owne are they not thy Masters Talents for which thou must be countable and for which thou wilt be condemned as a Thiefe for withholding that which was their due and none of thine but I tell thee God hath no need of thee thou art obliged to him for using thee he is not obliged to thee he can do his work without thee and raise up them whom thou thinkest meanly of to doe greater things then thou-canst imagine therefore whatever hee pleases to imploy thee in bee faithfull in it follow his businesse and do it diligently and with an humble heart Thirdly doth God often take away the choisest Instruments of our good after this manner then let all learne to make use of them and improve them to the best advantage while we have them this our Lord teacheth upon the same ground Iohn 12. 35. when his hearers had propounded a needlesse question how he could say Messiah should be lifted up that is crucified whereas the Scripture saith that Christ abides for ever instead of giving a solution to this doubt he replies Yet a little while the light is with you walke while you have the light lest darknes come upon you as if he should say you frivelously lose your time in making no better use of the light which shines among you which is given you for another end even to guide you to doe that work which alone is necessary to get sound evidence of your being children of the light to enable you to lead Gospel lives under Gospel light you spend your time in needlesse questions and neglect this which most concernes you as if it were in your power to doe it at your leasure but be not deceived this Market will not long last after a little while the Gospel will be taken from your Nation and whoever then is to seek in this great work will miserably wander in the darke and lye down in sorrow Let me therefore perswade you to give all diligence while this light shines to get your calling and election made sure Thus Christ there presseth it upon his hearers and let us urge it upon our own souls neglect no opportunity of drawing out from good and usefull men what God hath put into them for our good because we know not how long they shall abide with us If any of us have any choice or excellent book which is our owne we commonly read it at leasure now and then a leaf or two but if it be borrowed and we know not how soon the owner may call for it we sit up night and day till we have gathered all the flowers out of it thus did Elisha the servant of Elias when he once knew that his Master was shortly to be taken from him he would not part a moment from his presence but endeavoured earnestly to get as much of his spirit as was possible O if this wisdome were in us that considering the Prophets and other servants of God doe not live with us for ever we might use them as Iacob did the Angel not let them depart till we have got our blessing from them Fourthly but above all because the most useful men are often taken away in an ill time from us let us make sure of God whose yeares power goodnesse faithfullnesse and truth never faile but are alwaies present and everlasting helps in time of trouble this use the Lord teacheth his people upon the same ground Psal. 146. 2. Put not your trust in Princes nor in any sonne of man in whom there is no help his breath goeth forth he returnes to the earth his thoughts perish but happy is he which hath the God of Iacob for his God whose hope is in the Lord his God which made heaven and earth the Sea and all that is therein which keepeth truth for ever the Lord shall raigne for evermore even thy God O Sion unto all generations This use the afflicted Church made of it Isaiah 63. 18. When they had considered the daies of old and how all instruments and means of mercie had but their time and how the Lord was alwaies the same they sit down with this meditation Doubtlesse O Lord thou art our father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel acknowledge us not wee are past receiving any benefit from them thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer thy name is from everlasting This use did Asaph also make of it Psal. 73. when he had considered not onely the worlds vanity and worldly mens vanity but the vanity of whatever earthly thing was most like for to comfort him his flesh failed and his heart failed and how that the Lord alone was the strength of his heart and his portion for ever he concludes all with this ver. 28. It is good for mee to draw nigh to God and put my trust in the Lord God And verily so long as we are strangers to this wee shall be as Saint Iames his double-minded man unstable in all our waies as the weeds which are driven every way where the ebbing and flowing Sea doth carrie them and as the topps of Trees which are driven with every wind this way and that way but if once we had learned to make the most high our stay and strength to trust in the Lord Jehovah we might possesse our souls in perfect peace for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength We might bee as a Rock in the midst of the Sea not moved with any tempest as Mount Sion which cannot be removed but standeth fast for ever Now what argument could be a greater spurre to this then to know the brevitie vanity instability of all