed if one part of them should perish & decay, so it fortifieth the immortality of the Soul after death For if the faithful are alway gods people, and god is alway their God, and Lord, they must needs live in soul, even before the general resurrection, for god is not the god of the dead but of the living. Evident is the eternity of the Soul out of that of patiented job; who in his extreme affliction, expressed notwithstanding his confidence of immortality, though god slay me (saith he) with death of body, yet will I trust in him, that I shall inherit the light of everlasting glory. And he confidently professeth his belief touching life everlasting & the resurrection, saying, 
job, 13, 15,  I am sure my redeemer liveth, & though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet shall I see god in my flesh whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold and none other for me, though my veins are now consumed within me. 
job. 19.25,  Which words of his because of their infallible truth and certainty; he wisheth that all men might know:, And that therefore they might be written, 
job, 19, 23,  yea written even in a book, and graven with an iron pen in lead, or in stone for ever. When David says to God, thou wilt not leave my soul in grave, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy on to see corruption: thou wilt show me the path of life: 
Psal, 16, 10.11  in thy presence is the fullness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore: He declares two benefits, of which both himself, and all the Godly should be made partakers through christ: to wit the resurrection of the flesh; and that most joyful, most pleasant and eternal life. And though the ungodly are enclosed in their own fat, & speak proudly with their mouths, & think but of their portion in this life: having their bellies filled with hid treasure: & leaving the rest of their substance for their children, yet he is undoubtedly persuaded, that after he was delivered out of the great and infinite troubles of this world, he should behold in heaven the comfortable face & countenance of god according to his promise; and should perfectly be united unto God, and see him as he is. 
Psal: 17.10, 14  What plainer than that of Solomon; who says, that when man dieth, dust returneth to the earth, as it was, and the spirit than returneth to god that gave it? 
Eccles 12.7:  As though the royal Preacher should say, although the body and soul are conjoined & coupled together, yet they are of dislike nature: for the body is gross, and may be seen & handled, and the body is made of the earth a ponderous and corruptible element, and is as it were the vessel that contains the soul: but the soul is subtle, and not to be seen, or handled, and the soul hath no earthy mixture in it: but being endued with such skill, such force, and such nimbleness, she must needs have her beginning from heaven: and although they are so neeerely conjoined in this world, that the destruction of the on, may seem to be the disumpation of the other; yet when death makes a divorce & separation between them, 
Lucretius obitus quid assere ●et, e● quod dog ●ma defendere●●os versus posu●it: Cedit item ●etro de terra quod fuit ante ●n terras & quod missum est ●ex atheris ●ris Id rursum ●oeli rellatum ●templa, receptant. Lactantio, diu, inst, lib, 7, cap, 12.  then either of them return into their own nature: the body which was of the earth is resolved into earth, and that which was from the heavenly spirit, alway endureth and flourisheth, because the spirit of God is everlasting The truth whereof is so powerful, it caused the foresaid Epicurean Lucretius, even in despite of his hellish Profaneness, to confess it. What plainer to confirm the eternal life of the soul, then where Isaiah brings in other potentates that were dead before deriding the insolency of the King of Babylon, that though he said in heart, that he would ascend into heaven and exhalt his throne above the stars of God, and ascend above the height of the clouds and be like the most high, yet he was become weak by death aswell as they: and his pomp and the sound of the viols was brought down to the grave and the worm was spreadd under him, and the worms did cover him? 
