The Churchs Lamentation for the Loss of the Godly

In the Epistle Dedicatory, in the margent at the letter r read exonerans.

To the Christian READER.

C Hristiā reader whosoever thou art, whether one that was an auditor of this sermon, or one that otherwise knows me and my practice in this kind of funeral duties, If thou he of the first sort be informed, that in the sermon thou shalt find some few things added not to the substance, but to the amplification of some use, which I could not for the straitness of time deliver. In the commendations of this most commendable Noble thou shalt find some few things added, which slipped out of my memory at the time when I delivered it, but not many; and the like number added which came to my knowledge since. At also one thing displaced, namely his meditations upon his sermons in the morning, which he did after dinner. I assure thee I have set down nothing, as I delivered nothing, but the true and general grounds of every particular, I knew myself; diverse particulars I received of others who are judicious, honest, & religious, agreeing all with the grounds of my own knowledge, & so as I had ground to believe them, I knew nothing why I might not then, and now communicate them to thee, whereby I may profit thee by the blessing of God more, then my praise can honor him. But if thou art one of the second sort, knowing my use to he very sparing in praising of the dead, and so may wonder I should be so plentiful in the commendations of this honorable gentleman, know, I never had such a subject to speak of, whether thou respect nature or grace, his earthly or heavenly condition.

For this cause I have been the more large, and specially because he was a public person, more eyes were upon him, and well they might be, for he was not so eminent in place as he was in grace, for his gifts and graces & power of religion were so excellent and rare, as I never yet knew in any, whom I had occasion to speak of I wish I might hereafter meet with some like him, but I have little hope, though I do not despair. If I find any deserving as he did, I will not lessen their worthiness nor darken their light, specially if they be public persons. Yet mē must give me leave in all things, to go upon my own grounds, and not tie me to their conceits. Affection often blindeth those who are specially linked together, when it cannot deceive other;, who are a far of: often when friends highly think of their friends estate, the physician discerneth better of their condition, and finds both spirits and blood tainted, when they think they are in good health. I would willingly set forth true golden vessels to the view of the world, but I have no affection to gild potsherds. If I know men's lives I can the better judge of their deaths, if I knew they have lived well, I shall be better persuaded of their deaths: if evil, I shall be made to doubt much, of that, though it be seemingly good, yet I had rather think charitably then speak confidently. In this kind if I speak sparingly I pray men 〈◊〉 blame those who give me no more ground, and not to reprove me, that dare not be so bold as some others, I will add no more, neither will I longer detain thee, gentle reader, from God's word of life and death, nor from the life and death of this worthy noble. I pray God give thee as much good by them, as I intend to thee, to thy heart and life, and so farewell.

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A Sermon PREACHED AT THE Funeral of the Lord HARINGTON.

T He elect vessel and holy Apostle both for Jews and Gentiles Saint Paul, telleth the Corinthians, and in them the whole Church, that they were God's husbandary; whence it will follow, and out of relation, that the Minister is God's Husbandman. Now the secular husbandman hath and observeth his seasons to sow his seed, and his ground to cast his corn into, as he soweth some in the Autumn and fall of the lease, some in winter and dead time of the year, some in the spring and renewing of the year, some in a dry season, and some in a wet; some in a moist clay, and some in a dry sandy ground: and as the holy Ghost speaketh, He soweth the fetches, and cummin, and casteth in wheat by measure, and the appointed barley and rye in their places. And all this, for his God doth instruct him to have discretion, and doth teach him. As the secular, so the spiritual husbandman hath his seed for all seasons, and for all grounds, all hearts: some for the time of mercy and judgment, for the season of mirth & mourning, as wet and dry seasons: some for the birth & burial, as for the spring and fall: some for them who sorrow in Zion, and some for them that rejoice in Jerusalem, and as Isaiah speaks, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all that mourn. And all this, because his God doth instruct him to have discretion, and doth teach him. And as the same Prophet saith, This also cometh from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in works.

Now to allude to the words of Saint Paul, According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a skillful master builder, &c. As Bernard speaks of himself, so I of myself, I am no Apostle: and yet (I may be bold to say) I am instead of a Prophet, of an Apostle, I supply the place, and serve in the turn of a Prophet and an Apostle, and though I am inferior to them in fitness and ability, yet I am encumbered with the same cares. I say then, according to the grace of God given me, as a skillful husbandman in my measure, I have thought this portion, and this measure of the eternal seed of God, fitting this season: seed of sorrow for a season of sorrow, and a portion of Scripture containing lessons of lamentation for an Auditory, which I know well are, (as they have just cause) full of lamentation.

This Chapter brancheth and divideth it self naturally, without any violence into two principal parts. The first is a lamentation of the Prophet and the godly, from the first verse to the eight. The second is a consolation to the Church and faithful, from the eight verse to the end of the Chapter. In the lamentation are two things laid down: The thing which they lament for and bewail, in the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. and 6. verses. And a counsel and direction to the godly, how to demean and carry themselves with some good wisdom and profit amongst those evils lamented for, & that in the 5. & 7. verses. The things lamented for are of two sorts: First, the paucity and great defect of the good: Secondly, the plurality and great abundance of the wicked. The first contained in my text, is set down first under a Parable and similitude, which helps both present attention, and future memory, being delightful: Secondly, plainly, and without parable, which truly enformeth the judgment, being perspicuous.

Woe is me.] As if he had said, how hard is my case? how heavy is God's hand upon me? how miserable is my condition, that have now so few holy, good, & righteous men remaining in me, who have formerly abounded with good men of all sorts and ranks? I that have been as a field full fraught with Corn, as a Vineyard abounding with beautiful bunches of Grapes, am now destitute, and deprived of these, being all gathered from me to their Fathers, and the Father of all spirits: Woe is me. Call me not Naomi, but call me Mara: for the Almighty hath given me much bitterness. I was full, but the Lord hath made me empty: Why call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath humbled me? and the Almighty hath brought me into adversity, as Naomi speaks.

I am as the summer gatherings, & as the grapes of the vintage.] To pass by many interpretations of these words, which breed confusion rather then understanding: Jerome's reading of them I conceive fully and naturally to express them. For I am as he that gathereth in harvest the Grapes of the vintage. For having said that he was as he that gathereth in Summer, and not expressing what he gathereth, he addeth, the grapes of the vintage.

There is no cluster to eat.] And it is with me as it is with him; that as he found not a cluster of grapes, all being gone before he came, that he could find none to refresh himself; so not I one good man to comfort myself withal.

My soul desireth the first ripe fruits.] To pass here also by diverse interpretations as not profitable to be stood upon, I conceive it to be as if he had said: I am as he that gathereth Grapes, and findeth none, desireth that he might but have the first ripe fruits: when all should be ripe in the time of Harvest, I wish I could find but a few like those that are first ripe before others, but I find none of them at all.

The good man is perished out of the earth.] The Prophet here explaineth the parable, and setteth down in plain terms that he did before in similitude, & showeth that there are but few good men left in the Land & Church, which he proveth, because the Lord had gathered many good men in peace to their fathers, and taken them away. The word translated here, good man, is by some read, the merciful man, and then they take it either actively, one that showeth mercy & goodness to others; or passively, one that God hath shown mercy and goodness to: this is the cause of that, man being merciful, because he hath found mercy. Jerome readeth it sanctus, as it were, one whom God hath sanctified, and of his grace consecrated to himself. The Septuagint's read it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : that is, reuerens & religiosus; a devout, reverent, and religious man: they are all to one purpose, and in deed the same. Now the Prophet bewaileth the taking away of such: for though he saith, he perish • th, yet he meaneth not simply that they were perished; but as Chrysostom of one, He sleepeth, he is not dead; he resteth, he is not perished: so here of these, they sleep, and are not dead; they are at rest, and are not perished: for the Prophet speaketh out of the opinion of the wicked, who were fixed, as it were, in the world, and had there their felicity, and so judged them to be perished, who were taken out of the world somewhat untimely, and unseasonably, as it seemed to their sense and judgment.

There is none righteous.] By this the Prophet telleth, how many are gathered from among men, not a few, but many, even so many, that none remaineth: he meaneth, in comparison, not simply none, but as it is used, none for very few, and in comparison of the great multitude none; as in the Psalm, All are gone out of the way; they are all corrupt, there is none that doth good, no not one. Here all is put for the most, and none for the fewest, and in comparison none. and as in the Philippians, All seek their own, and not that which is Jesus Christ's. By righteous man, he meaneth the upright man, which walketh uprightly with God and man, and turneth not to the right hand, nor to the left; one that showeth his holiness by his upright and just dealing.

