LAMENTATIONS FOR the death of the late Illustrious Prince Henry. AND the dissolution of his religious Family. Two Sermons: Preached in his highness Chapel at Saint JAMES, on the 10. and 15. day of November, being the first Tuesday and Sunday after his decease. By DANIEL PRICE, Chaplain then in attendance. MICAH 7.8. Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, though I fall I shall rise again. LONDON: Printed by THO. SNODHAM, for ROGER JACKSON, and are to be sold at his shop near to Fleetstreet Conduit. 1613. TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE, PRINCE CHARLES, THE JOY OF OUR SORROW AND THE HOPE OF SUCCESSION, ENGLAND'S CHARLEMAINE, DANIEL PRICE, WITH THE DEDICATION OF THESE, HIS TWO MITES, WISHES, THE ACCRUMENT OF ALL HAPPINESS, WITH THE DOUBLING OF THE SPIRIT, OF HIS BLESSED BROTHER UPON HIM. TO THE Honourable, Religious, and worthy Gentlemen, the great Officers to the late renowned Prince. To the Ho. worthy, Gentlemen of the Bedchamber: to his Reverend Brethren the Chaplains; and to all the rest of the Gentlemen and Officers of that Princely family. THe importunity of some, the expectation of many, and the kind acceptation of all of you, hath caused me to cast these two Mites into the Treasure of the public sorrow, and to present, that now to your hands, which in my attendance in this woeful time I provided for your hearts: They are plain, both because sorrow dislikes descant, and plain stuffs are fittest for Mourners: they are passionate, for in my meditation by the rivers of sorrow I sat down, & wept, and hanged my Harp upon the willow, trees, for ever tuning it to comfort or melody again: and when ye required this song of me in my heaviness, I knew not how to sing any song of the Lord, but a song of sorrow, in this strange land; strange for the sins, strange for the judgements. They are yours, they once breathed with you, and now ever shall live with you, a pledge of that heart that never rejoiced in any sublunary object, more, then to see, while our Sun did shine such an happy, friendly aspect of so many principal Planets, and sweet plants in this place: let Charity interpret me, and none will be offended that upon impetuous importunity I publish these last offices, to the memory of that illustrious Prince, our Master, for whom the sound of all tongues and applause of all hands testify, never was any more honoured in his life, never any more lamented in his death, that ever beheld the light of heaven in this land. My best devotion, & faithfulest services are presented with these; and so I remain Yours in all Christian duty Daniel Price. The first Sermon. Matth. 26.31. I will smite the Shepherd, and the Sheep of the flock shall be scattered. A Great Prince is fallen in Israel; 2 Sam. 3.38. 1 Sam. 4.21. Zach. 11.2. Aust. de Pas. the joy of the Christian world is deceased, Ichabod, the glory of Israel is departed: howl ye poor Fir Trees, your Cedar is fallen, Lachrimis non verbis, miserationibus non orationibus opus est. I know it is contrary to the grounds of Art, presently, at the first entrance, to hoist up sails in such a sea of lamentation and sorrow: But misery observes no rules of Oratory, and therefore without any further poem, we should all take up that Elegy of David, 2 Sam. 1. 2 Sam. 1. O noble Israel, he is slain upon thy high places! Tell it not in Gath, nor publish it in Ascalon, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice. O ye Mountains of Gilboa, upon ye be neither dew nor rain, there the shield of the mighty was cast down: jonathan was lonely and pleasant in his life, swift as an Eagle, strong as a Lion: ye sons of Israel weep for jonathan, which clothed you in Scarlet, with pleasures, and hanged ornaments of Gold upon your apparel. All of you of what condition soever, hear with silence what you feel with sorrow, the very thunderbolt of heaven. I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. Take up a lamentation, jerem. saith the Lord to the Prophet, A lamentation such as was not in the days of our fathers. Alas, no lamentation will sit our loss, a deluge of tears is little enough to bear the ark of our sorrow. Austin is said to weep a shower of tears, Ambrose a flood of tears; but you will tell me, Doct. Small Rhetorie intur Patres: I am sure jeremy wished for a fountain of tears, and my sorrowing & loving brother hath brought you a Sabbath days journey towards this Fountain, him I follow with paces of lamentation and love, and with as faithful as sorrowful observance, to his memory, for whom we are commanded to continue these our last accomplishments of attendance: we shall both endeavour to teach you that last lesson of our Saviour, Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. I have at this time settled the foundation of my meditations upon the farewell of Christ to his Disciples. A prophecy found in Zachary 400. years before it was used here; Zach 13.7. Mark. 14.28. joh. 16.27 repeated in Matthew, in Mark, and john, in all these places prophesying of the death of the lord of life. Hypocrisy is a true Pharisie, but grief is a bad Scribe, expect neither order nor matter, sorrow hath divided such shares among us, the scattered sheep and flock of this fold, that our souls are even divided within us. The words themselves, without any descant, be words of amazement and astonishment, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. Rom. 1.16 jer. 23.29. Heb. 4.12. Eph. 6.17. Every word of the Lord is a power, a fire, a hammer, a Pyoner, to overthrow strong holds, a sword to divide the reins and the marrow. But this an extraordinary word, it is the alarm to a battle, the voice of a Trumpet, an Earthquake, shaking the Pillars of the Earth, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. I will smite, vox furoris & doloris, saith a Gloss, the voice of fury in God, Gloss. Bern. Leu. 27. Deut. 28. Reu. 3.19. the voice of misery to man. It had been more mild, if, as in Leviticus, I will punish: or in Deuteronomy, I will correct: or in the Revelation, I will chastise. But who is able to bear his blow? who is able to stand before him if he be angry? by the least of his blows we are cut down, dried up, and withered. I will smite the Shepherd, not the sheep of his Pasture, not the Ewes great with young, not the Lambs of the Fold: if the sheep only had been smitten, Psalm. David's prayer had served; how long wilt thou proceed in anger against the sheep of this pasture? But the stroke is greater, more grievous, it is fallen upon the shepherd, the guider, the glory, the Prince of the people: I will smite the shepherd. And the sheep shall be scattered: his poor followers have no better phrase than the sheep of his flock, silly, simple, innocent creatures: Wolves have dens, Foxes holes, Birds of the heaven nests; but Sheep wander out of the way in the wilderness, Errand in montibus agni, they have no City to dwell in. If the servants of our Saviour had no more misery than they may collect out of the condition and consideration of being called sheep, it is much. Poor creatures, when they are strongest together they have no means to withstand the incursions & invasions of the Wolves; but the Text stirreth up more sense of sorrow: The sheep shall be scattered. Be scattered: it were, as if they were scattered & consumed: Be dispersed, it is as if they were destroyed, Lorinus. Psal. 119. disperdere is bis-perdere: they shall be, as David speaketh, either gone astray, like the sheep that perished, or as Christ speaketh, as sheep provided for the slaughter. Scattered they must be: I will smite the shepherd, & the stock shallbe scattered. Divisio. The parts are two: Part. 1 first, the death of the Shepherd: secondly, the dispersion of the sheep. The death of the shepherd, plainly in these words, I will smite the Shepherd: wherein, because I will not trouble you with unnecessary fractions: Look upon, first, The person smiting, I will smite: secondly, The person smitten, I will smite the Shepherd. Secondly, in the dispersion of the sheep, in these words, and the sheep shall be scattered, observe, first, the denomination of Christ's Servants, The sheep: secondly, the desolation of these sheep, The sheep shall be scattered. I will smite. Nazianzen. Non nisi coact us percuitis, saith Nazianzen, it is neither the Nature nor pleasure of God to be smiting. Abaddon, Apolluon, be the names of Satan in the