MY Honourable good Lord , it was once an Axiome in the Ethnicke Schooles * To a hominis vita mortis meditatio . , that the whole life of a wise man should be a continuall meditation of Death ; which , as it was a Principle amongst them , so it was the practise , not onely of the Saints and Seruants of GOD , the auncient Patriarkes , Primitiue Christians , retyred Hermites , mortified Anchorites , and zealous professors of Religion : but euen of the wisest and worthiest of the Heathens themselues . The euidence of which will easily appeare to those that are studious in the Word diuine , or conuersant in Authors Ecclesiasticall or humane . Let vs reflect vpon a Gen. ch. 1. ch. 2. ch. 3. Adam , the first man , as his name signifying Red earth ; the Command giuen him , mixt with the curse of tilling the earth ; his Sinne , the cause of the dissolution of that part which was earth ; his Garments , made of the skins of dead Beasts , cloathing his members which were ( like the rest of the Creatures ) nought but earth ; his Sickenesse , and Distempers , the fruits of his sinne , and preambles of his death ; Gods Statute-Law , that he should returne to his earth , tolde him truely ( contrary to the S●rpent and the Woman ) that he was a sinfull man , and therefore mortall : so , it seemes these remembrancers not onely occasioned , but caused his meditation of his death . For , though he called his eldest Sonne Caine b Gen. 4.1.2 , or Possession , yet he called his younger Sonne Abel , or Vanitie ; as being now experienced and schooled in that misery in life , and mortalitie in death , which was incident to him and all his originally and actually sinning seede c Gen. 3.19 .

In this Meditation to omit Noah the worlds restorer ; Sem , or Methusha●em , that Prince of peace ; Enoch , that walked with GOD , with the rest ; Abraham , the Father of faithfull men , imitated Adam the Father of men , who in his suite for Sodome , confessed himselfe to be but dust and ashes d Gen. 18.17 . ; Isaack , who after the death of his Mother Sarah , went out to meditate , no doubt , as of her death , so of his owne e Gen. 24 63 ; Iacob , that in his greatest crosse & humiliation , thinkes how his gray head should be brought to his graue f Gen. 37.35 ; and in the height of his earthly ioy and contentation , speakes from the abundance of his heart , of the few and euill dayes of his Pilgrimage g Gen. 47 9. ; Ioseph , tha● amongst all his honours in Aegypt , thinkes and tels h Gen. 50 25 of the carrying his dead bones into Canaan ; so , the rest had their thoughts mortified from the world , and fixed on their mortalitie : which appeares as by other proofes , so by two demonstrations in their Buildings in their Buyings . The first being not seiled houses or gorgeous Pallaces , ( like Nabuchadnezzars Babell . Nim●ods Tower , or Cyrus his House ) but silly Tents i Gen. 18 9 , like Shepheards Cottages , or Boothes in a Faire , or Lodges in the Campes such as the Zwitzards vse , ready euery instant for remouall . The second being onely limited in a burying place for their dead : for , that is the greatest purchase that euer wee reade any of the Patriarkes made k Gen. 23.4 5. , and the possessions which they most frequently mention .

What should I mention these Fathers that liued vnder the Law ; Ioshuah the sonne of Nun , the Seruant of the LORD ; faithfull Caleb ; Aaron the Lords high Priest ; or Moses himselfe , the greatest of Legall Prophets , who mindefull of his mortalitie , euen before the Lord tolde him ( as hee did Ezekias ) that hee should dye , made that Prayer , which the Fathers say the people of GOD vsed daily as a forme of Prayer , pathetically inserting this Petition l Psal. 90.12 , that God would so teach them to number their dayes , that they might apply their hearts to wisedome : the rest succeeding sympathizing in the like thoughts ? Iob wayting till his changing should come m Iob 10.14 ; Dauid making no more reckoning of himselfe then of a Pilgrime , and stranger here amongst men , summoning others also to the consideration of their vncertaine condition , and certaine end n Psal. 120.3 . Psal. 49.1.2.3 . .

