THese parcels of holy Scripture na­turally divide and branch them­selues into these foure head-streams.

• 1 The ioyfull Exultation and Triumphant insultation of all the godly, in the person of S^t Paule, o­ver Death and the Graue [O death, where is thy sting? O graue where is thy victory?]
• 2 The originall Cause of Death; which is sinne. [The sting of death is sinne.]
• 3 The Power and life (as it were) of Sinne; which is the Law [The strength of sinne is the law.]
• 4 And last, The Victory and conquest of Christians in their head and Captaine Christ Iesus over Sinne, and Death [Thankes bee vnto God, which hath given vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ.]

Of all these by Gods gracious assistance &c. But first of the cause of Death, which is Sinne, and so of the rest; [Page 2] and in the last place of the triumphant Insultation over death, which will best befit the present occasion.

It was the errour, or heresie rather, of the Pelagians (as S^t. Augustine writeth) that whether Adam had sin­ned or no,Augustin. lib. 1. Hypognost contra Art. 1. yet hee should surely haue dyed; because God had created him mortall, and was the author of death as well as of life: so that Adam was the immediate subiect both of life and death in Gods first intention, and institu­tion of mankind. Whereas the truth is, that man before his fall was neither mortall nor immortall (Necessitate) by any necessity of creation and institution from God:Hugo de S^to Victore de sa­cramentis le­gis natur. & script. in. dia­log. and yet hee was both mortall and immortall (Potestate,) by his owne power; because then indeed life and death were both in his power. For although, in regard of the contra­ry principles whereof man consisted, he had in himselfe a naturall propension to corruption; inasmuch as contra­rieties both in bodies naturall & politique, alwaies breed destruction of those bodies: yet God in the first creation had given that speciall and celestiall power & vertue vn­to the soule, that it was ever able to haue preserued the body from sicknesse, and from death, & to haue perpetu­ated the same throughout all generations. So that the God of Nature in the beginning never intended that Mō ­ster of Death, as the Pelagians and Celestians did errone­ously conceiue but when the soule by her divorce and se­paration from God through sinne lost her life, both Pas­siue, which she received from God, and Actiue which she infused to the body, then the soule lost all power and abi­litie of perpetuating the life of the body. For what is more iust then the law of Retaliation with God, even to punish like with like? and therefore (as S^t Bernard saith) [Page 3] Anima volens perdidit vivere, Bernard. in serm. ad mili­tes Templi. Cap. 11. nolens ergo perdat & vivi­ficare, The soule of her own accord lost the life which she had in God; and therefore now will shee, nill shee, shee must loose the life, which she giues vnto the body. And so indeed man is now become mortall by necessitie; partly, by the fraile condition of the body,Th. Aquin. in lib. 3. sentent. distinct. 16. artic. 1 vt à causa disponente as the disposing cause (as the Schoolemen speake) al­waies tending to corruption: but especially by sinne, vt à causa removente prohibens, which did remoue the originall iustice of the soule, which was the obstacle and barre of death;Math. 7.13. and so let open the doore & wide gate to hell & de­struction. Wherefore God is not the cause of Death,Sap. 1.13. De­us enim mortem non fecit, God made not death, but Sa­than, by suggestion; and Adam, by sinfull action: the one moving to sinne, the other committing sinne. Where­fore as the theefe or malefactour is the author of his owne death, and the iust Iudge no cause thereof; al­beit he pronounce the sentence of death against him: In like manner, sinnefull man is the cause of his owne death both of body and soule, and God is but the iust Iudge to pronounce the sentence of death, Morte morieris; Gen. 2.17. Thou hast sinned, and therefore thou shalt surely die. For sinne is indeed that sting of the serpent, that stingeth mā to death:Augustin. lib. 1. Hypogu. it is not the biting of the serpent only, as S. Augustine de­riues the Latine word Mors à morsu serpentis, as if death had its name of the biting of the serpent; but it is more, e­ven the sting of the serpent, because as the poison of the serpent is collected and vnited in a smal sting, as the fittest instrument of deadly poison: so al the venome & poison of Death is in the sting of sinne. For sinne is the Father of Death, By one man sinne entred into the world, Rom. 5.12. and death by [Page 4] sin: Iam. 1.15. and it is the Mother of Death, When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin bringeth forth death. Let none then make God the author of death, because by his iust sentence he condemneth man to die for sinnes sake, & the trespassing of his law, as the Iudge the malefactour for offending against the lawes of God and man: Neither let any thinke Sathan the author of death or of punishments Propriâ potestate, as by his owne power; sed permissione di­vinâ & propria suggestione, but as of Gods permissiō, & of his own suggestion: And let every one of vs say vnto ano­ther,2. Sam. 12.7. as Nathan said to David, Thou art the man, Thou art the cause of thine owne death. For it is sinne as a viper in the bowels of man, which eateth out the bowels of man; it is the canker of sinne in the heart of man, that devou­reth the heart of man:Hos. 13.8. and as God said to Israël, Perditio tua ex te ô Israël, O Israël thy destruction commeth of thy selfe; the like may God say to every man, O sinneful man, thy death and thy destruction commeth of thy selfe. For as the heathen Oratour saide of the priviledge of a Citizen of Rome,Cic. prodomo suâ ad Pontif Nemo Civis Romanus aut libertatem aut civitatē amittere potest nisi ipse author factus sit, No citizē of Rome could haue his freedome taken frō him, or loose the pri­viledges and immunities of his City, except himselfe was the authour thereof: the same may truely bee spoken of the excellent Priviledges & Prerogatiues of Paradise, the City of God, wherein Adam was first enfranchised, that none could take away Adams freedome from him, or ba­nish him from that heavenly City, except himselfe had beene the first cause thereof, except himselfe had disfran­chised himselfe. For it was Adams sin, that brought him death; and the stinge of his sinne hath stung all mankinde [Page 5] to death: through the offence of one, death passed vpon all mē, Rom. 5.12. for as much as all haue sinned in him. Rom. 5. Yea the little childrē, who die so soone as they are new borne, are stung to death through sin; not because they committed sin, but because they were conceived in sin:Augustin Hy­pognost. lib. 5. as S. Augustine doth wel distinguish their sin to be vterinâ conceptione, non per­sonali actione, through their sinneful conception, and not through any personall action. Parvuli enim non actu, August. Ibid. sed ortu sunt peccatores, Infants are sinners, not for any fact,Psalm. 51 5. but for birth sake, they are conceived in sin, and borne in ini­quity. For if they had beene free from all originall sin, as they were from actual sin, they should not so soone haue died, because the wages of sin is death; and where is no sinne,Rom. 6.23. there is no death; to wit Necessary and Poenall. For albeit Christ died, who did no sinne, yet his death was Voluntary, 1. Pet. 2.22. Tradidit in mortem animam suam, Esay. 53 12. Iohn 10.18. he offered himselfe of his owne will to die; he powred out his soule vnto death; hee laid downe his life of himselfe: But all other men die neces­sarily; Statutum est omnibus semel mori, Heb. 9.27. It is appointed to all men that they should once die; it was the decree of God for sinnes sake that everie man should die, and that decree of God was not, Respectu naturae institutae, in regard of the first created nature of man, sed respectu naturae destitutae, in respect of the depraved and corrupted nature of man through sinne. Againe, Christs death was Expiatory, but mans Poenall: Christs death was not the sting of sinne Pas­siuely, to be stung to death by sin, as mans was; but it was the sting of sinne Actiuely, to sting sinne to death; for his death was the death of death. Thus then you haue heard the cause of death to be sinne, according to these words of my Text [The sting of death is sinne.

