A SERMON PREACHED IN SAINT MARY'S CHURCH IN OXFORD March 26. 1612. at the funeral of THOMAS HOLLAND, Doctor of the Chair in Divinity, and Rector of Exeter College, BY RICHARD KILBIE Doctor of Divinity, Rector of Lincoln College. AC: OX Printed at Oxford by Joseph Barnes, and are to be sold by john Barnes dwelling near Holborn Conduit. 1613. 1. COR. 15. 55 O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin: and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ. THese parcels of holy Scripture naturally divide and branch themselves into these four head-streams. 1 The joyful Exultation and Triumphant insultation of all the godly, in the person of St Paul, over Death and the Grave [O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?] 2 The original Cause of Death; which is sin. [The sting of death is sin.] 3 The Power and life (as it were) of Sin; which is the Law [The strength of sin is the law.] 4 And last, The Victory and conquest of Christians in their head and Captain Christ jesus over Sin, and Death [Thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory through our Lord jesus Christ.] Of all these by God's gracious assistance etc. But first of the cause of Death, which is Sin, and so of the rest; and in the last place of the triumphant Insultation over death, which will best befit the present occasion. It was the error, or heresy rather, of the Pelagians (as St. Augustine writeth) that whether Adam had sinned or no, Augustin. lib. 1. Hypognost contra Art. 1. yet he should surely have died; because God had created him mortal, and was the author of death as well as of life: so that Adam was the immediate subject both of life and death in God's first intention, and institution of mankind. Whereas the truth is, that man before his fall was neither mortal nor immortal (Necessitate) by any necessity of creation and institution from God: Hugo de S to Victore de sacramentis legis nature. & script. in. dialog. and yet he was both mortal and immortal (Potestate,) by his own power; because then indeed life and death were both in his power. For although, in regard of the contrary principles whereof man consisted, he had in himself a natural propension to corruption; inasmuch as contrarieties both in bodies natural & politic, always breed destruction of those bodies: yet God in the first creation had given that special and celestial power & virtue unto the soul, that it was ever able to have preserved the body from sickness, and from death, & to have perpetuated the same throughout all generations. So that the God of Nature in the beginning never intended that Monster of Death, as the Pelagians and Celestians did erroneously conceive but when the soul by her divorce and separation from God through sin lost her life, both Passive, which she received from God, and Active which she infused to the body, than the soul lost all power and ability of perpetuating the life of the body. For what is more just than the law of Retaliation with God, even to punish like with like? and therefore (as St Bernard saith) Anima volens perdidit vivere, Bernard. in serm. ad milites Templi. Cap. 11. nolens ergo perdat & vivificare, The soul of her own accord lost the life which she had in God; and therefore now will she, nill she, she must lose the life, which she gives unto the body. And so indeed man is now become mortal by necessity; partly, by the frail condition of the body, Th. Aquin. in lib. 3. sentent. distinct. 16. artic. 1 ut à causa disponente as the disposing cause (as the Schoolmen speak) always tending to corruption: but especially by sin, ut à causa removente prohibens, which did remove the original justice of the soul, which was the obstacle and bar of death; Math. 7.13. and so let open the door & wide gate to hell & destruction. Wherefore God is not the cause of Death, Sap. 1.13. Deus enim mortem non fecit, God made not death, but Satan, by suggestion; and Adam, by sinful action: the one moving to sin, the other committing sin. Wherefore as the thief or malefactor is the author of his own death, and the just judge no cause thereof; albeit he pronounce the sentence of death against him: In like manner, sinful man is the cause of his own death both of body and soul, and God is but the just judge to pronounce the sentence of death, Morte morieris; Gen. 2.17. Thou hast sinned, and therefore thou shalt surely die. For sin is indeed that sting of the serpent, that stingeth man to death: Augustin. lib. 1. Hypogu. it is not the biting of the serpent only, as S. Augustine derives the Latin word Mors à morsu serpentis, as if death had its name of the biting of the serpent; but it is more, even the sting of the serpent, because as the poison of the serpent is collected and united in a small sting, as the fittest instrument of deadly poison: so all the venom & poison of Death is in the sting of sin. For sin is the Father of Death, By one man sin entered into the world, Rom. 5.12. and death by sin: jam. 1.15. and it is the Mother of Death, When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin bringeth forth death. Let none then