A SERMON, PREACHED BEFORE THE LORDS of the council, in K. HENRY the seauenths chapel. Sept. 23. 1607. At the funeral of the most excellent& hopeful Princess, the Lady MARIE'S GRACE. By I. L job. 17.14. I shall say to Corruption, Thou art my father; and to the Worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. Imprinted at London by H. L. for Samuel Macham: and are to be sold at his shop, in Pauls Churchyard, at the sign of the Bull-head. 1607. TO THE RIGHT Honourable, the Lady Elizabeth Knyuet, wife to the right Noble and virtuous Thomas L. Knyuet, Baron of Estorick, my very singular good Lord and Patron. ∵ madam: It is a common saying in the world, that Examples are of greater force to persuade, than Precepts; and Experience the best mistress, for the teaching of wisdom: And yet, even Experience teacheth, that notwithstanding all the examples, which from the first infancy and child-birth of the world haue been presented to our eyes ( as so many speaking witnesses of that inevitable mortality, to which our lives are exposed) yet are wee not made wise in the understanding of our end. Deut. 32.29 The death of the late excellent and noble princess( which I will not say was untimely, though it were early; for, shee fell not like the fruit that grows out of season: but, betimes shee was ripened and made fit to be gathered) may teach those that bee young, not to be confident of their life; those that bee old, hourly to expect their death; both old and young to observe that precept of K. Salomon, Not peremptorily to boast of the morrow: Prou. 27.1. because they know not, what a day may bring forth. That, which we are taught by the life of her example, we may also learn from the letter of this Sermon; the one serving as an instruction to our eyes, the other to our ears, both to our harts: which, because I was enjoined to preach at her funeral, I am also willing to print for her memorial; that as I ought her my service while shee lived, so being dead I might consecrate to the honour of her name some pledge of my duty. Perhaps, the world will censure me for both; and be ready to condemn me, either of presumption, or vainglory. But, as I pass not to be judged of men: so I care not to be applauded of men. For, God is my record, whom I serve in my spirit, that I desire no greater approbation to be given of my labours, than that testimony of the blessed Apostle; That in all simplicity and godly pureness( not handling the word of GOD deceitfully) I approve myself to every mans conscience, 2. Cor. 4.2. in the sight of GOD. I know, the pen cannot bee so graceful as the Tongue; nor a speech, that is butted under a dead letter, so pathetical in persuasion, as that which is uttered by a living voice. This might something discourage me: yet, I greatly regard it not. For, he that in the morning bids us to sow our seed, and in the evening not suffer our hand to rest, Eccles. 11.6. he( I hope) will vouchsafe to sanctify, with some blessing of his Spirit, that which I haue been careful to plant and to water. That I presume to sand it forth into the world, under the countenance of your Honourable protection, two special reasons do induce me; the one, in regard of the deceased lady: the safety of whose person being once the ioy of your life, and the sound of her name continuing still dear to your remembrance; this Monument of my service, being dedicated to her memory, is therfore fittest to bee shrouded under the favour of your Patronage. This ( Madam) I know, you may say with job, that your witnesses are in heaven& in earth, that if you might haue begged but her life of God, it would haue been the greatest gain you desired; and that, God having taken her away, the want of her self is the greatest loss you haue lamented. If there be any that will speak evil of those things which they know not, they be such whose tongues do burn with malice; and let them blyster with the fire that kindles them: you may make a garland, for yourself, of their reports. The other motive, in regard of myself; that entertainment and preferment, which so freely and bountifully( for the poor service that I do) I haue received from yourself, and my thrice honourable good Lord: the most thankful acknowledgement whereof, if ever I forget; I will not say with david, Let my right hand forget her cunning( for, Psal. 137.5. that is little) but, Let God himself forget to prevent me with any grace, or to follow me with any blessing. It is now time, for me, to make an end of my tedious dedication: which I seale-vp with my heartiest prayers to the God of heaven, both for my Noble Lord, and yourself; beseeching him, that he would multiply his mercies vpon you, and his graces in you, and so vouchsafe to sanctify the crosses that he sends you as well as the blessings, that both may work together for your good vpon earth, and for your glory in heaven. Your Honours most humbly devoted, in all duty and service, I. Leech. A SERMON, preached at the funeral of the Lady MARIES GRACE. 2. Cor. 5.1. For, we know that if this earthly house of our Tabernacle be destroyed, we haue a building given of God. THE sole and sovereign privilege, which man can challenge to himself above all other mortal and inferior creatures, appears not by the fruition of any present felicity; but lies butted under the hope of a future happiness. For( I think I may truly and boldly speak it) there is not the poorest worm that crawles vpon the earth, but if a tongue were given it to dispute with man, it might pled& maintain against him, that( the hope which he hath in Christ Iesus only being set apart) he is of al living creatures the most miserable. 