THE JUST MAN'S MEMORIAL.  
CVIUS MEMORIA IN BENEDICTIONIBUS.  
TO THE PRECIOUS AND IMMORTAL MEMORY OF the Right Honourable and truly Noble Lord, WILLIAM Earl of PEMBROKE: AS IT WAS DELIVERED in a Sermon at BAYNARD'S Castle, before the Interment of the body.  
LONDON, Printed by Elizabeth Allde, for Nahaniel ●●tter. An● Dom. 1630.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND most Noble, Philip Earl of Pembroke, and Montgomery, Lord Chamberlain of his Majesty's Household.  
My very good Lord:  
'tIs the usual fashion and custom among us that be Preachers, (and 'tis as commendable as common) to commit our thoughts to the safe custody of Paper, that they may not die; and upon occasion, from the Paper, to award them to the Presle, that the dead may live. This fashion have I followed, and yet 'tis my first adventure this way; and as my adventure, so my mishap; that with Crassus' Son, I should stand dumb all my life long, till now that I have seen my Gracious Master struck dead before mine eyes, and with Elisha forced to cry out after him; My Master, My Master, the Chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof. Time I see is envious, and her Sickle so sharp, and keen, that it threatens ruin, not only to the being and life of man, but his Memory also. This was it that made me put on; if not to raise and revive the one, yet at leastwise, somewhat longer to propagate the other.  
They be the fluctuant and wand'ring excursions of a few broken, and interrupted hours; some of these herbae agrestes, wild herbs of the common Field, which with the Child of the Prophet, I humbly tender to your Honour's hands, and make bold to strew on your Noble Brother's Hearse! I well hoped ere this, to have seen some fairer and sweeter flowers presented from his own Garden, such as might have drowned the odour of these; but I perceive some have learned (with Pythagoras' Scholars) as well to be silent, as to speak. Nec vox, nec verba supersunt. I am sorry to see the world as full now of Ingratitude, as 'twas once of Infidelity: but 'tis neither wonderful, nor new, that though many Lepers were cleansed, yet but one should return to give thanks.  
For my part, my friends will conceive perhaps, that as he with the very fear, lest he should break a Crystal glass, broke it:  
Frangere dum metuit, frangit Chrystallina: So I (the least of all the least, Minimorum minimus, as Bernard speaks) may be judged to have shipwrecked that small credit I have with the Living, out of fear to be thought unthankful to the Dead. But herein I bid adieu to all these respects; none of these things move me, as counting nothing dear to me, 
Acts 20.24.  no not mine own life, as Paul said, that in any wise, I might be hold serviceable to the bleeding memory of my dear, dear Master.  
I know none fit to own any Remainder of a Brother, than a Brother, the sole Inheritor as of his Honours, so of his Fortunes; Let me crave then, if not your patience to read, yet your acceptance to receive these poor weak lines, devoted to his never-dying Memory. I have entitled it, His Memorial; that if any things in him were honest, if any things just, if any things pure, 
Phil. 4.8, 9  if any things lovely, if any things of good report, (as many such there were) in remembering Him, you may not forget to think on them! In God's name, those good things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in him, those do; and the God of blessing and peace shall be ever with you.  
My Lord, let me take the boldness to tell you, that the eyes of the World are fastened on you; you cannot be hid, your actions are not done in a corner, notice will be taken of all your Counsels, and your Counsellors, men are big with the expectation of you; and blame them not that they should be so, especially of you, who (besides others of your Illustrious Stock and Lineage well known) have had so pious and religious an Aeneas to your Brother, and so famous and valiant a Hector to your Uncle.  
Et Frater Aeneas, & Auunculus excitet:  
Let the Fiety and goodness of the one, and the valour and Chivalry of the other, serve as so many silver Watch-bels in your ears, to awaken you to all Honourable and Noble achievements. Miltiades Trophies would not let Themistocles sleep. Neither let the matchless Trophies and Monuments of their glory, suffer your eyes to sleep, or your eyelids to slumber: but be rather as spurs to set you forward in the courageous prosecution of all good causes for God's Glory and the Church. O be not idle in the Imitation of them, whose Image you not only bear, but whose part also you are; so shall not After-ages in the Stor●ing of their glorious Annals, shut up yours, with a Degeneremque Neoptolemum.  
You live in the face of a glorious Court, where your eyes, are daily filled, as with Magnificence, so with Vanity; yet you shall do well, otherwise, to cast them aside from such Gorgeous Spectacles, and stick them in the shrowds and winding-sheets of the dead. Nothing shall more humble you then this, and so nothing lift you nearer Heaven than this! We use ashes for the cleansing of our Garments and doubtless there is nothing better to cleanse the soul from sin, than a frequent Meditation on the ashes of our Predecessors. For if we sift these ashes well, we shall beat them into dust, and from dust bolt them into that nothing, out of which we were all at first taken. By remembering our beginning, we shall seldom do amiss: but by remembering our latter end, never, if the Wiseman say true. David accounted one day in God's Court better than a thousand otherwhere; and surely (my Lord) you will one day find, upon your deathbed, one hour spent in God's service this way, more worth than ten thousand, worn out, in empty and indefinite agitations. None is your Peer now, but your Peer; yet the time shall come, when you and I shall be fellows; in the common bag of mortality, the Rook is Checkemate with the King.  
Therefore, among those multitudes, and throngs of employments that stuff the soul with distractions, and wherewithal men of your Place are often taken up: I pray leave one void corner, for this wholesome thought of your Mortality; that you also shall die, suddenly it may be, as he hath done before you; certainly, it must be, as all have, and shall do hereafter. Though they be esteemed happy that stand before Kings, (and such hath your happiness been to stand in favour, before two most mighty Monarches,) to hear and observe their sayings and actions, as the Queen of Sheba said: yet let me put you in mind of a greater happiness than this; and that is, at the last Day, to stand (rectus in Curia) before the King of Kings. O, be as studious of this, as you are of that! You go in and out before a most Religious and Gracious Sovereign, such as the Sun hath seldom seen his like! yet that you may see the weakness of all earthly dependences, the Spirit of God whispers you in the ear, with, Trust not in Princes, nor in any Child of Man; they may leave you, or you them, ere you be ware. The theatres and Scaffolds of the greatest eminency, whereon you great Petentates, and Grandees act your several parts, either stand leaning and reeling on the quicksand of Mutability, and Inconstancy, or else lie open and obnoxious to the wind of Disfavour, and Disgrace.  
It is the Staff and Rod of God's fear and obedience that must sustain you, when happily the Staff of your Honour, like that of Egypt, may break, and run into your hand. If your Counsel be of God, (as Gamaliel said) if you make him your foundation, assure yourself, your House shall stand, you shall see your children's Children, and peace upon Israel. If you miss of your Groundwork here, you can expect nothing but ruin; Tectum will be Sepulchrum, your House shall be your Grave, as that was to Samson.  
As at first I craved your patience to accept; so now I sue for pardon to acquit my overgreat presumption with your Lordship; As the Novellists said of some short eiaculatory Prayers in our Liturgy, that they were rather good wishes, than Prayers; My desire is, I should be so understood of your Honour, as if my counsel were rather taken for direction, than instruction, and for my honest well-wishing, to your House, and Family, the● my bold advice. The God of all blessing continue his Blessings towards you, and multiply his Graces on you, and yours, your Honourable Lady, with the rest of your most hopeful Posterity, to the World's end.  
