A CASKET OF JEWELS and precious PEARLS. Set forth in a FUNERAL Sermon, Preached in Heckfield Church, at the Burial of a Religious young Gentleman, Mr. Barnabas Creswell, Son of Mr. Thomas Creswell Esquire, By NATHANAEL CANNON, Batchelar in Divinity.  August. de Temp. Ser. 49. Dies noster Dominus Christus non facit occasum. 
LONDON: Printed by T. S. for Nathanael Newberry, at the Star under St. Peter's Church in Cornhill, and in Popes-head Alley. 1625.   

To the Worshipful and Christian your, Mr. john Stamp, and M irs. jane Stamp his Wife, Nathaniel Cannon wisheth true Comforts, external, internal, and eternal.  
TO you Both, as partners in loss, and lamentation, I tender this Treatise, and yet I am to speak unto you two, who are but one, apart, concerning this business.  
Sir, he called you Father, by a course of Law, and yet with conscience declared himself a very child.  
For if obedience, reverence, and daily diligence might beget love, than needs must he be a beloved Son, who was all this to you for conscience sake.  
To you, (his dear Mother) he was a right Barnabas; which is by signification, a Son of Consolation, of which you had no small measure, both from his life and death.  
He honoured you, you loved him; he comforted you, you tendered him; and this was the mutual intercourse betwixt you, until GOD took him from you.  
As for myself, who at his Funeral read the Lecture of our mortality, besides the many bands of Christianity, wherewith all the faithful are linked and conjoined together, there are other especial motives to make you and yours near and dear to me.  
For first you were a good Instrument under GOD, both to comfort and counsel me in that calling whereunto the Lord hath appointed me.  
Secondly, you, and that worthy Gentleman, my Brother, Master Creswell, who is fall'n asleep, were not wanting to me and mine, but made your house unto us, as the house of Onesiphorus was unto Paul, a place of great refreshing, 2 Tim. 1.16. Now as the Prophet saith unto the Sunamyte, who had provided a Chamber, a Table, a Stool, and a Candlestick for the man of God, 2 Kings 4.13. thou hast been careful for us, but what may I do for thee? so say I, what shall be done for you by me? Surely, unless it be in the course of my calling, to pray with you, and for you, and sometimes as God offers occasion to present some part of my poor labours unto you; lo this is all, I can do nothing else.  
Wherefore let me pay my debts unto you after this manner; and the rather, for that you both, with diverse others have desired, that this Sermon, Preached at the Funeral of this faithful servant of God, and dear Son of yours might see the light.  
Yet let me not rob you (loving Brother) of your desires in making this your especial request, that he whom you had imprinted in your heart, might be put in Print at your instance; which is done by way of Dedication to you, and her who is a part of you, my dear Sister.  
Here shall you take a view of the Saints, and of their condition, who are the precious jewels locked up in the Casket of this Scripture.  
Doubtless your Child was one of these, a rich Diamond, whose ground being Christ, must needs have the light both of grace and glory.  
Remember therefore, (jobs giver and taker) which Text he quoteth in the case of Children, God giveth, saith he, and God taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord, job 1.21.  
If you will bless him, he will bless you; our least submission, brings great consolation.  
Yield Sister, yield; and God grant you the true comfort of those branches yet in being.  
God bless them, and make his face to shine upon them, that they may live to do worthily in Ephrata, and be famous in Bethelem, Ruth 4.11.  
Amen, Amen. Subscribed by your loving Brother in the Lord jesus Christ, Nathanael Cannon.   

Text.  PSAL. 116. Verse 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints. 