Solomon saith, When thou sittest to eat with a Ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: Which words Bernard translateth from corporal to spiritual food, and feasting, from a table to a text, frō dishes to doctrines, & saith to the hearer, Behold the present table, how it is furnished with delights from above: they are spiritual, and divine, which are therein set before us. And to the teacher: Consider diligently what things are set before thee, knowing that such also thou oughtest to prepare: that he take his doctrines from the text, and not bring them to it: carue them of the things upon the table, not fetching things elsewhere.

Honorable, and beloved, behold this table, see how it is furnished with spiritual dishes: and I for my part will consider them, and not propose all, so much as to your sight, or taste, but will only labor to feed you with some two or three which are most fitting our present occasion, and your prepared appetites. The first whereof is this.

[Doctrine 1] The scarcity and paucity, the decay and the defect of holy and good men hath ever been esteemed sufficient and most just cause of mourning and lamentation by them who suruiued them and lived after them, being good men, led and guided by God's spirit. Thus the Prophet and the godly of his time thought it worth their sighs & tears, that so many of the righteous men were gone, and so few remained in the Church. Thus and this did David by the spirit of God lament Help Lord, for there is not a godly man left, for the righteous are failed among the children of men. Thus the Prophet Isaiah bewaileth when he had prophesied how few there should be remaining that were good, As the shaking of an Olive tree & as the grapes whē the vintage is ended. After he expresseth his sorrow; My leanenes, my leanenes; woe is me. Thus certain men fearing God, made great lamentations for Stephen, that the number of the good was lessened but by one. This may show that undoubtedly they lamented the death & decay of good men, whē they wept so greatly for the danger of Paul, prophesied by Agabus.

And why think we this to be matter of lamentations? [Reason 1] First, because by this means the Church & the land is exceedingly weakened, and unarmed: for not one of them but they are in their rank (as Joash the King lamented sick Elisha, and weeping upon his face said,) The Charet of Israel, and the horsemen of the same: not for their persons, who are men inferior to many others, not for their policy, which are of inferior reach then many thousands, but for their piety and prayers: For the innocent shall deliver the Island, and it shall be preserved by the pureness of his hands. And as Chrysostom saith: As a City not compassed with walls, easily cometh into the power of the enemy, so the soul not fenced with prayers: so on the contrary; the walls of the City are the prayers of the saints, or at least they uphold the walls. As at the shoutings of the people, the walls of Ierico fell down, so at the prayers & cries of the godly, the walls of the Church and country stand up. These are the strength of their strength.

[Reason 2] Secondly, because this is a forerunner, and certain immediate sign & prediction of some fearful judgment & plague of God at hand ready to break in upon them, as the red & lowering sky in the morning, is a sign of a shortly ensuing tempest: so the taking of these away of an imminent plague, the Prophet Isaiah gives this reason of it: The righteous perisheth, and no man considereth it in heart, and merciful men are taken away, and no man understandeth that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come: Their taking away, doth then directly presage an evil to come? for as the Apostle saith in another case, so I in this, Only he which now with-holdeth shall let, till he be taken out of the way: these while they are, with-hold and keep back the plague. As the Angel said to Lot, I can do nothing till thou be come thither, namely to bring the plague upon Sodom and Gomorrah, but he no sooner was entered into Zoar, but instantly the Lord reigned fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah. As Noah was no sooner in the Ark, but in the very self same day were all the fountains of the deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

[Use 1] Now to make some use of this point to our selves. First how far are they then from the spirit of the Prophet and holy men? what enemies to their own strength & defense, what furtherers of their own plagues? who wish and desire, who work and procure the decay & diminution of the number of the godly and faithful? who account it matter of singing rather then sorrow, of laughing then lamentation, to hear of their fall and taking away: As Saluian said of some in his time: Do we believe that that people was not captivated in mind, who were glad at the captivity of their own people; that they were not captivated both in heart and feeling, that laughed at the punishment of theirs, who understood not that in their slaughter they themselves were slain, who thought not that in their deaths they themselves died? In the same manner may I speak of these: do we not think that these are captivated in their minds, who thus joy in their dangers? are they not miserable, & blind, and benumbed, who thus laugh in their perils? who understand not, that by this they are as Samson was, shorn of his hair, & so deprived of their strength; who think not that by this they take away those that keep back the judgments of God, & make way if they may have their wills, that they may the sooner & more severely break in upon them? And this whether they do it, as Cain hated and slew his brother, and for that cause as St. John speaketh. Because his own works were evil, & his brothers good; because they take themselves withal reprove by their carriage, more then by their words. For the voice of deeds speak more effectually then the voice of words: as Bernard saith. Whether a man teach or reprove, and so hate them for this, and not without cause. For (as Saluian speaks) Who can say that it is without cause, being mē altogether different in their life and manners, in whom they saw nothing that was theirs, because the whole was God's: for the greatest cause of discord is the diversity of wills: because it either cannot be at all, or scarce be, that any should love that thing in another, from which he himself dissenteth: therefore (as I said) they hated them not without cause, in whom they saw all things repugnant to themselves. Whether it be for this, or it be for the truths sake which they profess, hold, and defend, as the seed and brood of Anti-Christ ever did the Church of God, or for any other thing, yet do they nothing more then deprive themselves of their safety and defense, lay themselves open to the plagues and judgments of God, though they benefit and advantage the faithful: for as Eusebius speaks in the life of Constantine, but of that which happened in the days of Constantius his father, that the Emperors did so persecute the godly, that in a short time the palaces of the Emperors were destitute of all good men: which thing (as he saith) did altogether deprive the Authors of this wickedness, of the favorable countenance, care, and regard of God, for while they did persecute godly men, they also persecuted their prayers, and so altogether turned them from them. So is it with these, and so will it be with those who thus hate and seek to remove the godly and faithful, that as Justin Martyr spake to Antonius Pius in his second Apology for the Christians. We desire not that ye punish the accusers, for their own malignity, and ignorance of good things is enough for them: So may we say; no need to pray for vengeance upon the haters & persecutors of the godly and faithful, for their own wickedness is enough to bring God's judgments upon them, their ignorance of good things, to bring evil enough upon their backs, when by this they bring much good to the godly: for as Austin saith, They which persecuted the martyrs, in persecuting them on earth, they sent thē to heaven, & whē wittingly they infered upon thē the loss of this present life, unwittingly they conferred upon thē the gain of the life to come • yea as Euseb. reporteth the speech of Lucius to Vrbilius the Governor condemned for speaking against his sentence which he gave against Christians, and professing himself upon, interogation to be a Christian he confessed, That he did owe great thanks, for so (he said) he should be not only free from those wicked Lord's, but also should go directly unto God the father of goodness, and King of mercy and clemency: And these gone, then nothing but plagues remaineth for the other; nay whether they be gone, or abide still among thē, they are but a curse to the wicked world, not but that they might have a blessing by them, and have more then they see or acknowledge, nor that they are the cause of evil to them, but the occasion, because of their hatred and handling of them, for while they evilly entreat them, living with them, and will not let them freely serve their God, neither with them, nor separate from them, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians would not suffer Israel: therefore like Egypt are they plagued with sundry judgments for abusing of them, though by their prayers many are turned and kept from them. And when they are taken from them, more heavy plagues do abide them, and will come in upon them: For as Chrysostom saith, As the Israelites going cut of Egypt, Egypt was destroyed, so when the godly shall be quite departed out of the world, the world shall be destroyed. This considered, they have no cause to hate them living, and wish to be rid of them, much less to procure their departing: but much cause have they to sorrow and grieve when they are taken from them. And therefore much are they blinded with malice, that they can wish their fall, and rejoice and laugh at the time of their departure, and willingly, and willfully thrust them out of the world, as the Egyptians did Israel