1. Cor. 15.19 In consideration whereof, ther be two special things, about which we ought always to spend our devoutest thoughts, and to exercise our most serious meditations; first, vnde abeundum, and then quò transeundum: first, from whence we must remove, when we depart out of this life;& then whether we must remove, after we are once departed. That it shall not be with us, as it is with the brute beasts of the field, which as they live without honour, so they die without hope; but, that an aftercondition is reserved unto us, where sorrow shall be our portion, or ioy our inheritance; though the scriptures themselves were silent, yet the writings of heathen men might be sufficient to testify: the discipline of Reason, having taught them so much in the school of Nature: But that unspeakable comfort that is now locked up in the bosoms of the faithful, those that are marked with the seal of Gods Spirit, and haue received the adoption of sons, is, that after their deliverance from this vale of tears, after the dissolution of their earthly Tabernacle, they shall bee clothed and crwoned with the glory of Saints, and haue a heavenly building given of GOD. The confidence of this felicity is as a wall of fire to environ them, as a hedge of pikes to defend them, as a girdle of safety to clasp about them, as an impenetrable shield buckled fast upon their arm, that will shiver, and break in pieces, whatsoever darts of tentation the prince of darkness can throw against them. Ephes. 6.16 And it is here specially commended, by this blessed Apostle, as a main argument of consolation, against two special doubts, which may perhaps disquiet& shake our hopes: the one is mentioned in the former Chapter, and that is vitae infaelicitas, the infelicity of our life; for, the state of it is most wretched and miserable. The other, specified in this Chapter: and that is mortis necessitas, the necessity of our death; for, the stroke of it is most certain and inevitable. For the first. Though the life that we led be full of misery& vexation, though we be afflicted on every side, though we be distressed, though we be persecuted, though we be cast down; yet notwithstanding all this( saith the Apostle) we know that he which raised up the Lord Iesus Christ from the dead, shal raise us up at the last day; and, for al the light and momentany afflictions which wee haue here endured, reward us with an exceeding exceeding weight of glory. So he concludes in the latter part of the former Chap. For the second. Though by the sentence of death, the soul that is now married, must bee one day diuorc't& separated from the body, and the house of this earthly Tabernacle ruinated and destroyed: Yet notwithstanding all this, saith the Apostle, 2. Cor. 4.14 17 We know that we shall haue a building given of God, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heauens. So he reasons in the beginning of this fift Chapter. The Text thē, which I haue red unto you, contains in it an argument of consolation, laid down as you see, in a hypothetical proposition, which consisteth of 2. parts; of an Antecedent& a Consequent( if you will; of a supposition, and an assertion) both of them grounded vpon certain knowledge& persuasion. In the Antecedent there is one conclusion granted: in the Consequent there is another conclusion proved. That which the Apostle grants, is, that our earthly Tabernacle must be destroyed. That which the Apostle proves, is, that wee shall haue a heavenly building given of God. The testimony of his proof is a word of assurance, which he hath annexed unto both as a band of confirmation, Gr. Oidamen gar, Wee know& are persuaded. First, therfore in the Antecedent you must be content to furuey the ruins of an earthly house. And thē in the Consequent you shall bee lead to behold the glory of a heavenly building. If this earthly house of our tabernacle be destroyed, &c. In the 16. v. of the former chapter, the Apostle told us of an outward man, and an inward man; that though our outward man faint, yet our inward man is renewed daily. And in the beginning of this chapter, he tells us of an earthly house,& a heavenly building; that if God do destroy the one, yet he will bestow the other. Though there bee some difference in the words, yet I think it is a continuation of the same allegory: and that as he doth duos homines constituere, so he doth duas vitas proponere; as he doth distinguish two sorts of men, so he doth propose two sorts of lives, an outward and an inward, an earthly and a heavenly. By this earthly house, he means this earthly body, which( like creeping snails) wee do bear about us; a house indeed, of which God himself is the builder and the owner, but yet he leases and lets it to the soul that dwells in it, as to a guest or a tenant: a house indeed, wherein there are many offices, and many rooms, some appointed to honour, and some to dishonour; and yet all of them built, but for the sustentation of that life, whose continuance is as a breath, and whose strength is as a bubble: a house indeed, that hath a foundation, but not of ston; pillars that uphold it, but not of marble; walls that environ it, but not of brass; gates that open to it, but not fastened with bars of iron; a roof that covers it, but not archt with beams of Cedar: jonah. 4.7 no, rather like the gourd that was made for jonas, that ouernight sheltered him from the wind, Commorandi Natura diuersorium dedit, non habitandi. Cic. de sen. and in the morning was devoured by a worm. It is Domus indeed, a house, and therfore a place of habitation where the soul must dwell; but terrestris domus, an earthly house,& therfore no place of residence where the soul must bide: not only domus terrestis, an earthly house, but domus terrae, a house of earth; for of that mould it was first made. Gen. 2.7. yea domus luti, G●n. 2.7 a house of day, and the foundation of it is in the dust. job. 4.19. job. 4.19 But the more clearly to express the fragility of our nature, the Apostle yet adds another Metaphor; and this body of ours which he calls an earthly house, he also calls an earthly Tabernacle, that which is of less honor, of less use, of less receipt. The Apostle Peter speaks also in the same language: I think it meele to admonish you while I am in this Tabernacle; for the time is at hand when I must lay my Tabernacle down. 2 Peter, 1.13. 