THE whole world in her full age is but a Kalnder● of years and days, as for Man, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that little world, he brings his years to an end as it were a tale that is told; Nam vita nostra similes est Rotae, saith (Zanchius) upon the fourth to the Philippians, our life, saith he, is like a wheel; modo in suprema, modo in infima parte versamur; sometimes saith he, we are rising, sometimes falling; now we are at the very top and height of our comforts, & by and by, down again in the depth of our sorrows; at length in the transition of this whirling wheel, that life that erst was all aloft, shall with one gasp, lay itself all along: What shall we say to this? the Heavens do many times grow black and cloudy, and yet clear again; the earth moves not at all, yet hath his being; the Seas, they ebb & flow, but have returns; yea, the very plants and trees let fall their lease, but keep their life, for as job 14. observes, There is hope of a tree though it be cut down, yet by the scent of water it may bud and sprout forth again; but as for man, the man of earth, for so he is rightly called, as (chrysostom) observes in his 12. Hom. in Gen. Homo rectè terra apellatur, quia prorsus est terrenus: he may well be called earth, that is so earthly. Alas, this man, as job notes, falls sick and dies; gone he is, with a nunquam rediturus, the eye that hath seen him, shall see him no more; Orimur & morimur, we live, we die, Sic transit gloria mundi.  
We need not turn our books to prove this point, for in Gods standing Library, which is the world, there are two Lieger Books, the one liber Creaturarum, the book of the Creatures, the other, liber Scripturarum, the book of the Scriptures, in both these volumes it is written, that Death hath a Habeas-Corpus for us all: As for that of the Creatures, it speaks unto us in the matter of our mortality, as the Prophet David doth in the 19 Psalm, touching God's glory, One day tells another, and one night certifieth another and there is neither speech nor language under the heavens, but the voice of God's glory is heard amongst them; so verily, one day tells another, and one night certifies another, & there is neither speech nor language under the heavens, but the voice of death is heard amongst them. As for that of the Scriptures, we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration from God, and is profitable to teach as the Apostle witnesseth, 2 Tim. 3.16. Each leaf doth read a lecture to our life, teaching us so to live the life of the righteous, that we may die the death of the righteous; yet notwithstanding we may say of the Scriptures as the Apostle doth of the stars, 1 Cor. 15. one star, saith he, differeth from another in glory; so doubtless, one Scripture may give more light unto a matter then another, and one Scripture may yield more comfort against death then another; which being granted, then let me say for this Text, that it doth so prepare, or rather resolve the faithful, so perfume their graves, which are, their beds, Esay 57.2. that they knowing themselves to be the Saints and Servants of God, and the spirit of God bearing witness unto theirs, that they are his, Rom. 8.16. Yea, his dear darlings and precious jewels, they then feel that comfort whereof the Apostle speaketh, Rom. 14.8. whether they live or dye they are the Lords, and they apprehend their advantage in Christ jesus, who as the Apostle saith, is advantage to him both in life and death, Phil. 1.21. This makes the Saints with old Simeon, ready to cry, Lord now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation: Now the Saints have the same object to look upon, and the same subject to speak on; and must not they then be precious, who shall be heirs of salvation? Such honour have all the Saints, of whose happy state and condition, my Text here speaks.  
Let me therefore say thus much of this portion of Scripture, that it is very seasonable for the occasion, and very suitable to his person that here lies before us, of whom I doubt not to pronounce him the faithful St. & servant of jesus Christ; and therefore precious in the sight of God.  
Now come we to the work we have in hand, that so we may see how this Text takes place in point of Coherence with tha rest of the Psalm.  
The voice of Thanksgiving doth with a spiritual trumpet soundforth the praise of God in this Psalm, wherein (David who was the sweet Singer of Israel) hath many notes of thankful remembrance for the manifold deliverances that GOD had vouchsafed unto him; but more particularly he instances in that mercy that the Lord shown in keeping him from Saul, who hunted after his life in the desert of Maon: And in the 3. verse, he tells us that when the sorrows of death had compassed him round about, than he began to lay hold on God, assuring himself that neither Saul, nor any of his argents, should either catch or kill him without that divine permission which did watch over him: and there fore he will put his life into the hands of God, and upon that very ground, he will set up his rest: which he doth in the 7. verse, Return O my soul unto thy rest; and because they are unworthy of future blessings, who are not thankful for former, he therefore comes in the 12. & 13. verses with his quid retribuam Domino? what shall I render to the Lord for all his mercies? then the cup of salvation must be mentioned, and the vows must be paid: making my Text the reason of all this; Because the Lord will take such care, both of the bodies and souls, of the lives and deaths of his Saints, that whether he preserve them from the hands of Tyrants, or else suffer them to be evil entreated or persecuted, that so God may be glorified, this shall be surely imprinted in the hearts of the faithful, that they are right dear and precious in the sight of God. And thus much shall suffice for the Analysis of the whole Psalm, and the particular sense and meaning of the Text itself.  
