hayle and lusty at 80. than David was at 70. That Promise in the Psalm Thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel was abundantly made good to him as to Childrens children and though he lived to see both domestick and foreign wars yet before he died he saw peace upon our English Israel which God of his mercy long continue And as he was full of daies so he filled these daies with all sorts of good actions he well knew the worth of time which we for the most part undervalue and accounting every minute pretious took care to spend not only his daies but his hours well so that his gray hairs being found in a way of righteousness were a crown to him and what Scaliger said of Strisset may no less justly be said of him it was pity ut aut senium senem faceret aut lex naturae vita privaret either that age should have made him old or the law of nature bereaved him of life As to Riches and honour it is true he came far short of David yet he wanted not his share of either God was pleased so far to bless his honest indeavours in that Calling wherein his Providence had placed him that he enjoyed a liberal portion of this worlds goods nor did he want those honors which were suitable to him David indeed was a King and so the supreme person in his kingdom He was whilst Lord Mayor chief officer of this City during his continuance in which Place he did by virtue of his office represent the King's person Whatsoever honor in the City he was capable of he was chosen to Master of his Company Alderman of a Ward President of St. Thomas his Hospital several times Burgess in Parliament though the iniquity of the times would not permit him to sit Sheriff Lord Mayor After which he at length became and so continued for some years as Benazah was said to be a mighty man among the 30. the first among the 26. the eldest Alderman upon the bench that had served in the Office of a Lord Mayor to whom is given that honourable title of the Father of the City nor had he only all this honour from the City but his King also gave him the greatest honour he was capable of in his station making him not only a Knight but a Barronet which descends upon Posterity I mention these not as if riches or honours or both were abstractively considered Topicks of Commendation but in as much as they are conferred by God sometimes upon good men as the encouragements and made use of by them as the Instruments of virtue and so they were to him he being a bountiful steward of his riches nor did his dignities so much honour him as he them I cannot say of him as Christ said lo a greater than Solomon He was greater or richer than David nay much inferiour no nor yet better than David nor yet so good But thus much I dare say it was his laudable ambition to be as good he indeavoured to tread in Davids footsteps and what is said in my Text concerning David I shall confidently affirm of him and that in both translations He was one who served his own generation by the will of God and who in his own generation served the will of God Throughout the age of his life he was through God's Providence instated in manifold Relations intrusted with various offices conversant in several imployments in all which he had no cause to complain with him who said Omnia fui nihil profui I was every thing and profited nothing All of them being as so many Cutts and Chanels through which did run his several vertues and graces And now as he said of St. Cyprian Onerosum enumerare It would be a burdensome task to enumerate all particulars since Inopem me copia fecit Plenty makes me poor and I have so much to say that I know not where to begin If you please I will begin with that which is in Solomons language the beginning of wisdom namely the fear of the Lord. He was eminent for Religion and Devotion That Orthodox Religion which is professed in the Church of England he faithfully adhered to cordially owning her Doctrine and Discipline Hierarchy and Liturgy and though he lived in an inconstant age wherein it was the mode to change Religions as women do fashions he proved not a reed oâ— a willow but an Oak stedfast and immoveable Great was his respect to the Orthodox and Orthoprax Clergy Those who were Sufferers he charitably relieved Those who were Labourers he bountifully encouraged The very feet of them that served at the Altar were beautiful in his eies and I should be very ingrateful if I should not acknowledg my self though most unworthy to have had a Benjamen's share in his Favour Schismatical Conventicles he ahhorred but duly frequented the Church Assemblies I was for many yeares an ocular witness of his attendance on the Publick Ordinances where he was a Joint Petitioner at the Throne of Grace a Judicious Auditor of God's word a diligent receiver of the Lord's Supper from the monethly administration whereof I do not remember he was absent if in Town and in health and though it was an age wherein irreverence was in fashion and Devotion decryed as superstition he was exemplary for his reverent behaviour in God's house seldom at Prayers but upon his knees unless want of room hindred him his head still uncovered at the reading and preaching of Gods word and alwaies kneeling at the Holy Communion nor