Revelation: Revelat. but the Lord is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, & repenteth him of the evil. Gloss. Ord. joel 2. Exod. 34.6. Benignus affectu, misericors effectu, saith the Gloss upon the second of joel: Moses in the thundering and lightning heard no other attributes upon the Mount: David in his sorrows acknowledged no other: jonas in the belly of the Whale, & bottom of hell, among all the waves and surges, remembreth no other: joel in his day of darkness, and blackness, repeateth no other affections of the Lord, joel 2. but these, the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, & repenteth him of the evil. Psal. 145. The Psalmist gives God these titles, the Lord is strong and patiented, there is honey in the Lion, sweetness in strength, he is not only strong and patiented, but strong in patience, he doth foreslow his vials, and forbear his vengeance, till the cart-roapes of sin do hurry down his judgements. It may be he will upon long expectation cut away the lap of our garment, as David did by Saul, but it is a rare example, that he proceedeth againstany, as Satan's motion was against job, to stretch out his hand, job 1.11. August. & touch all that he had. There were four ages of the jews, in all four the people continued sinful: the judgements expected were fearful. In the first age of the patriarchs, he promised a blessing to their posterity: in the second age, of judges, he settled their Commonwealth and Policy in the third age, of Kings, he built them a City to dwell in: in the fourth, of Prophets, he built them a temple to pray in: he might have blasted them in their Spring, but he suffereth them to come to their Autumn; nay further, he endured them till their own looseness brought them to the fall of the leaf. It is the most vile and base condition of man, that when as God hath no other Fountain than the fountain of Grace in Zachary, Zach. 4. nor other riches than the riches of his mercy in the Psalms, nor other bowels than the bowels of compassion, and that the unlimited extent of his gracious affection is beyond all imaginable proportions, yet notwithstanding, man will unsheath God's sword, & will violently force him to his armoury, to put on his habergeon and brigandine, as Esay speaketh; to whet his sword, 〈◊〉 59. 1●. to bend his Bow, and to provide him deadly weapons, to ordain his arrows against them that persecute him, as the Psalmist threateneth, Psal. 7.13. that Heaven shall afford millions of Angels; Hell, legions of wicked spirits; Orbs, and Arches of Heaven, Stars to fight in their order; Elementary regions, hail, Frost, snow, storms, Tempests, Mildew, Blast: and the earth his great artillery-yard, to send out Lice, Mice, Flies, Worms, the very Nissets', Palmerwormes, Locusts, Caterpillars, cankerworms, small creatures, yet great armies, as he calleth them in joel: hereby causing jordan to run back, joel 2.25. his mercy to retire, yea, constraining him to alter his own desire and nature, and tenor of speech, as in this place, I will smite; & not only so, but as before, they cause the stroke, so afterwards they neglect the stroke, Pliny. as if the judgements of God were like to those Bruta fulmina among the Romans, which, because they fell upon the beasts, never came to observation. So wicked and beastly men never observe, neither why he striketh, nor who it is that striketh. A father hath no joy in the continual chiding or scourging, or cursing of his son, nay, his very bowels yearn within him for sorrow, his affection can be no less, Prou. 31.1. then of the mother of Lemuel, O my son, O the son of my womb, O the son of my desires. The compassion of the Lord can be no less, whose mercies be above all his works: yet, if a man will not turn, he will whet his sword, and bend his bow: Chrysost. in Psal. 7. acerbitatem poenae gladius, celeritatem designat arcus, saith Chrysostome: In vain do any attribute the inventions of swords to the Lacedæmonians, Plin. lib. 7. Nat. Histor. Ludolph. or of bows, to the Scrythians, God hath prepared them, eius sunt arma, cuius sunt verba, ego percutiam. Observation. First The observation collected from the words I will smite, is this, that in all judgements we ought truly to judge of the true author: he that being asked his name by Moses, answered, I am that I am; Exod. 3.14 he it is that afterwards threatens, I will bring famine; I will bring the sword; I will bring the pestilence. In the ten plagues of Egypt; in the beginning of them his words be, In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord, Exod. 7.17 Exod. 15.3 I will smite. He is a man of War, in the same book: Nay, the Lord of hosts and armies, often called in his own book: Murrain of cattle is called his hand; Pestilence his sword; Exod. 9.3. 1 Chro. 21 Psal. 91. sicknesses his arrows; his bow hangeth in the cloud; his sword is ever in his hand; his axes & hammers be in readiness; he it is that doth hurt and shoot, & wound and strike, and spoil and overturn. Hom. Odies. He is not jupiter inermis, as one thought, but as another spoke, his weapons be innumerable, & his hands unresistible. The religious Saints of God acknowledged this; David shall speak for all. O Lord, thy anger, thy heavy displeasure, Psal. 38. thy arrows stick fast in me, thy hand presseth down sore. The rebellious children of Israel acknowledged this when jerusalem as we find in the old Testament, had been 7. times assailed; by Shishak King of Egypt in Rehoboams' days; 1 Kin. 14. 2 Chro. 25 23. Isa. 7.1. 2 Kin. 18. 2 Chro. 33 2 Kin. 33. 2 Kin. 25. by joas King of Israel in Amaziah's time; by Rezin King of Aram in the reign of Ahaz; by Zenacherib King of Ashur in the time of Hezekias; by the captains of the Assyrians, who took Manasses captive; by Pharaoh Necho, that carried away jehoas prisoner; lastly, by the Chaldeans, who burned the Temple, and defaced the City: and that they had enemies round about them; on the East the Moabits Ammorites, Assyrians; on the west side, the Philistines; on the North the Syrians, on the South the Egyptians, Arabians, and Idumeans, all most infestuous to them, yet still cry out in their vexations unto God; thou hast covered us with wrath, thou hast made us the offscouring of the people. Nay, superstitious heathens have acknowledged this: Lam. 2.43 Exo. 8.19. the Enchanters, that the plague of Lice was the finger of God: Tiberius, that Thunder was the power of God: Homer, that the plague was the arrow of God: Hip. in prog. Hypocrates, that a great plague among them, was a punishment sent from God. Nay, blasphemous reprobates have confessed this; for the damned, at what time the storm fell upon them in the Revelation, they blasphemed God, Reu. 16.24. because of that plague of Hail. Use. A doctrine to confute those that put the judgements of God far from themselves, by putting them far from the true author of them, God himself. Natural & beastly men, who make natural causes the reasons of supernatural events, who to the wantonness of wit, add wickedness of will, Psal. 73 9 and belike to those spoke of in the Psalms, that talk presumptuously, and set their mouth against Heaven, making the power of God to be circumscribed by the power of reason, who, because they believe no more than they see, and fear no more than they feel, they go no further than the presence, never go into the privy-chamber of God's judgements, second causes must remove it from the first author. But I ask, as the Apostle doth, O thou man, who art thou that disputest with God? or rather, who art thou that deniest the prerogative of God? seeing he hath said, I do strike; I will smite. Applic. In this our incomparable loss (of which though I shall never think or speak without an individual companion, sorrow, & sorrow attended with the utmost remembrance and reverence limited under heaven) I may urge this one part of my Text unto them who never looking up to heavens unresistible stroke, do complain that either the want of care, or skill in the Physicians, shipwrecked all our hope in that blessed Ark the Prince. I stand not here to daub, with untempered Mortar, neither to fear, nor flatter any; I do believe that they were both sorrowful beholders, and faithful helpers, so far as Art, Vigilance, and diligence, could extend. But when ego percutiam is once proclaimed, no Physician can cure Asa his legs, or lay a plaster unto Fzekias botch, or cure the