I might extend the line of this vnlimited practise from the Patriarkes to the Prophets , from the Prophets to the Apostles . Paul as oft desires , as hee deliberates of his dissolution o Phil. 2.23 : Peter counts his continuance here but as an abode in a Tabernacle p 2 Pet. 1.3 . Reflect backe to Christs Disciples : hee no sooner speakes of the death of Lazarus , but their thoughts worke vpon dying with him q Iohn 11.15.16 . ; nay , CHRIST himselfe as most frequently hee talkes and discourseth of his death in the Gospell , so in that Transfiguration of his r Mat. 17. v. 4. v. 9. , the reflection and Idea of his Glorification , to strengthen his Disciples in their dying meditations , hee not onely tels of his owne death when he comes from the Mount , but euen in the Mount there appeares two dead men with him , Moses and Elias . And , with the rest , here old Simeon , the subiect which in all obsequious dutie , submisly I present to your Honour , as desiring your Honourable patronizing , and deseruing your holy practise , euen when hee had in his armes the Lord of Life , seeing Canaan with Moses s Deut. 32.49 . , and the Heauens open , with Steuen t Act. 7.56 , to receiue his flitting soule , as Abrahams bosome did Lazarus u Luke . 16.22 . , thinking of his death and dissolution to his dust , hee sings that truely Cygnean and Swan-like song recorded Luke 2.29 . Which Song I haue diuided into his parts , and according to those talents and parts which Grace and Nature hath lent mee , haue descanted vpon , by Illustration , Explication , and Application , to our secure , sensuall , and sinfull times : wherein I haue reuealed to the world , what GOD hath reuealed vnto mee by all meanes vsed , speculatiue , and practicall , from Reading , Study , Meditation , Conference with the Learned , and Reference of the Labours of approued Authors , both testimonially and exemplarily , to the sacred Cannon of the Orthodoxe Truth ; but principally from that young , yet true experience , which GOD hath taught mee by obseruing ( as a Physitian his Patients ) the seuerall carriages and conditions of diuers men , in their healths , sicknesses , liues and deaths , occasioned by those frequent visitations of the sicke ; which , by reason of my place , I vsed these last yeeres , in a great and populous Parish : in which particulars the searcher of the heart and reynes , and the intelligencer of all Spirits , euen the Father of Spirits , knowes that I haue not aymed at any base , seruile or sinister ends , as gaine , profit , prayse , neyther am fed with any such ayerie and froathy conceits , being so conscious to mine owne imperfections , that I haue been by the importunities of others , rather passiue then actiue in this kinde , as is well knowne to some who are acquainted with my , more then Fabritius-like , lingring , euen to the preiudice of the Printer , who expected and prepared the Presse for mee much sooner : but my onely end and ayme is Gods glory , his Churches good , conuiction of the World of Sinne , conuersion of the Wicked from sinne , confirmation of the Weake in grace , discharge of my Dutie in my generall and speciall Calling , furthering mine owne Account in my particular and generall Iudgement , desiring , and with all the powers and parts of soule and body endeuouring ( as I purposed and proposed betwixt GOD and my owne soule , in my first ingresse into this sacred Function ) to imploy my Talents to my Masters best aduantage , painfully and gainefully as I could , so farre as a wearyed ( if not weakened body , ) would hold any proportion with a willing soule . Further good , further gaine then these , in these I desire not , I require not , besides satisfaction to mine owne soule , and comfort in my conscience , in deliuering in this Tractate , the very Image and Idea of mine owne thoughts , which as constantly as vehemently worke vpon this sad and sable subiect of Death , euery day more and more occasioned by the preparatiues to it , and summons of it , the crosses of life , chiefely from the discouragements and discomforts of an vngratefull and vngratious world , in that part of my life , which is eyther Morrall or Ministeriall , concerning my Person or Profession . 2. In respect of others , from the obligation of loue , I desire to lend the best light that is in mee ( being originally fetcht from the word ) to lead them thorow the darke wildernesse of the world , euen in the very shadow of death , to their Canaan , shewing all along in this Passage and Pilgrimage , to the weake and willing Christian , the Amalekites , and the Amorites , &c. the World , with her warres , weapons , horrours , terrours , breuitie , miserie , vanitie ; fitting them to fight , and incouraging them to their desired rest , by meditating of death , and preparation for death .

Which points and parts , with their seuerall adiuncts , as they are penned and published for the behoofe and benefit of all in generall , so more specially ( as in my first designes and desires I did both pretend and intend ) in all dutious and deuoted affection , I humbly recommend them vnto your Lordships perusall , protection , and practise , and that for sundry and weighty Motiues .

