vnto the vnderstanding things that are aboue Nature and begetteth faith in it the second naturall things and aboue the senses and giue vnto them knowledge the third which is Experience the Mistris of Fooles aswell as of wisemen sheweth vnto the senses things that are vnder Reason and imprint in them a feeling A man that cannot nor will not learne by these three Arguments Wee must all once die hee is a Pagan among Christians a beast among men a Dead man among the Liuing Nay the verie Heathen or Infidels themselues Pier. in hierogliph lib. 45. pag. 470. Coel. Rhod. lib. 11. c. 19. Lactant. l. 2. de diuin Instit de tribus Parcis Fusius Euseb lib. 6. de praepar Euang. acknowledge this Lesson by their Poets who painted out vnto them three Destinies or Goddesses Clothe Lachesis Atropos and haue fained tha◠at the birth of men they doe spinne the life of euerie one and limit their daies cutting off their course when they please either in the beginning or in the middest without any hope of returne Those three are called Parcae in Latine by an Antiphrasis or contrarie speech because they spare no person or else according to the opinion of Varro Aul. Gell. lib. in A. Gellius from this Latine word Partus that is to say child-birth For as Fulgentius saith in his Mythologick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth calling forth is she that bringeth the childe out of the Mothers wombe whose sudden Lachesis which is lot or hazard receiueth the child and drawes the threed of its Life as Atropos in an instant cutteth the threed of Life without Order Reason or Law which made Plato call Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inexorable or inflexible So that you see by the verie Pagan Poets our Life is but a bottome of threed which the three Destinies winde in their hands to dispose of our Life freely thus Clotho colum bajulat Lachesis trahit Atropos occat Our daies cannot bee long depending altogether of a little weake vntwisted threed tenui Ouid. pendentia filo and are still in running like a round bottome or a ball So the Heathen Authors imagine to themselues a Phantome of bare bones without skin or flesh hauing a Crowne on its head a Syth in one hand and an Houre-glasse in the other thereby to represent the Empire Power and effects of Death ouer all the Vniuerse vnder the Heauen especially ouer Kings Princes and Potentates of the World To this Crowne of Death appertaines that Hieron ad Eustoch degrading of persons whereof Saint Hierome speakes to Eustochium You know not in what time or age Croesus beganne to obey At what houre Hecuba or Darius his Mother And this Ciuill Death of seruitude is harder and more painfull then Naturall Death and it may bee applied that the Prophet Iohn saw in his Reuelation Apoc. 9. 6. And in those dayes shall men seeke Death and shall not find it and shall desire to Die and Death shall flie from them Or the Crowne is to signifie that Death Crowneth the Dead as Haniball gaue a Crowne to the bodie of Marsellus Cleomenes to Lidias Pericles to Paralas Augustus Crowned Alexanders Monuments the Vrne of Demetrius his Ashes was Crowned and when as the Emperor Adrian demanded the reason from the Philosopher Epictetus he vnderstood that those Crownes did belong to the Dead as Victors ouer Life Iob 7. 1. which is but a perpetuall Warfare Neuer Monument or Tombe deserued better to bee crowned then this of our Great and Gracious Prince Lodouick who hath crowned all the actions of his Life with immortall Crownes of glorie and reputation Though we should giue him as many as they did number in Ptolomies pompe and at Scillas Funerall or as many as Nero dedicated to Iupiter Capitolinus like vnto those which Greece presented vnto Berenice vpon Golden Chariots yet they should not equall his Merits now after his Death Deaths Sythe signifieth All flesh is grasse and Isa 40. 6. the beautie and gracet hereof is as a flowre and so soone as the Sythe moweth or cutteth downe all the grasse in the Medow it spareth none nor makes any difference or inequalitie but cuts downe all alike If any thing bee more seemely more amiable more goodly more gracious more glorious in man it is but as a flowre which though it be more faire in shew and more fragrant in smell then grasse yet as grasse withereth so the flowre fadeth Euen so the greatest power pompe authoritie estimation and most illustrious estate of man is cut downe and decayeth The Houre-glasse in Deaths left hand sheweth how much of our life is spent how that remaineth is in a continuall running and there is no stay of it How long soeuer mans Life be he hath properly but one houre which thrusts forth his last gaspe is his houre all the rest is no more his Whatsoeuer he hath done in his life is considered by this last houre the iudge of all his other houres the most difficult of mans Life He that is Author of the first and disposeth of the last doth onely know it foresees and mockes at man who thinkes hee is farre from it Before the last sand of this last houre be runne he cannot Crowne his felicitie We must praise safely after dangers Nauigation in the Port and Victorie in Triumph Who can commend his Life and hold himselfe so happy whiles that the time past ministers vnto him matter to lament and that which is to come to feare This My Lords houre was feared of all his Friends Seruants and Followers yet not expected of any Euery man did apprehend it as a change of his condition but for that they held it to be a farre off the opinion of the length of time did moderate the apprehension and the lesse it was foreseene the more fearefull hath proued Our Christian Doctrine and pure Religion terme those Fates Destinies Phantomes and Fictions of the Poets A Disposition of Diuine Prouidence concerning mans Life and Death So that neither