Shunamites child, crying, my head. No balm in Gilead can help the fevers, dropsies or bloody issues, which Christ healed, though the patiented Patients bestowal they have upon those honourable instruments; for so the son of Syrach calleth Physicians. And therefore as those, in the Prophet cried, a Conspiracy, a Conspiracy; so these, Poison, Poison: How probable soever that may be; let them look unto the poison of their own souls, the only infection that brought this heavy affliction upon us. And whatsoever second causes there might be, let us leave the consideration thereof to them, to whom they belong: and let us (which doth only concern ourselves) with fear and reverence, and humility, confess it was God's hand, Greg. Mar. lib. 1. as both Gregory confesseth upon the affliction of job, & Ambrose before him of all such punishments: Cum Diabolus vulnerat, Domini sunt sagittae: Whatsoever the second causes be, yet the supreme rule of all is in God's hand. But while I am thus informing others, my own soul becomes a sceptic, and questions thus: Can God forget to be gracious? would he in displeasure so smite Him, that was our joy & hope? Yes, that he might more fully settle our hope upon the true object, God himself. But would he, so smite as to take him away in the Sunshine of his time? yes, that he might bestow far greater brightness upon him. Alas, he was in the flower and splendour of his youth: he was less tainted, less blemished. His death was the undoing of many his poor servants: but God is able to provide for them better than he could: Psal. 37. Let them trust in the Lord, and verily they shall be fed. He was taken away in this solemn expectation of Nuptiall-ioy and triumph: He is gone to greater joy, to the Marriage of the Lamb; to those joys, triumphs, Angels Choir & Songs, to which no burden, nor no end belongs. He was taken away, as it were somewhat suddenly, and unexpectedly; yet not so suddenly as the fiery enemies of God and the King intended in that furious sulphureous plot to have blown him up: 2 King. 23. neither so suddenly as josias the darling of God, who had no more warning than while an arrow made a door in his breast for Death. 2 Chro. 35.20. But our josias was taken away in a seasonable, comfortable visitation, when he was full of beauty, full of glory, full of piety, full of Religion, full of admiration, full of lamentation. Beloved, in a word, as the Apostle speaketh; Comfort yourselves, one another, with these words: job 1. jonas 2. The Lord gave him, and the Lord hath taken him: and as jonas Mariners acknowledge; Thou O Lord hast done as it pleased thee. (As it followeth) Thou hast smitten the Shepherd. Cir. 2 To have smit a Wolf, devouring the sheep, had been mercy; to have smitten one sheep of the fold had been judgement with mercy, but to smite the shepherd may seem judgement and fury. In this hour & time of mourning, now we sit as in the shadow of death; it is fit for you to feed on the tree of life, then on the tree of knowledge, & therefore I desire to confine my speech only upon meditation; but the word shepherd leads me forth further than I thought, besides the waters of comfort. A shepherd was the first tradesman; though the second son of all the children of Adam; Gen. 4.2. and after Abel many shepherds were in near attendance upon God. Cypri. serm. de Nat. Chri. Saint Cyprian hath collected them, and hath the Catalogue of them. Abel Pastor outum fuit, fuerunt et Patriarchae pastors, suarum tandem familiarum principes; Pastor fuit Moses; Pastor David, etc. In the beginning after the creation, in the old Testament, God chose shepherds to be his servants. In the beginning of the time of redemption, in the new Testament, Christ chose fishers to be his disciples: shepherds have a solitary life; fishermen a watery life. In shepherds the ancients have hierogkiphically observed contemplation, in fishermen lamentation. A shepherd's life, saith Philo, Phil. lib. 1. de vit. Mois. is praeludium ad regnum; of which phrase Homer and other Grecians have made use: and the old Testament hath none of more esteem than shepherds. Moses, that kept jethro his sheep; jacob, that kept Laban's sheep; joseph was sent to jacobs' sheep; Amos a Prophet, taken from the heard; Moses a Priest and Prophet, from the sheep; David, the Lords soldier, and whoever had such victories as David? taken from the fold; Elias, the Lords Seer, and you know what the spirit of Elias was, yet he taken from the cattle. But more than this, God the Father is called a shepherd in the Psalms; Psal. 80.1. joh. 10.11. O thou shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest joseph like a sheep. God the Son doth name himself a shepherd in the Gospel: God the holy Spirit, is named a shepherd in Peter; 1 Pet. 2. the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. I have lead you so far, only to show in what honour the name, function, person of shepherds have been: you may the more wonder at the words percutiam Pastorem. Abel the first shepherd may be slaughtered; but this shepherd, by excellency called the shepherd, he that is bonus Pastor, magnus pastor, Princeps Pastorum. Formosi pecoris custos, etc. He that was white and ruddy, the fairest of ten thousand; full of grace were his lips; spetiosus suae filijs hominum: he whose head was fine as gold, whose locks were curled, who had cheeks as a bed of spices, lips like lilies, hands as rings of Crysolites, legs as pillars of marble, whose countenance was as Lebanon, whose mouth as sweet things; who was wholly delectable: O my God; is he stricken? yes, and smitten with such a deadly blow, that the Axeliree of heaven could not have born it. Esay called him, vir dolorum, and jeremy expresseth his inexpressible grief, dolour non sicut dolour, never sorrow like his sorrow. Sorrow followed him from his birth to his burial. In his birth persecuted by Tyrants; in his life tempted by devils; at his death apprehended by Traitors; scourged & spit upon by soldiers; vile fied more than a murderer; crucified with thieves; a Cross, the curse of the Law, to bear him, and he to bear all the sins of the world; his most blessed body to be mangled and gored, his soul to drink up sorrow, & thus to give up the ghost. Pastor, Pelican. Christus, dilectus filius, Populi, Doctor, super hunc excitantur persecutorum manus: upon Christ, who was primogenitus, nay, unigenitus, the beloved son, the Doctor of his people, the Shepherd of his sheep, the Lamb of God, the Lion of juda, the express Character of his Father, the light of the Gentiles, glory of his people Israel; the hands of his persecutors are lifted up, and fall down with this heavy, heavy blow. Obser. 2 The observation hence is, that the great height of sins, bring down so heavy weight of judgements, as that God will not spare his own only one, his dear one, his fair one, his Son Christ jesus. I say no more in this, but what Aquinas gathereth from that of Esay, Aquin. in Esay. Propt●r scelus populi mei percussi eum: for sin he was smitten, who had no sin; and the blow was so heavy that the mountains trembled. Not only was Christ taken away for sin, but in fierceness of God's wrath, he often gives the world such a shock and stroke that it reels, and almost overwhelmeth, with the dart of vengeance that strikes into the heart of a kingdom, by taking away the chosen servants of God, the chosen shepherds of the world, such as are Kings & Princes, who as Christ communicated of man's misery, so these participate of God's Majesty: & yet in his fury he will smite these. Witness josias the darling of God, the apple of his eye, the signet on his right hand; Prophesied of three hundred years before his birth: lamented among the posterity of the jews after his death: yet josias must be smitten; josias, Eccle. 49. whose remembrance is like the perfume that is made by the Apothecary, sweet as honey in all mouths, and as music at a banquet of wine; he that was a pattern of reformation to all succeeding Princes: yet josias must be smitten; he that destroyed the idolatrous Priests, & monuments of Baal, the Sun, Moon, Planets with all their high Places, or Valleys, or Groves, or Altars, or Vessels, and cut down, burnt to ashes, beat to powder, threw into the brook, and left no sign of them: yet josias must be smitten: 2 King. 23. 