farme hee shall enter at the expiration of his time vpon a better or a worse Dauid for his learning a Prophet for his accepation a man after Gods owne heart for his authority a King was then very studious in this knowledge when after watching fasting hee besought God to be instructed in it r Psal 39.4 Lord let me know mine end and the measure of my daies what it is let mee know how long I haue to liue So Moses wise in all the wisdome of Egypt and Israel accounted faithfull in the house of God prayed yet for this point of wisdome to be informed in it as well himselfe as others Å¿ Psalm 90.12 Teach vs so to number our daies that we may apply our hearts to wisdome like carefull Schollers who breake their sleepe and forsake their meate and are often in meditations when they beate vppon some serious subuect What thinke you it will profit a man if by his skil it Arithmeticke hee be able to deale with euery number and to diuide the least fractions and neuer to thinke of the numbering of his daies with the men of God which are so few euill What will it profit him if by Geometry hee be able to take the longitude of the most spacious prospects and not be able to measure that which the Prophet hath measured with his span What will it auaile him if with the Astronomer he be able to obserue and know the motion of the heauens and yet haue his heart so buried in the earth that he cannot thinke of that which passeth away as swiftly as them What profit if he be able with the Philosopher to search out the causes of many effects and to know the causes of many changes as of the ebbing and flowing of the Seas the increasing waning of the moone and the like and be not able to know his owne changes the causes of them Doubtles all this will profit him nothing all his knowledge will be to little purpose in the end Many men beate their heads about friuolous matters some being more busie to know where Hell is saith Chrysostome then how to auoide the paines of it others pleasing themselues in pelting and needlesse questions to seeme singular amongst men neglecting this the like necessary things but when they come to their departing they shall finde they haue spunne a faire thread and wearied themselues in vaine euery one then as Daniel searched and found out by the bookes of Ieremiah not onely the returne but the time of the returne of Israel to their own land from their captiuitie so by studie of the Scriptures ought they to search so may they come to know the time of the returne from their exile on the earth to their country in heauen and though they cannot find the particular day or yeare yet they shall find it to be most certaine and that which in short time shall be finished And thus shall death when it coÌ„meth be lesse hurtfull as a tempest before expected Death is compared to the Basilisk which if she see before she be seene there is some danger but if a man first descrie the Basiliske the serpent dieth then there is no feare Vse 2 So if death be not seene and prouided for before hand there is great danger but if it be seene and prouided for the danger is past before their death come eVs 2 Secondly must euery one die wil no priuiledg protect theÌ„ nay it is certaine that they can carry none of their priuiledges with them out of the world as they brough them not into the world m 1. Tim. 6.7 1. Tim. 6.7 We brough nothing into the world it is certaine we can carry nothing out It is wisdom then in euery one to labor to be fitted for this passage n Ad hunc exitum praeparemâ—r multis enim nobis opus est vitaticu quoniam et multus est â—stus multa sic citâ—â— multa solitudo Non iam licet in diuersorio requiescere non est quod â—matur ab eo qui non hic omnia sumpserit audi certe quid dicat virgines Mat. 25. ite potius ad vendentes sed profectae non inuenerunt Chrys hom 51. ad pop Aut. Let vs be prepared to this iourney as Chrysostome saith for we haue need of much prouision because there is much heate much drought much solitude no Inne no resting place no place of abode there is nought to be boght of him who hath not taken all things here Heare what the Virgins say Mat. 25. Goe rather to them that sel but going they found not What ought we then to doe wee must not so labour for the things of this life from which me must be taken and which wee must leaue behind vs but for those which concerne a better life and wee may carry with vs not for those things which shall haue either a finem tuum or finem suum o Finem tuum an t finem suum Bern. as Bernard speakes an end of thee if thou haue not an end of them either shall they be taken froÌ„ vs as they were from Iob or else we from them as the rich man was from his substance wealth but for those things which wee may carry with vs and may either bring vs to or adorne vs where wee must be perpetually and for euer It were a very foolish part and a sencelesse practise for strangers when they are in exile or far from their owne country in a forraigne soile and dwelling whence they are sure to be called either by their owne Prince or cast out by the Prince of the country to lay out all they are worth vppon some farme or Lordship there neuer prouiding for that which they may carry with them to their county adorne them when they come there specially if the so imploying of themselues their estate be a meanes to keepe them from the enioying of the happinesse of their country yea a cause that they shal be cast in to prison plunged into misery So it is but a madnes for vs to imploy all our care and spend all our time and endeuour for this life and things for it and the body vpon earthly and transitory things things wee found here must leaue here u 2. Corinth 5.6 And being here from home strangers in the body absent from the Lord and our owne land as the Apostle speaketh whence we know wee shall be called either by a naturall or a violent death ordinary or extraordinary taken away by God or thrust out by the cruelty of men neuer prouiding for that which must adorne vs there or further our passage yea procure our entrance specially when such things and the care for them which was ioyned with the neglect of so great things euen of so great saluation shall procure misery and punishment where the other would procure mercy and happinesse x Hic ista relinquuntur illa
