forcible, we are therefore in good time, during the time of our life, to provide, and to make provision for those things that are necessary for us, at the time of our death, for to furnish and to fence us against the great forces that the divell will then make against us, even for the carrying of us away: knowing this for a certainty, that if he then fail, that then there is no place left for him, and that he must needs for shane, leave, and give up his siege, without any hope of ever returning anymore. Now the armor & weapons wherewith we are principally to defend ourselves, are faith, and the word of God: faith, by which we lay hold vpon the grace and favour of God, and vpon the righteousness of Iesus Christ, to be unto us instead of a buckler and target, to cover and to defend us against the venomous and fiery darts of this mortal and bitter enemy: and the word, courageously and manfully to set vpon him and to foil him, as did our saviour Iesus Christ. For there are but these two means, whereby we can either defend ourselves, or drive back his forces, and so get the full victory over him. Which is the caus●( my brethren) why I haue collected and gathered out of the scripture, certain fit places to c●●fort and to confirm you against those temptations, wherewith you may be assaulted at the very point and moment of death. But I beseech you, not to defer until this last hour, to learn and to furnish yourselves in these things, doing herein, as do foolish Captaines, who put off the furnishing of the places committed unto them, with that that is necessary for the guarding and keeping thereof, until such time as they be environed and compassed about with men of war that are their foes: whereupon it oftentimes cometh to pass, that seeing themselves destitute and bereft of necessary means, and instruments to defend themselves, and for this cause finding themselves amazed and astonish●d, they quickly leave their holds, and yield to their foes. But following the example of the Emet or pissemire, doe● you make provision in due season and convenient time, to the ende● that the winter following you may be well provided, for all things that shall be necessary for the passing thereof, and for the easy vndergo●ing of the roughness and sharpness of it. And above all, mark I beseech you, in the treatise that I present and sand unto you, those places that are alleged against distrust and presumption: for they are two capital and principal temptations, that satan ordinarily useth for the battering and overthrowing of us, setting before our eyes, either the multitude and greatness of our sins, for to throw us headlong into a distrust of the mercy of God, or else our virtues and good works to exalt and to puff us up with a vain presumption and persuasion of them. Those are( saith saint Augustine) the two cords, wherewith this hangman, satan, continually useth to stifle and to strangle men, if they take not heed of him. But it shall be easy for you to prevent and to meet with these dangers, if that on the one side you oftentimes remember that which is spoken in the scripture, concerning the corruption and vanities of men, for to humble them: and on the other side, that which is said, concerning the infinite mercy and grace of God, for to assure them of their salvation. I trust that with the help of God, my labour in writing unto you this little treatise, and yours in the diligent reading of it, shall not be unprofitable, So be it.   

THE authors PREFACE.  
FOrasmuch as death of itself is a very fearful and ugly thing, and that it cannot be but that naturally when we see it approach near unto us, we are afraid of it, and that then our spirit cannot be but assailed and seized with diuers and with sundry fears, and traveleth with many cares: it is therefore good, betime, and in good time to think hereupon, and fo●e●eeing it, to make good provision in our spirits, for that which may comfort & strengthen us, against all those fearful apprehensions, which may any manner of way trouble or disquiet them. For which purpose, nothing is so necessary, as always to haue prest and ready in our hands, the word of God, thereby on every side, so to strengthen our faith, which the divell would tame and batter, as we see our saviour Christ did, who by this means sent satan away, confounded, and ashamed, which came to tempt him in the wilderness. And questionless, it is a thing undoubtedly true, that faith being propped and grounded vpon such sure rocks, as are the promises of God, and of Iesus Christ, who is the keeper & treasurer thereof, can never be mastered nor subdued, what blows and storms soever the divell, o● any other our enemies can bring against it. And this is the very reason which hath lead me to writ this little treatise, containing in it, comfort for the sick, where I haue briefly collected and alleged such places of scripture, as seem unto me to be most fit for the deducting and handling of this matter and argument. If it may profit and edify the church of God, it is all that that I desire for my labour, and which I pretended and aimed at in the writing thereof.   

A COMFORTABLE TREATISE, CONTAINING IN IT MATTER, BOTH TO COMFORT those that are sick and afflicted in their souls, and also to assure them against the horrors and fearful apprehensions of their sins, of death, of the divell, of the Law, and of the wrath and iudgement of God.  
THE life of every man, which liveth in the world, is on every side besieged, and beset with sundry sorts of adversities and c●●●mities: whereof some are particular unto some, and others are general and common unto all: as is Death, and the sicknesses which tend and further that way: which do ordinarily so much the more astonish us, both because they are very dangerous, 
He first sheweth that it is not possible for any man to deliver himself from death, when the hour is come.  as also because there are few means to help us to escape, or avoid the same. For although that kings, Emperors, Princes, and mighty men may oftentimes, by the good help of God, and of the good means, that he vouchsafeth unto them, escape many dangers: yet is there not any one of them, that can finally so save and deliver himself, but that he must in the end, die, either in war by the sword, in bed by age and sickness, or else by some other means, which God in his providence, before that man was born, had appointed and determined, as the Prophet david proveth in many places of the psalms: 
Psal. 82.6.7.  as in Psal. 82. ver. 6. and 7. where he speaketh of Princes, I haue said, ye are Gods, and ye all are the children of the most high, but ye all shall die as men, & ye Princes shall fall like others. And elsewhere, namely in Psal. 49. ver. 6.7.8.9.10.11. 
Psa. 49.6.7.8. &c.  They trust in their goods, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches: yet a man can by no means redeem his brother: he cannot give his ransom to God,( So precious is the redemption of their souls, and the continuance for ever) that he may live still for ever, and not see the grave. For he seeth that wise men die, and also that the ignorant and foolish perish, and leave their riches for others: yet they think, their houses and their habitations shall continue for ever, even from generation to generation, and call their lands by their names. As also in another place, where in general he speaketh of the condition and end of all men, as Psal. 89. vers. 48. 
Psal. 89.48.  What man liveth and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Sclah. And further in the psalm following, to wit, 90. vers. 3. 
Psal. 90.3.  Thou turnest man to destruction: again thou sayest, return ye sons of Adam.  
By this then we see, that it is the set ordinance, and the inviolable decree of God, that every one that cometh into the world, comes with this charge and arrest: not to haue any long stay or abode here, as haue the trees which are fastened in the earth by the roote: 
2. Sam. 14.14.  but quickly to pass away, as doth the sliding and running water: and without stay to depart as soon as ever it shall please the Lord to call. And howsoever the greater part of us go about( as the Prophet saith) To make a covenant with death, 
Esay. 28.15.  or at the least to haue some longer respite and space, so that he should defer and slack his coming: yet we daily prove that our term, and turn being come, & the time of our apparance being expired, we must needs at the very hour & instance appointed, appear before the judge, to hear from his mouth that certain, 
Psal. 33.9.  and irrevocable sentence, by which we are adiudged either unto life or unto death. The chief and principal care then, 
What remedies we are especially to seek, when death assaileth vs. 2. Chro. 16.12.  that we ought to haue, is not to seek unto Phisitians( as did king Asa) and to use such receipts and potions, as they shall prescribe unto us, for to strengthen us against such diseases as may befall us, nor to take preseruatiue● and remedies against poison( as did Mithridates) to prevent the dangers of poisons, which those of our families, or others might prepare for us: neither yet, finally, to trust in the horse, 
Psal. 33.17.  strong and courageous though he be: nor in the spear, be it never so strong and sure, no nor in an armor of proof, to defend and to keep us against the hazards of the battle. For there is none of all these things that can infringe, or disappoint the ordinances and decrees of God, or that can save us from his wrath, or( to be brief) that can in any sort divert or turn aside the events or executions, that he in his will hath purposed and determined. But the chief and principal care and meditation that ought to be before our eyes, either for the preventing of those evils, that we see are like to come vpon us, or else for the removing of those that are already vpon us: is this, to desire, and to crave the grace and favour of God, which is a more sovereign and present remedy, then any ma● can invent for the quick and speedy foreseing unto all adversities. Now then, for as much as I was requested by certain brethren, being my friends, to gather, and by writing to set in order, certain allegations, and places of scripture, 
Rom. 13.2. 1. Cor: 15.21.22.  for to comfort the sick, and to strengthen them against the horrors and fearful apprehensions, that in their sicknesses they may haue, 
1. Cor. 12.12. Ephes. 4. ●●  as well of their sins, as of death, of the divell, and of the anger and iudgement of God: which indeed is more fearful then all the rest: knowing that charity( by which, as by a bond, all the members of the body of Christ Iesus, are straightly linked and knit together) bound me hereunto: as also, because that it is part of that charge that God hath imposed and laid, not onely vpon the ministers of the gospel, but also vpon the Elders, which are their helpers & associates to aid them and assist them, not being willing to refuse thē, & their lawful request: howsoever I was not ignorant, that many of my fellow brethren, unto whom God had imparted his graces, were ●ore fit for this purpose then I myself: yet for somuch as the members, in what place or degree so ever they be in, ought not to deny the body any labour or service, that is in their power to perform: I haue assayed( God aiding me) to do that, that by his grace he hath enabled me, to content & to satisfy their desire.  
Setting therefore apart, other kinds of afflictions, wherewith it pleaseth God to chastise and to exercise his children: we will speak here onely of sicknesses, and of death, and we will briefly and shortly propose and set before us, the most apt and fit remedies, and comforts that possibly we can, to enure, and to accustom men wisely and moderately to undergo, 
What we are to judge concerning sicknesses.  and to bear them. And first, to begin with sicknesses, which are not casual things, and which fall not out unadvisedly, 
1 To wit, that they come not to pass, but by the providence of God whereunto we are willingly to submit ourselves.  sometimes to one, and sometimes to another, as they meet with them: but we are to think that they are all sent by the providence of God. And how soever that the ends, and occasions of them, may not be always alike: yet the author thereof is always one and the self same, even as he is of health. For it is even from the mouth, and ordinance of God: as ieremy saith, that good things, 
Lamen. 3.38.  and evil things( which are one contrary to another) come to pass: 
Amos 3.6.  yea, and there is not any evil( as Amos saith) neither in the city, nor in the fields, but it cometh from God: that is, by his determination and appointment, because he( being almighty) ruleth, ordaineth and governeth all things that are don in heaven, in earth, and in al deep places. So then as peace and war, liberty and imprisonment are of God: even so is health and sickness, as david did ever in all his sicknesses confess, and aclowledge, as in the 6. 
Psal. 6.1.  Psal. ver. 1. Saith he not, O Lord rebuk me not in thine anger, neither chastise me in thy wrath? acknowledging that the sickness, wherewith he felt himself so grievously afflicted, was an effect of the anger of God, whom he had offended. And therefore he saith in Psal. 38. 
Psal. 38.2.  ver. 2. For thine arrows haue light vpon me, and thine hand lieth vpon me, and Psal. 39. ver. 2.9.10. 
Psal. 39.2.9.10.  I was dumb and spake nothing: I kept silence even from good, and my sorrow was more stirred. I should haue been dumb, and not haue opened my mouth, because thou didst it. Take thy plague away from me, for I am consumed by the stroke of thine hand. Likewise Hezechias and job, 
Esai. 30.13.  did not attribute their sicknesses to any other, but to God. Yea and job saith, 
job. 5.18.  that in the scurf and filth that came from his flesh, being half rotten, and in that swarm of worms that it brought forth, he did behold the one of the hands of his saviour striking him, and the other afterwards healing him.  
The very heathen, and infidels themselves, haue oftentimes acknowledged, that their sicknesses haue not come unto them elsewhere then from God: who did punish them because they had offended him: 
Gene. 12.17. Exod. 9.3. &c. 1. Sam. 5.6.  as he did Pharaoh and his family in the time of Abraham: the Egyptians in the time of Moses: the Philistines in the time of Samuel, when they would haue kept back in their country the ark of the covenant, as a prisoner and captive, after that they had taken it in war: where the enemies of Israel were conquered, and overcome. We must then conclude, that sicknesses, and generally, all afflictions, come from God, who doth not any thing but justly, 
〈◇〉 3 5.  and wisely: justly, because there is no sickness befalleth us, but we deserve it: and wisely, because he knoweth what maketh for our good, better then wee ourselves. For all his works are so well ordered, and disposed, that ●here is nothing but hath his due weight, number and measure, and which is not grounded vpon good reason, although oftentimes it be not known unto vs. As then the goodness, the power, the wisdom, the iustice, the uprightness, the constancy and the truth, which appear in all the works of God, are causes for which we approve and praise them: so we acknowledging all these virtues in our sicknesses, and other adversities, we ar● not to take them in evil part, but to arm ourselves with these good meditations of his goodness, power, &c. against the impatiency and bitterness of our heart, which pricketh and provoketh us to murmur, and to repined against God: yea, and oftentimes horribly to blaspheme him, when he doth not conform himself unto our will, and to the inordinate desires of our flesh. Which thing if he did, he should become like unto us: that is, a flatterer, 
Psal. 50.21.  and a concealer of our vices. Whereas contrariwise, to the end that we may be holy, good, & virtuous, we ought to endeavour to make ourselves like unto him, and to submit, and to bring under all our affections, and desires unto his will. 
Mal. 6.10.  For otherwise we are hypocrites, and so oft as in our prayers, we pray, that his will might be done, our heart doth secretly deny that, that our mouth uttereth, and saith unto us in our ear: ah, hypocrite, if thou mightest choose, thou hadst rather that thy will might be done, then that the will of God should be done. When one speaketh unto us generally of the providence of God, and when one in like maner demandeth this of us, whether, that all that God doth, be well done or no, we presently jump, and accord with them: yea and we propound the same unto our neighbours and friends, when we see them in any danger, for to comfort thē, as a most present, singular, and ready remedy, as any that we can aduise them in: but when we come to apply the same unto ourselves, we play as the physicians do, 
S●militude.  which provide potions for others, but they themselves will not take them. And indeed, there is nothing that is more necessary, nor more profitable for us, then daily to exercise ourselves in the meditation of the providence of God, & to aclowledge that it governeth, ordereth, altereth, and disposeth all things, to the end, that we always beholding the workman in his work, we might presently approve, and allow thereof, knowing very well, that nothing can come forth of that shop, which is not polished, fined, and in al respects complete and perfect. And if we vouchsafe this credite unto craftes-men, that we presently receive their works assoon as we see their seal and mark vpon them, shall we be so unjust, as not to esteem, and to approve of the works of God, wherein we see such evident marks and apparent tokens of his goodness, and iustice?  
True it is, 
prosperity doth more delight our nature, then adversity.  that that which cometh unto us proceeding directly from his goodness, is more delightsome and savoury unto our taste, then that which cometh from his iustice: as it cometh to pass in the works of nature, whereof some are more pleasant unto us, then other some are, as the day is more comfortable unto us then the night, the summer season more answerable to our nature, then the winter, and a faire and sunshine day, doth more rejoice and glad us, then doth lowering, dark, rainie, and foul weather: so likewise when the Lord laugheth vpon us, & sheweth unto us a smiling, and cheerful countenance, and doth lovingly and graciously on every side cherish and comfort us, with his mercies, daily multiplying his favours towards us, & continually beautifying and blessing us with new benefits( as the Prophet saith) this no doubt is much more pleasant unto us, 
Psal. 89.38.  then when he sheweth unto us a sad and a frowning countenance, and maketh us to feel some rigour, and sharpness of his iustice. david, did he not take greater pleasure, to hear of the excellent promises that God made unto him? as that he would firmly establish and continue his kingdom unto him, and to his children for ever, that he would give him victory against all his enemies: 
Psal. 18.43. &c.  whom he saw dispersed and spread, even as dust in the place, to see his glory and renown to fly, and on every side to be bruited, and spread amongst strange people, to hear with his own mouth, that God had found him according to his own heart, to consider how God did separate and choose him, even from keeping the sheep, to advance and to exalt him above all the houses of Israel, and as a man would say, wholly degrading the whole house of Saul, to enrich and to adorn david with the spoils of Saul, being by no other means induced or lead, to show him all these favours but by his more grace & good will towards him: were not, I say, these many and large tokens of the mercy and goodness of God towards him, much more easy & pleasant unto him to digest, then were the gross and grievous reproaches that for his ingratitude were given unto him, after he had offended, & then were the fearful threatenings that were added thereunto, 
2. Sam. 12.  as the discovering and publishing of his sin, the making of his house to be attainted with murder, & with blood, and that the secrecy & shane of his women should be vncouered by his own son. And yet, although that such tokens of the iustice of God were hard unto him, and were unto him almost as a burden to hard for him to bear: yet he gave his back thereunto, and did willingly submit himself, assuring himself of the mercies of God,( which he always remembered in his judgements) that the weight and burden that he laid vpon him, should not ●●terly press and weigh him down. And in dead the next way to make a man in the judgements of God, quietly to submit his shoulders thereunto, is, for him to look vpon the mercies of God; which will tel him that there shal be no more laid vpon him( God dealing with him as a father, and not as a tyrant) then what he shall be well enabled to undergo. We haue an excellent example of the patience of david, and of that humble obedience that he was resolved to show towards God in all his adversities, when as with such a peaceable and quiet spirit, he did bear and put up the grievous and bitter injuries which Shemei by railing & taunting words offered unto him, 
2. Sam. 15.6.  even then when as for the saving of himself from the conspiracy that was wrought against him, by his own son, and by the people, he was constrained in great hast, to forsake, and to fly from the city of jerusalem. Now, the chief and principal cause which at that time made him so gentle and so mild, was this, that he referred the insolency and pride that this dog Shemei injuriously offered unto him, unto the providence of God, who had raised him up to vomit out these slanderous speeches against him: as on the one side to humble him, so on the other side to try his patience and virtue. What likewise was the cause, that job after so many and such great losses of his goods, of his children, yea & at the length of the loss of the health of his body, did as cheerfully and as hearty bless, and magnify God, as he did in his prosperity and abundance, even then when he satisfied his desires: but the respect that he had unto the providence of God, which he beholded in all his miseries? By which he was given to understand, that he received them from gods hand, as special blessings and favours, which God bestoweth vpon his children, yea even vpon his most dear and best beloved ones. 
2 That all the circumstances in our sicknesses as well as our sicknesses themselves, depend vpon the providence of god.  Neither sufficeth it, only to beleeue, that all our sicknesses come from God: but we are further to beleeue, that all the circumstances in our sicknesses come from him: as this, whether they be great, long, hurtful, grievous, languishing, and sometimes incurable, so that for the contagion thereof, they do hinder our friends, and parents from visiting and comforting us, so that we can find no more remedy, 
Mat. 9.21.  thē did the poor woman which had the issue of blood, for the space of twelve yeeres, 
John 5.7.  or then did the poor man, who for the space of eight and thirty yeeres, was tied unto his bed, by means of a palsy, wherewith he was strike through all the members of his body. We are then to attribute all this unto God, and to think that he hath absolute, and indifferent equity, to give either good or ill, to take his benefits and riches from whom he pleaseth, & after what manner & measure it seemeth good unto him, so that no man can justly complain of him, or with any reason demand of him, why hast thou done thus, or thus?  
After that this is once resolved of in our spirits, that not onely sicknesses, but also all other evils come unto us by the providence of God, 
3 What a one that God ●s, which sendeth us sickness: to wit,  and that in the notice & feeling therof we haue sharpened, and refreshed our comforts, which otherwise might be dull and wearied: Then further for to comfort us, we are to consider, what a one that God is that sendeth us them, and how near he is unto vs. For he is not such a God, as are the gods of the foolish Gentiles, which are not any thing, in the places that they are in, which haue eyes and see not, ears and hear not, 
Psal. 96.5.  neither is there any breath in their nostrils, nor taste in their tongues, nor speech in their mouths, 
Psal. 115.4.5  nor handling in their hands, nor going in their feet, neither yet( to be brief) can they do either good or hurt, for they are not onely mortal, as are men and beasts: but they are things altogether dead, which haue neither sense, nor understanding, nor moving, nor feeling, nor force, nor strength. But the God in whom we beleeue, is the creator of heaven, 
almighty.  and of earth, which maketh all things to live, to die and to breath, 
acts. 4.24.  and who upholdeth the world, and all that is therein, by the onely power of his mighty word, 
Heb. 1.2. Esay 40.10. &c.  who with one of his fingers measureth, and poyseth them as with a balance: who knoweth the number, and the names of the stars, 
Rom. 4.21.  who calleth things that are not, 
Apoc. 1.8.  as though they were, who beareth the keys of death, and of life: who is in himself infinite, and all his powers are infinite: for his goodness, mercy, wisdom, iustice and truth, are so high, 
2 altogether good.  and so great, that the height therof is as unmeasurable, as is the width of them, and the width, or breadth thereof, is as much past measure, as is the depth or thickness of them. And further: this loving and most mighty God, is not far from us, neither as in respect of presence, nor of affection, 
3 every where present. 1. Cor. 3.16. Psal. 5.11.12. Psal. 17.13.  for he is in us as in his temple, for to sanctify us, he is round about us for to cover us with his favour, and on every side, to hid us under the shadow of his wings: he dwelleth in us, as in his house, to govern, and to enrich us, to beautify, and to adorn vs. 