Isai, 14, 9  For he would not attribute this scorning to the dead, if there were the same end both to man & beast. What plainer for to stop the mouths of Atheists the contradict the immortality of the soul then the saying of Christ our Lord in the Gospel: Fear you not them (saith be) which kill the body: but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul & body in Hell If the soul cannot be slain, 
Mat, 10, 28,  and if it may be punished in hell after this life, it is everlasting, & can never die. And therefore excellently spoke the Martyr, that said thus to the tormenter, thou bloody tyrant thou art deceived if thou suppose to destroy me, by renting my body which is subject to death: 
Erras cruente, meam, Te rer● poenam sum re, quum membra morti obnoxia Dilancinata interficis? Est alter hic intrie secur violare quem nullus p●test, Liber, qui etus integer, Expers doloru● tristium. Prudent perist● phan de vincentio. Gen; 5, 24,  there is on within thou canst not wrong; which is free, quiet entire, and not to be pained with tortures this body which thou endevourest to destroy with such force and fury, is but a brittle, and earthen vessel which may be easily broken into shivers; but assay now, to cut and punish him that is within, and that regards not thy rage, provoke him, and search him, thou shalt find him invincible; unconquerable, an underling to no calamities; and subjecteth to God alone? Can Enoch walk with god after this life: if soul & body dye● together Can Saul desire the Pithones to raise up the prophet Samuel unto him, 
1, Sam. 28, 11,  if the soul and body died together? Could David mourn so bitterly for his rebellious sound Absolom, when he cried out; O my son Absolom, 
2. Sam, 18, 33,  my son, my son Absolom, would God I had died for thee, O Absolom, my son, my son. Would he have so bitterly lamented his death, if the soul and body died together? For Augustine saith. 
De doctrina Christi.  Non orbitatem filii doluit David, dum luget Absolonem filium, sed quia noverat in quas poenas tam impie adultera et parricidalis anima raperetur. David was not so much grieved for the death & loss of a son when he bewailed his son Absolom, but it was for that he knew how grievously that soul was punished after death, which in this life was given to such impiety, adultery, & heinous murder. Can, Elias, & El zeus, and Christ and the Apostles raze up the dead; 
1 Kings, 17, ●●, Kings, 4, &, 13, Mat. 9 Luk. 9 john. 11, Act. 9 & 20, Acts. 7.59.  if the soul and body died together? Can Stephen say at his stoning to death Lord jesus receive my spirit, If the foul & body died together? Could Paul ravished with a desire to come to the kingdom of felicity and therefore abhorring this wretched and calamitous life, cry out earnestly and say: O wretched man that I am, 
Rom, 7, 24.  who shall deliver me from this body of death; if the soul & body died together? But why labour I so much among Christians to prove the eternity of the soul? who do firmly assent to the Symbol of the Creed that shows us life eternal: specially since the most sound & profound Philosophers amongst the Ethnics, have in every age with one mouth, and one mind subscribed thereunto? Of which let one Seneca speak for them all, 
Sen, lib, 10, suasoriar.  nothing decays but our body, which because of the weak frailty thereof, it is obnoxious to death, subject to chances, exposed to proscriptions. But the soul whose beginning is divine, is harmed neither by old age, nor death and when she is loosed from her burdensome bands she speedily repairs to her proper place, and to the stars that are of the same nature. It were shameful therefore for Christians, not to hold fast the blessed hope of immortality, & not to cleave thereunto as to a sure anchor, since heathen men have so evidently taught the eternity of the soul, by groping after it in the darkness of error, only by the direction of the natural light and infallible principles remaining in man's mind after Adam's fall; and chief, since the godly and faithful are at no rest in this mortal life, 
1 Cor, 15, 19,  if in this life only they had hope in christ, they were of all men the most miserable.  
Wherefore, doth Satan, and the flesh, and the world allure us, to withdraw our shoulders from bearing the sweet and easy yoke of Christ, and our feet from walking in the path of God's laws; and to enjoy in this world the pleasures of iniquity for a time? the sacred scripture doth plentifully teach us, that our souls live for ever; the godly in heaven; the ungodly in torment: and therefore how ready ought we to be, to deny ungodliness, and worldly lusts; and to live soberly, and righteously, and godly in this present world: knowing this, that one day we shall be called to an account, how we have employed our talents and stewardship. Doth the careless Christian persuade us, to run with him in the same excess of riot, of drunkenness, of carnal security, of swearing, of incontinency, of hypocrisy, of malice, of covetousness, of forgetting of God, of contempt of his word, and despising his kindness & long suffering, not perceiving, that his bountifulness leads us to repentance? Let us answer that we seek eternal life & not eternal death, & that we will flee sin, and live in the awe and worship of God, because the end of the ungodly is to be destroyed and rooted out at the last but godliness hath the promise of the life present, 
1 Tim. 4.8.  and of that is to come. And howsoever some wallow in their sensuality, and freeze in the dregs of profaneness, yet let us that are a chosen generation, and a royal priesthood, and an holy nation, and a peculiar people, show forth the virtues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, and as strangers and pilgrims, let us abstain from fleshly lusts, that fight against the spirit, and let us have our conversation honest among all men, that by our good works which they shall see, they may glorify God in the day of visitation. 
