the righteous dye and mercifull men are taken away and no man considers it Secondly we have plenty of examples the whole Church crying out Psal. 12. helpe Lord for the Godly man ceaseth for the faithfull faile from amongst the children of men You all know the great lamentation made at the death and buriall of old Jacob at the death of Moses of Samuel of David especially at the untimely death of good King Josiah how all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him how Jeremie the Prophet lamented for him and all the Singing Men and Singing Women spake of Iosiah in their lamentations to this day and made them an ordinance in Israel behold their lamentations are written in the book of the Lamentations insomuch that the greatest mourning that ever should be in the world is by the Lord compared to the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon which was the bitter lamentation of the Church at Josiah his death so in the 24. of Esaiah you shall find that among the songs that were heard from the uttermost parts of the Earth even glory to the righteous rejoycing in that remainder of Godly men who were found amongst them the Church cryeth out My leannesse my leannesse Woe unto me because the good men were but as the shaking of an Olive-tree and as the gleaning Grapes when the Vintage is done And when the Martyr Stephen was so barbarously murthered when devout men carryed him to his Buriall they made great lamentation over him The time would faile to name particular instances I will adde but one more of a King and hee none of of the best Ioash the King of Israel who when Elisha was fallen sicke of his sicknesse whereof he dyed came downe unto him and wept over his face and said O my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and the horsmen thereof Thirdly wee have also strong reason out of Scripture to enforce it First in regard of God there is required sorrow fear and trembling at such evident manifestation of his wrath in these remarkable judgements When Nadab and Abihu fell untimely by fire which issued out from the Lord and devoured them though they dyed in and for their sinne yet being the Lords Priests from whom better things might have been expected God commanded that the Whole house of Israel should bewaile the burning which the Lord had kindled Assuredly if God would have the death of these men lamented in whose fall his displeasure was manifested not against his people but against themselves onely much more doth he expect it when he taketh away our jewells our comforts our meanes and instruments of good not in wrath to them who die but in sore displeasure to us who remaine alive when our heavenly Father thus spitteth in our faces should we not be humbled and ashamed before him Secondly From the honâ—ur due to them who are thus taken away God threateneth in his word that the name of the wicked shall rot but the memoriall of the just shall bee blessed the righteous shall bee had in everlasting remembrance now it is one great degree of rottennesse to the name of the wicked as to live undesired so to die unlamented which was Iehojakim his portion concerning whom thus saith the Lord they shall not lament for him saying Ah my brother or ah my sister They shal not lament for him saying Ah Lord or ah his glory He shall be buried with the buriall of an Asse drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Ierusalem But now this is a great glory and honour which God putteth upon his servants to have their death honoured with the sighs of his mournefull people and embalmed in their teares Was it not a great honour to the Patriarch Jacob to have all the Princes and Nobles of Egypt and all the Elders of Israel lament his death threescore and ten dayes together Was it not a great honour to Abner to have David and all his people following the Beere lifting up their voices and weeping over him saying dyed Abner as a fool dieth c. Was it not a great honour to Elisha the Prophet to have the King of Israel to acknowledg that the Chariots and Horsmen of Israel all fell in his death The like may be said of all mentioned before and of Dorcas about whom the Widdows stood weeping mournfully shewing her Coats upon their Backs I have read of Lewes the eleventh King of France that he counterfeited himselfe to die to try whether his death should be honoured with the tears of his Court and somewhat to this purpose of Paulus Aemilius whose Son died just when he was himself to triumph that hee more joyed to see their mourning for his Sonne then in all the other glory of his Triumph nature in these men did draw them to breath after that which free Grace casts-in to them even in this World who do worthily in the service of God besides their eternall reward in heaven that as they are desired in life so they shall be lamented at their death Thirdly in regard of our selves there is then great cause of mourning in divers respects First because we are hereby deprived of so many means of our good of their counsell and direction the lips of the righteous feed many and disperseth wisdome and knowledge their examples are as a tree of life they are the lights of the world their very presence every where a blessing they are a blessing in the midst of the land where-ever they goe God is with them God will give Kingdomes for their ransome hee 'll rebuke the devourer for their sake they may stand in the breach to turne away Gods wrath when it 's ready to breakein to devoure people they may run with their Censers and stand between the dead and the living and make an attonement for a whole Congregation when wrath is gone out from the Lord against them the innocent men may deliver the Iland and it is delivered by the purenesse of their hands they are the very chariots and horsemen of the places where they live their Prayers are exceeding powerfull which can open and shut heaven it selfe What is it that the God of mercy will deny to their prayers who saith Aske me of things to come concerning my sonnes and concerning the worke of my hands command ye me In a word they are very store-houses and granaries of good to the places where they live fruitfull trees affording both food and shelter the only excellent men of the world they are wholly medicinable and should not such a losse as this be felt and lamented Secondly And as their death deprives us of much good so it often presages and pregnosticateth wrath to come upon those they leave behind Esa. 57. The righteous perisheth and no man layes it to heart mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from
