PART III. stripes heal me, that thou being my advocate, my physician, my patron and my Lord, I may be adopted into the union of thy merits, and partake of the efficacy of thy sufferings, and be crowned as thou art, having my sins changed to virtues, and my thorns to rays of glory under thee our head, in the participations of eternity, O holy and immaculate lamb of God. Amen. 1 James v. 14. DISCOURSE XIX. Of DEATH, and Manner of Preparation to it. THE HE holy spirit of God hath in Scripture revealed to us but one way of preparing to death, and that is, by a holy life; and there is nothing in all the book of life concerning this exercise of address to death, but such advices which suppose the dying person in a state of grace. St. James indeed counsels, that in sickness we should send for the ministers ecclesiastical, and that they pray over us, and that we confess our sins, and they shall be forgiven, that is, those prayers are of great efficacy for the removing the sickness, and taking off that punishment of sin, and healing them in a certain degree, according to the efficacy of the ministry, and the dispositions or capacities of the sick person. But we must know that oftentimes universal effects are attributed to partial causes; because by the analogy of Scripture we are taught, that all the body of holy actions and ministries are to unite in production of the event, and that without that adunation one thing alone cannot operate; but because no one alone does the work, but by an united power, therefore indefinitely the effect is ascribed sometimes to one, sometimes to another; meaning, that one as much as the other, that is, altogether, are to work the pardon and the grace. But the doctrine of preparation to death, we are clearest taught in the parable of the ten virgins. Those who were wise, stood waiting for the coming of the bridegroom, their lamps burning; only when the Lord was at hand, and the notice of his coming published, they trimmed their lamps, and they, so disposed, went forth and met him, and entered with him into his interior and eternal joys. They whose lamps did not stand ready beforehand, expecting the uncertain hour, were shut Matt. xxv. 13. forth, and bound in darkness. (Watch, therefore, so our Αλλ' ευκλέως τοι καλθάνειν Χαρις βροτω. Eschyl. Aga mem. Lord applies and expounds the parable, for ye know not the| PART III. day nor the hour of the coming of the Son of man.) Whenever the arrest of death seizes us, unless before that notice we had oil in our vessels, that is, grace in our hearts, habitual grace, (for nothing else can reside or dwell there, an act cannot inbabit or be in a vessel) it is too late to make preparation. But they who have it, may and must prepare, that is, they must stir the fire, trim the vessel, make it more actual in its exercise and productions, full of ornament, advantages, and degrees, and that is all we know from Scripture concerning preparation. 2 currere velox Flosculus anræque brevis -festinat de gustæ, mise sima vitæ Portio T de Any Jewv Απαν απήμων τον δι αιώνος Το μόρσιμον γαρ τον τ' Και τον προς And indeed since all our life we are dying, and this minute, in which I now write, death divides with me, and hath got the surer part, and more certain possession, it is but reasonable, that we should always be doing the offices of preparation. If to day we were not dying and passing on to our grave, then we might with more safety defer our work till the morrow; but as fuel in a furnace in every degree of its heat, and reception of the flame is converting into fire and xgovov; ashes, and the disposing it to the last mutation is the same work with the last instant of its change: so is the age of every day a beginning of death, and the night composing us to sleep bids us go to our lesser rest; because that night, which is the end of the preceding day, is but a lesser death; and whereas now we have died so many days, the last day of our life is but the dying so many more, and when that last day of dying will come, we know not. There is nothing then added but the circumstance of sickness, which also hap-mix pens many times before; only men are pleased to call that death, which is the end of dying, when we cease to die any more and therefore to put off our preparation till that which we call death, is to put off the work of all our life, till the time comes, in which it is to cease and determine. But to accelerate our early endeavour, (beside what hath been formerly considered upon the proper grounds of repentance) I here reinforce the consideration of death in such circumstances, which are apt to engage us upon an early industry. 1. I consider that no man is sure that he shall not die suddenly, and therefore if heaven be worth securing, it were fit that we should reckon every day the vespers of death, and therefore that according to the usual rites of religion it be begun and spent with religious offices; and let us consider, * XEUDEROV MEVES, as deleEVO XEROS. Eschyl. Agam. Cras hoc fiet, quid quasi magnum Nempe diem donas? sed idem cras fiet, cum lux alte Jam cras hessumpsimus, ecce aliud Egerit hos an ternum eon cras nos, et semper paulum erit ultra. Pers. Sat. 5. 3 * Quid quisque vitet nun. satis quam homini Cautum est in Bosphorum Panus perhorrescit, neque ultra aliunde fata. horas. Navita Čæca timet Miles sagittas et celerum fu gam Parthi: catenas Parthus, et Italum Robur. Sed improvisa le thi Vis rapuit, rates. Hor. 1. 2. pietque gen od. 13. Mart. Crom. 1. 6. Volater PART III. that those many persons who are remarked in history to have died suddenly, either were happy by an early piety, or miserable by a sudden death. And if uncertainty of condition be an abatement of felicity, and spoils the good we possess, no man can be happy but he that hath lived well, that is, who hath secured his condition by an habitual and living piety. For since God hath not told us we shall not die suddenly, is it not certain he intended we should prepare for sudden death, as well as against death clothed in any other circumstances? Fabius, surnamed the painter, was choked with a hair in a mess of milk, Anacreon with a raisin, Cardinal Colonna with figs crusted with ice, Adrian the Fourth with a fly, Drusus Pompeius with a pear, Domitius Afer, Quintilian's tutor, with a full cup,* Casimire the Second, king of Polonia, with a little draught of wine, Amurath with a full goblet, guimur, exitu Tarquinius Priscus with a fish bone. For as soon as a man is born, that which in nature only remains to him, is to die; and if we differ in the way or time of our abode, or the manner of our exit, yet we are even at last; and since it is not determined by a natural cause, which way we shall go, or at what age, a wise man will suppose himself always upon his death bed; and such supposition is like making of his will, he is not the nearer death for doing it, but he is the readier for it when it comes. ran. 1. 