●et, 2, 9 etc.  Doth sickness, or sorrow, or poverty, or flanders, or dangers, or any affliction or tribulation pres us; so as being therewith surcharged, we are likely to sink, and be dismayed? Let us encourage ourselves with the contemplation and meditation of heavenly joys; and let us be steadfast, unmovable, aboundante always in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know, that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. When terrible and ghastly death would discourage us: let us remember that death is swallowed up into victory through the death of Christ and therefore we may confidently say, 
Cor. 15.54  o death where is thy sting, o grave where is thy victory? and that death is made unto us a door into eternal glory, and that when we depart hence, our souls shall pass into heaven, as into the common city and dwelling place of all believers; because we are no more strangers and foreigners, but citizens with the saints aod of the household of god, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. For we know, that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building of God, 
Ephes. 2.19, 2  that is, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. 
2. Cor. 5.1.  Our departure hence is a going out of prison, and an entrance into life that knows no death. Our fathers are all gone before, and all their offspring shall follow. What runner when he hath begun his race, doth not hold on cheerfully till he attain to the goal? What Mariner in the dark night and tempestuous seas, refuseth to rest in the quiet harbour? What pilgrim wandering in a strange country, longs not to come to his own dwelling, wife, friends, and children? And shall we be so loath to go to heaven, and Paradise, the house of saints: to GOD our Father, Christ our redeemer and Brother; the holy Ghost our comforter? As the sparkle of fire still mounts upward, and the water fleets downward, and every thing goes to his proper and natural place of stay; so our souls which came from heaven, must endeavoure and strive to go to the Father of lights; whom to behold is life, and not to see is death. We travel through cold and heat, danger and labour, hills and valleys, seas and lands for earthly and perishing riches: and should a thousand deaths stop us, to see so many Angels, prophets, patriarchs, martyrs, and Saints in Paradise? Cyprian saith, Eius est mortem timere, 
●e mortalit.  qui ad Christum nolit ire: eius est ad christum nolle ire, qui se non credit cum Christo incipere regnare. It is for him to fear death, who would not go to Christ: it is for him to be unwilling to go to christ, who believes not, that after death he shall begin to reign with christ. When our friends are taken from us by death: let us not think that they are lost, and utterly perished; but that they are gone before us into the place and palace of rest: and therefore let us not mourn, as they do which are void of the hope of the resurrection and immortal life: for as we believe that jesus is dead, and risen, even so they which sleep in jesus are living in joy, and god will bring them again at the last day with jesus: and let us comfort ourselves one another with these words. When we see the godly in this world, 
1 Thes. 4.14 1●  as it were forsaken now and then, and contemptible to the eyes of men; but the ungodly oftentimes sprouting as the green bay tree: let this support and prop us up, that one day Lazarus shall be comforted, and Dives tormented. When we consider the inconstancy of worldly riches, and honour, and favour, and promotion, and friendship in this life: let us learn hereby, not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world; for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and all that is in this world, passeth away; but he that fulfilleth the will of God, 
1 john 2.15 16.17.  abideth for ever: and let us solace ourselves, with the stable, permanent, and unchangeable joys of heaven: for the state of the godly and ungodly after death cannot be changed; there is a great gulf set between heaven and hell, 
Luke 16, 26.  so that they that would go from bliss to punishment, cannot; neither can any come from torment to bliss. Finally, when we are soliciced, either by the suggestion of Satan, or the allurements of pleasure, or the persuasion of Atheists, or the weakness of the flesh, to imagine, that there is no life after death, and that the soul vanisheth away into nothing, when a man dieth: let us call to mind, that heaven and earth shall sooner pass, than the word of the Lord shall fall to the ground; which teacheth, that after bodily death, the souls of the faithful and righteous are in the hands of the Lord, and enjoy eternal comfort: and (if we cannot remember all that hath been now delivered,) let us alway carry the sum and quintessence of this one place of Scripture imprinted and engraven firmly in our hearts, in which the Angel declares unto blessed John, that all faithful souls, that in this life have washed their long robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and have only relied on the merits, death, and passion of jesus Christ; they are after this life in the presence of the throne of God; and serve him continually in the temple of heaven; and dwell eternally with God, & God with them: they hunger, and thirst no more: they are molested and accumbred with the heat of the Sun no more, and afflicted with tribulation no more: for jesus Christ the Lamb of God, which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them, and rule them, & lead them to the lively fountains of waters, and GOD shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.  
