A SERMON, PREACHED At St. Gregory's Church by St. Paul's on Sunday the 13th. day of June, 1658.  
INTENDED For the Funeral Solemnization of John HEWIT, Dr. of Divinity, and late Minister there.  
LONDON, Printed, and are to be sold in St. Paul's churchyard, 1658.   

The Mourning BUSH. A Funeral Sermon upon Isaiah 57 1.  The Righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come. 
The INDUCTION.  
OUR Prophet Isaiah in the 22 Chapter of this prophecy vers. 12. makes mention of a day wherein the Lord of Hosts doth call to weeping and to mourning. And beloved, although there is no day wherein we are without Sin, and so confequently no day wherein we should be without so now; yet there are four special days wherein our Lord God expects this duty from us, viz. The day of any heinous wickedness committed by ourselves or others. The day of any grievious judgement, whether personal or national inflicted. The day wherein the wicked prosper and the ungodly triumph. Finally the day wherein any of God's eminent and faithful servants are snatched away by death; It is not many days since there was such a day amongst us; and of such a day my Text speaks of; and the want of a due sense and sorrow, and Mourning when such a day comes, is that which the Prophet bemoans in the words of my Text. The righteous perisheth & no man layeth it to heart, &c.  
This Text is a sorrowful and doleful complaint in every part and clause of it, and looketh 2. ways.  

1. Upon the good, and bemoans their misery.  
2. Upon the wicked, and bewails their obstinacy.   
It complains of the Righteous, that their persons are destroyed. It complains of the wicked, that their hearts are hardened. The former complaint is purely from grief, the latter is from grief mixed with anger, both are very vehement and fervent. witness the reiteration of the words in both parts. The former in three clauses. The Righteous perish. Merciful men are taken away. The Righteous are taken away from the evil to come.  
The latter in two clauses, no man laying it to heart, none considering it. In which we may see what an holy passion our holy Prophet was in; and I pray God grant that we may resemble him in grief and sorrow, when we hear both of the righteous, and of the wicked.  
First of the complaint the Prophet makes concerning the Godly. The Righteous perish, and merciful men are taken away. The Righteous are taken away from the evil to come; And this complaint concerning the righteous you have it first propounded, and then mitigated. First' it's propounded in the two clauses, (which are for substance and sense one and the same) The Righteous perisheth, and merciful men are taken away.  
But withal secondly, The complaint is in the latter part of the verse, leviated & mitigated, where 'tis said. The Righteous are taken away from the evil to come.  
Look upon the matter of the complaint itself as set down in these two clauses. The Righteous perish, and merciful men are taken away.  
First, Where you have set before you both their disposition and their condition.  
Their disposition is very good. Their condition is seemingly very bad. Their pious disposition. Their miserable condition. The Characters of the one, viz. their disposition are these two, Righteous, and merciful men. The other viz. their condition is set forth in these two Characters, Perishing, and taking away.  
First we will take the Character, that sets down their disposition. The Righteous and merciful men, those that the Prophet bemoans are said to be Righteous and merciful men. The first word is singular in the Hebrew {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} where Interpreters, glozing upon the Text, suppose it to be some particular person that the Prophet points at, and the gloss understands it of Christ himself, whose passion he foresaw, and consequently foretells: and these titles most strictly and fully belong to him who is called the Son of righteousness, Malachy 4. v. 2. All others are but stars of righteousness, & their lights borrowed from him: he it is who is completely righteous, and of him it was verified, he perished and was taken away, none laying it to heart. But we must not confine it to Christ; for although the first word be singular, the second is plural. The merciful men, and men of mercy, which is meant of those righteous ones that were cut off & destroyed by Manasses that filled Jerusalem with blood. But that you may see how justly these Characters belong to those persons; take them a sunder; first he calls them Righteous and the servants of God. Ministers or others may have this name given them in a qualified sense, for there are none righteous, no not one, (save him that I named even now) not but that it may belong to them too, for they are Righteous, really, interpretatively and comparatively.  