2. Pet. 1.13.14 Now, Tents or Tabernacles, you know, were but a light and loose kind of covering, spread over head like a curtain,( such as the patriarchs sometimes dwelled in, when they wandered about like Pilgrims in sheeps skins, Heb. 11.37 and in goates skins; such as poor shepherds at this day do pitch-vp in the field, or Souldiers in a camp) which were only tacked or fastened to the ground with cords, and easily removed from place to place. Alas! how can we then marvell, that the corruptible and wretched body of man is so infinitely exposed to casualties and misfortunes? considering that it is but domus terrestris, an earthly house, or a house of earth; yea, but tabernaculum or tugurium, a tabernacle or a cottage, pitched low by the ground; and therfore easy to be ouerturnd with every blast of wind, to be washed away with every storm of rain, to be riven in pieces with every crack of thunder, to be ransacked and trodden under foot by the weakest enemy that lays siege against it. Many there be( saith Seneca) that complain of many grievances, some of pain in their head, some of swelling in their feet, some of aches in their bones, some of cramps in their joints, this man of distillations, Seneca in Epist. that man of obstructions, one that he hath too much blood, another that he hath too little: but marvell not at it, Hoc evenire solet in alieno habitantibus; thus it usually falls out with them that sojourn in a strange place. For, this receptacle of the body, wherein the soul doth lodge, it is not Domus but Hospitium, not our Home but our inn; from whence wee must bee turned-out, at the pleasure of our host. In conclusion therefore, what can we else expect, but( as it follows in my Text) that this Tabernacle, which is so oft removed, must be at last destroyed? for, how can dust but return to dust? how can that which is so slightly composed, Gen. 3.19. but be as lightly dissolved? how can miserable man, that carries such a house of earth vpon his back, but be in time surcharged with his own burden, and weighed down to the earth? Happy is he only that adds not a second burden to the former, a burden of sin I mean: which beside the surcharging of his body will sit heavy upon his soul; and, in stead of pressing that to the earth, weigh down both into hell. I haue heer a spacious field wherein to wander, and my lot is fallen to me in a very large and fruitful vineyard: but because the vintage would be too long, if I should stand about the gathering of every grape I will onely presume under the favour of your honourable patience, to cull a berry or two from the principal branches, and to give you such a taste of the wine, 1. Sam. 14.43 as jonathan took of the honey when he had been wearied with the toil of the battle: which may happily refresh, though it do not fill. I think there can bee nothing more unpleasant, either to the ear, or to the heart of man; especially if he bee of that gluttons brood, Luke 16.19. that never thought his hands so well set a-work, as when they were putting on soft raiment vpon his back, or sweet meat into his belly; or, if one of those rich fools in the gospel, that found his soul fullest of ease, Luke 12.19. when he saw his barns fullest of corn: nay, if he be but of that young mans race that fain would haue been a Disciple to our saviour Christ; and yet partend from him sorrowful and heavy, Mat. 19 22 because he was loath to part with his great possessions; to him nothing can bee more unpleasant, than either to hear from another, or to remember with himself, that he lives heer but as a Tenant to a greater Lord; that his body is but a house which he holds by lease from another owner; that there will a day come, when the dearest delights& the fairest ornaments that belong to it must be rifled and ript in pieces, and the building itself( because a Tabernacle of earth) ruinated and destroyed. It is therefore a memorable, though a well-knowne story, that is reported of Philip K. of Macedon( and me-thinks the more to be admired, Plutarch in vita Philip. because he was so puissant& so potent an Emperour) that after a great battle wherein he had discomfited and vanquished the Athenians; lest he should haue been puffed up with too great a glory of the victory that he had gotten, he commanded the page. of his chamber, every morning that he rose, to salute him with this good morrow; memento philip quòd homo es; remember Philip thou art but a man& thou must dy. But, oh earth, earth, earth! hear the word of the Lord; for, how pleasant, jer. 22.29 or how distasteful soever, the relish of my doctrine prove, yet I must be bold to tel you from the mouth of an Apost. that the greatest of you all do dwell but in earthly houses:& though you be the Kings and the Iudges of the earth, Psal. 2.10 yet( with reverence be it spoken) you are but earth, judging earth, and your houses but Tabernacles, which after many flittings, after many fastnings and remoouings must be at last destroyed. Me thinks heer are two observations, that directly open themselves to our understanding; the one pointing at the mutability, the other at the mortality of the lives that wee led. Their mutability is expressed, by comparing the body to a Tabernacle; the condition