THE END OF THE PERFECT MAN. A SERMON PREACHED AT the Burial of the right Honourable Sir ROBERT SPENCER Knight Baron SPENCER of Wormeleighton, Novemb. 6. 1627. in Braynton Church in Northamptonshire, BY RICHARD PARR Bachelor in Divinity, and late Fellow of Brasen-nose College in Oxford, now Rector of Ladbr●●k in Warwickshire. OXFORD, Printed by WILLIAM TURNER Printer to the famous University. An. Dom. 1628. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, Sr WILLIAM SPENCER, Knight of the , Baron of Wormeleighton. Right Honourable and my very good Lord, VOuchsafe to accept that which was both conceived, and brought forth at Your Lordships Command; you have given it a being, it now craves your protection; and the rather because it brings you at once a testimony both of my Obedience and weakness. The Piety and Worth of our late noble Lord, Your worthy Father (now with Christ, deserved, (I confess) a fare more learned Pen, though had not need of any: 'tis the Privilege of Virtue and Religion, to be their own Pannegyrists,— habent opera suam linguam (saith S. Cyprian) & suam facundiam tacente linguâ,— they have not only tongues of their own, but eloquence, and in a powerful silence proclaim themselves. 'Tis therefore a superfluous labour to endeavour to preserve his memory in these poor paper monuments, who still life's in those walking images of Himself, his religious and hopeful Children; still life's in the sad hearts of the poor and naked, whom his Charity hath so often fed, and clothed: in that neglected virtue of Hospitality, (for justly may it preserve that Name into eternity by which itself life's; which in this cold dotage of the decrepit World, and perpetual frost of Charity, would be benumbed or starved, were it not entertained and cherished by that honourable Name of Spencer and some few others:) but in this Your Honour will satisfy the world, who believes You as truly to succeed Him in his virtues, as possessions; and in his pious and religious Examples, which ever survive their Author's Funerals, they have a life of their own, or rather an immortality, by which they not only continue unto posterity, but powerfully persuade to imitation. But since it hath pleased the dead to appoint a Sermon, and the living to make choice of myself (the most unworthy of God's Ministers, none being more conscious of his own defects, none more willing to serve this Honourable Family according to his weakness) I have studied to fit my Sermon, to his Funerals. He did not affect Pompam funeris, as Hierome speaks ad Paulam upon the death of Blaesilla: nor I Pompam Sermonis; here's no Rhetoric used to move the passions and affections, which are the stops and frets of the Soul, to be fingered by the Art of a powerful Orator: I know the times we live in to be critical and touchy, and that our Funerallists frequently endeavour to teach sorrow to be eloquent, an age wherein an intemperate curiosity of style is become not only a humour, but a disease; for my part I have chosen (in a pious observance of that plainness he required) rather to satisfy the desire of the dead, than the curiosity of the living; and therefore I do not (as the old Romans used) laudare defunctum pro rostris (to speak with Suetonius in his julius Caesar, Shindleru●▪ ) nor have I painted his Sepulchre (like those ancient jews;) no, I appeal unto the world if I may not justly take up that of Bernard, testimonium veritati praebeo, non affectioni. If any accuse this poor Piece, as Lucilius did the writings of Fabianus Papirius; for to plain, I must borrow that Apology which Seneca made for him, mores ego, non verba composui, & animis scripsi illa, non auribus; Seneca ep. 100 That divine Moralist commands his young Lucilius, that he should ever suppose Cato or some of the stricter Stoics, a beholder of all his actions, Sen. ep. 11. thinking the conceit of such an awful presence, a sufficient direction: Your Honour needs go no further than the happy memory of your blessed Father either for direction or pattern. Suppose you him bespeaking his Children as Valerius Corvinus did his Soldiers, Facta mea vos imitari vellem, nec disciplinam modò, sed exemplum: take out the Lecture, and go on (great Lord) in those virtuous and pious courses he hath trodden before you, and that God, with whom he now reigns in glory, prosper and protect you in all your actions, guide and direct you in all your ways, crown you with the blessing of peace here, and with a Crown of glory hereafter: this shall ever be the prayer of him who is, and professeth still to continue Your Honours in all humble duty and observance RICHARD PARR. The Preface. IT was the great wisdom and care of our Honourable and religious Lord, now translated from Earth to Heaven, a Made about three years before his death. in his last Will and Testament, to give directions in several passages unto us, who are the Actors in this last Scene, of his decent and Christian Burials. First for his blessed soul, that he voluntarily resigns and bequeathes into the mighty hands of GOD his Creator; into the gracious arms of GOD the Son, his Redeemer; and into the comfortable fellowship of GOD the Holy-Ghost his sanctifier: Three persons, but one GOD, blessed for ●uer. His blessed soul thus bequeathed to be admitted into the Congregation of the sacred Trinity; into those celestial and everlasting habitations. Then he commends the care and charge of his body to his survivers with these ensuing directions in many circumstances. First, for the Vbi or place, where it should rest, Secondly, for the manner (How) it should be brought to its place of rest: And then, he directs us in this sacred business, or action, I mean, the preaching of this Sermon. For the first circumstance, the Vbi, or place of rest, it is in the womb of this holy ground; b Braynton Church in Northamptonshire. and more punctually, in that honourable and rich Monument with his elect Lady, & beloved Wife; whose Christian death & dissolution divided their bodies, not their souls: c He lived a Widower 30 years. witness those many years he hath spent as a mourner of her Funerals; witness that individual Monument for them both, to testify to the world, that happy union, of which, neither life, nor death could cause a disjunction. Thus did the spark of his neverdying love, guided by a divine providence, kindle and inflame his heart with a desire, not only of dying in the same bed on earth, but also of lying in the same bed under earth: where they might dwell together again, as in a house of safety and peace, until they rise jointly to a joyful and glorious resurrection. And as we are thus confined to the Vbi, or place of rest: so are we restrained in the manner (How) he would be brought thither, not in the pompous train of Heralds, and glorious Ensigns, nor in dumb ceremonies, and superfluous shows, but in a decent & Christian manner, without pomp d These are the words of the Will. or superfluity. And as we are thus confined in one Circumstance, and restrained in another: so are we prescribed in the third place for the preaching of this Sermon, in the face of this Congregation, whilst he wils a Sermon, not a Panegyric clothed in the colours of Rhetoric, nor yet a Funeral Oration, to blazen his Honours, to hyperbolise in his praises, or to draw a glorious line of progenitors. No. Mallet precibus in coelum ferri, quàm plausibus; as his soul went up to Heaven in praying: so he had rather his body should be entombed in preaching, then in unjust and over-praising. Therefore he wills a Sermon for the advancing of God's glory, a Sermon for the instruction of his Children, and friends in the fear of God, and to stir them up to e These are the words of the Will. live well, and dye well: which by the grace of God we shall do, out of the 37. Psal. at the 37. Verse. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. FInis coronat opus: It is the end that crowns the work or action, & not that alone, but truly distinguisheth the person: pass by the house of God a little, and walk upon the stage of the world, there mark and behold the promiscuous actions of all persons, & we shall find little difference betwixt Ethiopians and true Israelites, betwixt true Christians, and counterfeit formalists, betwixt him that offers sweet incense in the Church of God, & him that sacrificeth blood in the Devil's Chapel; Look upon Cain and Abel for the outward action, both are sacrificing: Look upon Esau & Hezechia, both are weeping: Look upon Achab and Mordecai, both are in sackcloth mourning: Look upon Saul and David, both are confessing: in a word look upon the righteous & the wicked, both for a time (perhaps) are like green bay-trees, flourishing: but mark the end, that crownes the action, that, distinguisheth the person; The end of the is, what? 2 Vers. 39 He shall be rooted out at the last: but for the godly and upright man his end is crowned with the blessing of Peace. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. The parts are 3. 1. An injunction, Mark and behold. 