THE CHVRCHES LAMENTATION FOR the losse of the GODLY Deliuered in a Sermon at the funerals of that truly noble and most hopefull young Gentleman IOHN Lord HARINGTON Baron of Exton Knight of the noble order of the Bath and his Maiesties Lieutenaunt of the County of Rutland at Exton in Rutland the last day of March 1614. Together with a patterne of Piety and the power of godlinesse expressed in his life and death who yeelded to Nature the 27. of February 1613. when he wanted two moneths of 22. yeeres of his age By RICHARD STOCK Pastor of Alhallowes-Breadstreet in London LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE 1614. NODO FIRMO Virtutem antiquam haec spirant insignia multam Et Nodo Firmo gloria firma manet Sanguinis en quanto fueras dignatus honore Maior Auis meritis gloria facta tuis This ample Coate speaks auntient vertues praise Vnited with th'indossoluble knot His greater merits nobler trophe's raise To house and name which neuer be forgot SINGVLVM MILLITARE HONORIS Ecce detus dant prima decennia principe dignum â—n coelis illum proxima pene locant This honour was he grac't with at tenne yeares Before twelue more he climbes beyond the Spheares I. P. DOMINVS IOHANNES HARINGTONVS BARO DE EXTON c. Aspicis Herois vultum graphicamque figuram Ingenium Mores pingere nemo potest Effigiem verae virtutis Nobilitatis Candoris niuei Relligionis habes F. H. D. M. In this dead picture onely doth appeare A Lord and Lords sole heire to Country deare If his soules portrait 't were it would thee tell That here great Arts vertues and grace did dwell I. P. Cant. Col. Syd Suss In the Epistle Dedicatory in the margent at the letter r read exonerans TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE vertuous and worthy Ladies the Lady LVCIE Countesse of Bedford vvith her Right Honourable Mother the Lady ANNE HARINGTON Baronesse together with her Honourable Sister the Lady FRANCIS CHICHISTER All increase of true Honour and pietie THe holy spirit of God by his Pen-man St. Paul tels vs and teaches vs that a 1. Tim. 4 8 Godlinesse hath the promises both of this life present and of that which is to come Among which this is none of the least b Psal 112.6 The righteous shal be had in euerlasting remembrance Namely such a remembrance as the wise man speaketh of c Prou. 10.7 The memoriall of the iust shall be blessed Such a blessing it is as is d Pro. 22. â— Aboue great riches aboue siluer and gold For no man of any ingenious disposition but if hee had these two propounded to him riches with shame and pouerty and penury with true honour and good reputation and free choise giuen him but he would freely chuse the latter before the former yea such a blessing it is that men who were able to iudge thought it not inferior but aboue their naturall life As that learned Rabbi broght vp at the feete of Gamaliel speaking of his good reputation saith e 1. Cor. 9.15 It were better for me to die then that any man should make my reioycing vaine And Tertullian by a speech of his to the persecuting tyrants sheweth that thus they esteemed it and professed no lesse to the world f Ad Lenorem proxime damnando Christianum quam ad â—eonem confessiestis labem pudiâ—itae apud nos omni atrociorem poena omni morte reputari Tertull Apoll. VVhile you condemne saith he a Christian matron to a baud rather then to a Lyon you openly confesse for vs that we abhor the blot of Chastitie and honestie more theÌ„ all other punishmeÌ„ts yea then death And this is that which the light of Reason teacheth men that for a man to die honourably is no death for a man to liue dishonourably is worse then death And as it is a curse for a man to suruiue his good name so is it a blessing his good name should suruiue him So that he which helps to keep the righteous in a blessed memoriall or remembrance hee doth but bring the promised blessing of God vpon the head of the righteous helpâ—ng to honour those whom God would haue honoured and who haue honoured God yea as I may so speake he helps to pay Gods debt to the righteous hee hauing made himselfe a g Debitorem se fecit promittendo August debter to them by promise A thing that all ought to doe and not vnbefitting any no not the Ministers of the Gospell when as our Sauiour Christ saith concerning Mary h Mark 14.9 Wheresoeuer this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world this also that shee hath done shall be spoken of in remembrance of her And by whom more then by the Ministers of the Gospell who if they must honour her by reporting what she had done being but one act of pietie performed to Christ how much more may they do it for those who haue performed many and manifold workes of pietie and charitie to Christ and