LIFES BREVITIE AND DEATHS Debility Evidently Declared in a Sermon Preached at the Funerall of that Hopeful and Uertuous yong Gentleman EDVVARD LEVVKENOR Esquire c. In whose Death is ended the name of that renowned Family of the Lewkenors in Suffolke By Tymothy Oldmayne Minister of the Word of God at Denham in Suffolke Our dayes on Earth are as a shaddow and there is none abiding Also an Elegy and an Epitaph on the death of that worthy Gentleman by I. G. Dr. of D. LONDON Printed by N. and I. Okes dwelling in little S. Bartholmewes neere the Hospitall gate 1636. FLECTAR NON FRANGAR TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL AND Of high Desert the Lady MARY Lewkenor and Mris Elizabeth Lewkenor the Mother and sorrowfull Widdow of this Deceased Gentleman together with the right worshipfull and truly noble Lady the Lady Anne Le-strange Wife to Sir Nicholas Le-strange Baronet As also to her two vertuous and worthy sisters Mistris Katherine and Mistris Mary Lewkenor Eternall Happinesse c. LOth I am right Worshipfull and truely Honorable that this rough unpolished discourse of mine should unfortunately renew Your former griefe or fill those Eyes againe with teares which were never fully dried sithence this heavy Accident befell this Noble Plant so neere so deere unto you For sorrow I know right well is of a quick and apprehensive nature that the least touch maketh the Vessell easily overflow How ever I humbly intreate that mine innocency herein may answer for me my ayme beeing chiefly this to strew onely some few flowers upon the Hearse of this my honourable friend such as in his life time his owne Hand gathered pleasant unto the Eye and of a most odoriferous Sent. Neither is this Treatise of mine otherwise intended but to bee a true Remembrancer to tell succeeding Ages the greatnesse of the losse when your renowned Family was by the Untimely Death of this so Hopefull a Young Gentleman thus fatally smitten if not quite overturned This Towne which now affordeth me my being formerly afforded mee my first breath And foure generations of your honourable Family haue I seene here upon the Stage successiuely acting their several Parts Angels and Men were the lookers on and with great applause highly commended their true Action generous demeanour But now alas the Theater is wholy empted and all the Actors quite gone the Stage hourely expected to be pulled down and if it stand yet little hope there is that ever our eyes shall see such Actors any more upon it to play their parts so commendable as those Antients did The consideration whereof as it carrieth with it not onely trouble but indeed a kind of amazement so is there much wisedom required in censuring and patience in induring what is hapned My humble request therfore unto you right Worshipfull is as those that haue the greatest share in this unvaluable losse that in the middest of so many differing Thoughts in searching out the true cause and end that the Almighty hath in doing this you would be pleased to remember these three Things First that there is in God an unbounded will that his Judgements are Vnsearchable and his Waies past finding out Secondly that You would bee pleased to looke backe upon the happinesse and glory of your Family which formerly You have both seene and tasted Beleeve mee right worshipfull the sight thereof will be a Soveraigne preservatiue against Repining Lastly that seeing it was determined by an eternall and inevitable decree that the Sirnames of your Family should heere fatally end that you would bee pleased to solace and cherish your Hearts that it is done without the least spot and blemish to the same And that this young Gentleman so honourably concluded and closed up all so happily as Hee hath done to his immortall praise But I desire not to tell the Travailer the way hee knoweth so well already or light a Candle when the Sunne is up or leade the hand of the skilfull Artist Here therefore I doe humbly take my leaue desiring You to accept of what is done heerein as the Fruite of that unfeigned Loue and dutiful Respect which was alwayes borne by him to your Honourable and worthy Family who still remaineth Yours in the Lord to be commanded to the uttermost of his power untill Death Tymothy Oldmayne Perlegi concionem hanc cui titulus est Lifes brevity in qua nihil reperio quo minus cum utilitate publica imprimatur Ex aedib Fulham decimo die Septem 1625. SA BAKER LIUES BREVITY AND DEATHES DEBILITY ISAIAH 26. VERS 19. Thy dead men shall live with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of Herbes and the earth shall cast out the dead IT would have brought much ease and comfort to our sorrowfull hearts if we had only heard of this sad accident the death I mean of this so noble a Plant this Honourable young Gentleman and not beene Eye-witnesses of the same And that the same Countrie which received his last breath had likewise imbraced his honourable Ashes his living presence how welcome would it have been unto us But comming thus amongst us shrouded under the blacke mantle of death we tremble at it For this is one of the miseries of man when death seizeth on him that he that was neerest unto him in affection then desireth to bee farthest from him in action and that living face that affoorded greatest joy when once dead carrieth with it greatest terrour neither can the conclusion of all this sad Catastrophe