[Use 2] Secondly, it is then manifested to be a heavy curse & fearful judgment to a Land, to a Church, when men of piety & religion, faithful and godly men are taken away; why else do the surviving godly mourn and bewail them, when there is no band of nature, no worldly or civil respect that wrings tears and sorrow from them, but merely because such are taken away. They were neither fools nor children to weep for trifles, and things wherein there was no loss. When they wept, and wept bitterly with great lamentations and mourning, the cause must certainly be either their sin, or else some great judgment, either privative or positive. The taking away of the godly, especially by an ordinary hand of God cannot be sin, but a punishment for sin, and that which is manifested to be a very fearful one. Then must we, then ought we to sigh and groan, to sorrow and mourn under this, as a very heavy judgment: we shall perform herein no unfitting, thing, nothing unworthy of us, whatsoever we be, or whosoever we be; it is fitting the most holiest, when Isaiah the Prophet, and other of the faithful have done it: it is fitting the most honorable, whenas David the King, and Isaiah of the blood royal have done it, & thought themselves to have calling to it and cause enough when such things befell the time they lived in. We are all (honorable and beloved) called to mourn; for how many men of note for piety and holiness, for religion and uprightness, whom God had specially endued with grace and goodness, and anointed them with this oil above their fellows, and men of their rank and fashion, how many of these are taken, and removed from us within these few years, we being altogether unworthy of them, & he having made them worthy (as it is said of a few in the Church of Sardie) that is fitting for himself. And while we inioied them, we prospered by their presence & prayers, we were blessed for them; for their sakes, at their suites were many judgments turned frō us, that otherwise would have fallen upon us, as Moses by his prayers tied the Lord's hand that he could not hurt Israel: as for Joseph not only Potiphar fared the better, but for his, & the family of Jacob, Egypt prospered, & was preserved when other countries perished with famine in the time of want. Doubtless as Elisha said to Jehoram, If it were not that I regarded the presence of Jehoshaphat King of Judah, I would not have looked towards thee, nor seen thee: so if it had not been for their presence & prayers, God would never have respected our armies, and our generals to have given them such relief as they found, when they were often in distress in Ireland, & elsewhere. As Tertullian saith, that M. Aurelius the Emperor, when he was in fight against the Germans, and in a straight for water; by his letters witnessed, that the German thirst was driven away with ashower, obtained by the prayers of the Christian soldiers: So may I say, that from many straits, have we and our armies obtained relief by them. Yea as Moses and his prayer overcame more then Joshua and his power and strength: for when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed: that is, when he prayed fervently, Israel had the day of the Amalekites, but when he let his hands down, Amalek prevailed: that is, when he left praying, the enemy got the better.

So may we say of the faithful of the land, that at all times their suites to God when they were fervent, prevailed more then the swords of our Captains and soldiers; their prayers were of more force then all their pieces, their cries, then all the Cannons of the Army: by their faith were turned to flight the armies of the Aliants. But now when so many of these are taken away, when they have yielded to nature, and are received into glory, have we not cause to mourn with great lamentations? Yes, yes, if we did understand those things that did belong to our peace, and safety, if we did conceive rightly of things tending to our woe, and misery; if we do not, if we cannot, it is because, as Saluian saith to the Catholic Church, Thy own felicity fighteth against thyself: our prosperity, our plenty standeth against us, and hath bewitched us, we are so drunk with the pleasures thereof, that as drunken men we see no danger, though we lie open to infinite danger hereby. Shall use that of Saluian? Fear was taken away from offenders, that there should be no caution against it. We are destitute of the fear of evil, because we should not take care to avoid it, and that it should come upon us unawares: God forbid, God forbid, let me be found a false Prophet. But to draw to an end of this point (Honorable and beloved) had the old world cause to fear and mourn when Noah went into the Ark? was it high time for Sodom to lament when Lot was taken away, and hastened out of it by the Angel? and have not we cause? can we not mourn when so many Noah's & Lots (I wrong none, as I take it, though I honor some by this comparison) are taken away? and hastened away out of our Land & Cities? Trust me now, or time will come when you shall trust me, that we have cause and cause again to lament and mourn, not for them who dying in the Lord, are happy with the Lord, & rest from all their labors and miseries; but as Christ said to the women that followed him, Weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children: so we for our selves and our children: for having been safe by them, and strengthened through them, they are taken away from the plague, we lie open to it, and it hasteneth the faster, because they that kept it from us, are removed. Men use to fence and defend, to keep watch and ward over their corn fields, whiles the corn and fruits are in them vnreaped, ungathered: when they are gathered, and put safe into the barn, thē is open tide, as they say, they lay them open to beasts of all kind, and sometime set fire on the stubble. So, and so hath God dealt oft times with many lands and countries, wherein his Church and the godly have lived. And are we better then they? Nay as Saluian saith, We are worse, because we should be better: having such examples to admonish us: have we any privilege or protection more then they? nay, nay, we have no help, unless we cease to do evil and learn to do well, and labor to be good and faithful as they were, and believing this to be true, it may be, (as Tertullian speaketh in one place: faith causeth fear, fear carefulness: ) so our faith may breed fear, and our fear care to cease to be evil, and learn to do well, that repenting for our sins, and practicing true piete, we may still live and eat the good things of the land.

Let us proceed to a second point.

[Doctrine 2] THere is no privilege, no not spiritual that can preserve a man frō a natural death, or the first death: out of no court can a man fetch a writ of protection against this Sergeant, no place will preserve, no person can be privileged from it. Here the holy and good man, the righteous and religious man is taken from the earth and dieth: It is no marvel, though, as Job speaketh, Man that is borne of a woman, is of short continuance, he shooteth forth as a flower, & is cut down; he vanisheth also as a shadow, and continueth not. But a man would think that he that is begotten again of God's own will by the word of truth: that he that is borne again of water and of the spirit and so borne not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God: yea borne a new, not of mortal seed, but of immortal, the word of God, which liveth and endureth forever: A man (I say) would think that he should not die: and yet behold the whole generation of God's Children, they all die in their appointed time, and undergo death, not as a punishment, but as a tribute (as the heathen man speaks) which every man must pay for his life. Though the fool die, yet may not the wise man live ever? How dieth the wise man? as doth the fool: (saith the Preacher): but though the subject die, yet cannot the Sovereign put away death with his Scepter. I have said ye are God's, and ye all are children of the most high: but ye shall die as a man, and ye Princes shall fall like others. But though Prince and people die, yet are not the Prophets excused? Your fathers, where are they, and do the Prophets live forever? Examples of other times, experience of our own teacheth us, that all of all sorts die, and are gathered to their fathers. Yea the dumb and dead bodies cry this aloud to us. As Basel of Seleucia saith of Noah: he preached without preaching, every stroke of the Ark was a real sermon of repentance, so every corps we follow and accompany to the grave preacheth really this truth to us.

And this truth hath certain ground. [Reason 1] First, because the Lord of life and death hath so decreed it. It is appointed unto men that they shall once die: The decree was made Gen. 3.19. Thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return. If it be his decree, it must needs have a certain effect: the decree is certain, the event is inevitable. Our God is in heaven, and he doth whatsoever he will. God's will is his deed (as Cyprian saith, if he have once willd it, it is as good as wrought if he have decreed it, it is as certain as if it were done.

[Reason 2] Secondly, because all of all sorts and conditions are made of one mould and one matter, made of clay and earth, whose foundatiō is in the dust, which shall be destroyed before the moth. Hence the Apostle calleth men's bodies The earthly house of this Tabernacle. It is true that as there are difference of stars, though all made of th same matter: and difference of metals, some are gold, some silver, some lead, some tin, but all made of one earth: so are there difference of bodies, some more excellent then other, and made of a purer earth, but yet all subject to corruption, as the matter whereof they are made is. It being the body then that dieth and seeth corruption, one must die as well as another.

[Reason 3] Thirdly, because all have sinned, and all have sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and make God a liar. The holy and beloved Apostle ranketh himself with others, and confessed, that he had still sin in him: He that saith he is without fault, is either proud or a fool, saith Cyprian. Then must all be subject to death; for saith the Apostle As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death went over all, for as much as all men have sinned. Sin the only cause, saith one, which enlarged deaths dominion, and made all the world to become his tributaries, for had it not been for sin, death had never entered into the world. If Adam had not sinned, he had not tasted death (as Austin speaks) And the Lord said In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death: not actually, but potentially become mortal. Now that which is true in the root holdeth in the branches.

[Reason 4] Fourthly, because sin which brought in death, might be destroyed again by death: this viperous damme by such a daughter, this beast by such a brood, had it not been for sin, death had never entered into the world and were it not for death sin would never go out of the world: As Basel saith, God made not death, but we our selves by our wicked minds, of our own accord, we have drawn it on our selves, which God did not at all forbid, lest it should keep in us an immortal disease. And as Epiphanius bringeth in Methodius disputing with Proclus the Originist: God as the true Physician hath appointed death to be a physical purgation for the utter rooting out and putting away of sin, that we may be made faultless and innocent: and that as a goodly golden image, saith he, sightly and seemly in all parts, if it be broken and defaced by any means, must be new cast and framed again, for the taking away of the blemishes and disgraces of it, even so man the Image of God being maimed and disgraced by sin, for the putting away of those disgraces, and the repairing of his ruins and decays, must by death be dissolved into the earth, thence to be raised up again perfect, and without default.

