it not neither is there in him any ability or will to performe the least religious duty For the living they are they that praise the Lord the grave doth not Isa 38.18 19. neither doe they that goe downe into the Pit celebrate his truth Isa 38.18 19. And therefore it being so good it were for us to follow that which our blessed Saviour alwaies practiced namely whilst it is to day to worke the workes of our heavenly Father Iohn 19.4 seeing the night commeth fast upon us when no man can worke 4. Lastly as the rising of the Morning Sunne usually expelleth the naturall sleepe and lumpishnesse of the night so at the appearing of the Sunne of Righteousnesse the brightnesse of his comming shal expell and chase away the sleepe of death and put an end to that drowsie night neyther shall we sleepe any more the sleepe thereof Psal 13.3 In these and many other the like respects is Death usually stiled by the name of sleepe and this beeing so First why should wee tremble at it seeing it is the same to the childe of God that the coole shade is to the weary travailer Job 14.2 and the evening rest to the painefull Labourer Secondly why doe wee so bitterly weepe and mourne as persons without hope for our Friends departed for they doe but sleepe Thes 4 13 and one day assuredly they shal be awaked Thirdly why doe wee not make more account of Church-yards and places of buriall then wee see usually is done seeing that they are the Dormitories and sleeping places of the bodies of the Saints where resting for a time they shall at length bee awaked againe by the comming of their Master and his gracious call Secondly wee must not imagine when the Body is dead that the soule sleepeth an ancient yet erronious opinion it crossing directly the word of God in many places as namely Eccles 12.7 where the Preacher speaking of the death and dissolution of Man hee thus expresseth it Dust sayth hee returneth unto Dust and the spirit unto God that gave it And that of our holy and blessed Saviour Christ Iesus to the Theefe on the Crosse Eccl. 12.7 Luke the twenty third verse forty three Luk 23.43 To day thou shalt bee with me in Paradise This was amongst many other of ancients the beliefe of holy Policarpus who as the story saith when he was to enter the flaming fire in the defence of the Christian Faith openly professed that he was fully resolved Hodie sese representandum in Spiritu coram Domino that he was in his soule that very day to appeare in the presence of God Ob. If it be so may one say why doth then God deale so hardly with the body above the soule Psal 139.15 For are they not both the worke of his hands The one made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth and the other Creando infunditur infundendo Creatur like the most pretious oyle infused and powred out of the tree of Life And besides they are alwaies loving friends sympathizing and taking part in the weale and woe each of other they weepe together and rejoyce together why then upon their parting goeth the one to the earth the other to heaven the one to a dungeon of darknesse the other to a Pallace and place of delight An. The answere whereunto is that this is done by Almighty God in singular wisedome in these three respects First to crosse the fond and childish course of man woman whose delight wholly is as we dayly see in pampring and cherishing of their bodies whilst the care and due respect that they owe unto their soules is wholy neglected their bodies are deliciously stuffed their soules are miserably starved their bodies are clothed in Silke and Tishue their soules in rags and tatters their bodies are presumed with the most odiferous oyntments their soules with stinke of sin and blasted with the breath of Hell Secondly that the body might in time be wrought and framed to be a fit companion for the soule which since the fall of man it is not but rather as I have shewed you before a let and oftimes hindrance unto the same in the cheerefull performance of many necessary and Christian duties And therfore it pleased God our heavenly Father to appoynt the earth to be his furnace and place of refyning to waste and weare away whatsoever sinful contagion the body formerly hath contracted so that the soule afterward with the same may no waies be incombred Thirdly that they being thus parted Rev. 6 the soule might earnestly and hourely desire as the rest of the soules doe under the Altar their re-uniting and joyning together again and so consequently the hastning of the number of the elect and second comming of the Sonne of God to judgement And thus much shall serve to be briefly spoken of the first expression of the joyfulnesse of their resurrection that they shall Awake I come now unto the second where it is said that they shal Sing And questionlesse so they shal and wee all shall sing with them whilst the blessed Angels shall helpe to make up the quire And good reason for First our worke is quite over and all our toyle and labour ended our field ploughed and our vineyard planted the Spring is come and the voyce of the Turtle heard in our land Cant. 2.12 is it not fit then that wee should sing a Requiem to our soules 2. Our warfare is at an end our enemies destroyed and loe our victorious Generall is mounted now on high upon his triumphant Chariot with innumerable troopes of Angels and celestiall souldiers upon his right hand and upon his left setting forth his praise shewing his noble acts and singing his victory what soule is there that ever reaped comfort from the same that instantly will not joyne it selfe with this joyfull assembly and beare a part in this triumphant song Rev. 13.9.10 saying with the rest Blessing honor glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the Throne and unto the Lambe for ever and ever For thou hast redeemed us by thy blood and hast made us unto God Kings and Priests and wee shall raigne on the earth 3 It is the marriage day wherein the espousals betwixt Christ and his Church so long deferred shall bee fully perfected when the glorious Bride comming forth in a rich mantle al of white which her beloved spouse long before bestowed on her shall be married to her husband the Lord Jesus Christ who having crowned her with the crowne of Glory wil take her into the Bride-chamber neere unto himselfe Psal 45. and there shee shall abide for ever If the Spheres as some will have the doe dayly moove in a most melodious sort then questionlesse wil they utter their chiefest most delightful tunes and like so many roling Cymbals serve that Heavenly Quire Then will Heaven and Earth bee filled with Epithalamies