Your Honours, in all respects, most dutifully obliged, T. C.   

THE JUST MAN'S MEMORIAL.  ESAY 57.1. 
The Righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and Merciful men are taken away, none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come.  
THat the Prophet Esay may go for a Prophetical Evangelist, or an Euangelical Prophet; some of us have heard to be the speech of S. Hierome; that he was a Prophet even in this, that the righteous perisheth. O that we could! we cannot deny, but for an Evangelist, whatsoever he was to the righteous man, sure I am, he was none to us. Euangelium is glad tidings, good news. This that I have now delivered, sad and heavy, I may safely say, though in another sense, that which old Eli said, 'Tis no good news; 'Tis no good message that we hear.  
But sorrow had almost made me forget what I had to say; I have laid my Scene in jury, and thither I must again, and begin my Sermon where Esay ended his. And I do not miscall it, when I say a Sermon, for 'tis a piece of a Sermon that the Prophet made, not at the Funeral of josiah, or Ezechiah only, (Alas for josiah, Alas, his glory had been enough for these) but even of all the land of judea beside; God had even now given his signal to the battle, was now giving his Beloved into the hand of his enemies, had now set up his standard on high, advanced his streaming Ensigns to call for the Bee of Assyria, and to hisse for the Hornet of Babylon; his meaning was to let in a flood of Nations upon them. Assyrians, Babylonians, Grecians, Egyptians, Romans, etc. people of a stern countenance, and a fierce behaviour, speaking a language that his people understood not, and to denounce this war, and proclaim this judgement is our Prophet's errand, ver. 9 of the former chapter. All ye beasts of the Field, come to devour, yea all ye beasts in the Forest. 1. All ye beasts and savage Nations. An allegory taken from the wild Boar of the Forest, and other beasts that root up the Vines, and destroy the Vine-yards.  
O, but spare thy people, mercy cries, bless thine inheritance, the seat of thy feet, and place where thine honour dwelleth; let not such profane feet press upon her sacred pavements, whom thou hast chosen out of all places of the world for thine own residence; here will I dwell; let not Jerusalem be laid waste; O be favourable unto Zion, rather build up, then break down the walls of thy Jerusalem! But then judgement stops Mercies mouth, and her turn is to plead for God next. Verum est, 'Tis true she says, God made Jerusalem the beauty of holiness, and Zion the joy of the whole earth: But, O quantum haec Niobe, & c? How is she degenerated from what she was, to what she is? she is not she now, non samnium in samnio! you cannot find Zion in Zion, Bethel is Bethaven, become and the House of God, a den of thiefs.  
The sins of the Priests (yea, and of the Princes and Rulers too, if Caluin mistake not, judices praefectos Reges) first cry for judgement, and then the People's follow, to fill up the measure of the Priests. Use The sins of the Priests are blindness, ignorance, drunkenness, idleness, his watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant, they are dumb dogs, they cannot bark. Dormientes, saith the vulgar; Tempori seruientes, 
10.  saith Iu. from the Heb. Timeservers well expounded, ver. 11. by looking to their own way, they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his Quarter, Peccatum est satis, a man would think here were sins enough, yet to these sins they add others as it were drunkenness to thirst, excess and luxury. Come say they, ver. 12. we will fetch wine, & we will fill ourselves with strong drink, & erit sicut hodie, sic & cras, to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundantly. See the incogitancy of these men, crastinum peccatum hodie delinquunt, as Nyssen of the rich man in the Gospel, they sin to day for to morrow, & yet they themselves hodier●i, nay, hesterni, yesterday men, and not to days, for we are no more by David's reckoning, we are but of yesterday, & know nothing, for our days pass away on earth, as doth a shadow, 1. Chro. 21. These be the sins of the Princes and Priests.  
The people's sins succeed the Priests and Princes, (ut Sacerdos, sic populus) and theirs is want of consideration, they are all careless, reckless, regardless of the death of good men, of the taking away of merciful men, they lay not this to heart, that's their sin, & 'tis the general sin of them all Non est qui recogitat, non est qui intelligit, so one Translation runs: Nemo homo reponit in animo, nemine advertente; so another: Prince, and Priest and people sin, and just men, merciful men, are taken away for their sins.  
The righteous, etc.  
We consider in the word 3. generals.  
Three things: 

1. The generality of mortality, death's impartiality, the righteous themselves, even the righteous, they perish, they die.  
2. Man's security, and in consideration for all that, though the righteous perish, no man, none, not a man, very few if any consider, that the best spoke in their wheel is broken, the best stake in their hedge plucked up, the fairest flower in their garden withered, none consider this, none lays this to heart.  
3. Behold the severity and bounty of God, as the Apostle speaks; his judgement and his mercy going hand in hand severity and judgement to them that are left, bounty and mercy to them that are taken away: They are taken away from the evil to come.    
And because the Prophet complains of this generality of neglect and disregard, 'twere good we had an eye back to every one of these three, as we go along. First, a glance, a regard to this generality of mortality, consider that; lay that to heart; Secondly, a glance on the generality of this disrespect, and neglect, consider that, etc. Thirdly, one eye on God's severity towards the survivors, they are kept and preserved for the evil day, they are left in the midst of a sea of dangers; and t'other eye on God's goodness & bounty towards them that are dead, they are taken away from the evil to come: one is left, for t'other is taken from the evil to come.  
I must crave pardon, if, by reason of mine own indisposition of body and mind at this time, with the Lilies of the field, I neither labour much, nor spin, for what I shall say: the plainest and coursest stuff is fittest for mourners, you know, quorum nos primi, among whom most of us, I am sure, may be chief, especially if we seriously consider, if we lay to heart what our loss is, such a man, such a master; such a no such man, such a no such master.  Priscaparem nescijt, aequalem postera nullum exhibitura dies. 
But I betake me to my Theme, and the first General is the generality, etc. of mortality.  
justus perit; There be those who by justus understand Christus, who suffered such a shameful death, as he seemed to perish, and yet such was the oscitancy and unadvisedness of men, that few or none considered, that for our sins was he wounded, that for our transgressions was he broken, not his own, that the chastisement of our peace was laid on him, & that by his stripes we were healed, etc. justus perit; 1. Esaias perit, the jews would have the Prophet himself to be understood here, who is said to have been cut in pieces with a wooden saw, by idolatrous Manasses! witnesses; and those other Prophets whom he slew to be meant by those men of mercy; and so the Prophet was futurae calamitatis Propheta, a true Prophet indeed: But it will not be need, I conceive, to impale that sense which the Spirit of God hath laid open, and made common; Christianus will do as well as Christus, or Esaias; to construe this text, every Child of God is this Just man. But than it will be demanded, Is any child of God just? is any that is borne of unclean seed righteous? did he charge his Angels with folly, and may a son of man be just? Just is one sometimes who thinks himself just, and is not; Certain trusted that they were just, Luk. 18.9. Sometimes one that endeavours to live justly in his general calling as a Christian, so were Zachary and Elizabeth both just, Luk. 1.6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sine querela, though non sine culpâ; sine crimine, non sine peccato; sometimes one that deals justly in his particular vocation, 
Luk. 23.50.  so was, joseph said to be a good man, and a just; Sometimes one that is just and righteous by the imputation of Christ's justice, iustus ex fide, Rom. 1.17. Sometimes one that giveth to every man that which is his own, Honour to whom honour, etc. And lastly, sometimes one that performeth just works in his own person, though unperfectly, so was Noah said to be just and righteous in his Generation, Thee only have I seen righteous before me, says God, Gen. 7.1. All these acceptions save one, may serve to span and comprehend the meaning of the word justus; In short, just either first comparatiuè, so was Noah; again just in comparison of his sons and their wives, or just absolute in respect of sincerity of heart, though nor in regard of a perfect and complete sanctity: But be our Just man what he will, or who he will, neither his justice nor integrity, nor his sincerity can save him alive, perit; justus perit? that's pity, me thinks; 'tis no good Syntaxis, for if iustus, quomodo perit? and if perit? quomodo iustus?  