whereof is such, that it must be oft removed. Their mortality, by resembling it to an earthly house; the property whereof is such, that it must bee soon destroyed. Tabernacle. They that haue taken vpon thē, to distinguish the life of man into several ages; howsoever they do sometime disagree in the computation that they make( some reckoning them to be three, some four, some six, some seven) yet all of them( to my understanding) intimate unto us thus much, that so many variations as there be of our age, so many remoouings there be of our Tabernacle; which if they be well considered, be they many, or be they few, they shall be found so many degrees and steps of our misery, not one of them changing our condition from worse to better. The Insant that is newly brought into the world, he prophecies of himself that he is born the heue of misery, when he salutes the light of his nativity with crying& complaining. Therfore was it a custom among the Thracians, Dererum invent. lib. 6. cap. 10. as Polidor Virgil hath observed, always to lament and weep at the birth of their kinsfolks and children, but at their burials to rejoice and feast. And S. Cyprian her notes to be of the same opinion, that wee ought not to mourn for those that die( or not without hope at least, 1. Thes. 4.13. as Saint Paul hath advised us) quia scimus, non amittieossed pramitti, because we know, that they are not taken from us but sent before us, & quando recedunt, pracedunt; and when they go away, they do but led the way. Praecedebat funus, homines sequebantur, quasi post ipsum morituri, subaecuturique. From which opinion also, some imagine a custom was derived, that at the solemnizing of Funerals, the hearse or coffin should be born before, and they that did attend it come behind; figuring thereby and putting themselves in mind, that they must all one day follow in the same way, which he that was deceased had before them gone. The fashions of which people though they may appear strange unto us, yet Nature it seems had taught them that by instinct, which Salomon in his time observed by experience, that the day of a mans death is better then the day when he is born; Eccles. 7.3 the day when a man is born, being like the time when the quarreler begins his pilgrimage, and pitches his Tabernacle abroad; the day of his death, being like the time when he makes an end of his peregrination and settles his dwelling at home. But from his infancy, he passes on to his childhood, and there with a change of his age, he finds a change of his trouble: for, in stead of being tutourde by his nurse, he is now governed by his Parents, or lives perhaps under the feruler and discipline of a master, where all the liberty that he hath is given him by allowance, and the freedom of his nature over awed with a kind of servile fear. From his Childhood, he grows up to riper yeares of discretion and strength: and if ever he enjoy any happiness, a body surely would think he enjoys it then. But then, alas, even then he lies open to his greatest misfortunes, being grown sensible by that time in the understanding of his misery: or if he be not sensible to understand it, the greater is his misery. Then is he either envied for his virtues, or else flattered in his vices. Is he wise? the more apt to be an ouerweener of himself. Pro 10 1 Is he foolish? the greater heaviness unto hir that bare him. Is he beautiful? the more open to the temptations of just. Is he deformed? the more ready to bee made the scorn of tongues. Is he rich? the easlyer drawn to covetousness or to luxury. Is he poor? the sooner tempted to steal, Pro. 30.9 and to deny God that made him. Is he noble? the nearer to his own overthrow by pride& ambition▪ Is he ignoble? the fitter to be trodden down into disgrace and contempt. Is he strong? the less able to contain himself from the revenging of injury. Is he weak? the less able to defend himself from the receiving of injury: In a word; most inclinable in this age, to the pleasures of sin and to the lusts of youth, and( whether he live justly or injustly) vnauoidably exposed to one of these extremities, either not to be in favor with God, or else to be hated of men. Lastly,( because wee will make but four periods or divisions of a mans life, the first Infantia his Infancy, the second Pueritia his childhood, the third Iuuentus his youth, the fourth Senectus his Age; though some haue added two more unto these, Adolescentia. Virilitas. Senium. and some three) from the summer of his freshest youth, he so on declines to the winter of his decrepit& decaying age: and then( as the orator writes) si nihil aliad vitij adferret senectus hominibus, Lib. de Senect. if but this one inconvenience were incident to old age, yet this one is sufficient to make it burdensome& grievous, quòd multa quae non velit videt, that it sees many things which it would not haue lived to see.( But alas!) there be many multitudes of diseases that do then attend us, many infirmities that do hang about vs. The eyes, which are appointed to be the watchmen of this Tabernacle, and to look out by the windows, as King Salomon speaketh, Eccles. 