[Use 1] But what use may we make of all this? First it is a care that everyone ought to have to know they must die, and they cannot avoid it: the decree is gone out against them from the highest court of Parliament, and that from the most highest: what contempt were it not to take notice of it? eury one ought to labor to number his days, and truly to know his mortality, the greatest as well as the meanest, the wisest as the simplest, for if any one then all and if anymore then other, the greatest, for they are not the least, but rather the most subject to this, as they challenge themselves to be of the finest of the common mould, so they must know that they are not by that exempted from the common law of nature, and force of God's decree, but as the finer the metal, or the purer the matter of any glass, or earthen vessel, the more subject it is to breaking, so they to mortality: And therefore both they, and all must labor for this spiritual Arithmetic. To number their days, which is a religious meditation and sound consideration of their frailty and mortality. A thing worthy every man's best disposed thoughts and intentions: for seenig every man must die, and hath a course to finish, which being finished, he must away, it is special wisdom to learn to know the length of his days, as it were the length of his lease; for as he hath used himself in his farm, he shall enter at the expiration of his time upon a better or a worse. David for his learning a Prophet, for his accepation a man after God's own heart, for his authority a King, was then very studious in this knowledge, when after watching & fasting he besought God to be instructed in it. Lord let me know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is, let me know how long I have to live. So Moses wise in all the wisdom of Egypt and Israel, accounted faithful in the house of God, prayed yet for this point of wisdom to be informed in it, as well himself as others. Teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, like careful Scholars who break their sleep, and forsake their meat, and are often in meditations when they beat upon some serious subuect.

What think you it will profit a man, if by his skil it Arithmetic he be able to deal with every number, and to divide the least fractions, and never to think of the numbering of his days with the men of God, which are so few, & evil?

What will it profit him if by Geometry he be able to take the longitude of the most spacious prospects, and not be able to measure that which the Prophet hath measured with his span? What will it avail him if with the Astronomer he be able to observe and know the motion of the heavens, and yet have his heart so buried in the earth, that he cannot think of that which passeth away as swiftly as them? What profit if he be able with the Philosopher to search out the causes of many effects, and to know the causes of many changes, as of the ebbing and flowing of the Seas, the increasing, & waning of the moon, and the like, and be not able to know his own changes, & the causes of them?

Doubtless all this will profit him nothing, all his knowledge will be to little purpose in the end. Many men beat their heads about frivolous matters, some being more busy to know where Hell is (saith Chrysostom ) then how to avoid the pains of it, others pleasing themselves in pelting and needless questions to seem singular amongst men, neglecting this, & the like necessary things: but when they come to their departing, they shall find they have spun a fair thread, and wearied themselves in vain: everyone then, as Daniel searched and found out by the books of Jeremiah not only the return, but the time of the return of Israel to their own land, from their captivity; so by study of the Scriptures ought they to search, & so may they come to know the time of the return from their exile on the earth, to their country in heaven; and though they cannot find the particular day or year, yet they shall find it to be most certain, and that which in short time shall be finished. And thus shall death when it cometh be less hurtful, as a tempest before expected. Death is compared to the Basilisk which if she see before she be seen, there is some danger; but if a man first descry the Basilisk, the serpent dieth, & then there is no fear: [Use 2] So if death be not seen and provided for before hand, there is great danger; but if it be seen and provided for, the danger is past before their death come?

[eVs 2] Secondly, must everyone die? & will no priuiledg protect thē? nay, it is certain that they can carry none of their privileges with them out of the world, as they brough them not into the world, 1. Tim. 6.7. We brough nothing into the world, & it is certain we can carry nothing out. It is wisdom then in everyone, to labor to be fitted for this passage Let us be prepared to this journey (as Chrysostom saith) for we have need of much provision, because there is much heat, much drought, much solitude; no Inn, no resting place, no place of abode: there is naught to be boght of him, who hath not taken all things here. Hear what the Virgins say. Mat. 25. Go rather to them that sel: but going, they found not. What ought we then to do? we must not so labor for the things of this life, from which me must be taken, and which we must leave behind us; but for those which concern a better life, and we may carry with us: not for those things which shall have either ^a finem tuum, or finem suum; (as Bernard speaks,) an end of thee, if thou have not an end of them; either shall they be taken frō us, as they were from Job; or else we from them, as the rich man was from his substance & wealth: but for those things which we may carry with us, and may either bring us to, or adorn us where we must be perpetually, and forever. It were a very foolish part, and a senseless practice for strangers when they are in exile, or far from their own country, in a foreign soil and dwelling, whence they are sure to be called either by their own Prince, or cast out by the Prince of the country, to lay out all they are worth upon some farm or Lordship there, never providing for that which they may carry with them to their county adorn them when they come there, specially if the so employing of themselves & their estate, be a means to keep them from the enjoying of the happiness of their country; yea a cause that they shall be cast in to prison & plunged into misery: So it is but a madness for us to employ all our care, and spend all our time and endeavor for this life, and things for it and the body, upon earthly and transitory things, things we found here, & must leave here. And being here from home, strangers in the body, absent from the Lord, and our own land (as the Apostle speaketh) whence we know we shall be called, either by a natural or a violent death, ordinary or extraordinary, taken away by God, or thrust out by the cruelty of men, never providing for that which must adorn us there, or further our passage, yea procure our entrance: specially when such things, and the care for them, which was joined with the neglect of so great things, even of so great salvation, shall procure misery and punishment, where the other would procure mercy and happiness: here these things are left behind us, those go with us; of these we shall give an account, of them we shall reap a reward (as Chrysostom saith): we must therefore imitate strangers, who provide for their departure, and store themselves with such things that are both portable and profitable, as may stead them in their passage and possession of their country: so must we provide for spiritual things, store our selves with them, which we only must carry with us, and cannot be taken from us, & shall be cōmodious to us when we come to our country. Chrysostom saith; He which is endued with virtue hath such a garment, which as moaths cannot so neither can death it self hurt, and not without cause; for these virtues of the mind, take not their beginning from the earth, but are fruits of the spirit. They will then be eternal riches, and we shall be eternal by them; and though death dissolve body and soul, and destroy our present being in th • life, yet as Justin Martyr spake for himself & others, to their persecutors; You may kill us, but ye cannot hurt us. So death may kill us, but it cannot hurt us, while it comes thus expected and provided for, it may be to our great commodity and advantage.

And now I will come to the third point.

[Doctrine 3] AN immature and untimely death, for a mā to be taken away before he be come to the full period of his life, that in the course of nature, and the eye of reason he might attain to, is a thing that may betide good men, and not be a curse to them. Here the good man perisheth, is untimely taken away. And this is the Iame that is in Isaiah, The righteous perisheth, the merciful man is taken away, namely untimely: for if they died in a full age, it were not blame worthy for a man not to consider it in his He heart. So of Jereboam's son only of Jeroboam house shall come to the grave, because in him is found some goodness, towards the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam, The Preacher teacheth us this, Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and God prolong his days, yet I know it shall be well with him that fears the lord, and do reverence before him; that is, though God do not prolong their days

Now this truth is confirmed unto us by two arguments, the one drawn from the malice of the wicked against the godly, the other from the mercy of God to the godly. [Reason 1] For the first, the wicked through their malice seek by all means to cut off the godly, because their wickedness and sinful life is reproved by their godly conversation, neither can they follow their sins so freely as they would, nor so quietly without detection or check. The Apostle saith, Cain slew and cut off Abel, and wherefore slew he him? because his own works were evil, and his brothers good. As the Patriarchs sold Joseph, and sent him out of the house of his father, because he was a means they were checked for their evil sayings. This is that we have in the book of Wisdom, Therefore let us defraud the righteous, for he is not for our profit, and he is contrary to our doings. He checketh us for offending against the law, and blameth us as transgressors of discipline, verse. 14. He is made to reprove our thoughts, it grieveth us also to look upon him, for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion, verse 20. Let us condemn him unto a shameful death, for he shall be preserved as himself saith. But all this is not against them, but as Joseph said of his brothers envy, When you thought evil against me, God turned it to good. So when they think and do evil against them, God disposeth it to good through his mercy, and that partly to their bodies, partly to their souls for their bodies:

[Reason 2] Because in the goodness he affecteth them withal, he taketh them from the evil and the plagues to come. As Lot out of Sodom, The Lord being merciful unto him, the men brought him forth and set him without the City. So them out of the world, and as Huldah the Prophetess sent Josiah word by his messengers and from the Lord, Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be put in the grave, in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. Plotinus the Philosopher as Austin hath it, De ciuitate dei, saw this in part, This very thing that men are bodily mortal, he thought it an appurtenance to the mercy of God the Father, lest they should always be tied to the misery of this life. It is no less mercy to be taken sooner away that they may see and suffer less misery which the length of their days would effect.

[Reason 3] Now his mercy appears towards their souls, because they are by this means freed, either from having their souls grieved with the sins of other, or from grieving God with their own sins, which are no small benefits. For being led by the same spirit that Lot was, they cannot choose but be vexed as he was with the unclean conversation of the wicked. For it cannot be but as in the Proverbs A wicked man is an abomination to the just, as he that is upright in his ways is abomination to the wicked. Again they being endued with a true filial fear, they grieve to offend so gracious a father, which they cannot but do whiles they are here, but after this life shall be freed from it. Augustine reporteth that Cyprian used to comfort his friends in dying with this; Death is not not only not unprofitable to the faithful, but is also found to be profitable, because it taketh a man out of the danger of sinning & puts him in security of not sinning. The sooner they are freed from these, the greater blessing and benefit.