make God the author of death, because by his just sentence he condemneth man to die for sins sake, & the trespassing of his law, as the judge the malefactor for offending against the laws of God and man: Neither let any think Satan the author of death or of punishments Propriâ potestate, as by his own power; sed permissione divinâ & propria suggestione, but as of God's permission, & of his own suggestion: And let every one of us say unto another, 2. Sam. 12.7. as Nathan said to David, Thou art the man, Thou art the cause of thine own death. For it is sin as a viper in the bowels of man, which eateth out the bowels of man; it is the canker of sin in the heart of man, that devoureth the heart of man: Hos. 13.8. and as God said to Israel, Perditio tua ex te o Israel, O Israel thy destruction cometh of thyself; the like may God say to every man, O sinful man, thy death and thy destruction cometh of thyself. For as the heathen Orator said of the privilege of a Citizen of Rome, Cic. prodomo suâ ad pontif. Nemo Civis Romanus aut libertatem aut civitatem amittere potest nisi ipse author factus sit, No citizen of Rome could have his freedom taken from him, or lose the privileges and immunities of his City, except himself was the author thereof: the same may truly be spoken of the excellent Privileges & Prerogatives of Paradise, the City of God, wherein Adam was first enfranchised, that none could take away Adam's freedom from him, or banish him from that heavenly City, except himself had been the first cause thereof, except himself had disfranchised himself. For it was Adam's sin, that brought him death; and the sting of his sin hath stung all mankind to death: through the offence of one, death passed upon all men, Rom. 5.12. for as much as all have sinned in him. Rom. 5. Yea the little children, who die so soon as they are new borne, are stung to death through sin; not because they committed sin, but because they were conceived in sin: Augustin Hypognost. lib. 5. as S. Augustine doth well distinguish their sin to be uterinâ conceptione, non personali actione, through their sinful conception, and not through any personal action. Parvuli enim non actu, August. Ibid. sed ortu sunt peccatores, Infants are sinners, not for any fact, Psalm. 51 5. but for birth sake, they are conceived in sin, and borne in iniquity. For if they had been free from all original sin, as they were from actual sin, they should not so soon have died, because the wages of sin is death; and where is no sin, Rom. 6.23. there is no death; to wit Necessary and penal. For albeit Christ died, who did no sin, yet his death was Voluntary, 1. Pet. 2.22. Tradidit in mortem animam suam, Esay. 53 12. john 10.18. he offered himself of his own will to die; he powered out his soul unto death; he laid down his life of himself: But all other men die necessarily; Statutum est omnibus semel mori, Heb. 9.27. It is appointed to all men that they should once die; it was the decree of God for sins sake that every man should die, and that decree of God was not, Respectu naturae institutae, in regard of the first created nature of man, sed respectu naturae destitutae, in respect of the depraved and corrupted nature of man through sin. Again, Christ's death was Expiatory, but man's penal: Christ's death was not the sting of sin Passively, to be stung to death by sin, as man's was; but it was the sting of sin Actively, to sting sin to death; for his death was the death of death. Thus than you have heard the cause of death to be sin, according to these words of my Text [The sting of death is sin. The second thing which I noted is the Life and Power of Sin, which is the Law [The strength of sin is the law.] Whereas sin in the time of the Law of Nature in many did seem dead, or at least senseless, and to lie as in a trance, so that it did not manifestly appear what was sin, and what was not, the eyes of men's minds and understandings being darkened and overcast with gross mists of ignorance and error; then the law of Moses brought sin to life again. Rom. 7 9 Quando enim venit mandatum, revixit peccatum, when the commandment came, sin revived. The bright sunshine of Moses Law made sin shine clear in its perfect colours; and then the darkness and confusion of the differences of sins was taken away, that every one might run and read what sin was: Rom 7.13. Et supra modum peccatum erat peccatum per mandatum, sin was grown out of measure sinful by the commandment. For the law made the full tide of sin; which grew by these degrees. First, in his being: for sin had his beginning, and being as it were from the Law; Rom. 4.15. because where no law is, there is no transgression, Rom. 4. Secondly in the knowledge of sin: as St Paul saith, Rom. 7.7. I knew not sin but by the Law; for how should I have known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not lust? Wherefore knowledge hoysseth up the waves of sin: for where the greatest knowledge is, there the greatest sin is, if virtue & godliness be not the handmaids of knowledge, and that it be not seasoned with grace, according as our Saviour