2. The object or person, the perfect man and upright man. 3. The motive, or reason, for the end of that man is peace. Resolve these 3. parts into these 3. Queries: First, what this perfect man is, or how fare man in this life is capable of perfection? Secondly, What the upright, or just man is for our imitation? Thirdly & lastly, what it is to end in peace for our great comfort and consolation? We begin with the first Querie, what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfect man is; or how fare a man in this life is capable of perfection? For the resolving of this Querie, part. 1. in the first place, the Roman Doctors distinguish thus. b Perfectio alia est praecepti ac meriti, alia consilij & supererogationis. vi. Aquin: 2.2. quae 184. Art. 2. & 3. There's a perfection of precept and merit, and a perfection of Counsel, and supererogation; the perfection of precept and merit, they determine to be in omnibus iustificatis, & saluatis; but the perfection of counsel and supererogation agrees only to some which aspire higher, not only to save themselves, but others, as monastical votaries. Surely this is the generation of men, of whom Saint August. complains, Sunt quidam inflati, Aug. de ucibis Apost. s●rm. 29. etc. there are some like vessels blown up with wind, filled with a haughty spirit, not solidely great, but swollen with the sickness of pride, who dare be bold to say, that some men are without sin, whereas there own Caietans rule is most Catholic: damnatum est peccatum, non extinctum: Sin is condemned in some, in none extinguished. And as Saint August: brands such men with the spirit of haughtiness, and pride: so doth Saint Bernard bequeath unto them a miserable woe, a S. Bern. serm. contra vitium ingrati. Vae generationi huic miserae, woe to this miserable generation, to whom their own insufficiency seems most sufficient. Would but the indulgent Rhemists learn from these ancient Fathers, they would not interpret our Saviour's (vade, Mat. 19.21. & vend) of a perfection both of merit & supererogation: both which kinds of perfection distilled from Roman brains, we of the Church of reformation deny and reject, distinguishing of perfection, thus. The perfection which in sacred Scriptures, and ancient Fathers, is attributed to holy men of God for their righteousness, and good works is either Extrinsecall, b Vid. Zanch. tom. 6. comment. in cp. ad Phil. c. 3. v. 15. or Intrinsecall. Perfection Extrinsecall, adventitious, or by way of condonation, is, when that which is imperfect in us, is freely pardoned by God, for Christ's sake, according to that of S. Aug: c S. Aug. lib. ●. Retr. cap. 19 Omnia Dei mandata facta deputantur, d Aug. 19 de ciu. Dei. c. 27. quando id qd none fit ignos●●●ur: all the commandments of God, are deputed performed, or done, when that is freely forgiven which is undone: And again, such is our righteousness or perfection in this life, that it consists in remissione peccatorum potius quám in perfectione virtutum: rather in the remission of sins, then in the perfection of virtues. Secondly Intrinseccall perfection, or perfection by way of inhesion, is either absolute, which is nothing else, but sincerity or simplicity of heart, opposed to hypocrisy, or double dealing with God; in which sense job is said (Chap. 1.1.) to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a perfect man: or else it is comparative in a certain respect, or by way of comparison with others, & so Noah is said to be perfect: (Gen. 6.9.) but with this addition (in generationibus suis) that is, Gen. 6.9. he was very righteous and perfect in respect of others, that lived in those lewd, & godless times; so Saint Paul elegantly expresseth himself. We speak wisdom amongst those that are perfect. 1. Cor. 2.7. i. amongst them which have a greater measure of grace, 1. Cor. 2.7. & knowledge then most of you have: for otherwise, if we speak of absolute perfection, he is absolutely against it, Phil. 1.12. and confesseth of himself, a S. Aug. in Ps. 38. that he had not attained unto it, (Phil. 3.12.) And Quis sibi arrogare id audeat, quod Paulus ipse fatetur se non comprehendisse? b S. Bernard in Cant. serm. 49. S. Bern. super Cant. serm. 50. And as for that seeming contradiction raised out of the 15. verse. implying in himself, c August. de tempore serm. 49. and exhorting others to Perfection, Saint August, wipes it away with this short distinction. S. Paul was perfect secundum intentionem, non secundum preventionem: perfect, in regard of intention, & purpose, not in regard of provention, and obeying his purpose: And Saint Bernard is no less plain, & peremptory in the case, Magnum illud electionis vas perfectum abnuit, profectum fatetur. That great chosen vessel of election grants profection, that is, a going forward, but denies perfection. Well then doth Saint Augustine conclude the point. Perfectio hominis in hâc vit â est, invenisse, se non esse perfectum. The perfection of man in this life is, to find, and acknowledge himself not to be perfect. * How the Law is possible or impossible to be perfectly fulfilled. See the Protesarts Appeal by Thom. Morton, D. of Divinity, and new Lord Bishop of Coventry & Lichfield. lib. 5. ca: 12. sect 2. And as for the cloud of witnesses which scemes to rise up against this truth in sacred Scriptures: d Gen. 17.1. Deut 18.13. Matth. 5: 48. 2: Cor. 13.11. Ephes. 1.4: 5: 27. 1: P●t: 1: 15: Saint August: supplies us with several answers which he reduceth to these several heads. 1 First, he answereth, that some of these places are exhortations, and admonitions, whereby we are stirred up so to run the race which is set before us, e S. Aug: lib: de iustitia Christi contra Coelest tom: 7: S. ●ugustins four ways of answering such Scriptures which seem to plead for an absolute obedience to Gods will & Commandments that we faint not, though we cannot attain unto it; for in laws and admonitions that is not always required. tantum praestari possit quantum suadetur: that so much should be performed by us, as is enjoined to us: but in them is showed unto us Quousque conari oportet: how earnestly we ought to strive and follow hard toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. 2 Secondly, he answers, that many of these places do show unto us, not what, we (now) are, but what we shall be at the end of our pilgrimage, for then, we shall be perfect when we arrive at that haven whither we bend our Christian course, or race. 3 Thirdly, when the Scripture mentions men that are perfect, and immaculate, we are to understand by them such men, who have not defiled their garments, or polluted their consciences, with gross and damnable enormities; in this sense, many of the Saints of God are said to be perfect, not that they are without sin, (which is impossible) but because, it reigns not in their mortal bodies, or because they have not wallowed with the swine in the mire, but kept themselves unspotted of the world. 4 Lastly, the Saints of God are said to be perfect, and without blame, and reproof; nay, innocent & blessed, because their sins are not imputed unto them, but freely forgiven in, and for Christ: for so it runs. Blessed is the man whose wickedness is forgiven, and unto whom the Lord imputeth no sin. Psal, 32.1. Psal. 32.1: a S: Aug. in Loc: Which sweet passage Saint Augustine makes to excel all others read unto us in the Church militant, for the fitting, and preparing of a dying soul for the Church triumphant: and good reason for it; for, what the Lord forgives, who can require? what he imputeth not, who shall bring it out, against us, to judgement? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen? Rom. 8.33. 'tis God that justifieth: & how? not only by taking our unrighteousness from us, but by giving us his own righteousness, for Christ jesus is made unto us wisdom and righteousness. 1. Cor. 1 30. This righteousness being ours by the free gift & imputation of God, is not now, alienased nostra iustitia. 1. Cor. 1.30. But not to lose the point on foot, i. how fare a man in this life is capable of perfection: There is (ye know) a perfection of parts, and a perfection of degrees: Perfectio Parti● & Graduum. The former is when a man hath respect to all the Commandments of God, not allowing himself in the breach of any of them: the latter perfection, is, when a man performs all exactly, as the Law in rigour requires; he that is perfect the first way may be resembled to a weak and feeble child, that hath all the integral, & perfect parts of a man, but not perfectly, or (to speak with the Logicians) integralitèr, integrally; again, he that is perfect the latter way, may be resembled to a strong growne-man that hath all his parts in perfect vigour. To apply then, we may be perfect the first way (i) a man may have perfection of parts, How a man in this life may be said to be perfect said to 〈◊〉. because he may love every good, and hate every evil in some measure: but the second way we are not perfect, (i) a man cannot have a perfection of degrees, because he can neither love good, nor hate evil as be should; the first kind of perfection then, we grant; the second, we deny: neither that, as touching exact performance continually, but as touching constant resolution habitually. Neither is this all we understand by perfection, or have to say for the perfect man, by whom, in a second place, we may safely understand the innocent man, so the Septuagint reads it. The innocent man. Custodi innocentiam, keep innocency, or mark the innocent man, the man that makes a covenant with his eyes, and whose hand is not imbrued in violence, the man▪ that is as innocent, a job. 31.1. as a dove, b Math. 10.16. that wrongs no man, oppresses no man, but as much as in him lies doth good unto all men. Perfect bonus est, & vere dicitur insons, Nec sibi, nec cujquam, quod noceat faciens. The simple and plaine-dealing-man. Again, by the perfect man, we may safely