2 Chro. 35 josias whose Epipoheneme and acclamation was; like unto him was no King before him; whose Elegy and Lamentation was such as never the like before or after him; all singing men and singing women lament him to his day, and never the like mourning as that of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo; yet josias must be smitten. Non similis, for his honourable reformation: Non similis, for his memorable lamentation, yet the right hand of the Almighty spared not josias. In the Chronicles of all the Kings, from Saul to Zedekiah, containing fourteen generations and forty Kings, there was not one that gave or took the like example of perfection. For as among the bad, Rehoboam did ill, jeroboam worse, Omri worse than he, Ahab worse than all; so on the contrary, though Asa did right in the eyes of the lord, 1 King. ●●. & his son jehoshaphat walked in the ways of Asa his father. Amasiah did uprightly in the sight of the Lord, 1 King. 22 and Azariah his son did according to all that his father Amasiah did. 2 King. 14 2 King. 15 David was a man after Gods own heart, & Solomon his son for his wisdom, honour, riches and happiness, exceeded his father David, 1 King. 10 yet every one of these had some scar, some blots, some blemishes, an ecliptic line ran through each of their Zodiacs; only josias is without any noted spot or wrinkle; like him was no king before him. What then was the reason that this Rose of the garland must be blasted; the diamond of the Crown be darkened; the Paragon of all the Kings of Israel and judah must be smitten; that percutiam, the word of my Text, served his execution so violently upon josias? Why would he that breaketh the bow, Psalm. knappeth the spear in sunder, & casteth the arrows in the fire, I say, why would he let the Archers shoot at King josias? 1 King. 22 It was the voice of the King of Aram to his Captains, concerning wicked King Ahab, fight ye neither against great nor small, but against the King; but that the Lord should direct that fatal arrow to be the death of his darling josias, this arrow strikes us with admiration. I cannot but bear part with those mourners in Megiddo; Alas for this great day, Alas for that good Prince, Alas that josias is smitten. When David numbered the people, the people died, they suffered for his sin, 1 Chro. 21 plectuntur Achivi; and David crieth, What have they done? it is even I that have sinned, Is it not I that have commanded to number the people? but these sheep what have they done? O Lord my God, I beseech thee, let thine hand be on me, and on my father's house, and not on thy people for their destruction. There the people were plagued for the offence of the Prince, but here the Prince is smitten for the offence of the people. I find especially two causes why josias was smitten. First, for the sins of the time: The first cause of the death of josias. the sins of those days I collect out of Zephany, to be strange and horrid. In the front of the Prophecy you may see that he prophesied in the days of josias: Zeph. 1.1. in the second verse of that Chapter there is a fearful destruction pronounced; such as in so few words, is not to be found in all the Prophets. It is a general observation, that where we hear some strange desolation threatened, there is some strange abomination committed. Observe both here: first the desolation threatened; I will surely destroy all things from the Land, Zeph. 1.1.2 saith the Lord: I will destroy man and beast; I will destroy the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and ruins shall be to the wicked, and I will cut off man from the land, saith the Lord, etc. It is so terrible, as if that in the Psalm were fulfilled, Destructions are come to a perpetual end: Psalm. 9 a deluge and Cataclisme, a devastation & desolation unspeakable. The greatest plagues that ever came on the world were either the particular, in the judgements on Egypt; or the general, in the drowning of the World. In Egypt, besides flies, and louse, and frogs, and darkness, there was the kill of the first-born, Murrain of Beasts, death of Fishes, by the water turned into blood; but I find no where that their fowl of heaven were destroyed: In the drowning of the World, all mankind was not destroyed, eight Souls were preserved, and although the beasts of the field, and fowls of the air perished, yet I can no way collect the destruction of the fishes; those watery creatures kept their Colonies. In Egypt, beasts and fishes were destroyed, not the fowls: In the flood, beasts and fowls, not the fishes; but in this, Man and Beast, Fish and Fowl, all things threatened to be destroyed from the earth. Secondly therefore consider the abomination committed in those times; you may at first sight collect them out of the following verses. In the 4. verse, Zeph. 1.4.1. there was a remnant of Baal in the land, resembling our Papists. Secondly, Priests and Chemarims, fit parallels to our Priests and jesuits. Verse 5 Thirdly, in the 5. verse, there were some that swore by the Lord, and swore by Malcham, equalling the falsehearted, half hollow-harted Hypocrites of two Religions in these days. Verse 6 Fourthly, in the 6. verse, some that turned back from the Lord, like to our Ephraimitall Apostatical revolters. Fiftly, some that sought not the Lord, nor inquired after him, shadowing the Atheists of our land. Verse 8 Sixtly, in the 8. verse, such as were clothed with strange apparel, the characters of the gulls and gallants of our days. Verse 9 In the 9 verse, some that danced upon the threshold so proudly; the note of the acquaint Crane-paced Courtiers of this time. Lastly, those that filled houses by cruelty and deceit; the brand of the sinful and covetous Citizens of this City. Now measure with the cubit of the Sanctuary, whether desolation be not fitted to abomination. Run to and fro through the street of that Chapter, and see, and hear, and fear, and tremble: Sins were the cause of that threatened destruction, sins were the cartropes, Engines, pioneers, the Earthquakes, Whirlwinds, Thunderbolts, final downfall and funeral, and devastation of that State. In the time of the judges, judg. 20.44. the Lord almost extinguished the Tribe of Benjamin, eighteen thousand at one time. 1 King ●2. In the time of the Kings ten Tribes fell from Israel. But this misery is more; Root and Branch, head and tail, as the Prophet soretold, Man, Beast, Fish, and fowl are destroyed. For sins he doth stretch out his hand upon judah, and upon all the inhabitants of jerusalem: for sins he doth worry the Sheep, and smite the Shepherd. This is the first reason why josias is smitten. The second cause of smiting josias. The second reason that josias was smitten, was, that he might not see the misery threatened to be brought upon Israel; his eyes should not see that evil. Evil must come but not in the days of josias. The word of the Lord is good, (saith Hezekias) only let peace be in my days. The Israelites must be bondslaves in the land of Egypt, Genesis. but not till the patriarchs sleep in peace. Ten Tribes shall be divided from the twelve, yet salomon's eyes shall first be shut. jerusalem shall be destroyed, but not till they who mourn in Zyon be marked. Ezek. 9.4. Al Italy grievously troubled, but Ambrose must first be at rest. Africa shall be spoiled, but not till Austin decease. Germany was distracted, but Luther first must peaceably & honourably be buried. England was persecuted and fired, but blessed King Edward must first be received into Abraham's bosom. God reserveth his just & determinate plagues, and stayeth his vials till his appointed times. All the States of the World have their Critical days, and Climacterical years, beginnings, settled stations, declinations, and dissolutions at God's appointment. Certo veniunt ordine Parcae. Seneca. It was a speech that commands admiration from us, that God should say to Lot, Get thee hence; I can do nothing till thou art gone hence. Was the power of God limited by himself? he did actively limit his power, it was not passively limited by Lot; God did limit his will; Genesis. or rather, both were determinated, then limited or terminated. It exceeds our thoughts that he in so favourable a Compassion will forbear, for his love to some particular Servant, the great wrath he hath laid up in store for a Nation. Gen. 39 5. Gen. 30.27. He doth not only bless Potiphar for joseph, and Laban for jacob, but hold his hand, stay his Vials, forbear his vengeance upon Israel for