was he only as I fear too many are Religious in the Church but his Family praying with and for them and giving wholesome Counsels to them That Character which Almighty God giveth concerning Abraham for I know him that he will command his Children and his houshold after him to keep the way of the Lord did justly belong to him whose care it was to bring up his Children in the fear and instruct his servants in the ways of the Lord and his resolve was that of Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord. Finally trace him not only from God's house to his own but from his chamber to his closet and there you might have found him daily setting time apart for his meditations and devotions nor could any secular affairs divert him from God's Service and therefore when his occasions called him forth sooner he would still rise the earlier that he might begin the day with God with whom he always also closed it up Thus during his age and generation in this world he served his God and no less careful was he to serve his King remembring that Fear the Lord and the King are joyned together by Solomon He was a strenuous asserter of Monarchical Government Nor can I pass by one argument which he often used upon that account where Almighty God by his Prophet Ezekiel reconing up the manifold blessings he had conferr'd upon his
truly I am thy servant I am thy servant Thus did David and thus ought we but do we thus we all profess our selves the servants of God and what is the proper notion of a servant but one who is ad alterius nutum at another man's command and therefore serve God we cannot if we serve not his Will But alas how many of us according to Saint Pauls Character are taken captive by the Devil at his will and like the Centurion's souldiers he bids us go and we go come and we come do this and that and we do it we serve diverse lusts and pleasures following as our Church teacheth us to confess the devices and desires of our own hearts And like those of whom Saint Peter speaketh that wrought the will of the gentiles we conform to the humours of wicked and ungodly men so far are we from being what we profess to be servants to the will of God Oh therefore let us sit down and consider with our selves 1. What the will of God is which we are obliged to serve and according to Saint Pauls exhortation Prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God He hath shewed thee oh man saith the Prophet what is good and what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Whatsoever God willeth and requireth is good just and equal and that were it for no other reason but because he willeth and requireth it David speaking of the will of God saith The Law of the Lord is perfect The Statutes of the Lord are right The fear of the Lord is clean The Judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether good reason we should serve his will which is so just pure right and perfect 2. Whose will it is namely the Will of God who is 1. Supremus in imperando most supreme in commanding having an absolute Soveraignty over all his creatures Wherever the Supreme power on earth resideth Whither in one or many it is and must be arbitrary but surely much more in him who is without a solaecism or hyperbole most highest king of kings and lord of lords and therefore his Will ought to be our Law and the rule of our actions 2. Benignissimus in adjuvando most gracious in assisting who as in Justice he may command what he will so in mercy will enable us if we seek to him to do what he commands upon which account it is that the yoke and burthen of Gods law is said to be light and easie 3. Indulgentissimus in condonando most merciful in forgiving the defects and imperfections of our service for so the promise runs I will spare them as a man spareth his son that serveth him accepting the will often for the Deed and pardoning the imperfections that usually accompany best deeds 4. Munificentissimus in remunerando most bountiful in recompencing those who serve him Indeed there wants not prophane Atheists who say It is in vain to serve the Lord but Saint Paul hath assured us He is a rewarder of them that seek him diligently nay he is not only a rewarder but he himself is the reward they are his own words to Abraham I am thy exceeding great reward And surely upon all these considerations we shall conclude that nothing is more reasonable than after David's pattern in our Generation to serve the will of God From the Character of his life proceed we more briefly to the threefold character of his Death by which is described the state of the Dead 1. He fell asleep that respects the person 2. Was laid to his Fathers that respects both his soul and body 3. And saw corruption that only respects the body 1. He fell asleep Those words which precede The will of God are by some intepreters referr'd to this clause he fell asleep in which construction they afford us a good instruction namely that death befalls us not by chance but by the will of God It is appointed saith the Apostle for men once to dy and not only the thing it self in general but the circumstances as to individuals namely the means manner place time are all appointed by the will and counsel of God we are