A CEDARS SAD and SOLEMN FALL.  
Delivered in a SERMON at the Parish-Church of Waltham Abbey in Essex.  
By THOMAS REEVE, D. D. Preacher of God's Word there.  
At the Funeral of JAMES late Earl of Carlisle.  4 JAMES 14. 
What is our life? it is but a vapour which appeared for a little season, and afterwards it vanisheth away.  2 SAM. 14.14. 
We must all needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any Person.  
LONDON, Printed for William Grantham, at the black Bear in St. Paul's Churchyard, near the little North-door. 1661.   

To the Right Honourable, Margaret, Countess-Dowager of Carlisle, my very noble Patroness, etc.  
Length of days, Days of gladness, the holy Calling, the holy Anointing, Light in the Lord, the Light of God's countenance, the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, the Spirit of comfort, the height of Honour, and eternity of Bliss.  
Right Honourable and graciously-accomplished Lady:  
MArriage is an image of heaven, for the celestial state is compared to espousals: This mystery is great, Ephes. 5.32. because union of hearts in wedlock doth much resemble the glorious union. Then you have had in this kind the heaven upon earth, as much as Marriage can afford it you; for the dear, and entire, mutual and reciprocal love which passed between you and your noble Bridegroom was so eminent, that it seemed not only to be affection, but passion: it was expressed to admiration, and it might be presented to the world for imitation. But all earthly comforts have their stints and limits. They that rejoice must be as if they rejoiced not, 1 Cor. 7.30. There is nothing here so transcendent, but it is transitory; the sweetest fruit doth corrupt, the brightest gems do lose their lustre; that which doth most delight us doth leave us with an heart-gripe, we must turn away our eyes from our most enamouring objects with a storm of tears. So hath it happened to Your Honour; He which lay nearest to Your heart it taken out of Your bosom, and the want of him hath caused You to be a true mourner. Thus heavenly providence doth order all things concerning our temporary comforts; he will have nothing here permanent, that we might rely upon him which is unchangeable: it is not the wedding-ring that can endow any with lasting felicity, constant joy is not to be found in the Bridebed; they are not our embraces that can keep fast our desired delights, nor our eager eyes that can fix a face long for us to look upon: No, death doth pluck many a dear pledge out of our hands, and extinguish many a lamp when it is shining before us with the greatest brightness: This moth doth fret in pieces our costliest robes, this thunderbolt doth cleave asunder our most admired monuments; there is no armour of proof against this dart; when this blow is given, adamantine chains break; when death doth give the knock there is no keeping within doors, when death doth come with the ground-spade, who must not be buried under ground? we had need not to fancy any thing too much, for the best is but a perishing delight; we had need to provide something that is immortal, for every thing that we do here enjoy is mortal. The wisest head at last will be but a deaths-skull, and the kindest husband, we may at last take him up in an handful of dust, or go lie by him in a bed of clay. Death doth but smile when we do call any thing here our own, and deride us that we laugh in that face which with a stroke can be made pale and grisly. Your Honour therefore hath done well to furnish Yourself with that which might comfort You beyond Nature, and give You engagements when all the privileges of Nature do fail: and indeed. Godliness is profitable to all things, and hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come, 1 Tim. 4.8. these are the great and precious promises, 2 Pet. 1.4. How would You have done if You had had nothing above this world to strengthen You against this trial? You did but a little (if You remember) leave Yourself to Yourself, and Your footsteps were well nigh gone; You did but conceive Your Husband to be dead when he was not dead, and yielding to Nature's sad apprehensions, what a sad fit did it bring upon You? Your own life was in danger: but You no sooner left consulting with flesh and blood, and began to take up Religion to be Your director, but You were able with more patience and prudence, moderation and Christian submission, to undergo what God in his high and overruling wisdom should appoint and determine: You could then speak to the honour of God, and conform to the will of God, saying, Why should You try masteries with God, when You knew that A sparrow doth not fall to the ground but by God's appointment? So that (noble Lady) there is no light like to a beam of God's Spirit, nor no counsellor like to a sanctified heart: all the Preachers upon earth, all the Angels of heaven can hardly so well inform us as our own regenerate consciences. They which fear not God fear all things; they which have learned God are taught against all exigents; therefore the fear of the Lord is the treasure, Es. 33.6. I know that it shall be well with them that fear the Lord, and do reverence before him, Eccles. 8.13. Natural perfections are a scant and fickle livelihood, therefore the Saints fee-simple is freegrace; then have we something to rejoice in and rely upon, when he in heaven, according to his godly power, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, 2 Pet. 1.3. This is the stock that is to be preferred before Rubies, yea of greater value than all the treasures of Egypt. The Carbuncle of high birth is nothing like to the jewel of new-birth; all Academical Arts are nothing like to the eyesalve of the Spirit. There is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding, Job 32.8. Here is the mind which hath understanding, Rev. 17.9. The most solid judgement is that where there is a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, Es. 11.3. Through Christ I can do all things, saith the Apostle; but without Christ we can do nothing, or very little. The heart of the wicked is little worth: There is not such a faintheart as an unregenerate person, he doth flee when none doth pursue, the least trial doth cause in him astonishment of heart; yea, the sound of a shaken leaf doth chase him, Leu. 26.37. he is like a silly Dove without heart, Hos. 7.11. We see it in Haman, who wanted nothing for outward pomp and potency, and yet the least check of neglect doth make all that he was worth a burden, yea a very loathing to him, for, What doth all this avail me? And the like is to be seen in Achitophel, who had greatness enough, and pusillanimity, dastardliness enough, for being crossed he is quite confounded, his Counsel being but despised; he doth defy himself, and in an impatient humour doth ease his troubled heart with an halter: So that a mere worldling doth sink under all trials: But is a Saint no more magnanimous? yes, such an one can bear more weight than the shoulders of Samson the puissant; There is the invincible Spirit and the invulnerable breast. There is not such an Hero upon Earth as a gracious Creature. My grace is sufficient for thee, 2 Cor. 12.9. sufficient it is against all the pressures of nature and buffets of Satan. Such neither fret nor faint at the saddest events. It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good, 1 Sam. 3.18. I became dumb and opened not my mouth because thou didst it. Psal. 39.9. Tribulation doth bring forth patience, Rom. 5.3. I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, necessities, 2 Cor. 12.10. O rare creatures that can make Miseries Medicines, Afflictions Affections, Exigents Exercises, Ruthes Recreations, Distresses Delights! How can this thing be? by God's power being made perfect through weakness, 2 Cor. 12.9. As the Apostle saith of himself, when I am weak then am I strong, v. 10. no Chemist can draw out such an Elixir; no, it is the secret of regeneration or the miracle of grace. And is it not (noble Lady) grace that hath perfected and preserved you in your trial? yes, nature made you look downward, and grace made you look upward; nature made you to stagger, and grace did establish you; nature set you on weeping, and grace dried the tears on your cheeks; nature made you look mournfully on your dying and dead Lord, and grace made you patiently resign him up to your God. Grace is our revenue, remedy and refuge in all extremities; preserve your grace, and you are fitted for all future casualties, and that I trust shall never fail you; for as I know few of your Sex which do excel you in wisdom, so do I know none Superior to you in grace. Gracious Lady, wait upon your gracious God, and he doth offer yet more grace, James 4.6. Yea, he is able to make all grace to abound towards you, that you having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, 2 Cor. 9.8. for there is the unsearchable riches of his grace, Eph. 2.7. Well, be wanting in no grace, that you may count it your spiritual subsistence; and say with the blessed Apostle, by the grace of God I am what I am; not I, but the grace of God which is with me, 1 Cor. 15.10. seems to be created to the praise of the glory of his grace, that you may be accepted in the beloved, Eph. 1.6. value this life no further then to have the grace of life, 1 Pet. 3.7. have grace whereby you may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly fear, 12 Heb. 28. Let grace reign in your heart by righteousness unto eternal life, Rom. 5.21. The richest Jewel is the white stone, the most gorgeous habiliment is the wedding garment, to be the Elect Lady is better than with Queen Cleopatra, to be able to drink a bowl-full of dissolved pearls; the Paragon of the Earth is she that hath the amiableness of virtue. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vanity, but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised, Prov. 31.30. Dear and Illustrious Lady, I honour your Person, reverence your Perfections, rejoice in your Affections, admire your Graces, prise your Exercises, magnify your Fruits; for you do not only profess Christ, but endeavour that the life of Christ might be made manifest in this mortal flesh; therefore I wish that that Christ which is the Consolation of Israel may be your Consolation, and that he which hath shed his blood for you, may shed his spirit into you to comfort you in the midst of your sorrows, and to strengthen you under all trials. I confess this is a very sad affliction, especially to quench so much love in a breast, when the heart was in a burning flame; and were it not for God's irresistible will and your own Chistian obedience to his divine pleasure, I should not know how to settle your spirit, but you see from what hand the chastisement came; therefore, hear the rod and who hath appointed it, Mich. 6.9. you know whom you have believed, fix your heart upon that God, humbly yielding to the stroke, and in that God of recompenses you may find this loss repaired, and perhaps a double blessing for this present sad accident. He is Shaddai, God all-sufficient. That God of patience and all consolation, strengthen and support you, and give you an ample supply of all necessary satisfactions; you can be no loser in your dependence upon God, for he can give you a firmer right than the nuptial interest, even an union and communion with himself; the band of the spirit is better than the bands of wedlock, and the joy of Gods chosen doth exceed the joys of marriage. To comfort you throughly I should carry you up to heaven, and show you that there is variety of comforts and blessings to counterpoise this loss; but I know your translated spirit, that you are ready there without a conduct, and indeed you are fit to be a leader then to make use of a guide. That heaven then, where your conversation, vows, hopes, tears, prayers, faith, fruits, contemplations are, satisfy you, that measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your bosom, for humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God. So long as you are upon earth I can comfort you up no otherwise, then by telling you and assuring you, that your noble Consort is still upon earth, though not in Person, yet in Memory; and for that end have I provided this impress. His living Image you much delighted in; my desire is, that you might still have a sight of him in this dead picture. For want of time it was but half drawn in the Pulpit, I now present it to you as I had pensilled it out by myself; stretch out your honourable hand to accept of the piece, and bear with the mean Artist. Thus with thanks for your first choice, and your firm affection, and all Terrestrial and Celestial Benedictions wished to your Honour, submissively I take leave, and rest  
Madam, Your Honour's Chaplain, the humble Observer of your person, and the high admirer of your graces, Waltham Abbey. THOMAS REEVE.   
TWO ZACH. 2. 
Howle Fine-tree, for the Cedar is fallen.  
ARma Virumque cano— My Discourse must be this day of a man at Arms, 
Virgil.  an ancient Colonel, the Commander of the Tower of Lebanon. Well, what need Lebanon with such a Tower, and such a Commander fear? Yes, very much, for,— pateant Carthaginis arces, Open thy doors, O Lebanon, 
Virgil.  that is, thy Castle-gates, for the Commander in chief is to be fetched out. What is he? what is he?  
— Quis facta Drovini nescit? 
Claudius.  who know not the noble Governor? an eminent man he was, for he hath his title of honour, a Cedar. A Cedar he was, but did he grow upon an immortal root? no,  
Pulsa gemit crebris succumbens ictibus arbos, 
Sil. Ital.  the lofty tree is subject to the stroke of the axe, the Cedar is fallen; he is fallen, and may not others be frighted? yes, the blow of the axe, or the noise of the fall of the Cedar ought be heard with horror through the whole forest, 
Virgil. — tonat omne fragore, the whole wood filled with a dreadful sound; for if the Cedar be fallen, how shall the fir-tree stand? no, the fall of the Cedar will be [the destiny of the fir-tree.  
— Vnum et commune periclum. 
Ovid.  One common danger doth belong to both; the Cedar being fallen, all the firre-trees may shake at the top, and quake at the bottom. But shall the Cedar fall, and shall there only be an appalling apprehension of the general casualty? no, there ought to be some honour done to the Cedar at his fall; a doleful shriek should be heard through the whole wood, every tree should have its dumb groan. 
Ovid.  Ter conata loqui, ter fletibus ora rigavit, Thrice it should desire to speak, and at last speak rather with tears than words: Outcries are the best language at the fall of a Cedar; let there be sighs and sobs at such a mournful accident, that as the Cedar did grow, to the honour of the forest, so he might fall, to the anguish of the forest; yea, the lamentation should be no less than ejulation, every family apart, every fir-tree apart howling. Howle fir-tree for the Cedar is fallen.  