but adde vineger to our bleeding wound that whilst we were seriously bethinking with our selves in what sort wee may best expresse the inward griefe and trouble of mindes for this our losse in doing all the honour that possibly wee could unto him in this his Funerall obsequies Lo the tediousnesse of the way and terriblenesse of the disease had so shattered and crushed that tender and delicate body of his comming along to us riding in that dolfull Chariot of death that no sooner had a few teares given him a sad welcome but we were enforced to give his body to the earth and we to him a sorrowfull Adieu But in all this patience must possesse our soules And seeing he is now already entred into the house of his age and sweetly sleepeth upon his bed of honour amongst the rest of his noble Ancestors let us I pray you turne our thoughts awhile from him and looke a little upon the hand of God in doing this to him and with him in cutting off as it were with one stroake the name and glory of so renowned a family amongst us To that end it must be remembred as a thing not wholy past the memory of man how the Grand-father of this young Gentleman of high repute joyning himselfe in marriage with a Right Worshipfull family in this County left that former feate and dwelling of that ancient family of his owne in
onely and no impieties delicta non facinora weaknesses and infirmities no flagicious offences yet was he much troubled at the sight of them oft crying out with righteous Iob Paenitet me and with that holy Prophet David Psal 45.7 peccatum pueritiae mea ne recorderis Domine Lord remember not the sinnes of my youth Observe next his carefull providing of his Viaticum or things necessary for his departure his preparing and fitting of his Lampe with oyle and patient expecting of the Bridgroomes call In all which as is the generall report his care was more then ordinary neither was there any one thing in Heaven or Earth which he so much desired as he did that full assurance of his reconciliation with God to understand what that love of Christ was that passeth all understanding not that hee doubted at all thereof for he found the beginnings and fruits of the same as formerly I have shewed already in his soule mightily cheering up and comforting thereof onely he desired yet more that hee might at the length be filled with the fulnesse of God Eph. 7.19 Eph. 7.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the little infant that having but once tasted of the milke of the mother is never contented but mourneth and cryeth until it be fully satisfied and the belly filled therewith or like the hunted Stagge in Summer-time who finding a pleasant streame having once tasted of it is never satisfied untill hee hath sounded the bottome and duckt himselfe overhead and eares therein or rather like that faire Bride the Church I meane Cant. 2.6 Cant. 2.6 who thinketh her selfe never sure of her spouse and love untill his Left hand bee under her head and his right hand doth imbrace her Life hee simply desired not and death hee slavishly feared not for he knew right well that which came first should bee his gayne and great advantage And because for want of sleepe and the malignant and fiery working of his Disease hee feared much least any disorderly impatient or prophane speeches should passe from him to the dishonour of Almighty God and griefe and sorrow of his Friends about him His request therefore was hourely to God for Christs sake to set a watch before his mouth and to keep the doore of his lips And if at any time it hapned as seldome it did that his braine beeing somewhat over-heated he a little swarved from the right rule and so forgot himselfe his manner was after the violence of the fit was over upon inquire made and the truth thereof found humbly to beg pardon for the same with teares to bewaile it All the time of this sharpe tryall and visitation of his was for the most part daily spent eyther in holy conference with such graue Divines as were continually about him for his soules health or in hearty prayers presented before the throne of grace and powred into the golden Censure of the sonne of God wherein earnest request was made unto the Father that though this young souldier of his were thus strongly assaulted yet that hee might so keepe himselfe upon the legs of his Faith that hee might neyther be foyled Ioh. 23.10 nor yet led into temptation and that though hee were tryed unto the full yet that hee might in the end come out like pure Gold Iob 23.10 Neyther did this blessed servant of God hold it sufficient to have others pray for him except he likewise performed the same duty himselfe remembring well that hee that hath but once drunke a full draught of the River of Grace it cannot be Iohn 7.38 but out of his belly must needes flow rivers of water of Life The which prayers of his were delivered with such contrition of heart such Faith resting it selfe upon the promises of God such patient and humble submission of himselfe to the will of his gracious Father that it was an admiration to all about him to behold so tender a plant to bring foorth such delicate and precious fruite And thus while his body is here below his soule is seeking after things above his body a prisoner laden with gyves and fetters of his disease his soule is at liberty soaring up on high and sweetly conversing with that blessed