2. Chron. 6.13. &c.  Our understandings, and our hearts are, as it were, his galleries, and his walks, where he walketh, and taketh his pleasure, there advising, and devising with us, by divine meditations, and holy affections, wherewith he inspireth vs. And albeit that he filleth heaven and earth, 
4 loving his creatures, Psal 45.3.  and howsoever that the love that he beareth unto his creatures, and the care that he hath over them, be the cause why he assisteth & helpeth them in every thing that is necessary, for the preserving and upholding of them: yet we go so much the more near unto him, in that that we haue received from him this honour and favour, 
John. 3.5.8. Ephes. 5.18.  that he vouchedsafe to espouse, and( as it were) to marry us unto him, 
5 But especially his children, with an especial love.  & inseparably to join, & to knit us unto himself: by means of which bond, he receiveth us unto the communicating, and partaking of all his benefits and blessings. 
A similitude.  As then a wife which is well-beloved of her husband, and which hath interest in him, needeth not to fear that he will at any time do her any hurt, or entreat her hardly: so may we assure ourselves, that God, who loveth us infinitely, will neither do, nor suffer to be done unto us, any thing which shall not make for our good. For if( as S. Paul saith) whilst we were his enemies, 
Rom. 5.8. It is impossible that any thing should come unto Gods children, but that which is good.  he reconciled us unto himself, by the death of his son: much more now, being already reconciled, shal we be delivered by his life. Is there any thing more absurd, then to think that God, who is the chiefest good, and most principal felicity, should be the author of any evil? A fountain, can it sand forth from one and the selfsame head, waters that are sweet and sour? 
james. 3.11.  The heretics themselves, as martion and the Manichees, for the horror and avoiding of such a blasphemy, would establish two beginnings: the one of life and of light, and the other of death and of darkness: and so could not persuade themselves, that from God, 
Psal. 36.9.  who is the fountain of all felicity, and of life itself, should proceed any evil, or any misery. Wherein( namely that from God cometh not any evil) they were not deceived: but herein was their error, that from a true principle, they drew a false conclusion: for although we do not say, that God is the author or sender of evil, yet we do not therefore conclude, that there should be two beginnings: neither do we say, that because God is the appointer, the ordainer, & the provider of all things, he should be therefore the author of evil: but this is that that we say, that God governeth, ordaineth & appointeth all things and all actions( otherwise he were not omnipotent:) but the evil that is in them, proceedeth and cometh from the malice of satan, and from the wickedness and corruption that is in men: as for example, a wicked son, for the hungry & greedy desire that he hath unto the goods and possessions of his father, wisheth the death: yea, and in the end taketh away the life of his father: his father being a wicked man: as an adulterer or some such like notorious offender, which by the law of God ought to die. This purpose and practise of his, is not accomplished, but by the appointment of God, & yet God is voided & free from the evil in the action. For it standeth with the iustice of God, that life should be taken from this wicked father: but the son was lead unto it, not for the satisfying of the iustice of God, but for the fulfilling of his wicked affections, & covetous humour. And indeed good in the same degree that God is: that is to say, pure and infinite, can no more bring forth evil, then fire can bring forth could, or light darkness, or life death. And this is the reason why God, after that he had created the world, and all that is therein, diligently viewing and considering all his works, gave this report of them, that they were all exceedingly good: which is not to be referred only to the works of creation: but generally without exception, unto all that ever God made or did. For, 
Psal. 102.27.  for as much as God is always like unto himself, and that there is in him( as saith S. james) no variableness, 
james. 1.17.  nor shadow of changing, as his goodness is eternal, so, in and at all times can it not bring forth any thing, but those works which are good, and holy. And this is the cause, why by the mouth of the Prophet he doth answer the people, 
Hosea. 13.  that complained unto him of the great calamities that were come vpon them, that he was not in any wise the cause of it: but that he for his part did onely procure their good, and their welfare: but they themselves were the cause of their ruin, and of all their desolations that they saw in their country. For, as fire bringeth forth fire, 
A similitude.  and all other things bring forth their like: even so doth God, from whom cannot come any thing that is evil. For, as the reason holdeth in natural things, so doth it in those things which are spiritual, and heavenly. Yea but, sickness, famine, poverty, barrenness, & warres, are they not evils which God sendeth, and whereof he is the author? True it is, that God sendeth them, as well to the good, as to the bad; unto the one, for to punish them for their sins, which in his iustice he may lawfully do: unto the other, to exercise their faith, or else to better them, and to bring them to repentance.  

4 The right use of sickness & of other afflictions, that God bringeth vpon his children.  And indeed if we would be good husbands( as we say) and use well our sicknesses, by referring thē unto those right ends, for which God sendeth thē unto us, we should gather much fruit, and many good lessons by them. And first, there is nothing that is so necessary for us, as to know our sins, our corruption, and the 'vice that is in us, for to humble us before God, 
james. 1.17.  and to make us to search and to seek for his grace, which is the onely means, by which our sins may be forgiven, covered, and hidden before him, for the avoiding of his iudgement, and of condemnation, which otherwise should be prepared for us, if our sins were not forgiven vs. Whence is it, that we are so blind in the judgements, 
5 It is needful that God do use such means with us, as whereby our nature may be tamed.  that we procure unto ourselves? even from that exceeding and unmeasurable love that we bear unto ourselves, which doth so blind and blear our eyes, that we cannot perceive nor discover the malice, the hypocrisy, the false show, the pride, the vanity, the injury, the impiety, the idolatry, the inhumanity, and the infinite peruersnes and frowardness that our heart, even from our birth, was defiled with, and in actions bringeth forth, as occasions are offered unto vs. For although that we all go about for a while, to cover and to conceal the malice that we haue conceived in our hearts, as do women, which would hid their being with child, yet when they begin to be great, and when the time of their delivery approacheth, then are they constrained to avouch that, that before they had denied: so is it with us; for we will not confess our faults and sins, until that by apparent and manifest proofs we be convinced: yea, and then we will( if possibly we can) lessen and extenuate in some sort, the enormity of our faults & offences. Whereof we haue an notable example in our first parents: who although they were before God( unto whom nothing can be hide or covered) and were then lively and sufficiently accused, and pursued in their own consciences: yet they used all the sleights and fetches that they could, for to disguise themselves, and to turn from them the fault that they had committed: not being lead to confess, neither by the fear and reverence of God, who spake unto them, nor by the accusation and guilt of their own consciences, which on every side pressed them thereunto; neither yet would frankly aclowledge, without doubling, their disobedience, their ingratitude & pride, into which they had plunged themselves. wherein we may see, what a hard thing it is for men, truly, and without hypocrisy to confess their sins. We may see this to be true in the Patriarks, who did so long dissemble and conceal their wickedness, their cruel and unnatural conspiracy which they made against their poor brother, that they would never confess it, 
Gē. 42.21.22.  until that they were constrained, and enforced by the agony and distress that God brought them unto, to make them to remember it. And david, how long was he asleep in his sin? wherein he never bethought himself seriously, until he felt himself lively touched with the hand of God, so that he found himself almost pressed down, as he himself confessed. Psal. 32.45 
Psal 32.45.  For thine hand is heavy vpon me day and night, and my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. Then I acknowledged my sin unto thee, neither hide I mine iniquity: for I thought, I will confess against myself my wickedness unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the punishment of my sin. Selah. And saint Peter after that he had so many times, and so often denied his master, as to forswear and to curse himself, if he ever knew him, had he not therein continued, and so had been utterly cast out of the Church of God, as well as Iudas, and an infinite company of other apostates, who finally despaired: if Iesus Christ had not cast his eye vpon him, and by looking on him, 
Luke. 22.61  did so inwardly pierce his conscience, that he made him both feel, and bewail his sin? And Saint Paul, who as a mad and furious beast, sought amongst all the Christians, to kill and devour them, did he of himself repent for his faults? Nay, rather was he not obstinate and hardened to wast and to spoil the flock, 
Acts 9.5.  if that the strong hand of the shepherd that watcheth over it, had not kerbed, & shortened him, constraining him by force to aclowledge, and to feel the great evil and mischief that he did? By these few examples, we may easily see, that men, although they be covered, fraught, and filled with an infinite number of sins, yet can they not aclowledge, nor feel them, if God bestow not this grace vpon them, to set, and to place them before their eyes. And this is the cause, why in many places of the scripture, repentance( which partly consisteth in the acknowledgement of sin, and in the displeasure that a man hath for sin) is called the gift of God. 
2. Tim. 2.25  For as we cannot know God, nor the goodness that we ought to seek in him, neither can we beleeue in his goodness, unless that we be first, inwardly illuminated and enlightened by his spirit, and outwardly taught by his word: even so can we not either well know ourselves, or sound the depth of the 'vice and sin that is in our hearts, unless that the spirit of God give us eyes to view, and to behold ourselves in the mirror, or glass of his law. For naturally we can no more see ourselves, and that that is in us, than could the old woman Lamia, that is mentioned in the fables, that she had eyes which she cast from her own house, to pry, and to espy what was done in her neighbours houses. unto which tendeth the fable that aesop hath, where he saith, that we all carry the bag behind us, wherein we put our own defects, and faults, to the intent they should not come in our sight; and before we do put the sins of our neighbors, to the end that in seeing them, we might haue some argument or matter to backbite them, or to speak evil of them. And indeed it is a thing to be wondered at, that though our sins being as sicknesses that are sore and daungerous, or rather altogether deadly: that yet notwithstanding they are so slightly, and slenderly felt of them that are held therewith. For we see that those that are idolaters, hypocrites, proud, covetous, and sensual, do flourish & brave it, without any grieving or vexing of themselves for their sins. Nay, which is more, the idolater never taketh more delight and pleasure, then when he beholdeth, kisseth, and worshippeth his idol: neither is the hypocrite more content, then when by some outward appearance of some counterfeit or feigned virtue, he may insinuate himself into some good opinion, and so get unto himself some reputation, and be thought virtuous: and others never think themselves more happy and blessed, then when peaceably they solace, and delight themselves, with the honours, riches, and pleasures of this world, which they desire: and the cause of al this is, because they haue no touch or feeling of their sin: which indeed is the most daungerous, and fearful of all: as in bodily diseases, those are most dangerous, which bring with them least grief: as the palsy, the Lithargie, the apoplexy, and other such could diseases: for ordinarily such are incurable. Which was the cause, that made an ancient father heretofore say, that he desired not to be sick at all, but if it so fell out that he should be sick, then did he desire, that he might speedily feel his disease: whereby he would give us to understand, that there is nothing more dangerous, than to be sick, and not to be ware of it. What then shall become of us, which never think that we are so vicious, and sinful, as indeed we are, and always think that we are more righteous and holy, then indeed we are? For we never balance nor poise our vices, and our virtues, but with false measures and weights: because when we come to weigh or poise our vices, wee take the lighter weights: & the greater, when the question is of our virtues, which we continually think to be greater, then indeed they are, by means of that furious and mad self-love, which we haue of ourselves, which dazzeleth and bleareth our sight. 
A similitude.  And even as vapours and smoke, which morning and evening do arise from the earth, being put betwixt our sight and the sun, maketh it seem unto us to be greater then indeed it is: so when we behold our virtues, over and against this self love, which covereth our eyes, we do then judge them to be much more great, & excellent, then indeed they are.  
What then are we to do for the correcting & amending of this false iudgment, that we make of ourselves, judging ourselves to be more righteous, and less sinful then indeed we are? We ought to learn to know ourselves: the which, that we may the better do, we ought day and night to meditate in the law of God: referring thereunto our thoughts, our affections, our speeches, our actions, & to be brief, al the estate of our life, as unto a most strait rule, according unto which all our whole life ought to be measured, and framed. But because that we are unprofitable schollers, and give not our endeavour and labour to apply this study, God, as a good master, and as one that is careful for the good ●f his children, is constrained oftentimes to take the rod, to awaken, and to stir us up, and by sicknesses, and other mortifications of our flesh, to make us to know the corruption that is in vs. For there is nothing that doth more bring us unto the obedience of the will of god, then doth good and wholesome discipline( as saith Esay: 
Esay. 26.8. ) which teacheth men iustice when the judgements of God are vpon earth. And david saith, Psa. 119 67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now I keep thy word. 
Psal. 119.67.71  & elsewhere. 119 71. It is good for me that I haue been afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes.  
This is then a very profitable thing for a man, that when sicknesses and other adversities come unto us, we know how to use them: for they make us to know and to feel our sins, whereas contrariwise, health and prosperity, make us to forget. For when as in the flower and prime of our age, we being healthful and lusty, and all things go well with us, the world laughing vpon us: we think vpon nothing, but vpon youthfulnes and bravery, like unto young fawnes, and untamed heifers. And if any man should then go about to give us to understand of our duty, he should but lose his labour, and the time: for there is nothing more fierce, more stubborn, more head-strong, and more hard to be taught, then a man that is pampered, and as it were dandled by Fortune, and puffed up by prosperity. For which thing God reproveth his people, 
Iere. 22.21.  by his Prophet, I would often haue spoken unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou wouldest not vouchsafe to hear me: and such hath been thy custom even from thy youth. And Salomon speaking of the prosperity of fools, saith, that it is that that overthroweth and besotteth them. truly it is very hard( as Zenophon saith) for a man to be wise and wealthy both at once: and being exalted unto honour, and abounding in riches and pleasure, to know that he is but dust and ashes, as did Abraham: 
Gen. 18. ●●.  or to aclowledge that they are nothing but vanity, as did david: 
Ps●● 〈…〉  but contrariwise we all think, that we are petite or half Gods: 
Esai. 10.11. Esai. 14.13.  as we may evidently see in Ashur, nabuchadnezzar, Antiochus Theos, Xerxes, Alexander, Herod, and Domitian, who by means of their prosperity, became so insolent, and so haughty, that they would even deny and defy God. Which thing Philip king of Macedonia considering, to the intent that by the happy success that he had in his affairs, he might not fall into such arrogancy, took order with one of his chamberlains, that he should every morning, when he waked him, say unto him, Philip, remember that thou art a mortal man. And herein did he very wisely: for seeing that prosperity is a very pleasant and delightsome thing, which besotteth & maketh men drunk, yea, and lulleth them a sleep more easily, then doth the sweet and pleasant wine which they drink, or the alluring and delightful melody that they hear. The sicknesses then which awaken us, and which make us to know what is our estate, and to know that sin which is in us, is the principal cause which breedeth and bringeth forth in us sicknesses, are very profitable: which we ought to take as special advertisements, which God sendeth unto us, to make us to remember him, and to do our endeavour to seek him. Which thing we do, first in confessing our faults before him, with a contrite and an humble heart, with a feeling of his wrath, and with dislike of ourselves, that we haue offended him, after the receiving of so many graces, blessings, and favours which we haue had from him in so great abundance, that we know not how, not onely not to number and to count them, but also sufficiently not to comprehend, 
Psal. 40.5.  nor to conceive them. moreover, that we may be the more effectually and thoroughly touched, and pricked with the feeling of our ingratitudes, we are to remember, that being at the first created, according to the image and likeness of God, and by this means far exalted above all the creatures of the earth, 
Gen. 1.27.  without having respect unto the dignity wherein God had placed us, we haue not onely blemished and darkened it, but almost utterly defaced, and put it out, wholly turning ourselves from righteousness, 
Col. 3.17.  holinesse, & truth, which are the graces, whereby we may be like unto him, to follow the errors and vanities of this world, the foolish desires, and inordinate affections of our flesh: and in a word, to walk in our own ways, and in the whole course and state of our life, to set before us the very resemblance and image of the divell: and afterward he brought us from the darkness of ignorance, wherewith we were enwrapped, and entombed, and hath shown unto us the brightness of his face, by the preaching of his gospel, 
John. 1.51.  and by the knowledge which he hath given us of his son, to the end that we should follow him, who is the light of the world, 
Ephes. 5.2.  and not communicate any longer with the works of darkness. But leaving our guide, and the way that he hath marked out for us, we are reeled and straggled aside into a thousand by-paths, like unto poor blind men, having no man to direct & led us, but our own appetite and foolish phantasy, 
John. 5.7.  which are but blind guides: 
Heb. 2.14.15.  until that we oftentimes come unto the pits brink, and are ready even to fall in, and to be utterly destroyed, unless it pleased God to surmount, and to overcome our malice by his goodness, and even then to remember us, when we haue clean forgotten him. moreover, he had delivered us from the bondage of the divell, and of sin, which was much more hard and cruel then was that of Egypt, and of babylon, & freed us, to the intent that we should stand fast in the liberty, which he had so frankly and freely procured unto us, by the death of his onely and well-beloved son. But how oft haue we looked back as did Lots wife? not onely wishing for the flesh-pots of Egypt: but also taking our journey to return thither again, and again bringing our selves under that yoke, from whence we had been taken, loving rather to live shamefully, and miserablie under the tyranny of the divell, of the world, and of our flesh, then blessedly, and in honour, under the kingdom of the son of God.  
