A SERMON PREACHED AT WESTMINSTER MAY 26. 1608. AT THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Dorset, late L. High Treasurer of ENGLAND. By GEORGE ABBOT Doctor of Divinity and Dean of WINCHESTER, one of his Lordship's chaplains. Now published at the request of some honourable persons; very few things being added, which were then cut off by the shortness of the time. JOH. 9 4. The night cometh, when no man can work. LONDON Printed by Melchisedech Bradwood for William Aspley. 1608. TO THE RIHGT Honourable and most virtuous Lady, the La. Cicely Countess of DORSET. THere are sundry reasons (right Honourable) which have moved me to give my consent that this Sermon might be published: One is to testify my dutiful & grateful respect towards that noble parsonage now deceased, to whom when he was living, I was so much bound for so many years together: Another is, to give satisfaction to divers of special quality and note, who have earnestly entreated me, that I will not deny this duty to the dead, nor such a kindness to them alive, but that they may read that again and again, which they heard once with no discontentment: A third is, that the world may truly take notice of many excellent virtues, wherewith God had endued this honourable man: and that as well with resolved knowledge to compose and settle his soul religiously towards heaven, as with rare wisdom & prudence otherwise, to digest and dispatch, either public business touching his Sovereign and the State, or his own private affairs. In the opening whereof, as it should be vanity to add or amplify any thing, so it should be want of Christian duty and regard, to conceal that which is true: especially since the relation may satisfy such as doubt, and the example may provoke others to imitate those good parts, which are not every where to be found. Now it being published, I have as great reason to recommend it to your honourable patronage, since you are the survivor of that worthy couple, who for so long time were joined together in the bands of Christian wedlock. And whom may it more concern, or unto whom can it be more comfortable than to your Ladyship, that there should be some memorial of his well-doing, whom you so dearly loved, and so respectfully observed, in the time of your conversation together? Besides, the reading of it, may peradventure be a Remembrancer unto you of your own mortality, when you hear of his departure before you, who (as you supposed) might have overlived you many years. And lastly, the mention of that which his Lordship hath left touching yourself, may incite you to go forward in those virtuous and Christian courses, which hitherto you have so singularly demonstrated, that (besides the experience which his Lordship had, and testified to the full) the world (which observeth few good things, unless they be eminent) taketh great notice of them: and therefore it nearly concerneth your Honour to persist therein: and to endeavour yet daily to increase those good graces; that the end may countervail, yea exceed, both the progress and beginning. I doubt not but God who hath begun his admirable work in you, will accomplish it and make it perfect, so blessing you all the days of your pilgrimage here, that you may live to your children and children's children an honourable pattern of piety, religion and virtue; and depart from this earth in a full age, unto the true and never ceasing joys of his everlasting Kingdom. Which he will always pray for, who is and long hath been Your Honours very much bounden GEORGE ABBOT. A SERMON PREAched at Westminster May 26. 1608. AT THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Dorset, late L. High Treasurer of ENGLAND. ISAIAH 40. 6. A voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the grace thereof is as the flower of the field. 7. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. He that looketh into this Chapter, shall see it to be a Prophecy of the coming of Christ: of his appearing in the flesh, and his taking of our human nature upon him, so to bring grace and salvation to as many as should believe. And this, touching the coming of Christ, is not nakedly laid down, but with an intimation also of his forerunner john the Baptist, the very words being used (to make it the more notorious) which are repeated in the third Chapter of Saint Matthew, 2 Matth. 3. 3. The voice of a crier in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord: make his paths strait. But to fit men so much the more, to embrace that mercy which should be offered by him, this sound reason is brought; that of ourselves we are mortal, corruptible and transitory, and that therefore it is good that we should have something else to rest our souls upon. For we consist but of flesh, and that is like unto the grass. And if we should imagine other men to be better than ourselves, yet they are but as we are: for all flesh is grass, and all the grace thereof is as the flower of the field: Therefore it is best to trust to something else; and that must be the son of God, the Saviour of the world, the Redeemer of mankind, the mighty God of jacob. I shall not at this time speak any thing concerning the coming of Christ, but shall rather insist upon the opening of the reason which leadeth us unto Christ jesus. Which that it may be the more strongly imprinted in us, it is not barely delivered, but with a kind of Preface, or solemn introduction, A voice said, Cry: And he said, What shall I cry? The whole may be divided into these two parts, A preparation, and A proclamation. The proclamation is the main, consisting of the latter words, All flesh is grass, and all the grace thereof as the flower of the field, etc. In the preparation, are two circumstances: A commandment, what should be done: And the Prophets composing of himself to the performance of it. Of all which in their order, as God shall give assistance. A voice said, Cry. 2 We shall little need to inquire, what voice this is which speaketh to Esay. For that, whereunto the Prophet would hearken, is only the voice of God. That which spoke out of the mount, in the twentieth of Exodus, when the law was given down to the people of Israel, b Exod. 20. 1. God spoke these words and said. That which called to c 1. Sam. 3. 4. Samuel, in the dead time of the night, and bad him go, and do a message to old Eli. That whereof David could say, d Psal. 29. 4. The voice of the Lord is mighty: the voice of the Lord is glorious. The verity, the authority, the majesty of that which is uttered, doth declare so much. This biddeth the prophet Cry: not speak only; much less whisper; but with an extension of his voice to deliver his message. This must not be as that was when God passed by Elias, e 1. Reg 19 12. in a soft and still voice: nor as that, where, to describe the mildness of our Saviour, it is said of him; f Matth. 12. 19 He shall not stir, nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets: but it is rather like that of jonas the prophet, who entering into Ninive g jonah 3. 4. cried and said, Yet forty days, and Ninive shall be destroyed. Or as that in our prophet Esay, h Isa: 58. 1. Cry aloud, and spare not: lift up thy voice like a trumpet. here must be such a noise, as would move a man that were musing, would whet him that were dull, would rouse him that were slumbering, would awake him that were sleeping. So careful is God, that we should hear this lesson, and lay it unto our hearts. 