josias sake; holy and reverend be his name for ever. I have numbered and weighed the words hastily, and in the Scales of sighs and sorrow; let us see what measure of them cometh to our share. Use. And first, was sin the cause of smiting the Shepherd? Indeed, Sin is the overthrow of judgement, the stain of Conscience, the root of all perversity, infection of all actions & affections: but is it so harmful to us, so hateful to him, that is, the allseeing, all-being, all-pure and sacred Majesty, that not only his own Son, blessed for ever and ever, was smitten, Esay. propter scelus populi, as Esay speaketh; but also those excellent, and choice, and blessed Instruments of his glory, Kings and Princes, are oftentimes taken away for the sins of the people? Let us all then look into the Calendar of these days, we have seen, and found, and felt their effects; and let us observe whether the sins of this Land, and especially this City and Court, be not equal to any of any Land: see whether the sins now be culpable, or damnable, winked at only by the eyes of men, or crying in the ears of Heaven. You shall find them to be aspiring, mounting, towering sins: Sins of the highest elevation; and those sins now committed, which in times past durst not be named. Men like women, women like Devils, common; to salute and stab, kiss and betray, common; cheating, whoring, drinking, swearing as common as breathing. Never were such varnishes put upon rotten causes, or Laws made such quirks for mercenary wits; or goodness so deformed, justice so guilty, Virtue so needy, Religion so scorned, or Whoredom so painted. In a word, to let pass the Covetousness of the rich, idleness of the poor, want of age, wantonness of youth, profaneness of all; I ask the honest Religious Soul that mourneth for the misery of Zyon. Is it not strange that after so long preaching of the Gospel, there should be such an inundation of Popery, this generation of Vipers seeming to multiply in our time, as the Arrians did increase in the time of the ancient Fathers, who preached and wrote against them? Ezekiels' Prophecy may seem fulfilled, the Idol of indignation is among us; there be some Ancient Idolaters, some idolatrous women, some idolatrous Priests in our Land. These be causes why our josias was smitten: our sins opened that Vena Basilica. Secondly, would no other Sacrifice serve, but the death of josias? No. Zeph. 1.7.8 The former Prophet Zephany maketh it plain, in his 1. Chapter 7. and 8 verses. The Lord hath prepared a Sacrifice, and in that day of the Lords Sacrifice he will visit the Princes, and the King's Children. No other sacrifice will serve but the branches of the Olive tree, the blossoms of the Fig tree, the beautiful young Cedar, the glory of the Forest, the beauty of the Garland, the Coronet of succession, the Patron of Religion, the joy of the old, hope of young, comfort of all. Nothing would serve but that precious jewel, which Nature only showed the world, and so put up again, that happy New Star, new eye of Heaven, of whose station and influence while we argued, it went out again. Nothing must serve but josias? Si sic in viridi, quid fiet in arido? what shall become of the negligent, ignorant, windy, empty, shadowy Creatures, who live to eat, and eat to play the Beasts? He was taken from the evil to come upon such, to the joy he enjoys: He is gone to rest with more tokens of God's favour then ever josias had, his precious Soul is bathed in the precious blood of his blessed Saviour; Patience did here comfort him; Confidence did hence crown him; anointed Cherub, blessed Angel, gracious Master, thou art now in glory, though we poor scattered sheep have lost thee. Tears blind me, and sighs choked, and here I cease; sorrow doth silence me. Correct us no more in thy fury O Lord, let not thine arrows stick so fast in us, northy hand press us so down, lest we be consumed, and brought to nothing. Magnify thy arm of Mercy, as thou hast exalted thine arm of judgement: and let never the like loss come upon us again, till thy Son our Saviour come to us again. Amen. The second Sermon. Matth. 26.31. The Sheep of the flock shall be scattered. WHen Elias was departing, the Whirlwind moving, the fiery Chariot mounting, and Elias in his transmigration, neque inter vivos nec mortuos, (as Bias spoke of Sailors) being not gone up into the air, as Moses on the Mount, or rapt up into the third heavens for a time, as Saint Paul in his Vision, but as Henoch before, so he under, the Law, caught up into the heavens for ever. 2 King. 2.14. Elisha the Prophet lamenteth Elias with the same words that afterwards joash the King lamented Elisha; 2 King. 13.14. O my father, my father, the Chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. A lamentation sitting our loss, who have lost our Father, our Master, the Cedar of Lebanon, and Chariot of Israel. In the 16. of Numbers, it was an heavy, Numb. 16.49. weighty judgement, that in so small a time, so great a number as 14700 should die; Moses then crieth out, as if with sorrow shaking his head, & wring his hands; There is wrath gone out from the Lord, the plague is begun. We will borrow the words of him, it is (miserable men that we are) I say, it is our case; Wrath is gone from the Lord, the plague is begun. Now is a time of mourning, of clothing ourselves in sack cloth and ashes; nay, in dust and ashes, and in the shadow of death, that as we spent our first days in sin, so we may spend our last days in sorrow. Is not wrath come from the Lord, when our Lily of the valleys is blasted; our Rose of the field is blemished? I say not that our Olive branch is cut off, but the Dove with the Olive branch is fled from us. We are the men whom jeremy mentioneth in his Lamentations; we have seen the affliction in the rod of indignation; the breath of our nostrils, the blessed of the Lord, is taken from us; our dance is turned into mourning; and the crown of our head is fallen: Lam 5.15. Woe unto us that ever we sinned; our heart is heavy, and our eyes are dim, because this Mount of Zion shall be desolate. My Text doth epitomize what ever my sorrow can convince; The Shepherd is smitten, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. I have gathered so much dew of Meditation from the first part, as a day and night could yield my sorrowful head and heart to receive: that was our masters part; this next ours; The sheep shall be scattered. In speaking whereof, as that wonder of misery, the unhappy Mother in the besiege of jerusalem, having eaten one part of her Child, could not think of eating the other without unspeakable sorrow; so assure yourselves, my sobs and throbs, and throws will be many, before I am delivered of this part, which will part us all, the dispersion of the Sheep. I will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. The sheep.] Silly, simple creatures, yet decent, innocent creatures, quietly feeding in the Field, hearing the voice of the Shepherd, yet fearing their ravenous Enemies, though they be together, though they have both a shepherd and a fold; but when they shall [be scattered] their case is more miserable, having no defence, no hope, no help, no safety. Put both together, a shepherd, but he smitten; Sheep, and they scattered, than you will say, this Text and our state is the same that the Proclamation was in the Army after the death of the King of Israel; Get every man to his City, 1 King. 22. and every man to his own country: for the shepherd is smitten, and the sheep shall be scattered. The parts be already opened: In this remainder of the former work, these two particulars fall in sunder. First, the denomination of Christ's servants, sheep. Secondly, the dispersion of these sheep: they shall be scattered. And first, for sheep, they be creatures, neither noisome nor fulsome. I will borrow but one authority for them, out of the list and limit of the Sanctuary: — Tonsa tacet, Carne juuat, pelle, vellere, lact, fimo, In Sacrifices no creature so frequently offered; in the Sin- offering, Peace- offering, Burnt- offering, Pass- over, Saboth offering, and especially in the daily offering; every day they offered a Lamb at morning, Num. 28.9. Lorinus in 8 Act. Apost. and a Lamb at evening. Lorinus observeth it out of Chrisostome, Euthimius, dustines, Origen, Cyrill and others, Aug. 4. tract. in joan. Orig. hom. 24. in Num. Chris. hom. 37 in Math. mact abant