good men that they have no greater joy or content then to heare of their fall who with the Edomites rejoice over the Church in the day of their destruction and speake proudly in the day of their distresse who say with Tyrus Aha now I shall be replenished since they are brought low who with the inhabitants of the earth Rev. 11. reioiced when the two Witnesses were killed and sent gifts one to another because those Witnesses tormented them with their prophesying whilest they lived But stay profane and wicked man if any such be here and let me a little reason with thee What such cause is there of thy rejoicing art thou a gainer by their deaths dost thou imagine to rest more safely because the pillars of the house which covers thee are taken away hast thou any surer footing because the bough is cut whereupon thou treadest because the thread is cutting asunder whereby the sword hangs which is over thy head art thou therefore further from danger or dost thou conceive that God hath taken them away to gratifie thee is it possible for thee to thinke that they who are thus precious in his eyes who are to him as the apple of his owne eye are by him removed for any advantage to thee whom his soule â—ateth I tell thee nay I tell thee if thou weighest things seriously thou shalt finde their life was thy gaine and their death thy losse because it assures thee first chat thou art now deprived of them who put up many a prayer for thee who stood in the gap to turne away wrath from thee for whose sake thou faredst the better every day God delighting to doe good to the place where his children lived And secondly their death assures thee that thou also must dye If the greene tree be cut downe the dry must not long escape not only die but after thy death thou must come to judgment and their soules whom thou thus hated'st will give most terrible evidence against thee of all the ungodly deeds which thou hast ungodly committed and of all the hatred spite and hard speeches which thou hast thus long exercised and spoken against them the very sight of whom at that day will be more dreadfull to thee then the most terrible Lyon at terrible as Death or hell it selfe Thirdly and lastly would God have the death of his Saints thus to be lamented then Right Honourable and Beloved learne the right and onely way to attain that which I know all your Soules desire even to be desired whilst you live and lamented when you dye a thing so naturally engraven in the heart of every man that nothing can be more to have an Eternall and Honourable Memoriall Ego si bonam famam servavero sat ero felix said the heathen man You have read of Herod that Monster of men who perceiving the approaching of his death caused the flower of all the Jewes to be apprehended imprisoned and to be murthered at the instant of his death that he might have lamentation to accompany his death and Funerals nor was there amongst the Heathens any thing esteemed a greater plague then to dye unlamented and their Memoriall to be buried in obscurity or remain in infamy And I believe there is not a man in this great Assembly who would not esteeme himselfe extremely miserable to be with Jehojakim buried with the Buriall of an Asse to live undesired and to dye unlamented Now know for certain th' only way to prevent this and to bee truely honour'd in life and bewail'd in death is to bee good men to serve God and his Church faithfully in your generation It may be some of you as yet doe not think so being accustomed onely to bee flatter'd and daubed up and made to believe that you are as great in other mens eyes as you are in your owne that because with Dives you swim in pleasure we are soft Raiment fare delitiously every day enjoy the worldly accomplishments of health wit honour friends c. though in the meane time you be strangers from God and it may be enemies to him his wayes his servants and his ordinances but could you know how meanly you are now esteemed by them who are best able to judge of things that differ even by God his Angels and Saints and couldst thou guesse the discourses will bee of thee when thou art dead thou wouldst certainly think otherwise Do but listen abroad in the world and thou maist discerne what is spoken of them who in their life time blest themselves as much as thou canst doe Is such a Noble Man dead blessed be God who hath rid his Church of a great enemy Is such a rich Mandead the world is well rid of a griping Usurer a cruell Oppressor a Mammonist who had his portion in this World Is such a great Schollar dead God bee praised for it his learning and parts were imployed onely for the hurt of the Church of Christ Is such an one gone then ther 's a cursed blasphemer a profane swearer an uncleane adulterer a swinish Drunkard a dangerous stumbling blocke out of the way of the Saints happily removed This or the like talke will be of thee when thou art gone if thy life bee such a one and which is worst of all thine immortall soule for ever sunke into a lake burning with fire and brimstone where is nothing but weeping wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore but couldst thou with a single heart give up thy selfe to bee good and doe good every one who hath interest in Heaven would beg thy Life and when thy worke is done and thou gathered to thy Fathers every godly Mans eye would lament thee every one of their tongues would praise thee thy memoriall should be Crowned by them all Yea God himselfe would make thy Funerall Oration rather then thy work should not praise thee in the Gates and which is best of all thy soule shall enjoy the fruit of all in Everlasting life and glory ANd now the more particular Application of all this brings me directly to the sad occasion of this present meeting even to lament the fall of this choice and excellent man in whose death the Almighty testifies against us and even fills us with gall and wormwood I know you come hither to mourn so fully prepared for it that although I am but a dull Oratour to move passion I may serve well enough to draw out those tears wherewith your hearts and eyes are so big and full there is no need to call for the mourning women that they may come and for cunning women that they may take up a wailing to helpe your eyes to run downe with teares and your eye-lids to gush out with waters the very looking downe upon this Beere and the naming of the man whose corps are here placed and a very little speech of his worth and our miserable losse is enough to make this Assembly like Rachel not only