Firretrees I see enough here, but are they not so taken with their own excellencies, that they cannot acknowledge another's perfections? It is an hard thing to confess, commend, praise, and prise the deserts of our brethren. Envy is a bad praeco, an Encomiastic, and self-love is almost as ill; 
Omnes sibi melius esse velle quàm alteri. Terent. And.  the one hath a squint eye, and the other hath a dumb tongue. Every one had rather hear his own praises then another's. Their own birds are fairest, there is no Hyacinth but that which doth grow in their own garden; their own temples must only be filled with Laurel; Bavius and Mevius will detract what they can from Virgil's due praises. There is an Emulation that is a generous and noble imitation of another man's virtues; 
Aemulatio est dolor animi, cum all us potitur câ re quam tu concup●veris. Francis. Patric.  and there is an emulation that is a base, and passionate vexation against another man's just honour for his virtue. Our friend's envy is as dangerous as our enemy's treachery, as Cleobulus said: Asinius Pollio will leap out of the room, if he doth hear Sextilius commend Ciccro; Simmias will not endure Pericles to be praised, nor Alcmaeon Themistocles. Caligula having a bald head himself cannot endure a comely bush of hair upon other men's heads, for he sent the young men of Rome to the shaving. Agathocles was so enraged to see Gelo have a stately sepulchre erected to his honour by the Syracusans, that he depraved Geloes virtues, and razed his tomb. For the work that is upright a man is envied of his very neighbour, Eccles. 4.4. These are the dead flies which corrupt the sweet ointment; none must wear a garland living, nor have an honourable exequy dying, but they. How then shall I get my Commander of the tower of Lebanon interred? what wailing shall I hear through the wood at his fall? what are ye the only men of desert? ye may be worthy, praiseworthy, I do not deny your qualifications, ye are firre-trees; but may there not be a tree in the forest which may equal you, exceed you? yes, I do present you with a Cedar, a Cedar he was, a Cedar he is not; no, he is fallen. And what now? that which dieth let it die, and that which falleth let it fall. Doth it not grieve you to see such a goodly plant lie on the ground? then let no man tender a fir-tree, if the fir-tree do not value the Cedar; fall thou with ignominy, if thou dost suffer such an one to fall without due esteem. Remember that he is fallen, and that it is the last good office which thou canst do to him to lament his fall; to say of him, so long as he stood he stood with admiration, and now he is fallen, let him fall even to exanimation. Every good man amici casum gemit, doth lament the death of such a Country-Splendour; the loss of such a valuable Cedar is even unvaluable; wish that thou hadst his eminencies, wish that thou hadst fallen in his stead; many a fir-tree might be spared in respect of such a Cedar. But seeing it pleased the Lord of the forest that he should no longer grow, look with a sad eye upon the breach, the rent, the torn flag, the deep hole he hath made at his fall. Oh that so many trees about him should never enjoy his presence again! that so many eyes which beheld this Cedar in his glory should never be so happy as to behold him in his height again! but seeing there is no remedy, but this Cedar must be taken away, call him Cedar, and bestow a volley of groans at his fall. I do not wish thee to fall with him; no, long mayst thou grow upon thy stock and stem; but if it be possible let thy top bow down, thy bark cleave, a little sap drop out of thy rind at his fall; if any firre-trees have any sense in them, let them loosen their pith at such an accident; if they have any speech in them let them howl. Howle fir-tree, for the Cedar is fallen.  
1. We are this day at a great-mans' Funeral, and it is fit we should have a Scutcheon, and here it is in the person of honour, the Cedar.  
2. And that we should have an hearse, and here it is in the dead corpse, that the Cedar was fallen.  
3. And that we should have a Mourner, and here he is in the fir-tree.  
4. And that we should have the right funeral cry, and here it is in the Howling; Howle fir-tree, for the Cedar is fallen.  
First, for the Scutcheon, in the person of honour, the Cedar. Are great men Cedars? then from hence observe, that Mankind hath heights in it, that is, One Superior to another. There are lower trees, and taller trees. Are all Apostles? are all Cedars? no, The whole body is not one Member, 1 Cor. 12.14. there are the nobler and ignobler parts. All creatures have their distinctions, beasts, birds, flowers, plants, and planets; amongst men naturally there are distinctions, are all of the same height, strength, beauty, wit? nay, there are distinctions in man's faculties, senses, homogeneal and heterogeneal parts. Why then should the states and conditions of men be brought down to a parity, as if all men were alike, and must be alike for power, and possessions? no, this is but the Vagrants argument, or Spittle-house Logic: the Scripture doth tell us that there are abjects, Ps. 35.15. the lowest of the people, 1 Kings 12.31. Children of base men, viler than the earth, Job 30.8. and that there are the mighty of the land, 2 Kings 24.15. men of high degree, 1. Chron. 17.13. the shields of the earth, Ps. 47.9. and the foundations of the earth, Ps. 82.5. some so great, that they are called the mountains of Israel, Ezek. 36.1. and so high, that their height is like the height of Cedars, Amos 2.9. Shall the men of low rank then vie degrees with the Nobles of the land? no, the honourable man is the head, Es. 9.6. 
Plut.  Have not all states had these Superiors and inferiors? yes, the Lacedæmonians had the common people, and the chief Magistrates, which were called Phylarchae; 
Herodot.  the Egyptians had seven orders, and the principal amongst them were the Celasyries and the Hermotybies. Herodotus doth prove that there were the like amongst the Persians, Indians, Scythians, Lydians, etc. Let us look upon Rome, the famous State of the world; 
Inqu●lini & cives. Sigon. de yu● Rom. I. 1.  In the days of Romulus there were the base sort of people, and true Citizens; and afterwards he settled them into Clients and Patrons, and Patricicians. In the days of Romulus there were but three Tribes, but in the days of Servius there were four Tribes; and afterwards they increased to 35 Tribes; and every one of these Tribes had five divisions for several degrees, and ten Courts, where the Superiors executed justice upon the Inferiors, as Merula, Lazias, Toxita, Phileticus, Rosine, Lipsius, and many others, do report; yea, amongst all sorts of people there were strange distinctions (as those authors do affirm) by the want or enjoyment of outward privileges; the slaves beware long hair, and went either bareheaded, or with a sordid covering; but the freemen had their heads shaved, 
Sagum paludamentum.  and the right of a cap allowed them; the common soldiers might wear but a long cloak, but the General might wear a rich robe of honour; the ordinary Gentry had the right of the golden ring, and the Shoe with the half Moon upon it; but the high Nobility had the right of the Curule chair, and of Images. The Senators themselves had several sorts of Orders amongst them, as the Consuls, the Praetor, the dictator, the Decemviri, Aediles, Censors, Questors, etc. So then seeing all Nations allowed of mean men and chief men, should the earthen pitchers hold themselves to be made of as good materials as the best vessels of a Commonwealth? no, the Nobles are said to be comparable to fine gold, Lam. 4.2. If there were not a distinguishing dignity to be ascribed to men of high place, why is Joseph called the second man of the Kingdom? Joseph of Arimathea styled an honourable Councillor? Festus spoken to by the name of noble? and Christ himself compared to a Nobleman? So then the forest of a Nation hath not all trees of the same growth, no, there is the low plant, and the Cedar. The Cedar.  

Application.  
1. First then let the Cedar have his height, let Superiority be acknowledged. Oh that many men would crop the top of the Cedar, and make the peasant equal to the Peer. A generation of men there are in the world, which would have all wear homespun, and dig with the spade; they were born to no patrimonies, and so would have other men share inheritances with them; they came out of a drudge's womb themselves, and so are professed enemies to all noble blood: why should any Nobleman enjoy ten thousand, twenty thousand pounds by the year, when this estate divided would serve many a good Christian? a good Christian! a ravening Christian; for what Title hast thou to another man's Birthright? did the noble Theophilus, Sergius Paulus, Onesiphorus, Gaius, Saint John's elect Lady, give over the right of their estates, or suffer others to come to share portions with them when they embraced Christ? Is this to be a Christian? No, it is to be a Nicolaitan. The Levellers golden age is to turn the whole wealth of a Kingdom into a Dividend. He seems to be but a Lapwing, to make a great noise where he doth fly, but if he were let alone, ye should find him a Griffin or a Vulture.  
But these Malcontents must hold them to their tatters, till Scripture, Nature, and Nations will provide them a better Wardrobe. I believe that these men do labour but little with their hands, and so they hope to raise a fortune with the sweat of their tongues; but it is hard getting estates by Paradoxes. Noblemen will not readily be decoyed out of what their Ancestors left them by such cutpurse Professors. Dare they compare their Crab-stock to the noble Cedar? No, if they do believe Scripture, (for all their inspirings, and aspire) they shall find it to be a sin for Children to presume against the ancient, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Splendour generis. Arist. de. nat. an. c. 1. Nobilitas est eminentia. Gers. de nob. Gentiles homines. Dubdus de div. rep. c. 11.  or the vile against the honourable, Isa. 3.5. Let Noblemen then maintain their Crests, their rights; they are the better born, the men to be reverenced, the Worthy, and persons set apart, or severed from others to be ennobled: there is in them a splendour of birth. Nobility is Eminency, they are the Gentile men to be preferred before others. Let Noblemen take their Peerage, they are persons of honour, for they are Cedars.  
2. Secondly, this should teach Noblemen to be grateful men, even Mirrors of thankfulness; for are ye Cedars? the highest to heaven in greatness, and the lowest to heaven in the sense of God's mercies? Know ye not that it is the hand of heaven which hath planted you, and the dew of heaven which hath watered you? then how justly might God blast your branches, and make you whither at the root? It was ill in Pharaohs Butler to forget Joseph; then what is it in you to forget your great God? Memory is the best keeper of benefits, 
Memoria est Custos benesiciorum. Chris.  and what have ye good Estates, and bad Memories? no, keep not your Court-rolls more strictly than a Memorial of God's bounty. It was good Counsel of St. Augustine, Know that thou hast much, and that thou hast nothing of thyself. 