3 Hence we may perceive the heaviness and dullness of our nature, when in a matter so clear, we need such a noise to remember us of our mortality. For set aside the word of God, Philosophy and experience may inform so much unto us. The Churches and Churchyards thorough which we do pass, the tombs of other men, the going before us of our parents and our kinsfolks, of our friends and acquaintance, might proclaim this unto us. What should we need any crying? or why should we lack any speaking? We may see this well enough● So many men as we meet, so many mortal creatures. X●rxes though but a heathen man, yet could make this use of his sight: For when he beheld from the top of his high tabernacle, the huge numbers in his army, as i Herodot, in Polymma. Herodotus writeth, he broke forth into tears, and yielded this reason of it, that of all that multitude (which was so great, that for aught we read, there were never in the world so many soldiers at once compacted into one army) within one hundred years there should not one person be remaining alive. And if we would not see it, yet feel it we may. For as we read in S. Austen, the aches of our bones, the heaviness of our bodies, the deafness of our ears, the dimness of our sight, the baldness of our heads, the grainesse of our hairs, are signs of a house that is ready to fall to the ground. k August. de 12. abusionum gradibus. Tom. 9 Dum oculicaligant, aures graviter audiunt, capilli fluunt, etc. hac omnia ruitur am iam jamque domum corporis citò praenunciant. He alludeth to an old house, whereof when the walls do moulder and fitter away, the roof is uncovered, the timber is disjointed, it is an evident argument, that it will not be long before this house fall. Such tokens of the mortality of our bodies, are those decay and imperfections. But Satan doth so deaf us, and the world doth so blind us, and our flesh maketh us so senseless, that we neither hear nor see, nor feel that which lieth so hard upon us, And therefore God's voice must call unto us: A voice said, Cry. What shall I cry? 4 The Herald is in readiness, to do as he is commanded. And that is the highest part of his duty. What God enditeth, he writeth: what God will bid, he will perform. So Ezechiel was taught, l Ezec. 3. 17. Hear thou the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. And again, m Ezec. 33. 7. Thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and admonish them from me. In like manner in the new Testament, our Saviour taking his leave of his Disciples, biddeth them, n Matt. 28. 19 Go, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the holy Ghost, Teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you. And S. Paul to the Corinthians, o 1. Cor. 11. 23. I have received of the Lord that, which I also have delivered unto you. Thus the Minister should depend upon the mouth of his Master. Saint Paul could say to Timothy his scholar; p 1. Tim. 6. 20. O Timotheus keep that which is committed to thee. Whereupon Vincentius Lyrinensis very elegantly doth descant, What is it that thou must keep, q Vin●. contr. haeres. cap. 27. That which is committed to thee, not that which is invented by thee: that which thou hast received, not that which thou hast devised: a matter not of thy wit, but rather of thy learning. If the Preacher of the Gospel do keep him to this rule, he himself shall be safe; and as for the speeding of it, let him leave the event to God. The Physicians of Egypt, as t Diodor. Antiquit. lib. 2. 3. Diodorus Siculus doth report, had this rule prescribed to them, that they should make their practice according to a book delivered unto them from ancient Physicians, and approved writers. If any followed the rule and prescript of his book, though his Patient did miscarry, yet he was not blamed for it. But if any went beside his book, though his Patient did well, he lost his life for his labour. We that are Physicians of the soul may make some use thereof. We must teach by the book. The burden of our song must be with the old prophets, Thus and thus saith the Lord. If he command we must speak; what he willeth, we must cry. So much of the Preparation. And now to the Proclamation. All flesh is grass, etc. 5 here the speech is so significant, that every word hath his weight. Flesh itself intendeth corruption. When it is likened to the grass, it more noteth our mortality. When the word All is added, it designeth the generality of the doom which is given. When the grace and beauty is named, it demonstrateth that there is no hope to the contrary. The spirit of the Lord blowing on it, showeth the reason of the whole. Of each of these very briefly. When flesh is named here, and it is not said, a living creature, or a spirit, nay not so much as that which is ordinary in the Scripture, a man, it implieth a dissolution. For our flesh is propagated from Adam, and of him it was said, f Gen. 3. 19 From the earth thou wast taken, because thou art dust, and to dust shalt thou return. This continueth on his successors, who derived their flesh from him. It is written of t Gen. 5. 8. 11. 14. 27. Sheth and Enosh, and Kenan, and Methuselah, that they lived nine hundred years; but it is added touching each of them, And he died, And he died. David witnesseth this for other men, u Psal. 49. 10. He seeth that wisemen die, and so do the ignorant and foolish. Of all flesh, that is true which Saint Bernard delivereth, x Bern. de gradib▪ humilitat. Nascimur, morimur: We are borne, and then we die. And in another place, y In festo S. Martini. In terra orimur, interra morimur, etc. In the earth we have our beginning, and in the earth we have our ending, returning into that, from whence at first we were taken. Thus God hath decreed that there should be a succession of one man after another. And as in the greatest shows, when one hath had his turn, he is to be gone, and to leave the place to them that follow, and if he should desire to keep himself on the stage, and by no means to depart, he should be very injurious unto those who are to succeed: so it is here in men's lives; one hath his turn before, another hath his turn afterwards, but the first must yield to the latter, when his time is once accomplished; else he shall do wrong to succession. Yet this going away and departure out of this world, God hath appointed to be the means to advance men unto heaven. Our corruption is the way unto our incorruption. For God meaning for to crown with the garland of immortality, those that have striven lawfully, doth not come down to them to honour them upon earth, but calleth them up to him, so to glorify them in heaven. Which thing Saint chrysostom well considered, when he spoke in this manner: z Chrysost in Ep. ad Philip. Homil. 12. He would have thee to strive below, but he crowneth thee above: for the crown is not in this place, where the striving is; but in a glorious place. Do you not see here, that such champions and cha●et-driuers, whom they do most honour, are not crowned below in the place of trying masteries, but the King calling them up putteth on their garlands there. God doth take with his children the very self-same course. Their fight must be on earth, but their reward in heaven. And thither they may not come, till they have put off this body. Their flesh is as a veil which keepeth them from beholding the purity of that secret one. a Exo. 26. 31. In the tabernacle which Moses made, there was a veil which was hanged up between the holy place, and the holy of holies. This was made of four substances, that is, blue silk and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, which as b jos. de bell. jud. Lib. 6. 6. josephus telleth us, and Saint c Hier. Epist. 128. Hierome after him, did represent the four elements, of whom our flesh consisteth. Such a d Matth. 27. 51. veil was afterwards in the temple at Jerusalem, which at the death of our blessed Saviour did rend from the top unto the bottom, at which time a man might have beheld the very Sanctum Sanctorum. So when our flesh, this veil, which keepeth us from beholding the invisibility of that mighty one, shall be rend and torn in pieces by dissolution and by death, we shall behold our Creator, but never until that time. e Chrys. Hom. ●. in 2. Cor. The old house must to the ground, that so the tenant of it, may ascend unto God by a kind of remove, till the building be new repaired. 6 In the next place, our flesh is compared to the grass. Grass, than which nothing is more common; nothing more vile. Which groweth, and in an instant is cut down, and then withereth, & is either devoured as fodder, or if it be of a bigger size, f Matt. 6. 30. is burned in the oven, as Christ himself speaketh. David useth the same comparison: g Psal. 103. 15. The days of man are as grass: as a flower of the field, so flourisheth he. Which is thus expressed by Gregory: h Greg. in Psa. 5. Poenitent. Man may be compared to the grass, quia per nativitatem viret in carne, per iwent utem candescit in ●●ore, per mortem aret in pulvere: Because by his birth, he is green in his flesh, by his youth he is white in his blossom, by his death he is dry & withered in the dust. Such is the shortness and uncertainty of our life. Saint james doth liken it to a i jac. 4. 14. vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and afterward vanisheth away. Saint Peter compareth it to a tent or k 2. Pet. 1. 14. tabernacle, which is soon up and soon down. The old l Diod. Sie. Antiq. li. 2. 