falshood Whether lastly his whole endeauour did not bend it selfe as to maintaine good men and good causes so to quell and daunt the prophanesse and outragious disorders of the times Let I say such a bill as this be now tendered vnto her and without question you shall haue her hand that it is Billa vera a virdict true in all points But suppose she should most ingratefully refuse surely the matter is not great seeing there are so many and of no meane credit whose sorrowfull countenances are at this time in mine eie who both knew the truth of this as also of the rest that hath hetherto beene spoken concerning the blessed life of this worthy Person and will be ready I doubt not vpon any necessary occasion to auerre and iustifie the same And thus haue I I know not how troden a blessed way the way wherein this blessed man walked and richly adorned it was with many a delightfull flower Those that I haue offered vnto you to my thinking were the fairest A clearer eye perhaps especially in such aboundance would haue spied out many more of like nature and of as excellent a glosse but these though few yet in my iudgement are sufficient for the discerning of those two things that in the entrance to speake of his life I propounded to your considerations 1. His Piety 2. His Integrity And therefore contenting my selfe with the same I will leaue speaking any further of his life and come to his death the occasion indeed of a lamentable Metamorphosis here amongst vs Bethel being as you see strangely changed into Bochim the habitation of delight into the house of mourners Now for his death we are to know it was much what such a one as Caesar desired 1. Short 2. Vnexpected Neither must I be mistaken for saying it was vnexpected as though this Christian Gentleman had either made a couenant with death and the graue or put the euill day farre from him doubtlesse he that taketh but the least suruey of his vertuous life shall easily perceiue the contrarie that hee rather as appeared by his more then ordinarie imploying of his Talent was continually expecting his Audit-day when he must of necessity make vp his reckoning And as for the tempest that is now falne he did like a wise Pilot discrie it long agoe afarre off and did not onely fit and prepare himselfe for it but did with many sweete and comfortable words hearten on and incourage his dearest friends patiently to indure that which in his wisedome hee saw would not long be auoided To vs onely it was both sodaine and in very truth altogether vnlooked for for who would haue dreamt of this some 12. or 13. dayes agoe or what reason had we who were in his company both eating and drinking merry and cheerefull seeing him as like to liue as he was many a day before to entertaine the least melancholike thought of his Fatalitie being so nigh But let mee answer my selfe reasons there were many but if none yet his eminencie in grace had beene reason sufficient for the more the mountaine hath in height the lesse it hath in shadow and the higher any person is in esteeme with God vsually that shadow of his I meane his life is wont to be the shorter What remained after Hester was fully purified and euery way meet for the embracings of so mighty a Prince but to be taken immediately into the Royall Palace It is reported of Henoch that he walked with God and presently after the text saith he was not found and the reason is there likewise expressed for God tooke him to himselfe Neither in my iudgement is it any way fitting that such fauorites as these should be long absent in this sorrowfull vale out of the presence of that great Monarch of the whole world who doth not onely loue them most intirely but hath also so liberally prouided for them a satietie of pleasure euery way so absolute And besides as we soothed vp our selues with vaine hopes in his health so did we likewise the greatest time of his sicknesse Howbeit herein wee are not much to be blamed wee being persons beguiled altogether through the deceitfull working of the maladie which continually hid it selfe in those secret and vitall parts of his neither did death euer vnmaske it selfe but like a subti l Headsman went cloaked vp downe vntill on the sudden it gaue him his deadly blow And surely the time was very short not many houres before his dissolution or euer wee had the least suspicion of the same For is it not a strange thing that the death of his disease should be a forerunner of his owne The day before that his last to our thinking and his owne feeling his Feuer hauing quite left him Nor did hee all his sicknesse through shew himselfe more cheerefull nor yeeld vnto vs a more assured hope of his recouerie then at that time And therfore I would desire all especially those whom his death more nighly concerneth to beare the same the more contentedly seeing that now it is so easily discerned to be no other thing else but the meere pleasure of God thus hastily and in the flower of his age to cut in sunder the thred of his life The blame I know right well will especially of the ignorant multitude be laid vpon that learned man his Physitian whom both for his great skill in that his science as also his extraordinary care ouer his so much respected a patient I shall for mine owne part honour whilst I breathe But brethren let them and vs all know that if God shooteth his arrow it is not the shield of man or Angell that catching the same can keepe it possibly from the sides of him to whom it is intended Neither is there any Balme so soueraigne that can heale the wound that death maketh Let him therefore haue his due hee went as farre as Art could leade him if it had pleased God to haue seconded his labours wee ought as I make no