Thus much for the interpretation and explication of this text of holy Scripture. And although I have already very much exceeded my usual manner, 
The christia● life and god● death of the Lady Court ●ney.  in that I have so long and largely insisted on the things proposed, and thereby tediousness (perhaps) may begin to creep upon you; yet I must a little longer pray your attention, while I breeflye speak some thing of the life and death of this right worshipful and devout gentlewoman, which is now to be buried; and which hath occasioned me at this time to unfold unto you this portion of God's word. The virtues and graces wherewith she was adorned, as they merited great commendation; so I am sorry that they may not now be blazed, by the eloquence of Aaron, or the tongue of Angels. 
●al. Max. l, 8, ●1.  For as Alexander the great forbade any to paint him but Apelles, and to carve him but Lysippus, least his excellency should be abased by unnoble Artificers: so the worthiness of this religious Lady deservedly craves, to be described of some one endued with singular gift of speaking, who might countervail her worthy works with answerable words. Howsoever it be, this comforts me, that I speak not before strangers unacquainted with her godly qualities, that therefore would ask a more copious declaration of the things they know not but before those, who having had very long experience and trial of her godliness, either will supply the defect of the Speaker through their own manifold knowledge; or else by one word will conjecture what the whole sentence means.  
And for that the life of a true Christian consisteth in believing and living; I will begin first with the sincerity of her faith. She was not like many lukewarm Politicians, that either are Atheists, of no religion at all; or else Chameleon-like turn with the time and jump with opportunity, but she embraced the ancient and apostolic faith, cleaving to the sound doctrine delivered in the word of God and abhorring the superstitious ceremonies of men's devices.  
This faith was not hypocritical, but true: not temporary but permanent, not idle, but working not dead but living, & springing forth with the abundance of all good works, even as a good tree brings forth good fruit; and a wholesome well yields out wholesome water. Her earnest love of God's word & great measure of knowledge of Christ's gospel, of which she hath always been an affectionate, hearer, and a diligent performer, sufficiently declare what these works of faith were. For she was not only painful in resorting to the Church, to pray with the congregation & to hear the word of God, as long as strength of body permitted, but even since age & weakness debarred her of the custom, she hath ordinarily & daily caused prayers to be used, & the scriptures & pure expositors of them to be read at home; making the word of God a janc-horne to direct her feet, and Manna to sustain her soul; so passing her time (for many years) that her life might be deemed a meditation of death, and a preparation for entrance into the life to come.  