Comfort nor Blessing Crosse nor Curse can come vnto vs but by Gods Prouidence and fore-sight not a haire of our heads can be diminished nor a cubit cannot be added vnto our stature without the Prouidence of our heauenly Father It is neither Constellation of Starres influence of the Celestiall bodies conjunctions of Planets nor any such notionall fantasie of an Astrologicall braine that can worke our weale or woe our Life or Death but it is God that seeth all and his Prouidence that disposeth Whose disposition being eternall and innumerable as being in the Spirit of God doth not impose any necessitie and in that she carrieth her effects into things that are humane and created she is temporall mutable and contingent So as man being considered as temporall he is vnder Destinie but in his principall part which is immortall he is not subiect vnlesse hee list The action of Destinie vpon the matter is necessarie the
A MONVMENT OF MORTALITIE VPON THE DEATH AND FVNERALS OF THE GRACIOVS PRINCE LODOVICK Late Duke of Richmond and Lenox Earle of New-castle and Darnley c. Lord of Torbolton and Methuen Baron of Settrington c. Knight of the Noble Order of the GARTER Lord high Admirall and great Chamberlaine of SCOTLAND Lord high Steward to the Kings most Excellent Majesties most Honorable House-hold Gentleman of his Bed-chamber and one of his Majesties most Honorable Priniâ— Councell for ENGLAND and SCOTLAND Captaine of an hundreth Scots-men at Armes of the French Kings Ordinances By IAMES CLELAND Doctor in Diuinitie and Domestick Chaplaine to his GRACE LONDON Printed by William Stans by for Ralph Rounthwaite 1624. TO THE ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE ESME Duke of Lenox Earle of March and Darnley Lord of AVBIGNY Torbolton Methuen Baron of Settrington c. Knight of the Noble Order of the GARTER Honourable LORD LOe here A Monument of mans Mortalitie erected in haste to represent the Death and Funerals of my good Lord your Noble Brother whose heroicke LIFE requires more leasure to build A MAVSOLE to his Immortall Memorie Meane time J offer vnto your Grace these mournefull Spoiles and funerall Trophees as most proper and due vnto you his Successour and Jnheritour in assurance you will accept them fauourably and with your gracious aspect giue them a speaking-power as the Sunnes reflection did on the Image of Memnon The Ghostly visage of his Effigie I know cannot affright your Grace who is ready and prepared at all howers for Death nor I hope will the representation of it renew your griefe as Iosephs particoloured Coate caused sorow to his father Iacob and Caesars shirt to Calpurnia But that you will looke and behold in it as a Mirror to see your Fate as your Fortune and so esteeme me for euer one of Aprill 20. 1624. Your Graces Most humbly Deuoted in all dutifull obseruance IAMES CLELAND IN IVSTA FVNEBRIA OPTIMI PRINCIPIS LODOVICI Ducis Richmondiae Lenoxiae c. EPITAPHIVM Dum Populum Proceresque suos IACOBVS in vnum Cogit Europam terror vbique tenet Spes populi Procerumque decus LENOXIVS Heros Non expectato funere raptus obit Prô Superi non haec mors est sed Publica clades Quam Rex Proceres plebs populusque lugent Egregiè factum Funus Moestissma Coniux Produxit Ciniri gloria magna fuit MONVMENTVM MORTALE In Obitum Optimi Ducis RICHMONDIAE LENOXIAE c. B. M. P. VIde Mortalis quisquis es hoc te MonumentuÌ„ rogat se vt aspicias Speculum Putes aut Scholam Viden ' formam mutatam gloriam marcidam euanidam Pompam Triumphus est Mortis fati Trophaeum fragilitatis documentum Disco omnia praecipits cursu fluere lubrico orbe versari raptari auolare vanescere Fui non sum aut quicquid Sum Puluis cinis terrae pondus Parcae spolium dum melior pars mei in caeluâ—â— ascendit vnde descendit vbi quiesco Quis Fuèrim sâ—lubido audire est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 breus capies Interim ne mirere quisquis es hoc tanto tamque inopinato euentu neue curiâ—su◠〈◊〉 hic causas inuestiga non vis non casus non ordo eternus fatorum Me de medio sed vnus Ille Omnium rerum Moderator sustulit vt post tot exantlaâ—os labores in perpetuum cum eo vinam ac conquiescam Hac moncre volui nunc abi sed heus tu Deum Verere Regem reuerere hoc tantum Vale. A Funerall Discourse VPON THE DEPLORABLE DEATH OF THE GRACIOVS PRINCE LODOVICK Duke of Richmond and Lenox c. ALthough Ioseph of Iohn 19. 38. Aramathea and Nicodemus begged of Pilate the body of IESVS and on the day of preparation wrapt it in a fine cleane linnen cloath embalmed it with odoriferous spices buried it and so gaue him the last dutie of Iewish Ceremonies the first of Christian Funerals yet Mary Magdalene and the other Mary could not bee satisfied with all that was done by Ioseph and Nicodemus for their Lord and Master Christ vnlesse in the next day after the Preparation their poore balme had gone likewise for him After which imitation of these two Maries I cannot content my selfe with what hath beene done by others hitherto for my late Lord and Master the Duke of Richmond and Lenox though most sufficiently except I bring some Sindon of my owne now and buy some Balme to bestow vpon his Grace Yesterday you heard how the Lord Keeper most accuratly and affectionatly expressed my Lord Duke his Heroick life to day with permission I will represent vnto you and others afarre off his Deplorable Death and Christian Funerall Behold them then both in this Monument as better to be considered by the Eye then by the Eare by the Grauers pencill then by the Writers pen by silence then by discourse In this Monument which may giue feare to the Faithfull amazement to the Prophane and sorrow to all men For on the sixteenth day of Februarie last in the Kings Palace of White-Hall whiles the Kings Majestie the Prince the Peeres and the Noblemen of the Land were readie to