1. Egyptians called our houses, by the name of Inns, where we lodge for a night, and are gone in the morning. Tully termed our life a m In Cat. Ma●or. lodging, Ex vita ista discedo, tanquam ex hospitio: I depart out of this life, as out of a lodging. job calleth it a n job. 14. 2. shadow. And in another place, o cap. 7. 6. My days are swifter than the shuttle of a weaver. Saint Basil doth liken our life unto a p Basil. in Hexam. Homil. 5. dream, where a man seeth glorious shows, and is wonderfully pleased with them, but after a little while he awaketh, and all is nothing. Homer compareth men unto q Homer. Iliad. 5. leaves, which peep out of the tree, and then grow bigger and bigger; at last they are at the greatest, fresh in show, and green in colour; but then they fade and decay, and are driven off with the wind. Some other say, that a man is but like unto an apple, which if it be let alone will at length be ripe, and of itself will fall unto the ground, but peradventure before that time, it is shaken off by a blast, or cropped off by a violent hand. Lastly, other have likened our being here in the world unto a game at chess, where there be degrees of men, Kings, and Knights and common Pawns, amongst whom, one is caught away, and by and by another: but howsoever on the board they differ in their degree, yet when the game is ended, and they are swept all into the bag, there is none better than other, the meanest lieth above, and the greatest is underneath. Thus both the spirit of God, and the judgement of wise men, by significant similitudes would rivet it in into us, and fasten it as with a nail into our cogitations, that our days are but vanity, our continuance here but momentame, our abode on earth but uncertainty. 7 Now lest it should be said, that with some it may be thus, but with other otherwise, it is farther added, that All flesh is grass. Men are all of the same mould, and return to the same substance. The wise woman of Tecoah could speak in general to David, r 2. Sam. 14. 14. We must needs die, and we are as water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. here she joineth herself with David, My Lord we needs must die, you a man, and I a woman: you a Sovereign, I a subject. David himself knew this, when lying in his deathbed, he spoke thus unto Solomon, s 1. Reg. 2. 2. I go the way of all the earth. Death is the way of all flesh. So holy job, t job 30. 23. I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all the living. So S. Paul to the Hebrews, u Heb. 9 27. It is appointed unto men that they shall once die, and after that cometh the judgement. Where the indefinite proposition is equivalent to a general. Death, saith Seneca, is the x Senec. Epist. 70. ad Lucilium. haven, whither every ship must go: some come sooner, and some come later, but there they all must arrive. Perhaps when a ship is entering into the mouth of the haven, there cometh a blast of wind, and driveth it out again; but that will not serve the turn, it must back to the same place. The speech is true of all, y Innoc. 3. de cont. mund. lib. 1. Vitaperpetuo avolat, neque potest retincri: mors quotidie ingruit, neque potest resisti. Life alway flieth away, and cannot be held back: and death daily doth grow on, and cannot be resisted. In this one point all conditions are alike. The young may, and the old must. The difference is no more, but the z Sen. Ep. 26 one come unto death, and death cometh to the other. Death, saith Saint a Bern. de conuers. ad cleric. cap. 14. Bernard, non miseratur inopiam, non divitias reveretur, etc. pitieth not the poverty of one, nor standeth in awe of the riches of another, it spareth not the parentage of any man, nor his behaviour, nor his age; for the old it standeth ready in the gates, for the young it licth in ambush. The Poet could say of death, that it is that, b Horat. Carm. Lib. 4. Ode 7. Quò Pius Aeneas, quò Tulius dives & Ancus, whether Aeneas with his piety, and Tullus with his riches, and Ancus with his valour did go. pulvis & umbra sumus: we are but dust and shadow. Nay it is a thing so assured, that in a sort a man may say we are more certain to die, than that ever we were borne, since there is but one way only to come into the world, but a thousand ways to go out of it, as c Greg. Naz. orat. 40. Gregory Nazianzen observed, as, by fire, and by water, by the teeth of wild beasts, by famine, or sword, or pestilence, and infinite means beside. And as the rule is general for persons and for degrees, so also is it for places; no one place being exempt or privileged from death. Which d Xenoph. in Apolog. pro Socrat. Socrates himself did rightly understand, when after his condemnation being told by his friends, that if he would give liking thereunto, they would by violence take him from the officers, or otherwise convey him away; he not only gave no consent to that project of theirs, but also smiled at them, ask whether they knew any place, without the territory of Athens, to the which death might not approach. And as pretty a speech was that of e Ammian: Mercellin. hist Lib. 16. Sigon. de Occid. Imp. lib. 6. Hormisda the Persian, who being by his king sent in embassage to Constantius the Roman Emperor, was caused by Constantius to walk up and down, to view the city Rome. There he beheld the glorious monuments of the place, the Capitol, the Pantheon, the Temple of peace, the Forum of trajan, the amphitheatre, and the Baths, with many other matters of excellent workmanship. But being asked by the Emperor what he thought of Rome, or what was his judgement concerning it, he replied, that it was the most glorious City, that was in the world; and that as he supposed, there was not such another in all the earth: but this, saith he, doth please me, or as other report it, this one thing doth displease me, that I see men die at Rome, as they do in other places. The speech was most true, and fitteth all other cities. We all then may resolve, that wheresoever we be, or of what calling soever, we must come to the gates of death. That we might not hope to avoid this, the patriarchs and the Prophets have gone that way before us: That we may not dread the sharpness of it, the Son of God himself by sustaining death in his flesh, hath sanctified death unto us. 8 A man would have thought, that by this time sufficient had been said. But yet farther to imprint all into our cogitation, the Prophet speaketh on, All the grace thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth. As if he should have subjoined, that if in the life of man there be any thing more fair, more amiable, more goodly, more specious, more illustrious than the common quality, yet this is but like to the flower. The flower is more sightly than the grass, more pleasing unto the eye, more fragrant unto the smell: yet it endureth the common quality of withering and fading. Yea many times the fairer and the gayer the flower is, the sooner it is gathered and cropped off by the hand. So it is with those things which this world esteemeth most glorious. Authority, estimation, youth, beauty, pomp, strength, all the delights of this earth are transitory and vain. David setteth men as high as possibly they may go, f Psal. 82. 6. I have said, Ye are gods, and ye all are children of the most High: but he bringeth them down as low, But ye shall die as a man: and ye Princes shall fall like others. There be many things in this world of high esteem with men, goodly houses, glorious clothes, dainty fare, curious gardens, music, baths, plate and possessions: yet of these S. Austen said truly, g Aug. de catechiz. rudibus cap. 16. Quamuis insana gaudia non sint gaudia: Although these mad and foolish joys are in truth no joys, yet be they as they are, and let them delight as much as possibly they can, aufert omnia ista unafebricula, if there come but one fit of an ague, the comfort of them is gone. To the same purpose Saint Basil: for when he hath described the glory and the ornaments of Princes and great persons, he addeth: h Basil. in Hexam. homil. 5. That if there come but one ill night, one little touch of a fever, some pain of the side, or imperfection in the lungs, abijt illa universa scena, all the play is marred, the show is quite disgraced. Where we may note, that Saint Basil doth term our life but a play: And so also doth Saint i Chrys Con●. 