all in this world as so many Tenants to God the great Landlord and this not for any certain term of years but durante beneplacito during his good pleasure we come in and stay and go out of this world so much that prayer of Simeon imports Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace we can neither stay longer nor go sooner than God pleaseth A consideration which ought to be an argument of contentation both in respect of our selves and others whensoever or howsoever they dye since it is by the will of God to which we must necessarily and ought voluntarily to submit 2. To let this go I might further observe that it is said of David he fell asleep after he had served the will of God in his generation or served his generation by the Will of God not before nor doth any of Gods servants dye before they have fulfilled the work for which God sent them into the world It is said of our blessed Saviour that though the Jews sought to take him yet no man laid hands on him for his hour was not come yea he saith of himself I must work the work of him that sent me into this world whilst it is day not did the day to wit of his life exspire till he had done that work The time of my departure saith St. Paul is at hand but what followeth I have finished my course then and not till then was the time of his departure when he had finished his course It is that which may very much comfort us whensoever death seemeth to or really doth approach that as we dye not before the time which God hath allotted us to live so neither before the service be done which he hath appointed for us in our generation and if that be done we have reason to be willing to ly down to sleep as here David after he had served his Generation fell asleep 3. But that which I here especially take notice of is that Death is resembled to a Sleep It is observable among prophane writers both Greek and Latine Poets and Oratours that sleep is said to be the image the kindred the Sister the brother of Death and this metaphor is frequently used in the holy scriptures in the Old Testament promiscuously of both bad and good in the New especially of the good who are said not only to sleep but to sleep in Jesus and to sleep in the Lord. And thus Christ useth it of Lazarus St. Luke of Stephen and here St. Paul of David and this more particularly in a double respect 1. Sleep is a levamen laborum a quiet repose and a cessation of all pain and labour thus they that dy in the Lord rest
liveth saith the Psalmist and shall not see death there were never any but two Enoch and Elias and I may say What man is he that dieth and shall not see corruption there was never any but one the holy one of God But otherwise all that lie in the grave rot for which reason the same word in Hebrew signifieth both the grave and corruption I have said saith Job to corruption Thou art my Father and to the Wormes You are my Mother my Sister and this as appeareth by the foregoing words in reference to the grave wherein though some by embalming are preserved longer than others for so say some was Alexander's body kept from putrefaction above an hundred years yet sooner or later all rot for which cause our body is called by St. Paul vile body or according to the Greek body of humiliation A consideration which may very well be matter of abasement to the strongest man beautifullest woman that their strength must degenerate into weakness their colour into paleness and both at last into rottenness though withall let it not too much discourage us since as the rotting of the grain in the ground maketh way for its springing up and fructifying so shall the corrupting of our bodies in the grave And therefore let us in the multitude of our thoughts within us touching the grave look beyond it at that day when as St. Paul assureth us our Lord Jesus shall change our vile body and when as the same Apostle tells us Mortality shall put on immortality and corruption shall put on incorruption ANd thus I have given you an account of Saint Pauls narrative concerning King David But another narrative is and that justly at this time expected from me concerning the Life and Death of the Right Worshipful and Right Worthy Knight Sir Thomas Adams Knight and Barronet There is no less than a threefold obligation to wit of Piety Equity and Charity laid upon us of publishing the excellencies of those who have done worthily and been famous in their Generation since as Saint Basil hereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we glorifie the Lord in and for his servants and that is Piety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we honour the dead in their memory and that is equity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we rejoyce and benefit the People by their examples and that is Charity As Physicians and Chirurgians do very much advance their knowledg by Anatomising the bodies of dead men so we either are or may be much better'd in our practise by a delineation of the graces of dead Saints and therefore though this eminent servant of God and of his generation being taken out of this valley of Bacah and carried to that mount of Joy where beholding the glorious Deity he sings eternal Halelujahs stands in no need