his members Vpon which ground I tooke my selfe warranted to expresse the loue and honour I bore towards your deceased honourable sonne and brother in speaking those things I did at his funerals concerning his truely religious life and right blessed death wherein I laboured to make euident to others for imitation that grace which God had made so eminent in him The whole Auditorie were much affected with it and many both godly and learned both Ministers and others desired much to haue it published to the world whereof diuers the same day set vpon and since by letters haue importuned mee much besides others in the name of many who haue but heard a flying report of the excellent graces and most worthy parts that was in him and deliuered by me haue still pressed me to imprint it to make that common to others which was so louely in the eares of those that heard it After all this I began to thinke that this proceeded from the Lord and to say with my selfe as the Apostle Peter to others i Act. 11.17 VVho was I that I could let God So who am I that I should let God thinking also with my selfe that that which was so desired of many might be by the grace of God profitable to many mo knowing that God hath not onely appointed his word to beget faith and teach godlines but by the same word hath sanctified the examples of godly men to prouoke to godlines as is manifest in holy writ yea examples are of that force that men are often won by them to the liking of the word who before had either a hatred or distaste of it and after by the word are wonne vnto God Many men must see the Gospell in the liues of the professors of the Gospell before they will beleeue it in the mouthes of the Preachers of it And as Chrysostome saith of the Gentiles k His quae dicuntur a noâ—â—â— non intenduni Gentiles sed his
Though the foole die yet may not the wise man liue euer z Eccles 2.16 How dieth the wise man as doth the foole saith the Preacher but though the subiect die yet cannot the Soueraigne put away death with his Scepter a Psal 82.6 I haue said ye are Gods and ye all are children of the most high but ye shall die as a man and ye Princes shall fall like others But though Prince and people die yet are not the Prophets excused b Zach. 1.5 Your fathers where are they and doe the Prophets liue for euer Examples of other times experience of our owne teacheth vs that all of all sorts die and are gathered to their fathers Yea c Etiam muta Clamant cadauera Basil the dumbe and dead bodies cry this aloud to vs. As Basill of Seleucia saith of Noah hee preached without preaching euery stroke of the Arke was a reall sermon of repentance so euery corps wee follow and accompany to the graue preacheth really this truth to vs. And this truth hath certaine ground Reason 1 First because the Lord of life and death hath so decreed it d Heb. 9 27. It is appointed vnto men that they shall once die The decree was made Gen. 3.19 e Gen. 3.19 Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne If it be his decree it must needes haue a certaine effect the decree is certaine the euent is ineuitable f Psal 115.3 Our God is in heauen and he doth whatsoeuer hee will g Volâ—isse fecisse est Cypr. de Duplici martyr Gods will is his deede as Cyprian saith if he haue once willd it it is as good as wrought if he haue decreed it it is as certaine as if it were done Reason 2 Secondly because all of all sorts and conditions are made of one mould and one matter h Iob 4.19 made of clay and earth whose foundatioÌ„ is in the dust which shall be destroied before the moth Hence the Apostle calleth mens bodies i 1. Corinth 5.7 The earthly house of this Tabernacle It is true that as there are difference of stars though al made of th same matter and difference of mettalls some are gold some siluer some lead some tinne but all made of one earth so are there difference of bodies some more excellent then other and made of a purer earth but yet all subiect to corruption as the matter whereof they are made is It being the body then that dieth and seeth corruption one must die as well as another Reason 3 Thirdly because all haue sinned and all haue sinne k 1 Iohn 1.8 9 10. If we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues and make God a liar The holy and beloued Apostle ranketh himselfe with others and confessed that he had still sin in him He i Qui se inculpatum dixerit aut superbus est aut stultus Cypr. de oper Eleem. that saith he is without fault is either proud or a foole saith Cyprian Then must all be subiect to death for saith the Apostle m Rom. 5.12 As by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne and so death went ouer all for as much as all men haue sinned Sinne the only cause saith one which enlarged deaths dominion and made all the world to become his tributaries for had it not been for sinne death had neuer entred into the world n Si Adam non peccasset mortem non gustaret Aug enchirid cap. 104. If Adam had not sinned he had not tasted death as Austin speakes And the Lord said o Genes 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death not actually but potentially become mortall Now that which is true in the root holdeth in the branches Reason 4 Fourthly because sinne which brought in death might be destroied againe by death this viperous damme by such a daughter this beast by such a brood had it not been for sinne death had neuer entred into the world and were it not for death sinne would neuer goe out of the world As Basill