For, shall the just man's labour be in vain in the Lord? shall his flittings be numbered, and the hairs of his head reckoned, and his tears bottled up that none of them be lost, and shall he perish? hath God made all men for nought? 
First.  perit then 1. can be no more than praterit, & that the Apostle pronounced of the whole frame of nature, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the figure or fashion of this world passeth away, then of man too; the Sun and Moon, these also shift the Scene every day over our heads, altar the figure of their round and dance daily, and are only constant but in inconstancy. But be it as it will with those celestial bodies that are above; ours below, are so subject to S. james his parallage and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  our parallaxes, & our tropicks, our turnings & change, our waxings and wanings, as that we are not the same men now, what we were a while ago, nor what we shall be a while after! scarce what we are; every moment fleeceth us of somewhat; Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes; if we die daily, we must needs vary and change daily▪ not a minute of time that we spend, but spends a pickle, some dust of sand in the hourglass of our life; nay, for a minute that we spend of time, Time spends a month of ours. Seneca tells us, that it was a Philosopher's question, If a man went down twice in a quarter of an hour or less into a River, whether it were the same River or no, into which he went down? I may make a question, If it be the same man as well, if the same that goes out, as he was coming in; sitting and standing. If I be the same man in the pulpit that I was in my chamber but even now; for, Ego ipse dum loquor mutari ista, mutatus sum; saith Seneca, praeterit, then will hold good sense, he passeth, he changeth, even the Just man passeth.  
2. Perit: referring it to the body; for as for that, the best language that the Heathen gave it, was no better than a bellowes full of wind, a bag full of dung, a bottle full of smoke; temporis spolium, fati ludibrium, the laughing stock of the gods, the May-game of the destinies, Fortunae lusus, Fortune's Tennis-ball, bandied from hazard to hazard; the best that S. Bernard gives man, is but little better, sperma faetidum, domus stercorum, esca vermium; my body decays daily. Sicut dies moritur in noctem, & infantia in pueritiam, & pueritia in iwentutem; these scratch and scramble for the little coal of my life; 'Twill be no harm then to think that justus perit in this sense; for the body must to the earth, whence it was taken, though the soul return to God that gave it. 
Eccles. 12.  Or thirdly, perit, that is videtur perire, like a shooting Star, Quae si non cecidit, potuit cecidisse videri! in the account & estimation of the wicked worldly man, the Just man seems to perish, and come to nothing. The Wiseman hath pricked the song of these profane ones, We fools accounted his life, i. the Righteous man's life, ver. 1. madness, and his end to be without honour; 
Sap. 5.  But they sing out of tune; for mark how they correct themselves by and by? How is he numbered among the Children of God, and his lot is among the Saints? So that this perishing is but a perishing in show, not in truth, or a preterition, or passing by, rather than a perishing; or at leastwise, 'tis but perituri, the perishing of a body that must perish; otherwise there's nothing that doth perish, either of the just, or unjust: for though death be via universae carnis, yet 'tis not meta, but after death cometh judgement.  
For, I pray tell me, do those that sleep perish? no; the Just man's death is but a sleep; our friend Lazarus sleepeth, said our Saviour, joh. 11.11. Do those that pass from one place to another perish? from worse to better? no; the Just man's death is but transitus; our Saviour called his death so, joh. 13.1. Do those that are transported, as in a Chariot, perish? death is Vehiculum in pace, Luk. 2. a pass in peace; an entering into peace, a resting softly, and sweetly, as upon a bed; requiescunt in cubilibus, in the very next verse. Do those that are loosed out of prison perish? death is but solutio ex bigis, Phil. 1.23. Bring my soul out of prison, saith David; Animam educ è carcere. i. animam è corpore, saith Hugo, and the gloss; in one word, do those that go to a wedding perish? I trow no; death is but iter ad nuptias, when God shall wipe away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, every tear from all eyes, & death shallbe no more, nor mourning, nor cry, nor labour, for abiêre prima, the first things are passed, i sins, and their effects of sorrow and misery, Reu. 21.4.  
Instus perit. But how doth he perish? which way doth he die? He leaves that at large, he speaks indefinitely of the manner how, because the means and ways be infinite; moriendi mille figurae; some have a long lease of their life granted them, even to four score and nineteen years; others have a diem clausit extremum served upon them as soon as ever they are borne into the world; some do dimidiare dies suos, some scarce come half ways, some men's sun sets at noon, some in the morning, others at night, some think themselves to their end, (multi ad fatum venere suum, dum fata timent) die with very thought of heart: So did Queen Mary for the loss of Calais. Embowel me (says she) when I am dead, and you shall find Calais written in my heart. Some speak themselves to their end, have died with talking; so did Valentinian with straining his voice against the Sarmatian Ambassadors. Some read themselves to their end, so did Holcot, who died of the plague as he was reading that very verse, Remember thy end, and thou shalt never do amiss, Eccle. 7. The changes and chances of this mortal life be infinite, yet perit is the end of all; iustus & iniustus, all's one here, as the fool dieth, so dieth the wise man, as the base, so the honourable, Pauperum tabernas, regumque turres. Death stalks as soon, and knocks as hard at the Prince's Chamber door, as at the Ploughman's Postern gate, there's no avoiding this perit.  
All have died, all must die; and can any man think he shall get that by favour, which only God himself hath by nature, to be immortal?  
There have been those who have sought by Art to carve the hardest stone, to dissolve the most flinty and brazen Adamant, to tame and subdue the wildest beasts, but never any yet found that attempted a means to avoid death, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, undissoluable, untameable, unavoidable death. In the averting of other dangers, either strength, or power, or counsel, or cunning, or flight, of prayers, or bribes, or somewhat may prevail, but death can neither be driven away by force, nor redeemed by money, nor avoided by flight, nor averted by counsel, nor prevented by prayers, or tears; a deaf judge, an inexorable Tyrant. A King of France, that was both rich, powerful, and victorious, found this most true; for being to die, All this (saith he) will not obtain the prorogation of death one hour.  