They are righteous really, in as much as their persons are justified before God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called by the Prophet Jeremy, The Lord our righteousness. Ierem. 23. v. 6. who is said to cover us with a robe of righteousness Isa. 63. who is said by S. Paul to be made to us righteousness, and that we are righteousness in him. Thus they are righteous because justified, and not only so, but also because their natures are renewed after the Image of God, that is cretaed in righteousness and true holiness, in which respect they are partakers of the Divine nature: and also righteous in ordering their lives according to the rule of the word, which all God's servants sets before them, and seek to live according thereunto, that they may give God his due, and men their due; and thus it is true of the servant▪ of God, they are righteous really. And Interpretatively they are so, for as much as God is pleased to accept them notwithstanding their weaknesses, When Abraham was to offer up his Son Isacak, it is said, he offered his son, in regard he was willing to do it, it was therefore Interpretatively so. So the servants of God in as much as they are lovers and followers of God, and strive after righteousness, not allowing themselves in any wickedness, making conscience of all known duties, so that God accepts them as perfectly righteous.  
And comparatively they are righteous, though not absolutely, yet comparatively in respect of others, as it's said of those Worthies St. Ambross speaks of. The righteous if compared with the wicked of the world are Worthies, so they are righteous compared with the ungodly.  
In the foregoing Chapter vers. 12. the Prophet speaks of certain Epicures and others, which say, we will fill ourselves with strong Drink, and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. So in respect of sinners, the servants of God may have the appellation of righteous, and not righteous only, but merciful men, or as the Hebrew hath it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} men of mercy: which may admit of a double construction, whether taken in a passive or active sense; In a passive sense they are men of mercy: or as the Hebrew word will further carry it men of good will or favour, they are men to whom God bears a singular favour, an especial love; There is a philanthropy which God hath to all men, and though he hates the work of their hands, yet he loves the work of his own hands: but God here speaks of a favour and good will, which he hath to his servants, and you have it fully and summarily set down in the 24th psalm latter end; The Lord God is a Sun and a Shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, &c. And according to this construction it may be taken: the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the righteous, how that they are taken away by men of cruelty, intimates though they are hated by the wicked, they are men of love, in respect of God: whilst the world reproaches and reviles them, yet God loves them, though they perish and are taken away we must not think that God hates them, they are his favourites. Some men think God should not let the wind blow upon his servants: but it is not that of a mother, but a fatherly love, with which God loves his children, nor was Benjamin the less beloved because the Cup was found with him. The righteous they are still men of mercy, yet I rather conceive we ought to take it in the active sense, they are men that love mercy and show mercy, and to this I incline in regard of that parallel place the 7. Micah. 2. The good man is perished from off the earth, &c. So here men of mercy, that is, men that are practisers and lovers of mercy. Mercy is a condolency of others misery, and withal an endeavour to deliver them out of it, so that there is both pity and bounty, bowels of mercy and works of mercy, thus a righteous man is a merciful man: the wise man joins them both together Prov. 21. and 21. And indeed they never go asunder: our Saviour hath coupled them together, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled, than it follows blessed are the merciful, &c. The righteous have bowels of mercy, their innards are troubled at the misery of others, and hence their heads consult which way they may do them good: the liberal man devices charritable things upon his bed, and their hearts ache for their brethren, they inquire how, what, which way, to do them good, they are still going out of their doors in mercy, their eyes behold which way they may do acts of mercy, their ears listen to their complaints, and their hands are ready to relieve; it would be too much time spent to let you see how this spiritual River overflows, by giving and forgiving, by vouchsafing to our Brethren spiritual and corporal alms, that concern their souls and bodies, by remitting all those injuries they do against us: and thus it is true, they are men of mercy as for the wicked, Solomon saith, their very mercies are cruel, when they pretend mercy it is in cruelty, nay they show mercy that they may be wicked, but the righteous he shows mercy even to his beast, it runs down even unto them, and hence it is here called merciful men, or men of mercy: but now look upon the complaint itself, and that sets forth their seeming miserable condition,  

The one, of perishing.  
The other, of taking away.   
The righteous perish, the merciful men are taken away: the first of these is very strange and hard, especially of the Righteous that he is said to perish; Perish is capable of various acceptations.  

1. There is a perishing that neither seizes on the Righteous nor the wicked.  
2. There is a perishing befalls the wicked and not the good.  
3. And there is a perishing befalls both the godly and the wicked.   
1. There is a perishing that befalls neither the Righteous nor the wicked: a perishing of total destruction and annihilation. The Psalmist saith: Wicked men are like the beasts that perish. Sensual men are so in their dispositions, but not in their natures: the beast perishing dissolveth into his first being to nothing, and happy were it, if it were so with the wicked, that there were annihilation.  