First , in respect of the subiect here intreated of , which is not light and triuiall , such as Virgils Gnat , Erasmus his Mori● , or commendation of Folly , Sir Thomas Moores Eutopia , or the generous Sidney's Arcadia , or such as Lucians Flie , Apuleius his Golden Asse , Plutarkes Gryllus , &c. nor such friuolous and licentious stuffe as our Poets and Poetasters , Comedians , and Pamphleters , staine so much Paper withall , and adulterate and defile the minds of so many : but the subiect is graue , sad , waighty , ponderous , euen that which is the suburbs eyther of heauen or hell , the Prologue to euerlasting sollace or sorrow , as it is good or euill , euen Death , worthy your Honours Grauitie , Graces , Yeeres , Place and Iudgement ; beseeming your most retyred Meditations , sincerest Thoughts , greatest Priuacies , and deuoutest Soliloquies ; yea , euen in the confluence of these earthly Honours , and Blessings , which you haue receiued from your King , your Country , your late happy Espousals , &c. euen as Ioseph of Arimathia made his Sepulcher in his Garden ; as the Heathen Emperours were wont to be crowned amongst the sepulchers of the dead , as the Nobles of Aegypt were wont to banquet , beholding the Anatomie of Death : as King Agathocles was wont to drinke wine out of a Cruize of earth : as Philip of Macedons eares were euery morning saluted that hee was mortall : as S. Ieromes thoughts were euery houre possest with that imaginary sound ; Arise you dead and come to Iudgement ; that so with these thinking of Death , amidst your earthly Honours you should so moderate or mortifie all earthly desires and delights , that liuing holily , dying happily , you shall be rightly Noble in life and death , with God and man .

Secondly , in respect of the sympathie and proportion betwixt your Honour , and those Heroes , Moses , and old Simeon ; the one a Magistrate , the other a Minister , both Prophets , both great , both good , both truely Noble , ( like those Beraeans ˣ , ) in the best and new birth : the one walking with God , and comming in as neare priuacie and familiaritie with GOD , as euer did meere mortall man y Acts 17.11 . Heb. 3.2.5 . ; the second a man venerable amongst the Iewes , called Simeon the righteous z Luke 2.25 , fearing God , replenished with the Spirit of God , fellow-Disciple with that great Ionathan , to that famous Hillel a Zanc. de sacr. Scrip. , of whom euen their owne Rabbies haue writ , and they belieued b See the Iewes Talmud in the Treatise Iomach , cap. Tereph B●calphi . , that the Disciples of Hillel should neuer faile , till Christ were come : in which Simeon the spirit of the great Synagogue vtterly failing and ceasing , as is vrged against them c See Morneyes truenesse of Religion . Pag. 500. , it is an euident signe both that our and their Messias is come , which they deny ; as also that God doth vtterly abhorre that Synagogue and Sanctuary which they condole . Now , both these holy parallels ( as propounded , and in some measure expounded , in their persons , in their practise ) I by these Presents propose as Patternes worthy your Lordships Imitation and vertuous Aemulation , liuing and dying ; as your Honour is a shining President to others ( euen of your place , ) of Wisedome , Iustice , Clemencie , Sinceritie , Moderation , Affabilitie , and other Vertues both Morrall and Christian .

Thirdly , this poore Orphan of my Intellectuall powers , and first mentall Childe as it were of my Vnderstanding part , wrapt in these shedules and sheetes ( which Trauell and Time , as the Mother and the Midwife haue brought to light ) in a dumbe and silent Oratorie , seemes to call your Lordship Patrone , both in Dutie and Desire , of Right and of Necessitie : for hauing ( as its inchoation in the Citie ) so continuation and perfection in that place of the Country , M●lton in Yorkeshire . where I my selfe had my first breathing , beginning , production and education , euen within the confines of your owne territories : to whom doth it owe as due , his first dutie of Homage and Fealtie , but to your Lordship ? Besides , it being strayed from mee ( whither and to whom GOD knowes ) being as Wafe and Straife , to whom belongs it but to the Lord of the soile ? Neyther doth it lesse incline to your Honour in necessitie , least it be abased and abused of the iniurious world , in the nonage and minoritie ; least it be torne and rent with Doegs , or Dogs like Euripides ; least it be poysoned and enuenomed with the black and Theonine teeth of Enuie , Dente Thae●ino . Ignorance , Aemulation , or their Daughter Detraction , Monsters that I haue alwayes fought withall in humane shapes , as Paul did with Beasts at Ephesus : therefore least some Flyes buzze , some Snakes sting , some Crittiques carpe , and Cynickes scoffe ; least it finde his Hieronomastix ( as Homer found his Homer●mastix , and Virgil his ● ●neidomastix ) it appeales not onely to your Honourable , but Learned and iudicious p●otection .