Now it remains, that we take the Text asunder, and note unto you the divident Branches thereof:  
1 Observe the disposition of the Saints themselves, that so their corruption, may put on incorruption; and that in their earthly peregrination, they may pass from the Kingdom of Grace, to the Kingdom of Glory.  
2 Observe the Acceptation of the Saints with God: to earthly men, they are but mean, base, and contemptible, in the sight of this world; but in the sight of God, right dear and precious; and as they value David's life in the 2 of Sam. 18.3. thy life, say they, is worth ten thousand of ours: So indeed, one faithful Servant of the Lord, is worth ten thousand others in the sight of God, for they are precious in his sight.  
1 Ratione praetij, by reason of the price that was paid to redeem their souls withal, and that was, the precious blood of jesus Christ, as the Apostle witnesseth, 1 Pet. 1 Chap. Verse 19 Potens non perdet, saith a Father, quod pecunia emebat, A great man will not lose that which he purchaseth with his money, Nec Christus perdet quod sanguine emebat, then may we be sure that Christ will not lose that which he purchased with his blood: that precious blood.  
2 Ratione tituli, they are precious by reason of their title that God hath given them, they are called the Saints of God. What greater honour can there be? Crowns and Sceptres comes short of this, unless they be within the compass of this: Heraldry hath no such scutcheons: Christianity hath the best Coat; the Crest or helm, it is salvation itself, Ephes. 6.17. & therefore no marvel though Theodosius the Emperor did prefer his Christianity before his Crown, Mallem me esse Christianum quàm Imperatorem.  
3 Ratione proemij, precious they are by reason of the reward laid up for them; they have precious promises made to them, as Saint Peter saith, 2 Pet. 1.4. They labour not in vain, as the men of this world do: Doubtless man, saith David, disquieteth himself in vain, he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them: But as for the Saints, when they have finished their course, there is laid up for them a crown of glory; yea, for all them that love the coming of the Lord jesus Christ, 2 Tim. 4.8. Lo thus have we looked upon the Tree and the Branches, the Text and the parts; now let us gather the fruit thereof, beginning first with our first Branch, which is the Dissolution of the Saints.  
There is a hedge made about job the just, which doth much trouble the Devil, insomuch that Satan cannot come at him, job 1.10. nor yet the gates of hell prevail against him, what is this but God's providence which watcheth over the righteous, and so protects that a hair falls not from their heads without it; Whereupon it is that Chrisostome cheers up the hearts of the faithful thus, Si sic custodiantur superflua tua in quanta securitate est anima tua? If saith he, the hairs of thy head and the least part of thy body be so kept, in what safety is thy soul preserved?  
And yet notwithstanding this keeping out of Satan, by the moundes of God's mercy, yet we have no quare impedit against death, nothing keeps it out; for the very Saints who are so dear in the sight of God, even they must dye: the sentence is irrevocable, all the children of Adam are within compass of it, for in him, as the Apostle saith, 1 Cor. 15. in Adam all men dye. Here then let us erect our first pillar from this first point.  
The very hieres of salvation, amongst others, Doct. 1 are subject to dissolution: though they be the lords jewels, and precious in his sight, yet even they must lay down their earthly Tabernacles: thus saith the scriptures. 