understand the simple and plaine-dealing-man, the man that is simple concerning evil, for so the vulgar reads it custodi simplicitatem; keep simplicity, c Rom. 15.19. or mark the simple and plaine-dealing-man, who in simplicity, and godly pureness, not in fleshly wisdom hath had his conversation in the world: this simple man dissembleth not betwixt God and man, d 2. Cor. 1.12. neither is he in the number of those, of whom the Poet complains. o'er aliud, tacitoque aliud sub pectore condunt. Not he minds the same thing, he speaks the same thing, he doth the same thing, without any respect of persons, though it be to his own prejudice, or hindrance. Lastly, by the perfect man we may sarely understand, the man who is, Integer vitae, scelerisque purus, a man of integrity of heart, The sincere man. & of a pure, and upright conversation, for so junius and Tremelius read it, Obserua integrum in the concrete, & the Chaldee paraphrase in the abstract, Obserua integritatem mark the integrity of the perfect man. This grace of integrity of the heart, and inward affections is exdiametro opposed to hypocrisy, dissimulation or double dealing with God: God love's truth in the inward affections: and if God love it, we must love it: and why? because, in a conformity with God, stands man's felicity: In this integrity of heart and truth in the inward affections are two things; holiness and sincerity, opposite to sin, and hypocrine: we must write holiness unto the Lord, or else we shall never see God: we must season all our actions with the grace of Sincerity else we shall never please him: but the speculation of these two graces, holiness and sincerity: will be more clear in the view of their opposites, fin and hypocrisy. Peccatum sin, in the School of God, is taught to be an exorbitancy, a swerving from the rule of truth, What sin is. a transgression of the law: and sin in the Schools of men is taught to be mendacium, a lie, and to lie is to go against the mind, or for the tongue te give to the heart the lie; in shedding of blood, the hand only lies, or is false to the heart, and in a common lie, the tongue only lies against the heart: but in hypocrisy is a general lie of the whole man: not the tongue only, lies to the heart, but the eye, the hand, the knee, and the foot also; the hand is lifted up to heaven, the eyes look up to God, the feet go, the knees bend and bow in the Temple of GOD, but where's the heart? doth that go along with them? no! The heart of the covetous man. is where his treasure is; the heart of the ambitious man, is, where his honour is: and the heart of a voluptuous man, is, where his pleasure is,— Haec tria pro trino numine mundus habet, this is the trinity which these worldling's worship: for although their feet go, and their knees bow in the Temple of God, though their eyes and hands be lifted up to heaven, yet their hearts are grovelling here on earth; it is the policy of sin to imitate sincerity, and the guise of hypocrisy to follow the fashions of integrity: the heirs of darkness transform themselves into Angels of Light, and Bastard Christians can counterfeit perfect men's behaviours, yet those heirs of darkness are not children of the light, nor these counterfeit, true Christians: and why? because they come short in this grace of sincetity, or integrity of heart: The painter can paint the colour of the fire, & the form of the flame thereof, but cannot paint the heat of it: right so, the counterfeit can resemble the perfect Christian in outward colours, forms & fashions, but not in his integrity of heart, or truth in the inward affections: Esau can weep bitterly, like Hezechia: Achab can put on sackcloth, like Mordecay; and Saul can confess in word I have sinned as well as David: yet neither Esau, nor Achab, nor Saul was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perfect man: and why? because none of their hearts were perfect in the sight of the Lord; such hypocrites are the greatest enemies to the Church, and truth, yet they will seek protection both from truth and Church: So Celsus and Antiphon writing against the truth, entitle their treatise, the book of truth. So Rome's Proselytes under the name of the Church, a Origen contra Celsum. overthrow the Church: Leo tells them truly Bcclesiae nomine armamini, b Leo, ep. 83. & contra eam dimicatis: Such men make conscience & justice the greatest martyrs in the world; the great man in doing mischief, pretends justice, the mean man always conscience: God & a good conscience are pretended on alsides: thus making good Luther's Proverb, c Luther in 3. ad Coll. In nomine Domini incipit omne malum, In the name of God they christian all their actions. But God is the God of truth, and love's truth in the inward affections, therefore such hypocrisy must needs be an abomination unto him, it offends him, it grieves his spirit, and at last it shall grieve the souls of them who are the authors of it, for it shall spoil them of inward joy, and peace of conscience here, and of eternal joy and peace in the kingdom of heaven hereafter. It is storied of Constantinus, surnamed Copronymus, that he was neque Christianus, neque judaeus nec Paganus, sed Collwies quaedam impietatis, that he was neither Christian, jew nor Pagan, but a certain mass or heap of impieties: and so (indeed) are all hypocrites: with the jews they salute Christ as their king, yet buffet him: they protect him with the Christian, yet persecute him with the Pagan: they are named Israelites, but live like Aethiopians: they speak with the voice of jacob, but work with the hands of Esau, and walk with the feet of joab, that any man may perceive not by their coat, but their particoloured conditions, that they are bastards and no Christians. But leave we these Hypocrites to their bastard brood, to their utter condemnation, to their vae, vae, vae, woe, woe, woe, in the Gospel, & come to ourselves, whilst condemnation falls on their pates, would we have the salvation of God shown on us? then must we with our perfect man in the text, order our conversation aright, and endeavour to serve God in the grace of integrity, with clean hands & pure hearts, for who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? a Psalm. 24.4.5. even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. And is there any way or means to know whether we ourselves, or others, are such men of clean hands and pure hearts? yes! Ex fructibus cognoscetis, by their fruits ye shall know them: for good and godly men are like trees planted by the river side, which bring forth their fruits in due season. I demand then? what are these seasonable fruits? Psalm. 1.3. doubtless, they are good works, & those good worksare of 3. sorts: of Piety towards God, of equity towards our neighbour, of sobriety towards ourselves: & as the works, so the fruits are of 3. sorts: by the 1. God is glorified, by the 2. our neighbour is edified, & by the 3. our consciences are comforted, & confirmed in the assurance of salvation, For howsoever good work sare no meriting causes, yet they are witnessing, effects or assurances of salvation; Make your calling & election sure: ('tis S. Peter's exhortation; 2. Pet. 1.10. ) but how? 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by good works, (Beza confesseth he saw two greek Manuscripts with those express words of the text:) good works have no place in the act of justification: for by good works (causative) shall not man living be justified, without good works (consecutive) shall no man living be saved: Oh that all disputing about good works were turned into doing, and that every Christian would take it into his higher consideration, that, although he is not now justified by good works, yet at that great and notable day of the Lord, he shall be judged according to his good works. Oh that our fruitless professors would lay this close to their hearts tell me what have they to witness for them, that they are Christians? Their tongues and lips say they are so: but, what say their lives and works? Look upon their unclean eyes, full of adulteries and lust: hearken to their dislolute speeches, full of oaths and blasphemies: see their polluted hands, imbrued in blood and full of violence: mark their feet how nimble, and swift, they are to shed innocent blood: do not these abominations proclaim them to be Pagans, rather than Christians? they feed not the hungry, they clothe not the naked, they visit not the fatherless and widows, they keep not themselves unspotted of the world, and yet these men, would have the honour to be reputed good Christians, (i) perfect and absolute men in all good works. But to conclude this point or Querie, concerning the perfect man: if we tender the great honour of being reputed such perfect and upright men, then let us be zealous of good works: and why? because they are the fruits of our perfection, of our integrity and truth in inward affections: nay, they are the very high ways wherein God hath ordained us to walk: we are his workmanship created in Christ jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them. Ephes. 