Fourthly , and especially , that I might at last accomplish not the least of my earthly desires , to shew my selfe in some measure gratefull to your Lordship , for so many and manifold a●cumulated fauours , euen to my desires , exceeding my desarts : from whom , and from whose Honourable House , as primarily from God , so instrumentally ( next vnto my King , from whom I draw the common ayre ; my Parents , from whom I had my being ; the Vniuersitie , my Mother , and Tutors , from whom I had my education and well-being ; besides those that are my selfe and from my selfe in my Familie , ) as I know I haue receiued most good , so I acknowledge my selfe to be most oblieged for that good : not onely participating in those generall and common fauours with my friends and bloud , but in speciall reflecting vpon those by whose meanes I was first furnished with meanes in the Ministerie , competent and certaine , vnder the shadowes of whose wings I haue been protected , by whose Graces I haue beene countenanced ; by whose countenance encouraged ; nay , by whose very counsels I haue beene directed in my best courses in my calling : and lastly , by whose largesse I haue beene prouided for , not onely for the present , but with a free donatiue for the future . For all which fauours , if I should not thinke my selfe as much indeared and indebted as Virgil to his Augustus , Horace to his M●c●nas , Varro to his Asinius Pollio , Cicero to his Pomponius Atticus , Oppian to his Anthome , Euripides to his Archilaus : or ( to leaue Heathenish Parallels ) as a Preacher can be to his Patrone ; I should shew my selfe as Viperously vngratefull as the continuation of these fauours is submisly desired . Accept therefore , Right Honourable , and in my heart , truely honoured Mecaenas , this Rapsodicall poore Paper present , this Persian gift , as an argument of my vndoubted and redoubled Loue and Dutie to you and yours , my much respected Lady , your Honourable Coniugall Yoake-fellow ; my Honourable Fauorites , Sr. William Eurie , together with his no lesse wise then religious Lady , with my vnfayned Prayers to the God of Heauen , for the continuation and augmentation of all Blessings temporall and spirituall , with accumulation of all Graces externall , internall and eternall , vpon your Honours , and vpon those pleasant and fruitfull Oliue branches , the hopefull Honours of the House of the Euries , in all humilitie I take my leaue , submisly resting in all duties to be commanded ,

What I haue done further thousands will iudge , I neyther prayse nor disprayse mine owne doings , a Heathenish Master tels mee , a Aristotle apud Val. Max. lib. 7. c. 2. the one were vanitie , the other folly : onely I may testifie thus much truely , that I haue not beene penurious in paynes . For , since I vndertooke this taske , in as many weekes as Virgils Poems yeeres , I haue polished it , as I could , ( as the Beare her Whelps by licking ) pervsing some Authors for this purpose , drinking deeply at their Wels , where I thought the waters sweet , decking this for Gods Israell , with Aegiptian Iewels , euen some Heathenish Illustrations , as is lawfull and laudible in this kinde .

For the manner of penning , you haue my good will , if not skill in cooking what is catered ; if I adde sometimes sowre Sauce , let it relish the better with you , what is vntoothsome to a fleshly palate , will proue wholesome to a sound soule . For my words , I haue not beene very curious though cautelous , God and Nature haue administred them to my Pen , as to my Tongue , without martyring my selfe about them : if I haue erred , it is rather on the right hand then the left , in the excesse then defect , ( as some haue taxed the one in Osorius ; others , the other in Lipsius ) rather chusing to flow and ouerflow ( as Tully once did , before Athens brought him within his banckes ) that I may be intelligible in expressing the notions of my soule , then with an affected concise Lipsian and Laconian breuitie to be obscure , as is said of Aristotle , Theophrastus and others , who for their stiles are said to write to torment their Readers ; I haue laboured to giue a good garment , to a good body ; to clothe a good subiect in words fitted , not affected .