2. And then there is a perishing that befalls the wicked and not the Righteous: the memory of the wicked shall not, but it shall not be so with the just; No dying, no marrying can obliterate their names: but the wicked, their names perish, & which is worse there is a perishing in the Soul, and it is that perishing which is opposed to good, to eternal good, the Righteous is scarcely saved, it is not almost, they do not perish hereafter, but the wicked perish Eternally. But then,  
3. There is a perishing that is common to the Righteous with the wicked: will you know what it is? Understand it either of the miseries of this life (as S. Paul saith) if I perish, I perish. Whatever hazard we run or fall into, it may be termed a perishing, or chiefly, perishing by death, this is common to all: the Prophet Michael tells us the good man is perished out of the Earth; that is he dies: when he perisheth it is a Relative to perishing in this world, in this present life. So when the Righteous die he perisheth, therefore it was that the Prophet made use of this word, to let them see what the wicked thought, that the Righteous perisheth, it is not so in reality, and that we might not be troubled at the harshness of the phrase in the first clause. Go on to the second, Taking away. God hath given most members double; two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears, that if one fail the other may supply, & so the spirit of God gives two phrases often in Scripture, that if the one be obscure, the other may make it plain so it is here, lest the one should be too hard, here is another to explain it, when he saith, Perish, he means only taking away from the society of men, that is all, as we may very well read the words, the merciful men are gathered, as the Hebrew will carry it, they perish not but rather are gathered to their Fathers, as that expression in Ecclesiastes, the body goes to the grave, and the Soul to heaven, or to him that gave it, it is that they may be gathered to the innumerable company of Angels, to the Spirits of just men made perfect, to the beatifical vision; all this is meant in this one expression, taking away. And the sum is, the Righteous ones, & the merciful ones were taken away by death, perished from the earth. And so this is true in respect of a natural death, the Righteous as well as others perish, because of the same nature and constitution, and also the remainders of the same corruptions that are in them; therefore they must die and perish as well as others, but that which the Prophet aims at is perishing in a violent sense, and the phrase taken away hints as much, they are taken away and cut of (as' it's spoken of the Messiah) from the land of the living. These candles do not go out of themselves for want of that which should give them life, but are blown out by a violent wind; and very well it may be so, because of their enemies, David saith; the wicked watch the Righteous, and why do they watch him, but to take advantage to slay him, and this many times befalls the godly ones, and that in great wisdom, even that the glory of God's power may appear, his power in sustaining and upholding them, when by death he brings them to himself, especially strengthening them in the hour of a violent death, and his power will appear, in raising of their vile bodies, that shall be in the dust: in raising them, when their vile bodies shall be changed and made like the glorious body of Christ, & he will have it so that their graces may appear, & that their faith may be more eminent: if God should translate them as he did Eliah from earth to heaven, there would be something to appear of glory, but nothing of strength, and therefore that the faith and courage of his servants may appear, he thus takes them away, and chiefly that they may be conformable to Christ, and that he may make the members like unto the head, and go, as he did, by a violent death, they must drink of the brook and after lift up their heads, therefore this is a just complaint, the Righteous perish, and merciful men are taken away. The consideration of this may serve partly to inform, partly to instruct. First to inform us, That there is another world, and day of judgement, that there is a time wherein God will put a difference between the godly and the wicked, between him that swears, and him that fears an oath, between him that serves him, and him that rebels against him: I say there must be a time of retribution (or he could not be a Righteous and merciful God) when there must be a recompense to godly men, you see how the Righteous perish as well as the wicked, you see the same lot befalls the one, as well as the other, it assures us therefore that there is another day coming, when it will appear that there is a reward to the godly.  
And it should, secondly instruct all righteous ones that they should make use of this kind of death, for the glory of God's name, and the good of his own brethren. How should all of us Magistrates, Ministers and persons approve ourselves in the discharge of our duty, and especially merciful men by showing mercy, multiplying mercy, when the merciful man is taken away, than all is taken away there is no more work, nor alms, nor mercy for us to do in the grave where we are a going. and further it should instruct us, that we should make use of, and make much of the Righteous men, that are in the midst of us, because they must perish and be taken from us: these candles must go out, nay they may by a blustering wind be blown out, make use of them while you have them. Our Saviour bids us, walk in the light while you have the light: so do you, whilst God's righteous servants and Ministers are amongst you, make the best use of them you can (as our Saviour said, Me you shall not have always with you: so these you shall not have always with you, therefore endeavour to reap all the benefit, and profit from them you can. Finally let us not think the worse of them because they are taken away, we are ready to be frighted, because of the trouble that befalls them, but let us remember, that the Righteous whatever trouble incompasses them, they are delivered from it by death, nay that taking away of theirs, is a benefit to them, for it is a taking away from the evil to come. And that leads me to the other branch, which mitigateth the complaint in the close of the verse.  