saith p Deiu mortem non fecit sed nosmet ipsi ex mente praua nobis ipsis etiam sponte attraximus quam Deus minimè prohibuit ne immortalem in nobis morbum conseruaret Basil serm 9. quod Deus non est author malorum God made not death but we our selues by our wicked minds of our owne accorde wee haue drawne it on our selues which God did not at all forbid lest it should keepe in vs an immortall disease And as Epiphanius bringeth in Methodius disputing with Proclus the Originist q Instar medicamentariae purgationis mortem Deus bene inuenit quo sic omnino inculpabiles in noxij inueniantur c. Epiph. haer 64. c. methodio God as the true Physitian hath appointed death to be a physicall purgation for the vtter rooting out and putting away of sinne that we may be made faultlesse and innocent and that as a goodly golden image saith he sightly and seemly in all parts if it be broken and defaced by any meanes must be new cast and framed againe for the taking away of the blemishes and disgraces of it euen so man the Image of God being maimed and disgraced by sinne for the putting away of those disgraces and the repairing of his ruines and decaies must by death be dissolued into the earth thence to be raised vp againe perfect and without default Vse 1 But what vse may we make of all this First it is a care that euery one ought to haue to know they must die and they cannot auoid it the decree is gone out against them from the highest court of Parliament and that from the most highest what contempt were it not to take notice of it eury one ought to labour to number his daies and truely to know his mortality the greatest as well as the meanest the wisest as the simplest for if any one then all and if any more then other the greatest for they are not the least but rather the most subiect to this as they challenge themselues to be of the finest of the common mould so they must know that they are not by that exempted from the common law of nature and force of Gods decree but as the finer the mettall or the purer the matter of any glasse or earthen vessell the more subiect it is to breaking so they to mortality And therefore both they and all must labor for this spirituall Arithmeticke To number their daies which is a religious meditation and sound consideration of their frailty and mortality A thing worthy euery mans best disposed thoughts and intentions for seenig euery man must die and hath a course to finish which being finished he must away it is speciall wisdome to learne to know the length of his daies as it were the length of his lease for as hee hath vsed himselfe in his
of him or to conuerse and conferre with his friends to better thē or be bettered by them or to ride his great horse or walke abroad But why place I these with his religion because hereby he kept himselfe from idlenes and gaue no way to the temptations of Satan knowing well that the flies settle vppon the sweetest perfumes when they are colde and corrupt them Soone after dinner if hee had the opportunitie he ordinarily withdrew himselfe for a while to the meditating vppon some Sermons which hee had lately heard for which vse hee retained some 5. or 6. in his minde Hee would not faile though he was disappointed of that oppertunitie to meditate vppon them before he slept yea many times trauelling by land or water hee performed this duety and then would desire his companions to forbeare talke they might thinke a while he did ordinarily meditate and call to minde 4. or 5. in a day The rest of his afternoone hee gaue to busines as the occasions were and to studie Histories and to get instructions from them who were skilfull in the discipline of War or in the Mathematikes and Nauigation wherein some report he had made great successe for his age and time After supper hee betooke himselfe to praier with his seruants that which is markeable aboue many other things after praiers with them hee withdrew himselfe from his seruants and friends and there in a booke which hee kept for the account of his life hee set down what he had done al that day how he had either offended or done good and how he was tempted and with stood them and according to his account he humbled himselfe and such was his wisedome that such temptations as were not fit as I suppose to come to any mans view but his owne and his Gods he writ in a peculiar Caracter knowne to none After this giuing himselfe to his rest as rising he had care to shut out euill by possessing his heart with good thoughts and the reading of the holy scripture so had he care to shut vp his heart against such things one of his Chamber as he was laying him to rest * I haue knowne a great light of our Church who now rests in peace vse the same practise reading a Chapter or two of the sacred word of God And this was not taken vp for a fit and as a noueltie but hee continued it for the space of 4. yeares last past as some informe me that is from Ianuary 1609. to the 15. of February 1613. the day when he tooke his bed some 12. daies before his death And now honourable and beloued for his publike exercises which you may wel thinke were carefully and conscionably performed For he that had such care to approue himselfe to God in priuate had no lesse care to approue himselfe both to God and man in publike This appeareth in his religious vse of the time and meanes of Gods worship and his owne edification and saluation He was a most religious obseruer of the Saboth in publike priuate duties professing to affect the publike