Furthermore, how haue we acknowledged this so great and unspeakable grace that he hath wrought for us, when( as a man would say) he hath come and sought us, even when we haue been at the brothel houses, and being as it were bewitched with the spirit of fornication, haue with egernes run thereunto, and haue given ourselves unto the divell, who hath been the companion that we met, which way soever we haue gone, playing the harlots with him publicly, not being withheld neither with fear, nor shane, nor with the reverence of God, who hath been the beholder of all this pollution and filthy infamy? Which notwithstanding, hath not hindered him from assembling, and gathering us into his house, for to marry and to join us unto himself, with such a true knot of amity and love, which can never be undone: requiring of us no other gift or dowry, but chastity and modesty, promising to forget al our former lewd life, to the intent that hereafter we should render unto him faith & loyalty. Now considering how often, and how many ways we haue broken this our marriage, playing the harlots with the world, and with our own lusts, some of us making a God of our own flesh, others of their riches, others of their belly, others of their pleasures, and others of their titles and dignities, worshipping our affections and desires which we haue placed in our hearts, as vpon an altar, or some excellent place in the temple of God, which we haue by this means polluted and profaned, and so by consequent haue deserved to die the death: that is, utterly, & for ever to be razed and rooted out. And what a shane and reproach is this unto us, that having been elected and chosen from the rest of the world, and of the children of wrath, as naturally we were, to be made the sons of God, to this end, 
Ephes. 2.12.13 19.  that we should live and die in his service, and should for ever vow unto him, love, fear, honour, and obedience, with all our heart, and with all our power? And yet notwithstanding all this, that in our whole conversation, we haue always shewed ourselves rebellious, stubborn, and stiff-necked: rejecting all discipline, and stoping our ears like unto the serpent, 
Psal. 58.45.  that we might not be enchanted by the sweet voice of the gospel: taking unto ourselves stony and uncircumcised hearts, to the end that the promises and ordinances of God should not be engraven in them? How often hath our shepherd assayed to gather us under his wings, 
Matth. 23.37.  as the hen would her chickens, and we would not? How oft hath he stretched forth his hands to embrace us, 
Esa. 63.9.10.  and we haue been always rebellious and gainsaying? How oft hath he knocked at our doors, and we haue not vouchedsafe to open unto him? When he hath sought us, we haue fled from him: when he hath called us, we would not answer: when he hath commanded us to follow him, we haue made ourselves weary: when he hath stricken us, we haue hardened ourselves, even as the anvil against the blows of the hammer: when he hath cherished us, we haue flattered ourselves: whether he would haue alured us by his promises, 
Matth. 11.17  or terrified us by his threatenings: we haue been stubborn and obstinate to beleeue the one, and to mock at the other. To be brief, by what means soever he hath gone about for to catch us, we haue still carried ourselves like unto wild and savage beasts.  
moreover, we were his vineyard, 
Esay 5, 12.  in which he greatly delighted, & wherein he spared no cost, to trim it, and to dress it after a most exquisite maner, he had made a most curious, strong, and sure hedge, and fence, in hope that he should gather much fruit at convenient time: but it falls out clean contrary, for in stead of bringing forth good grapes, we haue brought forth veriuice, and sourness, and so haue given him occasion, that we should oftentimes, long ago haue been plucked forth of the hedge, and should as old withered and dry branches, haue been cast an hundred times into the fire, to haue been scorched and burnt for ever, and ever. And whence hath it come likewise, that being fruitless, 
Esay. 49.  and barren trees, and that in the dayes and times of prosperity: as the prophet speaketh, Iesus Christ likewise finding us fruitless, 
Mat. 21.16.  that he should not even at the very instant curse us, as he did the fig three? For with what pretence or excuse can we colour, or cover our barrenness? Were we not as a three planted along by the clear and pleasant riuers of the word of God, 
Psal. 1.3.  wherewith we haue been continually watered? And yet behold, we haue brought forth no more fruit then the briars, which haue been vpon the dry and vpland ground: or then the thorns vpon the hard and heathy hills: notwithstanding that the axe( which is laid to the roote of every three which bringeth not forth fruit) hath kept us from being cut up by the root, & from being cast into the fire, to be burnt eternally. We cannot deny, but that we haue been as unprofitable branches, and that oftentimes we haue not built vpon the corner ston, 
1. Cor. 3.10.11 12.  nor vpon the precious foundation of us, and of the church. What is the cause, that we haue not been driven away with the wind, and why the fire hath not consumed us and our works? The prophets heretofore haue reproved, and reproached judah, for that that she hath justified her sister, by means of the wickednesses and abominations, wherewith she had polluted herself more then she had: but we may well confess, that we haue justified them both. For what kind of wickedness haue we omitted, or forgotten to commit? Haue not wickednesses, blasphemies, profaning of the pure and lawful service of God, contempt of his word, injuries, oppressions, wrongs, rebellions, disobedience, hatred, envy, murder, whoredom, backbiting, haue they not, I say, reigned amongst us? If we shall judge of the goodness of the earth, by the good fruits that it bringeth forth, 
Heb. 6.7.8.  being well tilled and trimmed, and well bedewed and moistened with rain from heaven: what shall wee then contrarilie judge of that earth, which having in al respects received an infinite abundance of benedictions and blessings from an high, 
Iam 1.17.  even from the father of light: doth yet notwithstanding, bring forth nothing but baggage, thorns and thistles? What use, and profit haue we made of the examples( I will not say) of our children, of our seruants, or of our friends( as we are bound) but not of the least of the creatures in the world, all which hold themselves in obedience unto their creator, without altering or changing the room or place that he hath appointed them unto, or without being weary to execute his will, and his commandment. Our fathers heretofore haue seen, and we after them now do see, that the heauens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the elements, the living things, the plants, and the trees, haue always even from the time they were first created, gone on forward in one course, and haue( as a man would say) in their courses, marches and motions, observed and kept that measure that God hath given unto them, without either passing their bounds, or confusedly troubling that order, which at the first was universally established, and appointed: but men always haue been, and still will be irregular, and without order. And, which is worse, we daily see, that the most part, who for the heaping up of the full measure of their former faults, do add thereunto impudency, stoping their ears unto all wholesome doctrine, and by their whole carriage showing themselves to haue shameless and whorish faces. 
Esay. 3.16.  Where is now a dayes amongst sinners this shane, 
Dan. 9.8  and confusion of face that Daniel had? Where is throughout the whole earth, 
Luke 18.13.  the visage and countenance of the poor publican, who for shane that he had so often offended his good God, durst not lift up his eyes unto heaven? Where are the riuers of tears, and of weeping of the poor sinful woman in such great abundance, 
Luke. 7.37.38  that they sufficed to wash the feet of Iesus Christ? Where are the eyes turned into riuers of water, as were Ieremies, to bewail, and to mourn for the sins and miseries that are in the world? 
Iere. 9.1.  Where is this grief and bitterness of heart, wherewith the Apostle Saint Peter was pricked, 
Luke 22.62.  as soon as ever his sin came in his sight? Where is this compunction, & wounding of the heart that the people shewed, 
Act. 2.37.38.  after the doctrine and speech that Saint Peter had made unto them, for that they had so wickedly consented unto the death of Iesus Christ, to satisfy and to content the wicked desire of the ungodly priests? Where is the sadness, and heaviness of heart, wherewith david was pressed, when with sobs and sighs, deeply he cried out and said, Psal. 6.6. 
Psal. 6.6.  I fainted in my mourning: I cause my bed every night to swim, and water my couch with my tears. And else where, Psal. 51.3. 
Psal. 51.3.  For I know mine iniquities, and my sin is ever before me. Where is the sackcloth, 
jonah. 3.7.8.  & ashes wherewith the ninivites declared that their repentance was sound, and true: & with which, without doubt they shall, at the day of iudgement condemn these masks of scourgers, & penetentiaries that we see to be in italy, and avignon? Where is the man, nowadays, that for sorrow, and grief that he hath offended God, doth rent, tear, 
●say. 22.12.  and disfigure himself, as the prophet in his time willed those, whom he exhorted unto repentance, to turn from the wrath of God, when they were threatened: or to appease and to mitigate it by conversion, when they were forewarned? Where shall a man find one, that hath his soul and heart pierced with agonies, and grief, with an humble, lowly, and a broken spirit, as the Prophet Ioel demandeth, 
Ioel. 2.12.13  with a distressed & a mournful conscience, with sound hatred, and sincere displeasure, free from all dissimulation and hypocrisy, and doth present himself, before the majesty of God, with a true confession of his faults, and in all humility to desire and to crave his mercy, for the forgiveness of them.  
By this may a man perceive, what is the hardness and the stubbornness of our hearts, what is the slender feeling that we haue for our sins, 
What maketh us to see the weakness of our faith.  the little fear that we haue to offend God, the weak love and reverence that we bear unto him, and the poor and small obedience that we perform unto him. And being such, what faith? what faith( O good God) can we haue in thee? Faith( as Saint Peter saith) purifieth the hearts. 
Acts 10.  What faith then can they pretend, which as yet haue their hearts full of filth and of corruption? their hearts being indeed fat, and puffed up with ambition, with pride, with covetousness, with pleasure, with impatiency, with reuenge, with hatred, with envy, and with other such like fleshly and inordinate passions and affections? Faith ought to regenerate us, and to make us new creatures, and of earthly men, to make us heavenly: of carnal, to make us spiritual men: of the children of wrath, and darkness, to make us the children of grace, and of light: to be brief, of devils it maketh us angels. whosoever as yet then hath his heart glued, & fastened unto the earth, and hath not his mind set on those things that are on high, 
Gal. 5.17.  who joineth not himself unto the spirit, thereby to fight against the flesh: but being assaulted, or set vpon by his own concupiscence, doth presently give place thereunto, and maketh himself a bondslave, or a prisoner, he doth therein abuse the grace of God: and whereas he should maintain and uphold it, by living in his fear, and in obedience unto his holy will, he doth overthrow it, and through overmuch liberty, goeth out of that way, whereunto he had before given himself, under a vain confidence that he had, that he should always find it prest and ready, to excuse and to cover all his sins, and so he deceiveth himself, thinking himself to be faithful, where as his faith is no better than that of the devils, and shall be able at the day of iudgement to benefit or to comfort him no more than theirs shall them. Furthermore faith, doth it not deliver us from the comdemnation and iudgement of God: as our saviour Christ saith: 
John. 3.8. & 5.24.  he that believeth shall not come into iudgement: and Saint Paul saith, there is no condemnation to them, 
Rom. 8.1.34.  who by faith are incorporated into the body of Iesus Christ? Now those which live according to the flesh, and which without any fear do commit those things which God hath forbidden: and contrariwise, do omit those things that God hath commanded, how can they avoid the sentence of death, & of the curse which is prouounced in the law, against all those which do transgress the same, for as much as they sin witting, willingly, and of set purpose? If their conscience condemn them, God, 
1. John. 3.20. Psal. 44.21. Rom. 3.5.  who is greater then their conscience, which unto the bottom searcheth, & soundeth their harts, how can he forgive them? moreover, true faith doth so cloth us with the righteousness of the spirit of Iesus Christ, that it doth in such sort embrace & follow the spirit, that the one: namely faith: is never found without the other. Forasmuch then as the spirit of God cannot remain in us, unless it produce his work: that is, unless it do illuminate, 
Gal. 5.24. Ephes. 4.23.24. &c.  sanctify, quicken, guide and govern us in our counsels, thoughts, affections, words and actions: what faith can we imagine that we haue, if we show it not by a holy and godly conversation, mortifying & crucifying our flesh with the lusts thereof, killing the old man with all his wicked affections, flying from, and detesting all kind of vices, and on the other side applying ourselves unto every good virtue: abstaining not onely from evil, but from every thing that hath any show, 
1. Thes. 5.22.  or appearance thereof: and to conclude, continuing this exercise without interruption unto the end of our life. 
Mat. 10.17.  For if any one( as saith the Prophet) that hath for some certain space end euoured to live well, and afterward shal decline, and go aside out of the right way before he come unto the end, God will not any whit remember his former righteousnesses, nor allow unto him any one of them when he shall come to reckoning. For he doth not promise salvation and life unto them that shall begin well: but unto them onely, that shall with an invincible delight and courage persevere, and continue unto the end. Neither giveth he the prise & crown of immortality unto any, but unto those that shall run to the end of the race, 
1. Cor. 9.24.  and gaole, and which shall fight and strive unto the very end, and last gasp of their life. For what shall it profit a merchant, sailing vpon the seas to the Indies, or to any other place, to load his ship with precious and costly marchandice, if after having escaped many perils & dangers, & having sailed prosperously for some good space( as for some 14. or 15. months) he shal at the last come to break his ship, and shall make shipwreck, even at the very brim and brink of the port, or haven, where he is ready to land and arrive. All they that went out of Egypt under the conduct of Moses, entred not into the land of Canaan: for the greater part of them died by the way, & were shut out of that rest, that God had promised unto their fathers, for their unbelief sake, and for other their vices, that the Apostle reckoneth up in the first epistle to the Cor. 
1. Cor. 10.5.7.  So that we are not to hope at any time to enjoy that eternal & blessed life, the God hath promised and reserved for his elect, unless that we do unto the end persevere and continue in the faith of his word, and in obedience unto his blessed and holy will, which thing indeed is given to very few.  
Furthermore, true faith is always accompanied with an heat and fervency of the spirit, which leadeth it publicly to profess the name of God, to sing forth his praises, and every where to publish and to preach his wonders, 
Rom. 10.10.  as also to make public profession of Iesus Christ, and of his gospel: yea, and without fear, shane, or hypocrisy, constantly to maintain and defend the truth, against all those that do any manner of way contrary, or resist it. But if that we would truly and without flattery examine ourselves, for all our actions, we shall know and confess, that in the greater part of us there hath been a marvelous slackness, to do our duty this way forth, and that we haue been wonderful could and fearful, when the question hath been of opposing ourselves against the wicked, in that that we haue seen & heard the name of God, Iesus Christ, religion, the gospel, and the truth to haue been blasphemed: we holding our pieces and suffering that in our presence, the honour of God should be not onely injured and wronged, but even trampled and trodden under foot, without opening our mouths to speak one word in the defence thereof. Alas, what zeal haue we also shewed, for the redressing of the tabernacle of jacob, which was utterly abased? What pity and compassion haue we had, that in seeing the ruins and horrible desolations of long time, ready to come unto the poor city of Sion? Is there yet a man that can say, that he hath employed himself, or his means, as he ought to haue done, for the re-edifying of the temple of God, and for the healing again of those breaches, that the enemy on every side would haue made against the Church? How many are there amongst us, whom a man may justly reprove, for that that they haue been more careful and curious to rebuild and to polish their own houses, then the house of God? For indeed there are very few that haue the pure & sincere service of God, 
Agge. 1.2.4  in such high recommendations as they should, as for to establish & to restore it when it is corrupted and profaned, or else to maintain and uphold it when it is in good estate. And yet notwithstanding that, we are so could and negligent, to further that the order and state of the church, might be brought unto her former beauty and dignity, and that God might be preached, known, and worshipped in spirit and in truth, as he requireth in his word, that there is not a man amongst us, but takes himself to be a Christian, yea and that of the better sort too, although that he seek not the kingdom of God, nor the righteousness thereof, until he hath had other things: yea, and then onely seeketh the kingdom of God, when he hath thoroughly & wholly dispatched, even his least and smallest affairs. As, to be short, the most certain iudgment that one can haue, for the goodness of a three, is to see whether it bring forth good fruit, yea, or no. We also may judge of faith, whether it be good or no, 
Rom. 5 1. The trial of true faith, by which every one of us is convinced, by the marks that are found in true faith.  if it give rest unto our consciences, so that we feel no fear nor distrust, nor scruple, nor agony, nor doubt, nor grief, nor torment, which may trouble or disquiet us before God: but that we are thoroughly assured and resolved, to be pardonned and absolved from his iudgement, and to be justified from all crimes and accusations, that the divell can object or lay against us, by means of that ransom that Iesus Christ hath payed for us, 
Matth. 20.28. 1. Tim. 1.15. Rom. 10.11.22  by his death and bloodshedding, and by that his payment, hath thoroughly contented and satisfied the iustice of God. And further, when it stirreth us up continually to pray unto God, whether it be in prosperity to bless and to thank him, or in adversity to prostrate ourselves before him, and humbly to entreat him, that he would deliver us, or else if it please him to deal otherwise, at the least on the one side to mitigate our grief, and on the otherside to strengthen us so, that we comforming ourselves wholly unto his will, we may carry it, during the time it shal please God to lay it vpon us: so that finally it may enkindle and inflame in us a love to God, and to our neighbours, in such sort, that we should as it were burn with an earnest desire to serve, and to honour God, to move and to stir up every one to aclowledge, and to glorify him, and that we haue no greater sorrow nor grief, then to see him dishonoured and blasphemed: and as concerning our neighbours, that we love them as our own flesh, and as members of the self same body with us, as brethren and children of the same father, that we & they haue in the heauens, and that we manifest the love that we bear unto them, by all effects and means that possibly we can: no less desiring their good, their ease, their honor, their rest, their aduancement and preferment then our own: and in their necessities to aid them with money, with counsel, with favour, with labour, with friends, with commendations, and without any exception, to further them with any thing that is in our power.  
Now, who is he amongst us, yea amongst those that haue most profited, and proceeded in the knowledge and fear of God, that dare say of himself, that he hath had such a faith, as which should haue been sufficient to fight, and to bicker against the divell, 
Matth. 16.18  and against all the gates of hell, & to make us strong and invincible against all trials and temptations, wherewith we might be assaulted and assailed, yea and to bring and to pluck up all our thoughts & affections from the earth, and to exalt, and to lift them up above all height, even above the heauens, by a true and lively hope of immortality and blessedness, which God hath promised & prepared for us? Which hope should make us utterly at once to forget, and to forsake the world, with all her glory, pomp, pleasure, riches, and glittering show, & to esteem all these brittle and corruptible things, even as dross and dung, for the taste and trust that it giveth us, concerning the sweetness of the joys of heaven, and whereby it doth suddenly extinguish and deface the sense and feeling of all other pleasures, as it befell unto the three disciples, in whose presence our saviour Christ was transfigured in the mountain: 
Matth. 17.2.  for hardly would they haue had any small taste of blessedness, had they not of a sudden lost the remembrance of all worldly things, desiring nothing but onely the abode & continuance of that estate and felicity, in which they found themselves. For a●●uch then as faith, hope, and charity, which are principal virtues and graces, which ought to shine in the life, and in all the works of a Christian man, are imperfect and weak in us, yea and in the most perfect in the world: there are therefore so many doubts, distrusts, vain fears, cares, griefs, perplexities, presumptions, hatreds, envies, choler, and other such like passions & desires, which as spots and blemishes do blemish and deface the hue, 
knowledge sick men are to be advertised.  and beauty of the virtues and graces that are in vs. It is necessary then, when the question is of presenting ourselves before the face and majesty of our God, that we and the sick parties, whom we would comfort and admonish, should begin with an humble acknowledgement, 
First, freely to confess their sins before God.  and confession of our sins. Acknowledging in the first place, the ingratitude and carelessness that hath been in us, to hear, to read, and to meditate in the word of God, and to put it in practise, to profit by the gifts and special graces that he hath given unto us to consider, & always to haue before our eyes, the scope & end of our vocation, that we may address & refer the whole state of our life according thereunto, to walk in his fear, not to defile his image, which in our regeneration was restored and renewed, that we should keep unto him faith & loyalty, which we promised unto him, in the covenant that we made with him, to live, & to die to his glory, to offer up unto him our bodies, 
Rom. 12.2.  as a living sacrifice, holy & acceptable, & not to conform ourselves like unto this world, to live and to walk in the spirit, not to fulfil the lusts of the flesh, to walk as children of the light, to stand fast in that liberty, wherewith Christ hath made us free, to be careful not to be brought again under the yoke of bondage & sin, to fight valiantly against the lusts of our flesh, to resist the devil, to hinder that sin haue not any dominion or rule over us, so well & orderly to rule our whole life & all our carriage, that we may be exempt & free not only from evil, but from all suspicion of evil, to look so diligently, that our liberty be no occasion to the flesh, & that we commit not any thing that may be offensive unto our neighbors, or which may in any sort move our aduersaries to blaspheme the name of God, & of Iesus Christ, & to defame the religion which we profess, not to seek any thing, but only those things which are above, & to haue our whole mind, our understanding, our thoughts, & our affections on heavenly things, & to haue all our conversation on high, always to haue our lamps burning, 
Matth. 25.4.  & our loins trussed or girt, to look for the coming of the Lord, & to be ready to follow him, and by his grace to do all that it shall please him to command us, and continually to pray & to praise God, 
Psal. 38.15.  to depend vpon his providence, and to cast ourselves & our affairs wholly vpon him to resign up unto him wholly our will: and to conclude, to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, & with all our mind, and our neighbours as ourselves. After, having set before the sick party these faults, that he hath committed for to astonish him, & so the better to prepare him, to receive the grace & favour of God: it is then further requisite to set before his eyes, that that he hath justly merited, and deserved for the faults that he hath committed: to wit, 
To set before his eyes the judgements of God, and to make him effectually to feel them.  to be wholly swallowed up of the anger of God, whereof he hath procured unto himself a great weight, by continuing in his sins, and by so long abusing his gentleness and long suffering. Further, to be overwhelmed with the iudgement of God, which is( as the Apostle saith) prepared for all those that disobey God, 
Rom. 2.8.  and especially for those seruants, that knowing his will, and being well instructed in al that that concerneth their duty, make no reckoning to accomplish or to discharge it. moreover, that al the curses contained in the law, & that are ordained against the breakers therof, are ready to fall vpon his head: because that he hath polluted himself, not onely once and away by ignorance or frailty, but by violating the holy ordinances of God, witting, willingly, and that almost as oft as he hath been thereunto invited and solicited by the devil, or by his own concupiscence: and further to be excluded & banished from the kingdom of heaven, 
Rom. 5.12. 1. Cor. 15.50.  because that flesh( according unto which he hath lived) cannot inherit or possess the kingdom of God. For if our first parents were shamefully driven out of Paradise, where they were placed after their creation, by means of their disobedience, what can man now merit by so many rebellions & transgressions, which he daily draweth and drinketh in even as water?  