ride in state vnto the High Parliament of England Behold an ancient Statute from the highest Court of Parliament in Heauen put in Execution vpon this honorable person my Lord Duke of Richmond and Lenox This Execution was serued vpon him whiles the people expected a pomp and whiles I for my part was preparing another Iacob Triumphant or King Iames Second Triumphs in Executing his Statutes and penal Lawes against all Popish Policies and Practises within his Majesties Dominions But oh the sodaine change and strange passage of the peoples expectation and my design from a glorious Pompe on Horse-backe to a mournfull Hearse followed afoot from a Triumph to a Tombe from the Trophees of ioy to the Spoiles of sorrow in a moment all my thoughts turned to a Monument This is euer the miserable condition of man to mixe sowre with sweet or else to ioyne them so inseparably together as a concaue superficies with a conuexe In that morning all the Court and Citie of London were full of mirth but about noone all in mourning then in pleasure and delight soone after in sorrow and sadnesse Thus the clearest dayes haue their stormes the euening is not answerable to the calmnesse of the morning nor to the cleernesse of the noone-day but the Sunne eclipses the Cloudes ouercast and the Day is changed into Night or darknesse The Statute that was Executed so peremptorily vpon this honourable Person was first enacted in the vpper House of Parliament in Heauen generally against all men All men Heb. 9. 27. must once die and then receiued and resolued vpon of all in the lower House of Parliament on Earth Here Gods Word Reason and Experience the three States of our Earthly Parliament haue ratified and confirmed it vna voce without appeale God said expressely In that day
the place of his beginning after a long continuance of yeeres and that the gracious Duchesse his Lady had taken her last leaue of him that he had giuen Legacies and tokens to his friends and fauourites finally appointed recompences for his old and faithfull seruants but God thinke vs not worthie of those fauours and kindnesse of our Lord and Master Wherefore should wee rather lament for our selues then for him and let vs say of him as Rome did of Titus Hee is gone for his owne good and for our afflictions Death which hath raised him to immortall felicities doth plunge vs into a gulfe of miseries Wee lament iustly for our selues who see our hopes Dead and our miseries liuing Death hath strooke but one and hath slaine many The felicitie which hee enioyes doth not ease the affliction which doth torment vs the contents which he finds in heauen takes not from vs the feeling of those griefes which his absence hath left vs vpon the earth If Death after this blowe should haue broken his bowe despairing euer to make the like shot that would not cure the wound which his arrow hath made But if there be anything in this world able to mollifie our griefe it is that diuers nations and many people haue sorrowed for that which wee lament The afflicted receiue some ease when as euery man beares a share of their affliction Alas when the Doctour of Physike and the Groome of his Bed-chamber drew the Courtaine and found him cold Dead without breath or motion hauing one hand lifted towards heauen and the other as is written of Iulius Caesar when he was murthered in the Senate collecta manibus toga honestè cadere studuit Sueton. in vita Câ—â—s spread his gowne ouer himselfe so this Comely Lord desiring to Die decently in his Bed as he carried himselfe in all his actions of his life hee pulled vp the vpper sheet close about his necke and so quietly gaue vp the Ghost not so much as giuing one groane Then alas all their rubbing with hot clothes was in vaine and to no purpose when Death seizes one all the Aurum potabile in the world cannot auaile nor will the Bezar stones helpe against the heart-beatings nor the confection of Alchermes against the dissentories nor the feet of Elan against the crampes and contractions of the sinewes No more then Aristotles arguments Platoes interrogations Gorgias his sophismes Demosthenes eloquence Tullies oratorie S. Thomas his fundaments Scotus his subtilties Durandus his sentences nor Hectors courage Achilles his valour Samsons strength Croesus his riches Caesars fortune can preuaile against Death What pen or pencill can represent vnto you the iust outcries of my Ladie Duchesse all the house ouer outcries I confesse so iustly and deseruingly that they may approue rather their continuance then condemne their extremitie How she casts herselfe vpon the ground teared her faire haire from her head beating her breast blubbering or disfiguring her face and renting her clothes from her backe I am not able to expresse nor yet could learned Haelicarnasseus who painted out the transported Ladies of Rome for their husbands Death paint out this our Ladies griefe and sorrow Or how should I or any other figure vnto you how the Kings Maiestie was amazed at the first dolefull newes My Lord Duke is Dead and euer since hath missed him Surely Timanthes himselfe that inimitable painter of Mourning if he were aliue and would vndertake this picture of the Kings griefe he should faile in his art and skill otherwise then with a vaile before Agamemnons face Royaltie nor Philosophie cannot free nor priuiledge him from the first motions and sudden passions of the minde Nor yet can I tell you how the Prince his Highnesse and the whole Court tooke these sorrowfull newes of my Lord his Death otherwise then by silence and by all mens teares Discourses are to no end neither to augment the griefe of the losse nor to aduance the greatnesse of the glorie of this Prince LODOVICK for the one is infinite and the other is seene in his Apogea But teares shew that hee which was lamented