LIFES BREVITIE AND DEATHS Debility Evidently Declared in a Sermon Preached at the Funerall of that Hopeful and Uertuous yong Gentleman EDVVARD LEVVKENOR Esquire c. In whose Death is ended the name of that renowned Family of the Lewkenors in Suffolke By Tymothy Oldmayne Minister of the Word of God at Denham in Suffolke Our dayes on Earth are as a shaddow and there is none abiding Also an Elegy and an Epitaph on the death of that worthy Gentleman by I. G. Dr. of D. LONDON Printed by N. and I. Okes dwelling in little S. Bartholmewes neere the Hospitall gate 1636. FLECTAR NON FRANGAR TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL AND Of high Desert the Lady MARY Lewkenor and Mris Elizabeth Lewkenor the Mother and sorrowfull Widdow of this Deceased Gentleman together with the right worshipfull and truly noble Lady the Lady Anne Le-strange Wife to Sir Nicholas Le-strange Baronet As also to her two vertuous and worthy sisters Mistris Katherine and Mistris Mary Lewkenor Eternall Happinesse c. LOth I am right Worshipfull and truely Honorable that this rough unpolished discourse of mine should unfortunately renew Your former griefe or fill those Eyes againe with teares which were never fully dried sithence this heavy Accident befell this Noble Plant so neere so deere unto you For sorrow I know right well is of a quick and apprehensive nature that the least touch maketh the Vessell easily overflow How ever I humbly intreate that mine innocency herein may answer for me my ayme beeing chiefly this to strew onely some few flowers upon the Hearse of this my honourable friend such as in his life time his owne Hand gathered pleasant unto the Eye and of a most odoriferous Sent. Neither is this Treatise of mine otherwise intended but to bee a true Remembrancer to tell succeeding Ages the greatnesse of the losse when your renowned Family was by the Untimely Death of this so Hopefull a Young Gentleman thus fatally smitten if not quite overturned This Towne which now affordeth me my being formerly afforded mee my first breath And foure generations of your honourable Family haue I seene here upon the Stage successiuely acting their several Parts Angels and Men were the lookers on and with great applause highly commended their true Action generous demeanour But now alas the Theater is wholy empted and all the Actors quite gone the Stage hourely expected to be pulled down and if it stand yet little hope there is that ever our eyes shall see such Actors any more upon it to play their parts so commendable as those Antients did The consideration whereof as it carrieth with it not onely trouble but indeed a kind of amazement so is there much wisedom required in censuring and patience in induring what is hapned My humble request therfore unto you right Worshipfull is as those that haue the greatest share in this unvaluable losse that in the middest of so many differing Thoughts in searching out the true cause and end that the Almighty hath in doing this you would be pleased to remember these three Things First that there is in God an unbounded will that his Judgements are Vnsearchable and his Waies past finding out Secondly that You would bee pleased to looke backe upon the happinesse and glory of your Family which formerly You have both seene and tasted Beleeve mee right worshipfull the sight thereof will be a Soveraigne preservatiue against Repining Lastly that seeing it was determined by an eternall and inevitable decree that the Sirnames of your Family should heere fatally end that you would bee pleased to solace and cherish your Hearts that it is done without the least spot and blemish to the same And that this young Gentleman so honourably concluded and closed up all so happily as Hee hath done to his immortall praise But I desire not to tell the Travailer the way hee knoweth so well already or light a Candle when the Sunne is up or leade the hand of the skilfull Artist Here therefore I doe humbly take my leaue desiring You to accept of what is done heerein as the Fruite of that unfeigned Loue and dutiful Respect which was alwayes borne by him to your Honourable and worthy Family who still remaineth Yours in the Lord to be commanded to the uttermost of his power untill Death Tymothy Oldmayne Perlegi concionem hanc cui titulus est Lifes brevity in qua nihil reperio quo minus cum utilitate publica imprimatur Ex aedib Fulham decimo die Septem 1625. SA BAKER LIUES BREVITY AND DEATHES DEBILITY ISAIAH 26. VERS 19. Thy dead men shall live with my dead body shall they arise awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of Herbes and the earth shall cast out the dead IT would have brought much ease and comfort to our sorrowfull hearts if we had only heard of this sad accident the death I mean of this so noble a Plant this Honourable young Gentleman and not beene Eye-witnesses of the same And that the same Countrie which received his last breath had likewise imbraced his honourable Ashes his living presence how welcome would it have been unto us But