it shall be the last peal, to call the judgments of God
upon the generations of men; it being foretold,
that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith
upon the earth.

Of Death

MEN fear death, as children fear to go in the
dark; and as that natural fear in children,
is increased with tales, so is the other.  Certainly,
the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin,
and passage to another world, is holy and relig-
ious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature,
is weak.  Yet in religious meditations, there is some-
times mixture of vanity, and of superstition.  You
shall read, in some of the friars' books of mortifica-
tion, that a man should think with himself, what
the pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed,
or tortured, and thereby imagine, what the pains
of death are, when the whole body is corrupted,
and dissolved; when many times death passeth,
with less pain than the torture of a limb; for the
most vital parts, are not the quickest of sense.  And
by him that spake only as a philosopher, and nat-
ural man, it was well said, Pompa mortis magis
terret, quam mors ipsa.  Groans, and convulsions,
and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and
blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death
terrible.  It is worthy the observing, that there is no
passion in the mind of man, so weak, but it mates,
and masters, the fear of death; and therefore,
death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath
so many attendants about him, that can win the
combat of him.  Revenge triumphs over death; love
slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear
preoccupateth it; nay, we read, after Otho the em-
peror had slain himself, pity (which is the tender-
est of affections) provoked many to die, out of mere
compassion to their sovereign, and as the truest
sort of followers.  Nay, Seneca adds niceness and
satiety: Cogita quamdiu eadem feceris; mori velle,
non tantum fortis aut miser, sed etiam fastidiosus
potest.  A man would die, though he were neither
valiant, nor miserable, only upon a weariness to
do the same thing so oft, over and over.  It is no less
worthy, to observe, how little alteration in good
spirits, the approaches of death make; for they
appear to be the same men, till the last instant.
Augustus Caesar died in a compliment; Livia, con-
jugii nostri memor, vive et vale.  Tiberius in dissi-
mulation; as Tacitus saith of him, Jam Tiberium
vires et corpus, non dissimulatio, deserebant.  Ves-
pasian in a jest, sitting upon the stool; Ut puto deus
fio.  Galba with a sentence; Feri, si ex re sit populi
Romani; holding forth his neck.  Septimius Severus
in despatch; Adeste si quid mihi restat agendum.
And the like.  Certainly the Stoics bestowed too
much cost upon death, and by their great prepara-
tions, made it appear more fearful.  Better saith he,
qui finem vitae extremum inter munera ponat
naturae.  It is as natural to die, as to be born; and to
a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful, as the
other.  He that dies in an earnest pursuit, is like one
that is wounded in hot blood; who, for the time,
scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed,
and bent upon somewhat that is good, doth avert
the dolors of death.  But, above all, believe it, the
sweetest canticle is', Nunc dimittis; when a man
hath obtained worthy ends, and expectations.
Death hath this also; that it openeth the gate to
good fame, and extinguisheth envy. - Extinctus
amabitur idem.

Of Unity

IN RELIGION

RELIGION being the chief band of human so-
ciety, it is a happy thing, when itself is well
contained within the true band of unity.  The
quarrels, and divisions about religion, were evils
unknown to the heathen.  The reason was, because
the religion of the heathen, consisted rather in
rites and ceremonies, than in any constant belief.
For you may imagine, what kind of faith theirs
was, when the chief doctors, and fathers of their
church, were the poets.  But the true God hath this
attribute, that he is a jealous God; and therefore,
his worship and religion, will endure no mixture,
nor partner.We shall therefore speak a few words,
concerning the unity of the church; what are the
fruits thereof ; what the bounds; and what the
means.