And further, to be condemned unto eternal death, & for ever to haue his portion with the devil & reprobates, in the fire of hell: forasmuch as that is the reward & wages of sin. And for conclusion, that he hath deserved to be butted in hel, & in the flamme to suffer those torments that the rich man did, 
Luk. 16.23.  for disdaining the poor in their affliction, & for not making any account to aid thē at their need, and for not using the like courtesy, and charity towards thē, that they themselves would haue desired in their necessity. When that a man shal so haue humbled the party that is sick, 
And afterward to cure him with the sweet promises of the gospel.  & out of the law as out of a glass, shal represent and set before him his iudgement & condemnation, & when one shal see him wounded, & pricked with grief at his hart, it is then requisite to apply unto the wound, soft & gentle medicines, & to do as do the masons, who when they hue or cut out a ston, do at the first strike with their hammer great and mighty blows, until they haue cleft it out in sclates, but afterward they do so plain & polish it with their plaining instrument, or former, as they call it: that the blows that before they strook, shal no whit appear: so ought it to be, that after a man hath dealt with the sick party roughly & roundly, & hath by the sharp threatenings of the law, humbled, and brought him down, even unto the gates of hel, a man must thē retire & return, setting before him the sweet & loving promises of the gospel, to the end that by the soupled softness of this oil, the piercing sharpness of the law might be assuaged & delayed: and that the ioy of this good tidings of the grace of god, might make him quiter and clean to pass by, & to forget the sadness & the sorrowful despair that the law had brought him unto. It is convenient therfore, in the first place to show & to confirm this, 
Col. 2.14.  that the obligation & handwriting that was against us, which consisted in ordinances, hath been defaced, abolished, & fastened unto the cross of Christ. And further, that Iesus Christ hath redeemed and ransomed us from the curse of the law, when he was made a curse for us, as it is written, 
Gal. 3.13.  Cursed is every one that hangeth on three, to the end that the blessing of Abraham might come vpon the Gentiles, by Iesus Christ: that we might receive the promise of the spirit by faith: 
Rom. 10.4.  that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness, unto all that beleeue: and finally, 
Rom. 1.4.  that by the perfect obedience that he hath rendered unto God, observing all the commandements without any defect, or omitting the smallest point, even to the undergoing of the cursed death of the cross for us, because that such was the will of his father, he hath procured for us a general pardon and forgiveness of al our debts and bonds, which he hath paid, 
1. Pet. 1.19.  not in gold nor silver, nor precious stones, but by his own blood, which is an invaluable, and incomparable price and ransom. And over and besides that, hath gotten for us righteousness, which being given unto us by the faith, and assurance that we haue in ourselves: as well by his word & sacraments, as by his spirit, bearing record in our hearts, we ought to put away all fear, and fearful apprehensions, that we may haue for our sins, either of death, of the devill, of the rigor & curse of the law, or finally of the ire and iudgement of God. For, for to begin with our sins, being clothed with the righteousness of Iesus Christ, 
Rom. 14.8.9.  we may assure ourselves, that they are not onely covered and hide, so that they shall never appear, nor be discovered before the eyes, 
Esay 43.25.  and face of our God: but that they are wholly razed and wiped out as with a sponge, and dispersed, even as a cloud by the wind, or by the sun. And although that they may be as read as crimson, 
Esay. 1.18.  or as scarlet: yet they shalbe as white as snow( as saith Esay) and before him david, Psalm. 51.7. 
Psal. 51.7.  Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter then snow.  
Neither skilleth it, 
The greatness nor multitude of our sins cannot hinder the effect of the mercy of God.  how many they be in number, so that they be not sins against the holy ghost, nor in what sort, nor maner they haue been committed, whether of ignorance, frailty, or of set purpose: for sin cannot so abound, but that the grace of God, which is purchased for us, by the death & righteousness of Iesus Christ, should much more abound. And although that the sin hath been committed against the majesty of God which is infinite, and that it bee for this cause thought infinite: yet that hindereth not, but that the blood of Christ, which by the eternal spirit offered up himself unto God, without any spot or blemish, should cleanse our consciences from dead works, to serve the living God: as the apostle writeth to the Hebrewes. For the divinity being inseparably united, 
Heb. 9.14.  and joined with the humanity in the person of Iesus Christ, is the cause by his almighty power, that his death hath an infinite power to redeem us, his righteousness to sanctify us, and his life to quicken and to bless us, because that being God as he is, he is more strong than the devill: so are his works more strong and forcible to save us, then are the works of his enemy, that is the devil, to destroy or to overthrow vs. His righteousness hath more power to justify us, then hath sin( whereof the devill is the author) to condemn us: and his integrity to wash, and to cleanse us, then is the foul spirit by his stinch and filth to pollute and defile vs. And his light is more powerful to illuminate, and to enlighten us, then the darkness of the Prince of this world, is to dim, or to darken us: and his truth to instruct us, then are the errors of the father of lies to seduce vs. To be brief, his life hath more virtue to raise us up, and to quicken us, then the envy of this murderer, and mansleaer is to kill and to slea vs. Wherein wee see, that the son of God( as Saint John saith) came not into the world for any other end, 
1. John 3.10.  but to destroy the works of the devill: and that in his blood all our enemies, that is to say, all our sins haue been drowned, even as Pharaoh and the Egyptians that were enemies unto the people of God, haue been already discomfited, and drowned in the read sea.  
This is he that is the stronger man: 
Luke. 11.22.  as Saint Luke saith, which setteth vpon another strong man, whom he bindeth & overcometh, 
Ephes. 4.7.  and from whom he taketh all his armor, wherein he trusted: that is to say, sin, death, and the lawe, leading with him captivity captive when he went up into heaven, in such sort, that the devill being thus disfurnished, and disarmed, hath no more means nor power to hurt us, neither by sin, but that Iesus Christ hath washed us in his blood, nor by death, but that he hath swallowed it up in dying, nor by the law, but that he hath fully satisfied it, in accomplishing it, and in submitting himself unto that curse that was ordained for vs. And although that satan be continually our adversary, and by means of the hatred that he beareth unto us, and of the envy that he hath to hurt us, and to hinder us from attaining unto felicity, from whence he was put by means of his pride, 
1. Pet. 5.8.  go as a roaring lion, seeking whom of us he may devour: yet we may resist him, being steadfast in faith, and remaining rooted in the persuasion that we haue in the forgiveness of our sins, which is eternal, as is the virtue and the power of the death of Iesus Christ, by which this life was obtained for us, and is the privilege and freedom of the Church, unto which all the faithful ought to haue recourse, for to be in safety, when they are pursued by their own consciences, or by any other sergeants of Gods iustice: whereunto also david exhorteth us: Psal. 130.7.8. 
Psal. 130.7.8.  Let Israel wait on the Lord: for with the Lord is mercy, and with him is great redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. And elsewhere. Psal. 51 17 
Psal. 51.17.  The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit: a contrite and a broken heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.  
And Iesus Christ, 
Examples of the mercies of God towards great sinners. Esay. 53.4.  which is the sovereign and chief medicine of our souls, & who came not into the world but to seek that which was lost, and to heal that which was sore, and( as the Prophet saith) to bear our infirmities and diseases, can he haue any greater pleasure and delight, then to see us run unto him, for to be disburdened and discharged from our sins? Did he ever reject Publican or sinner, that came before him? He is even as the Prophet saith. Psal. 103.8. 
Psal. 103.8.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.  
We may easily see this to be true, in the examples of the publican, 
Luke 18.13. Luke 7.47.  of the sinful woman, of the prodigal child, of the good thief, 
Luke 15.20. Luke 23.43. 2. Sam. 12.13. mat. 26.75. Mat. 18.27.  of david, of Peter, of Paul, and of the servant that was indebted unto his master ten thousand talents, which were forgiven him as soon as he acknowledged and confessed the debt, 
1 The mercies of God are confirmed by arguments, taken from the end why God sent his son into the world.  and desired his master to haue pity vpon him. Alas, to what end hath the father sent his son into the world? Why hath he annoynted him with the holy Ghost? Is it not to preach unto the captives, that he is come from heaven to pay their ransom, and to bring them from captivity, and to the prisoners, that he is come to open unto them the prisons, and to them that are in debt, that he is come to discharge them, and to the sick, that he is come to heal them? And the Apostles, which he sent through out the whole world, 
2 From the preaching of the gospel.  as he was sent of his father, to what end had they their commission and commandment? Was it not to preach the gospel: that is, forgiveness of sins unto every creature in the name of Iesus Christ? unless then that we should think that their labour was in vain, and the pains likewise of the true and faithful ministers that succeeded them, wee may undoubtedly assure ourselves of the forgiveness of our sins: Nay, which is more, 
3 From the annihilating of our Lord Iesus Christ. 1. Cor. 15.14. Mat. 1.23.  if in believing in him, our sins should not bee forgiven us, then this would follow, that the birth, death, resurrection, ascension, intercession, nay, the whole ministery of Iesus Christ, should bee made of no force, and should bee utterly fruitless and unprofitable, and that our faith should be in vain. moreover, how can wee beleeue, 
4 From his office.  that he is our Iesus and our immanuel, unless he save us from our sins, and by this means mitigate the enmity that is betwixt us and him, that letteth and hindereth him, that he cannot associate, 
Esay. 59.3.  & join himself with us? Furthermore, what assurance should we haue that the new covenant that he hath made with us, 
Heb. 8.10.11.12. Iere. 3.7.  should be confirmed and ratified by his death and bloodshedding, if he haue not quiter forgotten all our iniquities, and hath not written his laws in our hearts by his spirit, forasmuch as these are the promises, and conditions, by which the covenant was drawn and made? What fruit and profit should come unto us by the virtue of his priesthood, and of the sacrifice that he offered unto his father, for our redemption, if we as yet remain in our sins? And how can he be said to be the atonement for our sins, 
1. John 2.2.  and not for our sins onely, but also for the sins of the whole world? How can we assure ourselves, that he is our mediator and advocate, and under this assurance go unto the throne of grace, 
Heb. 4.16.  to the end that me may obtain mercy, and find grace to be holpen in time of need? We are not therefore to doubt of the forgiveness of our sins: and as david saith, Psal. 103.12. 
Psal. 103.12.  As far as the East is from the West: so far hath he removed our sins from vs.  
And how can wee doubt hereof, seeing wee carry this grace printed, and sealed, not onely in our harts and consciences, 
The comfort that we may haue by the sacraments.  but also in our bodies, by two great seals of the chancery: as it were, of the kingdom of heaven: to wit, baptism, and the lords supper? That the sick party do assure himself, that believing the forgiveness of sins, he shall by and by obtain it, for it cometh unto us according to our faith. And Saint Ambrose saith, that, all that we beleeue, we obtain. For wee can not beleeue that that which God hath said and promised unto us, who is faithful, 
Rom. 3.3. An answer to this objection viz. that the graces of God may seem not to be of such great force: because they are not alike available unto all.  and thoroughly true in his promises, should bee by the infidelity and infirmity of men abolished, so that it should not bee true. And howsoever that the wicked in rejecting and contemning the word and promises of God, do by their contempt and obstinacy hinder that the word cannot bring forth it effect in them, in showing the power that it should haue to save them, if they did beleeue it: yet this can not bee prejudicial to the faithful which receive and obey it, neither to hinder them from believing, and receiving it in their hearts, nor from quickening them thereby: no more then can a man that hideth his eyes from the light, and shuneth it, hinder that another man opening his eyes should not enjoy the light and be enlightened. For the light and colours are objects of the eye: which being opened, and well, doth presently conceive them: so the promise of God is the object of faith, which maketh that man doth presently receive it when it is shewed unto him, and as soon as he heareth it published, because that by the spirit of God his heart is prepared before: for otherwise, if it should remain in it stony nature the spiritual seed could neither take roote nor fructify, no more then material seed cast vpon stones, or vpon ground untilled. The sick party then, 
The application that a christian may make unto himself of the promises of God is most certain.  being thus resolved for the forgiveness of all his sins, need not any whit to doubt but that he is in the favour of God, and that from henceforth he may infallibly, and undoubtedly hope for eternal life, 
1 Because that that which might hinder our salvation, is taken away.  and for all the happy felicity that God hath promised unto his children. For there is nothing that can stop or hinder us from felicity but onely sin, which not being imputed unto us: but being covered, and utterly blotted out, what is there that can further hurt us, or drive God from us? 
Ephes. 2.12. Psal 36.9.  If that by faith( as it is said) we are inseparably united and knit unto him, who is the fountain of life, and the store of all riches, what then can we wish, 
2 We are joined with God, whose love is everlasting. Rom. 8.1.  that we shall not readily & speedily find in him? What wo, or misery can wee find, being in his grace? Then are wee assured, that the good will that he hath born unto us, he will for ever continue, and that there is no creature in the world, that can turn it from us( as Saint Paul writeth to the Romans) I am persuaded, that neither death, 
Rom. 8.38.  nor life, nor Angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth, nor any creature, shall bee able to separate us from the love of God, which he beareth unto us in Christ Iesus our Lord. And a little before in this Chapter: who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? every man then that hath been once engrafted by faith into the body of Iesus Christ, and by consequent adopted by God, received into grace, and is in the house as a child, can never afterward finally depart from thence: but as he is assured of his election by his vocation, and justification, which follow election: so is he assured of his glorification, which is the conclusion, and as it were the crowning of our salvation. 
Rom. 5.9. Rom. 11.29.  For the gifts and calling of God, are without repentance, as the Apostle plainly writeth unto the Romans Chapter 8. ver. 30. Whom he did predestinate, them also he called, and whom he called, them also he justified, and whom he justified, them also he glorified. And howsoever there be many vices, and infirmities in us, yea, and that it often cometh to pass that we fall foully, 
God doth not so forsake us that our faith should fail.  as we see it befell unto david, to Peter, and Paul, and almost unto all the saints, yea to the most perfect that ever were: yet there is ever one point vpon which we ought evermore to be grounded, and which ought greatly to comfort and strengthen us against all the assaults & temptations of satan, which is that, that Saint John saith, 
1. John 3.9.  that every one that is born of God sinneth not( that is unto death.) For the seed of him remaineth in him, and cannot sin, because he is born of god. Which thing, he better proveth elsewhere. 
1. John. 5.17.  Al unrighteousness ( saith he) is sin, but there is a sin which is not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of god, sinneth not: but he that is begotten of god, God keepeth him, and that evil one toucheth him not. For thereby he giveth sufficiently to understand, that faith and the word of God, which are as it were the soul and the groundwork, are never utterly razed nor plucked out of the hearts of the elect, and therefore they cannot sin that sin that Saint John calleth a sin unto death. For albeit that faith oftentimes be as it were butted in them, having neither moving nor feeling, no more then a dead thing: yet is it not utterly quenched, no more then is fire covered with ashes, although it give neither light nor heat: or then is a three which in winter time, when the sap is drawn up into the roote, bringeth forth neither bud, leaf nor fruit, to show that there is any life in it, which yet notwithstanding is covered, and hide within the roote. mark therefore the reason, for which david speaking of the faithful man, saith: Psal. 37. 
Psal. 37.39.40.  ver. 39.40 But the salvation of the righteous men shal be of the Lord: he shal be their strength in the time of trouble. For the Lord shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and shall save them because they trust in him. And in psalm. 89. verse 34. 
Psal. 89.34.  My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. And a little before in the verses 28.29.30.31.32.33.34. 
Psal. 89.28.30.31.32.33.34.  My mercy shall I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the dayes of heaven. But if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgements: If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stroke. Yet my loving kindness will I not take from him, neither will I falsify my truth. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. And Psal. 23.6. 
Psal. 23.6.  doubtless kindness and mercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life, and I shall remain a long season in the house of the Lord. And in Psal. 30.5. 
Psal. 30.5.  For he endureth but a while in his anger: but in his favour is life: weeping may abide at evening, but ioy cometh in the morning. And in Psal. 65.4. 
Psal. 65.4.  Blessed is he whom thou choosest, and causest to come to thee: he shall dwell in thy courts, and we shal be satisfied with the pleasures of thine house, even of thine holy Temple. And to conclude, 
Psal. 119.116  in Psal. 119. ver. 116. Stablish me according to thy promise, that I may live, and disappoint me not of mine hope.  
It shall be requisite then, to allege unto the sick party all these places of scripture, and other such like, on every side to repair his faith again, & with all necessary furniture to fence and arm him, against all the fiery sleights and darts of that wicked one, so that on every side he may avoid them, so that satan find not any weak or naked place, whereby he may wound or hurt him. For it is not to be doubted, but that satan will then( that is, in the time of sickness) use all his power, and all his policy to shake our faith, and to overthrow us: yet the means for the sick and afflicted party to defend himself is, always to keep him in his castle, and never to depart from the promises of God, whatsoever satan shall object against vs. For when satan shal seem to batter the castle of our faith, which oftentimes even in the dearest children of God seemeth to be weak, & like unto the fire covered with ashes, then are we to run unto the other castle or hold of our salvation( which is indeed the more sure:) namely, to the promises of God, which never alter nor change, but are as God is, certain and sure. Let us therefore inform the sick party of that that Esay saith, 
Esay 45.22.  that Israel is saved by the Lord, the eternal God of their salvation: so that for ever hereafter we shal never be confounded nor ashamed. And further elsewhere, That the heauens shall vanish away as smoke and the earth shall wear as a garment, and the inhabitance thereof likewise shall be abolished: but my salvation shalbe for ever, 
4 The feeling that we haue sometimes of the anger of God, should not led us unto distrust.  and my righteousness shall never fail. And to the end that the tokens which he hath sometimes shewed unto us of his anger, should not breed in our hearts such a great fear, as whereupon there should follow a distrust of his goodness and of those promises of salvation, which he hath made unto us: let us hear that that the Prophet Esay speaketh of in his 54. 
Esay 54.7.8.  chapter, where he speaketh unto the Church in the name of God. I haue forsaken thee for a little space, but I will gather thee again in great compassion. I haue for a little while, as in a moment of mine indignation, hide my face from thee, but I haue had compassion on thee, according to mine everlasting favour, saith the Lord thy redeemer. Neither shall this be as the waters of Noah, for as I swore that I would never make the flood of Noah again to flow over the face of the earth: so haue I sworn that I will never be angry with thee again, neither will I any more reprove thee. For though that the mountains be moved, and though that the little hills tremble: yet my mercy shal never go from thee, and the covenant of my peace shall never fail, saith the Lord which hath compassion on thee. 
Hose. 2.19.20.  God in Hosea for this purpose saith unto his church, that he will marry it for ever in faith, truth, mercy, & iudgment: signifying thereby unto it, that the covenant that he will make with it, shal be sure & inviolable, and such a one as he hath grounded in himself: that is to say, in his mercy, truth, & iustice: onely requiring this of the church, that it should walk in uprightness before him, & that in all her ways, she should follow soundness & sincerity, alienating, & estranging herself as far as possibly she can, from al filthiness & hypocrisy: which thing is indeed diligently to be noted. For the devil, to the end that he may astonish us, & make us doubt of the effect of the promises of God when we are ready to come into iudgement, 
5 Our unworthiness and unkindness cannot hinder God from finishing that that he hath begun.  being summoned, and our cause being in hand ready to be heard, if he see that we stand sure and steadfast, and that we pled or put in our answer, that we are enfranchised under the word of the gospel, wherein God offereth us his grace, he will there jump and accord with us, that God is true in all that he saith: and likewise, that by his promises, he offereth unto us grace and life: but this then he will object, namely, that he is hindered from accomplishing and performing unto us that that he hath promised us, by our indignity, and unworthiness, because that we having so many times offended him, yea and that since the time that he hath enlightened and regenerated us, by the knowledge of his truth, and hath shewed us this favour, as to entertain us into his house, and to adopt us for his children, we haue yet by our ingratitude made ourselves uncapable of his benefits, and unworthy that he should effect those promises that he hath made unto vs. Now for the avoiding of this temptation, which is the most forcible & dangerous that we can be assaulted withall: we are first to consider, that as the onely good pleasure of God was at the first the onely motive & motion, that lead God to make this covenant with us, and to offer unto us the promise of salvation, whereby he hath shewed himself to be our God, and to receive us to be his people: so his grace is the only means to stir him up to accomplish and perform that his promise, and favour towards vs. Whereupon S. Paul saith, 
Rom. 6.23.  that the reward of sin is eternal death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Howbeit, that for the right disposing and ordering of the Antithesis, or contrary speech, it may seem that it should haue been said, for the fit opposing of one member against another, that life is the reward of our righteousness, as death is the reward of our sins. But to the end, that we might be given to understand, that life, which is the effect of the promise, is also free as well as is the promise that he made unto us, he therefore wholly attributeth it unto the gift of God, without making any mention of works or merites. whereunto is that to be referred, 
Rom. 4.67. Psal. 32.1.2  which is alleged in the Epistle to the romans, and in the psalms: where david sheweth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Psal. 32.1.2. Seeing then that life and blessedness are not given unto us, in lieu of the favour, merit, or holinesse that is in man, but by the onely grace of God: it therfore followeth thereupon, that as the price and dignity of our works cannot procure unto us everlasting life, so our unworthiness cannot prevent nor hinder vs. For it is the mere free gift of God, which he giveth to whom it pleaseth him, & that according to his mercy, & not after our merits or righteousnesses, which are not only imperfect, but also tainted and blemished with many corruptions, because that our hearts, from whence they proceed, can never be so purged and cleansed, whilst we are in this world, but that there will still remain many corruptions wherewith they are defiled, which is the cause why the Prophet so earnestly prayeth unto god, that he would not enter into iudgment with him, Psal. 143.2. 