saith, Luk. 12 47. Luk. 12. That man who knoweth his master's will, and doth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. And therefore saith St Paul, Tribulation & anguish, and indignation, Rom 2 9 and wrath shall be upon the soul of every man that doth evil, of the jew first, and also of the Gentile. Rom. 2. Why upon the jew first, but because he knew most, and therefore is first and most punished? Theophilact. in cap. 2. ad Rom. as Theophylact on that place saith, judaeus plus divinae susceperat disciplinae, unde erat dignus maiore supplicio; The jew had received a greater measure of knowledge, and therefore receiveth a greater measure of punishment; because he knew the Law of the Lord but did not keep it. Thirdly, the Law increaseth sin by forbidding sin: for the more the Law forbiddeth sin, the more doth the wicked man covet sin. Ruimus in vetitum, we run with all might and main to that which is forbidden us, August. in lib. de speritu & litera cap 4. Quod enim concupiscitur fit iucundius dum vetatur; The prohibition of any thing to be done is as sugar to sweeten the appetite thereof: as the forbidding of meats many times by the Physician needeth no further sauce to provoke appetite in the patiented most of all to desire those meats. And as swelling waters, the more they are barred their course and flow by floodgates, and locks, and wheires, the more they rage and swell and overflow: so the more the Law doth seem to bolt and bar men from sin, and to set them their bounds which they should not pass, the more is sinful man's nature enraged, and the more the swelling waves of wickedness do overflow, and make their full tide. All which cometh to pass, not because the law is sin, for it is holy, just, and good: Rom. 7.12. but because the Law is as a by-occasion, and not any just cause to increase sin, and to give vigour and strength thereunto. For the law is the strength of sin, not of itself, but by accident; not directly, but indirectly; as appeareth by the three former degrees of being, knowing, and forbidding: as also by the great industry and policy of Satan, who seeing God to have made the Law as a bar to keep men from sin, doth therefore labour the more to tempt men thereby, and to make the Law as a snare to catch men. Wherefore for conclusion of this point, the Law is no more in fault that man groweth more sinful thereby, than the sune in the firmament is in fault, because sore and blear eyes become sorer and blind thereby. For as the Physician is not to be blamed, or his physic in fault, because the sick patient doth ill apply it, and by his distemperature in diet turneth wholesome physic and medicine to the increase of his malady and disease: In like manner, God the Physician of men's souls, who gave his law as a sovereign medicine to preserve them from sickness and from sin, is not to be blamed, or his law in fault; but sinful man, who maketh that sovereign medicine as poison unto his soul to increase his sin. Thus you have heard how the Law is the strength of sin: I come now to the victory & conquest of Christians in their head and Captain Christ jesus over sin and death [Thanks be unto God, which hath given us victory tbrough our Lord jesus Christ. When mankind was not able to encounter with Death that great Giant, which did overcome all people by his power, & did trample upon Kings & Princes, tyrannising over all at his pleasure; for indeed death was like that mighty King Prov. 39 who had his name of a compound Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alkum, Prov. 30 31. and is as much to say as none is able to stand or rise up against him; like josua the Captain of Israel: for as he shut Kings & Princes in caves of the earth, jos. 10 18. and roaled great stoces upon the mouths of the caves, Ios. 10.50. So death shutteth the greatest Emperors and Kings in caves & in graves, and rolleth great stones upon the mouths thereof, & maketh great tombs over them:) I say, when mankind was not able to enter lists & combat with this potent tyrant, but was forced to yield & lie down at his feet: Then Christ jesus that blessed son of God, and son of David, 1. Sam. 17. encountereth like his father David with this great Goliath, and with a strong manner of fight overcometh him; not with any instrument & weapon of war, or by fight, but by dying. He slayeth death as David did Goliath, with his own sword: 1 Sam. 17.51. He overcometh Death with death. Dum occiditur, occidit, Hieronym. lib. 2. Epist. 