No; if any, or all this would have done it, our dear Master that's now lost to us, had been amongst us still, and our dead Lord had been alive, I had spared my pains from this sad Ambassage to day, and you had spared your eyes, and hearts in this last service to his immortal Obsequies! Can either the strength of the Soldier, or the counsel of the Lawyer, or the devotion of the Divine, or the skill of the Physician, or the grief of Servants, or the duty of Scholars, or the prayers of the poor, or the tears of the Widow and Fatherless, or the love even of his Enemies, if he had any, or the good wishes of all; if any, I say, or all these could have kept him alive, Serus in Celum, no man had gone later to Heaven than he, he had died as old as ever lived any! justus perit, had been out of date to day; Illud immortalitate dignum ingenium, (as Tully of Crassus) illa humanitas, illa virtus non morte subitâ extincta esset, that sweet and Angelical conversation of his, that Noble and courteous disposition, that truly Honourable and virtuous inclination had not been extinct so suddenly; fuit hoc luctuosum suis, acerbum patriae, grave bonis omnibus! it seems to be penned of purpose for him; this hath brought distraction and perplexity to his Servants, bitterness to his Country; And I think there's no honest man living, who either had known him, or heard of him, but is sorry at the heart for the death of the Earl of Pembroke.  
A man of that state and use, as things now stand, that what Scaliger says of Strisset the calculator, he was worthy, quem neque senium senem faceret, neque naturae lex vitâ privaret; neither to be broken with age, nor strucken with death. And for our parts that were his Servants, I think, I may say that which Valerius doth of Cornelia, upon the loss of her loving Husband, Cornelians nescio an foeliciorem dixerim, quod talem virum habuerit, an miseriorem, quod amiserit; I know not whether we were more happy in having such a Master, or more unhappy that we have lost him; justus perit!  
I am loath to give him more, than he would have given himself; though I call him just, yet I dare not say he was perfect; though righteous, yet not without sin: I should lie, and I say not, non est humilitas, but non est veritas, there were no truth in me; he knew that the way to heaven by innocency was long sithence blocked up, and therefore he took another course, and our hope is, he is arrived there by the way of penitency; he that was so often, so daily, so duly, every morning and evening upon his knees to God, for the pardon of the sins of his youth, I doubt not, and for preventing the sins of his age, did acknowledge he was a grievous sinner; and this confession made him Iust. He acknowledged God his Alpha, and therefore I doubt not but his Omega too; He made God his God early, by his private devotion, and there is no question but God made him his too, by his secret inspiration, in the upshot and evening of his days; Just by the imputation of Christ's justice, so Just; Just in the discharge of his particular Calling, as a Magistrate, so Just; Just in the sincerity of his intentions, and simplicity of his heart, so Just; Just in endeavouring himself in the duty of his general Calling, as a Christian, in praying, and hearing with all diligence, and attention; wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached, there this shall be spoken in memorial of him, that the Chaplains eye for direction, and the Chapels ear for attention, one's out, and tother's off, by justus perit.  
I told you that justus was one, that giveth to every man that which is his own, suum cuique, he did so: First, duty to his God, obedience to his Sovereign, love to his Equals, patience to Petitioners, regard to his Inferiors, affability to all; A Just Christian, a Just Servant, a faithful and Just Councillor, a Just Peer, a Just Steward, a Just Master, a Just Man! Whose Ox, or whose Ass did he ever take away, as Samuel said? whose Vine-yard did he ever gape after, to wring from the Owner, by extortion or oppression? Neither the cries of oppressed Orphans, nor the sorrowful sighing of Prisoners, nor the blood of Innocents', nor the wages of Hirelings, nor the poor Man's pledge, nor the shop-mans' penny, did ever cry to heaven against him. Yet perit, this Just good man is dead and gone.  
And as 'tis now, so 'twas ever heretofore true, what the Poet said long sithence: 
Optima prima ferè manibus rapiuntur avaris,  
Implentur numeris deteriora suis!   
'Tis the ambition of destiny to let the best go first, and to leave the Refuse for the world; the patriarchs they went before the Prophets, they succeeded the patriarchs, the Apostles the Prophets; the noble armies of Martyrs the Apostles, & all the godly Professors departed hence in God's faith and fear, have come after them; Thus hath the Te Deum been sung in all ages, but the best for the most part, ever first taken. Nec bonatam sequitur, quàm bona prima fuit, seldom comes the better, whether we regard the ages or persons.  
Well, do Just men die? Then we shall have weeping, and wailing, and great mourning, such as Rachel's was, I hope; we shall have sorrowing of all sides; the house of Levi and their wives apart, etc. then when josiah is gathered to his Fathers, every one will take up a bitter lamentation, as was that of Hadadrimon, in the Valley of Megiddo, for josiah; than you shall read nothing but Characters of woe in every man's face; for who is there, but would willingly have died, to have spared the Just man's life, such as josiah? Is it possible that josephs' feet should be ground in the stocks, and no man sorry, Super contrituram josephi, for the threshing and flailing of joseph? A man would think so, yet we do not find it so, for justus perit, & non est qui recogitat: a generality of neglect and disregard, like a leprous scab, hath spread itself over all sorts of men: for all that; though the Righteous perish, none lays it to his heart, none lays his hand upon his heart, none smites his thigh with Ephraim, and asks either quid feci? or, quid patres fecerunt? or, justus quid fecit? that he should perish? None considers that a day is coming, wherein he shall either be acquitted in the merits of a Redeemer, by an Enquest of Saints and Angels, or be condemned in the sins of his Fathers; As God doth in a manner powder and brine up the remembrance of wicked men, as he did Lot's wife, suffers their quarters (as it were) to be set up in Stories, ut poena impij, sit eruditio justi, & that Monumenta might be Monimenta, their Monuments, good men's admonishments; So again doth he sent and embalm the memory of the Just man, for other men's imitation, that as a relish, from Lot's wives pillar, so an Odour of a sweet smell from Mary magdalen's Ointment might remain to all posterity.  
And yet see the sequel, men are so stuffed in the head, with the coldness of charity, or so distempered in their taste with the feurish humour of inconsideration and sensuality, that they can neither taste the salt of the one, or with the Spouse in the Canticles, In unguentorum odore currere, be drawn or affected with the odours of th'other, none lays this to heart! God accepts never so little, if done from the heart; quod potuit fecit, said our Saviour in Mary magdalen's case, Mar. 14.8. and 'twas well taken, and quod habuit dedit, in the poor Widows, Mar. 12.44. and 'twas well accepted, God placeth not acceptation in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, nor in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪ he accepts Nehemiah's desire to fear him, Neh. 1.11. Ezechiahs' setting his heart to seek him, 2. Reg. 20.3. the the servants but preparing to do his Master's will, Luk. 11.42, 47. David's but Secundum cor meum, his honest true heart, 1. Sam. 13.14. This is all, when we have no more, and yet no man can afford God his heart; none lays it out in pios usus, not so much for God's sake, as for his own. 'Twas well fabled that our Progenitors were flints and stones, for ever sithence documenta damus, we show our breeding, we proclaim our beginning; 'Twas a Rock, out of which we were hewed, and a Quatry of Adamant, out of which we were dig d; job expostulates with God, Is my flesh of stone? and are my bones brass, saith he? Yes, holy job, our flesh is stone, and our bones, and hearts, of Adamant and brass non est qui recogitat. Do you remember what S. Paul says, 1. Cor. 5. such and such things have been reported to be among you, & vos non doluistis, he grieves that they did not grieve. Do you remember what the Prophet says? Ver. 5. Thou hast smitten them, sed non doluerunt, but they made light of it, they grieved not. Do you remember what Solomon says of the drunkard? They have strucken me, Sed non agrotavi; 'Tis our case for all the world; God hath smitten many a good man, about us, above us, below us, on both sides of us, and we have not been sensible, either of our own blows, or of theirs. 'Twas Verbum vigilans, have you no regard? Is it nothing to you? Lam. 1.12. A strange matter! Let God smite the Rock, and that melts presently into compassion; Let him but blow with his Fan upon the Seas, and the waters will roar; If he do but touch the mountains, they smoke. Balaams' Ass hath eloquence enough to reprove the madness of a Prophet; only man is incompassionate and indolent, he alone of all other creatures, as if he had the Priest to his Father, and were akin to the Levite by the Mother's side, passes by the wounded man, the Just dead man; and cannot afford him so much as the oil of his eyes, in stead of a flower to cast after him into his grave. Let us all prey with the Spouse, Blow O South wind, and thaw our frozen and congealed hearts▪ With josua beseech the Sun of righteousness to stand still over Gibeon and Atalon, the rocky and dark valleys of our hearts, that we may lay this to heart; that the righteous perisheth, and as it follows, merciful men are taken away; and so I proceed.  