2. de L●zaro. chrysostom, likening men unto stage-players, among whom one is a King, a second stands for a Captain, a third serves for a Mariner, and other have other parts; but this is only while they are upon the stage: for the show being ended, they are then but themselves, all fellows, and all alike. Even so in life there is difference, there be degrees of callings; but in rottenness and the grave the best and worst are equal. There no difference may be found between k 2. Sam. 14. 25. Absason with his beauty, and l Luc. 16. 20. Lazarus with his blains. There it is true which m Lucian. in Necromant. Lucian causeth one to report, that when he came amongst the dead, he could there see no difference between Nireus the fair, and Thersites the foul: between Irus the beggar, and Ulysses the Prince: between Pirrhias the cook, and Agamemnon the king. Now if these things be so, why do men set their hearts on the glory of this world? Nay, why do Christian men embrace it, and admire it, and adore it, and dote upon it, since Heathen men have discovered the vanity thereof, and done strange things about it? That n A●n. Syle. ● Blond. Decad. 2. 6. Platin. in Caelest. 3. Saladine who was so great an enemy to the Christians, and won from them the Holy land, lying upon his deathbed, gave charge that his inner garment, his shirt as it may be thought, or rather his shroud, being put on the end of a spear, should be carried before his coarse now going to be buried, and that a Herald should cry, that Saladine the great Lord and Governor of Asia carried nothing away with him but that shirt or that shroud. Where if it should be objected that he grew to this contemplation, when immediately he was to leave the world, I may tell you of other persons, who in their strength and vigour have had as good meditations. o Dion. Histor. lib. 66. Titus that Roman Emperor having set out shows and spectacles for a hundred days together, to demonstrate the magnificence of that Empire, on the last day of those sights, in the presence of all the people did break forth into tears, upon a consideration, that all that pomp was vanished and dissolved into nothing. It is said of p Plutarch. in vit. Aemil. Paulus Aemilius, that when he had his triumph for three whole days together, he joyed no way apparently; as neither on the other side, he gave testimony of grief for the death of one of his sons, who died a very few days before the time of his triumph; with which patience he also took the death of another of them within a few days after. But albeit in all that, he did bear himself with great constancy, yet in another case he had other cogitations. For q Tit. Liu. lib. 45. having overthrown in battle Perseus the king of Macedonia, and having chased him up and down, so that there was small hope to escape, Perseus writeth letters to him, that he would yield into his hands his kingdom and his person; which when Aemilius had received, he could not stay from weeping, remembering the inconstancy and mutability of all states and conditions. So did that noble r Tit. Liu. lib. 25. Marcellus in his entrance into that rich city Syracuse, when he had long besieged it, and at last by composition it was surrendered unto him; the tears trickled from his eyes, to see so worthy a place now brought into captivity. s Appian. de bellis Puni●is. Scipio another Roman, when he saw the city Carthage razed down unto the ground, though it had been enemy to his country, yet could not forbear to weep, to think that empires and nations were so subject to overturning. Thus did the gravest and wisest men that were among the old Romans, in the happiest and most glorious things that ever did befall them while they were here amongst men. Such meditations as these were, would well become God's best servants, to lay it unto their heart, that the height of earthly felicity being taken in itself, is but store of the lightest vanity. Grass is no better than grass, and flowers are no better than flowers: these fade, the other withereth. 9 The reason of the whole now followeth: The spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. God dissolveth all at his pleasure; and mark with what facility this matter is brought about; but as with a puff of the wind, or as with the blast of the mouth. That breath which made the world, can mar a man in a moment. The Lord saith of himself, t Deu. 32. 39 I kill, and I give life: I wound, and I make whole: neither is there any that can deliver out of mine hand. Hanna the mother of Samuel, in her song remembreth this; u 1. Sam. 2. 6 The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: bringeth down to the grave, and raiseth up. And my Prophet in the same Chapter whence my text is taken, * Isa. 40. 23. He (speaking of God) bringeth the Princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the earth as vanity. These things teach us the Lord's power, and his sway over men. He setteth them in a standing place like sentinels in a watch, and when he list he dischargeth them: When he calleth for the greatest, there is no way of avoiding, there is no means of withdrawing, there is no place for absenting, there is no course of resisting. And so I end this Proclamation. 10 What I have spoken all this while touching the main of my text, is verified in that spectacle which is now before our eyes, which can not choose but be unto us a memorial of mortality. For here we are to celebrate the funeral solemnity of an honourable parsonage, a grave Counsellor of Estate, a great Officer of the Crown, a faithful servant unto his Majesty. Touching whom, since you expect that something should be said, I shall draw the beginning of that which I must deliver, from a witness beyond all exception; and that is the late Queen of everlasting memory. Her Majesty not long before her death being pleased, as 〈◊〉 seemeth, with some special piece of service which his Lordship had done unto her, grew at large to discourse touching this Noble man, as an honourable person, and a Counsellor of Estate, in writing hath advertised me. Her Highness was then pleased to decipher out his life, by seven steps or degrees: The first was his younger days, the time of his scholarship, when first in that famous University of Oxford, and afterward in the Temple, (where he took the degree of Barrister) he gave tokens of such pregnancy, such studiousness and judgement, that he was held no way inferior to any of his time or standing. And of this there remain good x The life of Tresilian in the Mirror of Magistr. Epist. prefix. Aulic. Barth. Clerk. tokens both in English and in Latin published unto the world. The second was his travel, when being in France and Italy, he profited very much in the languages, in matter of story and State: (whereof this Commonwealth, found great benefit in his Lordship's elder years, in the deepest consulations that belonged unto this kingdom.) And being prisoner in Rome for the space of fourteen days, (which trouble was brought upon him by some who hated him for his love to religion, and his duty to his Sovereign) he so prudently bore himself, that by the blessing of God, and his temperate kind of carriage, he was freed out of that danger. The third step which her Majesty did think good to observe was (upon return into England) his coming unto her Court, where on divers occasions he bountifully feasted her Highness and her Nobles; and so he did to foreign Ambassadors. At that time he entertained musicans the most curious, which any where he could have, and therein his Lordship excelled unto his dying day. Then was his discourse judicious, but yet witty and delightful. Thus he was in his younger days, a scholar, and a traveler, and a Courtier of special estimation. 