question wee should to haue beene most thankfull how euer we must be content knowing that although this be vnexpected of vs yet of him long since determined when these dayes of his were numbred that are now fulfilled Againe secondly that I may hasten to his last and dying breath wee are to know as his death was vnexpected of vs so was it doubtlesse for this Elects sake exceedingly shortned God herein answering him his continuall desire which was that in his last sicknesse his soule might part with as little sense of the bodies miserie as might be For we are to know that vntill the Thursday at night before his death hee dying the euening following and only some two or three houres preceding his end his paines were not great but only such ordinary Symptomes as commonly attend vpon a Tertian Ague Howbeit vpon the Thursday at night about 9. or 10. of the clocke hee grew contrary to our expectation much fainter and drawing his breath
is no one thing the whole Scripture through more commended vnto vs either by varietie of arguments or more noble consequence then the sacrifice it selfe neither any thing in my conceit whereof the most here in this so iudicious and Christian an assembly haue a more honourable esteeme then of it for mee to enter any commendations of the same were a meere lending of light to the Sunne a labour altogether needlesse and in the meane time a neglecting of that light which this glorious Starre doth offer vnto vs as a most necessary direction for the performance of this so Christian a dutie Now that we may looke the better into the same how he did it we will diuide the Sacrifice into two parts and will consider of either of them briefly and yet seuerally by it selfe And for the first of these it is his reading of the word of God priuately and alone A dutie indeed commendable in all but admirable in him considering that it is not the fashion for men now adayes especially of his place and greatnesse to take this course And yet a lasse amongst many hundreds of his ranke and order nay let mee offend none in giuing him his due scarse in an age is there not especially of his yeeres and time such another to be found so generall a scholler his vnderstanding so refined his braine so pure and in all kinde of learning so absolute All which hee promised from his cradle in the grasse shewing what the crop would be And whereof in my iudgement that faire Mother the Vniuersitie of Cambridge had a kinde of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was chosen vpon a day of solemnitie to make an Oration in the Colledge being little aboue a yeers standing which hee did with great applause Midsommer Batcheler scarce three yeeres standing The death of his father and mother dying within little lesse then twelue houres one of another guessing happily by those signes hee then gaue whither his vertuous minde would at the length raise him which made her so willingly to throw some of her fauours vpon him and more she would haue done euen of her richest had not a sorrowfull accident so hastily drawne him away from her kinde embracings Now the Apostles rule is generally true Scientiam inflare that knowledge puffeth vp and so in truth doth any other outward preferment whatsoeuer either of nature or fortune especially those in whose heart grace is not the principall ingredient and because there are so few in whom it is therefore it is vsuall as I said before for the most in the world if aduanced though in a small degree aboue others as to haue an ouerweening of their owne worth so to haue a meane conceit of God but especially of his eternall word either contemning it altogether as vnworthy of their hands much lesse their hearts or vilifying the same in comparison of other writings 2. Kin. 5.12 esteeming with Naaman Abana and Pharphar though Riuers of Damascus more excellent then all the waters of Israel the Israel of God But it was not so with him for as hee honoured God from with his heart so had he most honourably thought of his most blessed word Alexander himselfe neuer thought more highly of Homers workes then he did of this sacred Booke Neither would Cyprian bee more traded in the writings of Tertullian Tertull. opera in tanta admiratione habuit Cyprianâ—â— vt nullum sine eorum lectione diem prateriret c. then hee was in the holy Scriptures hitherto referring all his former and latter readings his knowledge in tongues and Arts causing them all not only as handmaids to grace and attend vpon this excellent Lady but also as necessary helpes to make her minde and counsell best knowne vnto himselfe As for the second part of this sacrifice of his namely His hearing the word of God read and expounded publikely therein likewise we will obserue briefly these three things 1. His Diligence 2. His Reuerence 3. His Remembrance For the first namely his Diligence therein we are to know that which few here can be possibly ignorant of namely his constant and continued course of hearing the word of God publikely taught both vpon the Lords dayes as also at all other times as occasion offered it selfe fit both at home and abroad and no maruell for he was the seruant of Wisdome which made him with such delight to wait at his Mistresse gates and to giue such attendance at the posts of her doores Prou. 18. No weather euer so tedious or businesse troublesome that could once stop or hinder him but if she called he was ready at her seruice I neuer in all my time can remember if he were at home that he missed vpon the Lords day comming to the Church both forenoone and afternoone but only the time of this his sicknesse then indeed he was two Sundayes away it being as it seemeth now the will of God that neither then nor neuer