Psal. 143.2.  And enter not into iudgement with thy seruant, for in thy sight shall none that liveth be justified. And elsewhere, Psa. 130.3. 
Psal. 130.3.  If thou o Lord, straitly markest iniquities, o Lord, who shall stand?  
And that that Aug. saith in the book of his confessions, is a very worthy & memorable sentence, which is this: Wo be unto all our righteousnesses, if they be examined & judged without mercy. But yet this cannot hinder but that God may give unto us eternal life, as he hath promised, that we might know, feel & confess our unworthiness. For there is nothing that can make us capable, &( if it may be so said) worthy of the graces & blessings of our god, as the acknowledgement & feeling that we haue in our selves of our great indignity. And indeed what worthiness could one find in the thief, that hanged on the cross by our saviour Christ, who had continued in his ungodliness and wickedness even unto the last point of his life, without ever knowing of his saviour, until the very hour that he was ready to yield up the ghost? And yet he had no sooner opened his mouth, 
Luke. 23.44.  to confess his sins in general, and to crave mercy of Iesus Christ, but it was presently said unto him, this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. What worthiness was there likewise in the poor Publican, 
Luke. 18.13.  who for the great shane and horror that he had for his life past, durst not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven, and yet assoon as ever he began to remember how pitiful and miserable his case was, and desired God that he would haue pity vpon him, presently al his sins were forgiven him, and he returned unto his house justified? What worthiness could one find in S. Paul, then mandements. Whereupon this is to be noted, that he promiseth unto his seruants none other recompense for al their services, but to show his mercy towards them, and their posterity. The like may be observed out of the 24. Psal. where the Prophet speaking of those that shal ascend into the mountain of the Lord, saith, Psal. 24.4.5.6. 
Psal. 24.4.5.6  even he that hath innocent hands and a pure heart, which hath not lift up his mind unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully: He shal receive a blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, of them that seek thy face, this is jacob. Selah.  
This the Prophet saith, to give us to understand, that for all the labour and endeavour that we can do to obey God, to purge our heartes from all wicked thoughts and affections, and our hands from all evil works, to humble us under the hand of God, and to presume nothing, neither of ourselves, nor of our virtues: yet for al this we cannot hereby ascend into the mountain of the Lord, but it must be onely by the favour of that grace which he shall show unto us, and of the mercy that it shall please him to exercise towards vs. And this serveth so much the more to comfort us, and wholly to ascertain and assure our hope, that it is grounded vpon his mercy & truth, which are steadfast and vnmoueable, and not vpon the worthiness of our works and graces, which are very impefect. Now then, when we shall see the sick party well resolved, 
4 He ought to be armed against the fearful apprehension of death, and for this cause he is first to know,  concerning the forgiveness of all his sins, and that in his heart there shal not remain any fear of them, which may any more trouble his conscience: then it is necessary that we proceed further, as to arm and fence him against the horror, 
1 That death hath been slain by Iesus Christ, so that unto the faithful it is no death but a sleep.  and fearful apprehension that he may haue of death, in showing unto him by the word of God, that death hath been slain and swallowed up by the death of Iesus Christ: who speaking by the mouth of the Apostle, saith unto death: O death, 
1. Cor. 15.54.55.56.  I will be thy death. For seeing that the prick or sharpness of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, Iesus Christ having accomplished the law for us, hath also by this means taken away the sting from death, so that it shall never offend or hurt us any more. And howsoever the decree and ordinance of God stand true and sure, that all men shall die, and as they came from the dust, so shall they return thither again: yet indeed to speak properly, the separation of the body and soul in a faithful man, ought not to be termed and called death. And so Iesus Christ speaking unto his disciples of Lazarus which was dead, 
John. 11.11.  said unto them, that he slept. This phrase or kind of speech is very usual in the old Testament, to signify the death of the fathers. Saint Paul useth it also, when he writeth unto the Corinthians and Thessalonians, 
1. Cor. 15.51. 1. Thess. 4.15.  concerning them that shall depart before the day of the resurrection, that he calleth it sleeping. But he speaketh yet more excellently in the Epistle unto the Philippians, 
Phil. 1.22.23.  where he calleth it a separation, and a disioyning of the soul from the body. Which speech likewise accordeth very well with the purpose of Iesus Christ: who going about to warn his disciples of his death approaching, saith unto them, that the hour approacheth and draweth nigh, that he must pass from this world to go unto God his father, calling this bodily life by the name of a passage, 
John 13.3.  by which we pass from the vale of misery to enter into the ioy and possession of Paradise: that is to say, to a place of assured rest, and full of all delight. Which thing in deed the ancient Greekes would show by the very name that they gave unto death, calling it Thanatos: which in the etymology given by Themistocles, is as much in the vulgar tongue as, gone up unto God: and they call it also Teleuté, which signifieth as much as, Consecration: as if we should say, that death is but a solemn ceremony, by which the faithful are wholly consecrated, and dedicated unto God, to the end that hereafter they should render unto him no other exercise, but to sing, and set forth the praises of God, and to sanctify his blessed and holy name. And for this cause Iesus Christ calleth it sometimes by the name of baptism, because that by death we pass, as by an haven, and as it were over waters, to arrive at that place of rest and pleasure whereat we aim.  
And the body, which the Greekes call 〈◇〉, thereby to signify that it is unto the soul as a sepulchre: which they derive of a constrain very much like unto the other, to wit, of 〈◇〉, which signifieth that during the time of it being here, it is as it were butted & interred: when it pleaseth God to take it unto himself, is it not as if he should make it to come forth of the grave, and raise it up again?  
What occasion then can men haue so to shun and to fly from this same bodily death, 
2 That death bringeth unto the faithful, great profit both for the body & the soul  and to be so afraid of it, seeing that by separating the soul from the body, it bringeth it out of prison, and sendeth it unto the liberty of heaven, there to be gathered even unto the bosom of Iesus Christ, and to enjoy with him, and with al the blessed spirites, those eternal consolations, which are the promises reserved, and kept for the elect and faithful? And the body on the otherside shall lye in the earth, as in a bed: there for to sleep and to take his ease, so that the sleep thereof shall never be broken nor troubled, neither with unquiet dreams, nor by cares and vexations, nor by fears, nor by alarms & bruits of war, nor by any other occasion, and that until the day of the resurrection, 
1. Cor. 15.53.54.  when it shall bee awakened by the sound of the trumpet of God, and shall be sent unto life, having left in the earth his mortality, corruption, dishonour and weakness, being clothed with glory, power, immortality, and incorruption. Wherein a man may see, that there is no reason, why men should be so greatly afraid of bodily death: which for a while separateth the soul from the body, for the great profit both of the one & of the other. For, by this means the body is out of great danger, not onely of sin, and of the miseries that it draweth with it: but also from all temptations, lying and resting in the earth, in a sure and certain hope of the resurrection, and life eternal. And howsoever it seemeth to be wholly deprived of life in the earth, because that the soul departing from it, leaveth it without moving or feeling: yea and so that it rotteth and returneth unto dust: yet being always accompanied by the spirit and infinite power of God, which quickeneth all things, it is not utterly disjoined from life, as saint Paul saith: If the spirit of him which raised Iesus Christ from the dead dwell in you, 
Rom. 8.11.  he which raised Christ from the dead, will also quicken your mortal bodies, because of his spirit which dwelleth in you. And this is the reason, why elsewhere, going about lively to describe unto us the resurrection to come, he setteth it forth unto us under the figure of a seed which is cast into the earth, which hath in itself life: 
1. Cor. 25.42.  although that it being in the garner hath no show of it, and having it in our hand, we cannot deem of it but as of a thing which is dead: yet when it is cast into the ground, 
3 That it taketh not away from the bodies of the faithful the seed of life.  where as a man would think, that the life that it should haue, should be utterly extinguished, & choked, it sheweth itself and groweth, so that of rottenness as it were, one may perceive a blade coming, which afterward taketh nourishment & groweth, which are the effects, & proofs of the life that was in it, before it was put into the earth. And even as god in the scripture nameth himself the god of Abraham, yea after his death, & that he is not the god of the dead, but of the living: so thereupon it followeth, that not onely the soul of Abraham, 
Mat. 22.32.  which was bought with the death of his son, was yet living when it was separated from the body: but that also the body which partaketh in this self same redemption, which is united and incorporated into Iesus Christ for to be of his members, & which finally was consecrated, and dedicated unto God, that he should dwell therein as in his temple, 
1. Cor. 3.17.  is not then deprived of life when it is rotten in the earth: because it is always accompanied with the grace of God, and couched and comprised as well as the soul, within the compass of that eternal covenant that he hath made with his people, which covenant is the very roote and fountain of life, not only to the souls: but also to the bodies of all the faithful. And if( as S. John saith in his revelation) that those are blessed which die in the Lord, 
revel. 14.13  and that there be no blessedness without life then one of these two consequents will necessary follow, that either blessedness cometh not to the body, or else, if it do come, that it is not exempt and free from it, when it lieth in the grave. For although that the body, because it is comsumed with worms, in that state sheweth not any appearance of life: yet doth it always keep life in it, as a seed, & a blade, which shall appear at the day of the resurrection, when the spirit of God, spreading his infinite power over our bodies, shall raise them, and shall deck them with that glory and excellency, which God hath promised unto his elect. And even as in an egg there may be a young one: and so by consequent life hidden, which appeareth when the young one cometh forth, and by means of heat is hatched: so immortality and life, unto the communicating and partaking whereof, both our bodies and souls are called, when that by faith we haue received the Gospel( which is the word of life, and an incorruptible seed) shall be discovered and disclosed in the last day, by the power of our God, which shall renew us, as he doth the heauens, the earth, and all other creatures, which shall be then wholly delivered and set free from the bondage of corruption. Whereof we are assured by our baptism which hath been administered unto us in the name of the father, of the son, and of the holy ghost. For the water which hath been sprinkled vpon our bodies, and as the scripture calleth it, 
Rom. 6.4.5.6.  the sprinkling or washing of regeneration, is not to signify unto us, and to assure us, that our souls onely are washed, and cleansed in the blood of Christ Iesus, by the forgiveness of our sins: but also our bodies: and that they both together, being covered and clad with the righteousness and innocency of the son of God: yea, and further being sanctified by his spirit, are presently set in the state and possession of life, and are utterly freed and delivered from the slavery, and servitude of death, which hath no power( as we haue before said) but only where sin reigneth, which is the onely cause of death.  
The holy Supper of the Lord, wherein by faith receiving the bread & wine, which are given unto us by the m●●ister, we are received unto the communicating of the flesh and blood of Iesus Christ, yea and so united, and incorporated into him, as that for ever( as saith saint John) he abideth in us, and we in him, doth it not likewise assure us, that being inseparably joined with life, and with the means of life,( which is Iesus Christ) we can not die, neither in our souls, nor in our bodies, by means of this union which is common unto both? Our bodily death then ought not to seem unto us so horrible, & so fearful as it is unto many, who are as fearful thereof as are little children of a mask or ugly visard. For if a mother show herself unto her child, with a visard that is monstrous, and ugly to behold, the child may well bee afraid, and may run away crying: but as soon as ever she shall uncover her face, and that the child shall know her again, he will run to her, to kiss her, and embrace her: so then and refresh their sight: so, for to refresh and comfort our spirites, when we feel them to fail and to faint in us, by means of the fearful apprehension that the law giveth unto us of death, we ought to behold the form thereof in the mirror of the gospel, wherein Christ Iesus hath set it forth unto us more loving, more gracious, and more amiable, then Moses in his law, who hath described it to be fearful, and ugly, so that now any more it hath neither any sting for to prick us, nor any chains, cords, or bands to hold us under the power thereof. For Iesus Christ by his rising again hath broken them asunder, 
judge. 15.14.  even as Samson did by a marvelous great force, who when the Philistines had with strong cables, and cords fastened and bound him so straightly, and so strongly, that they had thought he should never haue escaped their hands, he presently broke them, and made no more account of them, then of flaxen threedes: so that they were then deceived when they had thought with great violence, and force, to haue rushed vpon him, in seeing that he broke their bands, as easily as another man would break a thread that were half broken, or half burnt. So death thinking by making our saviour Christ to die, to haue clean vanquished him, and to haue brought him under his power, and so to haue assured and established his empire and kingdom, that it should never be shaken: contrariwise, death found itself conquered and abated, yea and that in such sort, that it could never be again exalted: 
1. Cor. 15.54.  as the Apostle writeth to the Corinthians, that death was swallowed up in victory: that is, she hath lost that conquest that she had thought to haue had, when she made our saviour Christ to die. 
6 We are not only not to fear, but rather to wish for death.  Death therefore ought not to be fearful unto us, for the reasons that before we haue laid down, but rather to be desired for causes which hereafter we shal show. For first to begin with, it setteth our souls at liberty, 
1 Because it freeeth us from pain.  and delivereth them from torments agonies, fears, distrusts, cares, sorrows & desires, wherewith they are cruelly tormented, whilst they are weakened in the filthy prisons of our sinful, mortal, and corruptible bodies. And further it delivereth likewise our bodies from infinite & innumerable dangers that they are subject unto, both by sea, by land, and by all other places, where ever they shal come. And further, they are freed from sundry sorts of sicknesses & diseases, which do wear & comsume thē with most fearful griefs, and likewise from necessity & pain of traveling, whereunto they are subject, by means of sin. And finally, from the same perplexity, & continual care that men haue to search, & to seek after the means how to be nourished, clad, lodged, and well provided for in the things that necessary they stand in need of for their maintenance. 
2 But especially because it freeeth us from sin.  Neither is this al the benefit the death doth bring unto us: but further it dischargeth us from the danger of sinning any more, & from being tempted of the devil, of the world, and of our own concupiscence, which never cease to provoke us to the doing of evil, and which do incessantly stir us up to offend God, and by this means to bring vpon us all the curses which in the law he threateneth against all those that transgress it, and disobey God. With what earnestness, and fervency? with what sighs and groans, did the Apostle desire and demand of God, 
2. Cor. 12.7.8.  that he might be delivered from that prick that he felt in his flesh, which was the minister of satan to buffet him? And after the long and lamentable complaint that he made of that same law which he saw in his members, 
Rom. 7.24.  striving against the law of his spirit, and leading him captive unto the law of sin which was in his members, in the conclusion of his discourse, with what an high and heavy cry, coming even from the depth and bottom of his heart crieth he forth, and saith: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Whereby we may perceive what grief this holy man had to see in himself the tyranny of sin, and to feel in himself the force thereof, and the violence that it offered unto him, constraining and compelling him to do the evil that he hated, and to leave undone that good, which with his heart he wished and desired. O happy therefore and blessed death, 
3 Because it separateth us from the company of the wicked.  which dischargeth a man from such a cruel, and cumbersome bondage! Who also can sufficiently consider what a mischief and misery it is to live: yea and that in the midst of the church, amongst those that are barbarous, and amongst such as the Apostle foretold of, which should come and spring up in these latter times? That is to say, 
2. Tim. 3.2.3.4.5.  amongst men that are louers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, cursed speakers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, contemners of God, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, intemperate, fierce, despisers of them that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, louers of pleasures more then louers of God, having a show of godliness, but having denied the power thereof? And on the other side to be environed, & on every side enclosed with sworn, and deadly enemies of the Gospel of Iesus Christ, and of his Church, which are dogs, and outrageous dwarves and mad, despising God and his graces, being curious, violent, outrageous, profane, blasphemers, having neither faith, nor fear, nor law, nor conscience that may repress, or restrain their malice: who I say, can sufficiently conceive or express, what a hellish grief it is to live in the midst of such a froward and perverse nation, to see, and to be an eye-witnesse of their abominable impiety and iniquity, and to hear, & to be an ea●e witness of the horrible blasphemies that they without either shane or fear do vomit & breath out against heaven, against the throne & majesty of God, who, I say, in the sight and sense hereof would not be weary of his life? And it were in a glimpse, but a little shadow of his glory, they were presently so ravished and carried away with the pleasure thereof, that even in a moment, forgetting all other things, they desired in lieu of al other felicity, nothing else, but that that ioy & pleasure which at that time they did perceive, might always be continued unto them. Now then, we may well think that if that a little dram, or as it were a drop of the life & glory to come, were so forcible as to ravish these three disciples, and to make thē ready to forsake themselves, what ioy thē shal we haue, when as according to our hope, we shall haue the whole ston, & shalbe as it were drenched in the brook: or to speak more properly, in the sea of pleasure and perfect contentment, when that everlasting ioy that the Prophet speaketh of, shalbe sprinkled vpon our heads? Furthermore this ioy shalbe doubled, when together with Iesus Christ we shall see all the beautiful and blessed company of Angels, Archangels, principalities, powers, patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and generally al the blessed spirits of the triumphant church, which is not otherwise occupied and employed, but in continual singing of praise and thankes unto God: saying, Holy, holy, holy, 
revel. 4.8. & 5.13.  Lord God, which was, which is, and which is to come. And unto him which sitteth vpon the throne, and to the lamb, be honour, 
7. A comparison of the ioy that we may haue in this world, in seeing the Lord praised in his church, to set forth that that we shall haue in heaven.  praise, glory and power for ever and ever. It was heretofore a marvelous great pleasure and delight, to see the assembly of all the tribes of the people of Israel in jerusalem, when Salomon after the finishing of the building of the temple, would solemnly dedicate it with an infinite number of holocausts and other sacrifices, with perfumes, incense, and sweet odours, with prayers & praises, and with such an applause, and delight of the people, as the like was never heard nor seen before.  
There were moreover, afterward two other notable assemblies in jerusalem, which are very memorable & famous in the scripture, 
1. King. 8.63.64.65.  one under the reign of Hezechias, and the other under josias, 
2. Chron. 30.1.2.3. & 2. King. 23.1.2.3. &c.  when that these two good Princes being moved with a zeal of godliness, & of the service of God, which had been miserablie corrupted by the idolatry and impiety of their predecessors, did with courageous & bold hearts enterprise to purge that holy land of those pollutions & filthy whoredoms, as well corporal as spiritual, wherewith it was infected, removing the wicked houses, & the Idols, from out all the country of judea, & abolishing all the false services that their fathers and hypocrites had invented and established, either contrary, or over and beyond the warrant and word of God. And over and besides this, for the renewing of the covenant of God, which almost was clean butted, and defaced in the hearts of the people, they called together all the inhabitants of the country, with whom, after the public reading that they caused to be of the law, they celebrated the Passeouer with as great a feast and solemnity, as ever it was heard or seen of before. And it is not to be doubted, but that every man of any good and godly heart, seeing such a company assembled, and that for such a good and holy end, would even leap with ioy, beholding God in the midst of his holy people, hearing the statutes that were by them renewed, and the solemn promises and protestations that they made, especially concerning God, assuring his people always of his favour, and concerning the people, promising unto him likewise that they would never change or alter: but always to continue in his covenant, without any departing from his service, nor hereafter to establish any other estate, but to honour him alone, and to celebrate and to sanctify his name. Although that those famous assemblies of the militant Church, whereof a man may see some resemblances in these latter times,( and should see more if Antichrist and his adherents did not hinder it) are the most beautiful, excellent, and longed-for things, that can be seen vpon the face of the earth( as the Prophet saith, psalm 26.8. 
Psal. 26.8.  O Lord I haue loved the habitation of thine house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. And elsewhere, psalm 42.1.2. 
Psal. 42.1.2.  As the hart brayeth for the riuers of water, so panteth my soul after thee O God. 2. My soul thirsteth for God, even for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the presence of God? And psalm 92.1.2. 
Psal. 92.1.2.  It is a good thing to praise the Lord, and to sing unto thy name, O most high. 2 To declare thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy truth in the night.  