For the matter ; you haue here not what Sathan shewed Christ , the World with her glory and her pompe : but a Map of mans Miserie , a Modell of his Mortalitie , of the Worlds Vanitie , Lifes Breuitie , so brittle , so briefe , so short , so certainely vncertaine in his flitting , in its fading , that the Word intitles our life in this world , a Pilgrimage , Gen. 47.9 . a Flower , Esa. 40.7 . a Smoke , Psal. 102.3 . a Weauers shittle , Iob 7.6 . a House of clay , a Shepheards Tent , Iob 4.19 . Esay 38.12 . a Shadow Iob. 8.9 . a Dreame , Iob 20.8 . Vanitie , nay , Nothing , Psal. 39.5 . All which points , with sundry moe , I haue according to my Talent , laid open at the full , with sundry incouragements , euery where inserted against such feares as the thoughts of these things naturally possesse men withall .

It was my purpose also to haue added some comforts , as against the feare of death naturall , so of death spirituall and eternall , in the corroberation of the weake Christian against Sathan , the wounds of Conscience , and terrours of his owne Soule : but the length of these Lines , already extended beyond their propounded limits , ioyned with weaknesse of body , cause me to omit or pretermit this , till some other occasion ; where I shall , if it be requisit , reueale what I know in this practicall part of Diuinitie , in the meane space I referre you to draw cooling waters from those Springs of Israel , to whom the Lord hath giuen the tongue of the Learned , to speake a word to him that is weary , in due season ; in perusing the Workes of the worthy Perkins , D. Sparkes , Espmes , good old Linakers Comforts for afflicted Consciences , Hughes Troubled mans Medicine , The Pensiues Practise , the Consolatory Letters of that zealous Greenham , D. Hil , Wilcox &c. Ferrarius vpon 51. Psalme ; Mr. Knox vpon the 6. Psalme , Mr. Downams Christian Warfare , Luthers Consolations , The sicke mans Salue ; chiefely , that best sixe-penny Manuel that I know in English Mr. Fremans Comforters , Wolcomb his Sinners salue ; with all those that haue strengthened the soule directly against desperation . Besides , if you desire further satisfaction in any point , eyther positiue or controuersall , concerning death naturally ; in which these my poore paines doe not content you , the zealous & learned Lucubrations of men of good parts and paines , offer themselues , as Mr. Perkins and Lupset , Mr. Sutton , with D. Hill , by their printed Workes , as their titles are , will teach you how to die well ; Mr. Draxe lends the sicke man a Guide , another a Salue ; Sr. Thomas Eliot lends a preseruatiue against Death , Also see Mr. Vauhams and Mr. Tukes Bookes of the same subiect . Mr. Bradford writes against the feare of Death , Mr. Caue out of French shewes how to remoue that feare ; Wolcombe lends Armour against Deaths assaults , Erasmus shewes Deaths chances , Mr. Foxe exhorts the sicke : Deaths generall Proclamation is extant in Print , with his Trophies and Conquests . Couerdaile out of Dutch hath translated a Booke of Death . Ars moriendi , the Art of dying hath bin long extant * Printed Anno 1506 . Also , the learned know what not onely the Fathers , but Papists haue writ of this Argument , as Pontanus , Inclinus , &c. as also some Germane Protestants ▪ as Bibembachius , and Brandmillerus in their Funerall Sermons , with others , both in Latine and English ; all which I haue seene , most of which , before , and vpon this occasion , read : and in many of them ( omitting the principals ) found small satisfaction , so that none by comparing mee with them shall finde me seruilely tyed to any of them , or taking any thing so verbally or by sentences from them , as it is not mine owne by method , digestion , and application . Neyther , I hope , will it be more blame-worthy in me , to write after these , then it was in Curtius to write the life of Alexander ; in Baptista Egnatius to write the liues of Emperours ; in Platina to write the liues of the Popes ; after that seauenteen approued Authors had writ of the same subiect before the first ; thirteene , before the second ; and fifteene before the third , as a warrantable Writer reckons them * Text●r in Epistola ante suam Officinam . .