24. as St Hierome speaketh; whilst Satan and death sought to kill him, he killeth them both, & maketh his death their death: as it was prophesied of him Hos. 13. O Death, Hos. 13.14. I will be thy death! O grave I will be thy destruction! Christi enim morte mors mortua est; by Christ's death, Death died: Devoravit, Hieronym. ubi. supra. & devorata est, it sought to devour, and itself was devoured; for whereas it sought to catch at man's humanity, it was devoured of his deity. And even therefore, according to the Apostle Heb. 2. Heb. 2.14. did Christ take flesh and blood upon him, that so he might die in his flesh, and through death destroy Death, and him that hath the power of Death, that is, the Devil. So that Christ hath carried away the gates of death, judg. 16.3. judg. 16.30. as Samson sometimes did the gates of Azza: and hath, like another Samson, by his death slain the great Philistines, even sin and death, and the Devil. But some peradventure will say, how hath Christ overcome death how hath his death taken away death; seeing death reigneth and ruleth now as much in men's bodies since Christ's death as before, and men die as fast as before? For answer hereunto, you must consider that there be two manners of death: the one of the body, the other of the soul; the one temporal, the other eternal. Now this eternal & spiritual death of the soul Christ hath already taken away In re, indeed, actually destroying that in all the faithful through remission of their sins in his blood: But the temporal death of the body he hath only taken away In spe, in hope of the glorious resurrection of the body at the last day, when death shall be swallowed up into victory, 1. Cor. 15.54. Revel 21.4. and when there shall be no more death. For this corporal death, which is a temporal punishment of original sin, Alex. ab Alex. part. 4. qu 8. membr. 8. Artic. 2. Christ hath not taken away Simpliciter, simply and altogether; but quoad dominium only, as the Schoolmen speak: that is, the power and dominion of death is taken away by Christ, as appeareth, Rom. 5. where it is said that death reigned from Adam to Moses, Rom. 5.14. that is, all the time of the Law inclusively; Psal. 68.18. even until Christ, who by his death hath destroyed the kingdom of death, and hath led captivity captive. And therefore this tyrant Death (whose kingdom is already actually destroyed, though itself shall not be fully destroyed until the end of the world, for the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death) I say, 1. Cor. 15.26. this tyrant Death, being thus depulsed and driven out of his kingdom, Origen. in c. 5. ad Rom. Non tam regnare, quàm latrocinari videtur, doth not so much seem to reign and play the Tyrant, as to play the thief and murderer to kill men. And this power of death Christ hath not taken away, August. lib 13. de Civit. Dei. Cap. 4. Ne fides enervaretur, quae corporis immortalitatem in spe exspectat, quam in re nondum habet, as St. Augustine giveth the reason; namely for the further exercise of that part of a Christian man's faith, whereby he constantly believes the immortality of the body hereafter, which in this life it cannot have. Yea Christ may be said in some manner already to have taken away even the corporal death also in the godly, inas much as he hath taken away sin which is the sting of death, and as it were the form and life of death. So that as honey is not truly honey, when it hath lost its sweetness; nor Vinegar truly vinegar, when it hath lost its tartness and sharpness; nor Aloes and Gall truly so, when they have lost their bitterness: no more is the death of the righteous truly death, having lost its bitterness, Psal. 69.21. and fearfulness and terrors in the godly. The gall and vinegar, which Christ drank a little before his death, hath taken away the gall and bitterness of the death of the faithful, in whom death, hath lost as the greatest part of its nature, so even the very name of it too, it being in them no more but a sleep, as it is called in divers places of holy Scripture, 1. Thess. 4.15. whereof for brevity sake I will name but one. 1. Thess. 4. where it is said that they which live and are remaining at the coming of the Lord, in the resurrection shall not prevent those that sleep, that is all those that are dead before. Wherefore to draw towards a conclusion of this point, it doth appear how the faithful are conquerors in Christ their head and Captain over sin and death; for Christ's victory is their victory, because all his fight with sin and death and the Devil, the great and capital enemies of mankind, was only to make men his faithful members Conquerors: so that they may say with St Paul in my Text, that God hath given them victory over sin and death through his son Christ jesus. Numb. 21.9. Now is their death become like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, which had indeed the shape and form of a Serpent, but nothing else of a serpent, nec motum, nec morsum, nec venenum; neither life, nor motion, nor tongue, nor sting, nor poison of a serpent: In like manner the death of the godly in the wilderness of this world hath the likeness and semblance of death; but it hath no sting, it hath no venom, it hath no poison. But, whereas it is to the wicked and ungodly the beginning of sorrow and everlasting torments, it is to the godly and righteous the end of sorrows, but the beginning of everlasting joys: to the wicked it is the gate of hell; but to the godly the gate to heaven: in a word, to the wicked it is death indeed even death of body and soul, but to the righteous rather a life then a death, even the entrance and passage to everlasting life. So that when they lie on their deathbeds, and