11 The fourth step of his life, noted by her most sacred Majesty, was his employment of higher nature, in Embassages beyond the seas. As first, when his Lordship was sent to the French King Charles the ninth, partly to congratulate his marriage with the daughter of Maximilian the Emperor, and partly about other weighty affairs touching both the kingdoms. At which time his Lordship was so honourably attended with Gentlemen of choice quality; and was so magnificent in his expense, as was admirable to the French, honourable to his country, and gave much contentment unto his Sovereign. * Holinshed An. 13. Eliz. The Chronicles at large relate the manner of it. Secondly, when afterward in a service of tickle nature, he was employed into the Low Countries, where notwithstanding the sharp sight which by some was carried over him, yet his Lordship behaved himself so warily and discreetly, that no blame could be fastened on him. The fifth time observed was, his temper and moderation after his returns from thence, when her Majesty to give contentation to a great parsonage, in those days of high employment, was pleased to command him unto his own house, there privately to remain till her farther pleasure was known. Where his Lordship did bear himself so dutifully and obsequiously unto her highness command, that in all the time of his restraint, for nine or ten months space, he never would endure either openly or secretly, either by day or by night to see either wife or child. A rare example of obedience, and observance unto his Sovereign. The sixth degree which was noted by that most renowned Lady, was the time that his Lordship was Counsellor, before that he was advanced to that high office, which afterward he bore, in which time he daily showed great diligence and sound judgement, in her weightiest affairs. The last of all was that space, wherein he held the room of Lord High Treasurer of England, in which place she noted the continual and excessive pains, and care which his Lordship did take in her business, his fidelity in his advices, his dexterity in advancing of her profit. Thus it seemed good to that Queen of blessed memory, in particular discourse touching her faithful servant. This was while his Lordship lived: and since his death, his Majesty that now is, the most religious, the most learned, the most judicious King, that this land ever enjoyed, (as I have been advertised from persons of high quality) hath been pleased divers times to give many excellent speeches before the Lords concerning him, as his Highness had done formerly, while this noble man did live. here, may I not say with the Poet? y Horat. lib. 1. Epist. 17. Principibus placuisse viris, non ultima laus est: To please great Princes is not the least commendation. Nay I may change the verse, and alter it in this fashion: Principibus placuisseistis, ter maxima laus est. To please such Princes as these, is a very great commendation. And indeed, these were most gracious testimonies of two such Sovereigns to their servant, who desired much to please them with loyalty and fidelity, with vigilancy and care, with industry and diligence, incredible, but unto those who did know it. And never was there any Noble man, who with more humble agnizing, with more feeling and affectionate gratefulness did entertain the favours of his Sovereigns, than this honourable person did, as may fully appear by many w●●ds in his last will, recommending to his posterity, a special grace of his Majesty, in sending a Ring unto him, which he wisheth his to keep, as a jewel of highest value, throughout all generations. The words are worth the reading, but they are too long to rehearse in this place. 12 Now for other parts of moral virtues, how many rare things were in him? Who more loving unto his wife, that Honourable Lady, the mirror of all true virtue? It is a most worthy testimony, that he hath given thereof, and hath left it to be 1 The words which his Lordship in his last will useth of his Lady are these: Inprimis, I give, will, and bequeath unto the Lady Cicely Countess of Dorset, my most virtuous, faithful, and dearly beloved wife, not as any recompense of her infinite merit towards me, who for her incomparable love, zeal, & hearty affection ever showed unto me, and for those her so rare, many, and reverent virtues, of chastity, modesty, fidelity, humility, secrecy, wisdom, patience, and a mind● replete with all piety and goodness, which evermore have and do abound in her, deserveth to be honoured, loved and esteemed above all the transitory wealth and treasure of this world, and therefore by no price of earthly riches can by me be valued, recompensed or requi●ed: To her therefore my most vermous, faithful and entirely beloved wife, Not, I say, as a recompense, but as a true token and testimony of my unspeakable love, affection, and estimation, and reverence long since fixed and settled in my heart towards her, I give, will and bequeath, etc. recorded for those that shall come after. Who more kind unto his children, and to his grandchildren? Who more fast unto his friend? who more moderate to his enemy, if truth were once found out, and staining imputations were wiped away from the integrity of his Honour? Who more true of his word? It was a noble testimony, which a most Honourable parsonage gave of his Lordship since his death, in a right worthy assembly, that in much conversation and concurrence in many causes, of great weight and importance, he never heard him speak, or in earnest affirm that which he found to be otherwise. What noble man in our time was more given to hospitality, and keeping of a great house? Having lived, seventy and two years (for so was his age accounted) and being married more than fifty and three years, unto one and the self same Lady, he kept house for forty and two years in an honourable proportion. For thirty years of those, his family consisted of little less in one place or another, than two hundred persons. But for more than twenty years, besides workmen and other hired, his number at the least hath been two hundred and twenty daily, as appeared upon checke-rowle. A very rare example in this present age of ours, when housekeeping is so decayed. Who more magnificent than than his Lordship in solemn entertainments? as (besides other particulars) was manifested not long since abundantly to the world, when his Majesty with the Queen and Prince together with a great part of the Nobility, spent divers days at Oxford. Who was ever more desirous to do wrong unto none? His Lordship bought no land, but he commonly paid more for it, than it was worth, yielding this reason of it, that it would the better prosper and continue in his name and posterity. In his Will how careful was he, that all debts should be paid? yea though there were no specialty whereby it might be challenged, yet if it might appear that aught was due unto any man, his charge is to his Executors that they should give satisfaction. The like also for wrong done to any one whatsoever (whereof he protested before the eternal Majesty that he did not remember any.) And if there should grow difference between his Executors and any person demanding, his hearty prayer and desire is to the Deans of Windsor, Westminster, and Paul's (for so his Lordship doth rank them) to hear, order, and determine all controversies depending. Which if they refuse to do, which he hopeth they will not, or if the party claiming shall not obey their award, he leaveth them to the ordinary course of law, but chargeth and requireth his Executors to answer them in all Courts of justice immediately, without all delays whatsoever. Unto those honourable parts, I may add a great many more: As his good and charitable disposition toward his Tenants, of whom ordinarily, he took less fines by a third part, than by other Lords is usually accustomed; and his Farmers held his Farms, as is well known to the world, but at reasonable rents: As his relief to the poor in pinching times of dearth. a From the 28. of May to the 15. of August, so much as cost 154. li. 14. s. 7. d. In the year 1597. which was a time of the greatest scarcity that ever we did know, his Lordship sent into Sussex of his free gift unto six parishes store of Dansk Rye bought at Billingsgate. divers other years, and namely this present year 1608. his Lordship hath caused weekly certain quarters of Wheat, to be carried from his own Granary at Lewes in Sussex, and to be sold in the market to the poor, at a far b After 26. s. 8. d. the quarter, when other men ordinarily sold for 40. s. the quarter. lower rate than the price which commonly men did take. And that this his Lordship's bounty might continue after his death, by his last Will and Testament he hath bequeathed a thousand pounds for the erecting of a Granary at the place which last I named, for the use and benefit of poor people in those parts: And two thousand pounds as a stock for the storing of that house against times of dearth and scarcity. Unto this he hath also joined a thousand pounds to be bestowed on the building of a Chapel c 〈…〉 where his ancestors do lie, and where his Lordship desired that his body might be interred. These are fruits of a lively faith, and so must be reputed. 