[Objection.] Ob. We find in the fifth commandment long life promised as a blessing to an obedient and good son, fearing God, and honoring his parents, to have these days shortened, is it not, seemeth it not to be a curse?

[Solution.] Sol. Whatsoever it seemeth, yet it is not. It is answered by some, that the blessing there promised, was a blessing peculiar and special for the Jews, for the Land of Canaan being the land of promise, and a special pledge of God's favor to live long, in it was a special testimony of God's love. For to be in it, though dead, was specially respected of the Fathers, as we see by Jacob and Joseph. But these restrain this promise and God's bounty too much. Neither is there any reason that it being annexed to a moral precept and written in the Law, should not be general and perpetual, yea the Apostle writing unto the Ephesians, doth so make it, where he seemeth, also to expound it. That it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on earth. Wherein he showeth, that it is not absolutely a blessing, but so long as a man was well on earth; noting it else no blessing to live, but rather a favor to be taken away from the evil to come. Say the father promise his son a large lease in some rich place, but very vnhealthfull, for his obedience and service; and after take him thence, and in a richer soil, and only healthful air, give him a fee simple of such a thing as for fruitfulness and pleasantness far surpassing the other, hath he not dealt faithfully and fatherly with him? Chrysostom useth this similitude, I confess to a different purpose, but yet it fitteth our point, If thou shouldst come to a merchant, and of two stones laid before thee, the one false, the other right precious, and very dearly purchaseable, and laying down the price of the lesser, shouldest get the greater, wouldst thou accuse him? No verily, but wouldst rather admire im? In like manner now there are two lives proposed to us, viz. a temporal, and an eternal: both these God sets to sale, but he sels us the eternal, not the temporal. Why like silly children are we sad, because we have received the best? By these we may well perceive that this is neither crossing to God's promise, nor a curse to the godly's persō. I now come to the use of this point.

[Use 1] Here is comfort over those that are departed, when any man shall see his friend taken away by an untimely death, nothing hath befallen him but that which hath done, may do, and doth often betide good men, respected and beloved of God. In respect of the common judgment of men, when the sergeant death aresteth a man (before he hath as it seemeth run the hour glass of his life, which nature might afford) they deem it like the Prophet Ahijah that met with Jereboam's wife, and told her, that he was sent with heavy tidings, and namely with that specially, viz. Thy child shall die. So these judge it heavy tidings, to hear that their friends are like apples, pulled before they be ripe, but in this sorrow here is sweetness, the best are subject to it, and it is no extraordinary thing to them. Again though as grapes, they be gathered before they be ripe, and as lambes slain before they be grown, yet they have this benefit before those that grow longer, and live more years, they are freed from the violence of the wine press, that others fall into, and escape many storms that others live to taste of. To say nothing of the good they have gained, of the glory they have obtianed, though they have lost much, they have gained more. As Tertullian comforted the martyrs, If thou hast lost any of the joys of this life, it is trading to loose some lesser matter, that thou mayest gain greater. They have made a most gainful traffic, and happy change, they have lost shadows, and gained substāces, they have parted with lead and found gold, they have lost earthly things, and possess heavenly, and are made very rich in a short time, yea obtained that in a very short time, which many labor for twice or thrice as long before they can obtain it. None would grieve to see his friend come sooner then ordinary, more speedily then usually others do to riches and honors, to see his friend or child outstrip others, even many thousands, and obtain wealth and dignity in their youth, which others obtain not till they be well stricken in age, and hoary headed; nay instead of grieving, they joy much in it: Much more is here cause, when they have obtained so speedily such a measure of spiritual riches, and such height of heavenly glory in so short a time.

[Use 2] Here is instruction for every good man, that when death shall come for him, as it may seem untimely, before the thread of his life be half spun out, he must be informed to entertain it kindly, as Lot did the Angels, who came to fetch him out of Sodom: for though he be pulled from his seat, which was to him as the plain of Sodom seemed to Lot, as a pleasant Paradise, yet shall he find with Lot, he is taken away from the judgments to come: howsoever he be taken away, either by the malice of the wicked or by the mercy of God, and that he is separated from the sins of the world, which grieved his soul, yea frō sinning himself, & his own sins, which grieved the Lord, even his so gracious & kind father. For while he is in this world, he cannot but sin having so much means to draw him to it; as Cyprian in his book of mortality, What do we else in the world but fight a combat with Satan, then with daily conflicts encounter his darts & weapons, we must grapple with covetousness, wantonness, with anger & ambition, we have a daily and tedious combat with the corruptions of the flesh, and enticements of the world. The mind of man is besieged and beset on all sides with annoyances from Satan, so that it is not able to resist or withstand everyone. If covetousness be overcome of us, some evil affection will assail us: if that evil affection be strangled, vain glory will afflict us, if vain glory be despised, wrath will incense us; if wrath be pacified, then pride will puff us up, drunkenness will provoke us, envy will break concord, heat will interrupt friendship. Thou shalt be forced to curse, which the law of God forbiddeth. Thou shalt be constrained to swear, which is not lawful. The soul suffereth so many persecutions daily, the heart is pressed with so many dangers, and doth it delight still to abide amongst the swords of Satan, and not rather desire by the means of a speedy death to hasten to Christ. When he shall then be pulled frō this evil & brought to this good, to enjoy sooner the presence of God, & the lamb, yea as a bride to his beloved Bridegroom, that that which the bride desired that he would come, that she might have his presence he inioies before his general coming, preventing as it were his coming by his going to him by, the means of this imature doth.

Now how should that but be a welcome guest, how but a choice blessing, which as a gentle guide leadeth him to his Christ, carrieth his soul to hir beloved husband. This was the resolutiō of Ambrose, who neither loathed life, nor feared to die, because, saith he, we have a good Lord to go to. This was the faith of Simeon who having Christ, prayed to depart in peace. This was Saint Paul's gain, when he said, to die is to me advantage: because this passage was a dissolution, & this dissolution was to be from the body, & this his being frō the body was to be with Christ, though it came untimely. Thus may and ought every good man to resolve with Ambrose, to pray with Simeon, to triumph with Paul, when he shall be carried swiftly from the Coast of his banishment towards his own country, not with the wind only against the tide, not with the tide against the wind, but both with wind & tide to the haven of happiness, to the Heaven of blessedness, where he shall enjoy the presence of God, and the Lamb, in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Thus much out of my Text fitting the present occasion.

ANd now (Honorable and beloved) I know you expect some discourse of me, and from me, of the life and death of this truly honorable Lord. I profess first to you, that I have often grieved at the licentiousness of many of my brethren in this kind, whereby they have been very offensive, and made themselves evil thought of, and those they commended never the better, but have given the occasion that the hearers who knew the deceased better then themselves, have raked into their lives, and ripped up their former carriage, to their great disgrace, & laid open that which happily would have been kept secret, if this occasion had not drawn it out.

But yet herein, me thinks I saw the over-ruling hand of the most wise God, ordering men's sins and infirmities to make good his own word; The name of the wicked shall rot. So that as Austin speaketh, In this that they did against the will of God, is his will fulfilled by them. But yet I have ever judged it most fitting to speak somewhat liberally, so it might be done warantably, of public persons, and eminent men, deserving well, Spe vel re, of the Church and common wealth, that they may be brought to see their loss, and they made sensible of the hand of God, in depriving them of such notable means of their good, and worthy instruments of their peace and prosperity, as of his kingdom and glory.

Thus judging, I will so practice in the present, by your patience, to speak a few things of this deceased honorable person; the most hopeful Gentleman, of a subject, for the common good of the Church and common wealth (if my love deceive me not) that many ages have afforded us, of what rank & condition soever they were: I say a few words of his life and death, by your patience, that when we see his worth, we may conceive of our own loss, and be assured of his gain; and so in sorrowing for our selves, yet we may rejoice over him. In speaking of whom, I fear, as Chrysostom did when he fell occasionally into the commendations of Saint Paul; Lest my speech should rather blemish and diminish the praise of so great a personage, then any ways adorn it: I will do what I can, and if I satisfy not men's expectations, as Bernard in another case, Culpetur sane ingenium, non voluntas: Blame my wit, and not my will.