Proofs of the Doctrine   
There is a statute upon the lives of all flesh, statutum est omnibus mori, saith the Apostle, Heb. 9.27. it is appointed for all men to dye and after comes the judgement: Not only Ahab, who sells himself to commit wickedness, 1 Kin. 22.37. nor jerobeam who makes Israel sin, 2 Kin. 14.20. nor Demas, who forsaketh God to follow the world, 2 Tim. 4 10. but faithful Abraham, righteous Noah, just job, Godly Dorcas, yea Lazarus the friend of Christ shall fall asleep. We will look somewhat particularly upon some of these instances and begin with Dorcas, of whom we read, Acts 9 verse 36. and 37. the holy Ghost reports the place where she dwelled, joppa: this woman was by profession, a Disciple; that is, a follower and scholar of Christ jesus: then look into the fruits of her profession, which is all in all: the Text saith, that she was full of good works, she did abound in them, & yet this good & godly Matron falls sick and dies: Lazarus who is styled the friend of Christ, falls asleep; a gentle and comfortable expression of our death, john 11.11. Abraham, whom God will make a Secretary to his intentions, because he is so careful to bring up his family in the fear of God, Gen. 18.19. even this Father of the faithful shall fall asleep, and yield up the spirit in manus Domini, into the hands of that God that gave it, Gen. 25.8. What shall I say of old Isaac, the patriarchs, of Moses, Aron, joshua, Samuel, Daniel, and the rest; all which are gone down into the grave, notwithstanding their gifts and graces from above? Let not this seem strange, whereby that any should take upon them to dispute with God, and to ask, than what is the difference betwixt Saints, and sons of Belial, seeing all must dye? Perchance the question will arise, as sometimes the Spouse of Christ is put to it, Cant. 5.9. who when she had spoken at large, concerning the royal dignities of her Bridegroom, the question is asked; What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so extol him? So it may be said, what privilege have the Saints above others, seeing they must dye as well as others? The Solution of this proposition will rather show itself in Reasons, for the Saints dissolution, then in any other kind of disputations.  
The first Reason why they should be dissolved as well as others, is ut originalis corruptio destruatur; namely, that our sinful nature and original corruption might be destroyed, which cannot be so long as we live upon earth: we shall have those Reliquia peccati, those remnants of sin about us do what we can: velis nollis i●●●a fines, habitabit jebuseus; do what we can, this jebusite of corruption will dwell within us: It is an Inmate which will not be removed, until the house of our earthly body be pulled down, 2 Cor. 5.1.2.  
Yea all those (Romish pennances) of scourge or superstitious inflictions, gives no purgations for it, no not the strict and restrictive course of the faithful who by abstinence endeavour to bring down their bodies, and by prayer to raise up their souls, yet notwithstanding whilst life lasteth, this sinful nature of ours remaineth: I deny not, but with a magis and a minus these blessed means, will take away through God's blessing the exuberancy of it, as a father well observes, Subiugari potest, exterminari non potest, and in this case we may content ourselves with the answer that God gives Rebecca in the 25. of Genes. she begs of God to know what is the reason of that extraordinary struggling and striving in her body, and God tells her she hath two manner of people within her, for so she had jacob and Esau, so have we the flesh and spirit striving within us, Gala. 5.17. and will not give over, till we give over; and therefore it is expedient for the Saints to dye, that so they might be rid of this sinful nature, which they shall never be whilst they live.  
A second Reason why they should dye as well as others, is, ut fides exerceatur, that our faith might be exercised in the apprehension and application of those spiritual and precious promises made over to the righteous; for the Definition of Faith tells us of a great work that faith hath to do; Faith, saith the Apostle, is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, Heb. 11.1. Now than that our Faith may at length have the fruition of those things that it hath believed, there shall be an end of the life of the believer, that so possession may be had of all those tenants that Faith formerly held: but shall we always believe, and not enjoy what we have believed? this then must be by the cessation of life; that is, of this life, that so we may inherit life everlasting, and then our faith ceaseth, and we possess what hath been hoped for.  
A third Reason why the Saints should dye, ut perfectio obtineatur, we are in via, in the way to heaven, but we are not yet in patria, we look for that house which is not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. 5.1. Now this we cannot have on earth; for this cause the Saints shall dye in the Lord, which is a blessed thing; for than they rest from their labours, Revel. 14. and then comes our perfection. We are now the Sons of God, saith the Apostle, but it appears not what we shall be, 1 joh. 3. our knowledge, love, and other fruitions being here but in part, 1 Cor. 13. but there we shall know perfectly, and obtain perfection, when this corruption hath put on incorruption, and not before, 1 Cor. 15. Down therefore must the earthly Tabernacles of the Saints, before we come to that haven, and heaven, prepared for us, Math. 24.  
These things then thus contracted, let the Doctrine be applied and enlarged in the Uses of it.  