The righteous are taken away from the evil to come. Taken away from the evil to come is a phrase which admits of a double construction, we may understand it of being taken away from the evil to come upon themselves, they are taken away from those future evils that (if they had continued longer upon earth,) should have befallen them, thus they are taken away from  

Criminal evils, and  
Penal evils.   
1. From criminal evils they are taken away, and thereby prevented from those sins, they might otherways have fallen into, for the righteous are not altogether free from sin, while herebelow; and therefore it is that they are delivered from that which is a great grief unto them, ever to sin against their Father.  
2. From penal evils, from those miseries and troubles that do befall them in this world: Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivers them out of all: Pain, penury, aches, sickness, &c. and when the righteous is taken away, he is taken away from all these. But that which is the principal meaning of the word is, They are taken away from the evil of the place wherein they live, from the common calamity that is to seize upon the people: therefore you find in the 26. Isa. 20. where the Prophet saith Come my people, enter thou into thy Chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast: some understand those little doors and moments, places and Chambers, to be meant of the grave, yet there God hides his people, he puts them in the grave where they are quiet: when he intends to send a blustering tempest, and a storm upon the earth. Thus God prepares a Zoar for Lot when he brings destruction upon Sodom, and an Ark for Noah, when he brings a deluge upon the world: so God prepares a grave for the righteous, when he intends to bring evil upon the earth: but this is not always so, for God will sometimes keep them in the midst of trouble, he sets a mark upon their forehead, as in the 9 Ezek. 4. And the Lord said unto him, go through the midst of the City, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh & that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And sometimes God makes them sharers and sufferers in the evils, because they have not mourned for the sins of the times and places where they live; therefore God makes them partakers of the misery; but God many times takes them away from the evil to come. Thus Josiah is taken away from the evil that was to come upon the Jews: and St. Austin's prayers were heard, God taking him away before Hippo was taken, whereof he was Bp: and Luther was taken out of the world before the desolation came that fell upon Germany: thus is God's dealing in the taking away of his servants, and that upon a double account.  

1. In regard of themselves.  
2. In regard of others.   
1. In regard of themselves: That they may not only not see, but also that they may not suffer in the evil that is to come: and this is the very reason why Josiah was cut off, that he should not see that general devastation that should come upon his native country, and that they may not see the evil, he hath taken them away.  
2ly. The chief account why he takes them away, is, that they may not keep of the evil that is to befall any people: for the righteous and merciful men are the Chariots & horsemen of Israel, that do defend the places where they live; the Angel told Lot he could do nothing against the city until he was out of it: & you know what God said to Moses, Let me alone, &c. A good man (as it were,) ties God's hands that he cannot bring evil upon a place, one righteous man may do more with God by prayer, than a thousand men by arms: there is a great prevalency in the prayers of the righteous, And when God will bring evil upon a place, he first takes away the righteous, that they may not keep it off: as when a man will take down a house, he first takes away the pillars and supporters thereof: so when God intends to destroy a people, he remooves the pillars that support them; God takes away the righteous, as on the one hand they may not see; so on the other hand they may nor prevent the evils he intends to inflict.  
To wind up this in a word of use. Look on the one hand as there is little Cause for the wicked to insult over the righteous when they are taken away, (rejoice not over me, O mine enemy) saith the Church; I say little Cause have the wicked to rejoice for the taking away of the good, because it is a sad presage to the bad. The Righteous being taken away, if such things be done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry: If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the wicked appear; If that the righteous be taken away from the evil to come, it is that the evil may come upon a place: it is an undeniable consequence if God deal severely with his own: the wicked must expect his cup to be filled to the full. If these perish for a time, those for ever: therefore let not the wicked triumph, and as there is no reason why the wicked should rejoice, so no cause why the friends of the righteous should be too much troubled when they perish by what hand soever? for all the righteous servants of God when they are to be taken away, say to us (as our Saviour said to the Woman, weep not for me,) weep not for us, weep for yourselves, and as they are taken away from evil, so they are received unto good; they are taken from a Prison to be seated in a Palace; they are taken from a wilderness to be transplanted into a Garden; they are taken away from earth and carried unto Heaven; no reason therefore to weep for them, but for yourselves: the evil to come cannot light on them; but on us; but let them not be disregarded by us, we are not to be stupid under such a divine providence, lest we incur the sin which the Prophet here complains of: and so I come to the complaint of the Prophet against the wicked, bewailing their obstinacy, the righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart: & merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come: no man lays it to heart, no man considers it; the phrases which the Prophet makes use of, are very emphatical.  