4. c. 22. Cui nasci con tigit, mori restat; intervallis distin aquamur. co natus ab infima De gente sub Victima nil Omnes eodem BIOTS MEY ya Crantzius, 1. 3. c. 51. Matthiol. in Dioscor. St. Jerome said well; he deserves not the name of a Christian, who will live in that state of life, in which he will not die. And indeed it is a great venture to be in an evil state of life; because every minute of it hath a danger, and therefore a succession of actions, in every one of which he may as well perish as escape, is a boldness, that hath no mixture of wisdom or probable venture. How many persons have died in the midst of an act of sport, or at a merry meeting? Grimoaldus, a Lombard king, died with shooting of a pigeon; Thales the Milesian in the theatre; Lucia, the sister of Aurelius the emperor, playing with her little son, was wounded in her breast with a needle, and died: Benno, bishop of Adelburg, with great ceremony and joy consecrating St. Michael's church, was crowded to death by the people; so was the duke of Saxony at the inauguration of Albert I. The great lawyer Baldus, playing with a little dog, was bitten upon the lip, instantly grew mad and perished: Charles the Eighth of France, PART III. * Plin. l. 7, c. 53. Tuscul. Plut. et Gel. Mulie. Cuspinian. de Illust. Lotus nobisris cœnavit, et idem cum est, hila Inventus seeing certain gentlemen playing at tenniscourt, swooned and recovered not. Henry II. was killed running at tilt: Ludovicus Borgia with riding the great horse. And the old Syracusan Archimedes was slain by a rude soldier, as he was making diagrams in the sand, which was his greatest pleasure. How many men have died laughing, or in the ecstasies of a great joy? * Philippides the comedian, and Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, died with joy at the news of a victory. Diagoras of Rhodes, † and Chilon the Philosopher, expired in the em- + Cicer. 1, braces of their sons crowned with an Olympic laurel. Polycrita Naxia being saluted the saviouress of her country; Marcus Juventius, when the senate decreed him honours; the Emperor § Conrade the Second, when he triumphed after the conquest of Italy, had a joy bigger than their heart, and their fancy swelled it, till they burst and died. Death can enter in at any door: Philistion of Nice died with excessive laughter, so did the poet Philemon, being provoked to it only by seeing an ass eat figs. And the number of persons, who have been found suddenly dead in their beds, is so great, that as it engages many to a more certain and regular devotion for their compline, so it were well it were pursued to the utmost intention of God; that is, that all the parts of religion should with zeal and assiduity be entertained and finished, that as it becomes wise men, we never be surprised with that we are sure will some time or other happen. A great general in Italy at the sudden death of Alfonsus of Ferrara, and Lodovico Corbinelli at the sight of the sad accident upon Henry II. of France now mentioned, turned religious, and they did what God intended in those deaths. It concerns us to be curious of single actions, because even in those shorter periods we may expire and find our graves. But if the state of life be contradictory to our hopes of heaven, it is like affronting of a cannon before a beleaguered town a month together; it is a contempt of safety, and a rendering all reason useless and unprofitable; but he only is wise, who having made death familiar to him by expectation and daily apprehension, does at all instants go forth to meet it. The wise virgins went forth to meet the bridegroom, for they were ready. Excellent therefore is the counsel of the son of Sirach: Use physic or ever thou be Ecclus. 18, 19. sick; before judgment examine tation thou shalt find mercy. sick, and in the time of sins thyself, and in the day of visi- mane est dragoras. Mart. 1. 6. mortuus An PART III. hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time, and defer not until death to be justified. Evan. 5 L. 5, c. 15, 2. I consider that it often happens that in those few days of our last visitation, which many men design for their preparation and repentance, God hath expressed by an exterior accident, that those persons have deceived themselves and Homil. 12. in neglected their own salvation. St. Gregory reports of Chrysaurius, a gentleman in the province of Valery, rich, vicious, and witty, lascivious, covetous, and proud, that being cast upon his death-bed, he fancied he saw evil spirits coming to arrest him and drag him to hell. He fell into great agony and trouble, shrieked out, called for his son, who was a very religious person, flattered him, as willing to have been rescued by anything; but perceiving his danger increase and grown desperate, he called loud with repeated clamours, Give me respite but till the morrow, and with those words he died, there being no place left for his repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears and groans. The same was the case of a drunken monk, whom Venerable Bede mentions. Upon his death-bed he seemed to see hell opened and a place assigned him near to Caiaphas and those who crucified our dearest Lord. The religious persons that stood about his bed, called on him to repent of his sins, to implore the mercies of God, and to trust in Christ; but he answered with reason enough, This is no time to change my life, the sentence is passed upon me, and it is too late. And it is very considerable and sad,* which Petrus Damianus tells of Gunizo, a factious and ambitious person, to whom it is said the tempter gave notice of his approaching death: but when any man preached repentance to him, out of a strange incuriousness, or the spirit of reprobation, he seemed like a dead and unconcerned person; in all other discourses he was awake and apt to answer. For God had shut up the gates of mercy, that no streams should issue forth to quench the flames of hell; or else had shut up the gates of reception and entertainment, that it should not enter; either God denies to give them pardon when they call, or denies to them a power to call; they either cannot pray, or God will not answer. Now since these stories are related by men learned, pious, and eminent in their generations, and because they served no design but the ends of piety, and have in them nothing dissonant from revelation or the frequent events of *Biblioth. ss. pp. tom. 3. |