Cognosce te habere, & non ex te habere. Aug.  Are thy deserts answerable to thy abundance? no, thou mayest say with Jacob, I am less than the least of thy mercies; yea, thou mayest in a time of astonishment cry out with David, and say, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my Father's house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 2 Sam. 7.18. The best Noble family at first had but a poor Foundation-stone, as the best Cedar at first had but a poor root. Art thou a Cedar? God might have made thee a shrub, and thy first Progenitor had no loftier top; the times are well mended with thee, there is a large dowry come to thee for the needy portion that thy first Predecessor was born to. Canst look backward? canst see the rock out of which thou wert hewn? hath God out of a Chaos created such greatness? hath mercy by miracle made the cloud, which was no bigger than a man's hand, to overspread the whole Heavens? O Springtide of favour! O ecstasy of Divine Providence! and what hast lost thy eyes, or lost thy tongue? alas poor blind and mute creature! hath fullness stifled thee? or a surfeit of blessings choked thee? art become shortwinded? canst not breathe through multiplicity of incomes and honours? hath so much brightness quite dazzled thee? hath this rank blood begot a fever? must God bring a dark sky before thou wilt recover thy sight? must he open a vein before thou wilt be perfectly cured? must he recover his wool and his flax before thou wilt consider what store God hath sent in to thee? O unthankful creatures to such a bountiful God O that ever God should pamper thee thus to forget thy Feeder! O unkind creature, that thou shouldst force God to be severe to thee, because thou wilt not know favour; or constrain him to punish thee, because thou wilt not feel his embraces! Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people? is this the wages that thou repayest to God for his careful and watchful feeding thee? a goodly price that he is valued at by thee; a Potter might have had as good a recompense from thee for a few drinking vessels, or gallipots, or basons, or pure Chinah-stuffe, as God hath for a whole vintage of blessings. Is this the Peace-offering, the Sacrifice of praise, which thou dost offer for magnifying mercies, for bands of love, for the goodwill of him that dwells in the bush, for the candle of the Lord shining upon thy head, for silver wings, & feathers of gold, for a lot fallen unto thee in a good place, for waters of a full cup, for washing thy steps in butter, for prosperity that hath risen as the flood, for riding upon the high places of the earth, for excellency that mounts up to the Heavens, for an horn exalted like the horn of an Unicorn, for making thy nest as the Eagle, for living as in Eden the garden of God, where every precious stone hath been thy covering, for being satisfied with favour, and being full of the blessing of God, for a hill of blessings, for showers of blessings, for blessings poured out of the windows of heaven in such an abundance that there is scarce room to receive them? will not all these spokesmen crying in thy ears make thee know thy God? will not the beams of such a radiant favour make thee to see thy God? doth God heap benefits upon thee, & canst not discern a hand of bounty? are there so many blessings singing in thy ears, and yet canst not hear the sounding of his bowels? when shall God speak to thy heart? when shall he send tokens enough unto thee to make thee acknowledge him Friend? he hath made thee great, but when wilt thou ascribe greatness to him? thou hast had the fruit of his mercies, when shall he have the fruit of thy lips? wilt never make him Prince? nor exhibit to him his true glory who hath set thee amongst Princes, and made thee inherit the throne of glory? hast been brought up thus long in the school of bounty, and canst not learn the lesson of thankfulness? hath God blown up such a bright flame of prosperity for thee, and will not a spark of gratitude fly from thee? read over all thy patents, free deeds, leases, Courtrolls, Commissions, look upon thy porches, fanes, halls, dining-chambers, galleries, Banqueting-houses, parks, fishponds, gardens, orchards, and see if a dumb man ought to possess all these; thou art so great, that thou art not able to manage all thy estate thyself, but thou art enforced to have thy Steward, Solicitor, Bailiff, Auditor, Gardener, Park-keeper, Woodman, and whom not? and is there not one amongst all these which can tell thee what a bountiful God thou dost live by? nor canst not be thy own Remembrancer? If thou canst not find God in thy large possessions abroad, nor in thy vast rooms at home, yet methink thou shouldst find him in thy Chapel; Oh that same little Chapel (methink) should show thee the face of thy great God: oh when thou art bending thy knees to God, and lifting up thy eyes to God, and stretching out thy hands to God, and opening thy lips to God, and offering thy heart to God, methinks thou shouldst have a clear and a dear, an actual and an effectual apprehension of thy God, thy precious and promoting God. Will not thy Chaplain pray or preach home this God unto thee? then thou shouldest be Priest to thyself: Hath God given thee an honourable Family, and a noble fortune, only to stretch out thy neck, or to be a man of appetite, or to enlarge thy border, that thou mightst dwell alone upon the earth? then how art thou a Nobleman? no, thou art rather a proud, sensual, covetous man than a Nobleman; a true Nobleman doth disdain thus to live, to the disparagement of his Family, to the dishonour of his God. Who calls thee Nobleman? Hinds and Peasants, and menial servants, and Yeomen, and Tradesmen, and Gentlemen, and Citizens, and Courtiers may give thee that name; but God, his Angels, his Saints, 
Nihil constat esse bonum nisi quod ab ipso dignoscitur esse collatum. Cassiod.  thine own Conscience do not so style thee: For how canst thou esteem thyself a Nobleman, unless thou be'st a thankful man? thy true greatness is in gratitude; else, how canst thou call any thing about thee comfortable? no, 
Cum bona venarint benedicito Deo, sic perseverabunt bona & presp●ra. Chrysost.  Nothing is good but that a which is acknowledged to come from God; else, how canst thou resolve that any thing will be permanent? no, When blessings come, extol God, and so thy good and prosperous things shall have n establisshment. Thy present use then, and the future perpetuity of all that thou dost possess, is both legitimated and ratified by thankfulness: what then, thou hast lands in many Countries, and amongst all these canst not find out the grand Landlord? thou art a Lord, but there is a Lord paramount over thee: thou art a man of honour, and thou hast an house of honour, and wherefore, but to honour thy true Benefactor? yes, thou oughtest to magnify him, and deify him. 
Grati as agere Deo possumus, refer non possumus. Cassiod. in Ps. 47.  God hath given thee all for a breast and a tongue, if thou wilt not praise God thou wilt not requite him: the act of commemoration had need to be thine, for the act of recompensation is beyond thy power: O then that thou wilt not pay thy quitrent, thy pepper-corn! yes, do it, or else thou art blind in whatsoever thou dost possess: For why hath God made thee a Nobleman? bring an argument, if thou canst, but out of the Topics of fee favour; he that made thee a Nobleman might have made thee a Drudgeman, he that made thee a Cedar might have made thee one of the under-trees which grow about thee: why dost thou flourish in thy palace, when others have not a cottage to hid their heads in: why doth thy Rent-taille come to many thousands by the year, when many have not money enough to pay their house-rent? O! God might have made those strong shoulders of thine to have born burdens, and those lusty arms of thine to have wrought for thy living, yea and with that diligence and strictness, that If those hands of thine out of idleness had kept one day an Holiday, the next day might have been a Fastingday. 
Si manus c●ssaret, panis desiceret. Cassiod.  There are a company of Egenoes' in the land, an host of needy people which wander up and down the Nation to beg necessary sustenance; God might have listed thee into this tattered Regiment, and made thee to have crouched for a piece of silver, and to have sought thy bread out of desolate places; but God hath so well provided for thee, that thy Table is continually spread, thy Coffers filled, and thy Wardrobe furnished: whatsoever the wants of others are for meat, money, raiment, thou canst eat dainties according to thy appetite, take out gold and silver by the handful, put on changeable suits of apparel according to thy delight: others cannot sleep enough in the nighttime, nor keep their houses in the day time, nor choose their work, but do any thing whereby they may get a livelihood; but thou canst lie in bed as long as thou listest, and rise when thou pleasest; thou canst either sit at home at ease, or ride abroad at pleasure, and thou canst choose thy work, even choose whether thou wilt work at all; for what is thy labour? to wash thy hands rather than to work with thy hands, to stretch thyself in idleness rather than to stretch thy joints in industry; to sprinkle thy head with perfuming powders, rather than to oil thine hair with thine own sweat: alas, when others are enforced to look to herds and flocks, tilling, seeding, reaping, etc. thou look'st only to thy cuts and curls, thy knots and fancies, thy half-arms and half-wastes, thy chapfallen boots and neckerchief knees: O then, hath God freed thee from the aching limbs, the warded hands and surbaten feet of other men, and hast not leisure enough to magnify thy God? yes, God hath given thee all this liberty, opulency and affluency, merely that thou mightst praise the name of him that hath done wondrously for thee. If three should not be an oblation kindled in private cottages, yet the Altar should flame with sacrifices in Nobleman's families: God hath pricked out such a song for thee, that it might be called the Nobleman's Magnificat; yea, every member about thee might be a Chorister to sing in consort, Glory be to God. God hath separated that house of thine from all other employment merely to make it a chantry to himself, what then wilt thou not yet say, Awake Lute and Harp, I myself will awake right early? wilt thou not cause thy glory to awaken? praise God with the best member thou hast? praise him in the highest that he hath given thee cedar-height? yes, blazon God's Coat of mercies better than thy progenitors Arms, and sing in a louder tone for Gods rich blessings, than thou wouldst if a triumphant chariot were prepared for thee; such mercies deserve a song of degrees, yea, the song might be appointed to the chief singer on Neginothai, or to him that excelled upon Hajjaleth Halshahar; no ordinary Instrument is fit for this ditty, but even that which David calleth the Hind of the morning. If a poor man ought to praise God for a being, how much more the Nobleman for a well-being? if a poor man ought to praise God upon a wel-tuned Cymbal, the Nobleman ought to praise him upon a loud-sounding Cymbal; if a poor man ought to bring a Turtle Dove and two young Pigeons, a Nobleman ought to bring a whole burnt Offering, an Hecatomb; if the height of a Nobleman's praises ought to be according to the height of his greatness, then let him consider that God hath given him Cedar-height. The Cedar.  
3. Thirdly, a Nobleman is from hence exhorted to be the better man, for as the Cedar is the excellent tree in the forest, so a Nobleman should be the excellent Professor in the Church. The Star of the great Magnitude should yield the brighter light, the better plant should bring forth the sweeter fruit. God doth expect great duty from men of great dignity, and high service from them upon whom he hath bestowed high honour. Optimates optimi, mens graces and places should carry a correspondency; for these have a price in their hands, and they are called fools to their faces if their hearts be not answerable to their abilities; it is a sin against God's favours if these should be the inferior Saints, howsoever if they should be the worst of sinners. A great man to be a great Libertine, or great Oppressor, is no more honour then to be a great Swine, or a great Tiger. The fall of that house (saith our Saviour) is great, so the fall of that noble person is great; then Jeconiah is but Coniah, and no more in effect but a broken Idol. Who honour Nimrod the great hunter, or Haman the great persecutor, or Achitophel the great traitor? 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men●n. Nobile malum. Sen. G●nus d●●icitur. Arist. 2. Rher. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menaud.  one Abraham which was the Father of the faithful, one Job which was so righteous that there was not the like unto him upon earth, one Obadiah which feared the Lord greatly, is to be preferred before a thousand of these Monsters and Miscreants. Noblemen if they be wicked are but the greater Stains, for there is no Nobility in impiety, there is nothing noble there but a noble villainy. The stock is there decayed, such an one hath lost his Arms, though he were born of a better Father than ever was Jupiter, saith Menander. It was an heavy thing when jeremy went unto the great men, thinking that they had known the way of the Lord, and the judgements of their God; but these altogether had broken the yoke, and burst the bonds in sunder, Jer. 5.5. How is God offended when he had planted a noble Vine, and it turned into a degenerate plant? As God is served in Heaven by the best Spirits, so he would be served upon Earth by the best men. Bring unto the Lord O ye Sons of the Mighty; whosoever do hold back, do ye bring; these, to be good precedents to others, should have sanctity seen in every thing that belongs to them, they should have written upon their very horse-bridles, Holiness to the Lord, Zack. 14.20. Why should they promote God's honour most? yes, he hath promoted them to the highest pitch of worldly greatness, for earthly privileges they are his grand Favourites, he hath created them Cedars. But how shall noblemen be true Cedars?  
1. First, if they be smooth, that is, courteous. Nobility is highly adorned with affability. Socrates said that harsh manners were no more fit for conversation then harsh wine is for taste. Better it is to be of an humble mind with the lowly, then to divide spoils with the proud, Pro. 16.19. Proud men are the defiance of the earth. There is that speaketh words like the prickings of a sword; now who will come near these sharp-edged dagger-pointed lips? O it is a shame for great men to make humour their praise, or passion their dialect, as if they were never high enough except they expressed themselves in high language, nor dashing enough except they storm in men's faces with tempests. But is the Euroclidon any pleasing wind? is the Raver the acceptable Noblemen? no, he is the Darling of the Age which doth treat the world gently, like great Moses, who was the meekest man upon earth, and great Mordecai, who spoke peace to all his seed; these are the men which with Orpheus can tame Lions and Tigers, and with Amphion can move the hardest rocks. Is it seemly for great men to frame sour faces to themselves (like Caligula) in a glass, that when they go abroad they might look the more formidably upon them whom they do not affect? 
Sueton.  or to give no answer to Suitors till they have crouched down to their very toes, as if their ears lay in their feet, as Aristippus said of Dionysius? 
Diod. Si●u●.  no, men of high descent and quality should be most benign and placid in their expressions, as the Cedar, though it be high, yet it is not rough and knotty, but smooth.  