What should I speak of the christian governing of her household; and of her especial care, that those which were about her might be taught the laws of the Lord, to walk as it becometh the professors of the gospel? What should I speak of her patience, that being in sundry wise tossed and tried with the crosses of this life, yet (like a rock beaten on by the swelling floods) she stood constant; rendering thanks to God, aswell for adversity, as for prosperity; and taking every affliction in good part, as proceeding from the love of GOD towards her? This patience was shaken by the captivity of her husband, an honourable and worthy gentleman; who being Sheriff of this county was taken prisoner, and in extreme peril to be cruelly handled by the rebels in the Western Commotion, in the reign of king Edward the 6.: again, by the death of her foresaid husband, within few years after; again by the change of true religion into forged superstition in the days of Queen Mary, 
During all which time, she had the form of prayer used in her house, which was authorized in the days of king Edward the 6.  which pinched her with exceeding grief; again by the death of all her sons, gentlemen of great hope, again by the death of all her sons in law, men of worshipful regard; again by the death of some of her nephews, & daughters, gentlewomen lively treading in the virtuous steps of their godly mother; & again by the death of some of her nieces; this patience (I say) was shaken, but it stood firmly; as an Oak that is surely rooted weighs not the blasts of wind. What should I speak of her humility and lowliness of mind; which bewrayed itself in all her outward actions, and in her very apparel; in that a Gentlewoman of her degree and rank, would so plainly attire herself; observing the rule of S. Peter, who warneth woman not to go gorgeously in their apparel, by braiding the hair, and trimming about with gold, but to be clothed with the precious garment of the inward man. This humility was great, 
● Pet. 3.3.4  both towards God, and man: towards God, in that abounding with good works which proceeded from a saving faith, yet she loathed to be commended for the same, confessing that it was nothing she did: and that it was so far off, that she trusted to be saved by her own merits, as that she renounced them, and placed them among her evil deeds in that respect; and wholly relied, wholly depended, wholly rested upon Christ jesus, her only redeemer, mediator, advocate, and saviour. And towards man this humility was apparent; in that she disdained not the meanest, but with affability applied herself to those that were of the lowest sort; and in that not only in her life, she declined from pomp and vain shows, but also straightly and oftentimes charged, that her funerals should be solemnized without any ceremonious pomp. But what should I speak of her promptness to assist both rich and poor with her counsel and advise? for she was endued with great wisdom, rare memory, grave judgement, and sharp foresight. What should I speak of her temperance & sobriety of her love and liberality to scholars? kindness to ministers of the word of God? and entertainment of all good people, of her constancy in her widdowheade? For of four score and seven years, (or very near thereabouts) of her age, she spent fifty & five in the time of widdowehead of her unchangeable and steadfast zeal in the truth of Christ jesus. So that if john the elder had lived in this age, he might have saluted her by the name of Elect Lady, & might have rejoiced, 
2, Ioh: 4.  that he found her & her children, & her of spring walking in the truth. All these things (for that they are so well known) I slightly point at with the forefinger, leaving them to your secret considerations.  
As for her remorse, compassion, and liberality towards the poor and needy members of Christ body, not one preacher in ten hours, nor ten preachers in one hour are able to express it as it doth deserve. The Orphans & fatherless children, that she hath nourished, the desolate widows that she hath sustained, the afflicted strangers that she hath relieved; the sick, impotent and, maimed Soldiers that she hath refreshed: the diseased persons with sore eyes, and manifold hurts, and divers infirmities, that she hath eased, applying the salu● waters and medicines with her own hands, give plentiful testimony with full mouth of her exceeding charity. What week, nay what day, nay almost what hour passed over, where in some poor, or other did not taste of her bountifulness? 
●uke, 19, 8,  She excelled Zacheus; who stood forth, and said behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor. She was not inferior to job, who turned not his eye from the poor, 
job, 31, 16, 17,  but clothed the naked with his garment fed the hungry with his meat, and lodged the pilgrim in his house. She is to be linked in praise with Dorcas, 
Acts. 9.39.  for if Peter were here and she were (as Dorcas) to be raised again; how infinite is the number of coats and garments that the poor would show forth, or speak of, which they have received from her liberality? She is not to be separated from the holy and charitable we●. 
Luke. 8, 2,  men which ministered to our Saviour himself on earth, for as they did minister to the head, so did she to the body and therefore Christ accounts that meat, that drink, that clothing, 
Mat. 25.36.  that entertainment, and that visiting and comfort which is employed on the silly poor, to be bestowed on himself. And as the jews when that they desired Christ to help the Centurion's servant, they said, 
Luke, 7, 4, 5.  that he was worthy for whom our Saviour saviour should do it. For he loves our nation (say they) he hath built us a synagogue: so if odious Ingratitude possess not the hearts of the poor, whom in manifold sort this compassionate and charitable Lady hath relieved, they will with one voice cry out and say, that she was most worthy of longer life and of doubled days, because she was a nurse to the needy an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a mother to the Orphans, a staff to the afflicted, a comforter and supporter to the distressed and miserable. I perceive I am entered into the broad Ocean with displayed sails, and therefore lest I be carried further than I may quickly return, I will hasten to draw towards the shore.  