But why hold I you thus in suspense? I will pass by the birth of this honorable person, and his progenitors, though it be worth the esteem to be borne of those that are truly worthy and anciently noble, & to descend from their loins. Yet it is more properly another's, then his commendations, and is common to those who have nothing commendable in them, nor have any profit by it, no more then a channel or river that sloweth from a pure and wholesome spring if it be corrupt & defiled, whereof the world hath too many, who are not so much honored by their noble auncesters, as they dishonor them and their stock. Dignitas in indigno ornamentum in Luto, saith Saluian; Honor in an vnhonorable mā, is like an ornament in the dirt, a jewel in the dunghill more defiled then it can adorn. Alas for grief, that in this age of the world it may be spoken to many, which Nazianzen reports was sometime spoken to a Noble man despising another that was come of mean parentage, and boasting of his own nobility: Mihi inquit probro genus meum est, tu autem generi tuo. My parentage is a reproach to me, but thour art a reproach to thy parentage. This honorable Lord as a thankful man for honor received, returned honor to his ancestors, and that with advantage, being no less honorable to them, then they were to him: I know they will acknowledge and subscribe to this with much joy & comfort.

I will omit to speak of his education and bringing up, which is the honor of his parents, having been so religious and truly Christian as it was. Non est parui apud deum meriti been filios educare. So Jerome. It is a thing of no small account with God, for men to bring up their children well, and in the fear of God, especially men Children, which as Chrysostom saith, is A greater burden, and more full of fears and cares.

I will not stand upon his natural parts of wit, memory, sweetness of nature, ability of body, all which were in him excellent, but they are common to many others, yet in this different, namely in the well using and applying of them A good wit (saith one) unsanctified, is a prey for the Devil; so I may say of the rest: but when it is true of them which Bernard saith. Grace doth order aright that which Creation hath given. Then are they honorable and commondable indeed. Such were they in this honorable person truly sanctified, and religiously applied to all good, as shall appear by that which followeth.

For his learning, I must leave it to others to speak, that had occasion to confer with him and cōuerse with him in that course, I mean for human knowledge of tongues and arts, and the like, I know many both strangers and Englishmen speak admirably of him. As some out of certain knowledge testify of him, that he had attained four languages very sufficiently, The Greek, Latin, Italian, and French, being able to read Greek authors, and to make use of them in their own language. Speaking Latin well and writing a pure and grave style, so also he was able to confer with any stranger readily and laudably in the Italian & French, as men of best judgment have thought, able also to understand the Authors he read in the Spanish tongue. So for his knowledge in the Arts, specially in Philosophy, and the Mathematics, some who are Masters of these Arts, and others of note witness with them, that his skill as well in the practike part as contemplative, was of that degree towards perfection, as that he was not only to have been accounted excellent, in respect he was a gentleman of noble rank & place; but that he might justly be paraleld with most of the best that were renowned in the only professing of the same: For his knowledge in the Theorique of the art Military & Nauigation, he had made so good a progress therein, as some who understand those arts well do witness, he wanted nothing but the practice to a great perfection in them both. For his understanding in heavenly knowledge, and the mysteries of salvation, as his desire was very fervent to it, so was his success very prosperous & happy in it. For he had attained that measure, that I never knew in any of what rank soever of his years, (that did not intend to make it their profession) I have conferred with him many and many times, I never knew the question come in our way, which he was not able suddenly and vnderstandingly to speak unto.

But to come to the best, and that which is most comfortable, as touching him, and may more make us to bewail our loss; This desire of knowledge was not as Bernard notes of some, who desired to know, For that end only that they might know; which is, Turpis curiositas (saith the Father a filthy curiosity. Nor, as others who desired it, vt sciātur ipsi; that they might be known, which is, turpis vanitas, foul vanity: Nor as others, vt scientiam suam vendant; that they may make sale of their knowledge, which is turpis quaestus, filthy lucre: But it was as he speaketh; others desired knowledge, vt aedificent, that they might profit others, which was charitas, charity, and as others, vt aefidificentur, that they might be edified, & prudentia est, and it is wisdom. Of all these only, the two last are found free from the abuse of knowledge, as who would therefore understand, that they might do good. These two last are not the abuses of knowledge, because they desire to know well, that they may do well: such I assure you was the desire of knowledge in this honorable person, which I manifest thus unto you.

The grace of salvation, that is, this saving knowledge by the Gospel, teacheth not for the speculation, but the practice of it, it being like the voice that bad Lazarus arise, and made him able to rise out of his grave, and to walk and work. I say, it teacheth three lessons, & enables them that truly apprehend it, to work three main things. Sobriety, Justice, Piety, The grace of God that bringeth salvation unto all men hath appeared, and teacheth us that we should live soberly, and righteously and godly in this present world. How well this noble worthy had both learned, and was enabled by the grace of salvation to practice these three, I will manifest to you in few words: of the first two more briefly; of the latter, more largely.

For his sobriety, he was a wonderful, sober, and chaste man in his life; nay his lips not heard to utter any unchaste, nay scarcely unseemly speech, as many report of him, with whom happily he would have spoken more liberally and opened himself more freely then with me: which was the more commendable in him, because he was as Jerome speaketh in lubrica aetate, in a slippery age, in the flower of his youth; but yet more, because: he lived in lubrico loco, in a slippery place, the Court; most of all, because he had been a traveler in those places where are schools of uncleanness, whence few ever return such as they went out; but of good and chaste, return unchaste, being unchaste when they went out, they are seven fold more defiled then before. So was it not with him, but like fishes which retain their fresh taste, though they live in salt water; so in an vnchastage, in unchaste places, he ever kept his chastity, yea he grew in the love of chastity, and hatred of all uncleanness.

And no marvel, for he took the way to it; he avoided the occasions, he spent not his time in courting of young Ladies, and amourosly beholding beautiful women, the bellows of lust, and baits of uncleanness, of whom Saint Augustine speaketh thus, To see them, hurts the heart, to hear them, inflames the mind, to touch them stirs up the flesh, and last of all, all whatsoever is done with women (which are not their lawful wives) is a snare to that man that dealeth with them. But this chaste spouse esteemed his books above their beauty, and instead of daliance with them, his delight was in men of parts and learning, for arts and Arms. But besides this, as a special means of chastity, he was temperate in feeding, and rare in feasting, and frequent in fasting (of which, when I come to his religion.) he was moreover a great auoider of idleness and sleep, the two nurses of uncleanness; with his will he ordinarily never slept above six hours, and when he lay awake, he sought to exclude all evil thoughts with meditation vpō some heavenly things, as I shall tell you when I come to his piety.

For his justice, he had no public place to show himself in, he was but coming up on the stage & God called him away, and suffered him not to manifest what he had gotten by his careful fitting himself for such a place: for his private carriage, I have not heard, but that he dealt honorably and honestly with every man that he had to do with; that great and honorable care he had that his fathers debts, which were very great by his manifold both private and public occasions, and some few of his own (which I am informed to be no great matter) establishing power in his honorable mother and executresse, to sell all, or any part of the land, presently and speedily to pay and discharge all: and when the gentleman who drew the conveyance demanded of him, if he aproued of that he appointed to be done, and confirmed to this purpose; he answered, Yes with all my heart, for my honor & my honesty are my nearest heirs. If any think that to impeach his justice, that he left not the land to the heir male, to uphold the house, I must tell thē that in justice, the paying of just debts ought to be preferred before upholding or houses, and will give more comfort at the last: yea there can be no true comfort without care of this: and the tail being cut off as I am informed (by his father) in this honorable respect, to pay every man his own, his sisters were nearer to him then his cosien german, both by the law of God and nature, who being honorable Ladies, professors of religiō, as it lieth in their power and the world looks for it from them: so if they leave no children to inherit, no doubt, they will have an honorable care to uphold the house, and the name; which I think will be much to their honor

And now honorable & beloved, I come to the third branch, & the third effect of this saving knowledge, his godliness and religion, of whom I may say as Saluian saith of one, That he was noble in that faith which always in all addressings, is an ornament, because without this faith, there is nothing so specious that can garnish and beautify.

This, this is the Temple that sanctifies the gold, this is the Altar that sanctifies the offering, by this the sobriety and justice (which in an heathen or civil man, without this, are but glistering sins as, Augustine calls them) in him were glorious virtues. For this in general, such was his piety, that not I only, but many others, better able to judge then myself, will affirm with me, that we knew not any of what rank soever, in whō we discerned more, nay so fervent a desire of saving knowledge, so constant a resolution to practice all known good duties, so great tenderness of conscience, and fear to offend God in the least thing which he knew to be sin. How and whereby we discerned this, I will discover to you in particular, which when you have heard, I doubt not but you will judge, that we conceited not things amiss, but as they were.

We discerned this, and it did discover it self unto us two ways, by his private and public exercises of piety, which were such, as I say not, were rarely found in a young mā, more rarely in a noble man, most rarely in a young noble man; but such they were, as are rarely found in such measure in any man of what age and condition soever he be. I will first speak of his private course, and tell you how he spent one day, and in like manner he spent all the days of the year.