other helps look upon whatever is deare and thought to be advantagious to thee without which thou knowest not what to doe thy father husband Pastour friend estate life c. of all these thou must acknowledge they are but grasse the glory of them is but like a flower in the field but in God thou maiest find all the same things sufficiently eminently everlastingly an everlasting Father an everlasting Husband an everlasting Friend an everlasting Sheepheard an everlasting Portion an everlasting Life Let thy soule therefore waite upon the Lord make him thy onely helpe and shield let thy heart rejoice in him and trust in his holy name alone and let thy mercy O Lord be upon us all who desire to feare thy name and to hope in thee alone And thus much of the first observation That God often deprives his Church of most usefull men when they could ill bee spared The second followes which is That when God doth take away such usefull instruments it is a matter of sad lamentation for proofe hereof wee have first God himself requiring of it 2. Examples of the Saints practising thirdly strong Scripture-reason inforcing it First you have God himself so far calling for it that in Esaiah 57. hee charges it upon them as a great sinne and the fore-runner of a great judgement that
after his rising Yea since this very Parliament when there was never more work nor fewer hands Religion to be reformed Liberties to be recovered great offendors to be punished and all the Gates of Hell opened to hinder us to devoure us yet of those few how many of our choisest Nobles Parliament men souldiers and Ministers hath the hand of God deprived us of But what need we seek for more examples when our blessed Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ was himself cut off from out of the Land of the living when he had not attained the one half of the age of man This is one of the Lords strangest works a woke wherein his enemies often rejoice and his people mourne the reason therefore should diligently bee sought out in which enquiry wee shall find that he whose works are all done with unsearchable wisdome and for excellent ends doth hereby first provide for his owne glory and that manie waies As first he often takes away instruments that it may be known that his Church and Cause is not supported by them but by himself alone that the Pillars of the Church are not borne up by any created strength but by him Who measureth the water in the hollow of his hand and weighs the Mountaines in the Scales and the Hills in a Ballance that men may know when the youths faint and be wearie and the young men utterly fall the most active and able Instruments brought to nothing yet the Church is carried in his bosome and by him alone shall renew its strength and mount up with wings as an Eagle run and not be wearie walke and not be faint Secondly to set out his wisdome and the aboundance of spirit in providing varietie of instruments he purposely takes some away to make way for others as in the frame of the world the varietie of the creatures indued with their severall abilities doe all serve for the beauty and good of the Vniverse and thereby set forth the wisdome as well as the power of the Creator so here Moses shall have one part Ioshuah another And Ioshuah shal do as excellently in Canaan as Moses in the Wildernesse he shall honour God as much in the Military part as the other in the legall Elihu a youngmen shall convince Iob and compell him to give glory to God when other wise and gracious men much older then his father had long wrangled with him to little purpose Elisha who powred waterupon Elijahs hands shall work more miracles then his Master did yea Christs Apostles shall doe greater works then he himself did that the world may know that he hath aboundance of the spirit Other Kings and Princes are compelled to preserve their chief Instruments because when they are gone they know not where to find a supplie but God as he needs none so when he pleaseth to use any can raise up stones to be children and children to doe the worke of men and yet all these empty Pipes further then he fills them bubbles easily broken further then he supports them And that is the first reason Secondly As for his own glorie so herein hee also provides for the good of his owne people his owne I say both them that are thus cut off and them that remaine behind First of them who dye for they are henceforth freed from their labours from the body of sin from the cohabitation of it the molestation of it the too often prevailing power of it from the fierie darts of Sathans temptations from the conversation of the wicked from their oppositions persecutions from the worlds allurements on the right hand and afflictions on the left hand from all these they are delivered with which hitherto they had bin vexed yea and oft times taken away from greater evills to come and they also enter into rest receiving the full recompence of all their labours not onely what they have actually done but even what they were resolved and prepared to doe if God had been pleased to employ them any longer in his service Secondly for the good of them that live though this seem most unlikely who shall lose nothing by cutting the pipes