The fruits of unity (next unto the well pleasing
of God, which is all in all) are two: the one, towards
those that are without the church, the other,
towards those that are within.  For the former; it is
certain, that heresies, and schisms, are of all others
the greatest scandals; yea, more than corruption
of manners.  For as in the natural body, a wound,
or solution of continuity, is worse than a corrupt
humor; so in the spiritual.  So that nothing, doth so
much keep men out of the church, and drive men
out of the church, as breach of unity.  And there-
fore, whensoever it cometh to that pass, that one
saith, Ecce in deserto, another saith, Ecce in pene-
tralibus; that is, when some men seek Christ, in the
conventicles of heretics, and others, in an outward
face of a church, that voice had need continually
to sound in men's ears, Nolite exire, - Go not out.
The doctor of the Gentiles (the propriety of whose
vocation, drew him to have a special care of those
without) saith, if an heathen come in, and hear
you speak with several tongues, will he not say
that you are mad? And certainly it is little better,
when atheists, and profane persons, do hear of
so many discordant, and contrary opinions in re-
ligion; it doth avert them from the church, and
maketh them, to sit down in the chair of the
scorners. It is but a light thing, to be vouched in so
serious a matter, but yet it expresseth well the
deformity.  There is a master of scoffing, that in his
catalogue of books of a feigned library, sets down
this title of a book, The Morris-Dance of Heretics.
For indeed, every sect of them, hath a diverse pos-
ture, or cringe by themselves, which cannot but
move derision in worldlings, and depraved politics,
who are apt to contemn holy things.

As for the fruit towards those that are within; it
is peace; which containeth infinite blessings.  It
establisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward
peace of the church, distilleth into peace of con-
science; and it turneth the labors of writing, and
reading of controversies, into treaties of mortifica-
tion and devotion.

Concerning the bounds of unity; the true plac-
ing of them, importeth exceedingly.  There appear
to be two extremes.  For to certain zealants, all
speech of pacification is odious.  Is it peace, Jehu,?
What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee be-
hind me.  Peace is not the matter, but following,
and party.  Contrariwise, certain Laodiceans, and
lukewarm persons, think they may accommodate
points of religion, by middle way, and taking part
of both, and witty reconcilements; as if they would
make an arbitrament between God and man.  Both
these extremes are to be avoided; which will be
done, if the league of Christians, penned by our
Savior himself, were in two cross clauses thereof,
soundly and plainly expounded: He that is not
with us, is against us; and again, He that is not
against us, is with us; that is, if the points funda-
mental and of substance in religion, were truly
discerned and distinguished, from points not
merely of faith, but of opinion, order, or good in-
tention.  This is a thing may seem to many a matter
trivial, and done already.  But if it were done less
partially, it would be embraced more generally.

Of this I may give only this advice, according to
my small model.  Men ought to take heed, of rend-
ing God's church, by two kinds of controversies.
The one is, when the matter of the point contro-
verted, is too small and light, not worth the heat
and strife about it, kindled only by contradiction.
For, as it is noted, by one of the fathers, Christ's
coat indeed had no seam, but the church's vesture
was of divers colors; whereupon he saith, In veste
varietas sit, scissura non sit; they be two things,
unity and uniformity.  The other is, when the
matter of the point controverted, is great, but it is
driven to an over-great subtilty, and obscurity; so
that it becometh a thing rather ingenious, than
substantial.  A man that is of judgment and under-
standing, shall sometimes hear ignorant men dif-
fer, and know well within himself, that those
which so differ, mean one thing, and yet they
themselves would never agree.  And if it come so
to pass, in that distance of judgment, which is be-
tween man and man, shall we not think that God
above, that knows the heart, doth not discern that
frail men, in some of their contradictions, intend
the same thing; and accepteth of both? The nature
of such controversies is excellently expressed, by
St. Paul, in the warning and precept, that he giveth
concerning the same, Devita profanas vocum novi-
tates, et oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae.  Men
create oppositions, which are not; and put them
into new terms, so fixed, as whereas the meaning
ought to govern the term, the term in effect gov-
erneth the meaning.There be also two false peaces,
or unities: the one, when the peace is grounded,
but upon an implicit ignorance; for all colors will
agree in the dark: the other, when it is pieced up,
upon a direct admission of contraries, in funda-
mental points.  For truth and falsehood, in such
things, are like the iron and clay, in the toes of