Viri misericordiae, saith the vulgar▪ Homines benigni; junius, or as the Heb. benignitatis; recipiuntur, saith one, colliguntur saith another; as corn is into the barn, or as flowers are to wove a Garland; colliguntur non rapiuntur, as the fool's soul was against his will, Exeunt istinc voluntatis obsequio, non necessitatis vinculo; merciful men are but taken, cruel men are compelled and haled by violence to a fearful end. Turn over the History of the Roman Emperors, and you shall hardly find one of them that was a cruel man, a blood-shedder, but his blood was shed. Neque enim lex iustior ulla est. julius Caesar stabbed by the hands of Brutus and Cassius. Antonius by his own; Claudius by Caius Caligula; Caius by the Praetorian Soldiers; Nero that butchered the Apostles, at last became his own executioner; Galba succeeds Nero, Otho slays him, and ere long after, himself. Vitellius comes next to Otho, who was made away too, and not vouchsafed the honour of burial. Domitian is Successor to Vitellius, and after he had banished S. john into Pathmos, is cruelly put to death in his own Palace; 
Ad gremium Cereris sine caede & sanguine pauci  
Descendunt Reges, & siccâ morte tyranni.   
judgement without mercy shall he have that shown no mercy, and mercy triumpheth over judgement, etc. The merciful men are but taken in, gathered up; the merciless are rend and torn by violence, to the judgement to come: But we are speaking of men of Mercy.  
The Mercy of a man is seen in three things especially: 1. donando, in giving: 2. condonando, forgiving: 3. consolando, comforting. The first, that makes virum benignum, the second, bonum: but the third, virum misericordiarum, a man made up of mercies, so that a merciful man is one that doth miseriae condolere, and misero succurrere, grieves for the misery of the miserable, & seeks to relieve the miserable in their misery; misericors quasi miserum cor habeus, says the old Etymologist.  
There be some which have no memorial, saith the Wise man, Eccl. 44.10. who are perished as though they had never been; and are become as though they had never been borne, and their children after them the bell that knolls to their burial, knocks out the memory of their whole life; a fearful judgement upon cruel men; yet this we find by daily experience but what follows in that place? ver. 10. Sed sunt viri misericordiae: but there are men of mercy, whose righteousness hath not been forgotten, with their Posterity shall remain a good inheritance, etc. Their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore; though justus perit be true, yet justitia manet is as true; though they be taken away, yet their mercy shall never be buried in oblivion; These be the men of mercy. Of Moses the same Author says, cap. 45.1. that his memorial was blessed, that he was beloved of God and men, that he found favour in the sight of all flesh, and all was because he was a merciful man; the Canonical Scripture makes him the meekest man upon earth, Num. 12. and the Apocryphal, the mercifullest; So that if either be true, he must needs obtain mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  
And to apply this again to our dead Master, as Elisha applied his living body to the dead child's, it will not be very hard. S. Gregory says of a Preacher, Ille praedicat viuâ voce, qui praedicat vitâ & voce: so he is truly merciful, that to the pity of the heart adds the bounty of the hand. He that is dead, our gracious & merciful Master, (cuius memoria in benedictionibus) did so, he did alterius miseriam quasi suam reputare, he accounted others miseries, as his own, and that was it that made him pitiful; and he did, de malo alterius quasi de suo dolere, he grieved for other men's sorrows, as for his own, and that made him merciful; He did not shut up the door of compassion and commiseration from the necessitous, as S John's phrase is, there was his pity: but he even poured out of his soul to the needy, Esay 58. as 'tis our Prophet's phrase: There was his mercy.  
What job 
job  of himself, that I of him, De utero matris egressa mecum, ab infantiâ meâ mecum crevit miseratio, mercy was brought up with him from his youth, as with a Father, & he guided her from his Mother's womb, & what Bernard of mercy & peace, they be collectaneae, bedfellows, they sleep together, & collactaneae in another place, Foster-brothers, they suck one milk, one breast together, that I of him & mercy; she was his bedfellow from his cradle, his foster-sister from his mother's breast.  
Naz. at the funeral of Athanasius doubted not to affirm, that Athanasium laudare, was idem ac virtutem ipsam laudare, to commend Athanasius was all one, as to frame a Panegyricke of virtue herself. Pardon me, if my unfeigned affection and service to my dead Master, carry me so fare to say, that to commend this merciful man were all one, as to commend mercy itself: A true disciple of a blessed Master, The broken Reed did not he bruise, the smoking flax would not he quench. Solomon says, that the very mercies of the wicked are cruel, because their kindnesses and benefits are rather bestowed to the hurt then the good of other; All the cruelties that he had, were mercies: With good Theodosius, neminem dimisit tristem, never Suitor went sad from his presence: though he begged of his Saviour every day, yet he never begged of his gracious Sovereign but once, and that not for himself neither, but that the Widow and the fatherless might not beg; he had our Saviour's rule by heart, he knew 'twas regalius dare, qúàm accipere, more like a Prince to give, then to receive: so that I may say, True Nobility before him went, but for a moral virtue, he only made it a divine: And as Augustine, Epist. 123. of a good soul deceased, Illa quidem anima in societatem fidelium & castarum recepta, laudes nec curate, nec quaerit, humanas imitationem tantum querit. That good Soul now taken up into the company of the faithful Saints departed, neither regards, nor requires our commendations; all his desire is, that we would imitate his example in this; that I of him, Go and do thou likewise. And shall we doubt to say now, as Paul doth, that he hath found mercy already? that is the fruit of mercy; and shall find it in more abundance at that Day? Shall we doubt to affirm that which our Saviour doth of the merciful; ergà eum erunt miserationes, as the Syriack renders it in the plural? No; he hath received mercies for himself there, and our hope is, he shall receive mercies for his, here; those that come after him shall be blessed, mercy for measure, mercy for mercy, mercy obtained for mercy bestowed, dispersit & dedit, dedit temporalia, accepit aeterna. He hath dispersed abroad, and given to the poor: he restored to God his temporals, and God hath bestowed on him mercy for all eternity.  
justice's could not keep the Righteous man alive, justus perit: but may not mercy, by which we nearer resemble God then by justice, preserve the merciful? No, neither; even those are taken away too; colliguntur, like flowers or fruits that are gathered, ripe; Till thirty we are welcome to the world, in the kindest manner; from that, till fifty, much good do it us; but from fifty forward, is a time of taking leave, and so God be with us; his time was so, in the year of his jubilee, in his fiftieth year, he returns from this Land of his captivity, to the Land of the Living, the Land of perfect liberty, colligitur, he is taken away, taken up; As a Master from his Servants, as a Shepherd from his Sheep, as a Pillar from a Church, as a Buttress from a leaning wall, as a Guardian from his Pupils, as a Bridegroom from his Bride, so is he taken; nay more, as a Father from his Brother, as a Brother from his friends, as a kinsman from strangers, as a Friend from all; so is he taken away.  