of euery man was necessarie for all Teares are better vnderstood then words it is more easie to weepe for this Prince then to speake of his Princely vertues Frame hath sorrowed for this Duke and Prince like vnto a Mother who being a Widdow and Old hath lost her owne sonne and as a Campe or an Armie of men hath lost their Captaine and Commander For he was borne in France where his wofull Mother yet liueth and bred there vntill the ninth yeere of his age and now Died their Captaine of an hundred men at Armes in Scotland of the French Kings Ordinances Then was he in his ninth yeere brought into Scotland which now lament and grieue for his Death as it was delighted for twenty yeers together with his life there As also hee is vniuersally lamented of euery one here in England where he liued these twentie last yeeres of his life in all honor and loue and now is Dead and Buried with great griefe and sorrow Ireland likewise sorrow for his Death and hang vp their Harpes from the touching or trembling of their strings to any pleasant sound So that his Funerall needed not any hired teares nor borrowed weepers called in Latine Praeficae and in Hebrew Mekonenoth as it is written in the ninth chapter of Ieremie Euery one did affoord them with abundance those which had not their eyes full of teares had their hearts voide of pitie and commiseration Teares which constancy and grauitie held in that they might not appeare were no lesse bitter then those which common griefe did cast forth to be seene If any one had strength to resist teares it was wanting to fight with sorrow To tell now what the lamentation of London was it is impossible and incredible the people sighed and lamented one to another so nor can I tell you how the poore people of the Countrie euen such as neuer saw him were sorrie for his Death because they heard of his goodnesse Nor yet needed he those Lawes of other nations appointed to weepe at the Death of their Princes and Great men As the Egyptians in Diodorus Historie wept threescore and Diodor. lib. 2c 2. twelue dayes for the Death of their King and we did now for our Prince LODOVICK before his Funerall and will many more hereafter So did the Sparthians or Lacedemonians mourne for their Kings Death some certaine dayes as Herodotus writes Such was the cruell policie Herodot lib. 6. Ioseph Antiq. lib. 17. c. 8. of great Herodes to cause the chiefe Councellours of the Kingdome to bee murthered at his Death that there might some teares bee shed then liking belike that which Medea said in the Tragedie Mors optima est perire Seneca de Med. lachrymosum suis it is to bee wished to bee wept for euery man wept and lamented willingly his Death and their teares which
wherein thou Gen. 2. 17. eatest of the tree of knowledge of good and euill thou shalt die Though Satan a lyar from the beginning said to the Woman Non omnino Gen. 3. 4. moriemini Yee shall not die at all and our Mother Eue minced the matter with ne fortè Ibid. v. 3. moriamini lest perchance yee die yet Gods sentence passed vpon her and her husband Adam and all their posteritie neuer to be repealed or reuersed Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Ibid. v. 19. againe As Leui was in the loines of Abraham Heb. 7. 5. when he payed tithe or tribute so were wee in the loines of Adam when hee did eate of the forbidden Tree his disobedience is in vs vnexcusable the doome and punishment of Death due vnto vs irreuocable and all of vs of what estate age or degree soeuer wee be are without some rare and extraordinarie dispensation as that of Enoch and Elias was liable vnto the same We must needs Die said the wise 2. Sam. 14. 14. woman of Tecoah to Dauid You a Soueraigne and I a Subiect you a man and I a woman Wee must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground Dauid confessed so much on his Death-bed I must goe the way of all the earth Which 1. Reg. 2. 2. the Prophet Ieremie expoundeth with a threefold Ieremie c. exclamation or terrible acclamation O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord. Wee must haue eares to heare them of men but our eyes only will heare that of God Wee vnderstand him in seeing these great and terrible accidents vnawares to vs. Earth which commest from Earth Earth which art fed with Earth Earth which remainest on Earth Earth which goes to Earth Earth in thy birth in thy life and in thy end behold a Great Man of the Earth returnes to Earth Emperours Kings and Princes you are but dust know it your Crownes and Scepters depend of God acknowledge it your bodie is but of clay thinke and say it and therefore you must needs breake and bee dissolued Say Prince say pesant say rich say poore say all and one with holy Iob. Corruption thou art my Iob 17. 14. father rottennesse thou art my mother Wormes and Vermine yee are my brethren and sisters say graue thou art my bed sheete thou art my shrine earth thou art my couer greene grasse thou art my carpet say Death demand thy due for thy seizure is without surrender and from thy decree there is no appeale It is not the Maiestie of the Prince or holinesse of the Priest strength of bodie feature of face learning riches honour or any secular regard can pleade against Death or priuiledge any person from the Graue Nereus the faire Thersites the foule Pyrrhius the Cooke Agamemnon the King Absalon with his beautie and Lazdrus with his blaines must once Die For Statutum est it is appointed all once to Die Heb. 9. 27. It is not eminency of Office or Dignitie can priuiledge thee for Dauid who was a King Ps 82. 