And now hauing acquainted you what I haue done , how , and why , I send all vnto you ▪ as Abraham sent his Seruant away with a blessing , euen such a one as I desire and intend . With which thought now the custome of all Epistlers cry it is time to conclude , least it be too tedious ; yet beare I pray you with mine error of loue , which still extends my lines ( being vncertain when or whether euer to see all your faces againe in earth , by reason of that mortalitie we speake of , or to speake to you by audible voyce ) to commend vnto you ( as a departing father would , some things to his children , as dying Dauid did to suruiuing Salomon ) onely these two things : first , that you would spend well the time of your short life ▪ secondly , that you would prepare your selues for death . The first makes way to the second , ( as the Needle for the Thread ) the second for a third : euen a dignitie amongst liuing Angels , as Grace sits for Glory . First therefore , because the daies of your pilgrimage are as few as euill a Gen. 47.9 . , as short as sinfull , that euen for that cause , as the Apostle counsels b Eph. 5.16 , you would redeeme the time : account of it ( as not onely Christians , but euen the Heathens , Theophrastus , Seneca c De vitae breuitate , sic Epistola 1. ad Lucil. , with others , haue prized it ) as the greatest treasure yea , aboue your patrimonies and inheritances , from which you will not suffer your selues to be disinherited . Beware the losse of it ( as Lodouicke Blosius , and that mysticall Thaulerus counsell amongst the rest of their documents ) as of the most pestiferous poyson that is , knowing that one of the offences whereof those Remembrancers and Checquer Officers , your guiltie consciences shall accuse you at the day of Iudgement shall be abuse of time . Nay , saith Bernard d Sermone ad Schol. , as a haire of our heads shall not perish e Luke 21.18 . , so not a moment or minute of time , whereof wee are Stewards , without an account rendered . Doe not therefore spend and misspend your short dayes that are allotted you for Gods seruice , and the working out your owne saluation , eyther in idlenesse , doing nothing f Nihil agendo , aliter agendo , male agendo . Seneca . , or doing other things , or euill things : not in the pursuite of profit , the prosecution of pleasures ; not in the seruice of the sinners Trinitie , the flesh , the world , the diuell ; not in chambering & wantonnes , not in surfetting & drunkennes g Rom. 12.13 . , &c. not in heathenish lusts , cardings , dicings , and the like ; not in frequenting soule-soyling Enterludes , Paganish Playes ; not in the practise of gaming and prohibited playing h Prou. 21.17 . ; nay , saith Chrisostome , not in prittle prattle , not it idle talking i Mat. 12.36 . , scurrulous ieasting , Satyricall gibing , vaine discoursing , witty quipping , foolish tales-telling , vnchristian backbiting , carnall gossipping , sensuall company-keeping , profane taunting , counterfeiting gestures , Apish actings , light and lasciuious dauncings , making mowes , and such antique toyes , to make men merry : but in holy actions , proceeding from such mortified affections as shall declare you to be crucified to the world , and the world to you , that first happily you may dye to the world , that so hopefully you may dye out of the world . I vrge not these to take from you the vse of all recreations : I know ( what Iob felt k Iob 6.12 ) that your flesh is not brasse nor steele , but brittle and flexible : I know , that the spirit is willing , the flesh as weake l Mat. 26.41 . : I know , that as Birds and Beasts require rest , so man , without which no flesh is durable m Quod caret alterna requies durabile non est . : I know , that rest is not sufficient without recreation , which caused all Nations to vse those Feriae , which wee turne into Feasts ; which recreations , not onely the best of Heathens , as Amasis , Socrates , Scaeuola , &c. Nay , the strict Lacedemonians , but euen the strictest Christians haue approuedly vsed : I know , the Apostle approues of that Eutrapelia , or vrbanitie , which Philosophy makes a n Arist. in Eth. vertue ; nay , Christ himselfe who oft wept o Iohn 11.35 Luk. 19.41 , yet euen often lead his disciples with him into the fields , as though he should say , you are men , rest & refresh you : neyther was I euer perswaded in iudgement or practise , but that the birds flying , dogs smelling , &c. is not onely for mans profitable vse , but honest delight : those limits being obserued , which iudicous Diuines p See Mr. Perkins in Cases of Conscience . Dearing in Hebraeos , in initio . Aquinas . 22● . q 168. haue from the word prescribed . Yet for all this you must not abuse what you may lawfully vse ; you must not turne Christian liberty into licentious carnalitie ; you must not make of Recreations , occupations ; you must not passe away the time in pastime , as is the foolish speech and wicked practise of fleshly minded men . To which men I say , with Bernardine , De Sena , that if they once come to lodge in Hell , the place for impenitent profanenesse q Psal. 9.17 , if the trafficke of time should be carried thither to be sold , they would giue if they had a thousand worlds , for one halfe houre to repent in . Preuent you therefore the time , lest afterwards you fruitlesly repent your neglected opportunities , like Diues in the Parable r Luke 16.24 . . Whilst you haue time doe good s Gal. 6.10 to others , to your owne soules ; labour in the Vineyard , in that calling wherein you are planted and placed t Mat. 20.1.2 . ; thinke that day lost ( with the heathenish Cato v Plutarke . , & Titus Vespasian ) in which you doe not some good ; imploy your Talents gainefully , at least painefully x Lu. 19.13 ; worke out your saluation in this day of saluation ; do works acceptable in this acceptable time y 2 Cor. 6.2 ; worke whilst it is day , before the night come a Ioh. 9.4 . ; trafficke in the Mart-time , buy in the Fayre ; hoist saile in the Tide-time ; prepare corne in the plentious time ; prepare with the Emmet b Pro. 6.6 , against a rainy day , hord vp in lifes summer what may bestead you in deaths winter ; if with Bernard , Basil , and that holy Arsenius c Dion . Carthus . in opusculo . , you be not so strict to redeeme time , from sleepe and repast , and the ordinary workes of Nature , yet at least , like Christians , from words and workes which are vaine and vicious , knowing that onely that time is yours , which is spent righteously , and religiously , all the rest you are coosened of by Sathan , that is spent in the seruice of sinne , euen as Sauls reygne is onely reckoned two yeeres , because in those he onely reygned well d 1 Sam. 13. , as Simile , and that noble e Dion . Carthus . Conuert accounted in his death , that he had liued onely seauen yeeres ; and Barlaam in Damascene f Sustur●a de Barl c. 18. , that he had liued onely forty yeeres , though they both dyed old ; because all their life before in sinne , was a death and no life , and so they prize it , so the Saints haue thought it g Hier. in Aggeum . cap. 1. .