comming thus amongst us shrouded under the blacke mantle of death we tremble at it For this is one of the miseries of man when death seizeth on him that he that was neerest unto him in affection then desireth to bee farthest from him in action and that living face that affoorded greatest joy when once dead carrieth with it greatest terrour neither can the conclusion of all this sad Catastrophe but adde vineger to our bleeding wound that whilst we were seriously bethinking with our selves in what sort wee may best expresse the inward griefe and trouble of mindes for this our losse in doing all the honour that possibly wee could unto him in this his Funerall obsequies Lo the tediousnesse of the way and terriblenesse of the disease had so shattered and crushed that tender and delicate body of his comming along to us riding in that dolfull Chariot of death that no sooner had a few teares given him a sad welcome but we were enforced to give his body to the earth and we to him a sorrowfull Adieu But in all this patience must possesse our soules And seeing he is now already entred into the house of his age and sweetly sleepeth upon his bed of honour amongst the rest of his noble Ancestors let us I pray you turne our thoughts awhile from him and looke a little upon the hand of God in doing this to him and with him in cutting off as it were with one stroake the name and glory of so renowned a family amongst us To that end it must be remembred as a thing not wholy past the memory of man how the Grand-father of this young Gentleman of high repute joyning himselfe in marriage with a Right Worshipfull family in this County left that former feate and dwelling of that ancient family of his owne in
he thus speaketh Psalme 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death shall he deliver his soule from the power of the grave Secondly and more particularly the reason is three fold Heb. 9.17 First for that it was the eternall decree and counsell of Almighty God appoynted to man upon his fall Heb. 9.17 that hee should once dye and after Death should come to judgement Secondly for that the whole seede of Adam hath Death mixed with it yea the tender infant sucketh and draweth it in with the milke of the mother Thirdly for that man hath a certaine inclination to Death as the flower hath to fade or the tree to fall Secondly in a more particular and speciall manner they are called the inhabitants of the dust First to teach every man that to be an inhabitant of the Dust is an honourable thing when namely the dead corpes of Man or Woman lyeth not as dung upon the earth but obtayneth a comely a decent and Christian buriall A blessing promised to Ezechiah Iosiah and other the like noble Princes and the contrary againe threatned as a sore judgement agaynst wicked and godlesse persons Iezabel Zedechiah Heb. 9.17 Ier. 3.4 and other of the like sowre Leaven and therefore to take it as a speciall favour of God to have not onely ours but the bodies of our Friends to bee layd up decently in their Graves velut preciosa Deo chara 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as choyce gifts deare and precious unto God Where dust may return to dust as the spirit formerly did to God that gave it Secondly to admonish all but principally the great Men and Princes of the earth not to looke too much with proud Haman uppon the glory of their Riches their trayne and followers their honors and high promotions their greatnesse and swelling titles which if they doe will so flash and glister in their eyes that they shall forget themselves as also the liberall hand from whence all these things did come But rather turning their backes uppon those inchanting gleames and lights let them with a serious looke daily view their original and birth being of the basest Element their flesh and blood common with the meanest servant their honourable carkasses wearing away to their first Element where all their pompe must leave them and they inhabite the sad and dusty valley Thirdly to be a caveat to us how wee scorne our poore brethren partakers with us of the same hope and of the same houshold of Faith Gal. 6.10 for that their houses are farre meaner then ours and their cloathing and attire much baser Act. 17.10 For as wee are come all of one blood the poore and the Rich the Lord the slave so are we travailing to the same Land where there is no remedy but we must dwell together and where our houses will not greatly differ the out-side of the Rich mans usually much gayer but the inside of the poore mans perhaps much sweeter There it is no disgrace for the Princes Pallace to be neere the Peasants Cottage or the lodging of the poore beggar to be neere unto the Misers chamber where the order against Cottages and Inmates is of no value sith new Cottages are there hourely erected hundreds dwell on heapes in base and silly Mansions when then thy heart doth begin to swel in pride and with the scornefull thoughts thou hast in regard of thy brothers poore estate then remember that it wil not be long ere thou and he shal be both alike and of the two he it may be acknowledged by Divine sentence the better man Remember Dives and Lazarus Secondly wee are to consider the severall things that they are fore-told to do and these are First Awake Secondly Sing For the first they shall awake but not of themselves or their owne power but by the dreadful voyce and Almighty breath of God willing them and us to Rise up from the dead Rom 14.12 and to give a strict account of what we in all our life time have done of which I intend not to speak this onely we may observe that Death is nothing else but a meere sleepe out of which wee shal bee one day awakened thus are all the blessed Patriarckes and holy Prophets and Confessors 1 Cor. 15.18 dying in eldertimes sayd 1 Cor. 15.18 to