6. himselfe a Prophet and a man after Gods owne heart setteth men as high as they may goe I haue said yee are Gods nuncupatiuè not substantiuè and the children of the most high This is mans aduancement But hee bringeth them as lowe and hath But for them But yee shall Die like men and yee Princes and Great Ones shall fall like others here is his abasement where the names of God and Man here shew their great difference God signifies force support and the foundation of all but M 〈…〉 imbecillitie infirmitie and so feeble a thing as it cannot stand of it selfe mortall and Diuine are opposite and contraries God who made the World at first of nothing can marre the Isa 40. 23. greatest in a moment hee bringeth Potentates to nothing and maketh the Iudges of the earth as vanitie It is not the strength or statelinesse of any Place Palace or Territorie Towne-gates Guardes or Royall Armies can protect thee from Death For pale Death knocketh with the Horat. same foâ—te at the Palaces of Princes as well as at the Cortages of Clownes if it enter not at Ier. 9. 3. the gates with full force it will ascend by the windowes with great feare And wee see that wise men Die as well as fooles rich Die as well as poore Noblemen as well as vulgar or ignoble in a word the good and godly men as well as wicked and prophane For Ps 89. 47. what man is hee that liueth and shall not see Death Lastly as no height of honour or estimation can priuiledge thee no safety and sweetnesse of place protect thee so no power or policie can preserue thee from the fatall dart of Death The King cannot saue himselfe by the multitude of his Psal 33. 15. Paul Iouius de vit Tamberl Q. Curc in vit Alex. host Tamberlaine the terrour of the world Died with three fits of an Ague as Paulus Iouius writeth Alexander that famous Monarch acknowledged in his owne person this humane frailtie when in the Olympike Games falling in the dust and perceiuing therein the length of his body hee confessed with griefe that seuen foote of ground were sufficient to make him a graue Death onely Iuâ—enal Mors sola fatetur sheweth how bigge mens bodies are Wherefore bee our dayes neuer so few or our yeeres neuer so full resolue wee must according to Gods Word Wee must all once Die wheresoeuer or what state soeuer wee be no resisting God alone can say Sum qui sum I Exod. 3. 14. am that I am and will bee what I haue beene Plutarch Men can say nothing else but I am and shall not be Witnesse this the Lacedemonians song of three parts Wherein the Elders sang We haue beene strong and are not now The Youth replied Wee shall be strong but are not yet The Middle-aged sang Wee are now strong but shall not be What shall I say more All mankind must needs sing this Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est Wee are or haue beene or may soone be such as this Our mournfull Obiect Reason proueth the same as Plato in Timaeo Plat. in Tim. De Orthodox fidei de longit breu vitae Arist Physic Euery thing that is composed must be dissolued Damascen Euery thing that is made is subiect to be mard Aristotle holdeth that euery bodie composed of contrarie elements disposed into contrarie humours must at length haue a naturall date of corruption Man is thus who as hee is the King and Master of all things sublunaries so is hee the most mixed and composed of all creatures For hee is made of an immortall soule and corruptible bodie subiect to Death his soule ascendeth from whence it came his bodie boweth and bendeth downewards the bodie is composed of foure contrarie elements which in him are still at Deadly warres
effect is not As the great God who is the iudge of Life and Death hath disposed of the life of this great Duke by so fatall and mournfull Death to the end al that depend on Princes should know they be the effects of his great Iustice and that they put not their trust in Princes nor in the Psal 146. 3. Sonne of man in whom there is no helpe or else to shew that the World and all her greatnesse are but a shadow dust and a puffe of winde Now seeing we haue beene euery way sufficiently taught by Gods Word Reason and Experience by the Ancient and Prophane Poets and Philosophers that there is no sure rest or residence for vs in this World and that heere we haue no continuing Citie but liue euery day and houre in such vncertaintie that the highest healthiest holiest happiest among men cannot promise to themselues to morrow let vs esteeme of euery present day as the day of our Death and make such a conscience of all our Wayes Words and Workes as if we were presently to giue an account of our life Hee that thinketh alwayes of Dying will bee circumspect in his doing The Meditation of Death is a Christian mans Philosophie and rightly vsed may well bee termed mentis ditatio the enriching of the mind O let vs therefore as carefull Christians be continually exercised in this studie and as cheerefull and faithfull Professors bee alwayes busied in performing those righteous and religious duties which wee would doe if wee were Dying and because that Death in all places wayteth for vs let vs expect it euerie houre suspect it euerie where and be at all times prepared for it Especially at this time let the dreadfull spectacle of Death before our eyes in this my Monument be as a shrill Trumpet sounding aloud that message of Isaiah to Ezechiah in our eares that it may sinke deepe in our hearts Set thy Isa 38 1. house in order for thou must Dye and shall not liue Dispose of thy temporall affaires leaue not thy Lands intangled thy substance intested to be a cause of variance to thy posteritie make thy Will doe it in time whilest thy thoughts are free thine affections stayed and thy Reason not distracted with feare or senses disturbed with paines so shall thy Testament be testatio mentis a witnesse of thy mind Whereas on the contrarie if thou put ouer the disposing of thine estate to that troublesome time of sicknesses when thine head aketh hand shaketh thy tongue faultereth thine heart fainteth and euery part is pained it may iustly bee feared that neither thy words or writing will so expresse thy meaning but that thou shalt be easily drawne to make a Will after anothers minde rather then thine owne Death hath a thousand Diseases to kill vs by which made the Cabalist Rabbins obserue nine hundred and seuen sorts of naturall Deaths vpon this Verse of Dauid Vnto God the Lord Psal 68. 