of any praises from us Yet it is needful very needful for us who are left behind that we may be stirred up to follow his choyce example And now what Paterculus saith of Aemilius Paulus he was vir in tantum laudandus in quantum virtus ipsa intelligi potest I may fitly apply to him the circumference of his Encomium may very well take in all the lines of virtue which meet in him as in their Center and I could heartily wish that as those Confessours truly said in their epistle to Saint Cyprian Vigorous expressions were correspondent to the glorious actions or rather Passions of those Martyrs whom he commended so I could now draw the Picture of this Worthy not only at the length but to the life But alas my Pencil giveth so rough a draught that I am afraid I shall but disfigure him whilst I go about to commend him so that I am ready to draw back my hand whilst I am drawing his lineaments and therefore shall desire as he did who wrote the life of Saint Cyprian that quicquid minus dixero minus enim dicam necesse est If I shall say less as less I must needs say than he deserveth it may not derogate from his honour but be imputed to my unskilfulness and if any shall think I say too much I shall ascribe it to their ignorance since none who knew him but must needs have a high value for him nor shall I say more of him than what not only very credible information but for the most part my own personal knowledg will warrant me having had the honour of more than 20 years acquaintance with him 15. whereof he was the chief inhabitant of that Parish wherein I was an unworthy Labourer The truth is as Titus Vespasian was called deliciae generis humani the delight of mankind so was he the Darling of the City so generally well reputed and reported of that I suppose it will be said of this Panegyrick concerning him what one said who met with a book called Herculis encomium The praise of Hercules Quis Lacedaemoniorum unquam vituperavit who ever dispraised him to wit that knew him His very outward aspect was amiable nay venerable and his presence as the appearance of some benign Star having a pleasing influence upon all that looked upon him But could you have viewed his inside behold that virtuous soul which inhabited his comely body how would it have ravished you and yet though we could not directly we might reflexively and that both from his words and works The Tongue of the Just saith Solomon is as choyce silver of which the Trumpets under the Law were made because of its sweet sound and again the lips of the righteous feed many to wit with wholesome counsels and comforts keeping as it were open table for all comets such was his tongue frequently tip'd with silver nay golden sayings which he brought forth out of the treasure of his memory such were his lips with which as well nay better then with his bountiful table he fed not only his children and servants but all who conversed with him among whom I can truly say I never went to him but I did or might come away from him bettered by his gracious and prudent discourse Nor was he only as I doubt too many are a man of words his goodness was not only at his tongues but his fingers ends That of our Saviour concerning himself my works testifie of me is though in a far inferiour way verifyed of him at least we may make use of what Solomon saith concerning the virtuous woman His works did praise him in his gates so that he was not only in respect of his words a sweet and pleasing voice but of his works a burning and shining light It is said of David that he died in a good old age full of riches and honours The age to which this worthy Patriot attained was old elder then David exceeding it eleven years for whereas David lived but 70 he was above 81. years old when he died and if Davids were a good old age his was better being more
People Israel mentioneth this among the rest as none of the least thou didst prosper into a Kingdom by which is clearly intimated that those nations are most prosperous which are under Kingly Government nay that Kingly Government is a prosperity to a people He was I dare say among the number of the mourners in Sion for all the Abominations which were committed and especially for that execrable treason in murthering the Father and banishing the Son nor did he cease to be an importunate Petitioner at Heaven gates for the restauration of King and Church Upon the account of his Loyalty to Charles the first of blessed memory When Lord Mayor his house was searched by the rebels then in power supposing there to have found the King the year after he was cast into the Tower and there kept a Prisoner and for several years put by all Publick offices and imployments they finding him a man that would not be moulded into their several formes nor make shipwrack of his Conscience to serve their interests Upon the account of his Loyalty to Charles the Second Whom God Almighty prosper during his Exile he hazarded his estate and life by sending him considerable summes of money beyond sea and when the Blessed time came of his joyful Return to his Throne though he was in the 73. year of his age which might have been a just excuse for his staying at home this aged Banzillai went not only over Jordan