meanes if hee were where hee could enioy them before all priuate though they were differently performed and had resolued though hee entertained an houshold Chaplaine yet euer to frequent the publike assemblies vppon the Sabboth day a thing worthy the noting to the reproofe of many of his owne as of inferior ranke who so much neglect the publike assemblies And for his present practise he did not misse ordinarily twice a day to heare the word publikely no not when he was a Courtier yea he hath ridden 4. miles to the publike worship of God when he could not enioy it neerer After he had heard he vsually withdew himselfe from company before dinner if hee were so fitted for circumstāces that he might for the space of halfe an hower meditate vpon what he had heard or for some other priuate meditations After the afternoones publike exercise two of his seruants hauing written his memory being such as it exceeded often times all their writings he repeated with his seruants before supper both the Sermons and writ them down in his night-booke after all this he prayed with them wherein he had a great gift And that which helped him the better to keep the Sabboth hee was constantly accustomed vppon Saturday at night besides his account for the day to call himselfe to a strict account how he had spent the whole weeke that according as he found his estate hee might better fit himselfe to sanctifie the Sabboth following In the morning he repeated to his seruants as hee was making ready those seruants which hee had heard the Sabboth before Note this not out of time though somewhat out of place that a most inward familiar of his hath fin◠the deliuery of this acquainted me with that vpon the Saturday he tooke a view of all the weeke so vpon the moneth Saturday hee tooke a view of al the former moneth to se how he had bettered as one weeke more then another so on moneth more then another how he had added got more grace and strength of pietie In the hearing of the word he was one of the most attentiue and reuerend hearers that euer I obserued or mine eies haue seene that haue seene many thousands for he well knew that he was before God and that he heard not the words of man but God and aswell did he acknowledge that it is but the errour of great men to thinke they haue a priuiledge to be lesse reuerent and regardfull in hearing then the meanest in the congregation yea he knew that Kings Scepters are as much inferiour to Christs Scepter as he that beares it is inferiour to Kings therefore when he came to heare he willingly laid downe his honour at Christ his feete For the Sacrament he receiued it constantly if by any conuenience he could euery first Sunday of the month to fit himselfe to feast at Christs table he fasted the Saturday before besides many other times when hee humbled himselfe spending the day in praier with meditation and examination of himselfe and his estate how it was with him since his last receiuing neuer comming out of his studie vnlesse very importunate occasions pressed him till towards supper time nor medling with any busines that day On the Sunday morning besides his ordinary preparations he read the 1. to the Corinth 11. where the institution of the Supper is set downe And for the space of an hower hee read with his seruants that should communicate with him a little treatise that is in print teaching men how to bee prepared for worthy receiuing Thus carefull was this worthy to be fitly prepared for his Sauiours supper that he might be a worthy receiuer * Note that he was so free from ostentation in all these that he admitted no man either to pray with him or to repeat the Sermons with him but his seruants his one friend he
so deerly esteemed Sr. Ed. Har. neither did he admit him but after a great time of acquaintance and him only did he acquaint with these priuat and secret holy duties saue but when for his better informing he had confereÌ„ce with some learned Ministers And all this pietie and godlines did this noble heart practise in this age to speake no more particularly you may if you please apply it to other particulars in this age I say which is such as Saluian complained his times were that is wherein h Si quis ex Nobilibus conuerti ad Deum caeperis flatim honorem Nobilitatis amittit O quantus in Christiano populo honor Christi est obi religio ignobilem facit Salâ— lib. 4. de Gub. Dei If any of the Nobles began to be conuerted vnto God straight way hee lost the honour of his Nobilitie O how great is the honour of Christ among Christians where religion makes men ignoble This is for Atheists or Papists it is enough and too much for them to scorne men for religion how impious a thing is it for Christians to contemne men for the religion of Christ As Hierome to some i Qui christianum te dicis Gentilium arma depone aut si tu numero hostiumes ostende te libere aduersariuÌ„ vt Ethnicorum suscipias vulnera Hierome Thou which callest thy selfe a Christian lay downe the weapons of the Gentiles or if thou art of the number of the enemies freely professe thy selfe an aduersary that thou maiest feel the smart of infidels So I to these if you professe your selues Christians Oh that you would turne Atheists or Papists or else lay aside the bitter arrowes of Atheists and Papists if you bee of the number of such professe your selues no longer Christians but such that you may be esteemed for such and either be auoided or rewarded as such Pardon I pray you my digression In this age I say thus affected wherein as Saluian speaketh in the place before k Per hoc omnes quodammodo mali esse coguntur ne vites habeantur Salu. ib. vt supra By this meanes all in a manner are compelled to be euill lest they should be accounted vile Euen in this age was this Honorable worthy that I may speake in the phrase of the Apostle with some change l Philip. 