spirit of His was accompanied with three admirable properties wherein he excelled all that ever I knew and most that ever I read of First such singlenesse of heart that no by respect could any whit sway him no respect of any Friend He regarded them in their due place but knew neither Brother Kinsman not Friend Superior nor Inferior when they stood in the way to hinder his pursuit of the publike good Magis amica Respublica And he used to say Such a one is my entire friend to whom I am much obliged but I must not pay my private debts out of the publike stock Yea no self-respect no private ends of His owne or family were in any degree regarded but Himself and His were wholly swallowed up in the care of the publike safety insomuch that when friends have often put Him in mind of his family and Posterity and prest him that although he regarded not himself yet he ought to provide that it might be well with his Family a thing which they thought he might easily procure his ordinary answer was If it went well with the publike his family was well enough Secondly such constancy and resolution that no feare of danger or hope of reward could at any time so much as unsettle him How often was his life in danger vvhat a World of threats and menaces have bin sent Him from time to time Yet I challenge the Man that ever saw Him shaken by any of them or thereby diverted from or retarded in His right way of advancing the publike good nor could the offers of the greatest promotions vvhich England could afford in any measure be a block in His way in that He was as another Moses th' only man whom God went about to bribe who desired that Hee and his might never swim if the cause of God and his people did ever sinke His spirit was not so lovv as to let the whole World prevaile with Him so far as to hinder his vvork much lesse to be his Wages Thirdly such Vnweariablenesse that from three of the Clock in the morning to the evening and from evening to midnight this vvas his constant employment except only the time of his drawing nigh to God to be some wayor other helpfull towards the publike good burning out his Candle to give light to others Who knows not all this to bee true who knevv this Mans conversation not onely since the time of this Parliament but for many yeers together hath He beene a great pillar to uphold our sinking frame a Master workman labouring to repaire our ruinous house and under the weight of this worke hath the Lord permitted this rare Workman to be overthrown and that 's all I meane to say of His Life And as His life such was His Death enjoying all the time of his sicknes the same evennesse of spirit which he had in the time of his health with an addition of a more cleare evidence of Gods love in Jesus Christ and most ready subjection to Gods will to live or dye at Gods choice professing to my self that it was to Him a most indifferent thing to live or dye if Hee liv'd Hee would doe vvhat service He could if Hee dyed Hee should goe to that God whom He had serv'd and who would carry on his worke by some others And to others He said that if his Life and Death were put into a paire of ballances He would not willingly cast in one dram to turne the ballance either way This was his temper all the time of his sicknesse but as He drevv nigher to his end the swifter His motion was to God-wards enjoying more abundant comfort in His spirit more frequently pouring out His heart in prayer and whereas formerly his Soliloquies and private devotions were only betwixt God and his own Soule now out of the abundance of his heart his mouth was compel'd to speake and that so audibly that such of his Family or Friends who endeavoured to bee neere Him lest he should faint away in his weaknesse have over-heard Him importunatly pray for the Kings Majesty and his Posterity for the Parliament and the Publike Cause for Himselfe begging nothing but that if His worke were done He might bee received into his Masters joy And a little before His end being recovered out of a swound seeing his friends weeping about Him he cheerfully told them hee had look't death in the face and knew and therfore fear'd not the worst it could doe assuring them his heart was filled with more comfort and joy which hee found and felt from God then His tongue was able to utter and soon after whilsta Reverend and godly Minister was at prayer with Him He quietly slept in the Lord It may bee some of you expect I should confute the Calumnies and Reproaches which that generation of Men who envied his Life doe already begin to spread and set up in Libels concerning his Death ' as that hee dyed Raving crying out against that Cause wherein he had beene so great an instrument Charging him to die of that loathsome Disease which that accursed Balsack in his Booke of slanders against Mr Calvin charged him to dye of But I forbeare to spend time needlesly to wipe off those reproaches which I know none of you believe And this will satisfie the World against such slanders that no lesse then eight Doctors of Physick of unsuspected integrity and some of them Strangers to him if not of different Religion from him purposely requested to be present at the opening of his Body and well neere a thousand people first and last who came many of them out of curiosity and were freely permitted to see his Corps can and doe abundantly testifie the falshood and foulnesse of this Report the Disease whereof he dyed being no other then an Imposthume in his Bowels But now to leave this tell me all you that passe by the way have we not great cause of Mourning in the fall of such a Man May I not say as David to the People Rent your Clothes and gird you with Sackcloth and mourne before Abner Verily when I consider how God hath followed us with breach upon breach taken away all those Worthy Men I before mentioned and all the other things wherein the Lord hath brought us low and now this great blow to follow all the rest I am ready to call for such a Mourning as that of Hadadrimon in the valley of Megiddon But mistake me not I do not meane that you should mourne for Him You his deare children You Right Honourable Lords and Commons who esteeme him little lesse then a Father I mean not that you should mourne for Him his worke is done his warfare is accomplished He is delivered from sin and sorrow and from all the evils which wee may feare are comming upon our selves Hee hath received at the Lords hand a plentifull reward for all his Labours I beseech you let not any of you have one sad thought