whereby mercies are conveyed as long as the fountaine of power and goodnesse remaines iâ—tire in God himselfe who can and will issue it out by other waies and meanes to as great advantage of his people yea I say he makes them gainers by it and that severall waies First He hereby cures them of one of the most dangerous evills which his people are or can be guilty of and that is setting up the instruments of their good to be Idols in their hearts which they are extream prone to doe and for this very cause doth the Lord often break these bubbles with the touch of his finger that his people may thinke of them no otherwise then they are and for this very reason some thinke the Lord buried the body of Moses and would never let the people know where his grave was because he foresaw that they would be ready to worship his dead body Secondly hereby the Lord doth humble his people and awe them with the feare of his wrath making them sensible of it in these heavie stroakes and quicken them more up to prayer and serious seeking after himself as this Church doth in this place Woe is me the good man is perished the Princes the Judges the Nobles c. are all naught none to be trusted neither Wife nor Father nor brother ver. 7. then followes therefore will I looke to the Lord I will wait for the God of my salvation my God will heare me And this lesson the Lord taught his people by Josiahs death Lament 5. ver. 16. c. The Crown is fallen from our heads good King Josiah is dead Woe unto us that wee have sinned for this our heart is faint for these things our eyes à re dim but thou O Lord remainest for ever thy throne from generation to generation VVherefore dost thou forget us for ever and forsake us so long time Turne thou us O Lord unto thee and we shall be turned Now this is one of the greatest blessings in the world to be put into such an humble penitent praying seeking temper as this is his death which can procure this is like to be more advantageous then any mans life Thirdly Hereby the Lord makes his Church more sensible of his power goodnesse and faithfullnesse when they shall find all these constantly continued even when the instruments are taken away Thus Moses the man of God taught the people upon the meditation of all the Sons of men returning to dust to stay themselves wholly upon God who was their dwelling place in all generations from everlasting to everlasting a God all-sufficient Thirdly though he doth this for the good of his owne glory and the good of his owne Saints both the living and the dead yet hereby he makes way for his wrath upon others
The Churches sensiblenesse of her present condition Woe is me for it The words need no great explication only let us enquire what is meant by the good man Secondly what by the good mans perishing By a good man in the largest sense is meant a godly man a holy man a righteous man but more strictly here a good man is an usefull man such are instruments of good to others such as are good Magistrates the pillars of a State who execute judgement and justice in the gate a Mordecai who seeks the wealth of his people and procures peace to all his seed Or good Ministers such an one as Jehojada who did good in Israell such an one as Barnabas a good man and full of the holy Ghost by whose Ministrie much people were added unto the Lord A good Father in a Family as Abraham who teaches all his children the feare of the Lord Thus some interpret that place Rom. 5. 7. Scarcely for a righteous man will one dye yet per adventure for a good man some would even dare to die that though they would hardly die to excuse an ordinary man though godly yet some eminent usefull man they would not onely with the Galathians pluck out their eyes but lay downe their lives for them Secondly what by perishing how the good man may be said to perish You know to perish in the common acceptation is taken in the worst sense to be cut off from the Land of the living by the hand of God in wrath and fury and their soules cast for ever into the pit of Hell but thus the good man perisheth not though the wicked be driven away to Hell in his wickednesse yet the righteous hath hope in his death But here to perish and elsewhere is to dye immaturely unseasonably to bee cut off from the place where they were usefull and could ill be spared Many excellent lessons doe these words hold forth unto us As first The Prophet makes the Churches condition his own with Aaron bearing them on his shoulders on his brest-plate yea in his very heart If it be ill with the Church you may discerne it in his countenance heare it by his speech If well by the cheerefullnesse of his spirit If they be afflicted he mournes if they rejoyce he is cheerefull with them Secondly the Prophet observes all his people whose faces stand towards heaven who looke another way who are Saints who are Children of Belial is diligent to know the state of his flock Thirdly that it is no new thing to find in the Church of God many evill and few good in Gods field many tares little good Corne in his Barne floar much chaffe and little Wheat in his great house many Vessels of dishonour and few of honour many stones few precious stones in his drag Net abundance of weeds many bad Fishes and few