2. Secondly, if they be useful; for as the Cedar is very good for building of houses, so should these Cedars be for building of the Commonwealth: the famous Nobleman is the famous Patriot, for if a man's Country be like another God, 
T●nquam alter D●us.  as Hierocles said, than a man should ever be sacrificing to this Numen; it is not enough for men of high degree to live competently and commendably upon their own means, (for every Snail and Dormouse can live upon his own juice) but he must live splendidly and magnificently, in benefiting and bettering the state of his native soil, 
I●veni late●i●iam, reliqui marmoream.  that if he find it of Brick he should leave it of Marble, as it is said of Augustus. It is not honourable for a Nobleman to take the fat of the Land, and to pay no Rent for his birth and beeding, his rich possessions and large promotions; no, he should give largesses living, or Legacies dying, or else his Children might be shut within their own walls, never to have liberty to trace that Country to which the Father was so unkind or unthankful; it is baseness and not nobleness to hoard up all to posterity, and to do no memorable thing to the public; they scarce deserve a Tombstone, much less an Epitaph. A Barbarian might as well dwell in such a Country as a Native; Thistles do thus grow in a Land, and Vermine do thus creep up and down the Nation. Non nobis nati, we are not born for ourselves only, was the old saying; and is it so old, that it is like the Inscriptions of an old decayed Monument, that few men can now read it? Well, they are the best Antiquaries that can tell the meaning, and fulfil the meaning of this National Adage. For are the mighty of the Land only to show their might and riches in preserving what is left them, or in purchasing in new Lordships and Royalties? no, this is self-thrifty nobleness; and I could name a great number of these Horseleeches in the Nation, of the greatest rank and degree, which worship no other Deities but their Household-gods, which keep their hands within their bosoms, and have conjured their Estates within a circle, which know no Country but their coffers, nor no Commonwealth but their private wealth; which are politic, and yet not political; of the Nation, and yet not Nationall; great Polecats, highflown Kites, honourable Lizards, noble Niggard's; as gripple, and inhospital, and innational as ever was Laban, Nabal, Timon, Telemachus, Zarus, Calenus, Patroclus, fabulus, Labullus, or any other which have been noted of sordid and tenacious spirits. Now are these Cedars? are they useful for the general good? the general! no, ye are too general for them, they know nothing but their particular pouch; if they build, they build only like Ravens, a nest for their own lumps, and blackbirds, a goodly Mansion for Father-flint and his progeny; but not a Dormant, Pillar, Joyce, Stud or Tenon will these spare for the public; therefore had as good a Bramble grow in the Forest as such Cedars. But aught true Commonwealthsmen to keep all their Timber within their own bark? no, they should serve to repair the breaches of the Land, and to build up the old waste places, Moses, Nehemiah, Zorobabel, the Ruler in the Gospel, Alcibiades, Aristides, Pericles, Porsena, Probus, Telegoras, Pompey the Great, Timeleon, Horatius Cocles, Valerius Publicola, all which have been renowned for famous Patriots, have done thus. All worthy men are beneficial to the Country where they have their being, for this is to be a true Cedar, to have pieces quartered out of them, to rear up structures of honour to the Kingdom; then are they properly useful.  
3. Thirdly, if they be fragrant; for as a Cedar doth give a sweet sent, so a kind of fragrancy should come from a true Nobleman, his smell should be like the smell of Lebanon, Hos. 14.7. But how should this fragrancy be expressed? To God, the King, the People.  
1. First, to God; in purity of faith; for error in judgemen is a bone out of joint, a glaucome in the eye, an imposthume or calenture in the brain; all Religion without an uncorrupt faith is a blazing Comet; such a man is subverted, Tit. 3.10. He hath in him the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes. 2.7. The root of bitterness, 12 Heb. 15. The Doctrine of Devils, 1 Tim. 4.1. he hath (as Jeremias saith) broken in pieces God's image, and set up a Foxes in stead of it. How necessary is it then that men's minds should not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, 2. Cor. 11.3. But hold fast he faithful word according to Doctrine? 1 Tit. 9 Away with all Heteroclites in Religion, and Hermaphrodites in the Church. Error gives an ill sent afar off, it is truth only like the Cedar which doth yield the fragrant savour.  
2. Secondly, to a King in Loyalty, Loyalty I say, and not contumacy. What is left to the best of the people but subjection? Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of man, whether to the King as supreme. Be subject to principalities and powers. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. Fear God and honour the King. The Father's children must bow down before him that holdeth the sceptre. Where then is there the least ground for opposing Princes? they which say they are the King's best subjects, must not only help him into the Throne, but they must not disturb him in his Throne; if they draw not a sword till Scripture give them authority, I never look to see a pitched field fought against a Prince; for the Word of God will not suffer a sword to be unsheathed against a lawful Sovereign. Dost thou abhor Idols, and yet commit sacrilege? so, dost thou defy Popery, and yet take the Jesuits Priming-powder? I like never an Article nor Particle of that Religion, and blush to think, that they which seem to be as great enemies to it as myself, yet have fought battle after battle against their gracious King, as fast as any Romish Catholic could: O, rebellion, I doubt, is worse Popery than scrupled Ceremonies: I tremble at it the more because I find Solomon threatening sudden destruction against it, and St. Paul damnation. If it were but a matter of gallantry it were another thing, yet Joab's an Abner's Men playing this game was but mad sport, there was bitterness in the later end; but when it comes to the loss of a soul, and ends in damnation, this is horror: let all them which are true Protestants beware of this lusty, bloody, damning Popery. But what need I trouble myself about this needless fear? though this were once an unhappy error, yet it shall never be renewed: the Times are pacified, men's judgements more enlightened, their actions reform, and their hearts settled in firm Loyalty; nothing but the peace of the Kingdom shall be studied, and subjection to supreme Authority practised, no King shall ever suffer a broken nights rest by a Protestant; a Protestant will take an Oath of abjuration against rebellion, as well as against the other erroneous opinions of Popery; whatsoever turbulencies, commotions and treasons may be in other Religions, yet amongst us there shall be seen nothing but the peaceable, obedient, and King-preserving Protestant: Protestant, do it, for it is for the honour of thy profession, thy conformity to God's Laws, the inviolableness of thy Oath, the welfare of the Nation, and the bliss of thy soul. If we be subjects, what can be more eminent in us than duty and submission? no, Obedience doth carry the palm. 
Sola obedientia palmam gerit. Aug. Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est. Tacit. Generale pactum est humanae societatis obtemperare regibus. Aug. 2 Confess.  The glory of Obedience is left to subjects. It is a general covenant of humane society to obey Kings. How is a King supreme if other men may measure heads with him? how do men take heed to his commandment if they give laws to him? how are they his Liege-men if they be League-men against him? how is that Oath which they take to him truly the Oath of God, Eccles. 8.2. if it may be sworn down and sworn against? let any man reconcile these contradictions. But we have no need of a Doctor of the chair to compose differences, or expound difficulties; for the whole Nation now doth speak nothing but humble subjection, and so let it ever do; for Sedition hath an ill sent, it is Loyalty that hath the true savour.  
3. Thirdly, to the people in Patience, Justice and Charity.  
1. First, in Patience: It is the honour of a man to pass by an offence, it is but the humour of a man to be revenged on an offence: The wisdom which doth descend from above is gentle, peaceable, and easy to be entreated; but the wisdom which doth descend from beneath is furious, spiteful, and never to be entreated; and an implacable man is the incendiary of the Country, and the fiend of the Age. Is this to imitate David, who patiently endured Shimei's reproaches? or Joseph, who forgave his malicious brethren? or Christ, who pendebat & petebat, hung upon the Cross, and yet prayed for his enemies? 
Aug.  no, it is to imitate Cain, Esau, Saul, Haman, and the Devil himself, who is the envious. Should we then for every distaste require an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? no, we that own ten thousand talents, had not need pluck our brethren by the throat for a few pence: Forgive thine enemy, and thou hast given him a deadly wound. 
Funestam inimico dedisti plagam. Chrys. in 5 Mat. Posse & nolle nobile.  Is it honourable to work our team upon injuries? no, to be able to do a shrewd turn to an adversary, and not to do it, this is noble. Revenge hath an ill sent, patience is that which doth give the sweet savour.  
2. Secondly, in Justice: Let beasts live by prey, but a true noble heart doth scorn to live by spoils; he hath nothing that he doth possess just, unless it hath been weighed out unto him by the standard. He is ready to say with that noble Judge, Nolo denarium malè intrantem, I will not have a penny come over my threshold the wrong way: the sighs of his neighbours, the groans of his tenants, and the cries of the poor are as terrible unto him as thunder; therefore he doth measure out all his actions by equity. Violence hath a bad sent, but Justice is a very sweet savour.  
3. Thirdly, in Charity: Where God hath not spared bounty, it is ill for that man to spare more than is fit. A true Nobleman is the Almoner of his Country, he doth account hospitality his honour; he doth think that his whole estate is but a Lease of God's free favour, and therefore he doth pay his rent strictly; he doth suppose that he is not a Nobleman, unless he be a charitable man. If the clouds be full they will pour out rain: He dare not hid his eyes from his own flesh, the poor is brought up with him as with his father: He doth think he can never say his prayers well, unless he doth listen to the cries of the poor; for he that stoppeth his ears against the cries of the poor, shall cry himself and not be heard. He doth think that he cannot justly beg his daily bread, 
D● paululum ut recipias centuplum. Aug.  if he doth not break bread to the hungry: He knoweth that there is no more thriving merchandise than alms-deeds, Forgive a little, and receive an hundred-fold. He doth remember, that the hand of the poor is Christ's treasury; 
Manus pauperis est gazophylacium Christ. Rab. Maurus.  therefore he will not look God in the face till he hath sent him a present by the hand of the poor. O! this is the man which doth smell sweetly upon earth, which doth walk the streets with a fragrancy, which hath the Cedar-sent. Thus have I done with the Scutcheon in the person of honour, the Cedar.   

PART II.  
now let us come to the Hearse, the dead corpse under it, in the word fallen, the Cedar is fallen.  
From hence observe, that Nature's greatest glory is subject to the stroke of death, the Cedar is fallen. The magnificence of this world is but an apparition, the sweetest Music but a semibrief: Are not my days few? what should we talk of the pomp and Minstrilsy which the flesh doth afford? for thy pomp shall be brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy Viols. Death will strip us out of our pompous robes, and case up our Viols: though thy windows be close shut, and thou hast mured up thyself in hewn stone, yet Death will come up into the windows, and enter into the palaces, Jer. 9.21. Let thy veins, eyes and heartstrings be never so quick and lively, yet thy eyes will be turned into thy head, thy veins will be broken, and thy heart rend asunder with sorrow. 
Oculi vertentur in capite, venae rumpentur, & cor scindetur dolore. Bern. Sit volu●t●rium quod est necessarium. Chys. Prima quae vitam dedit hora, carpsit. Seneca  Thou hadst as good yield up thyself cheerfully to death, for, maugre all thy resistance death will force thee into her back-room, her blind room, dark room, rotten room, carcase-hole; therefore let that be voluntary which is necessary. Thou tookest thy poison in the womb, and it will never leave working till it hath brought thee to the grave: the first hour which gave that life took it away, for if thou be'st in thy young age thou art beginning to die, if thou art in thy middle age thou art half dead, if thou be'st in thy old age thou art at the point of death, and wilt ere long be quite dead: These Chimes will soon leave going, this Lottery will be soon drawn forth, this Comedy will soon be acted out to the last Scene; sleep will enter into our eyes, the Voider will be brought upon the table, these shop-doors will be shut, these buzzing flies will betake themselves to their Winter-rooms, these swelling torrents will be dried up, the fair fruit will drop, the loftiest Cedar will fall. The Cedar is fallen.   

Application.  
1. First, this doth show that Nature hath her casualty.  
Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere, vivam. It is not (believe me) the part of a wise man to say I will live. Fool's may thus chatter, but wise men will use no such Solecisms: yet how many of these Lunatics have we that talk of nothing but of long life? let things happen here tanquam in choro, as it were in a fit of Music, yet they think the tune will never alter, nor the dance be done. 