sleepe And the same Apostle writing unto the Thessalonians useth this as an argument to disswade them from over much sorowing as persons out of hope for them that were departed 1 Thes 4.13 for that they did but sleepe yea holy Stephen though his death were violent yet saith the Spirit of God Act. 7.60 soule and body were no soner parted but he fel a sleepe The which although it bee a truth yet wee must not fondly imagine First death properly to be asleepe or Secondly when the bodie is dead that the soule sleepeth For first of all death cannot properly bee asleepe seeing they two are so quite contrary the one a friend to man the other a mortall foe the one naturall the other accidentall the one a preserver of life the other a destroyer of the same Death therefore is called usually by the name of sleepe in regard onely of a kinde of similitude and proportion that is betwixt them For instance First when a man is falne asleepe all outward labour and businesse is laid aside hee thinketh not of them neither doth hee at all desire them So is it when a man is dead hee remembreth no more the worke and labour of his hands in all that Pilgrimage of his formerly passed Hee knoweth not what hee hath done and if you tell him hee will not regard Friend or foe are all one to him Iob. 14.21 neither doth he care whether his sonnes be honourable or of low degree Secondly when sleepe possesseth a man paine and passion feare and griefe doth not so molest and trouble him as when he is awake Such is the estate of man when once dead Is he a prisoner He feareth not saith Iob the voyce of the oppressor Iob. 13◠18 or is he a slave hee is instantly freed from his cruell master All the threatnings in the World cannot make him quake neither is he moved at all with the angry looke of the cruell Tyrant Thirdly when a man is once a sleepe then all his sences are retired into their proper places and all the members of his body cease from working not onely resting as formerly I said from those outward labours of his calling but even from working the workes of God Ioh. 6.28 Even so it is with him who is once dead his eye is no more lifted up to Heaven as to the fountaine head of life and goodnesse his knee bendeth it selfe no more at the throne of grace neither doth his tongue any more here below set forth the praises of that glorious God Set the blessed trumpet of the Word to his eare and hee heareth
pious and charitable actions performed by his honourable Ancestors their gracing of true Religion with a most holy life and conversation what is all come to this All lost and gone For answere of all these Answere first it must be held as an infalliable ground a truth without all contradiction which the preacher delivereth Ecles 2.16 As the wise man dyeth so dyeth the foole neither Is love and hatred to be discerned by any outward thing whatsoever Ecles 9.2 Secondly that as there are periods of Kingdomes so are there of private and particular families It was a question that Pompey once propounded to a certain Philosopher a sage wise man of those times having lately before received by Caesar an unrecoverable losse and overthrow why Caesar having so bad a cause in hand and himselfe so good yet Caesar should so mightily prevaile as he did and he fall in his righteous cause more and more under his adversaries victorious sword My Lord answered he Sunt periodi Regnorum there are periods of Kingdomes and it is probable that the period of the Roman State is come to an end and that the manner of the present government wil suddenly be changed as not long after it came to passe And so may I truely say by experience of particular families that they have their periods and one family passeth and another commeth in the place thereof Shew me else what is become not onely of those holy families of which we have such honourable mention in holy writ but also of those families of whom Heathen records speake so honourably The Syrgij Appij Fabij Valerij Bruti and the like that stood so much upon their Gentility and eminents of blood contemning all others as Novi homines new upstarts in comparison of themselves If Families have not their periods when we see it hourely before our eyes this family cut off and another comming in the place thereof one ending and another beginning so that what is come to this is befalne to millions before neither is it a new thing under the Sunne Eccles 1.9 Thirdly it must be remembred that Almighty God passeth none of his promises but upon a twofold condition 1. His Glory then 2. The good of the party Now God alwayes glorifies himselfe two wayes 1. In his Mercy 2. In his Justice First in his mercy in showring downe his richest blessings upon the House and Family of the righteous man Pal 85.10 so that within the wals therof mercy and truth do daily meete righteousnesse and peace do kisse and imbrace one another Yea those that by continuance in well doing seeke glory and honour and immortality Eternall life is sayth the Apostle Glory and honour Rom. 2.10 and peace to the Iew first and also to the Greek Secondly in Justice in visiting of sinne with an unpartiall eye not onely on the Fathers but likewise on their children yea oftimes so hotly that the Father sinneth Jer. 31.22 and the child suffereth The Fathers eat sower grapes the childrens teeth are iustly set on edge Secondly for the good of the party And here it must be remembred that it is a thing most usuall with God our heavenly Father intending the good of his servants partly for their bodies but principally for their soules in disposing of these outward things for speciall reasons best knowne unto himselfe to seeme after a sort to crosse his own word and promise made unto them So that whereas hee promiseth health they meete with sicknesse length of dayes shortnesse of Life the Sunne