The 1. use of this point, is as a voice to call upon the faithful, that seeing they must be dissolved, and yet not when, nor where, nor how, is known unto us; let them be such in their conversation, that they may be ready for their dissolution; thus job, the just waits for the day and hour, All the days of my appointed time, will I wait, until my changing shall come, job 14.14. and old jacob makes this his breathing-stoppe: And the 49. of Genesis he blesseth, and blesseth his children, and grows fainter and fainter, and then like a swooning man, who takes something still to revive him; so doth he, O Lord, saith he, I have waited for thy salvation; this fetched life in him as it were, and revived, even the remembrance of salvation: thus the righteous live as not afraid to dye, as old Pollicarpus tells his tormentors, according as Eusebius stories it unto us: I am this day, saith he, fourscore years old, and I have hitherto served my God: O blessed age, and time well spent in the service of God: for, let us not think to dye the death of the righteous, unless we live the life of the righteous; our conversation then must be in heaven, Phil. 3. and we must live here in this world, even as the Fishes do in the Sea; who though they live in the salt and brackish water, yet they are fresh; So though we live in the midst of a wicked world, yet must we be fresh and free from the common pollutions of this wicked world: Then shall we not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, as the  do, for they put too their whole strength, they draw sins together, and pull them as it were with cart-ropes, Esay. 5.18 Let the Saints make ready for the coming of the Lord jesus Christ, and cry with them, Lord jesus come quickly, Come quickly Lord jesus.  
The 2. use belonging to this point limits our lamentations; I would not have you ignorant, saith the Apostle, concerning those that fall asleep, that the sorrow you take be not like theirs that have no hope 1. Thes. 4.13. no, this were to show that we preferred earth before heaven, and the comfort and joys of earth, before heaven. We can tell directly what our means and sollaces are here on earth, but no eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor tongue can tell the joys that God hath prepared for them that love him 1. Cor. 2.9. Now this limitation for our mourning is not a prohibition to forbid all mourning, for not to be moved at all, is to show a hard heart, less tender than the brutish creatures, for they will bleat, and moan after one another; but it is the excess of mourning that is condemned, as Bernard observes, Non culpamus lachrymarum effectum, sed excessum, not the matter so much as the manner is sometimes to be reproved: and surely when Passion settles, then shall we see the evil of this violence; and when religion sends arguments after the dead, as Noah put forth the Dove upon the abatement of the waters, then do we, or may we find all that labour lost, for they are not lost that are gone before, Non sunt amissi, sed praemissi: and jobs restaurations may confirm this unto us, for of all that the (Chaldeans and Sabeans took from him he had it double restored, but for his children, just so many as before; and why not children twofold? because the children were not lost, but at the resurrection should then appear. With this then I will close up this first point, and so come to the second.  
2 Part of Division, The Saint's acceptation; they are precious in the sight of God. When Samael was persuaded that amongst Ishaies' sons the goodliest should have had acceptation, and so been King: God tells him, that he looks not as man doth, on the countenance, or person, but on the heart, 1 Sam. 16.7. thence comes our acceptation with God, and for that God will regard us, and for nothing else; with him there is no respect of persons, Acts 10. until we come to fear him, love, and obey him; O than he love's us dear, then are we precious in the sight of God. And hence may we gather towards a second point of Doctrine, teaching us, that the Lords regard toward us is as our hearts are towards him: if we fear him, love him, and delight in him, then will he delight in us; we shall be precious and dear to him.  
To this the Scriptures do accord, and to begin with that of the 37. Psal. 37. Verse, Mark the upright man, and behold the just, the latter end of that man shall be peace: as who should say, such men are worth the marking. Again, when God will declare whom he will grace or worship, Honorantes honorabo, they that honour me, I will honour them, 1 Sam. 2.30. and as for them that despise him, he regards them not, or as the last translation hath it, lightly esteems them: the Lord regards our lowliness and humility, and will advance the humble and meek, as the blessed Virgin in her Magnificat, Luke 1.48. He regardeth the lowliness of his handmaid: these are the precious people in the sight of God, so precious, that if any shall hurt or injure them, it is a battery against God himself; for so saith the Prophet, He that toucheth you, or hurteth you, toucheth the apple of Gods own eye, Zach. 2.8. Hath not Saul who afterwards is Paul, the question, to the same purpose? Acts 9 Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? as who should say, I feel the stripes, and bear the reproaches done against them. O that men thought upon this as often as they are thorns in the sides of God's servants, as often as they play upon them for their profession! Now in all these places we see what tender care God taketh, how dear they are to the LORD; but of all places that of the 25. of Matthew 40. where the usage of his Saints is recited; O come ye blessed of my Father, etc. when I was sick you did visit me; naked, cloth me, hungry, feed me; O Lord, say they, we never saw thee thus; in as much as you have done it to one of these little ones, you have done it to me.  