good ones in his Vineyard many wilde grapes and few right Grapes Fourthly And this also that even those few Godly men which are the Churches Treasure are subject to Death even immature and untimely death as well as others But I passe over all these with a bare mention of them and confine my selfe to these two Observations as most cleerly held forth in the Text and suitable to this sad meeting First that the most excellent and usefull men are often taken away when the Church could ill spare them The Church at this time did abound as wee also now doe with Sons of Belial compassed about with many Enemies and therefore needed the first ripe fruits many choise Instruments and yet those very few Shee had were now taken away the good man is perished out of the Earth Secondly that when God doth this it is a matter of sad lamentation Woe is mee the good Man is perished c. The first of these that God often takes away choisest men Men more precious then Gold then the fine Gold of Ophir When the Church hath greatest need of them hath alasse abundance of sad evidence A whole Cloud of Witnesses might easily be brought in A large Catalogue of Examples Abel the first Flower that ever grew in the Lords Garden cropt off as soone as blowne and in him all the seed of the Woman devoured by the seed of the Serpent slain by the eldest sonne of reprobation So Moses and Aaron when the Israelites were to take possession of the Land of Canaan to root out thirtie Kingdomes to set up both Church and Common-wealth these long experienced and able Leaders Prince and Priest taken off in the very beginning of the work and all seem to be left to raw heads and hands that know not how to manage it so Elisha the man of God fell sick and died when in the judgement even of a wicked King he was all the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel all the strength they had left So Iosiah that rare and excellent Prince who seemed to be created as a new Star purposely to shine in those darksome times cut off in the midst of his work for whose death Jeremiah composed the whole book of the Lamentations And in the Christian Church in the beginning of it when all the World was to be subdued to the faith of Christ The Harvest very great and the Labourers but few Iohn the Baptist a greater Prophet then whom was never borne of a woman comming in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to the fathers and the disobedient to the instruction of the wise taken away violently after but two or three years work whiles he was making ready a people for the Lord James the brother of Iohn one of the Pillars one of the chief Apostles cut off by the sword and Stephen a rare man full of the Holy Ghost whose wisdom and spirit the enemie was not able to resist exceedingly fitted to convince the Iewes and to prove that Iesus was the very Christ suddenly taken off and knocked on the head in a popular tumult and commotion And now of late our Edward the sixth another Iosiah when this Land had been long in bondage unto Antichrist overwhelmed with the darknesse of Idolatry and Superstition and seemed to be purposely raised up to bring light and salvation to this desolate Land while he was preparing this wildernes to be the Lords fruitfull Vineyard planting it with the choisest Vines and setting up a Wine Presse in the midst of it walling it and fencing it about after five or sixe years labours suddenly snatched away So the incomparable King of Sweden brought over the Baltick Sea by the hand of God to restore the ruines of Germanie travelling in the greatnesse of his strength and working little lesse then wonders for two or three yeares together and drawing the eyes of all men towards him as the man that should undoubtfully have delivered that woefull Countrey in a moment this bright Sun set soon
who injoied thâ—m and either opposed them or under-valued them or improved them not as they might have done this God threatens Isa. 57. The righteous perisheth mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to comâ— by their removal the Lord opens the Sluces to his judgments as men pluck away the props or Pillars of an house when they are willing it should fall downe as in Noahs time as soon as God had housed him in the Arke he presently sent in the flood upon the World of the ungodly and in Lots time as soon as the righteous man vexed with the unclean conversation of Sodome was removed from them presently God rained fire and Brimstone from Heaven and destroied those five Cities thus was it in Iosiahs time as soon as he slept with his fathers all that fierce wrath of God wherewith his anger was kindled against Iudah and Ierusalem which was kept in all the while Josiah lived brake out to the removing of Judah and Jerusalem out of his sight Give me leave now to make a brief application of this First Is this so doth God often times take away the most usefull men when his Church hath most need of them then let all the Church learn never to rest on men how excellent so ever I begin with this first because it is our great and generall sinne that we either vilifie or deifie all Gods instruments either respecting them lesse or more then God will have us if God give us any precious jewels we