2.10. Eph. 2.10. Oh then let us even strive with a holy emulation, to go one before another in good works, and to abound in them; ye know the Apostles exhortation. hortation. As long as we have time let us do good, and why? because when all other things in this world, our pleasures, our honours, our lands, our liuings, our parents, our friends, and whatsoever else is under the cope of heaven, shall leave and forsake us, yet our good deeds (even so saith the spirit) our good deeds shall follow us, and solicit for a blessing upon the souls of all perfect men, when they return to the chief shepherd & Bishop of their souls, Christ jesus; in whose gracious arms I leave the perfect man, 1. Pet. 2.25. and our first consideration of him, and in the next place crave your patience, whilst we direct your thoughts and devotions to the contemplation of the upright man. Behold the upright. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright. For the upright or just man I find it thus distinguished to my hand: A man may be said just 4. ways. Pars. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The first way of being upright, or just, is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to nature: and so no man living was ever just since the fall of Adam. This the Preacher proclaims (as it were) on the house top, with an asseveration, Certè surely there is no man just in the earth that doth good, & sinneth not a In our last translation the 20. verse. Eccles. 7.22. The second way of being just: is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to the opinion and judgement of men: such were Moses and Samuel, whose O xe have I taken etc. and they said thou hast not. 1. Sam. 12. verse 4. The third way of being just, is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to purpose and true endeavour, and thus Saint Paul was just, when he tells us, that he forgets those things which are behind, and reaches forth to the things which are before. Phil. 3.13. And as S. Paul was thus just in practice, Phil. 3.13. so was he in precept, charging every man to give tribute to whom tribute is due, Rom. 17.7. custom to whom custom etc. just so the Moralists bring in their verdict, prescribing the just man to give suum cuique, that unto every man which of right belongs unto him: & this (suum) necessarily implies as peculiar distinction & property of things: neither doth the Politicians pen alone domonstrate this, but it is the tenor of divine justice. Achab a King may not take away the vineyard of Naboth his subject, 2. Kings 21. 2. Kings. 21. this is the rule or Canon of Scripture. Where yet I find a fourth way of being upright or just, which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, by, or according to imputation. Thus Abraham was a just man, he believed and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Rom. 4.3. Here is the opening of the fountain, Rom. 4.3. or Ocean of God's overflowing goodness, who in mercy accounts us just and righteous, in, and for the righteousness of Christ, which is made ours this way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by imputation: he laid on him the iniquity of us all: Esay 53.6. Our God accounts our sin, his, and so he is punished as a sinner, Esay 53.6. and then he accounts his righteousness ours, and so we are rewarded as righteous. This is that royal exchange made betwixt Christ jesus, and all believing sinners: he becomes a curse for them, that they may be the heirs of blessing through him. Thus we see what the upright man is every way for our instruction. It now remains, that we make him our own by way of imitation: neither is this left to our own choice or pleasure, Note. to do, or not to do. No, the text inioynes it, and by way of authority commands us to mark the perfect man, and to behold the upright: and the ingemination or doubling of the injunction, mark and behold, gives way and clear passage to this natural observation. That it is the duty of all such, as desire to be upright and perfect men, to propose to themselves the lives and deaths of such men, as patterns to encourage them on in their Christian course and conversation. We have here no abiding city, we are Pilgrims and strangets: if we were not strangers Non hinc emigraremus (saith S. Aug.) we should not pass hence: 2 De verb. dom. serm. 32. but hence we must pass, will we, nile we: & in this our passage, there are many obstacles which may hinder us: many allurements which may divert us: it is therefore the goodness and wisdom of God, in this our pilgrimage, to lead us by the light, and examples of perfect and upright men: taenquám per statuas Mercuriales. that in the end of our pilgrimage on earth, we may safely rest, where they do, in the kingdom of heaven: to men of ingenuity (much more of grace) good men's examples, and gracious carriages, are powerful and winning means; thus Isaackes gracious carriage drew Abimelechs', and his friends affections unto him. Gen. 26.28. Gen. 26.28. Thus jacobs' religious conversation drew Laban, and put him upon that earnest suit, I pray thee if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: Gen. 30.27. Neither is it without good ground, that God would have perfect, & upright men's lives exemplary: for, they are powerful, not only to persuade imitation, but also to enforce approbation from the convicted consciences of the gainsayers: No man is so bad, but would conform himself to good courses, if they crossed not his private ends: and though he speak sometimes against the life, yet would be glad to die the death of the righteous. Again, the very nature of man is more inclineable to be guided by a Longum iter per praecepta, breve & efficax per exempla. Sense. example, than precept: Though precepts, and instructions be more reasonable, yet exampies prevail sooner, because more obvious and familiar. With what courage and life do soldiers go on if they behold a Commander engaged in some noble attempt? his valour makes them courageous, and his example is a powerful argument to provoke their emulation, emulation puts them forwards to the imitation of excellent men, as we see in Themistocles, b Vale: Max: l. 8. ca, 15. & in Plau. Apoth: whom the trophies of Miltiades would not suffer to sleep, until, by his like worthy acts, he had purchased to himself a like glorious name; & as it is thus in mere natural men and Heathens: so should it be amongst Christians in their Christian warfares. Saint Paul takes this to be a most winning course, and therefore he cries, Be ye followers of me as I am of Christ: 1. Cor. 11.1. 1. Cor. 11.1. Besides these motives, there are two weighty causes more, why the lives and deaths of perfect and upright men should be exemplary unto us: the first is, for the glory of God; the second is, for the justice of God: first, the proposing of such men's lives as examples to ourselves doth advance the glory of God, because, we seeing, or looking on their good works, do thereby learn to glorify our Father which is in heaven: Secondly, the proposing of such men's deaths, or ends, makes for God's justice: Ne Deus putetur iniquus, (it is the gloss upon the place) lest God should be thought unjust whilst we see the godly to suffer in pain, and the wicked surfeit in pleasure. For which very cause Epicurus denieth God's providence, not dreaming of that great day of reckoning, wherein the Lord shall come with 10000 Saints to execute judgement upon all such men, jude. 15. or, when the Lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, to execute vengeance on all men, that would not know God, d 2. Thes. 1.7. nor obey the Gospel of our Lord jesus Christ: not dreaming, that they who now surfeit in pleasure, shall one day suffer in pain, and flames of hell fire: if we have our heaven here, we must have our hell hereafter, Nemo potest & in hâc vitâ & in futurâ gaudere: if our way in this world be pleasant and sweet, we shall not much care for our heavenly Jerusalem e Cui peregrinatio duleis est, non amat patriam. S. Aug. in Psal. 93. which is above; it is therefore the lot of the righteous, to sow in tears here, that they may reap in joy hereafter: they must weep in this vale of tears, that they may sing and look up with joy unto those hills from whence cometh salvation. God in sacred writ is said to wipe away all tears, and happy are they that can shed them: he is said to gather, and blessed are they that scatter them; oh than let all the Epicures of the world wallow themselves in their sinful pleasures for a season: Let all inordinate persons put off the evil day and even weary themselves in the ways of wickedness, & make a progress in sinew, adding thirst unto drunkenness; but let all the Saints and servants of God run in the ways of upright men, and in patience wait until the day shall come, wherein in they shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous, doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth: let them (I say) in patience wait the Lords leisure, and in patience run the race that is set before them, run the race of the Perfect and upright man, lest their lives and deaths run to rise up in judgement against them: Let them so run, that they may obtain: a 1. Cor. 9.24: and what? Coronam gloriae, a crown of glory in one b 1. Pet. 5.4. place: let them so run, that they may obtain, and what? Coronam vitae, a Crown of life, in another place c Reuel. 