The goodly Tree (like that in Daniel) that afforded us shadow, and meat, and drink, and fuel, was our all, omnia Gratianus, as he in Ausonius, rostra, ●uilia, castra, agri, domus, nummus, fundus, nobis omnia Gratianus, only with a voice from heaven is now fall'n, cut down, and taken away: now he is truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Tree turned topsy-turuy, upside down. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; this can God do; this can he do, that thunders in the clouds above. He that flourished as the Cedar of Lebanon, not many days ago, lies now as low as any shrub of the Desert! with one stroke of thunder is our Laurel blasted; the Tree, under whose goodly bows we sported and recreated ourselves, and under whose shadow we sat down and sung, is felled to make Timber for the Triumphant Church in heaven, while our house on earth is running to decay, only the dew lodges upon some of his branches.  
— Non deficit alter  
Aureus, & simili frondescit virga metallo.  
He seems to live (as it were) multiplied in an Honourable Brother, and many a sweet Nephew; and O may the dew of Heaven still lodge upon those branches; let them spread forth as the Valleys, as Gardens by the River's side, as the Trees of Lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as Cedar trees besides the waters, Num. 24 6. Collectus est, he is taken; but then let me ask, who took him away from us? Quis collegu? Some envious man sure hath done this, as we slept. No, not so; no man, if my charity misguide me not, I suppose there lived not a man, burr would have kept him alive if he could. Who then? was it Gods doing? Factum à Domino? 'tis true; Quicquid patimur, quicquid facimus, venit ab alto.  
A Sparrow falls not without his providence, much less do Princes and Great men fall without his leave. But I must search yet nearer into this, Quis colligit? Was it neither man nor God? Who then? Shall I tell you? Your sins (our sins, that I except not myself from the number) have made a separation between him and us, and our iniquities have hid him from us, so that we shall see the face of our dear Master no more.  
Behold, says God, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves; and for your transgressions is your mother put away, in the 50. of this Prophecy, Our Master, say I, is taken away. We may well complain of these, as Mary did, upon she knew not whom; Sustulerunt Dominum, they have taken away our Lord from us, and we know too well to our grief, the place where they have laid him; Quis talia fando?  
Can any man than forbidden tears, that we that were his Servants, should not weep, as he said of the water? Surely no, non arguo doloris affectum, sed doledi excessum; as Blesensis to a King of England, sorrowing for the death of his son, Conuersus est planctus eius in gaudium, convertatur & vester: Epist. 107. his sorrow is turned into joy, let yours be so too. As Christ to the women of Jerusalem, Nolite flere, Weep not for me, not for thee, for whom then? weep not so, so weep rather for yourselves, and the sins of your own souls; for though ill for us, yet 'tis good for him: Weep not for him therefore thus, but rest assured, that if you serve him as you ought, what you have lost in him, you shall find in God. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee, says David to Solomon; he will be with you, while you be with him; As Elkanah to Hannah, Why weepest thou, & c? Am not I better than ten sons? Let the Wife suppose she hears God comforting her, Am not I better than ten Husbands? and the Brother, Am not I better than ten Brothers? and the Nephew, Am not I better than ten Uncles? & the Servant, & the Poor, Am not I better than ten Masters? then ten Benefactors? For to say truth, miserable Comforters are all these; Husband, or Brother, or Kinsman, or Master, or Patron, if God himself make not one. And because no man lays to heart, no man considers the generality of mortality, or the generality of the disregard had to the perishing of the Just, to the taking away of merciful men, let us cast an eye that way, consider that they do not consider, Be wise betimes, lest we be wise, when it will be too late! Boterus de m●ribus gentium, says, that the Italian is wise beforehand; the Frenchman after the thing is done, the Almain in the doing: Let us herein be the Italians Scholars, learn before hand to prevent that by our daily preparation, which otherwise will prevent us. S. chrysostom, to put thee throughly in mind of thy vanity, thy mortality, tells thee, that God hath made the earth, patriam, to teach thee, that thou art Country man to Vanity; and nutricem, to lesson thee, that thou art Foster-child to Vanity; and Matrem, Son of Vanity; and Mensam, a Guest to Vanity; and Domum, a Tenant to Vanity; and lastly, Sepulchrum too, the Prisoner to Vanity; like an Anchoret thou feedest on thy grave, livest in thy grave, suckest on thy grave, dwellest in thy grave, and at last shalt be clothed with thy grave; And though thy thoughts be as ambitious as Caesar's, which the great Ball of the World could not contain, yet a lesser on the Obeliske shall contain thy ashes, as it did his, and then all thy Vanity, like thy Days, shall be compassed in a span; Vniversa Vanitas, omnis homo, every man is every way, all kind of Vanity! Have an eye to this: and that we shall all rise again to judgement after these our days of vanity, but in a different manner, as the Egyptians and Israelites, utrique mare sunt ingressi, non similiter egress; they both went down into the sea alike, but they came not up alike! Violae crescunt sicut & Sp●nae; tamen Violae in odorem, Spinae in ignem: The Thorns grow, as do the Violets, but these are bound up to make a Nosegay, those bundled up in faggots, to make fuel for the fire. Have one eye that way. Palmares posuisti dies: Thou hast made my days as it were a span long.  
Again, seeing 'tis so, that most men have the least regard of the Just man's perishing, & Merciful men's taking away, let's have another eye that way; let's grieve for them, that they grieve not for themselves, or others; our Saviour did so: O si cognovisses, & tu! O that thou hadst, & c! He cannot go thorough with his sentence for weeping, and throbbing, Singultu medios impediente sonos. O, this is a disease too Epidemical in the world, that the death of others, so sudden sometimes, so certain always, yet cannot win us to prepare for, to beware of our own! Happy whiles the passing Bell goes, or the Burial is reading, or the Corpse lies before our faces, we can be so devout as to lift up an eye or spend a sigh, or bestow a tear, or let rail a groan, or perchance at the same charges, a knock upon the breast, with a Lord be merciful to us, what a frail creature is man? to day a man, to morrow no man, I say for a very little while we are content to lend an ear to God, to consecrate it a Sanctuary to Devotion, and in our brother's death, to think upon our own mortality: But no sooner is the Book turned in, or the humming of the Bell out of our ears, or the Coffin covered with earth; but we presently forget what we did, where we have been, what we have seen, or heard.  