hereafter hee should keepe any more Sabboths with vs here below on earth and therefore hee hastened him away to keepe with himselfe and the soules of the righteous an eternall Sabboth in the new Ierusalem that is aboue As for the second His reuerend hearing of the same let that seat of his no more his but now the seat of sorrow couered to my thinking with a sad and dolefull cloud let it speake I say whether euer it shrouded or were in the least respect a Baud to any loose or vnreuerend behauiour of his rather if it could speake it would tell a faire tale though in sorrowfull tearmes of his Christian behauiour both in the time of diuine Seruice wherein hee alwayes behaued himselfe most deuoutly as also in the Sermon time whensoeuer there was any as seldome missed most religiously either with his eare obseruing or with his hand noting such things as he thought most necessary to be remembred The which behauiour of his made him to be both the more obserued as also honoured euen in the hearts of them that otherwise knew him but only by name I remember being vpon a time at Bury S. Edmond and meeting with one by chance knowne to me yet not knowing him he demanded of me whether Sir Edward Lewkenor were that day at Church or no I told him that he was so I thought quoth he for in all my life I neuer saw a man of his yeeres and place that gaue the like attention to the word that hee did The third and last is his Remembrance of things heard A dutie indeed necessarily depending vpon the other two and making through the neglect of the same the other altogether fruitlesse For you must take the heart of man as it is not only plenum rimarum full of chinkes and crannies but withall you must consider Sathan like a Vultur continually sitting by and with his noisome bill to the vttermost of his power opening of those passages whereby it oftentimes commeth to passe the danger being
Peter the sooner doth he leaue that stinking prison of his and through the iron gate entreth a Cittie both spatious and delightfull Daughters of Ierusalem saith our Sauiour Christ weepe not for mee but weepe for your selues And yet hee was then approaching the gates of death in the middest of his daies and flower of his age yet saith he Weepe not for me And truely no cause at all had they to weepe for him for now was the time when the sonne of man should bee glorified Now was he to put off that shape and forme of a seruant which for our sakes he had taken vpon him Phil. 21.6.7 now was the time come when being wholly freed from the contempt and scorning of all his enemies he should be aduanced aboue all principalities and powers That at the name of Iesus euery knee should bow Ephes 1.21 Phil. 21.10 Let them therefore not weepe for him if they will weepe then let them onely for themselues and for their sinnes And as this is the estate of the head so is it likewise of the members howeuer the ignorant man esteemeth them dying in the best of their strength and middest of their daies as vnhappy men yet wee are to know that this their taking away doth adde greatly to their happinesse For behold death giueth to them A quietus est from all their labours and a cessation from all their troubles After that no more paine or griefe no more sorrowing or lamenting Apoc. 7. 21. Their mouthes are filled with laughter and the salt teares wiped from their eies That pleasant Land and fragrant Hill Mount Sion I meane which all their life long like Moses standing on Mount Nebo they beheld afarre of now they cheerefully enioy here they walke to and fro no longer by faith but now by sight they see as they are seene they know as they are knowne If then their estate be thus as indeed it is and farre more happie a great deale then I am able to expresse why should any trouble themselues in bewailing and lamenting the same which is euery way so blessed But will one say to me Not sorrow why who can with drie eies behold such worthy persons as this cut off in the prime of their age who for their piety wisedome learning and many a noble vertue might haue stood the world if God had thought so good in exceeding steed Shall the righteous perish and no man lay it to heart To this I answere though there bee no cause at all why we should sorrow for them yet there is cause sufficient for our selues and that in these three respects First That when wee had them wee made no more accompt of them not knowing our good vntill wee had lost it Secondly that by our sinnes wee prouoked the Lord to depriue of so great comfort and to extinguish such glorious lights in this Church Thirdly let vs weepe for our selues in that the euill day is so fast approaching vpon vs These summer birds doe leaue vs doubtlesse our winter is comming God hasteneth so fast his seruants into their chambers and therefore we haue cause to feare that a storme is at hand Isa 26.20 But suppose the Lord spareth the Land in generall yet good cause haue wee euery one in particular to looke to himselfe wee heare what our Prophet heare affirmeth in the latter part of my Text that Euery man is vanitie and wofull experience this day verifieth the truth both of this as also of the former That when God rebuketh man consumeth and therefore it being so let me desire you all a great assemblie here met together some I know onely to see but most to sorrow well to consider the speech of the Preacher Eccles 7.2 affirming that it is farre better to goe to such a house as this The house of mourning then the house of feasting and his reason is for this saith he is the end of all men and the liuing will lay it to his heart Giuing vs to vnderstand that such places as this where are so dolefull obiects offering themselues to all serue most