We will stay here my Brethren, and make use of this.  
Shall these that are so precious in the sight of Use. 1 God, be other wise in our eyes? All my delight is in the Saints, saith David: and surely it is one of the marks of the man that shall have place in the holy mount, even to make much of them that fear the Lord, Psal. 15. The contrary unto this the Apostle reproves, jam. 2. when he would not have us to have the graces of God in respect of persons; we honour riches, and make an Idol of earthly pomp, but as for the Saints and Servants of God, we rather expose them to reproach, then make them near unto us: but because the subject in hand points unto the grave; I will return unto a Use that shall speak the same language.  
Are the righteous the only men with God, Use. 2 and so precious, that their very graves are perfumed, and their deaths so regarded? O then, this bids all the godly entertain the consideration of a dissolution with good resolution: and many motives will be ready for us.  
First, we die not totally, it is but the body that is strooke down, the soul is immortal; which like the Dove, could find no rest for the sole of her foot, until she returned unto the Ark again, Gen. 8. so verily, there is no true rest for the soul of man, until it return to that God that infused it.  
Secondly, we die not perpetually; we shall be put into the dark house for a time, but there is a day, a blessed day, even the day of the resurrection, and then comes that conjunction, and reunion of both again; now then death cannot prevent or alter that marriage day: for as the Apostle saith, What shall separate us from the love of Christ jesus? shall afflictions, shall Principalities, shall powers, shall things present or things to come, shall life or death? no, nothing shall remove us from the lone of Christ jesus, Rom. 8.39.  
Thirdly, the sting and poison of death is taken away, (Christ jesus) like a triumphant Conqueror, hath subdued: Consummatum est, it is finished, and the debt paid, and the hand-writing that was against us, fastened to his Cross, Colos. 2.14. now then put it to the question, why shall we fear to dye?  
I deny not, but nature hath trembles in the very best of us until we overcome it by grace and divine meditations: we do at death as Moses did with his rod, who when he saw it turned into a serpent, primo intuitu, he started from it, but afterwards goes near unto it, takes it up, and makes use of it; so we indeed at the first, until we see death disarmed, start from it, but afterwards finding that Christ hath gotten victory over the grave, and that the sting is gone as the challenge shows Hosea 13. then with Moses we draw near and surrender into the hands of the Lord being but tenants at will; then we can take the rod and make good use of it as he did. Exod. 9.4.  
As for those that fear to dye notwithstanding these comforts, if we should enter into their reasons they must needs be dreadful, as  
First, either they have not tasted of the life to come, and so are loath to change this present life; or else they have not died aforehand, that is, considered of death before it came; or else thirdly, they have carried their bane, evil consciences, about them. We will take view of these reasons by themselves.  
For the first of them, their not tasting of the life to come; indeed their case is miserable, for they live only in body and cannot say with the Apostle, I live by Faith in the Son of God, Galat. 2.20. These men must have their souls beaten out or driven out of them, as we find of the hypocrites estate in the 27. of job, What hope hath he, saith the Text, when God shall beat out his soul? Indeed such men sing loath to departed; for here was their bliss, and to be taken from hence, being aliens and strangers from the life of God, Ephes. 4. alas, what shall they do. As for those that have not died afore hand, it must needs be as terrible to them: how many greets and re-greets pass betwixt God, and the souls of the faithful? Paul desires to be dissolved and to be with God, which is best of all, Phil. 2. and the blessed Apostle tells us, that by the rejoicing that he hath in Christ, he dies daily, 1 Cor. 15. He numbers his days, and so, that he may apply his heart unto wisdom, as David prays, Psalm 90. this spiritual Arithmetic is a good knowledge, but the profane and carnal men, desires to meet with no such reckoning: this not dying aforehand, makes many so bebinde-hand with repentance; but let Hadrian the Emperor be an example unto them; it is storied of him, that death coming, and he not expecting, and when the divorce betwixt the body and soul was to be executed, he cries out, as amazed, O aminula, vagula, blandula, quae nunc abibis in loca? O my poor soul, whether art thou going? Doth he ask of his hopes then, when the partition was to be made? A poor soul indeed, for all his Empire: If therefore we would not be surprised, let us be prepared.  