12.3 they wax dark; the arms, which are the keepers of the house, they do tremble; the legs, which are the strong men to uphold it, they bow themselves; the lips, which are as the doors to receiue-in the provision, they are shut without; and the teeth, that do the office of grinders, to break and to distribute the food that is dressed for it, they do cease and diminish: so destitute are we then left of all succour and sustenance, vt qui senectutem optant, as S. Austen speaketh, nihil aliud optant nisi longā infirmitatem; that whosoever wish for old age, they wish for nothing else but a long-lingering infirmity. Let me add unto all these: As they that dwell in Tabernacles and in Tentes( because I will still guide the course of my speech by the thread of my Text) are sometime enforced to remove eastward, and sometime westward; sometime where the climb is temperate, and sometime where it is almost inhabitable; now to pitch in a fertile soil, and then in a barren; now where the air is healthful, and then where it is contagious; now in the mountains, and then in the valleys: So is it with wretched man, the Tabernacle of whose corruptible body is not only subject in so many revolutions& years of his age to be once removed, but every day& hour of his life to be often changed. For, if he be now healthful, he is anon sickly: if he be now full, he is anon empty: if his good name do now flourish& smell as a precious ointment, it will anon rot, and the very remembrance of it become hateful. In a word; if the state of his body or of his mind, or of his fortune be now prosperous& peaceable, it will not long continue at the same stay: but, like the moon, it will be sometime waxing and sometime waning, like the Sea sometime ebbing and sometime flowing, like the air sometime clear and sometime cloudy; like the flowers of the Spring, in the morning beautiful and fresh, in the evening without sent or lustre. And lest you might yet imagine, that this is but the condition of some few, or a lot that is laid out to some one of a thousand; I do yet affirm, that as there is no age, so there is no state or condition of mans life, but more or less bears a part of these common calamities, wherewith all the race of mankind is equally burdened. The King sits vpon the imperial throne; and yet the golden crown that he wears cannot keep his head from aching. The peers and Nobles of his land, they are employed in the honourable government of the State; but their cares are greater then their honours. The soldier he fights for glory in the field; but the best ensigns of it that he brings home, are wounds and scars. The merchant he ransacks the bowels of the Sea for wealth; but al hangs, vpon the end of the cable, and is exposed to the mercy of the winds and waves. The scholar, he spends his life by an houreglasse, while he labours for the increasing of his knowledge; Eccl. 12.12 but he finds that there is no end of writing many books, and much reading is a weariness to the spirit. The Husband-man, he sweats his heart out in the following of his plough; and thinks he makes a good harvest, when he gets rent, for the payment of his Land-Lord. What remaines unto man of all the travail that he hath under the sun? Eccles. 6.7 All his labour is for his mouth; and yet his soul is not filled. Eccles. 6.7. Yea all is full of vanity and vexation, and the tongue cannot utter it; The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing: Chap. 1.8. Eccles. 1.8. Considering therfore that our lives are so full of mutability, well may our bodies be compared unto Tabernacles, the property whereof is such that they must be oft removed. But, beside that they are full of change and mutability, they be also subject to ruin& mortality: and therfore is the body again resembled to an earthly house; Earthly house. the condition whereof is such that it must be soon destroyed. Indeed, it is a lawe and a statute, not made by us, but bread with us, to which we are not by any human discipline instructed, tutourd, or trained up, but by a celestial power moulded, fashioned,& contrived; which not the frailty of fortune, but a necessity of Nature, not the rashness of man, but the iustice of God hath enacted; that whatsoever is composed of Elements, the same should bee again digested& dissolved into Elements; that nothing which hath a spring-time and a birth, but must haue a ruin and decay; nothing which receives growth and increase, but must languish and waste; nothing which had once a beginning, but must in time decline unto his end. Yea, even that frame and texture which we once received at our first creation, when( not by the artificial workmanship of Prometheus, but by the hand of divinest providence) we were composed of souls and bodies, a soul that was inspired from heaven, a body that was extracted from the earth, a soul that was the daughter of eternity, a body that was a vessel of corruption, a soul that was immaculate and divine, a body that was slimy and impure; even this may teach us that in natures and substances so different, so repugnant, so full of contrariety, it is not possible that any nearness of friendship, or the confidence of any long enduring safety should bee procured or expected. Artabani orat. ad xerxem. I will not here complain with that heathen man, of the cruelty of Nature, which he resembles to that of Mezentius the Hetrurian tyrant. He with most nefarious cruelty devised to chame living and dead bodies together, and bound mouth to mouth, till the rotten carcases of the deade had stisted the breath of the living. She, in like manner by joining our souls to our bodies, seems to couple the living with the dead and the rotten with the sound, that so the breath of our lives might bee wasted with misery. I would rather commend unto you the counsel of a holy Father, Austen. who considering this vnauoidable necessity of our death and dissolution, Latet vltimus dies, vt observentur omnes dies. Semper vigila, vt si nescias quando veniet, paratunte inueniat quum venerit. bids us every day to prepare for that which must one day come to pass; and because wee cannot possibly avoyde it, therfore patiently to endure it: that though we be uncertain of the time, when it determins to come, yet because wee are certain there is a time, wherein it hath appointed to come, we may so learn praesentia contemnere, as wee may the