shine of prosperity and behold they meete the sad and gloomy dayes of adversity yea it is ordinary with him to dispose of all sublunary blessings as Queene Hester for a time bestowed her chiefest favours not upon them shee loved best but upon him shee hated most For whereas Mordecay her Uncle and other her kindred and neerest alliance were seldome named or it may be hardly looked on as may without wronging the text Hest 2.10 20 not unprobably be gathered Haman that cruel Tyger and bloody enemy to her stock and Nation hath in the meane while what heart could wish and all the honour done him which so mighty a Princesse could possibly bestow uppon one that was her vassall and inferiour Or like olde Isaac's dealing with his two sonnes Esau and Iacob making on a Lord and cockering him under his Wing and the other the true heire of the promise he turneth out of his doores with his staffe in his hand to seeke him a service Gen. 28.1 2 3. upon which hee might afterwards live by the sweate of his browes Many more instances of Gods dealing with his children in this kinde I could produce which for brevity sake I doe heere omit onely I could wish wee finding Almighty God walking in this ordinary way and course of his that wee should not by our uncharitable surmises and rash conclusions eyther too rigidly censure his righteous actions or measure at all his blessed steppes by the rule and compasse of our shallow reach remembring that there are Arcana Providentiae secrets and mysteries of Divine providence into which with the strength of our dazled eye wee are no way able at all to pierce So that we may thinke yea verily beleeve this or that to be the true cause and reason of this or the like heavy accident and yet be nothing so but a meere phantasie of our owne And truely this have others done before us standing upon Record in holy writ who verily beleeved they had as sure a ground to walke upon and as much reason to judge in divers cases as we possibly can haue and yet when matters came to scanning were miserably deceived For instance to take 2. or 3. examples amongst many who would not have judged the blindnesse of that poore man Iohn 9 who wanting sight from his birth and never beholding the Sun walking in his strength had bin either for his owne or the sin of his parents and this was the opinion of most as may appeare by the Disciples words after Ioh. 9.2 3 Master who did sin this man or his parents that he was borne blind But Christ tels another reasō in the verse following Neither this man nor his parents but the true cause saith hee is this that the workes of God should be made manifest in him Or secondly who would not have thought that the true reason why Almighty God shortned as hee did the dayes and life of that young noble Prince the hope of the ten Tribes and honor of the house of Ieroboam had beene the fiercenesse of his wrath bent against that ungodly Family for the horrible abhominations daily therein committed but it is not the reason that is alleadged by the Prophet but it is the goodnesse of the vertuous Prince as hee affirmeth that occasioneth his untimely death For so saith the Prophet Ahijah to the wife of Ieroboam masking her self in the weeds of another
him and much to bee desired in these impudent daies of ours wherein blushing is helde the essentiall marke of a base and ignoble Spirit and an whores fore-head is reputed the onely rare feature and especiall grace Phil. 4.5 whereas St. Paul in the 4. of the Phil. 5. teacheth the Phillipians another lesson willing them to cloath themselves as with other vertues so saith hee with modestie And an ancient Father saith that modesty is Ornamentum nobilium nobilitas ignobilium the noble mans beauty and the poore mans dignity Yea the Lacedemonian state and Common-wealth received it as a Maxime and maine principle from Lycurgus their Law-giver that aboue all things they should accustome their youth to bashfulnesse and modesty He onely by the light of nature finding that which daily experience teacheth us that impudency and boldnesse in youth is an evill signe and the breeder of much vice and vanity The third Uertue was his temperance fit to bee joyned with the former not onely for that modesty and temperance as the heathen could say in eodem choro sunt are companions in the same ranke but for that the Apostle describeth them as loving sisters daughters of the same Spirit walking hand in hand together Gal. 5. Now this temperance of his appeared as in other things so likewise in these two First in his ordinary habit attire which although it were farre from basenesse so was it usually much lower then the highth of his meanes he rather respecting that indumentum fidej the inward cloathing of the mind then the outward cloathing of the body and himselfe to be an ornament to his cloathes rather then his cloathes to be an ornament to him Secondly it appeared in keeping himselfe free from three raging sinnes over-flowing the bankes of Modesty and Temperance in this age of ours viz. 1. Swearing or blasphemy 2. Ebriety or Drunkennesse 3. Venery or uncleannesse In regard of all which three his innocent and spotlesse life was such as the blackest tongue can no way soyle or blemish his blessed memory Yea let it bee written in Cedar tables or in golden letters upon his Tombe or Hearse to his eternall and immortall prayse that when these sinnes most raged then was not hee with them the least way touched but like a blessed River kept himselfe in his pure streame from beeing infected with this brackish and over-flowing Ocean which to too many are over-whelmed in in these our sinfull dayes and perilous times The fourth and last Uertue of his wherewith I will bound my discourse this way was his liberall and bountifull disposition witnessed both by many charitable actions of