All these places of scriptures, and many other do sufficiently show, in what account the Prophet had those holy assemblies, that he preferred them before all other profit or pleasure. And to speak as the truth is, every man which knoweth & feeleth in himself, what is the love, goodness, sweetness, mercy, clemency, gentleness, wisdom, faithfulness, patience, truth, power, greatness, majesty, iustice, liberality, and other sovereign & excellent graces of God, knoweth not how sufficiently to content himself with thinking, preaching, celebrating, adoring, and admiring of them, and to move not only Angels, and al the host of heaven thereunto: but also all the elements, all living creatures, al plants, yea & the senseless creatures to magnify his name, and infinitely to rejoice, when they shall hear God to be exalted and glorified. For although that the praises which men living here in the world sing unto God, cannot be so rightly, nor so holily performed, as were to be wished: for being always imperfect, as we are, unto what measure or degree of faith, or charity soever we can attain unto: and further, having in us such a rebellious flesh, as which continually fighteth against the spirit, and hindereth, and with-holdeth it when it would lift up itself unto God, it is impossible that we should hear the word of God with that zeal & attention as were requisite, or likewise that we should render unto him our confessions, prayers, & thanks, with that lowliness and affection as we ought: yet when we hear the sound of his spiritual psalms, hymns, and songs, to sound and to bee heard in the midst of the assembly, from the mouth of the faithful, although they be weak, frail, poor, and miserable sinners, &c: We cease ●ot to be ravished, and as it were w●●●ight carried beyond ourselves, with that great secondary that we find to be in our heartes. What may we then think of that pleasure that we hope to receive in the heauens, when our souls departed from the bodies, and being ascended on high, shall hear this sweet music and harmony of the angels, and of other blessed spirits with one accord singing, and setting forth the praises of God with such a sweet and melodious sound, that the delight and ioy that they shall receive, shall make them forthwith to forget not onely all other desires, but also all other pleasures. Neither is there any more fit comparison betwixt all other joys and the joys of heaven, then is betwixt a drop of water and the sea, or betwixt the light of the stars, and the bright shining beams of the sun: A drop of water powred into the sea appeareth not, neither is the light of the stars seen when the sun beginneth to shine, and to sand forth his beams vpon the earth. moreover, when we shall die in the faith of our Lord, we are presently blessed: that is, we haue then no more affections or desires which are not holy, and which are not, yea & that from the very instant and moment of our death fully satisfied and contented: which is no small happiness, in that that hereafter we shall haue our flesh no more contrarying the spirit, nor our affections rebelling against reason, nor the Law of our members striving against the law of God: but that all tumults and troubles being quieted in our heartes, we shall haue our soul wholly spiritual, calm, peaceable, wholly living unto God, and which shal be so glued and united unto him, that it can never any more, either by temptation, or by any other means be disjoined neither from his love, or from his service, or from the beholding of his face. Is there any thing more pleasant to see unto, then to behold a city well ordered in policy, where all the burgesses and inhabitants are of one mind, and firmly joined and knit together by true and sure amity, which giveth not any place unto any wrong, hurt, debate, quarrels, seditions, divisions, tumults, or strifes whatsoever, but upholdeth itself, and liveth amiablie, and lovingly? Is there likewise any thing so to be desired, as to see an house well ordered and ruled, where the father and mother of the family, the children, the men-seruants and the maidservants, walking altogether in the fear and obedience of God, do contain and keep themselves unto their dueties without either going beyond, or coming short of that rule and measure that God hath given unto them in his Law? Saint Paul in many places setteth down unto us the excellent harmony that is betwixt the members of a mans body, 
Rom. 12.4.5.  and the mutual community or society that is amongst them, 
1. Cor. 12.12.  for their faculties and several powers, so that the one is not envious at the dignity and excellency of another, or that the more excellent member should despise his fellow for his base or low place: by this comparison going about, to show unto the church the fraternity and just proportion, which ought to be amongst the members thereof, for the health and preservation of every one of them in particular, and of the whole body in general: which thing is the most excellent, and agreeable thing that may be seen amongst men. It is also a thing very delightful and pleasant, to hear a Lute well tuned and sweetly played vpon by a cunning musician: but yet there is nothing more pleasant, then a soul rightly tuned in all her parts and faculties, when the understanding thinketh vpon nothing but vpon God, and the will doth neither love, desire, nor aspire unto any thing but unto him, and our memory remembreth nothing but that that concerneth him, as it cometh in our minds, when having left the body, it is received into Paradise: 
2. Cor. 5 1.2.  for then it is all filled with God, who is in it, all things afterward( as the Apostle saith) that is to say, all the thoughts thereof are his thoughts, and all his love and his desires, all his delights and his remembrance: to be brief, all her felicity, her portion, her wishing, and her contentment is in God. Seeing then that by death we come unto this felicity, which we can never find in this life, in what estate so ever we be, & what commodities soever we haue:( for there is neither king, nor prince, nor labourer, nor merchant, nor advocate that lives in the world, which doth not oftentimes complain, and who hath not great occasions to complain, many things falling out, & coming to pass con●●●rie to their expectation and desire:) are we not much bound and beholding unto death, because that in an instant and moment it maketh us to enjoy that unspeakable blessedness, which consisteth in the perfect rest of our spirites, and in the contentment of all our desires, which felicity vain men seek after in vain, seeking for it in this life, and that in the transitory things of this world?  
There is yet further one point, that maketh us willingly to embrace death when our time is come: that is, that it putteth us in possession of all those benefits that Christ hath purchased for us: 
8 That death is a means to put us in possession of all those benefits that Christ hath purchased for vs. Rom. 8.24.25  for so long as we live in the world, we are not saved( as the Apostle saith) but by hope onely: but when as by death we depart, we then enjoy eternal life, and that blessing which is so great, that neither eye, ear, nor understanding is able to comprehend, and conceive the greatness thereof. It was a great benefit unto the children of Israel, when after their long and hard bondage, under which they were held in Egypt, after so many froward and crooked turnings that they had in the desert of Arabia, for the space of forty yeers, when they arrived over the brook jordan, and that then there remained nothing for thē, but to pass on ●o take the possession of that land that God had promised unto their fathers, and which they had so long time looked for. A young man likewise, which hath of long time been under the keeping and tutorship of a hard and rigorous governor, which hath used & entreated him sharply, & who hath suffered him to endure infinite hardness, not ministering unto him things necessary for his maintenance, hath not he great and just occasion to rejoice, seeing the time to approach wherein he shalbe set free, and come out of his wardshippe, to be set at liberty, and to enjoy his goods at his own pleasure, without being any more controlled of any man? Young youths, likewise that are descended of some good and great house, that are Pages unto a king, or in the house of some Prince or great Lord, under the hand and government of some severe and virtuous overseer, which bringeth and traineth them up under a sharp and austere order and discipline, are greatly eased when they come from their service, and when they come from the fear, and bondage that before they were of long time straightly held in: handmaides in like manner, over whom there hath been held a strait and an hard hand, in the house of their father and mother, during the time of their infancy and childhood, will leap for ioy when one comes to speak to them of marriage, but will be more joyful when they are affianced, & handfasted: but the top and heap of all their pleasure is, when they are married, and given into the hands of an husband that loveth them, and is beloved of them: for by this means they are to the full satisfied, and contented. We in like maner, which here below by the preaching of the gospel of Iesus Christ, and by the faith that we haue given unto his promises, are, as it were, affianced unto him: what just occasion shall we haue to rejoice, when our souls being departed from their bodies, shall ascend up into heaven, there to be married unto him, and to celebrate and solemnize the day of our marriage, with such ioy and contentment which shall never end, and which cannot be interrupted, nor broken off, neither yet troubled, neither by death, nor by sickness, nor by any other accident that may fall out? This shal then be when as our spouse coming before us, shal say unto us that that is written in the book of the Canticles: 
C●n. 2.10.11.12.  Come hither my beloved enter into thy louers chamber, to the end that thou and I may rejoice peaceably without any fear of our loues. Thy winter is past, & so is thy rain, thy snow, thy hail, thy could, thy frosts, & al the rough & sharp season, which as hitherto with great pain thou shouldst haue endured: but the spring time into which thou art now entred, shall abide with thee for ever, and all thy pleasures likewise wherewith it is accompanied. Enter then my beloved into the ioy & rest of thy Lord. This shal then be, when that that the Prophet speaketh of shall be accomplished, Psa. 126.5.6. 
Psal. 126.5.6.  They that sow in tears, shal reap in ioy. They went weeping and carried precious seed: but they shal return with ioy, & bring their sheaves.  
And being set free from tutorship, and brought from under the hand and government of our tutors and gouernours, we shalbe set at full liberty, and shall haue the enjoying of that heritage that God our good father hath promised unto us, and had appointed for us, when he adopted us to be his children: that is to say, the heritage of everlasting life, and of the kingdom of heaven. But to speak or to think sufficiently of it, is unpossible, what tongue or eloquence soever a man will apply thereunto, for the greatness thereof passeth all the capacity of man.  
Now after having thus furnished, 
5 Against the fear of the devill. And he must first remember.  & fenced the sick party against the fear which he might haue of death, it is then further requisite to strengthen him against the fear of the devill, who possesseth the empire or government of death. For satan being at his last assault, will provide & prepare all his forces, and al his fetches, 
1 The power of Iesus Christ who is our shepherd.  with all his engines & stratagems against us, to prove whether he may drive us away: but being in the protection of our pastor, and shepherd, who is watchful and careful to keep us, and who is more strong to defend us then the wolf, and the lion are to assault us, there is no cause why we should fear: for who can take us forth of his hands, seeing that he and his father( who is greater then all) are but one in essence, power, glory, and majesty? We are then assured, that as there is no slight nor policy that can cirumvent, or overmatch his wisdom: so is there not any force that is able to withstand his power. Let us thē keep ourselves under the shadow of his wings, & we shal be sure that he will preserve & keep us safe and sound, and will hinder that neither the devill, nor any other creature shal offend or hurt us: as the Proprophet saith, Psal. 91.1.2. 
Psal. 91.1.2.  Who so dwelleth in the secret of the most high, shall abide in the shadow of the almighty. I will say unto the Lord, O, mine hope, and my fortress: he is my God, in him will I trust. And after he hath shewed certain judgements, and dangers, whereof he assureth the faithful that they shall not come nigh them, in the end he cometh unto the devils, who are the ancient & deadly enemies of mankind, and speaketh after this maner. Psal. 91.13.14. 
Psal. 91.13.14  Thou shall walk vpon the lion and asp, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under feet. Because he hath loved me, therefore will I deliver him: I will exalt him, because he hath known my name. Where we see the victory that he promiseth us over the devils: yea and the example of the Apostles, unto whom Iesus Christ made the devils so subject, that they were constrained to aclowledge the power that he had given unto them over them, 
2 It is needful to use those weapons that he hath given us in our hands: to wit, faith, and the word of God. Ephes. 6.16.  in obeying their commandements that they gave unto thē in his name: which should assure us, that coming out unto battle against them, forasmuch as we are armed, and furnished with the same weapons that they were, to wit, with faith, and with the word of God: we cannot fail but carry away the victory from them, yea and by the buckler of faith to quench all their fiery darts. 
1. Pet. 5.8.  Your adversary the devil( saith S. Peter) walketh about you like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour: whom ye are to resist, being steadfast in the faith. 
1. John 2.14.  And saint John saith, you are strong, and the word of God dwelleth, in you, and you haue overcome that evil one. And our saviour Christ, doth not he say, speaking of faith, that the gates of hell: 
Mat. 16.18.  that is to say, all the counsel, all the craft, all the cunning means and power of the devill, shall not haue any power against it? And as little force haue they against his word. Which thing we see evidently to be true in the example of Iesus Christ: for the devill being come to tempt our saviour Christ, 
Mat. 4.4.6.10  and having assaide by all the means that he could, to make him fall to the defying of God, he could never give him any foil, but lost his labour, because he always found him shielded, and on every side armed with the word of God, in such sort, that he was constrained to the the field, to loose the victory, and with shane to retire: so in like maner, we being well armed, need not to fear that he can hurt us, neither yet to doubt, but that using such weapons we shall be conquerors, against him and all our enemies: As saint Paul saith, 
2. Cor. 10.4.  the weapons of our war fare are not carnal, but mighty through God, unto the overthrowing of strong holds, destroying counsels, and every high thing that exalteth itself against God. whosoever therefore feareth the devill, and is harnessed with faith, and with the word of God, sheweth thereby, that as yet he knoweth not the force of the one, nor of the other, neither yet what is the power of that captain that leadeth us, & under whose ensign and banner we fight: for, hath he not bruised the head of the serpent? 
Mat. 12.29.  hath he not cast out that strong one out of his hold, & spoiled him of all his weapons? Is it not he which hath cast out the prince of this world, 
1. John 3.8.  and which hath destroyed all the works of the devill? Is it not that great captain Michael, 
revel. 12.7.8.  which hath already got the victory over the dragon, and his Angels, and is afterward to pursue and follow them even until they be quiter destroyed, and utterly rooted out?  
But for the better marking & watching of satan, we are especially to mark two principal crafts of his, 
Two subtle fetches of satan.  which he useth against us to make us to fall, which are these: first, if he see us godly, & holily given, he will endeavour to puff us up with a vain presumption, and persuasion of ourselves, and of our virtues and graces: but if on the other side he see, that we be vicious, and wicked, and that all our time we haue been disobedient, and dissolute, then will he propound and set this before our eyes, yea he will amplify, and aggravate as much as he can, the weight and enormity of our sins, to make us headlongly to cast ourselves into despair concerning the grace of God. These are the two cords( as Saint Augustine saith) wherewith this hang-man, or mankiller of mankind, useth to stifle and to strangle men. But we haue heretofore shewed how to withstand and to put-by these temptations. But for our righteousnesses, they are all so stained, and so polluted, yea and so imperfect, that they set us in no other estate before God, but as old, filthy, and menstruous clouts. And on the other side touching our iniquities and vices, they cannot be so great, but that the grace and mercy of God surmounteth, and ouerpasseth them, nor so filthy, but that the righteousness and blood of Christ Iesus is sufficient to whiten and to wash them: neither yet, to conclude, so damnable, but that in confessing them with humility and grief in ourselves, 
1. John. 1.9.  God will with speed show himself faithful, and just to forgive us them, and utterly to forget them.  
It remaineth now to assure the sick party, 
6 Against the fearful apprehension of the iudgement of God.  against the fear that he may haue of the iudgement of God: for we see that we are by sickness summoned & warned shortly to appear personally: if therefore we are not altogether blockish & senseless, we are to remember member that that is said in the scripture: 
Heb. 10.31.  to wit, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And further, 
Rom. 2.11. 1. Pet. 1.17.  that there is no favour nor acceptation of persons with God: that is, that the regard unto greatness, dignity, nobility, riches, beauty, knowledge, parentage, kindred, nor any such like things, which are esteemed amongst men, & which are oftentimes causes which do make them in their judgements to serve, and to decline from the right way of iustice: cometh not into the iudgement of God, who being immutable and impassable, hath nothing that can alter or change his will: by means whereof, all his judgements are measured according to the rule, and pronounced according to the upright equity of the Law. And further, that al our thoughts, affections, words, works, and actions, yea and generally all the whole course of our life, from the beginning unto the end, is so blemished and stained, that there are, as it were, with God books & registers made, wherein are noted all the faults that ever we haue committed, either in act, in hart, or in thought, together with all the circumstances therein. And that iudgement without mercy shalbe to him which sheweth not mercy. 
Iam. 2.13.  And to be short, that there is no grace received, nor no righteousness allowed, which is not in al respects exquisite and perfect. When, I say, we come to set before us these things, concerning the fearful iudgement of God, which we can of ourselves neither avoid nor turn aside: & on the other side, when we set before our eyes the 'vice, the corruption, the imperfections that are in us, & the infinite number of sins that we haue committed against the first & the second table: that is to say, against God & men: it is not possible but that we should be astonished & utterly discomfited: and the especially, because we haue aduersaries & accusers which do pursue & follow us beyond al measure, to wit, the devil, the law, & our own conscience, which do produce, and bring forth against us thousands of accusations and informations, in the iustice of God craving that we should be condemned, by means of the heinous quality of the crimes whereof we are convicted. All which things we can neither foresee, 
Two means to prevent the iudgement of God.  nor otherwise escape the rigour of the iudgement of God, but in first confessing our sins, and afterward having recourse unto the death of our saviour Christ, to be acquitted and discharged from them. For it is not in the iudgement of God, 
1 To confess & aclowledge our sins.  as it is in the iudgement of men, amongst whom the party arraigned is presently condemned, assoon as he hath confessed his fact and fault. But contrariwise, with God the confessing of our faults is a means whereby we obtain remission and forgiveness thereof, and by which we are absolved and justified before God: 
1. John. 1.9.  as S. John saith: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, & cleanseth us from all iniquity. And david saith, Psal. 32.5. 
Psal. 32.5.  Then I acknowledged my sin unto thee, neither hide I mine iniquity: for I thought, I will confess against myself my wickedness unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the punishment of my sin. Selah.  
After that we haue confessed, 
2 To haue recourse, and to put our cause● wholly into the hands of our saviour Iesus Christ.  and aclowledge our sins, we are to haue recourse to Iesus Christ the righteous, who is our advocate with the father, and the atonement for our sins, and wholly to rest ourselves vpon him, for the good event and success of our cause: for having committed it into his hands, we may be assured to prevail: and coming before the iudgement of God, we shall not be condemned, what crimes or accusations soever shal be by our aduersaries alleged against vs. 
John. 5.24.  He( saith he) that believeth and trusteth in me, shall not come into iudgement. And elsewhere, for to comfort his disciples, he exhorteth them to look unto the last iudgement, and seeing it to approach, he willeth them to lift up their heads and rejoice, 
Luke. 21.28.  because that their full & perfect redemption is reserved until that day. And S. Paul confirmeth the same in the Epistle to the romans, with a marvelous ornament, and glorious form of words: where he saith, 
Rom. 8.33.34.35.  Who shal commence any accusation against the elect of God? God is he which justifieth, who shall condemn? Christ is he which is dead, and( which is more) risen again, who also sitteth at the right hand of the father, and who maketh request for vs. whereupon we may safely & comfortably conclude that that he saith in the beginning of the chapped. that is, that there is now no condemnation to thē that are in Christ Iesus: that is to say, to them which walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit: and as Iesus Christ their head cannot be saved but with them which are his members, so they cannot be but damned, unless that he be with them, because of that inseparable union which is betwixt the head & the members. Furthermore, seeing that Iesus Christ being dead for us, hath suffered the pain, & the curse which was due unto us, by means of our sins, & by consequent hath satisfied the iustice of God: we are not therfore for to doubt, or to think that God will further demand of us the payment of those debts that are already discharged, for that should be against al order of iustice, not onely divine, but also humane, to demand to be payed twice for one debt. having then resigned ourselves, & our causes into the hands of our saviour, & advocate Iesus Christ, we need not to fear that we shal ever lye under the iudgement of God, 
Rom. 8.34.  where the son is continually before the face of the father, 
Heb. 9 11.12.  making intercession for us, and carrying us vpon his shoulders, and vpon his breast, as heretofore the high priest carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, 
Exod. 28.36.  to present them unto God, as oft as he entred into the sanctuary, with a plate of pure gold vpon his forehead, wherein were written these words: The holy of the Lord, that he might( as Moses saith) present them acceptable unto God, who was a figure, whereof Iesus Christ our great, high and eternal priest, according to the order of Melchisedech, exhibited and presented the true substance vpon the cross, when, offering up himself unto God in sacrifice for us, he sanctified us, and made us acceptable unto God for ever. We are not therefore for to fear, because being in the favour of God as we are, & having an advocate with him, in whom he taketh pleasure, that either he can or will at any time condemn us, when we come before him in iudgement, especially being clothed with those comely long robes whereof he speaketh in the revelation, which, because they are dyed and coloured in the blood of the lamb, 
revel. 7.9.  they shall carry with them our justification. 
7 Against the means that make us unwilling to die: which are the covetousness & the pleasures of the world.  After that we haue thus assured and grounded the sick party, against the horror & fear that he may haue, both by means of sins, as also by means of death, of the divell, & of the iudgement of God, & shal see that he is unwilling to leave & forsake the world, & that honour, riches, pleasures, ease, rest, and that the love that he shall yet bear unto these corruptible and transitory things, doth hold him as fettered to the world, and doth hinder his will, so that he is not willing cheerfully to depart, even then, when God calleth him. 