2.10. : let them so run, that they may obtain, and what? Coronam iustitiae, a Crown of righteousues, in a third place d 2. Tim. 4.8. ; All these Crowns, a Crown of glory, a Crown of life, a Crown of righteousness, shall God (for his truth and promise sake) as rewards give unto them, if they propose, and proposing follow in all good conscience the lives and deaths of perfect and upright men. Yea, but such men's lives and deaths are rare examples, Ob. non cuivis contingit, every man cannot attain to such perfection: what then? Est aliquid prodire tenus, Sol. especially towards God, who accepts the will for the deed: Nay, who stands at the door, and knocks, being more willing to come to us, than we to him. Yea, Ob. but such men's lives are full of difficulties, anxieties, and dangers: Sol. true! but what's the issue? a gracious deliverance, the blessing of Peace at the last: many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of all. Who would have thought, that when joseph was in the dungeon, he should ever have been a Lord to his brethren, or a provident Father to a whole Nation? Who would ever have thought, that, when job was scraping his sores on the dunghill, having lost all his children, all his , all his houses & goods, he should have been richer than ever he was? Surely, this is the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes: many were the troubles of good old Abraham, but the Lord delivered him out of all: many were the troubles of good David, but the Lord delivered him out of all. What shall I say more? many are the troubles of every perfect and upright man, but the Lord delivers him out of all: all these troubles shall bring him peace at the last, for the end of that man is peace, our last query or circumstance: Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is Peace. The Schools in their labyrinths do wind and turn peace by many distinctions, Pars 3. Aquinas, 22. q. 29. acric. 1. and queries: Aquinas in four Articles, makes 4 queries of Peace. 1. Whether it be the self same thing with concord. Secondly, whether Peace be an effect of charity? Thirdly, whether Peace be desired of all? And lastly, whether Peace be a virtue? For the first query, the verdict is brought in negative; Peace is not the same with Concord, for there may be a concord amongst the wicked; Simeon and Levi were fratres in malo, brethren in evil: Amongst the wicked then, Gen. 49.5. there may be concord, but there is no peace to the wicked (saith my God) Esay 48.22. The rest of the queries concerning peace will not be so easily resolved, Esay 48.22. therefore I must refer him that desires a farther information, unto Aquinas 22. quast. 29. art. 2.3.4. where also he thus distinguisheth of Peace; Pax Perfecta, Imperfecta. There is a peace which is perfect, and a peace which is imperfect: The perfect peace consists in the fruition of the chiefest good, and is the ultimate end of the reasonable creature, according to that of the Psalmist, Qui posuit tuos sines pacem, and this kind of peace is not to be had but in the world to come. The imperfect peace is that which may be had in this world & principally stands and rests in the contemplation of God and his goodness, yet not without some repugnancies both within, and without, which disturb this peace. Hugo de Sancto Victore tells us of four kinds of peace, Duas dat mundus, Hugo de San: Vict. annotat. elucida: in Psal. 62. & 84. & duas dat Deus; The world gives two, and God two: The first Peace which the world gives, is, the quiet enjoying of temporal things: The second is, the health, or safety of our bodies: The first Peace that God gives, is, the sweet tranquillity of the mind; & the second is, that great delight and joy which we take in the contemplation of God; That is in man, This above man: Again, there is Pax temporis, which is nothing else but a temporal tranquillity: Secondly, there is Pax pectoris, Dionys. Ca●●●● lib. de pace. which is nothing else, but a rest, or peace of the mind, according to that of our Saviour, These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace: Lastly, there is Pax aeternitatis, which consists in the joys of heaven, which God hath prepared for those that love him. All these joys howsoever multiplied in themselues, yet they aim at an end in pace: For, finis civitatis huius (saith Saint August:) the end of the Saints of God in the city of God, is, either Peace in eternal life, or eternal life in Peace. But all this while we have not determined the Querie in the text, what it is to end, or die in peace: neither can we well conclude that, before we have taken special notice of two material circumstances. 1 First, of the necessity of dying. 2 Secondly, of the universality of dying. There is Statute-law for both, which no mortal can repeal, Heb. ●. Statutum est omnibus, it is appointed that all must once die: Statutum est, there's the necessity, omnibus, there's the universality. For the necessity of dying, as sure as we are borne to live, so sure are we borne to die: Nasci & denasci ordorerum est, to be borne, and to die, is the order and course of all things: Many men have lived long, long enjoyed the blessing of length of days, but yet those days have not outlived death: no! The same spirit of truth which tells us that Adam lived so many hundred years, tells us also, Gen 5.5. that he (died.) Enos lived so many, and he (died:) Cainan so many, and (died:) Methusalem so many, and (died:) These men lived many days, and months, and years, nay, hundreds of years, yet these many days, months, years, and hundreds of years, could not out-date death, could not free them from the curse of a morte morieris, thou shalt die the death. Hoc singulis additur, Gen. 2.17. (The note which some interpreters, give on this place is worth the taking up:) videas efficacem fuisse sententiam mortis á Deo latam in Adamum peccatum, Caluinus. Cornel: á Lapide, with others in 5, Geneseus. & posteros eius: (died) is added to every one, that we may see, the power and efficacy of that doom & sentence, which God gave on Adam sinning, and on all the sinful brood of Adam, which still lie soaking in the same lees of corruption, and so much the Hebrew phrase imports, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moriendo morieris: i. thou shalt surely die: I need not to travel fare for any more examples: only cast your eyes on this sad spectacle of mortality, and then conclude of a necessity: for if art or learned industry of Physic could have continued him, if strength of man could have delivered him, if wisdom could have saved him, if wealth of man could have ransomed him; deaths arrest had never attached him, death's sergeant had never imprisoned him; if greatness of estate, if gifts of mind, if chastenesse of life, if soberness in diet, if wishes of men, if prayers of the Church could have prevailed for him, if any thing could have given any advantage against death, darkness and blackness had not at this time covered him. And as nothing can repeal that statute enacted in the court of heaven for the necessity of dying, so nothing can alter the decree for the universality of dying: Statutum est omnibus, all must die: All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the field, Esay, 40.6. Lo the condition of all, Esay. 40.6. as well great ones, as mean ones, their glory fades, these whither like grass, but all meet in dust: The man life's not that shall not taste death: There is a common lot to all, all must go the way of all flesh; nay! we are now a posting in the common bark of death, and our life is nothing else, but Iter ad mortem, a journing towards death; of all things death will not be out-dared, Theogn. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, impudent death, saith the Poet, because he fears no colours, spares none, great nor good. We therefore should be as impudent, as death to challenge that unto ourselves, which is denied unto all: where are the great Commanders of the world? where are the rulers over thousands, and 10000: The Princes & Potentates of the earth; Are not Death, darkness, and the Grave their lot, the portion of them all? why then in this universal necessity of death should we sue for a dispensation for ourselves or friends? Oh then, Ferrequam sortem patiuntn● omnes, nemore cuset. lift up your heads ye drooping souls, who hang them down like bulrushes, & weep, and will not be comforted, because your Lord, your Master, your Honourable friend is not, true he is (not) in a prison, but in freedom, he is (not) in a sea, but in the haven, he is (not) in the bondage of corruption, but in the glorious liberty of the sons of God; he is (not) in his way, but in his Country, he is (not) in hope of Heaven, but in possession, & look how fare Heaven excels earth, goods eternal momentary vanities, the joys of the Saints of God, the delights of the sons of men, so much better is his case now, he is not then where he was: Oh then, Pereat contristatie ubiest tanta consolatie, forget your sadness in the midst of such joys, and if these Consolations (because unseen) will not dry up the Fountain of your tears, nor cause you to lift up your heads, then think upon the great Comfort which you saw with your own eyes, his death, his end, which was crowned with the blessings of Peace, and now at length after much tediousness, give me leave to determine what it is to end or dye in Peace. What it is to end in Peace. Pax cogitationis, To end in Peace with Euthymius, is to end in Pace Cogitationis, in peace of mind, as it is opposed to doubting. To end in peace with S. Cyprian, Pax securitatis. is to end in Pace securitatis, in peace of security as it is opposed to final falling. To end in peace with Origen, Pax conscienti●. is to end in Pace conscientiae, in peace of conscience as it is opposed to despairing. To end in peace withhold Iraeneus, Pax mortis. is to end in Pace mortis, in the peace of death as it is opposed to