agnum iugis nostri sacrificij typum: And so not only these, but Gaudentius, Paulinus, and Cyprian give that common known reason, why a Lamb was so continually offered; namely, as a type of the offering of Christ, who in 28. several places of the Revelation, is called the Lamb of God. For the name of Sheep, Notatissima est dicendi forma, saith a Writer. In the 34. of Ezekiel the Prophets are 13. Buc. Ezek. 34. times called shepherds, and the People 21. times also called sheep: and in the last verse the Lord expresseth himself thus; Ye my sheep, ye the sheep of my pasture are men, Ezek. 34.31 and I am your God, saith the Lord God. The 23. Psalm is plain to this purpose, Lor. in Psal. a Psalm truly called Davidis Bucolicon; there you have shepherd, sheep, green fields, still waters, ways, paths, valleys, shadows, yea, the rod and shepherds crook. The Lord is my shepherd, Psal. 23. he shall rest me in green pastures, he leadeth me by the still waters, bringeth me into the paths of righteousness, etc. The Chalde Paraphrase understands this Psalm of Israel's deliverance out of Egypt. Cald. Par. Athanasius. Athanasius of their return out of Babylon, here prophesied: some interpret this leading, resting, guiding, feeding, to be the power of the Word, so Lyranus; some of the sacraments, so S. Austin; Lyranus. Aug in Ps. Athanas. some of the Ascension of Christ, so Nyssenus: Athanasius wisheth Marcellinus, when he did enter into consideration of the Lords gracious direction, & bountiful feeding, then thankfully to sing this Psalm. And Saint Ambrose much grieved in his time, Ambros lib. 5 de Sacra. cap. 3. that men not considering the blessing they received by being named the sheep of God's flock, did so often hear, and so little regard the blessing of this Psalm. I lead you further than may seem necessary in this Psalm, but it is the sweetest Pasture, and the aptest proof in Scripture for my purpose. Eli. Scho. Nazian. in Orat. 2. de Filio. A Scholiast upon Nazianzen expoundeth those green fields to be the Church, the grass the Word, the waters the Sacraments, the Pastor God, the flock the people, the rod and staff instruction and correction: denique as he concludeth, Deum esse Pastorem, amissos reducentem, confractos obligantem, correptos corroborantem: God is that Shepherd, bringing back the lost, as Paul; strengthening the weak, as Peter; binding up the broken in heart, as Matthew that followed him; Magdalen that anointed him; the Thief that confessed him. God's sheep, sometimes feeding, as in this Psalm; sometimes traveling, as jacobs' flock, sometimes suffering, as our Saviour foretold, as sheep appointed for the slaughter. The sheep in my Text be the Disciples; Matthew implieth so much; joh. 16.32. Mark expresseth it; but S. john more plainly thus, ye shall be scattered, the speech being appropriated to the Disciples, whom in that Gospel he calleth his sheep, his flock, his fold: yet it is but pusillus grex, a little little flock; little indeed, because so few, the number but twelve, as of patriarchs and Prophets, as of the twelve Tribes of Israel, twelve fountains of Elim; twelve foundations of jerusalem, twelve signs of Heaven. They be Pauci, pauperes, pusilli, Poor sheep, poor silly souls, to be sent our among those ravenous blood-seeking bloodsucking Wolves. It was the last Sermon that ever Christ preached on earth to his Disciples; it was as his farewell, the night before he suffered: the last glimpse of a Candle is often most bright; the last glance and lustre of the Sun sometimes most clear. They should now have expected some joyful news; all their life before was sorrowful, now they might look for some Legacy, that Christ would have blessed them, as old jacob did. But our Saviour, who had formerly told them there was no comfort for them in the world, because they were not of the world; that they were but as sheep among Wolves, giveth them no other title in his last Legacy but sheep. Obser. 1 Whence this observation ariseth, that the servants of Christ ought to be clean, quiet, simple, and peaceable in the world; for they are but sheep. Origen. In sheep saith Origen is described Cogitationum munditia; clean, honest, sanctified cogitations ought to be in Christ's servants. In sheep, saith Gregory, is observed Actionum innocentia; Greg. righteous, religious, innocentactions ought to proceed from Christ's sheep. I could multiply and increase fathers & sons for the manifestation of this point, but this only reason shall serve, Christ himself was such a sheep, and therefore such ought we to be. He was not ovis, but tanquam ovis, for he was agnus Dei, saith Lorinus. Lor. in Act. Ap. And another wondereth hereat, Hoc mirum est, Christum et agnum esse, et ovem esse, et pastorem esse. Christ indeed was so, and never any other so. Which is easily made plain; for though we should not speak without admiration, nor think without adoration of all the mysteries of our Redemption: yet in the deep well of this mystery, even he that hath nothing to draw, may understand it. As in the Kingly, Priestly, Prophetical offices of Christ, he did communicate two of those offices to some, but never all the three to any. Melchisedech was a King and Priest not a Prophet: Moses was a Priest and Prophet, as the Psalm speaketh, Moses among his Priests, but was not a King: David was a King and Prophet, but not a Priest. So the same David was a shepherd, Psal. 78.72. and a sheep, Psal. 78.72 Psal. 119.176. but he was never called a Lamb, Psal. 119.176. this name was never given to any but to our Saviour, until the day of his Ascension, when he commanded Peter to feed his Lambs: and yet not they neither were called lambs in the same sense and meaning that our Saviour was. It is observed, Gen. 49. in the Emblematical blessings, that jacob left his children, judah as a Lion, Dan as a Serpent, Issachar an Ass, Nepthali a Hind, etc. he giveth none the motto tanquam ovis, none of them is called a sheep, or a lamb, and yet out of juda, whose Emblem was the Lion, Christ came, who was both the Lion & the Lamb. Our Saviour in the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords supper, among other miracles, wrought these two: he blessed the fowls of heaven in Baptism by the Dove that descended on him: he blessed the beasts of the field in the Paschall lamb, at the last supper eaten by him. But the unspeakable blessing whereby he hath blessed not only his Disciples, Chrisost. and their successors, but all his servants, is this, that they are his flock, his fowl, his lambs, and his sheep. Use. 1 Is it so then? be the servants of Christ his sheep? First then, how ought they to live, an honest, simple, innocent life in these last and worst, and abominable days? Christ was the Lamb, and he hath left us an example to follow his steps, 1 Pet. 2. as S. Peter exhorteth: but alas how far are we from his example, from his steps? Passibus aequis none can follow him I confess, were all the righteous spirits of the patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs and Saints put together in one man, yet it were impossible to follow him with equal paces. I will not prescribe his misery, his poverty to you; I know you will not follow it; you esteem it a heavy yoke, his misery, his poverty, was unsupportable; he was Lord of all things, yet enjoyed nothing; he had not a house to be borne in, he borrowed a stable; not a bed to be laid in, he borrowed a cratch; not a vessel to drink in, he borrowed a pitcher; not a room to eat his passover in, he borrowed a parlour; not a grave to be laid in, he borrowed a sepulchre. Of these things you will ask me, as the Poet, quis legit, who can read these things? or rather as Esay, quis credit, in speaking of these who will believe our report? I do not forbear to press the imitation of this: I prescribe his chastity; he was the Virgin-Son of the Virgin-Mother, Aug. de Temp. imitate this. Cum Virginis filio non erit tua luxuria: Chastity becomes his sheep. I prescribed his charity; he healed Malchus ear, though he drew upon him; he saluted judas by the name of friend when he betrayed him; he prayed for his enemies when they crucified him. Cum charitatis authore non erit malitia tua: Charity becomes his sheep. I prescribe his meekness and humility; all the practice of his life was humility, and his lesson was humility; Aug. de Temp. Learn of me to be humble and meek. Cum humilitatis doctore non erit superbia tua; Humility becomes his sheep. It was not long before Christ's death, that the Disciples did propose a strange question among themselves, striving for priority: Mark 9 they disputed who should be the greatest among them. A wonder, that two such ambitious twins should be among the Disciples: I pray God there never hath been any such question of contention and opposition among any of you. Sure I am, we were all grown proud, and placed our strength in the arm of flesh, and that for this and other sins, the Lord hath taken our sweet and blessed Master from us. Use 2 Secondly, are ye sheep of one flock? O then be of one mind, in unity, amity, unanimity: the places are frequent, where Christ his servants are called members of one body, sheep of one fold, branches of one Vine: how is it then that Cain will seek to kill Abel, or Ishmael to jest at Isaac, 1 Ephes. 