And instantly we begin to make our ears & mouths Gutters and Sinks for filthy and unsavoury speeches, to run up and down in our eyes and hearts, graves of unclean lusts, cages for every filthy & unwholesome bird; we cannot leave our old wont: like S. jaemes' glasse-gazer, while we are poring into the pit, we see as in a glass our own frailty, and can be content to acknowledge it, but no sooner have we turned our backs, but we forget immediately what our fashion and shape was, and we have utterly thrown out of our minds, that voice which speaketh unto us as unto children, shall I say? nay, rather as unto worms and beasts, Terra es, & in terram reverteris, Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. I cannot fitter compare such Men, then to Swine, who while one of their fellows is going to the block, they yell and cry, but no sooner hath the knife cut his throat, but presently theirs are stopped, away to their washtroughs, and wallowing in the mire again. O consider this, all you that forget God, consider that you do not consider, that there is an evil day coming, wherein such as you shall be taken, as Birds in a net, as Dear in a toil, when the Just and Merciful men shall be preserved from the evil to come.  
A fancy malitiae collectus est iustus, Heaven is fasciculus viventium, the bundle of life, or of the living; that's the vulgar; ante faciem ipsius mali recipitur iustus, that's the original; that is; for illustration sake, ante adventum mali, before the evil day come, and the years draw nigh, so Gen. 36.6. Esau is said to have gone into the Country of Seir, before the face of jacob. i. before jacob was come. This evil here meant, is that denounced at the first verse, the calling in of Foreign Nations to eat up, and to devour God's people. All ye beasts, come to devour, etc.  
And here I told you there were two things considerable, God's judgement, and his Mercy; his Severity, and his Goodness; his judgement on those that are left, his Mercy towards them that are taken away; ill for those, good for these; th'one happy, th'other miserable.  
Now the evil to come, is twofold, contingent, or necessary, an evil that may be, or an evil that must be, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Of the first sort is war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, inundations; these be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, things that may come; of the second sort is old age, and dotage, and sickness, and at the last, death; and after death, judgement; these be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, things that must come; these shall be, will we, nill we; this is the sad night, of which our Saviour speaks, the night comes, when no man can work, the night of age, the night of death, the night of judgement; when these nights be come, no man can work. No man will deny but that in a dark, cold, stormy tempestuous night, he has the best of it that is a-bed, & asleep, and he the worst, that is up and awake: Our life here is such a night, and our death in Christ, such a bed, requies●unt in cubilibus; and come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, Esa. 26. The rest in the grave is there compared to the rest that a man takes in his bedchamber: And have not they the worst of it, then, who are left behind?  
Should that anguish and perplexity of heart, befall thee, that befell Ezechiah, when he turned to the wall and wept, as if he would have told his tale to that which could not hear him. If jonas pangs should come upon thee, or Elias travels overtake thee; Take away my life, why should I live? I am no better than my Fathers; Wouldst thou not with the Wise man praise the dead, which are already dead, more than the living, which are yet alive? Eccl. 4.2? Nay, wouldst thou not with the fool, 
Vers. 6.  esteem an handful of quietness in thy grave? (melior est plena vola quietis, plenis pugnis molestiae) better then both the hands full of travail and vexation of spirit here on earth? This is no more than that which may be, this is an evil that may come, ere thou be ware of it. Should the case so stand with thee, as Moses describes it, Deut. 28. when in the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were evening, & in the evening thou shalt say, would God it were morning, etc. for the fear of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes, that thou shalt see, when thy life shall hang before thee, like Tantalus apples, but thou shalt not enjoy it, but rather like Dives in hell shalt see other men happy, and thyself miserable. This is no more than that which may be, this is malum venturum, an evil to come.  
To come a little nearer home; Should things fall out so? (which yet God forbidden) that though the City cried out of her gates to the Country, as the man did to Paul, Come out of Macedonia, & help us in the City, Act. 16.9. and the Country should call from her suburbs and graunges, to the City, For the love of God, lend us your hand in the City, and help us in the Country; Should there fall out to be such a vicissitude of complaints between them, and yet the City neither able to supply the Country with her sweetness, nor the Country the City with her fatness, for fear of Mors in ollâ, bitterness in the end? Who would not say that this were Malum venturum with a witness? And yet even such an evil to come, is now feared of the wisest; The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be, saith Solomon, and that which is done, is that which shall be done, 
Eccl. 1.9.  and there is no new thing under the Sun, not in specie, but hath been done in one kind or other before we were borne; and may be again, when we are dead, cuivis potest accidere, quod cuiquam potest, that may happen to any one, which hath yet happened but to one.  
And as this shows God's judgement to those that are left alive, so his goodness to those that are taken away. Thus dealt God with Enoch, he was translated, yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, 
Wisd. 4.10, 11.  or deceit, beguile his soul. A fancy malitiae, thus with Abraham, 
Gen. 15.15.  Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age. This was God's goodness unto Abraham. Thus with Noah, whom God took in the time of wrath, in exchange for the world, Eccl. 44.17. they drowned, he saved. The same to Ezechiah by Isaias the Prophet Behold, the days come, when of thy sons which issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be Eunuches, 
2. King. 20.18.  in the Palace of the King of Babylon: but as for thy part, thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers. Was not this Word of the Lord, good for Ezechiah? The like was promised to josiah, I will gather thee unto thy Fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil that I will bring upon this place. 
2. King. 22.20.  A great favour to josiah, that this evil should not come to pass in his time.  
This goodness of God will appear the more clearly, if we consider the company which the godly part from, and the society they go to; they part from a valley of tears, from the midst of a froward and crooked Generation. It made David sigh deeply, Hei mihi quia incolatus meus, etc. Woe is me that I am constrained, etc. They go to an innumerable company of Angels, to the general assembly, and Church of the first borne, which are written in Heaven, 
Heb. 12.23.  and to God the judge of all, and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect, and to jesus the Mediator, etc. O praeclarum illum diem, cùm ad illud animarum consortium oetumque proficiscar, may the Christian fare better say then the Heathen man did! O blessed and happy day, when I shall go hence, to be admitted into the College and Society of all Saints departed this life! 
2. Pet. 3.  Here while we live below, the good man shall have somewhat to vex his soul, as Just Lot had by hearing and seeing, in so much as he shall wish sometimes, utinam aut ego surdus, aut ille mutus, I would either I had no ears to hear, or that man no tongue to speak! But Foelix Nepotianus, saith S. Hierome, qui haec non videt, haec non audit Nepotian, is happy, who neither hears, nor sees these things! 
Lib. de erat.  Tully shall make the sense full; Non videbit bello flagrantem Italiam, non ardentem invidiâ Senatum, He shall not see Italy reeking with the blood of Patriots, nor the Senate sweltering in envy one against another, etc. And this is now our dear Master's condition; his eyes shall not see, 
Cant. 3.  nor his ears hear that which shall wound his soul any more; his eyes shall no more wound his heart. Should the abomination of desolation, the Idol of the Mass be set up again in the holy place; and Dagon shoulder the Ark out of doors hereafter, as the Ark hath done Dagon heretofore; Happy he, his eyes shall not see this, Foelix Nepotianus, our Nepotian is happy, that shall neither hear, nor see any of all this.  