2.15.16 Blameles pure and the sonne of God without rebuke in a naughty and crooked nation amongst whom hee shined as a light in the world holding forth the words of life and did reioice in the day of Christ that hee had not run in vaine neither had laboured in vain yea resolued with the Kingly Prophet Dauid that if this were to be vile when it was for the Lord for his seruice he would yet be more vile then thus knowing well the time should come that he should be had in honour of those that dishonoured him and that for these things Now all this pietie was inseperably attended vppon with two inseparable fruites of true godlines the manifest proofe of the truth of it Loue to all religious persons and specially to faithfull and painefull Ministers and abundance of compassion towards the needy saints and members of Christ of which many particulars might be giuen but one may serue for many I am certainely and credibly informed that since his returne froÌ„ his trauels by way of thankfulnes to God and for refreshing of the poore members of Christ he gaue yearely by the hands of a priuate friend besides many and many occasionall workes of charitie the summe of twenty pounds and in the first Sabboth saue one he was in the land after his returne hauing spent the Saturday before it with his Turor in fasting praier thanksgiuing he spent in publike hearing the word receiuing the Sacrament giuing to the poore of that place into their bason fiue pounds and gaue other forty pounds to be bestowed vppon poore Ministers and other Christians for the reliefe of their present necessitie yea such was his liberality in this kinde which is come to my knowledge by his accounts that he gaue the tenth of his allowance to the poore and other good vses his allowance being a thousand pounds the yeare besides what hee gaue in the way as hee walked and trauelled and in the streetes which he did often and much but what it was no man can tel Finally all these were beautified and adorned with such admirable humility as is rarely found in any specially in those that haue things which naturally for the most part puffe vp the minde as nobility and many naturall indowments Nay not in those who haue many spirituall prerogatiues many gifts and graces that haue learned Christ yet haue they not so learned of Christ as this Honourable worthy had done to be m Matth. 11.28 Meeke and lowly in heart Of which I will vse and to whome I will apply onely that of Bernard n Decor animae humilitas est verum in eo qui grauiter peccauit sâ—amanda non tamen admiranda humilitas At si quis innocentiam retinet nihilominus humilitatem iungit nonne is tibi videtur geminum animae possidere decorem Bern. supra Cant. serm 45. The beauties of the minde is humility but in him who hath griuously transgrest howsoeuer humility may be to be imbraced yet not at all admired But if a man keepe his innocencie and withall addes himilitie seemes not this man vnto thee to posses a double beauty of his soule This Honorable vessell was double gilt with true and intire innocencie though imperfect through humane frailty and true humility Thus was hee decked and thus were all his graces and gifts adorned all seeming and truely appearing such as they were because hee was by this so nigh to men and not by loftines and pride lifted vp aboue and remoued from men Thus haue I discoursed to you of his life and am come to the 15. of February last past when hee was visited with sicknes from God whereof he died Touching his carriage and comforts therein wee cannot doubt but that it was very religious and these very great when such a life went before wherein there was such preparation and prouision such a foundation laid vp in store against this euill day I am onely accquainted with them by report for I was neuer with him though I much desired it and often yet the wisdome of those that were about him thought it not fit fearing not his death till it was very late he without hope of recouery and I diuers miles remote from him That which was deliuered vnto me by one that was with him all the time or most of his sicknes whom I dare trust not mine owne eares better otherwise I am iealous of all friends reports in this case I will deliuer vnto you as briefely as it was deliuered vnto me which was thus From the first day of his sicknes hee apprehended strongly the