society in Heavenly places The which it did divers dayes together going and comming till at last like another Noahs Dove it quite left his troubled Arke and this tempestuous World mounting up a loft above all earthly things and seated it selfe uppon the pleasant Mount Syon Vbi moritur omnis necessitas Vbi oritur summa faelicitas where all want ceaseth and all blisse increaseth even that place where are those fragrant and delightful fields replenished with all the trees of Myrrhe Frankincense and Alloes with sweete beds full of the richest and chiefest spices Cant. 4.12 13. where he dayly feedeth and so shall doe till that blessed day breake and all shadowes flye away Cant 4.6 And thus have I as briefly as I could without either wringing or churning being loath to lye for him as a man lyeth for his friend Pro. 30.33 Iob 13.9 set forth to you the Life and Death of this young Gentleman The which the more I thinke of the more I cannot but highly commend that true honour of Wedlocke and mirrour of widow-hood the noble and vertuous Lady his sorrowfull mother for her religious and Christian educating of him all his young and tender yeares dropping then grace into his heart and filling the same with Heavenly liquor the pleasant scent thereof never left him unto the last houre and minute of his life Her extraordinary care this way I shall not neede at large to relate unto you sith the whole Country round about can sufficiently witnesse the same to her immortall praise onely this I will say that if the holy Scripture as wee know it doth maketh such honourable mention of Bersheba and Evnice for their diligence in teaching their Sonnes Solomon and Timothy in their tender age the trade of their way And againe if holy Augustine ascribeth to his mother Monacha her teares and prayers next under God the ground of all the good that after so many wandrings and wanton actions of his at length appeared in him And lastly if Cornelia be so highly remembred in the Roman story for bringing up those famous Gracchi her sonnes so carefully as she did in their infancy and growing yeares making her the mother not onely of their naturall lives but also of their vertuous living and Heroicke demeanour I cannot see why his worthy Lady should not have the like honour and high respect at the hands of all for the religious care over this her sonne from his birth to his last breath And therefore being so however Almighty God for causes best knowne to himselfe hath thus as we see taken away the subject of her desired and chiefest care not suffering her lippes scarce to tast the fruite of that which she with a deale of paines had
and bondage from off their shoulders now for that this was a thing hard to be beleeved and altogether impossible in their weak conceits as may appeare by their words Behold Ezek. 37.11 say they Our bones are dry our hope is gone we are cleane cut off we find not only the Prophet Ezekel in the forenamed chapter but our Prophet Isay in the verse that I have read labouring from God to settle stablish their wavering and doubtfull hearts in the truth thereof both by a strange vision as also by an invincible argument taken from the Resurrection of the dead The which as it is a mayne principle in true Christian Religion beeing an Article of our Faith a Maxime in Divinity imbraced of all the whole Society of Gods faithfull servants so beeing certaynly beleeved and by the arme of Faith imbraced as an infallible and undoubted truth it will so strengthen and cheere up the heart of him that is the servant of God that hee shall neyther feare the most fierce and fiery tryals nor yet question any of the promises of Almighty God how difficult even impossible soever they appeare to a carnall eye For instance whence was it that Abraham that blessed Patriarcke with such constant Resolution expected that in time hee should imbrace a sonne how ever the course of nature cryed loud against it Rom. 4.17 was it not as it is playne Rom. 4.17 for that hee that promised was Hee that raised the dead and calleth things that are not as though they were Whence agayne was it that holy Iob that meeke and humble servant of Christ with such admired patience indured the stripping of all his goods the losse of his children and the remooving of his hope from him like a Tree was it not as hee himselfe acknowledgeth Chapter 19. Iob. 19.15.26 verse 15.26 For that hee was resolved that his Redeemer lived and that at the latter day hee should see God in his flesh Whence lastly was it that Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater then all the treasures of Aegypt was it not the fight hee had Heb. 11 Hebrewes the eleventh Chapter of him that was Invissible and assured hope of the recompence of reward after this life No marvaile then that our Prophet as I said laboured to settle the minds of this dejected people with an argument taken from the same It being full of comfort as also forcible to perswade drawne as you see a maiore ad minus from the greater to the lesse The nature of which that we may finde out the better wee will in this verse consider these two things 1. A Consolation 2. A Reason First the Consolation is no other then a joyfull conclusion taken and drawne as formerly was shewed from the resurrection of the dead in these words Thy dead men shall live even with my body shall they arise awake and sing yee inhabitants