1 The pomps, honours and estates. 1. John. 5.19.  Then we are first to show unto him in general, that the world is al couched and hidden in wickedness, that it passeth away with the lusts thereof, that it knoweth not God, that we are no more of this world, 
John. 15.19.  that God hath drawn us out of this world, to the end that we should not be wrapped and enfoulded in the same condemnation with it, 
james. 4.4.  that we cannot love the world, unless we be enemies unto God: that the divell is the Prince of this world, and that by consequent we can love neither the world, nor the things that are in the world, unless we be subiects and slaves unto the Prince of darkness: that we can not be faithful nor the members of Iesus Christ, 
Gal, 6.14.  unless the world be crucified unto us, and we unto it: that according to the example of the Apostle, 
Phil. 3.8.  we are not otherwise to esteem of the world, with al the glory, pomp, & glittering show thereof, then of dung, or of a fleeting and fading flower, that being here as passengers & strangers, we are not to settle our abode here, as in a continuing and durable city: but to sojourn here as in an inn, and to be always prest and ready to truss up our loins, and betimes in the morning to depart, and continually to be passing over the country, until wee come unto that place whither we pretend our journey & rest for ever: that is, until we come unto heaven, whither we ought continually to be transported and carried in our heartes, in our thoughts, in our desires & affections, 
Phil. 3.10.  & there to haue all our conversation, as the Apostle saith. For being risen with Iesus Christ, and being inseparably united unto him, although in body we be separated and disjoined: yet ought wee always to be present, and joined with him in our spirites, and in our souls, and wholly to forget the world, and the earth, and no longer to seek after, 
Col. 3.1.  or to think vpon any thing, but upon those things which are above. 
Matth. 6.21.  Our hart ought it not to be where our treasure is? And where is our treasure but in heaven, where Iesus Christ is in his glory? who hath our life hide in him, and hath all the treasures, 
Col. 3.3.  not only of the knowledge and wisdom of God, but also of all the gifts, graces, honours, riches, 
& 2.3.  and blessings, that God his father hath given unto him, for to impart and bestow vpon his Church here below, through hope, and there above, by enjoying it, when our souls going forth of the filthy, vnsauerie & dark prisons of our bodies, shall be as Lazarus his soul was, carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom, ther for ever to rest and to rejoice, as it is written, Psalm. 102.28. 
Psal. 102.28.  The children of thy seruants shall continue, and their seed shall stand fast in thy sight.  
Seeing then that in this world we do but languish and pine away as poor pilgrims, which live in exile and banishment amongst a barbarous and rude people, ought we not to be joyful, and glad, when God calleth for us, to establish & to give us possession in our own country, where, with our brethren, that is, with the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and all the blessed spirites, we shall altogether in peace enjoy glory, honour, rest, and all that great and perfect felicity that he hath promised and prepared for all his elect in his kingdom? It is a thing to be admired and woondered at, that men, yea that faithful men, which are instructed not onely by the word of God: but also by many experiences that they see in their dayes, as that the pleasant hue & glory of this world are but vanities, illusions and dreams that pass away, do yet suffer themselves to be so bewrapt and bewitched by the flatteries and enticements thereof, that at the length they become like unto beasts, and senseless as did the companions of Vlysses by the charminges and enchantments of Circes. For it can not be but that their judgements must needs be corrupt and wholly perverted, in that that they should be unwilling to leave the world, to ascend up into heaven, and to prefer changeable, uncertain, brittle, and corruptible things, which bring infinite pains unto men when they hunt and seek after them, and as great care and vexation to keep them: but more heart-burning and sorrow bring they unto natural men, when they shall lose them, though they exchange them for the blessings that God promiseth in his kingdom, which are certain, unchangeable, incorruptible, eternal and assured, and which can not bring any thing unto them that possess them, but a true, sound, and perfect contentment. In so doing( as did our first parents) for the forbidden fruit: 
Gen. 3.6.  we lose not onely an earthly Paradise, but also an heavenly, that is to say, 
Gen. 25.34.  all the delights and most excellent pleasures that a man can imagine or think upon. For a mess of pottage we sell our birth-right, and all the commodity that depends thereupon, as did Esau. We make more account of the flesh pots and onions of Egypt, then we do of the holy land, with all the abundance and blessings thereof. To be short, we rather love( as did the prodigal child) to live amongst swine with shells and husks, 
Luke. 15.16.  then to be nourished and sustained in the house of our father with the bread of Angels. 
Gen. 19.26.  And finally by the example of Lots wife, we do rather lust and long after the filthy and infamous pleasures of our sodom, with whom we had rather to perish, then to be saved in disclaiming and forsaking them. In the lamenting and bewailing whereof, we may well say with the Peophet, Psal. 94.8. 
Psal. 94.8.  understand ye unwise among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?  
For what maketh us so greatly to esteem of the world, and of that that is therein, but an accursed and a damnable desire, which doth so blind our eyes, that oftentimes we take light for darkness: and contrariwse darkness for light, sour things for sweet things, and sweet things for sour. To the intent then that we be not deceived in our judgements, wee are therefore for to ground them, not vpon the outward appearance of things, neither yet vpon the common opinion or error rather of men, who being senseless and sensual, do neither approve or disprove of things that come before them, but as they are either pleasing or displeasing to their sense and appetite: but wee are to judge all things, and as the Apostle saith, by the word of God, which is a most true and infallible rule to discern betwixt truth and falsehood: and in our judgements not to follow our own reason, or carnal wisdom, which is an enemy unto God, and which ordinarily justifieth that that God condemneth, and contrariwise condemneth that that he justifieth. Now we see thē what the word of God teacheth us concerning the world, & the things in the world. love not the world( saith S. John) nor the things that are in the world, 
1. John. 2.15.  for if any one love the world, the love of the father is not in him. For that which is in the world, to wit, the lust of the flesh, the pride of the eye, and the overweening of this life, is not of God, but of the world. See then what it is that the Apostle teacheth us, concerning the world: namely, that we love it not, if we will haue God to love vs. And Salomon speaketh after this sort, after having a long while, yea and that diligently weighed and considered the whole estate of the world, the vanity and inconstancy of the spirites of men, the diversities of studies that they give themselves unto, the mutability and sudden change of their purposes and determinations, the slightness & slenderness of their events that they haue to praise or dispraise, to take or to leave, to love or to loathe, to like or to dislike the things that are set before them, he well knew not onely by reason and iudgement: but also by experience and proof that the desires of most part of men, are but the follies and vanities that they do adore, being lead thereunto by the rashness and unadvised headiness of their own affections, who because they are blind, & will not abide to be governed or guided by any good reason, are easily transported and carried even thither, whither pleasure & the divell driveth them. whereupon it cometh to pass, that some do ambitiously and vaine-gloriously hunt after honors, & dignity in the world, & for the accomplishing and achieving therof, they violate and break all law & equity, they forget all piety and humanity, they mingle and confounded all things, they further and favour the wicked whom they cleave unto, they hate, and reject the good and godly, they make war in the country, wherein they haue been bread, born, and brought up, they take away liberty if they can, and that by cruel tyranny that they exercise, they bring men into miserable thraldom and bondage, as did Iulius Caesar, and others before and after him. Doth not this plainly and evidently show, that there is nothing more true, then that that our saviour Christ said of such ambitious wretches, 
Luke. 16.15.  namely, that that which is greatly and highly esteemed amongst men, is oftentimes abominable before God. And how then can they be acceptable unto him, seeing that the greater part of them, beleeue neither in him, nor in Iesus Christ? As it is written in the scripture: How can you beleeue, seeing ye receive glory one of another, and seek not for that which cometh from God onely? And elsewhere the pharisees & chief of jerusalem, condemning themselves, 
John. 7.48.  said, is there any of the rulers that beleeue in him, to wit, in Iesus Christ? 
Matth. 11.25.  And in S. matthew he saith, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that thou hast hide these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed thē to babes & sucklings. We are not therefore to be sorrowful or grieved to leave the honors, & promotions of this world, which do ordinarily make us to forget God, and ourselves, and which do turn us from the study & exercise of godliness, which do induce and lead us to seek after our own glory, rather then the glory of God, which make us to disdain, & to scorn our neighbours, and not to know that we are but dust and ashes, & finally which do lead us to adore, and to worship the divell, and do make us altogether senseless & without feeling, as the Prophet saith, Psal. 49.12. 
Psal. 49.12.  But man shall not continue in honour he is like the beasts that die. And a little before, where he speaketh expressly further of the sottish and foolish imaginations of these ambitious wretches, Psal. 49.10.11. 
Psal. 49.10.11  For he seeth that wise men die, and also that the ignorant and foolish perish, and leave their riches for others. Yet they think their houses and their habitations shall continue for ever, even from generation to generation, and call their lands by their names.  

2. Goods and riches.  Now then, as we ought not to be unwilling to leave the honours and great promotions of this world, for the reasons afore shewed: so should we not be unwilling to forego riches and temporal goods, seeing that departing this life, we are compelled and constrained to abandon and forsake them. And indeed, to speak truly and properly, they are not the true and everlasting goods of the children of God, nor the heritage that their father keepeth for them & which Christ hath bought for them: For his kingdom which is the riches that we look for, and is promised unto us, is not of the world, but is heavenly: so the glory, the power, the estate, the riches, the honors, the pleasures, the counsel, the peace, and all the felicity of this kingdom: yea all, I say, is divine, and spiritual. Iesus Christ, who is the King of this kingdom, what temporal goods did he purchase or possess, when he was in the world, where he had not so much as had the birds of the air, nor as had the foxes: that is, he had neither nest, cover, nor hole to rest or to hid his head in? And the Apostles, who are as the peers and Princes of this kingdom, what revenues or comings in? what great possessions had they in this world? S. Peter said, 
Acts. 3.6.  speaking unto the lame cripple that lay at the gate of the Temple to ask the alms, silver and gold haue I none, but such as I haue, that give I thee: In the name of Iesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. And S. Paul saith, we are, 
2. Cor. 6.10.  as poor and needy, and yet we enrich ourselves the more, as not having any thing, yet possessing all things. We may hereby then perceive and see, that the goods wherewith God will here enrich his children, are not earthly and corruptible, so that they should be subject unto theeues, or unto rust: but they are spiritual, certain, and durable, which cost not any thing either in the getting or in the keeping: for God of his mere free goodness giveth them unto us, and keepeth thē for us, neither is there any that can take them from us, but he that gave them us, which he never doth, unless he be either by our unthankfulness or by our abusing of them, thereunto constrained: we turning thē unto some other end, then that wherefore he hath bestowed thē vpon vs. The goods then that we ought to esteem and to labour for, and which we ought to be afraid to lose, are celestial and heavenly, as the grace of God, our adoption, faith, the word of God, hope, love, patience, humility, peace and quietness of our consciences: but especially the righteousness of Iesus Christ, which is the fountain from whence all the other graces, favours, and blessings of our God are derived and flow unto us: because that thereby, and by the communicating that by it is made unto us, wee are reconciled, and again united unto him, we are held and continued in his grace & favour, whereupon wee conceive and gather a certain and an infallible hope of eternal life, which is the heap and the head of all blessedness and of all true felicity that possibly wee can desire. Which indeed is there whither wee ought to aspire, and whither all the thoughts of our minds, & al the desires of our harts ought to tend. For this is our chief felicity and the end of our blessedness, & not these brittle goods & riches which do not better the owners therof: but are oftentimes an occasion to impair & to make them worse, if they look not well unto them,( as the Apostle saith) both to puff them up with a vain presumption, and to make them proud and haughty, so that they should trust in the uncertainty of riches, and thereupon to live to themselves, & to haue small society or community with others, to be insolent & outrageous, as the Prophet david saith, Psal. 73.6. 
Psal. 73.6.  Therefore pride is as a chain unto them, and cruelty covereth them as a garment. And speaking of the trust and confidence that worldly men do ordinarily put in their riches, he saieth elsewhere, Psalm. 49.6. 
Psal. 49.6.  They trust in their goods, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. And afterward mocking them for that their vain confidence he addeth, Psa. 49.7. 
Psal. 49.7.  Yet a man can by no means redeem his brother: he cannot give his ransom to God.  
Further, in an other place, where he speaketh of thē both together: to wit, of the injuries, violences, and oppressions, that the rich and mighty of this world do to the poor, & of their vain hope he saith, Psal. 62.10. 
Psal. 62.10.  Trust not in oppression nor in robbery: be not vain: if riches increase, set not thy hart thereon.  
This is the reason, why our saviour Iesus Christ calleth riches, the riches of iniquity, not that they are not the good creatures of God, 
Luke. 16.9.  when men know how to enjoy and to use them well, as God hath commanded them: but because that every man almost, doth abuse them, & makes thē serve to their disordered, & unbridled affections. So saith S. Paul, that the divell under riches layeth grins & snares, 
1. Tim. 6.9.10  for to entrap and ensnare us, & by them, to make us to fall into many foolish & hurtful desires, which led us unto perdition and destruction, yea & oftentimes which make us to serve from the faith, as most commonly we see it befalleth unto many apostates, who being reproved for their revolting and departing from the church, haue none other answer to excuse, & to colour their apostasy withall but this, that they would not willingly lose their goods, loving rather in keeping them for a small while to perish accursedly, then in letting them go, to be saved eternally. Wherein they show themselves to be very far from being willing to follow the counsel of our saviour Iesus Christ, and to be one of his disciples, unto whom he gave this counsel: namely, that if their hand or their foot did make them to fall, that they should cut them off, 
mat. 5.29.30  and cast them behind them, because it was better for them to enter into the kingdom of heaven maimed and lame, then having two hands and two feet to be cast into hell fire. And likewise for the eye, which is a part of the body, which we make great account of, if in case that it make us to stumble, that we are to pluck it out and cast it behind us: for( saith he) it is better for us to be blind, and to enter into life, then having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. What should we do then with these worldly riches, when as we feel that by them we are held and hindered from following of Christ willingly? Were it not more expedient, and better for us, willingly, and with a good courage to break these snares and cords, which do hold us as hampered and guiued, and so to escape, then staying, fastened and tangled, to fall into the hands of that filthy fowler the divell? 
A notable example of a heathen man which despised those riches that hindered him.  Crates of Thebes perceiving that the riches which he did possess, drew him from the study of philosophy, and that the great care that he had for the ordering & disposing of thē, withheld him from that freedom & liberty of mind that he desired, He took them & threw thē all into the sea: courageously saying, that he had rather drown them then be drowned by them. Now thē if this poor heathen man did thus, for the desire  
The third & most daungerous concupiscence, which is in the world, 
Pleasure● which are very dangerous.  is the lust of the flesh, which Salomon at large in the book of the Preacher pursueth and entreateth of, to show & to prove, that it is the most high, and capital of all vanities: for there haue been, and are very few in the world, which seek not after pleasure, and the contentment of their flesh. Some delight to build faire mansions and sumptuous houses, for ever to uphold the memorial of their names, as the Prophet saith, Psal. 49.11.12. 
Plas. 49.11.12  For he seeth that wise men die, and also that the ignorant and foolish perish, and leave their riches for others. Yet they think their houses and their habitations shall continue for ever, even from generation to generation, and call their lands by their names. But man shall not continue in honour: he is like the beasts that die.  
Others take pleasure in having faire gardens, faire plants, faire knots, faire allies and arbours to haue shade and coolness: others pompously and proudly attire themselves, and almost spend the whole day in crisping & curling their hair, in trimming & pranking their ruffs, & rebattaes, in fining & perfuming themselves: others desire to haue heaps of riches, and store for the decking and adorning of their closerts and chambers, with fine tapestry, faire cubberds, costly beds, with hangings, with chains of gold, and with the richest imbroderings that may be found, with shining ivory, and with fine plate, both of gold and silver. Others desire to haue always their tables covered with the rarest and daintiest meats that may be gotten, and to haue the most cleanly and cunning cookes to dight, and to dress it. Others delight to be in pleasant company, where they may laugh and be merry, where they may dance and dally, yea, and to do other things, which cannot with honesty be written or spoken: and all these things, to be brief, what other thing are they, but the very marks, monuments and ensigns of filthiness, of dissolution, and of the vanities of them which( though falsely) call themselves Christians? As it was heretofore said of the image of gold, which Phyrna that famous courtesan of Athens, caused to be set up in the midst of their city, with this inscription vpon it, This is the image and the spoil of the dissolute and infamous wantonness of the Greekes. This thing shee then did in one onely city of Greece, for to decipher and to lay open the blemished and dissolute life of the citizens thereof: but now adays amongst Christians, there is not a house in their cities, nor a cottage in their fields, where a man may not see the arms of the world advanced, and the banner of that wicked and unclean spirit which governeth, yea & that vpon those days that God hath reserved unto himself, to the end that in them the whole world should give itself unto the praising of him, in which, yea and that altogether, we should not think vpon any other thing, but vpon the sanctifying, & celebrating of his holy name. But the world is so far off from performing this, that amongst seven dayes in the week, there is not any one which is so profaned and abused, as is the sabbath now adays, which now seemeth to be ordained to give liberty to the divell, and to our flesh, by dancing, feasting, and by all other pleasant delights that each man delighteth in and desireth. Who is he then that cannot willingly forsake these pleasures, because that leaving them, those things depart from him, which bring nothing else but shane and dishonour, wast, and loss of goods, and infinite sicknesses unto the body, and unto the spirit blockishness, and dulness, which bring desolations and overthrows of countries, kingdoms, and houses, which bring a contempt of virtue, and of all honesty, which bring a hatred of all true religion, and of God himself, which such swine fly from and are afraid of, so that they would never hear him spoken of: which do not onely make men effeminate and wanton, but in the end besotteth them, and maketh them like unto beasts, not ceasing until they haue brought thē even unto death, if they continue therein? Let us therefore take heed, that we be not deceived by their flatteries, and faire show: their beauty which is outward is alluring, and enticing, & deceiveth those which take not heed unto the venom that lieth hidden under it: as the foul, and the fish are taken with the hook, being deceived by the bait that covereth it. Let us look back behind and not before, as Aristotle doth most wisely admonish & aduise us: for pleasures be fore, seem to be faire & goodly: as are Meare-maids: but if one look behind on the hind-part of them, they draw after them the long train or tail of a serpent, which is so ugly, that the very sight thereof is to be feared. Alas, who can reckon up the huge heap of mischiefs and of miseries, 
Examples of mischiefs that came vpon the world by pleasures.  that came vpon us, by the small pleasure that our parents had, in eating of the forbidden fruit? What was the cause why God, who is so patient and slow unto wrath, sent vpon the earth such a great deluge and flood of waters, whereby he swept, and took away, every living thing vpon the face of the earth, except Noah and his family, and the creatures that he took with him into the Ark: the occasion of such a horrible & fearful iudgement of God, was it not the filthy whoredoms of those times which reigned amongst men, which indifferently without respect took wives & women which pleased themselves, and so mingled themselves with them, without having regard unto that order and honesty, which God in the beginning of the world, commanded when he appointed marriage? What was the cause likewise of the utter subversion and overthrow of sodom, and of the cities there abouts, but their infamous whoredoms, and villainous pleasures that they took in their banquetings and gluttony? Why likewise was God so highly offended with his people in the wilderness, where at one time he caused to die an hundreth and three and twenty thousand, and at another time a very great number, was it not by means of the whoredoms that they committed with the Madianites? And the quails which they craved for the satisfying of their greedy hunger, whereof God would haue a perpetual memorial and remembrance kept, commanding that the place where they had received such a great plague, should for ever hereafter be called the Sepulchre of concupiscence? What fell there out afterward in the house and town of Hamor, because of the whoredom that his son Sichem had committed with Dinah, the onely daughter of jacob? And that iudgement likewise of david, for defiling the wife of his seruant uriah? And that of Salomon his son, who was so wise, and had received from God such honour and favour, such glory, riches, and power, yea and further, beyond all this, such comfortable & excellent promises of God, that rightly he might be called the most excellent Prince, of all the kings and great princes of the earth? And yet the delights and pleasures of this world knew how to beguile and to cirumvent him, that they took from him his spirit and his understanding, yea and that in his old age, when he should haue had more wisdom, and haue had his iudgement better stayed & settled: and made him not only to forget God, and the bond that God had of him: but also to sacrifice unto Idols, as a man clean without sense: and that to satisfy and content his strange wives and concubines, unto whom he was joined contrary to the express commandement of God, whereupon afterwards ensued thousands of mischiefs unto his house and posterity. The house of ahab, was it not utterly razed & overthrown, by means of the whoredoms both bodily and spiritual that there reigned? What was the cause of so many & so pitiful tragedies which were written concerning the ruins, miseries, and desolations that befell unto the house of Priamus, being a king renowned for his riches, his greatness, his glory, and his plenty, amongst al the greatest and famous Princes of Asia? Were they not the follies of the love that he bare unto heal and to Paris? The occasion likewise of the mischiefs, which afterwards succeeded in the court of that great king Agamemnon, after his return from Troy, he being a conqueror over his enemies, and by that means laden with glory and credite, was it not the impudency of his wife clytaemnestra, and of Egista his concubine? The spoils & wastes that were made in Ionia in the time of Cyrus, and the great calamities and miseries that were spread over the whole country, which was more faire & fruitful, then was Asia: did they not come from the selfsame occasion, as Herodotus writeth? Alas, who can sufficiently reckon up al the mischiefs & evils, which this cursed concupiscence & lust of the flesh hath brought and daily bringeth? truly Plato, and that very well, calleth it the very bait of all mischiefs and miseries. And Adrian the Emperour doth very fitly, by comparison, resemble it unto a bitter pill, which on the outside is guilt and varnished over, 
A similitude.  to make it to go down, and to be swallowed the more easily: but when one cometh to the digesting of it, then shall one feel the bitterness thereof: onely there is this difference, that pills do purge and vent evil humours which are in the body, and so make it more sound: but contrariwise, pleasures do multiply and increase them, and do wholly corrupt the good disposition both of the body and of the soul. When these pleasures are turned from us, whether it be by death, by sickness, by poverty, by age, or otherwise, we ought no less to rejoice, then if we were escaped from the hands of some cruel and furious tyrants. For there is no tyranny more cruel, then is that of pleasure, and lust( as saith Cicero:) because that other tyrannies stretch but unto the goods and body onely, but these pleasures stretch unto the souls and consciences, which they torture, and torment after a strange manner. Who soever then desireth liberty, and peace in his spirit, and to haue a peaceable and a quiet heart, which is the greatest jewel that one can either seek or find in this world, he must bid adieu and farewell unto all the pleasures of this world, and must rejoice when they depart from him, as they do at death.  