The first phrase according to the Hebrew is, no man puts it upon his heart; and the latter, no man doth understand or seriously weigh, or duly consider: so that one phrase hath reference to the affections, the other to the judgement: no man lays it to heart, so as to affect it, no man considers, it so as to understand it, and these two well agree together, and the one infers the other: that which a man lays to heart, he will consider, if the heart be affected, the understanding will be employed: a man cannot but revolve that which he is cut and strucken with; by considering it we lay it to heart: While I Muse the fire kindled: there is an affection in the mind toward the object, if it be of delight it brings joy, if sadness it brings sorrow, and these two phrases are very fruitful expressed here, no man lays it to heart, no man considers it, And observe what the sin is that the Prophet charges with, and complains against: it was not a sin of commission, no, it was a sin of omission; it was neglect of duty: it is as horrid impiety to omit what God commands us to do, which he forbids; Remember we do provoke God as much by omitting to do good, as by doing those things he hath forbid. Many men please themselves pharasaically.  
When the sinful neglect of any known duty, being judgement, as soon as the doing of a known sin, I say it is the not doing of our known duty makes us culpable, and that sin here charged on us is not the rejoicing, and triumphing when the godly are taken away, but the not laying it to heart that argues a man to be in the depth of wickedness, to come to sit in the seat of the scorners, to deride at the calamities of the godly, and make their tears his drink, and their ruins his play and sport, this is the depth of wickedness when men rejoice at the miseries and ruins of the righteous, but it is not considering, or laying to heart the miseries of the servants of God that is here only meant, though you will find that a great sin, the not laying to heart their being taken away. One would think it but a a small thing, but you will find it a great sin, not to lay it to heart when the righteous are taken away. For 1. take notice it is the perishing of the righteous. When any man dies, the living will lay it to heart, saith Solomon: And shall not the living lay it to heart, when not an ordinary man but a good man, one of the Prophets of God and those righteous, merciful and eminent ones are taken away. Shall such stars fall from the firmement, and no eyes behold it? no heart consider it? Put those altogether, it was the righteous that is perishing: and besides, when we consider, it was not an ordinary but a violent death. When a good man dies naturally, the living will lay it to heart, much more when cut of, when he might have lived longer: and then consider all opportunities of doing good is taken away, and when not an ordinary person, and that not by an ordinary death, perishing, and more than so, taken away, and when this perishing and taking away of the righteous was a prediction that concerned themselves of their ruin, their judgements, was at hand, and ready to overtake and overthrow them, and they not to consider it: & add to this that this shall be so, and that there should not be a man to consider it, not as if there was none at all; there were some though, the number be but very small that did bemoan and lay this thing to heart, yet it is usual in Scripture to express where there is but a few, as if there was none at all, as in the 53 Psal. 3. 5 Ierem. 15. Because there is but a very few, therefore it is expressed as if there were none at all: there was but a few zealous in regard of the multitude and generally it they did not consider that the Righteous perish, and they did not lay it to heart, the merciful men are tak●n away from the evil to come. I say these things being put together you will find it was no small sin, and that the Prophet hath no little reason to complain, that they did not lay it to heart, if you consider it in reference,  

1. unto God.  
2. unto them.  
3. To ourselves.   
1. In reference unto God; this was a great work, and aspeciall work of God's provience, that he was pleased to suffer his righteous ones to p●rish, and be taken away. It is a very great sin not to observe God's dealing; they are equally bad, when God's word sounds in our ears, his works appears in our eyes, and neither is regarded by us. As the Psalmist complains in the 26 Psalm. This is great impiety that God should pass by us in a special providence, and we not take notice thereof: if not a sparrow fall to the ground without his knowledge, nor a hair of our heads fall to the ground, much less our heads, they cannot perish but by a special providence: and they should be taken notice of when God intends to take them from us; and as it impiery against God, so likewise it is a sin against them, it argues that as we want piety, so pity, as purity, so bowels, when those that are our Fellow-members,  
Righteous ones especially: nay when in a higher, rank then ourselves, Ministers or others are in misery, and we are not troubled at their sufferings, this argues we want much pity: they are but glass eyes that weep not for such a loss, and it is but a wooden leg that is not sensible, what the rest of the members endures.  