better ad futura festinare; so to despise present vanities, as we may hasten after future joys: the same in effect which the Apostle hath here delivered by way of consolation, that if this earthly house of our Tabernacle must be needs destroyed; yet with assurance wee may know, that we shall haue a heavenly building given of God. The necessity of our death being then inevitable, because wee dwell as you haue heard in houses that are subject to corruption, in houses I say not made of enduring marble, or of shining brass, or of precious gold, or of polished ivory, or of sweete-smelling Cedar; no not of a watery substance, wherein there hath been less grossness: not of an ayerie, which being more simplo, is therefore more pure: not of afierie, which being carried about in a region so near the confines of the heaven, is the most uncorrupted; but in houses of slime and of earth, the most impure and putride Element of all the rest; that dust and ashes might haue nothing whereof to be proud; wee shall nor need( in many words) to dispute about the manner of our death, or to examine by what means this house may be defaced; when, having so weak a foundation, it cannot but be battered with the weakest assault. Yet three manner of ways there are, by which the fall and ruin of these material buildings, these houses of wood& of ston; which are the seats of our habitation is for the most part occasioned; either when they be smitten with casualty, or when they be sacked by hostility, or when they decay through antiquity. And by the very like occasions you shall find, that these natural houses, these lodgings of earth and of clay which we call our bodies, do also come to bee wasted and dissolved. trees sunt enim nuntij mortis; easus, infirmitas, senectus. For there bee three Heraults or Messengers of death; casualty, sickness, and Age. Casus dubia, infirmitas grauia, senectus certanuntiat: casualty, that tells us of a doubtful end; sickness, that tells us of a painful end; age, that tells us of a certain end. Casus nuntiat mortem latentem, infirmitas apparentem, senectus praesentem. casualty, that is the messenger of a secret death; sickness, that is the messenger of an approaching death. Age, that is the messenger of a present death. But S. Austen hath a notable saying Lib. 1. de civit. deal. They, that by a fatal necessity are bound to die need not take care or be troubled quid accidat vt moriantur, said moriendo quò ire cogantur; what happen to bee the cause of their death, but to what place they must bee sent after their death. Indeed, beloved, he that learns this, learns all: for, whatsoever the hand be that gives the fatal stroke; or whensoever the time bee, that the mace of death is brought to arrest us; let it bee in the dayes of our fullest strength, When our breasts do flow with milk, job. 21.24 and when our bones run full of marrow: or let it be in the bitterness of our soul, when wee eat not our morsels with peace; Blessed shall we be, if we die in the Lord; revel. 14.14 if( as the Apostle here speaketh) wee know and be assured, that when this earthly house of our Tabernacle is destroyed, wee shall haue a building given of God. But in the mean time, shal I clap my hands with Democritus and laugh, or with Heraclitus shall I sigh and weep; to behold the follies of this age, and the vanities of many, who though they be simplo as the brute beasts, that haue no understanding, yet think themselves wiser in their own conceits then seven men that can render a reason. Prou. 26.16 The spirit of God doth here teach us, that our bodies are but flitting Tabernacles, which must be oft removed; but houses of earth, which must soon be destroyed. Now( good Lord!) what means all the labour that we employ, all the Art that we bestow, all the cost that we dispend, about the painting& patching of these tottering and thin plastered walls that are so rotten and so ruin ous? How do we deck them without? how do wee dress them within? without, we make the shine very glorious: but they be tricks of Iezabels Art. 2. Reg. 9. and the ornaments that wee buy for them are very costly and sumptuous; 2. Reg. 9 but in many they be emblems of Herods pride within: Act. 12.21 wee receive guests into the rooms; but they be legions of vnclean divels, such as defile every office in the house; the mouth with swearing and blasphemy( that common and cursed sin of this licentious age) the eyes with wantonness and vanity, the hands with oppression& usury, the heart with malice and cruelty. O! how much better were it, that our habitation should be desolate and void, then that a temple of the holy-ghost should be so polluted? 1. Cor. 6.19 Finally: whereas it should be our principal endeavour, to seek after heavenly buildings, such as are gi-of God; they bee earthly buildings which we do principally seek after, such as be made by men, houses of ston forsooth, to cover houses of earth, and lands and fields to lay in compass about them; as if many miles of ground were too few to content us, when six foot of ground is sufficient to contain vs. Well. Let me now tell you at the last( because I will draw to an end) that ther is a three fold earth, as by some hath been prettily observed. There is terra quam terimus, there is terra quam gerimus; there is terra quam quaerimus. There is terra quam terimus; and this is that wherein we labour, even that ball of earth vpon which we tread. There is terra quam gerimus; and this is that wherein we lodge, even that house of earth of which wee speak. There is terra quam quaerimus; and this is that for which we look, even that new heaven, and that new earth, whereof Saint John hath made that elegant description, revel. 