2 Ephes. john. or Esau to hate jacob, or joab to stab Amaga? Children, Brethren, dearly beloved, be the phrases of Saint john to those that are Christ's servants. It is well worth the observation, that one noteth upon our Church liturgy, in every article of devotion, that we come to perform in the Church, the salutation still is, dearly beloved: a phrase used in the very beginning of the Communion, the administration of Baptism, the solemnizing of Marriage, at the burial of the Dead, at the general Commination: How shall your conscience bear you witness that the Church speaketh to you, as dearly beloved, if there be an envious, malicious, scandalous, slanderous, pining, repining, uncharitable spirit amongst you? Remember, branches must grow together, members agree together, sheep feed together. Use 3 Thirdly, is it so, that ye be Christ's sheep? then hear Christ's voice: it is one of the true notes of Christ's true sheep, Audiunt vocem meam, saith Christ: Audiunt & vocem mea: Audiunt, that is, a necessity of hearing. Rom. 10.14. Matth. Psalm. 119. Faith cometh by hearing, knowledge cometh by hearing, comfort cometh by hearing: They that stop their ears, and will not hear, are not Christ's sheep. Though thou be lame as Mephibosheth, or blind for a time as Paul, or dumb as Zachary, Mark. 9.25 yet thou mayst be in Christ's fold: but if the deaf devil have possessed thee, if thou stop thy ears, thou art none of his flock. What joy had David in hearing but of going to Church? Psalm. It did me good, saith he, when I heard them say we will go to jerusalem. Audiunt vocem suam, not only they must hear, but hear his voice: therefore our Saviour gave a double caveat, quid, & quomodo: In Mark, Mark. 4.24. Luke 8.18. Take heed what ye hear, there is quid: in Luke, Take heed how ye hear, quomodo. If ever it were a time to set a watch at those open ports of our ears, these be the days; wherein some like the soldiers of Gastro, are armed with the adversaries arguments, as they were with the enemy's armour. Some coining inventions, of which saith David, I have hared inventions; others with traditions, of which Christ forewarneth; others with infallible notes of seasoning the sense of Scripture; which notes, howsoever they seem to have warrant out of Vincentius Lirinensis; Vine. Lirin. yet of the three, he acknowledgeth that Heretics have claimed two of them, the Arrians universality, and the Donatists antiquity; and denies not but that the third may be challenged by inveterate heresies also: and I add further, that the Devils may plead for it Consent, and not Heretics only; for Satan is not divided against Satan: wherefore let not any voice be here to be believed; but that one voice, unam regulam, Scripture, as worthily Vincentius in his 41 Chapter doth plainly deliver. Vine. Lirin. Fourthly, be ye all Christ's servants, Christ sheep, by honest living, hearty loving, and diligent hearing. So much of the first part. The second part. Psalm. [The sheep shall be scattered.] Dissipentur inimici, let his enemies be scattered: Quid meruere oves, what have his poor sheep deserved? Misery enough to be such helpless creatures as sheep; but scattered, Lorinus. disperdere is bis-perdere, this is a greater wane of misery; poor disciples, now they might sit sobbing day and night, breaking their breasts with beating, wearing their hands with wring, their hearts aching with sighs, and their eyes streaming with sorrows; bruised reeds the staff of their comfort, taken from them; the Children of the Bride chamber, mourning for the absence of the Bridegroom; Lambs sent out into the vast world among Wolves; poor souls, discouraged, discomforted creatures, hearing their woe, feeling their want; solitary are they now to be left, that had been his daily waiters, that had been the witnesses of his miracles: Look upon the Mother, the near kinswoman of our Saviour, leading her two sons to be preferred to our Saviour his service; did they think of this scattering? Look upon his Disciples disputing for priority who should be greater; did they think of this scattering? Look upon those two Disciples in Luke, traveling to Emaus, Luk. 24.13 how were they dejected, when they remembered this scattering? they trusted it had been He that should have delivered Israel. All the life of his Disciples was a scattering, journeying, troublesome life: they were still in progress; our Saviour had no standing house, but heaven. He promised them in the Gospel, Matth. 19 Quando sedebit filius hominis, Bernard. vos sedebitis▪ But when did he sit, saith Bernard? He had no ease, no place to rest on. These his sorrowful, and as it were forlorn followers, had heard Christ oft, that he was the light of the world, and the bread of life, that he had overcome the world, yet shall they bescattered: It had been enough to have caused their hope to vanish like smoke, and their Faith to whither like grass, & death to sting them to the death, Hell to triumph over them: but they were sheep, therefore silent, they expostulate not, but obediently and patiently hear their ensuing misery; The sheep shall be scattered. Obser. The observation collected from the world; scattered, is, that the servants of Christ must be content to be severed from their fellows, and friends, and comforts whatsoever. One must be like a Pelican in the wilderness, another like a Storcke in the desert, some like the Turtle on the housetop, others like Doves in the holes of the rocks, they cannot be together, but like grapes after a vintage, here one, there one. The endorsement of God to his Saints, is like that of S. Peter to the jews, 1 Pet. 1.2. To the strangers dispersed. These Apostles were dispersed, and translated into divers countries, Peter into Antioch, Euseb. james to jerusalem, john into Asia, Andrew into Scythia, Philip into Gallia, Bartholomew into Armenia, Matthew into Ethiopia, Thomas into India, Jude into Egypt, and Simon Zelotes into Mesopotamia. There was a dispersion, and dissolution, more horrid than this; for in this there was a blessing; but the scattering (I mean) was of the jews, was a full measure of misery, that when the jews had been assailed oft, as may be found six times in the old Testament, at the length their utter destruction, their final downfall and funeral came upon them; the desolation of their country, detestation of their Nation, abhorring of their Names, the scattering, fettering, consuming of their City, Temple, peace, prosperity, and of all blessings, suddenly overtook them. Christ his Prophecy of them was fulfilled, Behold, your house shall be desolate unto you: for neither the aged for their gray-hairs found reverence, nor the suckling relief for his infant innocentage, nor Matron, nor Priest nor Virgin, nor Senator, for Modesty or order, judolph. found any pity. But this is no such scattering. There is dispersio tegumenti, Bern. and dispersio Tritici the wind scattereth the chaff, the Husbandman scattereth the Wheat; the Wicked are the chaff, as in the Psalms &. Prophets frequently; Osca. jer. Ezek. the Godly are the Wheat, sown, reaped, threshed, ground to powder; yet howsoever scattered, God's promise was still, Capillum de capite justi non periturum; Psal. 1. nay, more, Quodcunque faciet, prosper faciet: he not only careth for the bones, that the bones which he hath broken may rejoice; but the shadow of Peter shall recover the sick; the handkerchief of Paul deliver the diseased; the Cloak of Elias divide the Waters; and the Bones of Elizeus