of the dust The reason is laid downe in way of Fortification or strengthning of the consolation in these words For thy dewe is as the dewe of hearbes and the earth shall give up her dead In the Consolation we finde 1. That there is a resurrection of the dead 2. The manner of the same In speaking of the first wee will observe two things 1. The truth of this Article that there is a Resurrection 2. The quality of the persons that are sayd to arise in these words Thy dead men shall live For the manner of the Resurrection we find it 1. Very beautifull 2. Very Joyfull The first in these words With my body shall they arise The second set foorth by a kinde of Rethoricall passage or Apostrophe or turning of his speech to the Dead willing them to awake and sing Secondly the reason is no other then a forceable argument taken and drawne from the vertue and power of the Resurrection of Christ which in the end wil be the same to the dead that the Dew is to the hearbes filling and inforcing the earth to cast up her dead Of all these things in order and very briefly And first of the consolation in generall that there is a Resurrection of the dead in these words Thy dead men shall live c. The which as it is a comfortable proposition so it is delivered by him not as Tully delivered his conclusions of the contempt of Death faintly and doubtfully but with great confidence fulnesse of assurance And iustly whether wee consider the universallity of this truth it being constantly imbraced of the whole Church of God throughout all ages but likewise the antiquity of the same it beeing infolded in that first and gracious promise made to Adam our Father in assuring him Gene. 3.15 That the seede of the woman should breake the Serpents head And hence it was that Heva the Mother of us Gen. 3.15 and all the living having brought forth Seth speaketh as she doth Gen. 4.25 Gen. 4.25 Reposuit mihi Deus Semen alterum c. Oh saith she God hath given me another Abel He hath kept him for a time and now at length hath restored him to me againe The like divine consolation possessed questionlesse the beleeving heart not onely of Abraham but of all the holy Patriarches besides as may appeare both by their servent and longing desire after the Messiah whom they knew was ordained by the Father to be the Resurrection and the life as also by the honourable testimony that the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes giveth of their faith herein Cap. 11.13 Heb. 11.13 when he saith that They all dyed in the Faith not having the promises but having seene them a farre off and were perswaded of them and imbraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrimes on the earth And therefore saith hee verse 16. God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a City This was likewise the comfortable doctrine Exod 3.6 which Christ our blessed Saviour preached in the bush to Moses Exod 3.6 as himselfe averreth Mat 22.31.32 Mat. 22.31 32. when he thus spake unto him I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob This was that which the Apostle Paul in all his writings published affirming withall both before the governour Faelix and that honourable assembly Act. 24.15.16 Act. 24.15 16 That it was a maine principle which put him on to have a pure conscience towards God and towards men and to account as he telleth the Phillippians Chap. 3.7 8. Phil. 3.7.8 those things that were advantage to him but as losses so that hee might attaine the resurrection of the dead Yea the holy Scriptures are not onely plentifull in Testimonies proving the truth thereof but in examples likewise of persons dead and some of them rotting in their graves who have by the power of Almighty God beene perfectly restored to life again my labour therfore in further proving the truth therof may
same Resurrection wee shal bee likewise raised out of the bed and grave of corruption Hence sayth the holy Apostle Paul 2. Cor. 4. verse 14. Wee know that he that raysed up the Lord Iesus Christ shall raise us up also by Iesus and shall present us with you and blessed and happy are they sayth St. Iohn that have a part in the first Resurrection for over them the second death hath no part And this likewise will appeare plainly unto us if our mindes and affections be not with the blind Mole and bruitish Swine grubling here below but with the nimble and pleasant wings of the Hawke and Eagle soaring daily and mounting up on high with all care and diligence seeking after those celestial things that are above according to which Rule the blessed Apostle leadeth on his exhortation Phil. 3.1 after this manner If you be risen with Christ sayth hee then seeke those things that are above as though hee should say if yee bee risen with Christ then ought you to seeke after the things that are above And agayne if you bee risen with him then you cannot but seeke after them so then by this seeking it may easily appeare whether wee be risen with Christ which if we be then blessed are wee for the second death shall have no power over us But death shal be to us the beginning of Life and a happy passage for us from an inferiour Roome to an higher from base Iericho to that beautifull Ierusalem that is above whether stormes and tempests cannot reach and where the morning sunne alwayes shineth where Rivers of oyle runne gushing up and downe and where is the temple of the living