21.1. The first of these is subject to corruption; for, in the day of the Lord if shall be purged with fire, 2. Pet. 3.10. And the second is subject to mortality; for, what man lives that shall not see death? or who shall deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Psal. 89.48. Application. Nemo tam senex, qui non posset annum vivere. Though commonly we say that there is none so old but he may live a year; yet as good reason we haue both to say and think that there is none so young but he may die to day. Nemo tam iovis, qui non posset hody mori. You haue heer the body of a Princely Infant to behold: and it is here presented to your eyes as a memorable spectacle, too truly verefying& confirming whatsoever I haue said. If the benefit of any privilege might haue exempted and secured her; no question but she had been rescued form the jaws of death, and not so soon made a prisoner to the inexorable bars and bands of the grave. The tabernacle of her house, it was but newly reared; it had, you know, a royal and a Kingly foundation, it had all the honourable ornaments and supportations that might any way vphoulde it in strength and beauty. No travell, no charge, no care, no attendance, no service or observation, which the skilfullest Art of man, or the most indulgent tenderness of a mother-like affection could possibly compass or invent, either day or night was wanting( and I speak no more but that of which I haue been from time to time & auritus& oculatus testis, both an ear and an eyewitness) to haue preserved it inviolable from this assault and battery. But, what availed it the Image of nabuchadnezzar, that it had a head of gold, a breast of silver, thighs of brass, Dan. 2.31 legs of Iron, when the day that was mingled in the feet, was a most ominous and infallible prediction, that it could not bee of any durable, or lasting continuance? The house wherein shee lodged was a weak house of day: which being many ways obnoxious to frailty and corruption, it could not but dissolve; though I doubt not, but that noble Spirit, which once inhabited that earthly mansion, hath now a heavenly building given of GOD, where it is made to reign with the Saints and Angels. Shee is therfore fallen: and wee may say of her as it was said of Abner, that a great Prince is fallen this day in Israel. 2. Sam. 3.38 Psal. 144.12 Shee was one of the polished corners that beautified our temple, one of the four pillars that so gorgeously upheld the majesty of our kingdom. In her life shee was lovely and pleasant, 2. Sam. 1.13 so sang DAVID of jonathan and Saul: and though but as that little Sister of whom Salomon writes, Cant. 8.8 Cant. 8.8. We haue a little sister and she hath no breasts; yet by the light and heat, that was seen glowing from so little a spark, one that promised excellent hopes( to the world) of whatsoever we account to be virtuous and laudable. But such was the manner of her death, as bread a kind of admiration in us all that were present to behold it. For, whereas the new-tuned Organs of her speech, by reason of her wearisome and tedious sickness, had been so greatly weakened, that for the space of twelve or fourteen hours at the least, there was no ●ound of any word heard, breaking from her lips; yet when it sensibly appeared that she would foone make a peaceable end of a troublesone if, she sight out these words, I go, I go: and when not long after, ther was something to bee ministered unto her by those that attended her in the time of her sickness; fastening her eye upon them with a constant look, again she repeated, away, Igoe. And yet a third time, almost immediately before shee offered up herself a sweet Virgin-sacrifice unto him that made hir, faintly she cried Igoe, Igoe. The more strange did this appear to us that heard it, in that it was almost incredible that so much vigour should stil remain in so weak a body; and whereas shee had used many other words in the time of her extremity, yet that now at last( as if directed by supernatural inspiration) shee did so aptly vttter these, and none but these. Her loss cannot but bee an affliction to her parents, a maim to our kingdom, a warning to us all, to her self no matter of sorrow or complaint, being happily arrived with so little tossing in a tempestuous Sea, at the shore of blessedness and the Land of peace. But howsoever it bee a smarting visitation, if it bee well considered, that so noble a branch is broken from the body of our Land; this comfort is yet reserved( and long may it with comfort continue unto us) that the royal stock whereon it grew doth still flourish, that a fruitful vine is still spreading vpon the side of the Kings house, and many olive plants left standing about his Table. And yet another comfort in respect of herself, that no son of belial hath been suffered to butcher her with a sacrilegious hand( as the divell had once intended it) but that God himself, who planted her as a beautiful flower in his own garden, hath with his own hand been pleased to gather her, even as a lily from among the thorns; for whom I doubt not but she was made ready and ripe betime. The stalk of her life being thus early cropped, even in the spring and prime of her infancy, when the blossom of it had but new begun to button and to bud, shee hath lost perhaps a few dayes of secondary, but( I dare boldly speak it) many moneths of sorrow, being mercifully delivered from those variable annoiances which shee must undoubtedly haue felt, if shee had survived to the Autumn of hir age. So much the greater is her happiness, that notwithstanding the shortening of hir worldly sorrows, she loseth not the least part in that blessed portion which all the Saints of God both great and small do expect at the resurrection of the righteous. Seneca, though a heathen man, Seneca in