Men are to propound these things unto the sick, who find themselves as yet overmuch glued and fastened unto the ease and outward deceivable pleasures of this world. And on the otherside, to set before them those joys which they look for, and which are already prepared for them in the heauens, which are so great and excellent, that the very smell and taste onely, which the Apostles and Martyres had thereof by the spirit of God, made them to forget the world, with al the delights therof, before they departed out of it. 
A comparison of the pleasures that we leave when we dy, & of those that we shall find in the heauens.  What then shal be the ioy, when, as being dead, we shal drink our fill at the fountain of these pleasures, when we shall openly behold the face of our God, and of our saviour Iesus Christ? When we shall be set at his table with the patriarchs, Abraham, isaac, and jacob? When we shal hear the sweet music of the Angels continually singing unto the holy, holy, holy, to the great God of hostes, be praise, glory, and honour for ever? When God shall wipe away all tears from the eyes of his children, when he shall make them enter into the enjoying of his rest, and of their ioy? When he shall make them sit by him vpon their several seats, trimmed & prepared for thē, to judge altogether, that world, & the divels? And finally when instead of the sun & the moon, they shall haue a perpetual light: namely, when he shal spread vpon them an everlasting ioy? This pleasure shalbe, as Christ Iesus said, a continual and an eternal joy, and not as the pleasures of the world, which fade away with the time, & lose their savour, how great and delectable so ever they be in their beginning. As we daily see amongst men by experience, who earnestly and greedily affect the things that they desire, and when they haue obtained that that they wished for, and do sometimes enjoy that that they desired: presently this great heat of theirs beginneth by little and little to cool, and to be diminished, and in the end utterly fadeth and vanisheth away, yea and oftentimes it cometh to pass, that after wee haue had the enjoying of that that wee desired with such a great affection, we do afterwards loathe it with as great a dislike, whereof we haue in the scripture a notable example, 
2. Sam. 13.15.  in Amnon the son of david and his sister Thamar. But the true pleasures, which the blessed souls do enjoy in the kingdom of heaven, are far of an other nature and quality: for in satisfying us, they still give unto us an appetite, and in filling us, they leave us hungry, they quench our thirst, and yet we remain dry, in such sort that in satisfieng and contenting our appetites, they still leave us greedy, and desirous to remain always in that estate, and yet we shall never be hurt or surfet thereby. These are then the true pleasures that wee ought always to desire and to procure, and not worldly pleasures which are wholly crazy, and brittle. For even as those that are sore or gowtie, take pleasure and feel some ease so long as one rubbeth their sore, which yet notwithstanding lasteth but while, because they are presently pursued with grief, which afterward pricketh and grieveth them the worse: so those that are voluptuous, never haue any pleasure, but it is intermingled with thousands of griefs and miseries: yea and their pleasure is like unto the pleasure of those that are tickled, which haue therein I know not what pangs and pricks, which maketh them to forget, and to hate such pleasure.  
There is yet further, 
8 Against unwillingness to forsake wife and children.  one coare or clog, which may greatly torment and grieve those that are sick, which wee are to take from them: to wit, the loss of their wives and children, and of their presence and company, which they fear shall be taken away by death. Now the comfort that herein is to be given unto thē, and the remedy that one must apply unto this temptation, is, to allege unto them the promises that God maketh unto widows: namely, that he will take them into his protection, 
Psal. 146.9.  and promiseth that he will haue a particular care over them, and will defend and maintain them against those that would wrong and oppress them, and will show a fearful vengeance upon the outrages and injuries that shall be done unto them.  
And further, we are to allege unto them, that howsoever they be left and forsaken of their earthly & mortal wives which they had married, yet that there is an other for them, which is immortal, to wit, Iesus Christ, who will never forsake them, no more then he will all other faithful ones, which wholly repose and rest themselves in him, and therefore leaving them into the custody and tutorship of such a governor, they are not any whit to murmur or to find fault. We are further for to show unto them, that going forth of this world, it is as if that they and their wives should together take a voyage, or as if the one should go a little before, and the other should speedily follow after. And finally, that as at the beginning of their marriage, it was no grief unto them to leave their father & mother and cleave to their wives: so now it ought not to grieve him to leave his wife to return unto God, who ought to be more dear unto us, then our fathers, mothers, wives, children, or any other thing.  
As concerning the children of the sick parties, we are to set before them this excellent promise that God hath made unto them, for them, & for their children, and which he hath sealed and confirmed by the baptism as well of the one, as of the other: to wit, that he will be their God, and the God of their seed after them. For this ought to assure them, that the self same favours and promises that God hath shewed and made unto them, shall be continued towards their posterity, as he doth expressly promise in Exodus, that he will show favour and mercy unto a thousand generations of them that shall love and fear him, & which shal be careful to observe and to keep his commandments. What is there then which can be wanting unto those children, who walking in the faith and godliness of their fathers, are by the promise of God assured to be always compassed about, and covered with his grace, & loving kindness, which grace is the spring & fountain from whence floweth all our prosperity, & blessedness? Moses saith, 
Deut. 8.3.  that Man liveth not by bread onely, but by every word that cometh out of the mouth of God. Which is to be referred not unto nourishment only, but unto all the commodities of the life of man. Those fathers thē which leave unto their children this word, need not to care either for the food, apparel or maintenance of their children. For they are assured by the word of God, that seeking his kingdom and the righteousness thereof, that God will give unto them all things that shal be necessary for this present life. For being their shepherd, as he hath been of their fathers, can he ever forget or leave the care that he hath of his sheep? david saith, speaking of the providence of God, & exhorting every man to rest and to repose himself thereupon as he did, Psal. 23.1. 
Psal. 23.1.  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And else where, where he compareth the condition of the wicked with the state of the godly, he saith thus of the godly, Psalm. 37. vers. 19.20. 
Psal. 37.19.20.  They shall not be confounded in the perilous time, and in the dayes of famine they shall haue enough. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the lord shall be consumed as the fat of lambs: even with the smoke shall they consume away. And pursuing the same matter further in verses, 21.22. 
Verse. 21.22.  The wicked borroweth and payeth not again: but the righteous is merciful, and giveth. For such as be blessed of God, shall inherit the land, and they that be cursed of him, shall be cut off. And a little after he saith, verses, 25.29. 
Verse. 25.29.  I haue been young, and am old, yet I never saw the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. The righteous men shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.  
That the sick party should leave and commit his children unto God, it is evident that he should: for he cannot commit them into the hands of a more faithful guardian or keeper. neither is he to fear, if they continue in his obedience, and walk in his fear, and carry themselves always before him in simplicity and soundness of heart, that any evil can befall them. Now as hitherto we haue entreated and spoken of those things which are convenient to be propounded and set before the sick, as well for to instruct him, as for to comfort and exhort him to the doing of his duty, and haue also declared those means which he ought to follow, for the furnishing & fensing of himself against such temptations and assaults, as in the time of his sickness he may be assailed withall: now it remaineth that wee make a brief summary or a short rehearsal of our whole discourse, 
A brief sum of the whole treatise.  that so the reader may in a brief see that that is largely diducted, that so he may furnish himself with such comfort for the sick, as he shall see meet and convenient.  
Salomon saith, that it is better to go into the house of mourning, 
Eccl. 7.4.  then into the house of feasting, because this is the end of all men, and the living shall lay it to his heart. thereby going about to show that the principal study and exercise, whereunto a man ought to apply himself all his life long, is the meditation of the brittleness, misery, shortness, inconstancy and uncertainty of his life. And continually to set before him his end: that is to say; death, which daily by little and little creepeth & stealeth vpon us, so that we know neither the hour nor the day, that it as a Bayleife, summoneth and citeth us before our judge, for to render an account of our whole life. It is good therefore that we always haue our minds hereupon, and that at every instant, having our loins gird, and holding in our hands our lamps burning continually, wee be not surprised or overtaken of a sudden, either by sudden death, or by the unlooked for coming of our bridegroom: but that we be ready to receive him when he shall come, and so may enter with him into his rest. But for as much as the love of this life, and the delights of this world, do oftentimes lull us a sleep, and turn us from the remembrance of these things, for the better awaking of us wee can haue no better way, then often to frequent the Hospitales, and houses of the sick, there on every side, not only to see and behold the examples and images of the corruption and mortality of our poor nature, to humble us, and to make us content with a little: but also to exercise our charity towards the poor, the lame, and those that are afflicted, and so to relieve and comfort them.  
Now for the doing of this, wee are first for to show unto thē, that all sicknesses come from God, who sendeth them, sometimes to chastise us, and to bring us home, sometimes to try our faith and patience: hereby giuing us an argument and matter to show the trust and confidence that we haue in him, by prayers and sighs to crave his mercy, to aclowledge and confess our faults and offences with grief and sorrow in ourselves: and to bring the sick party to this point and issue, as to make him to make a true and an humble confession of his sins.  
Secondly, we are to set before him, what is the fountain and the principal cause of all malladies and sicknesses, whether they be bodily, or spiritual: and that for the healing thereof, it is requisite to take away the causes which do beget, and bring forth the same, to wit, our sins, from which we can no otherwise be delivered, then by the remission & pardon of them, that God of his free grace giveth unto us, 
1. John. 1.9.  because that( as S. John saith) if we confess our sins unto him, and be assured that Iesus Christ is our advocate & atonement towards him, by means of his iustice, then he covereth and wipeth them all away, so that they shal never come into iudgement.  
And for as much as the love, which naturally wee bear unto ourselves, doth blind us, and is the cause why we never think that we are so vicious and so imperfect as indeed we are, we are therefore to take this mist from before the eyes of the sick party, & set before him the law of God, as a mirror or glass, wherein he may behold himself, and view his whole life, and so make him understand thereby, not onely his actions, but also all our cursed and damnable nature.  
And for proof and confirmation hereof, to allege unto him in general, that we are all conceived in sin, that we are all born the children of wrath, that wee are but flesh, and vanity, that we are sold under sin, that in us there is no good thing, that all our righteousnesses are as old and stained clouts, and for conclusion, that wee are not any thing but dust, ashes, and rottenness.  
After this it is requisite to make unto him a brief discourse vpon all the commandments of God, and evidently to show unto him, that if he would well, and thoroughly examine himself, he shall find that he is one, that hath oftentimes transgressed, and beginning with those that are in the first Table, first to bring unto his remembrance,  
1 That he hath not done his utmost, and endeavour to seek after God, and to search to know him.  
That he hath not loved him with all his heart, with all his strength, and with all his soul.  
That he hath not always put his trust and confidence in him, but oftentimes hath doubted of his promises, and hath disinherited of his aid.  
That he hath rather relied vpon the arm of flesh and blood, and upon those outward human means, which he might haue had, rather then upon the help and aid of God.  
That he hath not expected or looked for his prosperity and aduancement, as from his onely favour, and blessing.  
That in his affairs he hath not always prayed unto God, with a steadfast assurance, and certain hope to be understood and heard.  
That he hath not always reverenced and feared God, as appertaineth unto his so high and sovereign majesty.  
That he hath not thanked him, nor blessed his name for all things, and at all times, as well for adversity as for prosperity.  
2 And after, that thinking upon God, he hath represented him before him, sometimes in the shape of a man, or of some other bodily thing.  
That he hath not learned nor understood him to be a spirit, being beyond measure infinite, invisible, immortal, without any passion, vnchaungeable, sovereign in power, goodness, mercy, iustice and truth, as a patron of all virtue and perfection, and the well spring of all life and light, the fountain and fullness of goodness, the heap and top of all felicity and blessedness, the beginning and the end of all things, who is, and who by his onely word maketh all other things and creatures to be, and to remain.  
That he hath not worshipped and served him in spirit and in truth, as he requireth of us, and commandeth in his law.  
That he hath been more curious and careful for the ceremonies, and outward shows of godliness, then for godliness itself, and to seem to be a Christian, rather then to be one indeed.  
And finally, that he hath not always thought, that the true and lawful service consisteth not but in the onely obedience of his holy will.  
3 That in speaking of God, it hath not been done with such respect and reverence of his majesty as were meet.  
That he hath not studied to sanctify, to celebrate, and to glorify his name, as he should haue done.  
That by his evil life and lewd conversation he hath caused, that by the ignorant and infidels his name hath been blasphemed.  
That he hath not heard, red, nor meditated in the word of God with such attention, with such desire, fear & zeal as were requisite, to the giuing of honour unto the Lord, who spake and unto his name by which it was preached unto him.  
That he hath not always spoken of the works of God nor acknowledged in them the greatness of his power, his wisdom, and goodness, with such praise, admiration, and wondering, as by the greatness and glory therof they require.  
That presenting himself unto the table of the lord, when the Supper of the lord hath been administered, it hath not been done with such humility & godly devotion, nor with such due contemplation of the mysteries set there before us, neither yet with such lifting up of our hearts on high, where Iesus Christ sitteth on the right hand of the father, as were convenient.  
4 That vpon the daies ordained to abstain, and to rest from our ordinary & bodily works, that he might wholly give himself unto the only sanctifying of the name of God, he hath not wholly given himself unto the meditation & exercise of spiritual things, not thinking vpon nor seeking after any thing, but onely those things which are above.  
That he hath been oftentimes more careful for his worldly business and affairs, then to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof: by this means, preferring this brittle and corruptible life, before that blessed and eternal life, and the care of his body before the care of his soul, and the service of the world and of his flesh, before the service of god, whom he ought to honour above all things.  
That for small and light occasions he hath oftentimes dispensed with not being in the place of the congregations. & church meetings, there to make a public confession, and protestation of his faith, to show the devotion and fear that he hath of God, to edify the congregation by his example, & without shane, without fear, without any dissimulation or hypocrisy, to publish unto every one, that religion, that he will hold and follow, and wherein he is resolved to live and to die.  
That he hath not given himself to instruct and to catechize his wife, his children, his men-seruants, his maidservants, & his whole family, as he was bound, calling thē unto prayers morning and evening, exhorting them to red and to meditate in the word of God, and to sing psalms, and spiritual songs unto his praise, and to confer amongst them of holy things, & not to purpose any thing, but that that might further them, and make them grow more and more in the knowledge and fear of God.  
That after the spiritual exercises whereunto a man is especially to give himself vpon the day of rest, as with fear and trembling to hear the exhortations that shal be given, and in all humility to join in the public confession, prayers, and praises that shal be made and rendered unto God by the whole assembly, he hath not reserved the residue of the day, to visit the prisoners, to comfort the sick, & to search and find out the poor, that so he might comfort them.  
After, having thus briefly discovered unto the sick party the faults that he might haue committed against the commandements of the first Table, it shall not be amiss to proceed unto the second table, and to make him to understand as followeth.  
5 In the first place, that he hath not born such an honour and reverence unto his superiors, nor rendered unto them such a ready obedience, nor finally hath been so afraid to offend thē, as God hath commanded in his law. And if he hath shewed any duty towards them, that it hath been rather by constraint, or for fear of being punished if he had done otherwise, then for any consideration of obedience that he bare towards thē in his conscience, or desire that he had, herein to obey God.  
That he hath not always so earnestly prayed unto God for their health and prosperity, and for the good guidance of thē by his holy spirit in their councils, and to give unto them grace, to govern themselves by his word, in all their actions, and generally to bless and to prosper them in all their ways, as by the express commandement of God, he was bound.  
That he hath not always spoken of them, of their manners, and carriage with such honour as were to be wished, & that if in his presence any haue spoken evil of them, that he hath not set himself against them, nor defended them, as he should haue done.  
That he hath not had such a reverent opinion, and persuasion of his pastors, which haue the charge of his soul, and which give unto him spiritual food and nourishment: whether he hath always regarded their authority, hearkened unto their voice, received their instructions, obeied the doctrine that they haue preached, and willingly submitted himself unto the easy yoke, & light burden of Iesus Christ which they laid vpon him in his name.  
6 That he hath not loved his neighbours as himself, praying, and procuring as much good for them, as for himself in his own person.  
That he hath hated them, when he hath thought that he hath received any injury or wrong by them, wishing unto them death and all evil success.  
That he hath wished and sought for means to be revenged of his enemies, not making any account of the defence that God hath over him, reserving the pursuit and vengeance for all wrongs done unto his children and seruants.  
That he hath not had pity & compassion vpon the poor, and that he hath not done his endeavour to minister unto them of his goods to nourish, to cloth, to harbour them, and to give unto them things necessary, for the maintaining and relieving of them in their poor life, and in the heap of so many miseries and tribulations, wherewith they are on every side environed and compassed.  
That he hath not opposed and set himself against the wicked and ungodly ones which did oppress them, and hath not employed his power and his means, to defend them against the violence and outrage of such as injure and wrong them.  
That he hath not rejoiced at the prosperity of his neighbours, but hath been jealous & envious at their welfare, when he hath seen that God blessed and advanced thē in some degree above him.  
7 That he hath not possessed his vessel, that is, his body, in such honour and holinesse as he should, neither yet considered, that it was a temple that God by his spirit had consecrated unto himself, and that for this cause he should haue kept it free from all filthiness and pollution.  
That he hath not turned his eyes from wicked, and from wanton sights, as he should haue done, but instead of restraining and keeping them in, hath suffered them to run, and to wander after all lust and concupiscence.  
That he hath not so tamed and brought his flesh into subiection as he should haue done, for to make it in all respects subject and obedient unto the spirit.  
That he hath too nicely & delicatly pampered & fed himself, and hath not always used such sobriety and abstinence, as had been fit to haue kept under his affections, and to quench the heat of his concupiscence.  
That by devise, letters, presence, laughter, winkings, dances, gestures, and immodest behaviour, he was able to try and to prove the chastity and honesty of his neighbours wife, daughter, or maid.  
That in the manner of attiring and appareling of himself, he hath regarded and taken more pleasure to deck and to trim his outward man, then his inward man, and to please the world rather then to edify the church, by an outward modesty in his manners and behaviour.  
That he hath not been sufficiently careful to keep the chastity of his ears, and of his tongue, as neither to hear, nor to speak any word that should be either dissolute, or dishonest.  
8 That he hath been covetous to enrich himself, and that by indirect & unlawful means.  
That in the dealings and affairs that he hath had with his neighbours, he hath not always walked in that uprightness, soundness, iustice, sincerity, and truth, that God commandeth, for the continuing and upholding of that society, that he will haue to be kept amongst men.  
That he hath observed the times of famin●, and of dearth, to sell his merchandise and wears, at th● more high reckoning, and price, & by this means to make his thrift and profit by the public misery, want and calamity of other.  
That the overplus of the goods that God hath given unto him, for the maintenance of him and of his family, being due unto the poor, he hath reserved and locked it up in his coffers, chistes,