expectation of death though diuers thought nothing lesse till a day or two before his dying day therefore hee addressed himselfe thereunto and besides his meditations hee called often for others to pray and often vsed praiers himselfe confessing and that often both his sinnes and his faith and vndoubted hope of saluation by Christ and with great alacritie he professed that he feared not death in what shape soeuer he came He brake forth often into heauenly speeches expressing his desire to be dissolued and to be at home with his God and Father professing not two howers before his death that he still felt the assured comforts of his saluation by Christ so finished his life in peace and ioy of the holie Ghost vttering neere his death these longing words O that ioy O my God when shall I be with thee Which ioy he vndoubtedly enioyeth and is with his God in glory and euerlasting happinesse Thus honorable and beloued you see by these things the worth and excellency of this deceased person honorable both by nature and grace the more his worth was by these naturall and spirituall endowments the greater our losse and the greater his gaine and the more cause haue we to sorrow for our selues though to reioice on his behalfe The whole hath cause to mourne and bewaile and many particulars to bewaile a part His honorable mother whom God hath depriued of hir sonne hir only sonne of such a sonne such aÌ„ staffe and stay of her age and such a ioy of her life His honourable sisters from whoÌ„ the Lord hath taken such a noble worthy brother who would haue been not only a crowne of their honor but a furtherer of them in the way of piety and godlinesse to the crowne of glory His kindred and aliance who are depriued of such an honor of their house and such a glory of their name His kinde and familiar friends who are bereft of such a true harted Ionathan one that was very kind vnto them whose loue vnto them was wonderful specially to him whoÌ„ he termed in his Wil his deare friend Sr. Ed. Harwood His seruants that haue such a master taken froÌ„ their heads the ground of al their future hopes And not these only but more generally others haue cause to mourne and bewaile as the Church who hath lost so hopefull and noble a Theophilus that would haue defended her truth and doctrine such an honorable Obadiah that would haue hid and protected her Ministers The common wealth and specially this little Shire whereof he was L. Lieutenant that hath lost so hopefull a Nehemiah who would haue set himselfe for the publike good and giuen example and encouragement to keepe the Sabboth and haue charged them so far as his power had extended to haue carefully obserued it and so gouerned them that he would not only not oppresse them himselfe but haue to his vtmost power prouided that they should be free from the oppression of others And here I will not omit that which may make the losse the greater something since brought vnto me by his deare friend of two purposes he had for experieÌ„ce to adde to the former grounds of his study the better to haue enabled himselfe for his Countries seruice The one by a voyage to sea into some places the knowledge whereof for war by sea would haue been most vsefull another by land into one of our neighbour countries fittest to haue enriched his mind in the knowledge of land-seruice Thus is there both generall and speciall cause of mourning and lamentation in respect of our selues but see what great cause we haue of reioycing for him What cause of reioycing and thankfulnesse hath his honorable mother though she hath lost her heire yet to speake in Chrysostomes words vnto her o At haeredem bonorumque successorem non habes quid malebas eum tuorum an caelestium haeredem fieri Quid vero cupis eum pereâ—ntiae suscipere quae paulo post esset dimissurus an permanentia immubilia non haeredem eum habâ—isti sed ipsum prote Deus habuit Chrys hom 69 ad pop Ant. But you haue no heire nor any successor of your goods well and had you rather he should be inheritor of these of yours then of those heauenly What doe you desire he should enioy perishing things which within a small while he must cast away or permanent and immoueable Nay you had not an heire of him but God had him for you His honorable sisters in their sorrow may reioice ouer him for though as Chrysostome saith p Propriorum non fuit fratrum cohaeres sed Chrâ—sti constitutus est Chrysost quo ant He was not coheire with his priuate brethren yet he is made coheire with Christ And that not in hope but in present possession he now at his full age they but in their nonage as yet How may his worthy friends roioyce for him when we can say to them as Hierome to Heliodorus comforting him ouer the death of his Nephew Nepotian who died in his youth q Intelligeres illum non emori sed emigâ—are mutarâ— amicos non relinquere Hier. epist 3. Thou shouldst vnderstand that he doeth not die but decease And only change his friends not leaue them So they should be informed that he is not dead but translated hath not left his friends but changed them for far more honorable and glorious then they and so to reioyce in respect of him lest they may seeme to enuie his happinesse What cause of reioiycing hath the Church for him so deare a child of hirs that hath left the militant but is possessed of the triumphant Church that hath left the state of Militancie and warfaring and is in the state of triumphancy and victory How may the Common-wealth and this Shire reioyce ouer him that is taken from an earthly gouernment to an heauenly regiment from ruling with men to raigne with Christ and hath left these few corruptible ensignes of honor but now possesseth true honour and an immortall crowne Finally how may we all reioyce for him and change our note as much as may be forgetting our owne losses and thinking of his gaine As Bernard of his friend Gerard r Et meum faleor luctum poene in cantum conuertit dum intentus gloria ecius propriae ferè misoria obliuiscor Ber. super Cant. 26. And I confesse it turnes my mourning almost altogether into singing wholes being intent vpon his glory I forget almost my owne misery And now honorable and beloued to draw towards an end If for all this his losse and the want of his presence bee drieuous to you and that either in generall or particular you desire his presence and to see him let me speake to you as Chrysostome to some that were like affected Å¿ Ipsum cernere de sideraâ— eandem cum eo vitam viue sacram ocius illam accipis praesentiam Châ—ys hom 69. ad