20. belong the issues of Death not counting the infinite number of violent Deaths by which a man may Dye And to speake apparantly to truth there is a greater number of Deadly Diseases and sicknesses in a man then there are Bones Veines Sinewes Muscles Arteries Tennons and all the parts of a Mans bodie Cut vp an Anatomie and consider euery particular part of mans bodie and you shall not seeke nor find one ioynt free from the darts of Death She can kill vs in the Head by an Apoplexie by a Syncope in the Eyes by blindnesse Ophthalmies and Suffusions in the Eares by deafensse and runnings in the Nose by bleeding in the Mouth by Cankers in the Tongue by Swelling and Vlcers in the Throat by Angines and Squinances in the Stomacke by rawnesse and coldnesse in the Liuer with obstructions the Spleene with hardnesse in the Belly or Bowels with the Collicke in the Kidnies with grauell in the heart with beatings or pantings in the Sides with Pleurisies in the Hands in the Feet and Toes with the Gowt Knots and Crampes To conclude our whole Bodie and Members are seized on by these ordinary Diseases and such Besides a sudden Death may seize on you you may Dye in sleeping or in sounding or fainting as we see daily infinite Examples A man may bee murthered in the field as Abell was Gen. 4. 8. a man may fall backward sitting quietly in his 1. Sam. 4. 48. Chaire and breake his necke as Ely did or Isa 37. 37. Die in the Temple as Senacherib or at the Altar as Ioab While Iobs Sonnes were feasting 1. Reg. 2. 34. the house fell vpon them While the scoffing Boyes were mocking of Gods Prophet Beares 2. Reg. 2. came from the Wildernesse and deuoured them Num. 16. 31. When Corah and his company were contending the Earth opened and swallowed them In a word all our Life is but a Consumption vnto Death sorrowes of minde and sick nesses of the bodie are but the Harbengers of the graue Search the Gospell you shall finde one blind another deafe the third lame One Lazar lying at Diues gate another at the Poole Luke 16. 24. of Bethesda a third at the beautifull gate of the Temple you shall find heere a Leper crying there a woman with an Issue of Bloud adoring Here the house vntiled by the sick of the Palsie there the Graues haunted by men possessed of Deuils We cannot saith Saint Augustine tell what to call our life whether a Dying life or a liuing Death when euery day our houses of clay doe cramble to corruption Set therefore thine house in order now that thy soule bee not wearied when thou art at Deaths doore or on thy Death-bed with secular affaires Yea set thine heart in order also and forth-with dispose of thy soule to cast vp her reckonings turne thy selfe as Ezekiah did to the Wall that is from the World to God Consider what thou hast beene examine thy selfe what thou art premeditate what thou shalt be Thinke on thy naked Natiuitie and blush for shame sigh for griefe on Deaths approching tyrannie and tremble for feare or rather that thou mayest bee freed from feare griefe and shame Weepe as Ezekiah did bewayle thy sinnes past keepe a narrow watch 2. Reg. 20 3. Psal 126. ouer thine heart for the time to come Sow in teares that thou mayst reape in ioy Lastly not to leaue so good a patterne in any point vnfollowed which no doubt was practized by this our Prince pray too as Ezekiah did though thou canst not in the same manner Lord remember how I haue walked before thee in synceritie and truth yet to the same effect for mercie as Dauid did Lord remember Psal 25. 7. not the sinnes of my youth And as Saint Ambrose Amb. in Psal 38. did Lord forgiue mee my faults heere where I haue sinned for else-where I cannot be releeued except I haue my pardon heere it is in vaine to expect the restfull comfort of forgiuenesse hereafter Now
is the acceptable time 2. Cor. 6. 2. as Saint Paul speaketh now is the day of saluation This World is for thy Repentance the other for thy recompence Hic locus luctae ille coronae Hoc cunaeorum tempus est illud coronarum as Saint Chrysostome saith This is the Chrys in Heb. c. 2. Hom 4 time and place of combatting that of crowning this of working that of rewarding this for thy patience that for thy comfort Happie and thrice happie are they which are thus religiously exercised and Christianly affected HAPPY then by the judgement of Charitie is My Gracious Lord Duke as the iudgement of certaintie the Lord of all alone knoweth his who in a comfortable Christian manner was thus resolued and in the time of his short sicknesse vnto his Death piously deuoted As King Ezekiah beeing summoned by sicknesse and the Prophets short Sermon to prepare for his Death turned presently to the wall prayed and wept so did this Prince feeling his frailtie immediately turned to the wall prayed and wept for his former sinnes But alas Herein differed that King from this Prince that God added vnto the dayes of Ezekiah fifteene yeeres but he shortned the dayes of Prince Lodouick in that same houre Then hee Dyed in his Bed without any further delay and slept in the Lord with his Fathers O Kings Princes and Great men who all your life long run after the dreames and sleepe of the World whose thoughts are wholy anchored vpon the Earth and your hopes haue no further extent then the Earth in picture of this Death behold that the vanitie of your greatnesse and ambition things so vaine and fraile as when they seeme to glister and twinkle like Diamonds they vanish from our sight and breake themselues in pieces like glasse Your spirits being touched with this Death as with an Adamant should without ceasing turne towards the firme and fixed Pole of that truth That whatsoeuer is vnder Heauen is nothing but vanitie and that the World passeth away with his pride and pompe And O yee Gentlemen and Commons come see this picture of Death knowing of wise King Salomon It is better to goe to the house of Eccles 7. 