Now a word or two to prepare you for death , as Moses did the Israelites for their Passeouer : in which , for the first part of your preparation , I commend vnto you the frequent and serious meditation of Death , after the practise of Patriarkes , Prophets , Apostles , Christians and Pagans , whom you shall finde further exemplified in this Treatise , this thought will further your Repentance , strike at the roote of sinne , makes you with the Pylot that sits at the stearne , beare off from the shelues and rockes of many dangerous occasions ; will cause you to vse your talents well , like that Seruant that feared his Masters comming h Luke 12.38 . . The Niniuites fast , and repent i Iohn 3.8 . ; the Publicanes feare and quake k Luke 3 9.10 . , when Ionas cryes to the one , and Iohn to the other of their imminent end ; Ahab is humbled l 1 Kin 21 v. 19. v. 27.28 . , Felix trembles m Acts 24.26 . , the Captaine ouer fiftie fals downe and supplicates n 2 Kin. 1.13 . , when from Elias and Paul they heare and see the sentence of death and iudgement ; this or nothing will draw your hearts out of the earth , if with Moales and Antes they be there wrooting : this will pull downe the lofty and Giantly lookes of Pride , quench the fire of Lust , curbe the ranckour of Malice , bridle the fiercenesse of Wrath , ( euen as dust cast amongst angry Bees , makes them quiet , ) mortifies many moe sinnes , kindles and keepes deuotion , as ashes keepes in fire . Therefore I counsell you to number your dayes o Psal. 90.12 , to remember your ends p Eccl. 1.40 . , to make your Sepulchers in your Gardens q Iohn 19.41 , to thinke of death in life , to strew Ashes with Daniel r In Apocryph . Dan. c. 14. , to discerne the steps of death , least it steale away your time , and the pleasure of life inueigle your hearts , as Absolon did the hearts of his Fathers Subiects , least the euill day take you ▪ as the snare the Bird , and the net the fish ; least that be obiected to you which God once to Israel , that you remembred not your ends s Lam. 1.9 . .

Other Rules I might prescribe , but that I may not make the gate too great for the Cittie , for some Cynicke to scoffe at : I referre you to the Conclusion of the Tractaite it selfe t See the last Sermon in Simeon his desired Pacification . . I will not giue Coleworts twise sod v Cramba bis cocta . .

Now , the last thing that I desire of you is , that you will reade without partialitie and preiudice . If there be any circumstantiall errours in Printing , as transposition , addition , or defects of some Letters , Syllables , or Words ; not right placing of the Comma's , Colons , or full Points , or seeming defect , in not alwayes quoting the Chapter and Verse , to which I haue reference testimonially , or exemplarily , ( which perhaps would haue stuft the Booke too full ) or in any such circumstances , which my farre absence from the Presse might occasion : I pray you let your loues make the best construction : if any thing be amisse that is mine owne ; if ought here be good , that is the Lords , and his Grace in mee : to which good Grace commending you , and these my poore labours for you , I rest , as now , so euer ,