Naz.  We have many a Deaths-head worn upon our fingers, but when shall we find this Deaths-head in our ears, eyes, tongues or hearts? We see many a dead corpse, but we do not think that this flesh of ours shall ever be carcase-strong: we behold many a Grave-spade, yet we are confident that it will be a long time ere that shall dig for us. But, O be not fanatics, beware of illusions; 
Moriendo obliviscatur sui qui vivens oblitus est Dei. Caesarius admonit. 6. Quid perdidit homo, quid invenit. Ansel●r. in med.  thou which will't not mind death, perhaps at last shalt not mind thy soul. If thou must part with life, it were good beforehand to think of the separation, lest thou dost meet with a general damage and a general curse together: such a careless wretch doth know to purpose, both what he hath lost and what he hath found. Simple men, ye that cannot hid yourselves from death, why do ye not endeavour to kill death by many a dying thought before it doth come to kill you? O that this whole Congregation should not be full of dying men! O that this whole Congregation hath scarce three dying men in it! How many of you do that now living that ye would do at last dying? how many of you do kill those corruptions now, which being here unmortified will kill you in another world? what can ye feel nothing till the Pursuivant hath arrested you? what do ye put off all your souls work to a death's pillow? it is to be thought so? for weak men have not misery enough about them to apprehend this, learned men have not wit enough to apply this: what is the reason? can any of you escape death? have any of you a writ of privilege to be freed from death? no, death hath you in her black roll, and every one of you shall be called forth in order: O therefore have an expectation of death, and a preparation for death, or else I shall say that there is a great deal of Knowledge, but little Virtue; a great deal of Profession, but little Conscience. Tell not me of your skill in the Metaphysics, get skill in the Physics, this same state of Nature; be well versed in generation and corruption: I shall conclude that ye are some Conjurers, and addicted to familiar Spirits, and much given to Necromancy, if your knowledge of death do not teach you to die, but only to tell tales or death, and to prophesy of accidents in this world; they that study the Black Art do thus, and I doubt ye do little better. Would to God I could draw you, with the Magicians, to burn your books of curious Arts, and to turn this book of the Expiring art, the large Treatise of Corruption; as small a book as ye do account it, I tell you it is more voluminous than the Pandects, or than all the Codes. To study this book well it will exercise the best wit to the height; ye will find more Aenigmas and Postula's in it, than in the Mathematics; yea, more difficulties in it than in learning all the Eastern Languages: A crafty politician, for all his Mercurial brain, will be Lard put to it to unfold this State-riddle; a Doctor of the chair may be posed in this intricate book. I tell you it hath so many branches in it, and is so copious in Canons and Axioms, and Aphorisms, that it may be called the book in Folio, or the Library of the world, or a general History, Annal, Ephemerideses: It doth discourse of all things from the Arctic to the Antartique Pole, from the Creation to the later day of Judgement, it doth contain the state of all Mankind. Ye must not go to any Stationer for it, for it is sold only in Tomb-street at the sign of the Deaths-head; and thou canst not buy it for any money, but only laying down a mortified heart for it: Amongst all thy pamphlets, or most classical Authors, it were good for thee to get this book, and to peruse it seriously, and to begin to be skilled in it betimes; for I tell thee it is a necessary book, an hard book, and a large book; thou canst not read it over in an hour, in a year; no, the Saints are learning it from the first hour of their conversion to the last gasp: If thou wilt not get this book of thyself, Death at last will thrust it into thy hand, it will force thee to read it: If thou wilt not have it in thy Closet, it will be laid open before thee upon thy deathbed; and wilt thou neglect the getting of it, or the getting exact insight into it till it shall be presented to thee at that last hour, when thou shalt have a dark eye, and a blind heart? canst thou with a dead have upon thine eyelids be a quick reader? O there are many sentences at such a time will trouble thee, especially these; O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation. All the days of mine appointed time will I wait till my change come. Teach us, O Lord, to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, By our rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I die daily. Let your loins be girt up, and your lamps burning, and be ye like men that wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks ye may open to him immediately. Walk whilst ye have light, for the night cometh when no man can walk. Afterwards came the other Virgins also saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us: but he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor hour when the Son of man will come. Afterwards he would have inherited the blessing, but he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears. These and a thousand other heart-breaking say thou wilt meet with at that time, which will be as ill as Hieroglyphics to thee to understand; if thou hast but read a word or two of them in thy life-time, it will be confounding to thee to read a whole book of such a perplexing character, and such enigmatical precepts at the hour of death. O if all families would buy this book, and set Conscience to mark the Contents of it, what a reformation should we instantly see amongst Lords and Ladies, Puffs and Browers, giddy heads and crafty souls, shirking Merchants, and griping Officers, young Damne-me blades and old Usurers, corrupt Judges and temporising Clergymen, black Libertines and white Hypocrites? for ought not all to learn the art of dying? yes, it had need be their art, for it will be their fate; whosoever doth stand he must fall. The Cedar is fallen.  
2. Secondly, this should serve to take men off from their high dependence, that because they are Cedars therefore they shall not fall: O how many, because they dwell in houses of Ivory, cannot find the way to the house of c●●y! they have so many locks against thiefs, tha● they think death cannot get an entrance to them; they have frighted so many inferiors, that they think to daunt the King of terrors: They full little think that a coffin at last must be their bedchamber, and worms their chamberlains; that they shall be so eaten up, that no fragments shall be left of them but bones and skulls: show them the dunghill, they think that they shall never be swept out to remain in the heap.; show them the Sapypot, they think they shall never be dissolved into mere jelly; hold this glass of mortality to their faces, they are confident that this shall never be their grisly complexion: they have enjoyed so much liberty, that they have no bands in death; they have so many conveyances lying by them, that they think they have gotten a covenant with death, and that they are at an agreement with hell: they take, make, much pleasure in their flatterers, and do infinitely depend upon their physicians. But, O let them put off their false spectacles, and stop their ears against Siren-songs, and think that Patents and Patrimonies, Chimney-pieces and Headpieces, Shields and Spears cannot defend them against the Pursuivant of the grave. Thunderbolts strike upon the highest mountains. There is no difference in death between the bodies of the rich and the poor. God will take away the honourable and the counsellors, 
Ferivatque, sums fulm●na montes. Horat. Nulla d●ser●tio inter cadav ra d●vitum & pauperum. Amb. in hexam.  3 Es. 3. The Nobles of Judah are slain, Job 39.6. The pillars of strength shall to the ground, Eze. 36.17. They of high stature shall be cut off, Es. 10.33. He slew the wealthiest of them, Psal. 78.31. He will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them with judgement, Eze. 34 16. The Nobles shall be called to the Kingdom, and there shall be none, Es. 34.12. Here is a leaf-fall or Nobles, or a Charnel-house for Peers: noble blood will congeal in the veins, honourable breasts are but the fairer mark for deaths fatal dart. God for his own use will beat the sweetest spices in his Mortar, put the best herbs into his streyner, feed his guests in the dark Ordinary with noble flesh, have an handful of noble dust, to show that he is Lord of the Creation. What tree shall stand when his axe is lift up? no, He will consume the glory of the forest, Es. 10.18. The Cedars shall fall. The Cedar is fallen.  
3. Thirdly, this doth show, that the greatest are but temporary possessors of what they do enjoy, for death is an absolute fall: the Cedar doth not bow or bend, shake or totter only, but the Cedar is fallen; and when the Cedar is fallen what doth remain of it but a dead trunk? thou enjoyest much whilst thou art living, but when thou art in thy grave what of thy revenue doth remain unto thee? no, thou art fallen, and all thy greatness fallen with thee. Where are they which were ambitious of the chariot of Authority? 
a Ubi sant q●i mb ebant currum potestatis? ubi vestes & oraamenta peregrina? ubi turba servorum? Aug. de mt. & great Verae devitiae sunt quas porrat conscientia. Chrys.  Where are their gorgeous vestures and outlandish dresses? where are their troops of servants? is there any thing left to themselves but dust and ashes? Where then is the perpetuity of wealth or welfare? no, a man may say, that those are only a man's true riches which a good conscience do carry away. As for these worldly riches, we know the date of their continuance, all must at last leave their free Deeds behind them, give up their Keys, seal away their Estates to new heirs. What pleasure hath a man in his house when the number of his months are cut off? Job 21.21. When his goods are increased he shall take nothing away with him, neither shall his pomp descend after him, Psal. 49.16, 17. His substance shall not continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon earth, Job 15.29. They have slept their sleep, and all the men of might have found nothing, Psal. 76.5. If this night thy sont should be taken from thee, whose shall those things be? whose? name the man, thou canst not name thyself; no, whosoever shall be left rich, if thou hast not a secret stock thou shalt die a very beggar: Ye talk much of your riches and your vast means, but so soon as ye have lost your breath ye have lost your right to them, 
Si vestrae sint, ollite vob●scum. Bern.  for if they be yours then take them away with you. But was there ever heard of a proprietary in the grave? or of a great Land-holder in the land of forgetfulness? that a Coffin should be a countinghouse, or a dead carcase a freeholder? no, I will not give thee one years' purchase for all thy grave-stock. If thou hast no other livelihood, there is not the poorest day-labourer which is worth but the clothes upon his back, which would change Estates with thee: what then? thou art yet perhaps a mighty Owner, and thou hast liberty and ability to do eminent things; consider, hast nothing to do for the Church? God calls upon thee for this duty, Honour the Lord with thy substance: Hast lived thus long under the Gospel, and neither living nor dying wilt thou do nothing for the Gospel? shall the Churchman be none of thy Legatee? wilt only pay thy Tithes, and hast never a freewill Offering? what, worse than any Jew? wilt thou slip out of the world and leave no Offering to the Pulpit? would any Papist thus take his leave of his Mass-priest? But if thou wilt thus die, farewel needy gospeler, we are well rid of such a parsimonious professor. But further, hast nothing to do for thy fame? Seek those things which are of good report; a good name is better than a precious ointment. 
Hoc naturae thesauris reponimus quod famae commodis applicamus. Cassiod. l. 8. ●p. 23.  Nature hath no greater treasure than the golden wedge of Fame: I do not say, that there is a more imprudent, but that there is not a more impudent man, than he which doth contemn his own fame: Next to thy soul it is fame that doth carry the immortality. What therefore, dost desire never to be spoken of when thou hast left speech? 
Contemptio boni nominis est vitium cum impudentiâ. Plut. in Alcib.  then pity it is that ever thou hadst a name: let the Bearers carry thy sappy body and thy carcase-memory together, and let them be buried together in one grave like entrails, and stench in one dunghill. What therefore wilt thou do nothing to eternize thine own fame? hast means enough, but no mind to get a new life when thou art dead in the lips of the people? have ambitious men been desirous of this, and shall not men of virtuous and generous resolutions aspire after this? what then, had Absalon his pillar, and hast thou no monument? then farewell fame-killer. Yet further, hast nothing to do for thy soul? Make ye friends of this Mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye shall fail them they may receive you into the everlasting habitations. Charge them to be rich in good works, ready to distribute and communicate, laying up a good foundation against the time to come. He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth for ever. God is not unjust, to forget your work and labour of love. Hath God then blessed you with liberal means and large possessions? how will ye dispose of these at last? will ye look into heaven before ye seal away your estates? will ye cast an eye upon your souls before ye make your Wills? Remember that ye are to leave all; to whom shall it be left? whatsoever ye give to posterity, it may be scattered abroad within a few years; but whatsoever ye give to heaven, that will be kept sure: whatsoever ye bestow upon your acquaintance, they will thank you for it but for a year; but whatsoever ye shall bestow upon your souls, these will thank you for it for ever. Love all then, be kind to Nature, let not Wives and Children, Kindred and Friends say, that ye were straithanded to them; they are your relations, and show ye your dying respects to them; but let it never be said, that when ye parted with all ye had no affection to heaven, no hearts towards your souls. Amongst all that ye bequeath away shall there not be an Heavens-portion, a souls-legacy? I lament such an Owner, yea I defy such a Testator. Let him and his Will go together, let him have that heaven and souls-bliss that his own seal hath assured to him. Can ye consider this without fear? can ye think on it without horror? O then, shall I not persuade you to lay aside a good benevolence for heaven, and to spare a large bag for your souls? yes, ye that have but a small charge of children, give a quarter of your estates to heaven; ye that have no children, give half of your estates to your souls. This is the Doctrine which I do preach to mine own people, and I would send it abroad as a general cry to the whole Nation; that as I would here raise up an Almshouse, so if it were possible I would fill the whole Kingdom full of Almshouses. The first founders of our Protestant Church were magnificent in these works, and why are we fallen from their first love? O it grieves me to think how Princes and Priests, Noblemen and Gentlemen, Judges, Merchants, Physicians, rich Officers, in these later times have declined from their Forefathers noble examples. What are pious works become the windfalls of Religion, or the superfluous branches of the fruitful tree? the last sentence will not adjudge them to be so; for, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I, was a stranger and ye lodged me, I was naked and ye clothed me, etc. Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me. Is this the last sentence? and is it the Kingdom-tenure? and shall we think to be blessed of the Father without this motive of benediction? no, let us trust the Judge, and prepare the right fruit for the sentence: Whosoever then possess some of your means, let heaven have a part; whosoever inherits a moiety of your estates, be sure that ye make your souls coheirs: what will ye die indebted to your souls, or leave year souls without a competent allowance to travel into another world? he is an unkind and an unnatural man that doth not love his wife and children; but he is a witless and a mad man, that doth love any better than his soul. It was a passionate saying of St. Ambrose, He that placeth his treasures only upon earth, 
Qui collocat thesauros in terrâ, non habet quid speret in coelo. Ut quid respiciat in coelum, ubi nihil habet repositum? quicquid pro anima seceris hoc tuum est. Amb. in Mat. 6.  hath nothing that he can hope for in heaven: why should that man look up to heaven, who hath nothing there laid is? whatsoever than thou dost for thy soul, that is only thine own Let none then be dearer unto you than your souls. Though ye cause others to abound, yet let not your souls want: your devout Forefathers did thus, and be ye their religious charitable children: yea, I beseech you by your progenitors eleemosynary Wills, and by their soft bowels, by their gracious hearts & precious dust, by their generous spirits & illustrious names, by their glorious remains, their honoured memories, their bright crowns, and their ravished souls, that ye would prove yourselves to be right-born, uphold the honour of their families, exemplify the copies which they have set you to write, grave yourselves to be their true progeny in letters of gold, stay behind them to shine in their beams, to cast a smell abroad with their odours, to show their charitable hearts stirring quick in your bosoms, to follow after them with a cluster of their fruits, to carry in your hands a transcript of their compassionate works, to settle their good foundations in another world; yea, to be attended upon with such a glorious train of alms-deeds, as ye find waited upon them in bright liveries when they entered into heaven. If your old Protestant Ancestors, or their old Protestant Faith; their glorified souls, or your souls, which may be glorified by their fruits, can stir your heartstrings, enlarge your bowels, infuse the like communicating, sympathising spirit into you: O give their rich portions, feed the world with their bread, sacrifice their Offering of a fair eye, stretch out their distributing hand, preserve their records, writ out yourselves worthy by their inscriptions, leave behind you their monuments, enter heaven by their golden key, purchase a crown at their rate: If by all this you do find yourselves prompted to the work, apprehend your opportunity, make use of your minutes, hear now the clock doth strike, see how the glass doth run, behold how the shadows go off from the dial; consider the naked skin and bare hand which ere long ye will have, look into death's Inventory, remember that at last ye will be left nothing worth but coffin-reliques, worms-leaving, stench, jelly, sappyness; for when we are dead all power and purpose, sufficiency and efficiency, means and mind, fruit and freedom, enjoyment and enterprise, possession and possibility, asfluency and ability will be taken away from you. O! death is the old rifler, the grave the grand plunderer: what shall then be the end of you, O ye Cedars? where shall your tops then be? ye shall be hewn down, or blown down to purpose, not worth stock or branch, root or rind, pith or leaf; the tree is then at the mercy of the axe, a pitiful Cedar when a fallen Cedar; all the glory is thrown down to the earth, every one than will make spoil of it, it is subject to a general waste, for the Cedar is fallen. Thus much of the Hearse, the dead corpse under it in this word fallen.   