Her life being beawtified with these enduements and qualities, and having spent her days in grace & godliness, who may doubt: but that her death and dissolution was correspondent to her former race? At sundry times when she was visited with sickness, she was not desirous of longer life, neither would she have others to put her in hope of recovery: but wholly longing to be removed hence, and to dwell with God the Lord; first making a pithy and Christian confession of her faith, in God the Father, the son and the holy Ghost, she still desired with simeon to depart in peace, with Paul to be dissolved & to be with Christ, 
Luk. 2.29.  accounting christ to be her advantage both in life and death, 
Phil. 1.21: Rom. 14.8 Psal, 84, 10.  and herself to be the Lords whither she lived or died, & with David wishing to in habit most amiable inhabitations of heaven, & esteeming it better to remain one day, in the house of God, than a thousand in the tents of this vile world. And thus being of a good age, full of days fuller of good works, having made her, rob white in the lambs blood, & a long time being prepared for her departure; when infirmity & last sickness attainted her alway settling & fixing her confidence in christ, praying devoutly to God, who hath promised to hear the petitions of them that faithfully call upon him; alway committing her spirit, into the hands of her creator, redeemer and comforter, at last her sanctified and refined soul leaving the corruptible body departed out of tribulation and this valley of misery into the bosom of faithful Abraham. 
Reu. 14, 13. and. 7, 9  For why should I not so say? sens they are blessed, that die in the Lord, and they rest from their labours: 
and, 2.10. and 4.4. and, 22, 1, 2. and. 7: 16, 17  they are clothed with the long white rob of innocency, they are adorned with the incorruptible crown of glory, that never withereth: 
and 21.11  they eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and drink of the water of life, they hunger and thirst no more they have all tears and remembrance of evils wiped from them: 
Heb: 12 22,  they are Citizens of the celestial and new jerusalem, whose walls are pure gold and the gates pearls, and whose inhabitants are the patriarchs, and holy Prophets, Apostles, Ark angels, Angels and Saints of all ages. One that wrote of the life Wickham once Bishop of Winchester says of him.  
Nec dubito, qui sit vixit, 
Christoph, jonsonus in car de vita wiccami winton Episcopi.  sic mortuus idem est  
Quin sit apud superos nobilis umbra Deos:  
Cur dubiten? nam si coelestis clauditur Aula,  
Heroi tanto, cui precor, illa patet?  
I doubt not, (saith he) but he that lived so, and died so, is among the blessed spirits of heaven, why should I doubt, For if the palace of heaven be shut against so worthy a man, to whom doth it stand open? May not I without flattery change the gender, and say of this religious and good Lady? I doubt not but that she that lived and died so, is now among the blessed souls in heaven: why should I doubt? for if the gate of heaven be shut to so worthy a woman to whom shall it be opened?  
And as a certain ill Orator that thought he had moved his auditors to compassion in his epilogue and conclusion: when he was sitten down, and had asked of Catulus, whether he thought he had moved them to compassion or not; 
Cic. lib. 2. de Oratore.  Catulus answered, neminem esse puto tam durum, cui non oratio tua miseranda visa sit; I think none so hard of heart, as that he pities not thy slender and simple speech; So I think that all that have heard me speak of this right worshipful gentlewoman, so slenderly and simply, are moved to compassion and pity; because my discourse is so infinitely exceeded by her memorable deeds, and that they will compare me to a rude and unskilful painter that hath portrayed those things coarsely and grossly, which should have been painted with fair and fresh colours. But I hope, that my willingness shall make satisfaction for my want; and that this common oil, which I have powered out of my unpolished Alabaster box, to honour her burial with all, shall be accepted in steed of precious spikenard.  
This only remaineth; that the poorer sort desire god, to increase the number of those, that may be like to this virtuous Lady; and that the wealthier sort labour after her example, to deserve so well of the needy, that their departure may be lamented, and their memory blessed; and that both rich and poor imitate her in faith, zeal, patience, humility, unfeigned charity, and the residue of her rare and notable virtues: to the glorifying of God's name, to the edifying of the Lords people, and to our attainment of everlasting salvation, through jesus Christ our Lord: to whom with the father, & the holy ghost, be given all honour, praise, and glory, now and evermore: Amen.  
FINIS.