labouring. Again to end in peace, is to end in Pace Dei, Pax Dei. Proxim●. Sui. in the peace of God which passeth all understanding (i) fare beyond men's apprehensions. To end in peace, is to end in pace proximi, in peace with our neighbours (i) when no outcries or exclamations follow us: And lastly, to end in peace, is to end in pace sui, in peace with ourselves, (i) when no distractions or perturbations of mind molest us. Let happier wits find out, or invent yet more ways, let them take a Peaceful end or death, which way soever they will or can, yet a Peaceful death is still the consequence of a perfect life: and therefore in the next place be pleased to take special notice, what a necessary and infallible dependence there is betwixt an upright life, Note. Qualis vita, finis us. and a happy and Peaceful death. The day necessarily follows the rising of the Sun, and the night is as necessary a consequence of the falling of the same; and the same reciprocal dependence there is betwixt. a good life, and a godly death: I have lived perfectly (for so the Text argues) That is, I have had (in some measure) a respect to the Commandments of God; I have lived uprightly, and kept myself unspotted of the world, what then? why, then I shall have peace at the last, and so S. Paul argues, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, 2 Tim. 4.7.8 what then? why, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness: Oh then, let us fight a good fight with S. Paul, Let us be followers of him, as he was of Christ jesus, that we with him may receive a Crown of righteousness; The different ends of good and bad lives Let us keep the faith, and be constant unto death, & then God for his promise sake shall give us a Crown of Life; Let us dye unto sin, & we shall live unto righteousness; Let our bodies be the instruments of God's glory in this World, and they shall be vessels of honour in the world to come: But if we live here without grace, than we must look to dye without hope: if we sell ourselves to work wickedness even with greediness, than we must expect to dye or end comfortless, void of that great blessing in the Text, Peace: I conclude then with S. Bernard's exhortation, Si vis in pace mori, sis servus Dei, he that will end in peace, must serve the God of peace. And thus Right Honourable, right worshipful, and the rest heloved in our best beloved Christ jesus, I have indeavourd to fulfil the will of the dead, first in preaching (according to my small measure of knowledge) for the instruction of the living, & then in stirring them up, (after my plain manner) by proposing unto their higher considerations, the patterns of perfect and upright men, the fittest Champions for their imitation. For what man life's better than the upright man, and what man dies better than the man that dies in Peace? which was the accomplishment of Abraham's blessing, Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace: Gen. 5.15. in peace of mind free from doubting, in Peace of security free from final falling, in Peace of conscience free from despairing, in peace of death free from labouring, and (which is above all) in the Peace of God which passeth all understanding. The Sermon is done for the instruction of the living, it now begins for the honour and commemoration of the dead. IT hath been an Ancient custom in the Church of God for the Fathers to honour the deaths of God's Saints, by giving unto them their just and due praises, that the Living hearing of their good lives and deaths, may learn to glorify their Father which is in Heaven for them: Thus was Theodosius honoured by S. Ambrose; thus was Athanasius honoured by Nazianzene; thus Marcelia honoured by S. Hierom, and Malachy & Gerrard by S. Bernard. And yet such hath been the shameful abuse of this Ancient custom in the Church 06 by the glozing tongues of some Parasites rather than Preachers, that for us it will be a matter of great difficulty without the scandal and aspersion of flattery, to speak of him, the history of whose Life and death calls for a Livy rather than a Florus, and for a Demosthenes rather than for a Photion: and yet I shall remember on what holy ground I stand, & in whose presence I stand; in the presence of men and Angels, & which is most of all, in the presence of the Almighty who searcheth the hearts & reines. If then in such a presence I willingly call evil good, & apparel Vice in the Livery of Virtue, then let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth: But If in such a presence I speak the truth, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, then let such a presence witness with me, that our Honourable and right Christian Lord was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The perfect and upright man in every sense and interpretation we have made of him. The perfect man in our first sense or interpretation, is the man who hath respect to all the Commandments of God, not allowing himself in the breach of any one of them: And that he had such a respect to the Commandments of God Appears 1 In his love to God. 2 In his love to his Neighbour. His love to God appeared first by the exercise of his devotion and religious duties both in public and private, morning & evening. Secondly, in the great encouragement & countenance he gave to the Ministers of God, by hearing them with a great deal of attention, diligence & piety, by conferring with them with a great deal of devotion & humanity, & by his courteous usage of them, & feeding them like good Obadiah always at his own table with his children. And lastly, by his building, beautifying and adorning the Houses of God where he lived: and his exemplar liberality towards the Houses of Learning, being one of the first that gave his free will offering towards the building of the New Schools in his Mother University. Oxon, His love to his Neighbour appeared in reiceving the poor. He made his House an Hospital, giving every Monday morning, bread, drink, and money to 15 poor folks of the neighbouring Towns, besides his charitable Alms at good Times, & his continual relief of them at his gate, he was a good Landlord to his Tenants, insomuch that when one told him he knew not how to let his Land, setting it at so low a rate, his answer was, that he had rather a hundred should gain by him, then that one should cry out that he had undone him. He was a kind Master to his servants, providing for those that served him faithfully, that they might live plentifully in their old age, when they were not so well able to serve. In quieting & ending of differences among the richer, wherein he was happy, that none desired to appeal from, or went away discontented at his sentence. Divers of his friends trusted him with their whole estates, & with the education of their children, and he ever performed the trust reposed in him carefully and punctually. In our second sense & interpretation, the perfect man was the innocent man, that wrongs no man, oppresseth no man, defraudes no man: and than whom hath our perfect man harmed, whose ass hath he taken? as Samuel's justification runs on; nay how many oxen hath he given at his gates? Consider Our perfect man in our third sense or interpretation for the simple and plain dealing man, and then with whom hath our perfect man dealt double? His plainness & truth sought no corners, used no aequivocation, no mental reservations, as starting holes, (that's a guise peculiar to Roman Proselytes:) his plainness feared no colours, nor hide itself under the copy of a feigned countenance: no, his rule was the old & Proverbial rule, Qui vadit planè, Prov. 28.18. vadit sanè, he that walks plainly, walks safely, and in the end shall dye (as our perfect man did) Peaceably. Lastly, take our perfect man in our last sense or interpretation, for that man who is Integer vitae scelerisque purus, a man of integrity of heart, uprightness of life and conversation, & then what shall we say of him who endear oured rather to be good in deed before God, then to be taken only, or thought to be good before men? who judged zeal by truth in's inward affections, desiring to approve himself to God in the witness of a good conscience. Now we may judge of the Conscience, of the truth of the trees by the fruits, & a good tree is a good man, which brings forth good fruits; & these good fruits are good works, and then I dare, be bold to proclaim to the world that our perfect man was a good man because he was fruitful and rich in good works. And as he was thus and all these ways a perfect man, perfect in regard of innocence, perfect in regard of harmless simplicity, perfect in regard of integrty, and perfect in regard of the mystery of godliness, and saving points of divinity. So likewise, was he a perfect man in regard of many arts & sciences, the handmaidens to that Queen and mistress: And for his skill in Antiquities, arms, alliances it was singular. And for his perfection in Political and state affairs, that appeared to the world, as often as he was called to the great Council of the Kingdom, wherein he laboured for the public, employing his best endeavours to advance the good of the King and Kingdom, which he ever thought to have so strict a relation, that the good of the one could not subsist without the good of the other: and it pleased God so to bless him, that both the King and Kingdom had a good opinion of him. Our late Sovereign King james of happy memory thought so well of him that he employed him in an