his to divers whom hee knew stood in need of his present helpe as also by many worthy and cheereful promises of his future helpe favour both to his tenants and also his poorest neighbours The consideration whereof together with his hopeful life begun so untimely ended causeth this generall sorrow which wee see in all especially in those formerly mentioned it beeing a received opinion as well it might that through the Almighties helpe he would suddainly have raysed agayne the name and honour of his ancient Family not suffering his Fathers house to stand as most of our Gentlemens houses do now a dayes like a paynted Mercury in the way to tell the Travailer whose formerly it was Or else like a wracke upon the Sea to discover onely where that noble Lady Hospitality fatally perished And this shall serue to bee spoken of the first act of his Life I wil now come to the second and therein speake a word or two of his Death the which being briefly done I wil then draw the Curtayn and so conclude this sorrowful Sceane In the very entrance whereof me-thinkes I find a wonderful correspondency and agreement betwixt his and the death of other of his next and honourable friends as for example 1. His Death was paynefull and somewhat contagious occasioned by the small poxe a disease fatall to that Family 2. His death was suddain very dolorous 3. His Death was ful of Piety and exceeding Religious 1. In the first you have the Death of his grand father and grand-mother 2. In the second the death of his Father 3. And in the last the death of all three or if you will the death of the Righteous So that a man may safely say of his Life and death compared with theirs as that holy King David long since spake of Sauls and Ionathans the Father and the sonne 2 Sam. 1. 2 Sam. 1 They were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their deaths they were not divided But leaving this and looking yet more narrowly into his Christian end wee cannot if wee doe but hearken to the credible report of those who were continually with him from the beginning of his sicknesse to the delivering up of his last breath but take special notice amongst many other of these two things right commendable in him 1. His admirable patience 2. His true and hearty repentance The one in induring the other in desiring the one in performing the other in promising And first for his Patience it was such that considering the tendernesse of his Age the frailty of Youth and want of experience in sicknesse that as it is generally reported it was a matter of great admiration to all about him For however our heavenly Father gave way as it seemeth to the disease to fanne and winnow him as Corne is fann'd and winnowed to the utter-most yet did he in the meane while so support and stay him with the hand of his Mercy that neyther his hope lost her hold or his faith failed So that howsoever the outward man suffered yet the inward man was renewed daily 2 Cor. 4.16 2 Cor. 4.16 How ever his body was not his owne being under the hand of a sharpe Chyrurgion Luke 21.1 yet in patience he did possesse his soule of all which hee gave sufficient testimony both by his milde and sweete behaviour as also by his comfortable words and Christian language For here were no impatient speeches no murmurring and repining no crying out upon the disease no accusing of secondary causes but a patient silence interrupted now and then with short prayers and Divine ejaculations wherein he craved at the hands of God eyther mitigation of his payne or supply of strength eyther to be eased or graciously to be supported And heere wee have an Embleme or a patterne of true Magnanimity appearing plainely in this that when the stormes of temptation and trouble raged most and these sharpe cutting winds blew lowdest yet hee carryed himselfe so close under the shield of Faith that hee was not at all daunted or driven from that obedience which hee did owe to God or his duty towards his neighbour The which as it is a noble and excellent vertue and quality of the spirit so was it questionlesse and without doubt much holpen 1. By the true sight hee had of
onely and no impieties delicta non facinora weaknesses and infirmities no flagicious offences yet was he much troubled at the sight of them oft crying out with righteous Iob Paenitet me and with that holy Prophet David Psal 45.7 peccatum pueritiae mea ne recorderis Domine Lord remember not the sinnes of my youth Observe next his carefull providing of his Viaticum or things necessary for his departure his preparing and fitting of his Lampe with oyle and patient expecting of the Bridgroomes call In all which as is the generall report his care was more then ordinary neither was there any one thing in Heaven or Earth which he so much desired as he did that full assurance of his reconciliation with God to understand what that love of Christ was that passeth all understanding not that hee doubted at all thereof for he found the beginnings and fruits of the same as formerly I have shewed already in his soule mightily cheering up and comforting thereof onely he desired yet more that hee might at the length be filled with the fulnesse of God Eph. 7.19 Eph. 7.