Now last of all, which is not least of all, but rather worst of all, comes they, who are loath to dye, because they carry their bane about them; and that is, an evil conscience, this puts them upon the rack, and tortures all parts; this makes their case like unto the strooke Dear, the arrow she hath at her heart, and yet skips up and down, but carries that about her, that will dispatch her: so is it with an evil conscience, well they may skip up and down, but they have that at the heart of them, that will make all uncomfortable: and no marvel, for a wounded spirit, who can bear? saith Solomon: This gave, as Folydore Virgil observes, King Richard the third, more wounds in his dream, the night before, than he had the next day in the field: Well, let us all labour, pray, and endeavour for good consciences, this makes a continual feast; this sends us with boldness to the throne of grace, Hebr. 4. In a word, this will make us both in life and death, fit for CHRIST JESUS, whose we are, and not our own, and therefore aught to glorify God both in our bodies and souls, which were redeemed with the precious blood of JESUS CHRIST, through whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins, Ephes. 1.7. And thus much shall suffice to be spoken for our instruction, who are in our way towards God, now a word or two of him who is already gone to GOD.  

The Testimony of him that lived and died in the Faith of Christ jesus.  
WE do read of the patriarchs and others, that after their deaths, they were embalmed, Genes. 50.2. but this Gentleman embalmed himself alive; I speak it according to the sense of Solomon, Eccles. 7.1. A good name, saith he, is as a precious ointment; many sweet odours belongs unto it, which time can neither wash nor waste away; Nam virtus post funera vivit. Thus did this hopeful young Gentleman follow the track of the Elders, who by Faith obtained a good report, Heb. 11.2. Demetrius like it was with him, of whom Saint john speaks largely in his third Epistle: Demetrius, saith he, hath a good report of all men; yea, and of the truth itself. If any that knew not this person, would press the reason of his commendation, answer will be made, that if sincerity in his Religion, industry in his Vocation, and affability in Conversation might give their voices, it will be no sin to say, this was a gracious youth.  
And first for his Religion: He was not with Agrippa, almost a christian, nor yet with Laodicea lukewarm in his profession, but found in all true tenants of the faith, worshipping that one and only God, from whence salvation comes to men.  
As for his Vocation, with a diligent hand and faithful heart he went about it; his gain therein was godliness, which the Apostle saith is great gains, if men be content with that they have, 1 Timoth. 6. Surely he was content for peace-sake to passe-by his profits many times, and to end matters at home, for the preventing of further inconveniences that might arise in point of law.  
If all that were towards the law had the same heart, surely that calling would have a great part of that blessing which CHRIST pronounceth, Beati pacifici, Blessed are the peacemakers Mat. 5 For surely the law is good and surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to distribute, or dare suum cuique, to give to every one that which is his, had a good ordination: and therefore they shall do well, who have other men's causes to follow, to remember that one day, their own cause shall come before the judge: This young Lawyer did so, being tender in his conscience, and upright in the causes he undertook.  
As for his Conversation, it was such that all that knew him did desire him: for he had matter, and apprehended things with good judgement, and then the manner of his converse was so affable as that he found favour wheresoever he came, which is the blessing promised, Pro. 16. When a man's ways do please the Lord, he will make his enemies to be his friends: In a word he was to his dear mother, a right Barnabas; that is, a Son of consolation, for so the word signifieth; he was gratiou, with men, and precious with God, he did live the life of the righteous, and did dye the death of the righteous; he is gone before, and we shall follow: In which progress let us end.   
FINIS.