honourable Embassage to a foreign Prince, wherein he served his M ● with a great deal of loyal affection, and was well accepted on both sides. And as he had a full measure of knowledge in these things, so did he abound in understanding and perfection of Economical business, which first appears unto the world in the educations of his sons, which was like themselves very honourable in the Universities, schools of true learning, and sound religion, whose proficiency there, both honoured themselves and fitted them for employment in higher places. Secondly, as his wisdom and understanding appeared in their educations, so it likewise was conspicuous in their honourable marriages: for the son of his right hand which succeeds him in his chair of honour. (and long may he enjoy it to God's glory, the honour of his house and country it was his wisdom to plant and engraff him into a family which is second to none in true honour and nobility; Earl of Southampton. Sir George Fane. Sir Richard Anderson Sallust. ep. ●. and for the rest of his honourable children, he matched them with families that are every way very honourable in birth, in blood, in education, in religion: Quae omnibus semper ornatibus ornamento est, which is an ornament to all the rest, I cannot name these religious families without some devotion, and therefore my prayer for them all is, that they may continue long in honour, that they may live in the service and fear of god, and dye in his favour. But to return to their honourable Father and our right noble Lord, who as he wisely disposed of all things concerning their esse & bene esse in this life: so likewise in the same measure of wisdom hath he ordered all matters concerning them at his death, bequeathing unto them his Saviour's Legacy Peace: my peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you, that ye may keep the unity of spirit in the bond of peace. Thus he lived among them a fair a Above 60. years. age of Peace. Thus he died & left them in peace. Sic illi visum est vivere, sicque mori. Thirdly, his understanding & perfections in Economical virtues appears in the well managing of his great estate and means, wherein God blessed him above his fellows: It was his great wisdom to make a careful frugality the fuel of his continual hospitality, which hath honoured Spensers' family and race in many generations successively: it was a received rule in his Oeconomy, that a man might better keep a constant good house, than an unconstant vain pleasure. The last thing wherein his understanding and perfection appears in these matters, is the well ordering and governing of his household and families: he kept a great house, & yet an orderly, his servants were all of the same religion he was of, neither would he keep any that in some good measure did not live answerably to their profession: that as he was in truth, and not in show only a perfect man: so they likewise might endeavour to attain that perfection, recommended unto us by our Saviour, Mat. 5, 48. Be you perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And so I leave the consideration of him as a perfect man, and entreat you to cast your thoughts awhile upon him in the consideration of an upright man. Behold the upright. He was an upright or just man many ways, and yet not the first way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to nature, for so no man was ever just since the fall of Adam: but he was an upright and just man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, according to the judgement and opinion of men, as was Samuel. Again, he was an upright and just man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Sam. 12. according to purpose and true endeavour: for with Saint Paul he forgot the things which were behind, and reached forth to the things which are before, and pressed hard toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ jesus. Lastly, he was an upright, or just man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, which gave him an interest to that royal blood which is in the person of Christ, and makes him both to be an heir of the earth, & to have a title of inheritance unto heaven. Thus ye see we have found him to be the upright man many ways, and discovered him to be the perfect man in several constructions, according to which perfectness and upright dealing, God for his truth sake blessed him with a goodly inheritance and pleasant paradise, wherein in grew in abundance the Apples of Peace, which now we are to gather in the last place. The end of that man is peace. And the end of this perfect and upright man was (so) crowned, even with the blessing of peace: of peace which God gives, and of peace which the world gives. This consisted in the quiet enjoying of temporal things together with the health of his body for many years: That, in the sweet tranquillity of his mind, and in the unconceaveable joy which now he takes in the contemplation of God's beatifical vision. Again, his end was in peace, in pace proximi, in peace with his neighbour, no outcries, no accursed acclamations of cruelty and oppression follow his urn and ashes. Again his end was in peace, in pace sui in peace with himself, free from distractions of mind, free from convulsions of body, like a lamb he passeth through the gate of mortality into a house not made with hands immortal in the heavens. Mors janu● vitae. The pangs of death to him were so easy, that he seemed to find death rather than to feel it, a blessing which Augustus often wished for Sibi & suis, Sueton: in vita ejus. that a glorious life might be crowned with a fair and easy death. This blessing he obtained in full measure, because he passed away in a premeditated kind of sleeping, rather than dying, which is to dye the death of the righteous, for so the Hebrews say of wicked men that they die, but of the righteous or Saints of God that they fall a sleep as Lorinus observes well on Leniticus. And yet the honour and comfort of his death stood not only in this, that he went away in a sleep gently, but principally in this, that as he lived in this present world, so he died godlily, for having set aside the trrafficke of this world which passeth away, he trade's for an inheritance which fadeth not reserved for him in the heavens. Insomuch that his gracious visitation towards the end seemed fare more comfortable, then in the beginning, Wormleighton. which was clouded with some more sadness and dejection of spirit, not many days before his end in peace, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 macrob: in Som. Scip. lib. 10. cap. 11. God put a resolution into his heart to visit the place which gave him the honourable title of a Baron, that his soul might bless the poor there also before it's losing out of the body Ergastulum animae, the prison of the soul, and as in fine it happily proved, this journey was a setting forward towards the kingdom of heaven, for within the space of four days after his arrival there, the earthly taberuacle of his body was b Octob. 2●. 1627. dissolved, and his soul translated from earth to heaven, where our pens and tongues shall let him rest, only they crave leave to make a short history of his doings & sayings, in that short respite of life, after his coming to that place. His very first act (his private acknowledgement of God's great mercy for his safe arrival there being made) was to send for a neighbouring minister, (having left his household Chaplain at his mansion-house to wait on's office with the most of his family) whom he earnestly desires to continue with him during his abode there, morning & evening to pray with him, & to praise God for him; that was indeed the behaviour, method & guise of his devotion, throughout the whole course of his sickness, like good Hezekiah when he was sick, to pray unto God, and when he began to amend to praise God or give thank unto him. The next act of his (which doth preach to the world his religious end) was a gracious message he sent to a neighbouring minister, an ancient acquaintance of his, whom notwithstanding his profession he godlily exhorts to prepare himself, as he did for heaven, entreating him withal to remember him in his daily prayers, promising to do the same for him in his continual devotions. And whilst his Catholic charity and devotion thus spread themselves on others, was he unmindful of his own cause? No; he pours forth his complaints and supplications for his God's assistance against such passions as took most advantage on him in his greatest weakness, disiring withal, his friends and servants, to construe it not as an argument of displeasure against them, but rather of his great weakness when he spoke passionately to them in his sickness. And as his zeal and faith in Christ did still increase, and the inner man grew stronger and stronger, so his earthly tabernacle or outward man did sensibly languish & decrease; for indeed (as it appeared by an ocular demonstration,) the stock of Nature was quite spent, his glass was run, and being ripe for heaven, he was gathered like a ripe apple from the tree, and as he was in his life, Lucerna arden's & lucens, a burning and a shining candle, so it burned to the snuff: Nec extincta est tamen sed submota, which was not put out but set aside, In vitâ Malachiae. as Saint Bernard spoke of his dead friend: his life was a candle which burned to the snuff, a snuff which needed not a socket to conceal the stench, no, at the very last, it was as a precious