revive the dead: and as Saint Paul spoke by his experience: 2 Cor. As unknown yet known; as dying, yet behold we live; as chastened, yet behold not killed; as sorrowing, and yet rejoicing; as poor, and yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet enjoying all things: in a word, as scattered, yet comforted. The first name that ever was given, the name Adam, was a name of scattering: Aug. in joan. it contains, saith Austin, in four Letters, the four Parts of the World, East, West, North, South; yet the Lord promiseth to gather together the scattered flock of Israel, from the East, West, North, and South. Use. I have ended my weak & weatherbeaten Mediatations upon this Text. Application must begin where Meditation ends When our Saviour entered into the Synagogue upon the Saboth day, Luke 4.18. he opened the Book upon those words of Esay, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath sent me, that I should heal the broken hearted, etc. And he shut the Book, and said, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears: Beloved, if ever Scripture were fulfilled in your ears; if ever Scripture made your hearts to ache, and your ears to tingle, this is the day, this the Text: if ever any Scripture did take down the crest of Pride, and abate the edge of Revenge, to move you thoroughly to leave and loathe the World, this is it: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. Oh, why is there not a general thaw throughout all mankind? why in this debashed Air do not all thing expire, seeing Time looks upon us with watery eyes, disheveled locks, and heavy dismal looks; now that the Sun is gone out of our Firnament, the joy, the beauty, the glory of Israel is departed? Applic. Honourable, Worshipful, worthy Gentlemen, who either in the greatness of your Offices, or in the nearness of your attendance, lived under the Branches of our Princely Cedar: to you this is a dissolution, not a dispersion; disperdere is not perdere with you, you only return to your own Families to drink of your own Vines; and to eat under your own figtrees; yet remember hereafter, as the wise Egyptians did bestow more on their Tombs then Houses, so hereafter dispose of more time for consideration of death, then of provision for the things of this life: Let mortality be your meditation, you are but earth; your best clothes, earth, worms made them; your best fed bodies, earth, worms must eat them. You may say, Vidimus stellam, we have seen his Star, and vidimus gloriam, we have seen his glory; you saw it rising and setting, you will now believe, that that GOD who hath called Princes Gods; he, qui homines coelestibus aequat, hath made Princes but men; quia sceptra ligonibus aequat. You have served (and therein your posterity may rejoice) the most religious, gracious, holy, chaste; virtuous, valorous Prince of his growth, that ever the Christian world enjoyed, yet you see HE is departed: season therefore this lump of luggage, all worldly thoughts with the remembrance of death. Embrace all holy acts of religion; Psalm. 37. keep innocency, and do that which is just, and seek peace, for this shall bring a man joy at the last. You are all of you I hope, to serve another Prince, I doubt not you are in Check-roll already; mistake me not, I mean no other Prince than the Prince of Peace, spoke of in Esay; I mean no other Roll, but his book of life: Rejoice in this, Esa 9 6. that your names be written in the book of life; that service is heritage: instead of your white staves, you shall have Palms in your hands, and your entertainment will be, Good servants and faithful, you have been faithful in a little, I will make you rulers over much, enter into your Master's joy. This joy the Lord in mercy, in his due time, grant unto you. You of the middle sort, whose wound is not mortal, and yet are ready to sink under the burden of this sorrow, as having lost the most incomparable Prince, that ever the World had: you that settled your thoughts, and hoping to have seen him the Head over many Nations, have said to your souls, under the shadow of his wings we shall be safe; here will we dwell for ever. Let your dare-bought experience teach you the lesson that David, a great Prince, gave to his People; Psal. 146. Trust not in Princes, for they be sons of men, there is no health in them, their breath departeth, and every one of them returneth to his earth. Chri●. Si dicendum sit aliquid mirabil●, saith a Father, If a man may speak any thing worthy of the greatest admiration, it is this, Trust not in Princes, they themselves are not in safety; their sublimity is but sublunary; they are within the verge; the Earth hath provided an Auello for every of them to be laid in: yield them faithfulness and obedience, but settle not in them your faith and confidence. Yield them duty, tribute, yea, your goods and lives, but withal remember, Psalm. 146. Blessed is the man that puts his trust in the Lord, and hath the God of lacob for his refuge: live honest, holy, religious lives, but a while; the end is at hand, we shall all meet in equality with our blessed Master in glory. You poor souls, the poor silly sheep of his flock, who was wont to give you meat in due season; you that like those in jerusalem do arise, and cry in the night, Lament. 3. and in the beginning of the watch pour out your hearts like water, & lift your eyes to heaven, for yourselves, your wives, and children: Take the counsel of David; Trust in the Lord, Psalm. ●7. and being good, commit thy ways unto the Lord; wait patiently upon the Lord, hope in him, and he shall bring it to pass: Trust in the Lord, and verily thou shalt be fed. Hear David's example, I have been young (saith he) but now am old, yet I never saw the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging their bread. Honesty is the best patrimony, leave but a good report of an honest life behind you, and your Children then have sufficient Legacies. All of you, beloved, that are in this valley of tears to hear me this day, repent you of your former lives, turn from the wickedness of your ways, or else ye may fear a more fearful scattering. The outrage of apparel, surquedry in meat, choice of new oaths, new exchange of sins, & the sluice of vengeance that hell hath opened, Since the yee●. ●●●●. have brought many fearful scatter among us within these few years: the death of nine Counsellors of State, sixteen Bishops of the Church, fifteen judges of the Law, & in one year, in this one City, thirty seven thousand three hundred & two, strooken with the Plague of Pestilence, Lady Mary Lady Sop●ia. and which is more than all this, three of his majesties Children, the hope & joy to all true hearted Subjects, Prince Henry, who died in the nineteenth year of his his age, the 6. of November, 1612 and was honourably buried at Westminster, the 7. day of December following. is taken away from among us: & which equals all other losses, Isaac is offered, Ichabod, our glory, is departed, Prince Henry is deceased, whom if ever any of us in his most observant reposed thoughts shall forget, let his right hand rot, and forget her cunning, and the harp of his Tongue hang up for ever in the roof of his mouth. O God, how hast thou plagued us, as * Lament 2.22. jeremy complained even in the solemn day? In that month thou once gavest us Queen Elizaheth, to take away Prince Henry? In that month thou gavest us Noble Prince Charles, the succeeding Charlemagne, in that month to take away his blessed Brother? In the month thou didst preserve us from that furious sulphureous plot of our enemies, in the same month are we, to our great sorrows, insulted on by our Enemies? Hadst thou not left us a remnant, we had been like to Sodom and Gomorh. Wherefore good Lord look down from Heaven, behold and visit us, look upon that Vine thy right hand hath planted; bless the root and branches of the Royal remnant: let the light of thy Countenance shine ever in the Sun, and Moon and Stars of this Firmament; let never be wanting one of this race to sit upon the British Throne, till the Sun hath run his last race, and the world hath finished his last course. Say thou Amen, thou faithful witness of Heaven, to the prayers of us poor, wretched, afflicted, miserable souls: Say Amen thou Truth, and witness of thy Father, to our Petitions that come not out of feigned lips; and let Heaven and Earth seal it, and say, Amen, Amen. FINIS.