God and of the Lambe where is Paradice in which is no Serpent to tempt or Death with his arrow to kill where are Riches without measure and glory without comparison where the day never endeth nor comfort fadeth where our mourning shall quite cease and wee keepe a perpetuall Sabboth with the blessed Angels and soules of the Righteous solacing our selves in the presence of the blessed Trinity and sitting us downe at the right hand of the Father where are pleasures for emore Amen AN ELEGY UPON THE DEATH OF THE TRVLY NOBLE GENTLEMAN EDWARD LEWKENOR Esquire lamenting especially the finall extirpation of that worthy and in other Countries ancient Family although in Suffolke continued but for three Generations By Sir Edward Lewknor the Elder Sir Edward Lewknor the yonger Edward Lewknor Esquire COuld I but sing such layes great Soule as thou Chant'st amongst Angels and Arch-Angels now I might commend thee but such notes as ours Are like * A Crow saluted Augustus with these words Ave Caesar Mac. Stat. 2. c. 4 Crowes Aves to great Emperors A wonder Reader in one tombe doth lye Lowly interr'd a stately Family A greater yet loe one poore heape of mould Holds three such men as scarse a World can hold Greatest of all but three Decents comprise More Worthies then most long liv'd Families Even as great summes for most part greater grow By adding Cyphers to the Figures so T is oft in antique stemmes wherin wee see Five or sixe nulls for one Poore vnity But 't was not so in yours Nature would not Set downe one Cypher but all decades wrot One old in whom ten Nestors did reside One middle aged in whom there did abide The Worth and Wisedome of as great a ten As Nature breeds amongst the sonnes of men One yong whom now to Fate we would not grutch If out of ten wee could extract one such Or as in counting oft we see no lesse Then twenty Counters layed downe to expresse Some Shillings or Deniers when two or three Doe Hundreds thousands Millions signifie So 't was in you Great Saints Nature had lay'd Her Millions then her numbring hand shee staid Thinking perchance it were but vaine expence Of Time and Art to put downe pounds and pence Had she composed some fulsome potion Some huge Gallenical decoction Putting in substance leaves and stalks and all Boyl'd in some quarts of Liquor Physicall You might have beene perchance a greater dose And match't the Stemme-proud vast Magnificoes But when our Paracelsian would extract Spirit of Spirits Spirit so exact As Quintessence it selfe compared to it Was but Terrene and Feculent as yet Her curious Alymbecke would forth powre Onely three drops then staid and would no more As in Joves Pallace the vast Firmament Shines with a many Starre-bright ornament But such as to the Gazers eye display Scarce any thing but Buls and Rams and gay Strumpets and Concubines and Gorgons heads Scorpions and Centaures and ten thousand dreads When as those Orbes wherein one Starre is fix't Carry some God or Goddesse uncommix't With ugly formes so was your destiny Yee were all God-like men although but Three O sacred number though it had no more But yee to make it sacred Henceforth score Amongst the paternes of Triplicity Holy triplicity this blessed three And next the greatest let it greatest be Nor did the cruell fates their anger shew But favour rather to permit so few Rare things are made for one age to behold Others to wonder at If they grow old And common al our admiration stints So Loadstones are scarce better deem'd then Flints Which were they rare no Gold or Orient * A round Loadstone called Terella stone The great earth scarce would buy the little one 'T is not for every age of man to know An Hector Caesar Cato Scipio No nor a Lewknor neither 't may suffice To see a Phoenix in five Centuries Yet may we see * Sir Robert Lewknor in â—er brother to Sir Edward Lewknor the yonger one in another clime A Golden Branch Transplanted which no time Shall wast untill that faire stemme hath out wore As many yeares as it had dayes before And shall in thee * His onely daughter sweet Babe whom heaven hath lent Vnto the World that having largely spent Such store of Honour in thy Sire by thee Another name may gaine like dignity Amen to this say al the Saints on high Amen to this be Angels Harmony Say thou Amen thou fountaine of al Store Thy saying's doing say 't wee aske no More Till then live still thou Blessed name in * The Lady Lewkenor wife to Sir Ed. Lewkenor the younger Thee Daughter Wife Mother to this heavenly Three Relique of Three great Saints in Heaven Mother To Three on earth unmatch't but by their Brother As Iron plac't betwixt two Loadstones loth To forsake either hangs betwixt them both So live t'wixt Heaven and Earth and be thou hight An Earthly Angell or an Heavenly wight Vntill the Heavenly part made strong by fate Draw thee at last to thine Eternall state AN EPITAPH THe fairest Blossome of as Faire a Tree As Suffolke yeelds Reader lyes vnder mee ' Tint strange that Blossoms fade but cruell Fate Did in this bud the whole Tree ruinate A Tree transplanted hither to display A Wonder in each age and then decay For aged middle yong come Fame and tell To three but three Lewkenors a paralell Ar't mute then let thy Trumpe their worth resound And fame reviue whom Fate hath layed in Ground And when one stemme three Edwards can allot Like unto these let Lewkenor bee forgot JOH GARNONS Dr. D. FINIS