PART III.  
Now let us come to the Mourner, the Fir-tree. Why is the Fir-tree called upon to consider the fall of the Cedar? to show that Inferiors ought to bemoan the fall of their Superious. From hence observe then, that the death of eminent men is to be lamented; Shall such be carried out of the world without solemnity? no, the Mourners ought to go about in the streets, Eccles. 12.5. The bearers do but carry them out upon their shoulders, but these carry them out in their breasts, their sad hearts bear the weight of their Coffin. Others may make it a vulgar day, but these make it a a bitter day, Amos 8.10. others may not alter a posture, burr these bow down heavily, Psal. 35.14. others may remain dumb, but these cry Alas, Alas, Amos 5.16. others may have their delicious fare, but these have a diet by themselves; they eat the bread of Mourners, Hos. 9.4. yea, eat ashes like bread, Psal. 102.9. others may spruce up themselves in raiment, but these have a dress by themselves; they will not so much as put on ornaments, Exod. 33.4. nor bind a tire upon their heads, or put on shoes, Ezech. 24.17. but they sprinkle dust upon their heads, Job 2.12. rend their clothes, Esther 4.1. yea expressly, wear mourning apparel, 2 Sam. 14.2. others may have pleasant gradens, the frolicks of joyous times; but these have postures by themselves, they put their mouths in the dust, Lam. 3.29. they cover their lips, Mich. 3.7. they make their selves bald, Ezech. 27.31. they cut their beards, Es. 15.2. they taber upon their breasts, Nah. 2.7. they teach their daughters wail, and every one her neighbour lamentation, Jer. 9.20. There is a time for all things; and as others have their time for lawful delights, as to plant and gather stones, and heal, and sew, and dance, and embrace, and speak out, and sing out; so these have their time according to sad accidents, to pluck up that which is planted, to cast away stones, to wound, to rend, to mourn, to be far from embracing, and to keep silence. O that there can be a bright corner within that Hemisphere where the Sun is in an Eclipse! that there can be a cheerful look to that place where an eminent man doth die: wring hands, blubbered cheeks, and doleful outcries, are as proper for the Funeral of a famous Patriot, as scorns, and taunts, and clapping of hands are for the hearse of a tormenter of his Country; let the one be buried with the burial of an Ass, saying, Rot thou bruit beast: Let the other be buried with the burial of an Hero, saying, O that such precious flesh should ever come to waste underground. The fall of a cedar should be the anguish of the fir-tree; living man look disconsolately, the mirror of the age is departed; fir-tree shake thy top to the ground-ward, the Cedar is fallen. Funeral mourning is a lamentable plaint for the decease of dead men worthy in esteem: 
Luctus est planctus pro mortuis ad●matis Aq in Ps. 34. Luctus est animi aegritudo ex acerbo conce●●u interitus ●jus qui nobis charus fuit. Fran. pat. de reg. l. 5. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Eurip.  yea, it is a fever upon the spirit, out of a sad apprehension for the death of him that was dear to us. They are men of no bowels which can part with deserving friends without tears and troubled bowels; for, as Quirinus said, when can any rather show themselves to be true men then at such a time, and at such an accident? It is pity upon such an occasion (as Demonax said) that there should be three men found that had not water enough to sprinkle upon such a grave; they are fit their selves to be buried who stand not true Mourners at the burial of a Country-ornament; such a Fir-tree doth not deserve to have had such a Cedar grow by him. With how much sorrow and sadness were Jacob, Moses, Samuel, Josiah, Christ, St. Stephen, Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Polycarp and Cyprian, Gregory Nazianzen, Constantine the Great, Justinian the Great, Theodosius the Great, Artemius, Procefius, Venanitus, Agathon, Mascalon, Vsthazarus, Pontianus, Hilarius, Florentius, Pregentinus, Laurentinus, Armogaslus, Aithalus, Abdon, Sennas', Tiburtius, Agrippitus, and a thousand others which I could name unto you buried? O they were buried as if the Watercourses and the Cataracts of people's heads had been set open and let lose; yea, as if they would have made their graves to swim with tears. What then are the Naeniae and Epicedia, the sorrowful Mournings at Funerals unlawful? no, they were wont to be called, Justa, true dead-rights: The harsh Music at such meetings should be Lachrymae, nothing but Threnodies should then be heard; Nihi, nihi, plange, plange, as the old Hebrew ditty was. woe and alas, ah my Brother! all my Sister! the strings of that instrument should be heartstrings, and the keys should be cries, and the quavering should be quakings, and the soundings should be swoon; the Fir-tree must not suffer the Cedar to fall without the moan of the Forest; no, Fitre-trees, dash your tops together, raise a Lamentation amongst yourselves, know the pitiful, accident that is befallen: Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen.   

Application.  
This serves to reprove them who know not the want, nor feel not the loss of illustrious men. The cedar is fallen, but where is my fir-tree, which droops and bends, and is ready to bow down to the earth at the sense of such a fall? I read that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell, they stood still, 2 Sam. 2.23. and that when Elias was taken away, Elisha cried after him, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, 2 Kings 2.12. and that David lift up his voice and wept beside the sepulchre of Abner, 2 Sam. 3.32. and gave him many an honourable testimony, as, Died Abner as a fool dyeth? Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen in Israel? But I find no such consternation, commemoration or lamentation for the death of many a worthy man amongst us: no, they let them fall like a scale from the back of a fish, like a stone out of a wall, like a tooth out of the jawbone, like an hair from the head, like things of no moment or price, and so let them go. Men are forgotten in the city where they have done good, Eccles. 8.10. Merciful men are taken away and no man understandeth it, 
Plind. 10. c. 43.  Es. 57.1. I read that the people of Rome, for the death of a Crow that was wont to salute Tiberius, Germanicus and Drusus for Caesar's, were so afflicted that they performed exequys for it: and that L. Crassus for a Lamprey dying, 
Marcob. l. 3. Saturn. c. 15.  which he was wont to feed with his own hand, was so dejected, that he mourned for it in black, as if his dear daughter had been dead: and that Cyparissus vexed himself to death, 
Virg l.  because a white Hart which he loved, died. But I find no such deep grief divers times from many men for the death of persons highly-meriting; they have no odours in their lips, nor no bassom in their eyes, to preserve these men's honours: they have scarce a wrinkled face, much less a wounded heart; yea, it were well, that instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a grievous bewailing at their departure, there were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a malicious rejoicing at their departure: As the Athenians, so soon as they heard that Philip was dead, 
Plut in Demost.  sacrificed to their gods, and gave a crown to Pausanias which murdered him: 
Eutrop l. 8.  and Adrian, so soon as he heard that Trajan that famous Emperor was departed, he triumphed, reproached his virtues, and pulled down the bridge which he had built over the Danubius: and Lewis the Eleventh, 
Aemil l. 10.  when tidings was brought him that Charles D. of Burgundy was slain at Nancey, he leapt for joy, and gave a liberal reward to the messenger which brought the news. Such maligners have we amongst us, who are infinitely comforted when such glorious Lamps as did outshine them are extinguished, and when such lofty, Cedars as did over-top them are fallen. But is this thy neighbourhood, that thou which didst grow so nigh to observe the height of the Cedar, is this thy humanity that thou which hast known what fragrancy the Cedar had, shouldst be pleased that the Cedar is fallen? no, rather perplexed; thy rind should change colour, and thy sap should run down to the root, thou shouldst be a Mourner, for this is the reason why the Fir-tree is spoken to, namely with anguish to consider what is happened to the Cedar. Fir-tree the Cedar is fallen.  
2. But secondly, the Fir-tree is to be a Mourner, because the state of the Fir-tree is as dangerous as that of the Cedar. The Cedar is fallen, 
Quis se exceptum putet à conditione moriendi, qui non fuit exceptus à conditione nascendi? Ambros. Hâ lige intravimus ut exir●mus. Bern.  a Firee-tree doth but grow upon a lose root, and hath but a time of standing. From hence observe, that death is a general lot; Cedars and Firre-trees must all down to the ground. Who should think himself excepted from the condition of dying, which was not excepted from the condition of being born? upon this Law we entered into the world that we should go out of it. This is the end of all men. I go the way of all the earth. We must all needs die. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? 
Non miseretur inopiae, non reveretur divitias. Bern. Vide quis sitservus, quis sit dominus; discern si potes victum à rege, fortem à debili. Aug.  The rich and the poor meet together. There Kings and Counsellors and the Prisoners rest together, and the servant which is free from his Master. Death doth not pity the poor, nor fear the rich. See who shall be the Servant, who shall be the Master; distinguish if thou canst between the Slave and the King: the Pigmy and the Giant, Robes and Rags, Palaces and Cottages, Golden Chains and Iron Chains, Bevers and Bonnets, Bags piled up, and the beggar's pouch, are all one to death. The rich man is in death's eye, and the poor man cannot hid himself; no, death hath a nimble eye that doth pierce into all corners. Do not think that because thy stature is low, thou shalt be over-looked: No, thou which art poor dost make such a crying in the streets for supply of wants, that death cannot but hear thee; thou walkest abroad so naked of attendance and followers, that death can strike thee at ease; thy purse is so empty to procure Physicians to preserve life, that death can creep to thy heart without fearing or feeling an antidote. Death doth go a general circuit; there is no such Epidemical disease as death, it doth levelly all to the ground; Cedars and Firre-trees must fall. Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen.   

Application.  