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like the little infant that having but once tasted of the milke of the mother is never contented but mourneth and cryeth until it be fully satisfied and the belly filled therewith or like the hunted Stagge in Summer-time who finding a pleasant streame having once tasted of it is never satisfied untill hee hath sounded the bottome and duckt himselfe overhead and eares therein or rather like that faire Bride the Church I meane Cant. 2.6 Cant. 2.6 who thinketh her selfe never sure of her spouse and love untill his Left hand bee under her head and his right hand doth imbrace her Life hee simply desired not and death hee slavishly feared not for he knew right well that which came first should bee his gayne and great advantage And because for want of sleepe and the malignant and fiery working of his Disease hee feared much least any disorderly impatient or prophane speeches should passe from him to the dishonour of Almighty God and griefe and sorrow of his Friends about him His request therefore was hourely to God for Christs sake to set a watch before his mouth and to keep the doore of his lips And if at any time it hapned as seldome it did that his braine beeing somewhat over-heated he a little swarved from the right rule and so forgot himselfe his manner was after the violence of the fit was over upon inquire made and the truth thereof found humbly to beg pardon for the same with teares to bewaile it All the time of this sharpe tryall and visitation of his was for the most part daily spent eyther in holy conference with such graue Divines as were continually about him for his soules health or in hearty prayers presented before the throne of grace and powred into the golden Censure of the sonne of God wherein earnest request was made unto the Father that though this young souldier of his were thus strongly assaulted yet that hee might so keepe himselfe upon the legs of his Faith that hee might neyther be foyled Ioh. 23.10 nor yet led into temptation and that though hee were tryed unto the full yet that hee might in the end come out like pure Gold Iob 23.10 Neyther did this blessed servant of God hold it sufficient to have others pray for him except he likewise performed the same duty himselfe remembring well that hee that hath but once drunke a full draught of the River of Grace it cannot be Iohn 7.38 but out of his belly must needes flow rivers of water of Life The which prayers of his were delivered with such contrition of heart such Faith resting it selfe upon the promises of God such patient and humble submission of himselfe to the will of his gracious Father that it was an admiration to all about him to behold so tender a plant to bring foorth such delicate and precious fruite And thus while his body is here below his soule is seeking after things above his body a prisoner laden with gyves and fetters of his disease his soule is at liberty soaring up on high and sweetly conversing with that blessed society in Heavenly places The which it did divers dayes together going and comming till at last like another Noahs Dove it quite left his troubled Arke and this tempestuous World mounting up a loft above all earthly things and seated it selfe uppon the pleasant Mount Syon Vbi moritur omnis necessitas Vbi oritur summa faelicitas where all want ceaseth and all blisse increaseth even that place where are those fragrant and delightful fields replenished with all the trees of Myrrhe Frankincense and Alloes with sweete beds full of the richest and chiefest spices Cant. 4.12 13. where he dayly feedeth and so shall doe till that blessed day breake and all shadowes flye away Cant 4.6 And thus have I as briefly as I could without either wringing or churning being loath to lye for him as a man lyeth for his friend Pro. 30.33 Iob 13.9 set forth to you the Life and Death of this young Gentleman The which the more I thinke of the more I cannot but highly commend that true honour of Wedlocke and mirrour of widow-hood the noble and vertuous Lady his sorrowfull mother for her religious and Christian educating of him all his young and tender yeares dropping then grace into his heart and filling the same with Heavenly liquor the pleasant scent thereof never left him unto the last houre and minute of his life Her extraordinary care this way I shall not neede at large to relate unto you sith the whole Country round about can sufficiently witnesse the same to her immortall praise onely this I will say that if the holy Scripture as wee know it doth maketh such honourable mention of Bersheba and Evnice for their diligence in teaching their Sonnes Solomon and Timothy in their tender age the trade of their way And againe if holy Augustine ascribeth to his mother Monacha her teares and prayers next under God the ground of all the good that after so many wandrings and wanton actions of his at length appeared in him And lastly if Cornelia be so highly remembred in the Roman story for bringing up those famous Gracchi her sonnes so carefully as she did in their infancy and growing yeares making her the mother not onely of their naturall lives but also of their vertuous living and Heroicke demeanour I cannot see why his worthy Lady should not have the like honour and high respect at the hands of all for the religious care over this her sonne from his birth to his last breath And therefore being so however Almighty God for causes best knowne to himselfe hath thus as we see taken away the subject of her desired and chiefest care not suffering her lippes scarce to tast the fruite of that which she with a deale of paines had