2. mourning then to go to the house of feasting For that is the end of all men and the liuing will lay it to his heart Lay it to your heart then if you be liuing and not stupid senslesse and dead in your minde Gaze not onely vpon it with your eyes as little children doe vpon their painted Booke not learning their Lesson nor to your cares onely to heare of Death nor to your tongues onely to talke of it but lay it to your hearts ruminate remember and meditate vpon Death day and night For if yee looke vpon Death onely with your eyes heare of it enquire after it and take hold of it onely with your hand and the heart be farre from it then it cannot auayle or profit you The eye without the heart is a deceiuing eye the care without the heart is vnprofitable the tongue without the heart is a flattering tongue the hand without the heart is a false hand and God will confound all the rest of the bodie without the heart Sonne giue me thy heart Consider the great God who is the iudge of life and death hath disposed of the life of this Prince by so sudden a Death to the end Great Britaine should know that this must be the end of all men and as a man Dieth in the fauour of God so without changing or recalling hee remayneth Death being to the wicked the Deuils Seriant to arrest them and carry them without baile vnto a Prison of vtter darknesse which to the godly is the Lords Gentleman Vsher to conduct them to a Palace of euerlasting happinesse yea Death being to the one as Satans Cart to carry them presently to execution in Hell which to the other is as Elias 2. Kings 2. 12. his fierie Chariot to mount them vp to Heauen Againe as Death is certaine so the forme is vncertaine wee see round figures fall otherwise then Cylinders or Triangles life ends not all after one manner the fruits of one tree fall not all at one instant some are gathered before they bee ripe others fall of themselues some are snatcht away some pulled gently and the violence of the winde and haile beateth them downe indifferently My Lord Duke as hee liued so hee Died meekely patiently like a Lambe and so soone as hee felt his paine of the head increase and more then heretofore he turned his eyes towards heauen and carried his thoughts whether his extreme griefe did conduct him Affliction makes men forget the World when they must thinke of Heauen and it is the liuerie of the seruants of God Hee prayed vnto God in his Bed beleeuing assuredly hee who is in all places where hee is called on God in the Crib God on the Crosse God in the Graue and God euery where Who heares Ieremie in the mire Daniel in the Den who makes a Palace of a Stable of a Caluary a Paradice makes of this Bed an Arke of propitition and sent his Angels thither to assist this soule and bring it vnto him Hee receiues this generous gracious gentle courteous and meeke Soule which neuer refused his grace to any one that sought it That great and vnspeakable mercy of God fortifie vs in this beleefe and the same truth which recommends mercy vnto men for that God is all mercy and will rather cease to bee God then to bee mercifull who promiseth mercy to those which shall be mercifull God it's true might haue suffered this Prince to haue Died otherwise then suddenly but his mercy had not beene so apparent in in any other kinde of Death this being the sweetest and easiest Death seeing it takes feare and apprehension from Death which is omnium terribilissimum most troublesome Hee calls these terrible and sudden Death to the absolute power of his bountie whereas man hath scarce the time to contribute a thought or a sigh And this Prince himselfe would not end his life otherwise then suddenly thinking it vnworthie of a great courage to languish betwixt a desire of life and the feare of Death and to quit for the interest of his abode sometimes the vse of a member halfe Eyes sight and all his hearing and to submit himselfe to the discretion of paine and old age It is true a sudden Death is terrible and fearefull to those that are taken vnawares but is not so to those which attend it alwaies constantly and who did watch sleepe walke and eate often with those cogitations made Christian like discourses said so often that it was not sufficient to know the graces of God but they must acknowledge them might well bee taken but he could not be surprized by Death His desire you see was not like vnto ours for wee would haue wisht to haue seene him send vp his soule quietly to
de Isid O sir them to permit any man to be buried in wooll more then to weare clothes of wooll in their Temples but all must bee made of Linnen cloth The ancient Greekes and Romanes were euer most curious and carefull in celebrating the Solemnitie of their Funerals witnesse Plato Aristotle Plat. in Phaed Cratil Menox lib. 4. de lâ—g Arist l. de virtu Problem sect 29. q. 9. Plutarch Tully and many other Heathen Authors Poets and Philosophers Plato the best of the Philosophers prescribed a perfect Rule and gouernment in obseruing the Ceremonies of Burials so did Aristotle his Disciple in his Ethicks and Tullius in his Topicks especially Seruius in his Commentaries Cic. in Top. Seru. in Aen. 6. Plutarch in vitis Thesei Themist aboue all in Numa vpon Virgill commends these Ceremonies of Funerals and Plutarch in all his Workes at all occasions declareth how Honourable Funerals are Euripides amongst the Greeke Poets saith Eurip. in