are even at their last gasp, when they are ready to give up the ghost, and death seemeth to have gotten the upper hand of them, and brought them almost as low as the dust; Theod. lib. 1. Eccl. Hist. cap 20. yet even then as julian said to Christ Vicisti Galilaee, O Galilean, thou hast overcome me, so may death say to them Vicisti Christian, O Christian, thou hast overcome me. No marvel then if our blessed Apostle here in my Text, in the person of all the godly, burst forth into that joyful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and triumphant song, [O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?] which now followeth in the last place to be considered, containing the joyful exultation, and triumphant insultation of the godly over Death, and Hell, and the Grave. The Heathens and Pagans, saith St Origen, were wont to celebrate the day of their birth and nativity, Orig. lib. 3. in job. as only loving this, and looking for none after this: but Christians must not so much celebrate and solemnize the day of their birth as of their death; because albeit they lose this life, yet they must look for, and more love another life. And the dying out of this world is not a death, but a life rather, Quia non moriuntur siqui mori videntur, Orig. ut supr because they, saith the same St Origen, who here seem to die, do not die indeed; for albeit they seem to flesh and blood to die, yet in truth and indeed they live eternally. And as jacob after his wrestling with the Angel was sinew shrunk, and had his thigh out of joint, and went halting; but had his name changed, and was no more called jacob, Gen. 32.28.31 but Israel, because he prevailed with God and did see God: Semblably, the godly after they have wrestled with the Angel of death on their deathbeds, may have the sinews of their bodies shrunk up, & all the parts & members thereof out of joint (for death indeed disjointeth all) so that they are not able to go upright, but are carried on men's shoulders unto their graves; yet the Angel of death in the end cannot but confess, that they have power with God, & that God will bless than, & give them a new name, Revel. 2.17. so that they shall no more be called jacobs, mortal men, supplanting one another here on earth, but Israëls, prevailers with God, seers of God, and blessed Saints of God in the kingdom of heaven. The godly then have great cause to rejoice, and insult over death, saying, O Death, where is thy sting? Thou mayest indeed sting our bodies unto death; but thou hast lost thy great string, thou canst not now any more sting our souls to death. O Tyrant, thou mayst kill our bodies for a time, but thou canst not kill our souls for ever. So that they may say with S. Bernard; O mors, Bern. serm. 26 sup. Cantic. stimulus tuus non est stimulus, sed iubilus, O Death, thy sting is no sting unto us, but our jubilee, and crown of rejoicing: 1. Thess. 2.19 thou thinkest to send us quick unto hell, Greg. Nyssen but thou sendest us quickly to heaven; thou art as a midwife (as Gregory Nyssene speaketh,) to help to bring us out of the womb of this world into a better world, Psal. 27.13. and into the land of the living; thou art the ship, wherein we sail unto the haven of our happiness, whilst we are here almost drowned in the deluge of this miserable and wretched life. Gen. 5.29. And therefore as Lamech called his son Noah, because he should comfort him & make all his labour and sorrow to cease and rest: in like manner all just and righteous men may call death their Noah, the son of their rest and comfort from all their labours and sorrows and sicknesses & diseases & pains; for then all these things and all such like miseries shall be done away, and shall never be again. When Vrbicius Governor under the persecuting Emperor Aurelius Verus, Euseb. l 4 hist Eccles. cap. 16 would needs put Lucius to death for the profession of Christianity, Lucius scorned him, saying, O wicked Tyrant, wilt thou put me to death? thou dost me a great favour, and a great kindness, for thou sendest me from the tyranny of a cruel Lord and Governor ad bonum patrem & clementem Regem Deum, to a good Father & a merciful King, even God my Christ and my Lord. So when death that Tyrant, to whom every knee must bend, and bow at his presence, threateneth Christians, they may justly answer him, as Lucius there did Vrbicius; O Tyrant, dost thou threaten to kill us? thou dost us a great kindness; thou freest us from the tyranny of wicked men here on earth, and sendest us to a loving father and a merciful Lord in the heavens: thou freest us from the stinking prison of this world, to send us to sweet and pleasant palaces in the world to come. And that they may likewise say as St Basil said to Modestus Governor under Valens the Emperor, Greg. Naz. in orat 30 in laudem Basil. when he threatened his death, mors mihi beneficij loco erit, quia cito me ad Deum mittit, cui vivo, & ad quem propero; Oh welcome Death, thou art a great benefit, a great advantage unto me, for thou sends me quickly to God to whom I live, and to whom I long to go. And therefore