excellently to awaken the drowsie and secure heart of man dreaming as before of I know not what perpetuity and stedfastnesse of things here below to entertaine thoughts farre differing both of the vanitie and vncertainetie of all other things so principally of man himselfe And accordingly I beseech you let the temper of our thoughts be wee are the liuing in this honourable Gentleman let vs behold the inconstancie of all things here in this transitory world and in his end the end of vs all and let vs not onely see but consider and lay it to our heart where hee is now we must all come hereafter death being the hauen where the smallest boate and tallest shippe at the last arriueth Yea the appointed Harbour of all the liuing Iob. 30.30 we shall go to him but he shall not returne to vs 2. Sam. 12.23 Secondly as he is gone before and wee there is no remedie must follow after so indeed know we not how sodainely a hint whereof our Prophet giueth in the first word of my Text. When thou that is at what time soeuer thou intendest to rebuke man intimating that as there is a day and time of rebuking so God knoweth when it may be neerer it may be further off it may be to morrow it may be this night Thou foole he will take away thy soule from thee Sure we are we all must die Old men may young men must but who knoweth amongst vs all whose lot is next and at whose doore the staffe now standeth Seeing therefore it is so let the prophane person whose eyes the God of the world hath blinded doe as pleaseth him let him make his rest here on the earth and minde no other but these earthly things let his thoughts be continually working how to pull downe his barnes and build bigger or how he may goe to this or that Citie and there continue a yeere to buy and sell Iam. 4.13 putting the euill day from him Like those whereof Isa 50.12 calling for wine and strong drinke Come fetch wine and let vs fill our selues with strong drinke for tomorrow shall be as this day and more abundant But let vs brethren take a quite contrarie course seeing our liues are so vncertaine to thinke more of our departure then euer before practising the commaundement of our Sauiour Christ Mat. 24.41 Wake therefore for you know not at what houre your Master will come Getting into our Lampes store of oyle that so when the voice is Ecce sponsus venit Behold the Bridegroome commeth we may likewise Virgines be euery way fitted to attend vpon him into that presence Chamber whither this worthy person is already gone To which most sacred place Christ for his mercies sake bring vs all to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be praise and glory world without end Amen VPON THE FVNERALL of Sr EDW. LEWKENOR 1 AMongst the mournfull multitude which stand With Cypresse branches 'bout the monument Of this dead Knight who list to vnderstand His life his death what he what his descent With all which vnto him is pertinent Right glad would I this gentle taske fulfill But that my Muse fearing it mought be shent For vndertaking thing beyond her skill Only a Porters place will here supplie To let them in where they may read this historie 2 There they shall read how worshipfull his Berth To which ambitiously all sorts aspire How e're in other worth they suffer dearth There they his wealth which worldlings so desire There that which only gentle mindes admire And doth embellish wealth and parentage His Learning and Religion entire I for my part how e're in this nice age It sound but ill and homely seeme will span His spatious praises thus Hee was an honest man 3 So leauing him to his eternall rest Let not my disesteemed Muse offend If my respect which euer I profest Both to your selfe and my much honord friend Sad Lady I to you now recommend Whose griefe for his decease if you giue eare To your deare loue will neuer haue an end Nay but adde faith against despaire and feare And pretious hope let in your bosome dwell Wherein else differ Christians frō the Infidell 4 He is not dead whom you as dead lament Only in the iourney which all once must goe He you in time a little ouer-went And euen in dutie which all wiues doe owe And wherein you much buxomnesse wont show You him precedence may not well denie Sith to prouide against your after woe For your best comfort and societie He hath you left till you two meet againe The gages of his loue the models of you twaine 5 To whom vouchsafe me leaue among the rest Which honour you and your faire Familie To wish all good and of all good the best Whereto Almighty God which sitteth hie Let say Amen let all the Saints replie And all the blessed Angels which intend The care of man this blessed note reuie Ioy you await and comfort them attend Like ready handmaids and what euer thing May theirs or your delight or new contentment bring 6 And if my praiers of any force may be Such as the Palme in midst of fresh Spring-tide In some cleere crystall streame her selfe doth see And her strait twigs and branches spreading wide Which goodly sprowt and burgen from her side With siluer blossomes rich embellished So may you see your young Imps multiplide And grow vp thicke like seeds in gardens shed And last your owne liues threed be drawne so small That not a minute ere your time like fruitfull ripe you fall 7 Here stay my Muse and crauing pardon kisse The vertuous hand of this sad Lady Gent. Who to her sex so worthy credit is That for ten thousand women which miswent Her gratious life and sweet comportement Shall make amends and take away the blame Wherewith they all their sex haue sham'd shent For which her endlesse praise and her good name Like pretious Incense shall on hie ascend To heauen and earth indeering her with God to friend FINIS