Her face with teares besoyld Her brest with swellings throbs and sighs quite rent If heau'n had not both strength and comfort sent Such Lord such sonne few Ladies euer gaind And therefore none haue tasted such a losse The happinesse wâ—ich she before attaind Doubleâ—h the griefe and greater makes the crosse The losse was great the crosse much greater sute Thanks to the Lord who strength gaue to endure Yet may we well that mother happy deeme That brought to light so great an ornament Vnto this land that we may iust esteeme VVhole months whâ—re yeeres in teares and sorrow spent For his vntimely death his sudden fall VVhich hath amaz'd and terrifi'd vs all Who doth not see the dreadfull glorious God Threaten this Realme with iudgements manifold VVhen thus he shakes at vs his iron rod Is too Mole-blind this say I dare be bold Pillars demolisht of a pallace great The ruine of the frame do truly threat Since that tall Cedar chiefe of all the rest Prince HENRY fell by sad disastrous fate No one that grew in our English forrest Gaue such a blow vnto the Church and state He was too good for vs vnworthy we Of such a treasure such felicity His vertues haue him call'd aboue the stars Earth was vnworthy such a diamon He novv partakes not of our brawles and iars For mourning weeds white robes he hath put on Sinne griefe and teares haue tane them to their wings And with the Lambe he Hallelu-iah sings Then let vs cease for to bewaile with teares That happy soule possessing heauenly ioyes That no tongue can expresse no humane eares Hath euer heard no earthly wit can poyse Let vs lament our selues our sinfull liues VVhich of so precious iewels vs depriues By F.H.D.M. An Epitaph vpon the said rightly honored Lord in life and death in English Iambicks HEre liet Lord Harington the second of that house Who scarcely left his second in the Brittish I le In honour true in vertue matchlesse pietie The Phaenix of our age in whose graue countenance The graces sat the Muses lodged in noble Brest At twenty yeares whose wisdome great did farre excell The hoary head of long and good experience Too good for earth fit to adorne the highest heauens Where now his soule liues raignes in celestiall ioyes His body here reseru'd till the last iudgement day His name like ointment sweet through all Europa smells And shall so long as vertue and religion Shall find renowne in these cold Nothern Climats By F H.D.M. Another Epitaph HEere lies interred young Lord Harington Heire to his Fathers worth and dignitie And now by too too soone succession Of fathers fates heire to eternity His body in his grand dames bosome is His minds suruâ—ving vertues speake his blisse His noble birth to learned Arts mode way His learned arts on vertue still attended His vertue on true piety did stay His piety hath him to God commâ—nded His birth his Arts vertues and pious grace Alot him earths large praise and heauens place The Church tels what a patron now is gone The Common-weale did him a pillar deeme He was his houses hope truthes Champion The good mans friend indeed as he did seeme Their patroâ— pillar champion hope and friend They waile and marke where misery will end I.P. Cant. Coll. Syd Suff. To the liuing memory of the late and last Sr. Iohn Harington Knight Lord Harington Baron of Exton To the Booke GOe and speake tru h It is thy office now Not onely to enforme our liues but how By â— are examples miracles agree With praiseâ— and wiâ—h praecepts This was hee His praise will not dishonour simple truth To say but what he was and but a youth To the World If thou wert all dull earth I should beleeue Thou hadst no sence to feele nor soule to greeue But ô thou art compol'd of suâ—ler parts And seeâ—t thy losse engrauen in our hearts The purest part of all thou art alas How fraile art thou then was as fraile as grasse To England Thou hast beene beaten many thousand yeares VVith seas and yet art safe But ô teares VVill more endaunger thee he was in thee The Hand thou the sea where such men bee Beaâ—en with rage of changes yet they stand Safe in themselues and fix'd as any land To his Mother and sisters Rather then tell how good he was I will Perswade you to forget yet weepe your fill For such a Sonne O death and such a brother Is rare as heauens great eye that hath no other To his Friends To all that vertue loue I doe commend This title It was al one to be his friend And good who hath no claime and title now He doth not him but vertue disauow And yet he had one nearer then the rest Sr. Ed. Harwood He liu'd at houshold with him we at feast To the Arts. Ioy he is gon he would haue diu'd into Your deepest secrets and your knots vndo As vnknown â—ricks discouerd easy seeme He would to vâ— reduce you not esteeme To Religion What hast thou lost ô sacred misterie Thy Nurse and yet thy Childe He did not die To thee of all the rest he was aliue They martyr and now dead he doth more thriue In thee ô no his state takes no increase Full of the ioies of God he liues in peace To Death Poore vncreated nothing to contend To make all things like thee yet misse thy end Canst thou hold him one houre ô enuious death Or touch his last yet euerlasting breath O No that fled where thou shalt neuer come Though here a while thou triumph on his Toombe Thomas Roe Knight