Lord Aact 3.19 he who is the resurrection and the life shal not onely remove all deformity of nature but worke a blessde conformity betweene himselfe who is the head 1 Cor. 15.49 and all such as are several members of his blessed body that as they have borne the Image of the earthly so shal they then beare the Image of the heavenly Then sin together with the fruits woeful effects thereof shal wholly cease and howsoever the bodily substance shal remain yet the qualities therof shal be wholly changed So that for sicknesse there shal be health for deformity beauty for basenesse glory for lumpishnesse agility yea for weaknesse such aboundance of strength Zach 12 2 that hee that is feeblest amongst them shall be as David and the house of David as Gods and as the Angell of the Lord before them For as by death our naturall infirmities are fully cured Eph. 4.3 so in the resurrection every way so glorious our former losses shall perfectly be restored whilst we all come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ By meanes thereof Isa 65.4 Psal 103.5 6 1 Cor. 13.9 we shall not onely obtaine a freedome from all misery but a fruition of all good Those things that wee doe now weakly beleeve we shall fully imbrace And those glorious things dayly spoken of thee thou rich inheritance of the Saints of God we shall both see and taste For instance then we shall by joyfull experience finde 1. The greatnesse of the Sonne of God his purchase and infinitenesse of his love that he that knew no sinne should be made sinne for us that wee might be made 2 Cor. 5.21 The righteousnesse of God 2 Cor. 5.21 2. What those robes are of Christs righteousnesse and how pretious those Garments are of our Elder Brother which the blessed Apostle so much desired Phil. 3.5 2 Tim. 4.8 1 Pet. 5.4 Phil. 3.5 together with the misery and most unhappy condition of those that want them 2. Tim. 4.8 1. Pet. 5.4 3. What the Crowne of Immortality and Life meaneth and whether it bee worth the blood of so many Martyrs and holy Confessors as have beene spilt from righteous Abel until now for the obtaining of it 4. Lastly what a glorified body is and the dignity and excellency of the same when our bodies shall be light and nimble passing up and downe as upon the wings of the Winde when our dayly foode shall be the love of God and all our drinke drawne out of the River of Celestiall pleasures when our bodies shall be transparent like the purest Christall and our soules shining through the same like so many sparkling Diamonds when God lastly shall bee all in all the vaile remooved and wee for ever with him The which in themselves are things so excellent that whilst I am speaking of them me thinkes I heare my soule thus secretly complaining Heu mihi peregrinor tandin c. Alas that I soiourne in Mesech Psal 120.5 Rev. 22 and dwell so long in the Tents of Kedar Lord Iesus come quickly Secondly if we take the words as some translate them Cadavera mea resurgent My dead Carcasses shall arise then questionlesse in calling them his dead carkasses the blessed spirit assureth them of his speciall care over them untill the day and time of their resurrection commeth so that although they have left the world yet are they not quite lost but when they are not then are they his dead Carkasses A dead Carkasse though of the dearest friend wee see usually few will owne A memorable example amongst many others wee have in William the second the Conquerors successor who being fatally killed and now falne to the earth all his company Nobles and others instantly forsooke him save only a few of the meanest sort who laying his Princely Corpes uppon a homely beere drew it into a house or lodge neare at hand now if this were the portion of so mighty a Prince whom immediatly before so glorious a troop so royally attended what must others then of meaner ranke expect and and looke for but onely with deaths closing up their eyes to have all their friends excluded and no sooner gone but to be as suddainely forgotten For Oblivion and neglect Psal 87.8 are the two handmaids of death and her Kingdome where shee principally tyrannizeth is Terra oblivionis The land of forgetfulnesse when as David therefore would expresse the worlds ingratitude in the highest degree toward him he fetcheth her comparison from her usuall manner in forgetting of the dead Psal 31.12 Psal 31.12 I am forgotten saith he like a dead man out of minde And from this evill fashion grew that ancient and usuall custome of erecting monument over the dead ut mentâ—m moneant ad defuncti memoria that they might retaine and keepe in memory persons formerly departed the consideration whereof as it cannot questionlesse but much trouble the dying heart even of the dearest servant of Christ who naturally is sociable and desiring the company of man as we see in Ezechias dolefull complaint Isa 38.11 Isa 38.11 I shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the earth So ought the very hearing that all the dead bodies of the Elect are the Sonnes of God his dead carkasses and peculiar charge mightily to cheere up their dejected soules at the last houre and period of their lives If then it happeneth as oft it doth that these or the like Melancholly thoughts uppon the approach of Death enter thy troubled breast and thus thou secretly musest with thy selfe I see mine houre and time is now at hand when I must away and suddainly make my bed in darknesse in the slimey valley whither my friends will not care to come and mine acquaintance tremble to approach where my onely Comrade must bee corruption and the worme my chiefe companion Then remember that being Christs in thy lifetime thou art his when thou art dead then his living Temple and now his dead carkasse Neyther doth his love at all fayle when breath fayleth For however others perhaps will loath thee yet bee sure hee will not leave thee but closing thy dying eyes with his gracious hand will go along with thee unto thy Grave where having sowne thee like precious seed will not forsake thee until hee shall rayse thee in a most glorious manner For even as those infernal spirits are never absent from the Graves and tombes of Reprobates prophaine and wicked persons but there they are tryumphing over them as their spoyle and conquest so is the sonne of God never absent by his Divine presence from the Graves and monuments of all pious and Religious persons perfuming them with the odoriferous savour of his death and passion and so preserving of them that not a bone of them is lost The which being so Psal 34 20. when that time commeth and dye I must egredere anima mea