And as it is a sin against them, so likeways it is an evil against ourselves, it argues a stupid mind, a secure heart, and an obdurate spirit that is not moved with such providential dispensations against us, especially when it presages judgement and misery to come upon a people, and yet it should not work upon us. All this considered you will find it was a just matter of complaint, which the Prophet takes up, the righteous perish, and no man lays it heart, &c.  
I beseech you in the fear of God, let us learn to practise the contrary, and to lay to heart the miseries, distresses, and perishings of the servants of God; but especially when they die by a violent death, the Sun daily shines and no man regards it, but when once it is in an Eclipse, than every eye will be upon it, neither do men mind the high mountains when standing, but if it chance to fall then every eye consider it, and shall we not take notice of the Eclipses of God's faithful servants, and so lay them to heart by remembering to register the deeds of God's faithful servants. How, and when taken away, and withal bemoaning, and bewailing both the miseries they suffer, and the Calamities we are like to suffer, by reason they are taken away from the evil to come, and by imitating their virtues following their graces, setting before us their exemplary lives, and treading in their steps, so as to prepare for dying, for suffering, in the like or any other kind, that death may not find us unprovided: and if we do live to prepare for the evil to come, judgement is at hand. Let us be making our peace with God by repenting of our own, and the sins of the land, that when the evil comes it may not come upon us unprepared, and though we be taken away, we may be but taken to the fruition of Glory and happiness; and that I may not be guilty of this sin, I here declaim against it. I dare not but stir up myself and you, sadly and veriously stir up you and me to lay to heart this merciful man of God, this righteous man that hath been lately taken from us, I hope none will envy his Character: if we look no further than his death, it was a violent death, but as for the cause of his death it concerns not me, it must be referred to that great day, the day of judgement, I hope without offence to any here, I may look to the manner of his death, the righteous are said to be bold as a lion, and hath hopes in his death, and what is this but the serene consequence of a well led life, that made him meekly bold, and humbly confident, and cheerful at his dissolution: of all acts of mercies none is greater than that of forgiving enemies, which that he did, witness those lines, those excellent lines read at his interment, or those gracious charitable words, and prayers he uttered upon the Scaffold, which proclaims him a man full of grace & mercy, I want time, and tongue to go over his life; and all that knew him will acknowledge this, that the whole course of his life was a constellation of graces and virtues, both as he was a Christian, and as he was a Minister. This righteous man is now perished, this merciful man is now taken away. But I trust nay I have some measure, of confidence he is but perished from the earth, taken from us and removed to a better habitation, to enjoy a safer, a more Glorious life: and I hope though he be out of sight, yet he is not out of mind, and will not be forgotten, especially by you among whom he hath been a faithful, and painful labourer, he having spent his time, strength, and labour for your Souls good, therefore do you lay his death to heart. Remember how often▪ you have behold him from his sacred Oratory How often you have heard him dropping, nay overflowing with faithful reproofs, sweet comforts, wholesome admonitious: Remember all those savoury instructions you have heard from him, remember and practise them, that will be the best way to lay to heart the loss of this viagilant and faithful Minister, and lay to heart your own barrenness, and unfruitfulness that hath provoked God to deprive, and Rob you of such a jewel, lay it to heart, that you have been no more bettered, and mended by those saving Doctrines; and not only you, but all of us lay it to heart, this and all others of God's servants that have been taken from this City, not many years ago, which is a sad persage, that the ruin thereof is at hand, if a timely repentance and amendment of life prevent not; which is the end of our discourse, that all of us may be brought to a serious repentance, as to lay to heart the perishing and taking away of the Righteous ones, so not to murmur, and repine at those that have been the instruments of our loss, but to repent of our sins with grief and sorrow, as the cause thereof by contempt of the word and Sacraments, having used all means to provoke God to take them from us. Let us for the time to come, so repent, that if it be possible God's wrath may be appeased, his judgements diverted, and those faithful ones that are yet among us, may be continued, and that more faithful messengers may be sent into his harvest, which God of his mercy grant, AMEN.  
FINIS.