Should such intestine jars begin again, as once did between those two fatal Houses for the Mastery of the double Rose, should we see in our own Land, and of our own Countrymen, Ensign borne against Ensign, and Cross against Cross, Signa pares aquilas, & pila mina●tia pilis, soelix Nepotianus hoc non videret, etc. happy he his eyes should behold none of all this Should Rabshakeh, Zenacheribs General, approach our Ports at Sea, rail, and blaspheme the Hosts of the living God, with Dog▪ and Heretic; tell us to our teeth, that he would come up with the multitude of his Chariots, to the sides of our Lebanon, 
2. King. 19 23.  and would enter into the Lodgings of our Borders, and into the Forest of our Carmel; happy he his ears shall be filled with none of these blasphemies; But in stead of seeing the one, he now sees the Beatifical face of God, and in stead of the other, he hears the noise of Cherubins, and the songs of Seraphins, Collectus est à facie itae, he is taken away from the evil to come; The Orator says, that presently upon the death of ●rassus such misery befell the State of Rome,  mihi non erepta à dijs immortalibus vita, sed donata mors esse videatur; life was not so much taken from him, for a punishment, as death bestowed on him for a reward; Pray God his prove not so; pray God his death be not Primitiae dormientium, in some sense, but a say of that mortality, which is feared to follow, I fear it is.  

●oh. 14.  Howsoever it be good for him, 'tis ill for us, he is gone, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as our Saviour said, to his own house and long home, and hath left us alone, some of us without house or home, and yet we are not alone neither in our griefs, while the Church and Commonwealth, if I might not speak too broad, the whole Christian world shares with us in his loss. For what Hortensius of Brutus, we have double cause to grieve Brutus, quod & ipse Republicâ careas, & illa Te; that I of him, the Commonwealth hath a share in this loss, For as much as though he want not the Commonwealth now (he's better provided for) yet, the Commonwealth will want him! I have ended that Theme at last, though himself be a Theme without end; an immortal Argument. Pardon my length, grief keeps no hours; I come in a few words to admonish you that be alive, Exercitia enim magis sunt ista quàm funera! These Commemorations be rather exercises for the use of the living, then for the honour of the dead, that you labour to fly from the vengeance, the evil to come, and I would I could say it were malum venturum, an evil to come, and no more: but 'tis present, there is evil that is present, Malum culpa, the evil of sin, and where this is present, you may be sure, Malum poenae, the evil of punishment will not stay long behind, Flagitium & flagellum ut acus & filum, where sin goes before, sin and a scourge are as the needle and the thread, etc. vengeance will limp after, and creep where it cannot go.  
The Harvest of the whole earth is now ready, and God's Sickle is in his hand to reap down all; 
Tit. 1.11.  pray then and labour to be delivered à praesenti malo seculo, from this present evil world. Let us enter into our own hearts, and there every one of us study to find the plague of his own heart, 
1. Kings 8.  by a serious review of our ways past, and be wise, As David asks, How many are the days of thy Servant? so 'twere good for us, if with David we would oftener ask, 
Psalm. 93.  How many are my days? how long have I lived? and how have I bestowed these days? For our Rents and Incomes, we have rental Books; for our Money, Bags and Chests; for our Garments, Wardrobes and Presses; and we know how to spend, and use those sparingly, and with moderation; only we are wasters of our days, as if we had Methusalems' years in a Treasure. Pliny makes man to complain of the gods, that the Eagle and Stag were longer lived than he, and that man's age was nothing; He does not well to repine so; For, Non parum habemus temporis, sed multum perdimus, 
Senec. Epist.  'Tis not a little time that we live, but 'tis much time that we lose. What with nihil agendo, and aliud agendo, and male agendo, with doing nothing, or worse than nothing, we bring our years to a few minutes. Infants sumus, dum senes videmur, 
Martial.  we are but Infants, when we look like old men. Careless men as we are; we spend our allowance of lights; in Riot and Wantonness, and so at last are fain to go to bed darkling! we dream of rest here, and contemplate upon I know not what Elysian Fields, and Eyrie Paradises upon earth, whereas God knows, we have here nought else but desiderium quietis, a desire to rest; only in Heaven, quietem de sideriorum, 
〈◊〉  rest to all our desires! I say, we build to ourselves Castles in the Air, like Aristophanes' Cuckoo in the Clouds! when as oftentimes Stulte, hac nocte, Thou fool, 
Luk. 12.  this night casts a damp upon all our fleeting, and speculative designs; In Heaven rest? Let me speak that again; I said not true, No, not in Heaven rest, yet: Till the resurrection of all Flesh, at the last Day!  
For as all the Creation groans on earth (in the Apostles Metaphor) longing to be delivered from the bondage, etc. 
Rom. 8.  so do the blessed Souls deceased, sigh and groan after their manner, to be reunited to their own bodies, and then they shall rest in that Day. When the Bridegroom is absent, than men fast, says our Saviour; but when present, they rest & rejoice. Our bodies be the Bridegrooms, our Souls the Brides; Till these meet again, they fast, after rejoice, & rest. Wonderful strange, (you'll say) that a Soul clothed with Glory and Immortality, should desire the company of a Carcase leapt in Lead: Non benè conveniunt, what communion between corruption, & incorruption? yet so 'tis; for, Quid est magnus ille animarum clamour? 
Iu. Dedic Eccles.  (saith Bernard) What means the bleating of those innocent Lambs? the cries of Souls in the Revelation? He answers, Clamour is but Amor, & magnum desiderium, This cry is but a love, & longing desire, to be rejoined again to their own bodies. 
Apoc. 14.  A labour requiescunt qui in Domino moriuntur, sed non requiescunt interim à clamore, those blessed Souls do rest from their labour, not from their clamour▪ the Souls of the slaughtered bodies, do yet cry from under the Throne of God, and the same Father gives the reason; Quia etsi nihil habent, quod molestet, nondum tamen habent quod delectet, donec requiem resurrectio, donec Sabbatum, Pascha sequatur, for though they feel nothing to afflict them; yet they have not all that delights them, till such time as the Resurrection follow their rest, and an eternal Sabbath in Heaven, this bitter Passeover on earth; then shall they flow in all perfection of Bliss, then perfectly taken from evil to come.  
And is that all? No; that's but the one half of their blessedness; for besides this ereption and deliverance from evil, they shall be invested in the present fruition of all good whatsoever; here be heard the cries of captives, and sick, and poor, etc. There the captive shall have his freedom, the sick his health, the poor, riches; the blind, sight, the lame shall be restored to his legs; the Orphan to his Parents, the Widow to her Husband, the sad man to a never-interrupted solace, the old man shall have his youth renewed, the child his age filled, the weak his strength repaired, every valley shall be exalted, every crooked thing shall be made strait; when that which is perfect is come, 
1. Cor. 13.  then that which is unperfect shall be done away; the dead in Christ eternal Life freely bestowed, The gift of God is eternal Life, through jesus Christ our Lord. In comparison of this good to come; 
Rom. 6.15.  all worldly treasure is but mere beggary, all the pomp and glory of this earth, but dung and darkness; all pleasures whatsoever but nauscous and loathsome; in a word, All flesh is grass, and the glory of it as the flower of that grass, not gramen, but foenum, withered grass; withered before it be plucked up: only the Word of the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven promised in that Word, endureth for ever; there we may hope to meet all again, but here on earth never. The Shepherd is smitten, and we the Sheep of his pasture shall be scattered abroad.  
TO God the Father, which brought again from the dead our Lord jesus Christ, 
Heb. 13.20.  that great Shepherd of the Sheep, through the blood of the everlasting Covenant, make you perfect in every good work, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through jesus Christ: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.