deal as the Israelites did in the wildernesse turne our golden Eare-Rings into an Idol and thereby change our glory into our shame and misery offering infinite injury unto God who gives us these meanes to use but not to depend upon to bring us neerer to him not as we sinfully make them occasions to draw us further from him this is a very great sinne whereby we lose the taste of Gods goodnesse while wee choose to respect the stream rather then the Fountain and even take our heart off from God and stay too much upon the creature making our comfort to ebbe and flow according as these weak props doe break or hold and even compell God to deprive us of them as Ezekiah uused the Brazen Serpent reserving it in an honourable shrine so long as it was but looked upon as a monument of Gods deliverance But when once they went a Whoring after it he brake it in pieces and that they might know it was but Neâ—ushian a piece of Brasse thus doe we break our staves in leaning too hard upon them It is confidently reported that the King of Sweden a little before his death told some in ward friends that he verily feared God would not use him long because the people attributed more to him then was due to a mortall man and I feare this sinne costs us deare at this day we have over-valued our Parliaments our Armies our Treasures our interests in the hearts of the people leaned too much upon them looked too little unto God who hath therefore brought us low in most of these To my owne knowledge some good men have said of some choise Instruments whose hearts were right with God and zealous in his cause These are the men who must do the deed God will certainly deliver us by their hands Who when they have heard of the sudden and unseasonable cutting off of those men have bin forced to lay their hand upon their mouth and to say What fooles are we to expect any great things from Man whose breath is in his Nostrils God hath sadly broke all our carnall confidence some excellent men he hath took away by death some whom we over-highly valued have beene permitted to discover the falsnesse of their own hearts others little lesse then blasted by peoples mistake although their hearts remaine upright to God and his cause And I verily fear left our relying too much upon the assistance of our brethren from Scotland by their Armies may more prejudice theirs and our successe then the strength of the Enemies can do Let us therfore be perswaded in the feare of God to use men as Gods instruments but build nothing upon them lest our expectation prove that of Cesar Borgia who built infinite projects upon his interest in the Pope and when newes was brought him of the Popes sudden death cried out This I never thought upon now my designes are all lost Certainly whoever lookes for much from men how excellent soever will prove like men who go to lotteries with their head full of hopes and returne with their hearts full of blankes Let therefore every one whom God hath fitted for any service doe what their hand findes to doe with all their power this is Solomons counsel Eccles. 9. and upon this verie ground whatsoever thy hand findeth to doe doe it with all thy might for there is neither worke nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the Grave whither thou goest as if he should have said thou knowest not how long God will use thee lay not up thy Talent in a Napkin thy Master may suddenly call thee to an account for it This made our blessed Lord take so much paines Iohn 12. 13 14 15 16 17 Chapters delivering all that excellent matter in one evening because hee was to leave them the next Day This made Paul continue his Preaching at Troas untill mid-night because hee was the next Morning to bee gone from thence this very Argument was thought upon and applied by our blessed Saviour unto himself Iohn II. who when his Disciples would have perswaded him not to hazard himselfe among the Iews who lately sought to stone him answered Are there not twelve houres in the day must I not doe the worke of him who sent me while it is called to day when night comes no man can work God hath fitted thee with many Excellent Talents with Wisdome and Vnderstanding with place of Office and Authority with interest in Friends with strength of Body and courage of Spirit and by all these put some beames of his owne excellency upon thee which is the greatest favour in the World To be a usefull man is at least equall with being a saved man ply this work diligently doe as it is recorded of a famous Minister who wrote upon his Study doore Minister verbies hoc age Thou art a Minister of the Word attend to this worke and thinke often how uncomfortable it would be to thee if GOD should take thee off in the midst of thy race when thou hast burnt out much of thy Candle in play wherein thou shouldest have done much of thy Masters worke And Secondly let the thought of this keep thee from being high minded thinke not too much depends upon thee it may bee thou imaginest what great need the Church or State the City Parish or Family hath of thee or thy parts and abilities Suppose they have are these things thy
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
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