13 But because a right belief and religion toward God is the highest point of all, I may not here omit to say something touching that. There are arguments most evident to demonstrate unto all men, that his faith was agreeable unto the word of God, and according to the profession of the renowned Church of England. In that famous University of Oxford, where his Lordship for more than sixteen years was our Honourable Chancellor, it was his special care to substitute such under him as were most sound for Religion, which the wiser sort did observe, although common men did not mark it. As he kept down with the one hand all novelties, and humours in opinions, which laboured to set trouble in the Church and Commonwealth, so with the other hand to the uttermost of his power he depressed the Priests and jesuits, which have used too much to that place; not to the University, which God be praised is free from all such imputation, but to some few of the City, who embrace their old superstitions. In that place this I can witness, that his Lordship neither openly nor secretly did ever give countenance unto any that was backward in religion. And on the other side, that there was never any thing soberly and wisely proposed which might forward true piety, which his Lordship did not further; as I could by many particulars make plain to whomsoever. Touching the education of those honourable plants his grandchildren, his Lordship was ever careful that they should be trained up in the truth of religion, far from Popery and idolatry. His charge was unto their Tutor (as I well knew in his life time) that as he would answer him in the day of the last judgement, before the face of Christ, that he should train them up in the truth of the religion professed now in England. How angry would he be, when he was at his Country house, if they came not duly to prayers? He never could endure that they otherwise should be matched, than where was sound religion. Concerning his own soul, when the last year he was sick, besides ordinary prayers, he composed himself to God by d At Horseley. receiving the holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper, when he looked to depart the world. But two days before he died, devoutly and religiously he heard a Sermon at home in his Lordships own e At Dorset house. Chapel. Nay to let all other things pass, how holily and Christianly in his last Will and Testament doth he commend his soul unto God I must profess when I saw it first, it did very much affect me. And because it cannot choose but give very full contentment to all reasonably minded, yea perhaps may do much good unto other by the example, I think it not amiss to read the very words, that his own hand hath delivered. These they are: First therefore as a living creature most bound thereunto, I here throw down and prostrate myself in all humility and thankfulness, at the foot of my Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour, rendering unto his divine Majesty my most lowly, hearty and infinite thanks, in that he hath vouchsafed to create me a man endued and infused with soul and reason, and fashioned like unto the image of his own eternal Son, that might have made me a brutish and soulless beast, to have fed and graed upon the earth, like unto those irrational living creatures of the field. But especially in that he hath pleased to make me a Christian man, whereby in this life I may joy and rejoice with the sound and badge of that glorious name, and when I go from hence I may thereby, and through the mercies and goodness of jesus Christ depart and die in assurance and comfort of my souls and bodies salvation and resurrection, and to rest at his right hand, in the fruition of those celestial and unspeakable joys and blessedness that never shall have end. To him therefore my most merciful and omnipotent God, and into the hands of his inexplicable and eternal goodness, I give, will and bequeath my soul, firmly and assuredly trusting, believing and freely confessing, That by the death and passion of his Son jesus Christ, and by his only mercy, mean and mediation for me, and by none other, and not by any good work or merit of mine own (although I must acknowledge, that I am bound upon pain of damnation, to do as many good works as possibly I can or may; all which when I have done, yet am I but an unprofitable servant, and a sinful creature full of all iniquity) I shall live and partake with his Saints in his heavenly kingdom, of that eternal and inexplicable bliss and happiness which he hath prepared for his elect, of which number (through his infinite mercy and goodness) I do confidently and steadfastly hope, know and believe that I am one. 14 These things did God provide should be in his Lordship's lifetime, that those who did love and honour him (of whom I must evermore acknowledge myself to be one, and so bound by due desert) might have the more comfort, in, and after his death. Which must needs be confessed to have been on the sudden: and yet such as hath befallen many good and godly men; yea choice persons amongst God's servants. I need not give example, how many in a moment have been drowned at sea, or in other rivers; or have been slaughtered in the wars; or murdered by their enemies; or stifled in their beds; or passing thorough the streets, have been beaten down with a tile, or slain with a stone thrown from a f justin. li. 25. wall, as some write that Pyrrhus was, or have had some such matter as the tower of g Luc. 13. 4. Siloah to fall upon them. I need not run to h Pli●. ●at. hist. lib. 7. 7. Anacreon the Poet, who in an instant was choked with the kernel of a raisin, or to i Ibidem. Fabius, who drinking milk was strangled with an hair. Neither need I fly to k Tull. in L●lio. Scipio that admirable Roman, who being over night so honoured by his countrymen, that the Senators and the people of that city, together with the Latins and other their confederates, in solemn fashion brought him home to his house, the next day he was found dead. I may speak of our own age, wherein many persons of honour, men of learning and of great reverence have suddenly been called out of the world; touching whom for any man to give a bitter censure, standeth not with any rule of charity or piety, yea of common Christianity. And for the ages past, I might tell you of Petrus l Nich. Hospital. in Tumulis. Castellanus, Bishop sometimes of Orleans, who being preaching in the pulpit, fell suddenly down and died. I might remember you of that worthy and most renowned Emperor, m Matth. Paris in Richard. Fredrick Barbarossa, who going for Palestina, to recover the Holy land out of the hands of the Saracens, which he thought to be a service most acceptable to Christ, and for effecting whereof, he left his country and friends, yet by the way as he passed, in the presence of many of his army, was suddenly drowned in the river Sapheth. I might mention the younger n Hier. Epist. 19 Tom. 9 Marcellin. Lib. 30. Valentinian an Emperor endued with many most rare qualities: yet being on a time much offended that the Sarmatae and Quadi, two barbarous nations, had broken in upon the Empire, and speaking loud and passionately concerning that matter, he broke some vein or some thing else within him, and presently so died. Notwithstanding Saint * Ambros. de obit. Valentinian. Ambrose making a funeral Oration or Sermon for him, giveth him most singular commendation, and doubteth not but that his soul was in peace and rest with God. Yea albeit at that time Valentinian had not received the Sacrament of Baptism, yet Saint Ambrose is resolved that propter voluntatem & votum Baptismi, for his desire and wish that he had to be baptized, the Lord had received him to mercy. Where I may not forget a speech which he uttereth in that Sermon, justus quacunque morte praeventus fuerit, anima eius in refrigerio erit: The righteous man, by what kind of death soever he be over taken, or hastily caught away, his soul shall be at rest. I might rehearse the example of jovian another famous Emperor, who was the man that freed the Roman army from the danger whereinto julian the Apostata going against the Persians had brought it. In the o Socrat. Hist. Eccl. li. 3. 19 midst of their peril, the Captains and soldiers assured both of his virtue and his valour, proclaimed him for their Emperor. But he being a zealous and most resolute Christian, and knowing that they not long before, (to give contentment to julian) had turned Heathens and Infidels, made answer that himself professing for jesus Christ, would never take upon him any government over Gentiles; which made them by and by return to the Christian faith. Yet this holy and worthy Emperor, p Theodor. Hist. Eccl. Lib: 4. 