O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave where is thy victory. And now (Beloved) lest the stream of discourse should carry me beyond the compass of the time, Application. and I should tyre out both my weak spirits and your Christian patience; I come briefly to some short application, as the present occasion and your expectation requireth: that as I have hither to spoken of death, so now I may say something also of this dead subject presented here before your eyes. And albeit it be too hard a matter for me either by speech or action sufficiently to commend his excellent worth, all that I can say being far too little, and no way answerable thereunto: yet because, Hermol. Barbarus in epist ad joh. Picum Mirandul. as Hermolaus said of a great learned man. Quia talem non laudat, propriae existimationi detrahit, so may I say of him, that if I should not somewhat honour him with just commendation, I should much wrong myself, and wrong you all; I beseech you therefore lend me your favourable patience but a while, whilst I speak briefly of his Learning, Life, and Death. That so both I may faithfully repay some part of that I own him, (for deserved praise is tanquam aes alienum, Greg. Naz. orat. 25. in laudem Gorgoniae. as due debt, saith Greg. Nazianzen, and is to be paid even to the dead) and others also thereby may be the more incited to emulate, and follow his steps. First, as touching his Learning; such was his skill in the tongues, and his multiplicity of knowledge in all Arts & Sciences both divine and human, Mantuan. in Epist. ad joh. Picum Mirandul. that as Baptista Mantuanus spoke of Picus Mirandula, in uno eodemque homine videri Hieronymum & Augustinum revixisse; so it should seem that both these learned Fathers did live in him again. Act. 18.24. He was an Apollo's, mighty in the Scriptures; he was familiarly conversant amongst the Fathers, and as a father amongst them; and amongst the Schoolmen tanquam Seraphicus Doctor, at whose mouth, as at an oracle, men might be resolved in matters of doubt. And therefore most worthy was he of that chief place of the Doctor of the Chair in Divinity, which he with so great applause and approbation, I had almost said admiration, so long (even about twenty years) bore amongst us: out of whose School have proceeded so many light stars of our Church, Greg Naz. orat. 25. in laudem Gorgoniae. that as Greg. Nazianzen compared his father, so might this our Reverend Father be well compared to Abraham. For he was an Abraham indeed, Pater multorum filiorum, a father of many sons, by scholastical creation of them in the highest degrees of Learning: and that I may speak the more to his honour, and to the honour of our Mother the University, a great part of the Reverend Bishops of the Land were thus his sons; whereof * The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London. two at this day very worthily sit at the stern of our Church, and are chief pillars thereof. But I will say no more of his learning, lest my praise should but eclipse his fame, who was so much renowned for his preaching, reading, disputing, moderating, that all mouths commended him, and strangers admired him; so that his fame was spread abroad, and that in foreign countries as well as at home: and therefore it were sore to be lamented, were it not that the good pleasure of Almighty God was such, that so much learning should go to the grave, and be buried in the bowels of the earth. And so I hasten to speak of his Life; which was so answerable to his learning, that it is hard to say which was more commendable and admirable to him, the one or the other; his Learning, or his life: they did both so equally meet and kiss each other in him. And surely, they are an happy couple where they meet together; Plin. lib. 2. Nat. Hist. cap. 37. Geminae salutares, like Castor and Pollux: when they both appear together, they portend much good, and betoken a happy arrival in heaven. He had as well tasted of the tree of life, I mean of good living in the world, as of the tree of knowledge. He was not like those of whom Seneca speaketh, Sen. Ep. 95. ad Lucil. Qui postquam docti prodierunt, boni esse desierunt; quique disputare norunt, non vivere, who after they became learned began then to leave of to do well. Neither was he like those of whom Alvarus complaineth, Alvarus lib. 2. Artic. 