His private exercise & course of piety was on this sort; he usually rose every morning about 4. or 5. of the clock, not willingly sleeping above six hours, as soon as ever he was thoroughly awake, he in devoured religiously to set his heart in order, and to prepare it for goodness all the day after, offering the first fruits of the day and of his thoughts unto God. Thus having tuned his best instrument, his heart, in the next place he read a Chapter of the holy Scripture; that done he went to prayers with his servants in his chamber, after this he read some divine treatise to increase his knowledge in spiritual things, and this for the greater part of an hour: he had of latter times read over in this course Calvin's Institutions, and was at the time of his sickness reading the works of a reverend man now living, one M. Rogers. And all this he did besides that which was performed with all the family, with whom he joined in the order his honorable father left in the family namely, reading of the Psalms, and a chapter, together with prayer, according to the order of our Church, before dinner and supper, and singing of a Psalm and prayer after supper.

But to return to his morning business, after he had bestowed the former time in the manner aforesaid, he with drew himself to his closet, and after his own private prayer, disposed himself to some serious study (if some special business interrupted not his course) for the space of 3. or 4. hours; after which time, he addressed himself, if he had time before dinner, to dispatch business, if any there were required of him, or to converse and confer with his friends, to better thē, or be bettered by them, or to ride his great horse, or walk abroad. But why place I these with his religion? because hereby he kept himself from idleness, and gave no way to the temptations of Satan, knowing well that the flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes when they are cold, and corrupt them.

Soone after dinner, if he had the opportunity, he ordinarily withdrew himself for a while to the meditating upon some Sermons which he had lately heard, for which use, he retained some 5. or 6. in his mind. He would not fail though he was disappointed of that oppertunitie, to meditate upon them before he slept, yea many times traveling by land or water, he performed this duty, and then would desire his companions to forbear talk, they might think a while he did ordinarily meditate and call to mind 4. or 5. in a day. The rest of his afternoon he gave to business as the occasions were, and to study Histories, and to get instructions from them who were skillful in the discipline of War, or in the Mathematikes and Nauigation, wherein some report he had made great success for his age and time.

After supper, he betook himself to prayer with his servants & that which is markeable above many other things, after prayers with them, he withdrew himself from his servants and friends, and there in a book which he kept for the account of his life, he set down what he had done all that day, how he had either offended or done good, and how he was tempted, and with stood them, and according to his account, he humbled himself; and such was his wisdom, that such temptations as were not fit (as I suppose) to come to any man's view but his own, and his God's, he writ in a peculiar Caracter known to none. After this, giving himself to his rest, as rising he had care to shut out evil by possessing his heart with good thoughts, and the reading of the holy scripture; so had he care to shut up his heart against such things: one of his Chamber, as he was laying him to rest, reading a Chapter or two of the sacred word of God. And this was not taken up for a fit, and as a novelty, but he continued it for the space of 4. years last past, as some inform me, that is, from January 1609. to the 15. of February 1613. the day when he took his bed, some 12. days before his death.

And now honorable and beloved, for his public exercises, which you may well think were carefully and conscionably performed. For he that had such care to approve himself to God in private, had no less care to approve himself both to God and man in public. This appeareth in his religious use of the time and means of God's worship, and his own edification and salvation.

He was a most religious observer of the Saboth, in public & private duties, professing to affect the public means (if he were where he could enjoy them) before all private, though they were differently performed, and had resolved, though he entertained an household Chaplain, yet ever to frequent the public assemblies upon the Sabbath day, a thing worthy the noting, to the reproof of many of his own, as of inferior rank, who so much neglect the public assemblies. And for his present practice, he did not miss ordinarily twice a day to hear the word publicly: no not when he was a Courtier: yea he hath ridden 4. miles to the public worship of God, when he could not enjoy it nearer. After he had heard, he usually withdew himself from company before dinner, if he were so fitted for circumstances, that he might for the space of half an hour meditate upon what he had heard, or for some other private meditations. After the afternoons public exercise (two of his servants having written, his memory being such as it exceeded often times all their writings) he repeated with his servants before supper both the Sermons, and writ them down in his night-book, & after all this, he prayed with them, wherein he had a great gift. And that which helped him the better to keep the Sabbath, he was constantly accustomed upon Saturday at night, besides his account for the day, to call himself to a strict account how he had spent the whole week, that according as he found his estate, he might better fit himself to sanctify the Sabbath following. In the morning he repeated to his servants as he was making ready, those servants which he had heard the Sabbath before. Note this, not out of time, though somewhat out of place, that a most inward familiar of his hath, fin • the delivery of this acquainted me with: that upon the Saturday he took a view of all the week, so upon the month Saturday, he took a view of all the former month, to se how he had bettered, as one week more then another, so on month more then another, how he had added & got more grace and strength of piety.

In the hearing of the word, he was one of the most attentive, and reverend hearers that ever I observed, or mine eyes have seen, that have seen many thousands; for he well knew that he was before God, and that he heard not the words of man, but God: and as well did he acknowledge, that it is but the error of great men to think they have a privilege to be less reverent and regardful in hearing, then the meanest in the congregation: yea he knew that Kings Scepters are as much inferior to Christ's Scepter, as he that bears it is inferior to Kings: therefore when he came to hear, he willingly laid down his honor at Christ his feet.

For the Sacrament, he received it constantly (if by any convenience he could) every first Sunday of the month, & to fit himself to feast at Christ's table, he fasted the Saturday before (besides many other times when he humbled himself) spending the day in prayer, with meditation, and examination of himself and his estate, how it was with him since his last receiving, never coming out of his study (unless very importunate occasions pressed him) till towards supper time, nor meddling with any business that day. On the Sunday morning, besides his ordinary preparations, he read the 1. to the Corinth. 11. where the institution of the Supper is set down. And for the space of an hour, he read with his servants that should communicate with him, a little treatise that is in print, teaching men how to be prepared for worthy receiving. Thus careful was this worthy to be fitly prepared for his Saviors supper, that he might be a worthy receiver. And all this piety and godliness did this noble heart practice in this age (to speak no more particularly you may if you please, apply it to other particulars) in this age, I say, which is such as Saluian complained his times were, that is, wherein, If any of the Nobles began to be converted unto God, straight way he lost the honor of his Nobility: O how great is the honor of Christ among Christians, where religion makes men ignoble! This is for Atheists or Papists, it is enough and too much for them, to scorn men for religion: how impious a thing is it for Christians to contemn men for the religion of Christ? As Jerome to some, Thou which callest thyself a Christian, lay down the weapons of the Gentiles, or if thou art of the number of the enemies, freely profess thyself an adversary, that thou mayest feel the smart of infidels. So I to these, if you profess yourselves Christians: Oh that you would turn Atheists, or Papists, or else lay aside the bitter arrows of Atheists and Papists, if you be of the number of such, profess yourselves no longer Christians, but such, that you may be esteemed for such, and either be avoided, or rewarded as such. Pardon (I pray you) my digression. In this age, I say, thus affected, wherein as Saluian speaketh in the place before, By this means, all in a manner are compelled to be evil, lest they should be accounted vile. Even in this age was this Honorable worthy, that I may speak in the phrase of the Apostle with some change, Blameles & pure, and the son of God, without rebuke, in a naughty and crooked nation, amongst whom he shined as a light in the world, holding forth the words of life, and did rejoice in the day of Christ, that he had not run in vain, neither had labored in vain: yea & resolved with the Kingly Prophet David, that if this were to be vile, when it was for the Lord & for his service, he would yet be more vile then thus, knowing well the time should come, that he should be had in honor of those that dishonored him, and that for these things.

Now all this piety was inseparably attended upon with two inseparable fruits of true godliness, the manifest proof of the truth of it: Love to all religious persons, and specially to faithful and painful Ministers; and abundance of compassion towards the needy saints and members of Christ, of which many particulars might be given, but one may serve for many.