Hecub Acl. 2. Sophocl in Aâ—ac Antig. that Buriall is the commandement and old Law of the Gods and to depriue men of Buriall is to contemne the Gods aboue and below And Sophocles saith to defraud men of their Religious Ceremonies of Funerals is to violate and transgresse the Lawes of the Gods Naturally the condition of man requireth that as it is appointed for all men once to dye so euery-man wisheth and requireth that this piety humanitie and compassion bee shewen vpon him insuffering their dead bodies to be buried decently and honestly And of this same naturall inclination proceedeth this great desire which they shew to haue of Burying their bodie fearing lest after their death some dishonor or incoÌ„uenience should be happen it Such was the selfe-loue of that cruell Nero towards his bodie when hee said surely he must Die most Suet. in Nerone instantly intreating that his head might not bee giuen to his Enemies Tacitus reports of the Tacit. lib. 17. like of the Emperor Otho praying that they cut not off his head after his death and expose it to the mockerie of his Souldiers Many yeeres Hom. Iliad before that Homer bringeth Hector vanquished by Achilles instantly requiring that his body be not made a prey to the Dogges but that it may bee ransomed or redeemed at what price Idem ibidem he would the same motion or the like Aiax made to Iupiter Gods people both in the Old and New Testament euer religiously obserued these Ceremonies and Solemnities of Buriall relying vpon their Resurrection and that one day they should liue againe and that eternally Yea Gods Word commands and commends Buriall in expresse tearmes and practise As in Ecclesiasticus is said Eccles 7. 33. from the Dead restraine it not that is to say from the Funerall Solemnitie according to his estate And soone after he saith My sonne powre forth Cap. 38. 16. teares ouer the dead and begin to mourne as if thou haddest suffered great harme thy selfe and then couer his Bodie c. Gods owne holy Spirit Eccles 6. 3. pronounces absolutely it is better to bee an vntimely fruit then not to bee Buried For Practice loc to all the ancient Patriarchs in the Old Testament and yet shall find them very diligent in these Ceremonies of Funerals as Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph Dauid Tobie and others Gen. 23. 49. 50. 2. Reg. 2. Tob. 14. Iohn 19. 40. Luke 23. 53. Chrysost Hom. 84 in 19. chap. Ioan. In the New Testament when Saint Iohn saith our Sauiour Christ was Buried as the manner of the Iewes is he signifieth sufficiently that Buriall was one of the Ceremonies of the Law Iesus was Buried honourably and that by honourable men his owne Disciples first to euince his owne innocencie and to conuince the Iewes of their iniquity seeing no criminall condemned Chrysost Hom. 4. in cap. 2. ad Helâ— person could be Buried according to their owne Lawes secondly it appeareth euidently by Ioseph and Nicodemus his preparation Iohn 19. 37. on the day of preparation that Buriall was highly esteemed amongst the Iewes in regard on that day that they might not prouide any other thing Thirdly hence may be collected that it is lawfull for Christians to Burie their Dead on the Sabbath day seeing the Iewes permitted it on their Sabbath Fourthly that the Buriall of Iesus was the end of Iewish Ceremonies in Funerals and the beginning of our Christian Exequies because he would not be Buried by the superstitious Iewes but by his owne Disciples who were become Christians Lastly to shew the Burying-place of Heretickes and Schismaticks of Orthodoxalls or of Protestants should not bee common more then you may obserue there was one common place after the Buriall of Christ with the Iewes and Christians For Christ at his Death did rent the veile of their two Religions as hee did of the Temple Maâ— 27. 51. and appointed Funerall Ceremonies for his people far different from the Iewish Superstitions in Buriall In consequence of which Doctrine Saint Luke markes expresly that Steuen being stoned Acts 8. 2. then certaine men fearing God carried him among them to be buried by those of his owne profession and Religion not by Iewes or of his contrarie part nor yet amongst them So the Eunuch who was baptized by Philip in this Vers 38. Dionys de Hiâ—rar Ecclesiast l. 7 Hieron Epist. 25. ad Paulam same Chapter is said to haue beene honourably Buried as Saint Steuen was apparently in that they made Magnum Planctum that is to say a Magnificent Funerall for him as Saint Hierome interpretes it It is a Christian duty then to Bury the Dead and that Honourably and Magnificently according to the meanes honour ranke and qualitie of the partie defunct howsoeuer to Burie him decently and with an honest conuoy Saint Chrysostome renders three Reasons why Chrysost Hom 4. in c. 2. ad Hebr. we should religiously Burie the Dead and make Funerals One is to witnesse our reciprocall loue and charitie one towards another another is to shew our assured hope of Resurrection in others thirdly to be a lesson for our owne instruction that as others Die so shall we Lactantius Lactant. lib. 6. Diuin Institut cap. 12. Aug. l. 1. de ciuit Dei cap. 13. ioynes the fourth because it is not fit that the Image of God should be exposed to beasts or rauenous fowles Saint Augustine addeth the fifth shewing our bodies are the Tabernacle of the holy Spirit and it were to o great an absurditie or foule fault to preserue carefully the Pictures Apparell Iewels and Armour of our Predecessours and neglect their bodies and bones and their essentiall Spoiles of Death Therefore wee accompany the Dead to the Graue with a holy meditation of Death common to all but to the faithfull a passage to a better life comforting our selues through assurance of their happinesse that are gone before vs and that we shall follow