ointment leaving a sweet presume behind it. And whilst that our right Christian Lord was thus dying unto the world, but living unto God, it was my great honour (being sent for before his Christian conclusion,) to be an eyewitness to the upshot of his happiness. D. Clayton Reg. Profess. Med: Oxon. It was no sooner made known unto him by his very learned and religious Physician, that I was come (according to my bounden duty) to do the office of a minister unto him, but he speaks affectionately, let him come in, let him come in with all my heart; (and surely God was in his heart, when his minister was thus the last man in his mouth;) and at my admittance into his presence, my first posture was on the bended knees of my body, which with the bended knees of my soul did solicit the God of mercy to bow the heavens & to look down upon him with the eyes of mercy; and whilst we with devoted hearts and hands sent our prayers to heaven, not a dew, but a full shower of grace and heavenly benedictions fell down upon us, for behold the heavens, and the heaven of heavens were opened, and the Saints and Angels ready prepared to receive his immortal soul with all joyfulness into their mansions of bliss and happiness. Thus shall the man be blest at's death that feareth God in's life, he shall be gathered to his fathers in the words of Piety, in the words of Prayer, and in the words of Peace, Peace of mind, free from doubting; Peace of security, free from final falling; Peace of conscience, free from despairing; Peace of death, free from labouring; and (which is above all) Peace of God which passeth all understanding. And what now remains, but that we devote our prayers, that as he rests in Peace, so ye may remain in Peace, even in Peace amongst yourselves, in Peace amongst your neighbours, in Peace amongst earthly Saints and heavenly Angels: Lastly in Peace with your God, which passeth all men's apprehensions: Now the God of Peace grant this, & that for his dear son's sake Christ jesus, to whom be all honour and glory now and for ever. Amen. HOlds yet our shattered world together sound? Doth it not reel and totter, and lose ground Crumbling towards ruin, whiles death's fection, Sickness and war, by troops, or one by one, Cull's out our worthies, which like Cement joined ‛ Its crazed parts together? when we find A states or bodies principal decay, Such symptoms presage ruin: And we may Too justly fear it, when, in peace and war Death on our best and brav'st prevails so fare. Death might have seized on thousands else beside This noble Lord, and the land gratified. If they had been our walking magazines; It had been mercy to draw out their mines In legacies, and some, perhaps, good deed. Or had they been straight landlords, who do feed On their poor tenants marrow, and still think No rack enough, till the squeezed tenants shrink To nothing, who with course and heartless care Pray, and so curse them that bred all their care; It had been mercy, though the successor, Perhaps abate not aught so racked up; for All change of torments ease: or had they been Some frothy Lords, or featnered fry, still in A track of fond and trivial expense Of coin and time, and of their wit and sense; These, and ten thousand such might well be spared Nor would the state, by their death, be impaired. But when a Noble Lord breathes out his last, The state sustains an Earthquake, and is cast, As to that limb into a Lethargy. Lords are like stars, which guilt from heaven's bright eye Reflects its splendour, and their influence On the inferior globe, from their orbs, whence They diversely dispense it. And when Death Bereaves a mortal star of his last breath, The sun wants so much demonstration Of light, and so much influence is gone Which cleared the world. And he that could relate What influence both on the Church and State Flowed from this Noble Lord, what cheerful light He shed abroad, to do his Country right, Whose good he tendered with more near respect Than aught that on his private did reflect. What warmth his beams of goodness did impart To the distressed, sad both in face and heart, What an unwearied, large, and open hand He stretched out to the poor, and how his land Was by their backs and bellies blest, while they Like rounds in jacobs' Ladder, sat each day In troops about his hospitable gate, Whence laden with his alms, early and late They hasted to their coats, and timely fed Their bedrid mates, and infants with his bread, What bounteous entertainment, and how free And hearty welcome, every guest might see Both in his face and house, which for resort And entertainment was a standing court Where every honest man, though ne'er so plain As welcome was, as if a scarlet train Or silken sail had usherd him, and he Might freely speak his mind, and never be Thought saucy, and command a finer man To fill him wine, who ne'er would frown & scan The cups or pains, but would his best afford To the meanest guest, enjoined so by his Lord. How just he was in all his actions, How free from racking or oppressions, How fare from causing any poor man's groan, How prone to hear and right the meanest one, What large rewards and means of livelihood His servant had from him, who understood And lou●d the service; And how firm a friend He was, how ready Goodness to defend, What progeny he left, how trained and bred To ●●ue and stand the Commonwealth in stead In any course it steered; And how he shone With Piety and true Devotion, Which opened and closed his each day. He that could In fitting terms relate these as he should To Truths honour and His, and take in all Which in this large Circumference must fall, Might write the truest and saddest Elegy Tbat e'er appeared unto a blubbered eye; But the sad Country's face, and poor man's cry Supply a living lasting Elegy, By whom, their Patron, and their Patriot, Though no verse were, will never be forgot. YOu are deceived, Great Spencer is not dead; he's dead, who when he's gone is perished. he's dead of whom there's nothing doth remain, Which may remembrance of his life retain. he's worse than dead, whose lise had so much blame, That after him there nought remains but shame, But glorious great good Spencer never dies; Who life's well here, sure lives above the skies. Of gracious Spencer there is nothing lost, But his sweet presence, which hath ●●tely cost So many a heavy sigh, and tear, and groan, Whiles he in white, leaves us in sable moan. His sweet embalmed ashes in their urn, Do breed a glorious Phoenix in the turn, Of Nature into glory, when the mould Of the new framed World shall ne'er grow old. Not any power created can unmake One grain of dust: O then let's comfort take: Rest thou sweet Bride, and for thy Brigegroome stay, Both shall be crowned at the great wedding Day. Great Spencer live in thy Posterity, Thy fame on earth, Thou in Eternity. THe Sun did set, a shower of tears did fall, A night of sorrow did o'erspread us all. The cloud did darken all Northampton pale, And thence did overshaddow all the vale, And mountains of Great Britain: tears that fell From English eyes his worth, our sorrows tell. But blessed be Heaven, a glorious Sun appears, Which clears the Air, and all the Country cheers. From England's Centre Spencer's happy seat, His wisdom giveth light, his goodness heat. The Church, the Muses, all the Country find In him that good, which in his Father shined. Shine long bright Sun, our losses to repair, And may thy House ne'er want so good an Heir. An Epitaph. HEre lies S. Mathewes blessed man, Math. 5. if ere Within Earth's bowels he entombed were. Humble in Mind. Vers. 3. & 4. Mourning these evil days. Vers. 5. Courteous and humbly Meek in all his ways. justice, Vers. 6. and right he made his meat and drink. Vers. 7. His Mercy clasped the poor when like to sink. A man of Peace. Vers. 9 & 8 Of heart and conscience pure. And for his Worth by some he suffered sure. 'Twas his perfection caused our grief; Vers. 10. His death A heap of virtues, which did stop his breath. His goodness robbed us of him; had Gods will Been like to most, we had enjoyed him still. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, AVlicus, Vrbanus, Musarum docta caterva; Totaque Spencerum terra Britanna dolet. Non dedignatur Coelum sibi sumere vestem Atratam, & multas solvitur in lachrymas. (Ille pius, iustusquefuit, patriaeque fidelis, Musis patronus, pauperibusque pater. Clare vale Spencere, vale reverend Patron, Et longùm splendens vivat imago tui. Unthankful world, which still imput'st the crimes. Of thine own folly to these latter times, As if all things were worse, and Nature's strength Were wasted so, that she must sink at length. If learned Hackwell have not changed this thought, And proved 'tis not the time, but thou art nought. See an Heroic, who I dare presage, Our sons will say, lived in a golden age; Men were but good at Best, nor could they more Than what was just. Those whom we most adore Did live at large. Had Mine and Thine been known In Saturn's days, men would have held their own. Spencer was great, good, rich, and nobly free, To show 'twas not his wealth was Lord, but he. His wealth did cherish worth, for where he spied But sparks of infant goodness, there he tried To raise a flame, and would not let it dye, But still revived it with a fresh supply. Young as I am and weak, not worth the care Of such an honoured Lord, I had my share: And humbly crave a room to moan his death Who heartened me and gave my study's breath. FINIS.