This doth serve to fray all the wood. Ye thought here would have been only a Cedar-Sermon, but I have Firre-tree-Doctrine also. I know it pleased you highly to hear the Grandees menaced throughly; but rejoice not too much, for I have threats for the infimates also. Come on then, Mechanics, Tradesmen; yea, the poorest Abjects hear which are half-naked, and perhaps halfe-starved, look to yourselves, I hold up death's arrow, and show you that it will strike in the breasts of you all; for ye in the galleries, and ye upon the pavements; ye that sit, and ye that stand; ye that have the vast Warehouses, and ye that have scarce a shop or should of your own, are all going into the straight passage, the narrow hole. Your lusty legs will fail you, your quick breath will draw short in your lung-pipes, ye are all fainting and failing, the Cedar is fallen, and the Fir-tree must fall. I see none but mortal faces amongst you, I behold none but dying men. Death doth sway an equal sceptre to all mankind, impartial death doth spare no man. 
Communia toti genti sceptra tenens. Maphreus Vegius in append. Virg. Nullum saeva coput Proserpina sugit.  Many of you have gotten a pardon for all your exorbitances, but death will seal no Act of Indemnity; ye have escaped the halter of many your fellow-miscreants, but death hath set up her gibbet for you. Free yourselves from this, and I will say that ye have more wit than the cunning Secretary, the crafty Judge, wily Gaol-keeper, and the politic Fanatic; but I see death ready to apprehend you, condemn you, and lead you forth to execution; what therefore have ye any wet eyes? ye will else ere long have dry eyes. Do ye bend your knees? if not, ye shall bend them lower; have ye held up your hands for mercy? if not, ye shall not have an hand to stir; have ye found the plague of your own hearts? if not, ye will die with the deadly mark upon you; have ye stilled the cries of the poor? have ye made satisfaction for your minglings, adulterating, false-weights, slippery bargains, usuries, perjuries, spoils, spites? if not, they will meet you at God's judgement-seat. Think not that ye, because ye can outbrave the pulpit, that there is nothing can tame you; yes, death is coming to right all the injuries that ye have done to the Ordinances. Who hath heard our voice? to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? no, the Prophet is (ye say) a fool, the spiritual man is mad: But behold ye despisers, and wonder. Ye shall answer for every Sermon which ye have disdained, defied, vilified, or neglected: He that hath dashed his foot against this stone shall be broken in pieces, it had been better for him that a millstone had been hung about his neck, and that he had been thrown into the midst of the Sea. We are Messengers, but death is the powerful Preacher; it is the Churchman's pleader, or, if ye will, God's Herald at Arms; it will force you to make reparation for all your contempts, and revenge them with fury. Here is a thundering teacher indeed, it doth preach the Funeral Sermon of the whole world, the last Sermon that every man shall hear, or, if ye will, the Repetition-Sermon. Thou shalt have but one Lecture, and if thou be'st not converted by that, it will send thee away to the deep pit, the scalding furnace, the worm that will never die, the utter darkness, to lament thy hardheartedness. O therefore search, for thou wilt be tried to the height; humble thyself, or else there will be no place found for repentance; cleanse, or else thou wilt remain spotted for ever; shine, for thou must be extinguished; turn a living Saint, for thou wilt turn a dead corpse. The Cedar is fallen, and Fir-tree thou must fall. I know that ye of the Inferior rank have Superior spirits, but for all your roughness and perverseness, your obstinacy will not prevail against this prophet of the Sepulchre; Death is a sharp preacher indeed, for it doth preach with a dart in the lips; and this preacher you must hear, and this dart ye must feel. Quit yourselves of your sins, for ye cannot quit yourselves from the grave; leap out of hell, for ye cannot leap from death: Ye must all have grisly faces, fallen chaps, bloodless cheeks, breathless lungs, staring eyes, and stark limbs; ye will be fit for nothing at last, but the land of darkness and the pit of corruption. Potent and impotent, noble and base, rich and poor, Cedars and Firre-trees, must all fall. Fir-tree the Cedar is fallen.  
But why did the Prophet call upon the Fir-tree to consider the fall of the Cedar? could he not have called upon the shrubs, or myrtles, or thorn-trees, to lament the loss of a Cedar? no, these had ill sap in them, or a rough bark, and so fruitless and useless many of them, that they were fit for nothing but the fire; therefore he doth reject these, and apply himself to the fir-tree: For the fir-tree is a most beautiful tree, as Pliny saith, and purely white, and therefore it is called by some Gallica; it is full of delightful strakes within, and admirable for beams, and to bear the weight of buildings, and both the pars sapina & fusterna (as Authors call them) are of rare use for several employments: Cato would have his curious Presses made of them, and Solomon, next to the Cedar, doth call to Hiram for the Fir-tree to build his Temple with, as ye may see in 1 Kings 5.8. & 10. Verses: a very singular tree it was, and though not so excellent as the Cedar, yet little inferior to it. The Fir-tree than was the fittest judge of the worth of the Cedar, and well chosen out by the Prophet, as the most proper tree to lament the fall of the Cedar. Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen. From hence then further observe, That they must be men of prime affections which must be selected to prize the perfections of others. Desert will want its honour if worthless men pass sentence upon it: what need have 1 of madmen? so what have we of low-gifted, or bad and baseminded men? Sus Minervam? shall the injudicious or profligate set out the fame of meriting men? no, what taste is there in the white of an eggs? the heart of the wicked is little worth. Virtue will never have due commendation from the contemptible. Wisdom is justified of her children. 
Indignitas & laus non habent concordiam. Seneca.  They which have no dignity in themselves leave the most laudable things with an indignity: honey is not sweet to a distempered palate. Hercules shall be held but an halfman if Lycus give his opinion of him, who knew not how to handle either sword, bow or spear: Cicero shall be counted a man of no wit, if Cestius may pass sentence upon him: Varro shall have no other name but that of Swine out of the mouth of Palaemon. So that as the Hyrcanians were wont to cast, their dead bodies to dogs to be devoured, so we had as good have Mastiffs as men to be judges of worthy men's qualities, if they have no good qualifications themselves, for they will but tear and worry. Well then, if ye would have noble-spirited men to have their just Funeral-right, let those which are praiseworthy themselves give it them; as the Prophet here, when he would have the Cedar to fall with honour, he doth call to the Fir-tree to discharge this duty. Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen.   

Application.  
This doth serve to show, that the ignoble do but eclipse the honour of the conspicuous. These men's eyes are too dim to discern the brightness of orient colours, these men's voices are too harsh to sing with melody this high-pricked song: they which are of sordid spirits themselves will never celebrate to the height the peerless parts of others: no, when this work is to be done, Come men and not dunghills, 
Adeste homines, non sterquilinia.  as Diogenes was wont to say. Homer broke that potter's vessels which would be singing of his Verses. They which have not two good qualities will ever be detracting from them which abound in variety of rare perfections; as Hiero told Xenophanes, that he which could not maintain two servants well, was continually disparaging Homer which daily fed above ten thousand. The stone of an eminent man's praise is too hard for him to break who hath not cad his teeth; 
Dentes non edidit. Adag. Nescit capitis & inguivis d scrimen. Juven.  what hath he to limb out a rare Picture, which doth not know the difference between the head and groin? Away then with all the abjects and refuse of mankind (which have neither wit nor virtues in them) when the excellent come to be magnified; for the Prophet here doth not call to them which were the scorn and shame of the forest to set out the praises of the Cedar at the fall, but the noble Fir-tree. Free-tree, the Cedar is fallen.   

PART IU.  
Now let us come to the right Funeral-cry in the word howling, Howle fir-tree. From hence observe, that the fall of a principal man should carry a deep sense with it. He which was admired greatly in his life-time should be deplored greatly at his death; one tree should begin the cry,  
— at que omne querelis  
Impleri nemus. 
Virg. 8 Aeneid. —  
the whole Wood should be filled with doleful sounds, yea, we should see a whole Congregation  — inexpleto rumpentem pectora questu, 
rending as it were their breasts with passionate groans. 
Statius.  It is not enough at such a time to step into the house of mourning, or to accompany the dead corpse, or to stand by and behold the solemnity at the grave, but we should be like those which— viscera vivis eripiunt, would even tear out their bowels alive: the hearts should ache, 
Virg. 12 Aeneid.  and the tongues should howl, there should be a doleful lamentation, Mic. 2.4. People should cry bitterly, Eze. 27.30. They should weep with the weeping of Jazer Es. 48.30. There should be a mourning like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the field of Megiddo, Zach. 12.11. Men should weep till they have no more power to weep, 1 Sam. 30.4. Those things which formerly were occasions to us of pleasure, 
Quae mihi erant voluptati maximae, xunt recordatione doloris exasperant. Amb de ob Satyri. Publico luctu tanquam parente orbati omnes essent. Plat. in Cleto.  should now exasperate our grief at the remembrance of them. Titus that famous Emperor was brought to his grave with a general mourning, as if people had been deprived of their common paront. When Pertinax was dead, the people did so ingeminate their griefs and cries, that they even fainted, as Cuspinian reporteth. When Valdemar the Danish King died, the men with beating their heads, the women with dishevelled hair, the husbandmen with filling the Woods with cries, and the Mariners with filling the seashores with yels, so lamented his death, 
Saxon Grom. l. 15.  as if the common funeral of the nation had been come upon them. Thorismund the renowned King of the Ostrogathes, was lamented forty years together, for doing those famous acts against the Gepides. 
Crantz. l. 2. Suec. c. 16.  O then, men are not to be turned out of the world with ordinary grief, but passion; there should not only be sobbing, but wailing; not mourning, but howling. Howle Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen.   

Application.  
This serves to reprove them which are too soft-speeched at the fall of a Cedar; no great noise heard through the wood, howsoever not shrieks, our Firretrees know not how to howl; no, the most deserving men for the most part are buried in too much obscurity, howsoever with too much silence; there is little dejection, or discruciation at the interment; an hired Mourner might do as much as they express; the greatest black is to be seen in the Hearse-cloth, or the mourning apparel; no great heaviness seen, little howling heard, a man would think they were a brambles, and that there was scarce a good firretree left in the wood; 
Tanquam oculos d●fossos. Basil. Monod. de Naz.  they do not as S. Basil did at the death of Nazienzene, weep for their loss as if they were deprived of their eyes; or, with the people of Rome, at the death of Constantine the Great, shut up their baths, forbidden markets; some stand in the streets as if they were astonished, 
Sigon. l. 5. Imp.  others ran up and down as if they had lost their senses, some lying upon the ground, and others knocking their heads against the walls, and a great company sobbing and roaring, as if in the death of him they were half dead. No, we can part with our dearest friends and the brightest splendours of a nation, without any great darkening in ourselves: we may have a demure countenance, but no perplexed breasts, no dreary tears, no bitter howling. O! how do I blush when I hear the Trojans crying out, Hectora flemus, We lament our valiant Hector? and when I read that Alexander, upon the death of his dear Hephestion, was so afflicted, that he not only bestowed ten thousand talents upon his Funeral, and hung Glaucus his Physician, because he went to see a Play when he should have been attending upon his Patient; but he threw down the pinnacles of cities, forbade all Instruments to play within his Ten●s, caused his mules and horses to be shaved, and sat like a most disconsolate creature in his Tent: and that we for our renowned Patriots have not the affections and afflictions, the griefs and groans, heavy hearts and doleful tones that the very Heathens had. We talk of Christian burial, but what Christian passages or passions are there? only a Christian company, or Christian rites, but no Christian commemoration of virtues, or Christian lamentation for the loss of one that countenanced Religion, defended the State, adorned his Country with Clemency, Justice and Hospitality: no, the Priest doth all, the people have no other solemnity to afford but to yield their appearance. O firre-trees, is this your respect and reverence that ye own to a cedar? shall he fall by you with so little sorrow or astonishment? no, ye should know what the loss of one sublime, beneficial man is: there should be nothing but shrill cries heard in that forest where such a Cedar doth fall: not only the Fir-tree should grieve, but it should howl. Howle fir-tree, the cedar is fallen.  
Now let us consider a little what there hath happened amongst us: hath there not been a fall? yes, and a very sad one, so sad, that it might make you drop and droop, sigh and sob, rend and roar: he that hath a breast, methink, should groan, and he that hath a tongue, methink, should howl. Here are many clad in black before you, and ye had need to be as black within as they are without: Never was there a greater occasion amongst you for a mournful meeting, a doleful congregation; the forest itself may be afflicted, and they without the forest may lament. If ye should hold your peace the stones would speak; so if ye should be silent, the dumb would open their lips, even strangers and foreigners; as Germanicus at his death was lamented by the Barbarians; and Baldwin the Third was bewailed by Noradine, and the very Turks far and nigh. What Inhabitant will be so unworthy, or what neighbour so unkind, as not to bestow a few drops and moans at the fall of such an ornament of his Country, and (without offence I hope it may be spoken) a lustre to his Nation? Had he such fame by his life-time, and shall he have no honour at his death? yes, as Socrates said, Frankincense doth belong to the gods, and praise to men: 
Thus di is, laus hominibus debetur.  Give unto God his true worship, and unto this worthy Peer his due praise. If the fruitless or sapless, the inferior and vulgar trees should not be sensible of the accident, yet let the nobler trees have an anxious apprehension of such a fall; yea, let all the firre-trees howl; Howle fir-tree, for the Cedar is fall. And I say, the Cedar, for was he not a lofty tree in his time? yes, noble he was by birth,  
— altis inclytum titulis genus.  