74. who had rather apparentem, quam existentem scientiam; rather an apparent & seeming knowledge unto the world, thereby to climb to riches, and promotions, and honours here on earth, then scientiam donum Spiritus sancti, true and sanctified knowledge which is the gift of the holy Ghost, whereby they might climb up to the kingdom of heaven. But he had otherwise and far better learned Christ then so: & was so holy, and upright, and sanctified in his life and conversation, that, as Alexander de Alice (as Trithemius reporteth) was wont to say of Bonaventure, Trithemius. quòd in eo non videbatur Adam peccasse, that it did scarce seem that Adam had sinned in him; so it might in some sort be said of him also in the very like manner, at least in comparison of many in this wicked generation: so spotless was he & blameless from all great enormous and scandalous offences: being full of the works of the Spirit, as love, peace, gentleness, meekness temperance; full of tender mercy & brotherly compassion; full of alms deeds and mercifulness unto the poor. So that as he was a shining bright lamp for his learning & lightning others unto the knowledge of the truth: so was he a shining bright star too in his life, enlightening others in the pathway to heaven. He was praeco veritatis, a preacher of the truth; and he was factor veritatis, a doer of the truth, he was an earnest professor of the Orthodox faith, zealous of true religion; & did hate with a perfect hatred all Idolatry, and superstition, & false religion. The relation of the fellows His common farewell to the Fellows of his College, when he took any longer journey was this Commendo vos dilectioni Dei, & odio Papatus & superstitionis, I commend you to the love of God & to the hatred of all Popery and superstition. And as he was a great Champion for the defence and maintenance of true Religion, so of all piety and godliness, Ephes. 6. having on the whole armour of God: for as he had the shield of faith, so he had the breastplate of righteousness; and as he had his loins girt with verity, and with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, so hath he now the helmet of salvation, which is set on his head as a Diadem and Crown of glory in the heavens. He was meek and humble as Moses: Exod. 34.29. and as Moses witted not that the skin of his face shone bright, which the children of Israel saw and admired; no more did he see and know how his knowledge and virtues did shine unto the world, but was meek and lowly in his own eyes. I will not presume too much of your patience to speak any further of his life, albeit I verily assure myself you would think nothing too much and too long which should be spoken of him: and for myself I could not want matter of discourse in so worthy a subject. Wherefore considering how much time hath been already spent in the solemnizing of his funerals, I am willing to yield unto the time, and to mine own and others weakness; and and therefore hastening to an end, I come in a word or two to speak of his end and Death, leaving the manner & circumstances of his sickness, & the name and nature of his disease, which is unto me altogether unknown, and no more than conjectural with Physicians; art & the knowledge of man being unable to comprehend all that infinite variety of particular diseases, whereby God at his good pleasure bringeth men unto their ends. Now what end and death can be judged of him, but a good end, & a good death? For a good life is the forerunner of a good death, according as S. Hierome saith, I have not read or heard, Hieronym. but that he who lived well, died well. And as the whole time of his sickness was accompanied with holy Prayers and devout meditations, so towards his end especially he did even seem to power out his soul in prayer; breathing out (as his short breath would give him leave) these & such like heavenly songs, a little before day the same morning that he died, Come, oh come Lord jesus the bright morning star; Come Lord jesus; I desire to be dissolved, and to be with thee: as, if he had fully conquered death, and had said in his soul, O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave? Where is thy Victory? The Lord hath given me victory over you through his son jesus Christ. And so when his voice began to fail him, that he could pray no longer with his tongue, lifting up his hands unto heaven, Psal. 121.1. and his eyes unto the hills from whence cometh salvation, Deut. 34 5. he shortly after died a most sweet and a quiet death: like unto Moses, who died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the mouth of the Lord; that is, as some of the Rabbins & Hebrew Doctors interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a kiss of God's mouth: for so indeed death is to the godly sweet as a kiss: Rabbi Isaak n Deut. 34. & therefore when they are ready to commend their souls unto God, they may say with the Spouse in the Canticles, Cant. 1.1. Osculetur me osculo oris sui, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. And thus this reverend man hath left us, and hath left the world; and surely he had little cause to love the world, and it should seem the world did as little love him: so that as it was said of Othniel, a good judge in Israel, that he died, Glossa in jud. cap. 3. quia indignus erat populus habere talem judicem, because the people were not worthy to have such a judge; the like may be said of him, Hollandus mortuus est, quia mundus indignus erat habere talem virum; I name him for love & honour's sake, HOLLAND is dead, because the world was not worthy of him: for it did not reward him according to his worth; but the greater is his reward with the Lord to whom he is gone. Now the Lord grant us grace to live all our days in his fear, that at length we may die in his favour, and receive the reward of everlasting life. Amen, Amen. FINIS.