4. like to the Sun breaking forth after a fearful storm, was presently caught away, and taken out of men's sight. For going in health to bed, he was found dead in the morning; and no reason of that hasty change could be imagined, but that either he had taken too q Solon. Hist. Eccl. Lib. 6. 6. liberal a supper, or was choked with the savour of new lime on the walls of the house where he lay, or with the smell of bad coals, r Hier. Epist. 3. ad Heliod. foetore prunarum, as Saint Hierome doth deliver it. Nay I might tell of josiah, whom jeremy did term, the breath of their s ●am. 4. 20. nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord, yet saith withal, that he was taken in their nets, that is, was caught away suddenly. * 2. Chron. 35. 23. He went into battle against Pharaoh Necho, and there was wounded and slain. justine Martyr speaking of this most godly king, and the manner of his death doth make this objection, t justin. Martyr. Quaest 79. why the wicked did not say that josias was so slain, and died in such a fashion, because he overthrew their idols and their altars. Whereby he doth intimate, that the manner of men is to give a hard judgement on the good as well as upon the bad, if any thing extraordinary, especially in their death, do befall them. Saint u Hieron. in Psa. 93. ●om. 7. Hierome noteth the same, where he writeth thus: Solent aliqui dicere, Some men use to say, He who was slain had not been killed unless he had been a fornicator, or had committed some sin. The house had not fallen upon him, unless he had been a malefactor. He had not suffered shipwreck, had he not been an offender. But see what saith the holy Scripture, Et sanguinem innocentem condemnabunt: They shall condemn even innocent blood. Though the person be innocent, yet God sometimes doth suffer the evil man to condemn him. This may well be a lesson to men in our time, that they be not too quick, nor nimble in giving up their verdicts or censures of other men. Especially since God disposeth all at his pleasure. Since he hath said, that * Eccl. 9 2. All things come alike to all: and the same condition is to the just and the wicked, to the good and to the pure, and to the polluted; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not. Which is to be understood of external and outward things; since the parties that speak this, have their own breath in their nostrils, and it may be their own case, if God should so determine it: it being true that this noble man spoke in another cause, the very hour that he died, x Eccl. 38. 22. Heri mihi, hody tibi. hody mihi, cras tibi: It is my turn to day, and it may be yours tomorrow. I might amplify this point much farther, but I end it with that saying of the Apostle Paul, What y Rom. 14. 4. art thou that condemnest or judgest another man's servant? He standeth or falleth to his own master. 15 Yet, that truth may not be concealed in the matter which now I handle; as God dealt with this noble person somewhat extraordinarily in taking him from among us, so it may be well supposed, that he gave him more than an ordinary conjecture, or suspicion, that his death was not far from him. The last year when he returned after his grievous sickness, he spoke it more than once to his honourable friends, that he had settled his soul and composed it to another world, whensoever God should call for him. Soon after he began to dispose of all those worldly things, which the Lord had lent unto him. Of late it was his common speech, I am now an old man, therefore this, or therefore that, as I myself can witness. The day before he died, writing with his own hand to one of his grandchildren, he more than once in that letter used this or the like phrase, After my death: and, when I am dead and gone. The last morning of his life, it was noted by those who were nearest about his Lordship, that he was apparently longer at his private meditations, then commonly he did use. But the words of his will, written with his own hand may give great satisfaction to a man of a hard conceit, that he did fit himself to mortality, whereof in the former year he had had a warning piece. I will read his Lordships own words, in which letech man judge, whether it may not be thought that there was some instinct more than ordinary. Thus than his will beginneth: The eternal God of heaven and earth, the Father, the Son, and the holy Ghost, guide and prosper this mine intent and purpose, which in their name I here take in hand and begin. Because it is a truth infallible, such as every Christian ought not only perfectly to know, and steadfastly to believe, but also continually to meditate and think upon, namely, that we are borne to die; That nothing in this world is more certain than death, nothing more incertain than the hour of death, and that no creature living knoweth, neither when, where, nor how it shall please Almighty God to call him out of this mortal life: So as here we live every hour, nay every instant a thousand ways subject to the sudden stroke of death, which ought to terrify, teach and warn us to make ourselves ready as well in the preparation of our souls to God, as by the disposition of all our earthly fortunes to the world, whensoever it shall please the heavenly power to call us from this miserable and transitory life unto that blessed and everlasting life to come: Therefore, etc. 16 Yet to all this I may add, that by us who are living, there is an use to be made of these th●ngs: For Exempl. ●mori●ntum sunt documenta viventium; The examples of men dying are the instructions of the living. When in this present spectacle we may sensibly behold, that life is so uncertain, that we may say with Pliny, z Plin. Nat. Hist. li. 7. 51. Whereas there be in men innumerable signs of death, there is no assured sign of safety and of security in the youngest or the strongest: let us remember the counsel of our Master and Saviour, b Matt. 24. 42. Wake therefore: for ye know not what hour your master will come, either by death, or by the last and general judgement. Let us be like the wise c Matth. 25. 4. virgins, ever ready with oil in our lamps; the oil of faith and good life. Let us say to ourselves as God said to d 2. Reg. 20. 1. Hezechiah, Put thine house in an order, for thou shalt die and not live. Let us speak thus to our souls. Let us not weave the spiders-web; that is, bestow all our labour upon that which is but vain, but weak, and of no profit. Let us not fasten ourselves to this transitory world, making that to be our joy, our comfort and delight; but let our mind be settled on some thing of higher nature. Let us daily pray to God as Moses sometimes prayed, e Psal. 90. 12. Teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom: which must be the wisdom spiritual, celestial and eternal. And this is so much the rather to be desired in this life, because as we read in Solomon, f Eccle. 11. 3. if the tree do fall toward the South or toward the North, in the place that the tree falleth, there it shall be, that is, as g Olymp in Eccl. 11. Bern. Sermon. paru. 49. Olympiodorus, and Saint Bernard do expound it, as a man doth die, either in the favour or the disfavour of God, so he must remain immutabiliter & irretractabiliter, without changing or recalling. Therefore men while they do live should carry themselves warily, as being ever assured, that they are in the eye of God, and that he is among them in their greatest consultations, and most honourable assemblies. h Psal. 82. 