Epist. to this purpose hath an excellent saying: Hic plus edit; ille minus: quid refert, si vterque satur est. One eats more, another less: but what is this material, if they both do satisfy their hunger. One drinks more, another less: but what is this material, if they both do assuage their thirst? Thou livest a longer time, I a shorter: but what is this to the purpose, if at last wee be both made equally happy? The end of all is this; Conclusion. that whereas from that which we haue heard, and by this that we haue seen, it is evidently apparent that the life that we led, is not only exposed to mutability, but is also subject to mortality( for it is that terra quam gerimus, that earth which wee carry about us, even that Tabernacle saith my Text, which must be oft removed, and that terrestrial house which must be soon destroyed) that first therefore we learn to confess with jacob that the dayes of this life are but the dayes of our pilgrimage; Gen. 47.9 the same in effect which is taught us in the sixth ver. of this chapped. that while we are dwelling in the body, wee are absent from the Lord; and then to pray with Moses, Psal. 90.13 that God would teach us how to number these dayes; that, as it follows in the eightth verse, whether wee be remaining at home or removing from home, wee may always covet to be acceptable in his sight. So shall we know& be assured, that when this earthly house of our Tabernacle is destroyed, wee shall haue a building given of God: even that inheritance that S. Peter speaks of, 1. Pet. 1.4 Luk. 12.32 revel. 21.1 that kingdom that our saviour Christ speaks of, that celestial city of the new jerusalem, that S. John speaks of; the frame whereof is all of gold, and the walls of shining jasper; the walls haue twelve foundations, and the twelve foundations are twelve precious stones; the foundations haue twelve gates, and every gate an entire pearl; the gates haue twelve Porters& every Porter a glorious angel. In the midst of this city, there stands the throne of peace; At the foot of this throne, there flows the river of salvation. About the sides of this river there grows the three of life. The fruit of this three is good for food; and the leaves, to cure the stings of Serpents. This is that terra quam quaerimus; that new heaven and that new earth, for the which we do seek, after which we must sigh, in the which we shall reign, and to the which God of his infinite mercy bring us, as we doubt not but he hath brought this excellent and now-happy Lady; and that through the alone merits and mediation of his dear Son our blessed saviour Christ Iesus: to whom with the Father and the holy Spirit be given and ascribed all honor, and glory, and power, and dominion, both now and for ever. Amen. FINIS. An elegy, vpon the death of the most excellent and hopeful princess, the Lady Marie's Grace. WHen, to the Altar of thy hallowed tomb, My sorrowing Muse shall( like a Pilgrim) To sacrifice the tears of her complaint( come, To thee, a Lady once, but now a Saint ( Able, though dead, to make my lines to live; Could they, to thee, the life of honour give) And, on a naked marble, there behold Some sad inscription, writ in lines of gold, Reporting with what conquest Death did bring The royal issue of so great a King ( After a siege, that lasted, from her birth, Three yeares almost) into that prison of earth, Where yet while shee must his captive dwell; Whether to weep, or ioy, it will not tell. When back I look, with a remembering eye, To view the ruins( that do scattered lie) Of that rare mansion which in every part The heavenly Maker built, with wondrous Art; And see the beauties of it quiter defac't, The princely guest dislodged, the building rac't, The broken relics( times inglorious pray) All raked up rudely in a heap of day; How can I then my melting eyes contain, From drowning up my breast with showers of rain? Ah God( think I) how vain a thing is man! His breath a bubble, and his life a span, His swelling honour, but a cloud of smoke, Which turns to air, or else returns to choke; His house but day, where( like a traveling guest) he must while remain, not ever rest; His All, but earth, and all to frailty vowed, Of what should dust and ashes then be proud? But, when I forward cast my hope-full sight, To those high chambers of eternal light, To which that noble spirit is now translated ( And in the height of glorious bliss instated) That whilom lodged within a wall of dust, Whose frail foundation was but weak of trust: When that great Cities frame I do behold, The walls of jasper, and the floor of gold, The 12. foundations built of precious ston, The gates 12. orient pearls, of price unknown; At which, 12. Angels( like 12. warders) stand To guard the way into the Holy Land; Where, though nor Sun nor Moon give spark of light, Yet Gods own face that shines divinely bright ( And dims the splendour both of sun and moon) Doth make the night as glorious as the noon: When this immortal house, not made with hands ( Where her pure soul, a crwoned angel stands, And like a spot-lesse Virgin sweetly sings Her Hallelu-iah, to the King of Kings) I see with hope-full eyes; and call to mind The blisse-full joys, that there the Saints do find; How can my gladded spirit but then rejoice At this her happy change, her heavenly choice, That with so little pain, so little sin, Shee can so great a world of glory win? Ah, dearest God! dissolve this house of mine, Through which I cannot see that glory shine; And break the cords of my vnfastned tent, Where still with change my wandering dayes be spent; That, when this shell of earth is cracked in twain, My newe-hatcht soul a second life may gain. So I the city of my God may see, Let me a Pilgrim here, a stranger be. I. Leech.