Clara domus satis haec nobilitate tuâ est. 
Sentea in Here. sur.   
Look upon his crest, 
Ovid op. 16.  and there ye shall see the soaring Falcon, which brought as much Land to his Predecessors, as that could with her swift wings measure out with one flight; the story is known, and therefore I shall not need to beautify it with language. But stemmata quid faciunt? had he had never a noble Ancestor, (as he had many, both by the Fathers and Mother's side) yet he was worthy to have been created a Noble for his noble heart and his honourable qualifications, 
Arist. l. 2. ●her. Nobilitas est quaedam lous veniens de meritis parentum. Boer. l. 3. Pros. 6 de Colis. Phil. I sid. Pelus. l. 2. Ep. 126.  which adorned him more than lineage and pedigree: for though Nobility be Majorum claritas, the brightness of anancient family, and it is a kind of praise, when a man can derive a stock from deserving parents, yet vera nobilitas à probis moribus nata est, as Isidor Pelusota saith, nobility of good dispositions, is better than nobility of a good descent; for what is the honour of blood to the honour of virtue? no, they which want the last, it may be said of them as it was of the two Gracchis, that whosoever could say that they were Great, yet no man could say that they were Good; but mine was not only the Great but the Good Nobleman; there was in him not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. To let pass then the Cedar for his height, and to come to his properties. Had he not in him every thing that is requisite for a Cedar? yes:  
1. For first, was he not smooth? who can call him a knotty tree? no, Quo non alter amabilior, as it was said of Augustus, than whom there was none more friendly, I may say of him as Agistrata said of Agis, nimia tua bonitas, nimia mansuetudo, thy courtesy might seem too great, thy mildness too great, the very Idea of humanity and gem of affability; it did appear to all.  
1. First, where there was the nearest conjunction; I mean betwixt him and his honourable Lady: Were there ever Espousals with more inviolable affection? was the yoke of Wedlock ever worn with more delight? was not he to her the covering of her eyes? Gen. 20.16, was not she to him the very desire of his eyes? Ezech. 24.16. 
Eadem erat illis mens & simillimi affe ●tus. Ludou. Vives de Christ. sem. l. 2.  may I not say of them as Ludovicus saith of his Father and Mother, that there was ever between them the same mind and the same affections, as if they had been born under one Constellation, or had but only two faces and one will? Match me such noble pairs, which spent out so many years in dear and reciprocal affection.  
2. Secondly, for his servants; was there ever a great Lord that treated servants with more gentleness? no, they lived with him rather as with a Father then a Lord, or as with a Friend then a Master; under some others, servants might be called as they were in Lacedemonia, Helot, slaves, but under him they might be called as they were in Crect, Chrysonetae, the golden servants; he preferred many, loved all; now where was there more freedom and freeness?  
3. Thirdly, for his neighbours, was he not most affable? yes, another Adrian the great Emperor, who was as Dion saith, humilimorum amicus, a friend to the most humble; so was he a companion to the meanest, a Lord amongst Lords, but familiar amongst his neighbours; yea, he had rather lose his life than his humanity, as the same Adrian said, when her was taxed for using too much civility (as they thought) towards his Inferiors. I never remember any which knew better how to reserve state and preserve friendship, to be both a Lord and a neighbour together. His courtesy then is evident, a great heart that carried in it a most heroic spirit, and yet was the soft bosom of kindness.  
2. Was he not useful? yes, what did he study more than the good of the Commonwealth? one of a most public spirit, he honoured his Country as his Mother, as Pythagoras advised his scholars; and he was not only born in a Famous Country, but he was dignus patriâ worthy of his Country, as Aristotle said of a friend: how many good offices and noble favours could I reckon up to confirm this?  
3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant? yes,  
1. First, for his faith: as he was well-gifted, so he was well-principled; he had a singular judgement and a sincere heart, apprehensive and steady; that whereas some travel into far Countries to bring home an outlandish faith as well as outlandish manners, which think they are never witty enough till they be skilled in the Magic of Religion: he, though he had been amongst the Enchanters, yet would he learn none of their sorceries. Few Noblemen had been in more European Countries than he himself, and there where the Crafts-masters dwelled, yet none of these could corrupt him or seduce him, he returning home a true English Protestant: when his Mother-Church had given him his grounds, he hated that a Stepmother should be his new Mistress: he ever hated error and novelty, and was sound both in doctrine and discipline: It is true, the jewel was his own, yet he came often hither to have it filled; for as he stored the Church with the ablest men he could find, so he was a diligent frequenter of the Sanctuary, and a reverend hearer; and those which he found to be intelligent and invariable, he both countenanced and honoured them: that as it was said of Pertinax, that he was pater Senatus, & pater omnium bonorum, The father of the Senate, and the father of all good men: so he was the Patron of Orthodox Doctrine and Orthodox Teachers. And as he lived so he died; for a little before his departure he made a solemn profession of his faith, and then said that he died a professed adversary to all Romish doctrine, and a true Son of the Church of England according to the 39 Articles. And thus ye find him fragrant concerning his faith.  
2. Secondly, was he not fragrant towards his King? yes, name me a more loyal Peer. He was lapis quadratus, a squared soon; neither Sequestrations, nor Imprisonments, 
Basil.  Compositions, Taxations or Decimations could make him fickle or false; he had rather have been sick of any disease, then have had the Leprosy of disloyalty to have appeared in his forehead. He was (as it were) one of the steadfast Angels which remained firm, when Lucifer and his train rebelled. His fidelity in this kind was so eminent, that it was Gods high mercy that it did not once cost him his life at home; and it drew him when he got free often to hazard his life abroad; and when he returned, how was his Estate drained, till it almost fell into an Epilepsy? So then for his Loyalty, he is come to his grave with this honour, that he lived and died an unblemished and an unstained Royalist, fragrant he was to his Prince.  
3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant towards his neighbours? yes,  
1. First, in patience; I hope there is not here or elsewhere, the most impatient or pacified man that can accuse him to have been an ireful man. It is true, he had an high magnanimity of spirit to defend his just Rights and Royalties, but for common injuries he regarded them no more than Northern blasts; 
Suidat.  he did not with the Athenians set up a spear to run that man to the heart which had injured him, or offered him an abuse. But when he was provoked divers times to compel satisfaction for high affronts and contempts, he thought it was beyond his Religion and his nobleness to right himself for every trivial distaste; no dart would stick in this water: 
Telum in aqua non remanet. Chrysost Non m●m ni me percussum.  yea when he had been highly irritated, he was ready to say with the Philosopher, I do not remember that I was stricken. He had learned that of Solomon, say not I will do to him as he hath done to me, and that of St. Paul, why do ye not rather suffer wrong? who of his degree and quality lived more peaceably amongst his neighbours? or had a more relenting heart? or troubled the Age less with vexatious suits?  
2. Secondly, was he not fragrant in his Justice? yes, he might be set up for the Standard. The Lamb can as soon by't as he could gripe or oppress; another Pericles, that never caused any man to go in a sad garment for his rapines. He might have said with Samuel, whose ox have I taken? whose ass have I taken? or to whom have I done any wrong? bring me that man that can say truly, that he hath a Tenement belonging to him that he hath gotten by the wrist; or one furrow of Land in his whole Estate which doth cry out against: him for injustice.  
3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant in Charity? yes, Town and Country can testify that odoriferous sent. His house was a kind of Hospital, a Storehouse to hail and sick; his White Woodstacks and his black pots can never be forgotten. Those which came, went not away empty; and those which did not come, he would seek them out and relieve them; his heart was the poors Guardian, and his hand was their Treasurer: He had troops of poor attended upon him, as it was said of Henry the third, a Germane Emperor; and wheresoever he met them, either in streets, highways, or fields, his sympathising spirit melted towards them, and his communicating hand dropped bounty to them; thus every way his fragrancy was felt. A right Cedar he was in all respects, and though he be fallen, yet as the forest will want him, so it should not see him cast to the ground without an heart-stroke, a lip-roar, yea a passionate howling. Howl Firee-tree for the Cedar is fallen. But saith one, when you have magnified your Cedar to the height, I see a spot in him; dost thou? so did he in himself, and I hope that his repentance hath prevented thy censure, and his remorse thy rancour. To me, to others he often lamented his errors; and with fervent prayers and bitter tears begged pardon at the hands of God Almighty. And is God reconciled to him, and wilt thou be inexorable? But what was his spot? hast not thou the same? hast not thou more? hast not thou worse? He was no Persecutor, he was no Traitor, he was no Temporizer, he was no Hypocrite. There are many spots, and the Leper may be apt to cry out of another's foul skin. It is good for every one to sttitch up his own rents, before he do complain of a seam-rent place in another's garment, or to wash his own face clean before he do find fault with a spray in another's checks. Who can say my heart is clean? I am clean from sin? in many things we offend all. If thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss, who is able to stand? But let his spot be what it will, I trust he hath prayed it away, and we have prayed it away, that by the virtue of his tears and his friends tears (for God was reconciled to Jobs friends for his prayers and sacrifices) or howsoever by the infallibility of God's Covenant, and efficacy of Christ's blood it is rinsed away. To give thee all the assurance that by the judgement of Charity is requisite, that be died a true Penitent: Consider what I am now to propound unto thee. A little before his departure like a man that had his death's stroke in his bosom, and a yearning for divine favour in his conscience; he fought for nothing but mercy, and thirsted for nothing but reconciliation: he abounded in tears, was frequent in supplications, forced himself beyond his strength to the prayers of the family, had often the prayers of divers Churchmen in his Chamber, and would lift up his hands devoutly at those things which moved him: he wanted no Counsel, and embraced Counsel, delighted to have the Bible read to him, even eight Chapters at a time; he called for mercy whilst he had freedom of speech; and when for four days together he lay in a manner speechless, yet God gave him liberty to utter these words, Lord, Lord, have mercy, Lord, Lord, have mercy; and these were the only words it that long space which came from him distinctly to the hour of his death; God taught him (I trust) the language with which he should breathe out his last gasp, or God himself (which is very likely) spoke for him. But if he had never shed tear, nor uttered prayer, the tears and prayer of his friends if there be any power in Christian intercession) I hope have beaten out a way to Heaven for him; for his friends were seldom without watery eyes, & we were seldom off from our knees; so that God I trust hath received our prayers, and received his soul; he went like Elias with a whirlwind and a fiery Chariot into Heaven. Come on then ye Firre-trees, will ye suffer such a Cedar to be carried off from the ground without a forrest-clashing, and beating your tops one against another? no, let the wilding-tree, the aspe-tree, the sloe-tree the beech-tree and wicls— ree be silent if they will, but let all the Firre-trees join together in a general mourning for when shall we see his equal? when shall we behold his Superior? do ye bury him with thrilling spirits and torn hearts; make all the wood to ring, and rend, and roar at his fall; yea, do ye break out into an absolute howling. Howle Fir-tree, the Cedar is fallen. Well, since he is fallen, let us leave him to the Lord Paramount of the Forest, only let his Memory be precious, and his fragrancy sweet in our nostrils; let us for a farewell to him, call him the Mirror of worth, and the Monument of honour: Let us hope that God hath but taken him away, because he hath use of some Cedar above for his own building; and that he that planted him hath disposed of him for the honour of his own Court; yea, that he sent special Messengers, even the blessed Angels, to carry him from hence upon their shoulders, and to lay him within the Courtgate, to be made a Pillar in the Temple of God: There lie thou, thou noble Cedar, and remain to thy everlasting honour and bliss. Only he being gone, God give us grace to think on our own fall, that we that howl for his fall, may not howl at or after our own fall, but fall with comfort, and be carried away at last to the building of God, an house not made with hands, but eternal in the Heavens.  
FINIS.