1. God standeth (saith David) in the Congregation of Princes; he is a judge among Gods. A judge to see and examine them, a judge to strike and call unto him, whom and when it pleaseth him. Let him ever be before our eyes, that when he shall send for us, we may appear with readiness, with alacrity and with confidence before the Throne of his Grace. Which God the Father grant us for his Son Christ jesus his sake: to both whom with the Holy Ghost be laud and praise, and glory, now and evermore. Amen. TO THE READER. BEcause there is mention made in this Sermon of a Ring sent unto that Honourable person by his most sacred Majesty, the humble acceptance whereof is set down with so grateful remembrance of his duty and devotion to his Highness; and because the words otherwise imply a great deal of observable matter, I have thought it not amiss to offer them to more public view, as they are delivered by his Lordship in his last will: which is as followeth. ALso I give, will and bequeath unto my said well-beloved son ROBERT Lord BVCKHVRST after my decease for and during his life only, out of those jewels of Gold, Pearl and Precious stone, which I keep and reserve as jewels for myself, the sole use and occupation only of one Ring of Gold enamelled black, and set round over all the whole Ring with Diamonds to the number of twenty, whereof five Diamonds being placed in the uppermost part of the said Ring do represent the fashion of a Cross; and the other fifteen are set round and over all the said Ring. And after the decease of my said son BVCKHVRST, than I give, will, and bequeath the like sole use and occupation only of the said Ring unto my Nephew RICHARD SACKVILLE, his eldest son, for and during his life only. And after his decease, then unto the next heir male begotten of the body of the said RICHARD SACKVILLE my Nephew, for and during his life only. And so from heir male to heir male of the SACKVILLS, after the decease of every of them severally and successively for and during the life and lives only of every such heir male severally and successively: charging and earnestly requiring all and every of my said heir males before specified; even as they regard the last request of him by whose great travel, care and industry (if the Divine providence of God that hath vouchsafed to give it, shall so please to continue it) they are like to receive the addition and advancement of so great honour, possessions and patrimony, that although percase in this strict course of the common laws of this Realm, the Entail of goods and chattels may hardly stand upright, that yet for the preservation and continuance of this gift of mine intended by me to remain as an heire-lome to the house and family of the SACKVILLS, so long as almighty God (according to the effects of his former goodness unto that house, by the continuance thereof during the space of so many hundred years past) shall please to uphold the same, they and every of them will forbear in any sort to oppugn it, or to bring it in question, or to brandle and controvert the will of their so well deserving Ancestor, and specially in a matter so honest, reasonable, fit and convenient as this is, but rather with all willing, ready and contented minds to suffer the same to pass as an heire-lome, from heir male to heir male, according to the true intent and meaning of this my last will and Testament in that behalf. Which said Ring set all over with twenty Diamonds, as is aforesaid, I desire & charge my said son BUCKHURST upon my blessing, and in like sort all other the heirs male, whom God shall vouchsafe from age to age to raise unto my house and family, and unto whom (if the Highest so please) my hearty desire and meaning is, the said Ring set with twenty Diamonds, as is aforesaid, may lineally and successively descend and come for ever, namely, that with all provident care and heedful circumspection they will safely keep, retain, and preserve the said Ring whensoever and as often as he shall come to their hands and possession, even as one of the greatest gifts and jewels which (in true estimation) all circumstances considered, I have to leave unto them. And to the intent they may know how just and great cause both they and I have to hold the said Ring in so high esteem, it is most requisite that I do here set down the whole course and circumstance how and from whom the said Ring did come to my possession, which was thus: In the beginning of the month of june 1607 this Ring thus set with twenty Diamonds, as is aforesaid, was sent unto me from my most gracious Sovereign King james, by that honourable parsonage the Lord Hay, one of the Gentlemen of his highness Bedchamber, the Court then being at Whitehall in London, and I at that time remaining at Horsley house in Surrey, twenty miles from London, where I lay in such extremity of sickness as it was a common and a constant report over all London, that I was dead, and the same confidently affirmed even unto the King's Highness himself. Upon which occasion it pleased his most excellent Majesty, in token of his gracious goodness and great favour towards me, to send the said Lord Hay with the said Ring, and this royal message unto me; namely, That his Highness heartily wished a speedy and perfect recovery of my health, with all happy and good success unto me; and that I might live as long as the Diamonds of that Ring (which therewithal he delivered unto me) did endure: And in token thereof required me to we are it and keep it for his sake. This most gracious and comfortable message restored a new life unto me, as coming from so renowned and benign a Sovereign, unto a servant so far unworthy of so great a favour; and upon whom, not long before, it had pleased his Majesty, yea in that very first day wherein we all had the happiness to behold him, not only to bestow the honour of a Privy Counsellor, but also without any answerable desert or merit of mine preceding, to confirm that most honourable place of High Treasurer of England unto me, which the late Queen ELIZABETH after fourteen years service and ten years following her Court (but not before) vouchsafed (I must needs yet say most graciously so soon as it became void) to grant unto me, and likewise within a short time after to advance both me and my succession to the high honour & degree of an Earl; which is and shall be to me, my house and posterity, an everliving demonstration, aswell of his great benefit to us, as of our infinite bond to him thereby for ever. The which inexplicable goodness of his Majesty towards me, besides many lustres of his bright shining favours, from time to time cast upon me, do give me just cause to agnize, that I am no ways able to merit, no not the least part of them, but only with the humble and infinite earnestie of my heart in desire to deserve; which I can yet no ways manifest, but by that faithful testimony which shall never fail in me, namely, by demonstration of mine incessant cares, labours and actual endeavours for the behoof and furtherance of his Majesties▪ services, at the least thereby to show that good will which is in me, though I cannot show that effect which is due to him, since all that I possibly can or may do, is but mere debt and duty, and so in that course to spend such remain of life as is left unto me, yea even to the very last of my days here, & when I am dead & gone, if ever occasion may or shall be offered to any of my posterity to do his Majesty or any of his any acceptable service hereafter, then let them hold & esteem themselves most happy, if with the expense of life, & of all the fortunes that this world shall give them, they may actually approve and witness with effect, that they are not only most loyal and dutiful vassals to this Imperial Crown, but also the most humble, faithful, and thankful sons and sequel of such a servant, as was more bound unto King JAMES, his liege Master, than ever subject was unto his Sovereign, especially he being such a Sovereign, adorned with such excellent parts of justice, clemency, and goodness, endued with so admirable gifts of memory, learning, and judgement, and finally beautified with so many other regal graces and virtues so far beyond all the Kings and Princes that either written story or this present age hath to present unto us, as I know not how any greater honour and felicity can possibly be added to the imperial Crown of and in this Great Britain, by his undoubted right so happily united unto us, than we now presently possess and enjoy in the Royal person of this our so renowned and so rare a King. Beseeching the eternal God, that he and his may evermore both rule and reign over us, yea even as long as the Sun and Moon endureth: and that I and mine may for ever and ever become more and more thankful, (at the least if it be possibly in me) for so great honours, graces, and favours, as this most clement and renowned King hath thus most graciously vouchsafed unto me; the remembrance of which, because it may never die but be perpetually recorded in the minds of those, that by the grace & goodness of almighty God, both now are, & hereafter shall be the lineal stirpe and succession of my house and family, to serve both him & his: I have here therefore set down this short narration, of the true state and circumstance of the whole matter, to the intent it may remain to my posterity hereafter, as a faithful memory thereof even in this my last Will and Testament for ever.