I am certainly and credibly informed, that since his return frō his travels, by way of thankfulness to God, and for refreshing of the poor members of Christ, he gave yearly, by the hands of a private friend (besides many and many occasional works of charity) the sum of twenty pounds, and in the first Sabbath save one, he was in the land, after his return (having spent the Saturday before it with his Turor, in fasting, prayer, & thanksgiving) he spent in public hearing the word, & receiving the Sacrament, giving to the poor of that place, into their bason, five pounds, and gave other forty pounds to be bestowed upon poor Ministers, and other Christians, for the relief of their present necessity: yea such was his liberality in this kind, (which is come to my knowledge by his accounts) that he gave the tenth of his allowance to the poor, and other good uses; his allowance being a thousand pounds the year: besides what he gave in the way as he walked and traveled, and in the streets, which he did often, and much, but what it was, no man can tell. Finally, all these were beautified, and adorned with such admirable humility, as is rarely found in any, specially in those, that have things, which naturally for the most part puff up the mind, as nobility, and many natural endowments. Nay, not in those, who have many spiritual perogatives, many gifts and graces, that have learned Christ, yet have they not so learned of Christ, as this Honorable worthy had done, to be Meeke and lowly in heart. Of which I will use, and to whom I will apply only that of Bernard, The beauties of the mind is humility, but in him who hath griuously transgressed, howsoever humility may be to be embraced, yet not at all admired. But if a man keep his innocence, and withal adds himilitie, seems not this man unto thee to posses a double beauty of his soul? This Honorable vessel was double gilt, with true and entire innocence (though imperfect through human frailty) and true humility. Thus was he decked, and thus were all his graces and gifts adorned, all seeming and truly appearing such as they were, because he was by this so nigh to men, and not by loftines, and pride lifted up above, and removed from men.

Thus have I discoursed to you of his life, and am come to the 15. of February, last past, when he was visited with sickness from God, whereof he died.

Touching his carriage and comforts therein, we cannot doubt but that it was very religious, and these very great, when such a life went before, wherein there was such preparation and provision, such a foundation laid up in store, against this evil day. I am only accquainted with them by report, for I was never with him, though I much desired it and often, yet the wisdom of those that were about him, thought it not fit, fearing not his death, till it was very late, & he without hope of recovery, and I diverse miles remote from him.

That which was delivered unto me, by one that was with him all the time, or most of his sickness, whom I dare trust, not mine own ears better (otherwise I am jealous of all friends reports in this case) I will deliver unto you as briefly as it was delivered unto me, which was thus. From the first day of his sickness, he apprehended strongly the expectation of death (though diverse thought nothing less till a day or two before his dying day) & therefore he addressed himself thereunto; and besides his meditations, he called often for others to pray, and often used prayers himself, confessing, and that often, both his sins, and his faith and undoubted hope of salvation by Christ; and with great alacrity he professed that he feared not death, in what shape soever he came. He brake forth often into heavenly speeches expressing his desire to be dissolved, and to be at home with his God and Father, professing not two hours before his death, that he still felt the assured comforts of his salvation by Christ, & so finished his life in peace and joy of the holy Ghost, uttering near his death these longing words, O that joy, O my God when shall I be with thee? Which joy he undoubtedly enjoyeth, and is with his God in glory and everlasting happiness.

Thus honorable, and beloved, you see by these things, the worth and excellency of this deceased person, honorable both by nature and grace, the more his worth was by these natural and spiritual endowments, the greater our loss, and the greater his gain, and the more cause have we to sorrow for our selves, though to rejoice on his behalf. The whole hath cause to mourn, and bewail, and many particulars to bewail a part.

His honorable mother, whom God hath deprived of hir son, hir only son, of such a son; such ā staff and stay of her age, and such a joy of her life.

His honorable sisters, from whō the Lord hath taken such a noble & worthy brother, who would have been not only a crown of their honor, but a furtherer of them in the way of piety, and godliness, to the crown of glory.

His kindred and alliance, who are deprived of such an honor of their house, and such a glory of their name.

His kind and familiar friends, who are bereft of such a true hearted Jonathan, one that was very kind unto them, whose love unto them was wonderful, specially to him whō he termed in his Will, his dear friend.

His servants, that have such a master taken frō their heads, the ground of all their future hopes.

And not these only, but more generally others have cause to mourn and bewail, as the Church, who hath lost so hopeful and noble a Theophilus, that would have defended her truth and doctrine; such an honorable Obadiah that would have hid and protected her Ministers.

The common wealth, and specially this little Shire whereof he was L. Lieutenant, that hath lost so hopeful a Nehemiah, who would have set himself for the public good, and given example and encouragement to keep the Sabbath, and have charged them so far as his power had extended, to have carefully observed it, and so governed them that he would not only not oppress them himself, but have to his utmost power provided that they should be free from the oppression of others. And here I will not omit that which may make the loss the greater, something since brought unto me by his dear friend, of two purposes he had for experience, to add to the former grounds of his study, the better to have enabled himself for his Countries service. The one by a voyage to sea into some places, the knowledge whereof for war by sea would have been most useful; another by land, into one of our neighbor countries, fittest to have enriched his mind in the knowledge of land-service. Thus is there both general and special cause of mourning and lamentation; in respect of our selves: but see what great cause we have of rejoicing for him.

What cause of rejoicing and thankfulness hath his honorable mother, though she hath lost her heir, yet to speak in Chrysostom's words unto her, But you have no heir, nor any successor of your goods: well, and had you rather he should be inheritor of these of yours, then of those heavenly? What do you desire he should enjoy perishing things, which within a small while he must cast away, or permanent and immovable? Nay, you had not an heir of him, but God had him for you.

His honorable sisters in their sorrow may rejoice over him, for though as Chrysostom saith, He was not coheire with his private brethren, yet he is made coheire with Christ. And that not in hope, but in present possession; he now at his full age, they but in their nonage as yet.

How may his worthy friends roioyce for him, when we can say to them as Jerome to Heliodorus, comforting him over the death of his Nephew Nepotian, who died in his youth, Thou shouldst understand that he doeth not die but decease, And only change his friends, not leave them. So they should be informed, that he is not dead, but translated, & hath not left his friends but changed them, for far more honorable and glorious then they, and so to rejoice in respect of him, lest they may seem to envy his happiness.

What cause of reioiycing hath the Church for him, so dear a child of hirs, that hath left the militant, but is possessed of the triumphant Church, that hath left the state of Militancie and warfaring, and is in the state of triumphancy and victory.

How may the Commonwealth and this Shire rejoice over him, that is taken from an earthly government, to an heavenly regiment; from ruling with men, to reign with Christ, and hath left these few corruptible ensigns of honor, but now possesseth true honor, and an immortal crown.

Finally, how may we all rejoice for him, and change our note as much as may be, forgetting our own losses, and thinking of his gain. As Bernard of his friend Gerard, And I confess it turns my mourning almost altogether into singing, wholes being intent upon his glory, I forget almost my own misery.

And now honorable and beloved, to draw towards an end, If for all this, his loss and the want of his presence be drieuous to you, and that either in general or particular you desire his presence, and to see him; let me speak to you as Chrysostom to some that were like affected, Do you desire to see him? then live a life like unto him; and so you shall the sooner receive that his sacred presence. So I to you, lead the same life with him, and you shall soon enjoy his holy and comfortable presence: but if you will not, never look to enjoy him and it again. If this were the way that he traveled Eastward to the heavenly Jerusalem, if you go Westward towards the cursed city Hiericho, you shall never come to Jerusalem the place of blessedness and happiness.

For if this be the way wherein he hath passed, in the end whereof he hath attained to bliss and happiness; and if this be the only way, when there is but one way, whosoever walketh in another way, cannot come to this estate.

If he in the way of true chastity, upright justice, holy piety, hath now the fruition of happiness, and enjoyeth the presence of God himself, and his Son, and his own blessed Savior, Lord and husband. Who soever imitates not him in these, (I say not) whosoever attaineth not to the imperfect perfection of these things that he had done, but whosoever doth not carefully strive to it, but lives in unchastity and uncleanness, in injustice and unholiness, either scoffing, contemning, and neglecting this way, and course, shall enjoy hell instead of heaven, & torments instead of blessedness; the just wages of God for such workers of iniquity.

But to conclude all, It is written of Jerome, that when he had read the life and death of Hilarion, and saw that after he lived religiously, he died most comfortably, and happily, said, Well, Hilarion shall be the champion that I will imitate. So now that you have heard the life and death of this Right worthy Noble, and are truly informed how truly religious the one, and certainly comfortable the other was, say you with Jerome, well, This noble shall be our champion, whom we will imitate, we will follow his Chastity, his Justice, his Piety will we imitate.

And so if you endeavor and do, say and perform, you shall be sure to enjoy that in future time, which he possesseth in the present, heavenly and eternal bliss and happiness, through the merits and mercies of Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy ghost, be ascribed of us and in all the Churches of the Saints, All glory, and majesty, and dominion, and power, now and forever, Amen.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

〈◊〉 obitum inopinum, & praematurum Clarissimi Baronis, D. Ioannis Haringtoni, Altae Indolis, & Maximae Spei Adolescentis, Epicedium.

An elegy upon the untimely decease of the 〈◊〉 honorable and virtuous Lord HARINGTON.

An Epitaph upon the said rightly honored Lord in life and death, in English Iambicks.

Another Epitaph.

To the living memory of the late and last S ^r . John Harington Knight, Lord Harington, Baron of Exton.