river but crossed the Sea to attend his Soveraign home Next to God and the King I dare say the City of London was written upon his heart wherein he spent by far the greatest part of his life and hath now breathed his last Here through God's blessing he got and here he spent a considerable part of his estate in the Citie 's service He was of so publick a spirit that when his Son in Law brought him the first news of his being chosen Sheriff of London he immediately dismissed the particular business about which he was and never after personally followed his trade but gave himself up to the City concernes It was his study to know the Customes and usages the liberties and priviledges of the City and accordingly his endeavour in his several capacities to preserve and maintain them He was not only in word but in deed an Assistant a Guardian yea a Pillar of the Right Worshipful Company of Drapers He was a vigilant President of Saint Thomas his Hospital which probably had been ruined before this but that his sagacity and industry discovered the fraud of an unjust steward In the Court of Aldermen he was as an Oracle very subservient by his grave and prudent counsels to the Cities Government He was so far from self-seeking that when he was Lord Mayor he did not make those advantages which usually are by selling the vacant places Whilst a private tradesman he was exact so far as I ever heard in commutative Justice in his bargains and contracts of buying and selling and when a publick Magistrate he was no less conscientious of distributive Justice between man and man so that what Lampridius said of Alexander Severus he was Virbonus reipublicae necessarius a good man and very needful for the Common wealth may be affirmed of him in reference to the City he was not only a good man but exceedingly useful by his Justice and prudence for the Cities welfare I must not forget to tell you how he served the Town where he received his first breath by building there and endowing a Free-School with a considerable maintenance for the education of Children How he hath served the University of Cambridge by erecting an Arabick Lecture and setling upon the Lecturer 40 l. per annum for his pains in reading it hereby testifying himself to be a lover of learning to which indeed none is an enemy but the ignorant and therefore he could not having himself a very competent measure of knowledg Nor were these munificent works to bear the date of their beginning from his death but the one began 20 and the other 30 years ago nor is their maintenance only setled for some term of years but as we usually express it for ever by which means he hath not only served his own but succeeding Generations nay in that Arabick lecture he hath served those remote Eastern parts of the world upon which account at the desire of the Reverend Master Wheelock now with God he was at the charge of printing the Persian Gospels and transmitting them into those parts yea by these wayes he endeavoured to serve the Lord Christ promoting the Christian Religion and to use his own Language throwing a stone at the forehead of Mahomet that grand Impostor Thus he was serviceable in his Generation to the will of God Honor of Christ Welfare of the City Benefit of Country and University nor was he awanting to serve the Poor neither by his Charity his hands were frequently open whilst he lived upon all occasions and notwithstanding many late great damages to his estate he hath given considerable legacies to the poor of several Parishes to Hospitals to Ministers widows and such like at his death all which I cannot now stay particularly to enumerate Finally let me not tire your Patience if to the rest of his graces and vertues I adde his Patience whereby he served the will of God in suffering To serve the will of God in doing good was his meat and drink to submit to his will in suffering evil was his Antidote and Cordial The truth is this good mans coat like Josephs was particoloured his wine mixed with water nay with gall and wormwood many doleful losses he met with as to his worldly goods some disastrous crosses in his near Relations such as himself said he could not have born were it not for this Book pointing to the Bible which lay before him but there he met still with that which comforted him frequently among others making use of that Passage of Job to his wife Shall we receive good at the hands of God and shall we not receive evil The latter years of his life have been years of Pain to him by reason of that Disease of the Stone in the bladder whereof at last he died A stone so weighty that it exceeded 25 ounces so grievous that a little before his death it made him roar but yet not murmur God graciously supporting him under the weight and sustaining him under the pain of it and indeed the Providence of God was singularly remarkable in that having a stone of so vast a bigness in his bladder his pain was comparatively so little his life so long for had there not been as it were a way pav'd or rather a channel cut through the stone for his Water to pass the stoppage of it must of necessity have very much added to his smart lessened his days He hath now taken his leave of this world and truly I may