[Page 6]The second thing which I noted is the Life and Power of Sinne, which is the Law [The strength of sinne is the law.] Whereas sinne in the time of the Law of Nature in ma­ny did seeme dead, or at least senselesse, and to lie as in a transe, so that it did not manifestly appeare what was sin, and what was not, the eies of mens minds and vnderstan­dings being darkned and overcast with grosse mists of ig­norance and errour; then the law of Moses brought sinne to life againe.Rom. 7 9. Quando enim venit mandatum, revixit pec­catum, when the commandement came, sinne reviued. The bright sunshine of Moses Law made sinne shine cleere in its perfect colours; and then the darknesse and confusion of the differences of sinnes was taken away, that every one might runne and read what sinne was:Rom 7.13. Et supra modum peccatum erat peccatum per mandatum, sinne was growne out of measure sinfull by the commandement. For the law made the full tide of sinne; which grew by these degrees. First, in his being: for sinne had his beginning, and being as it were from the Law;Rom. 4.15. because where no law is, there is no transgression, Rom. 4. Secondly in the knowledge of sinne: as S^t Paule saith,Rom. 7.7. I knewe not sinne but by the Law; for how should I haue knowne lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not lust? Wherefore knowledge hoysseth vp the waues of sin: for where the greatest knowledge is, there the grea­test sinne is, if vertue & godlinesse be not the handmaids of knowledge, and that it be not seasoned with grace, ac­cording as our Saviour saith,Luk. 12 47. Luk. 12. That man who know­eth his masters will, and doth it not, shall bee beaten with many stripes. And therefore saith S^t Paul, Tribulation & anguish, and indignation, Rom 2 9. and wrath shall bee vpon the soule of every man that doth evill, of the Iew first, and also of the Gentile. [Page 7] Rom. 2. Why vpon the Iew first, but because hee knewe most, and therefore is first and most punished?Theophilact. in cap. 2. ad Rom. as Theophy­lact on that place saith, Iudaeus plus divinae susceperat disci­plinae, vnde erat dignus maiore supplicio; The Iew had re­ceiued a greater measure of knowledge, and therefore re­ceiueth a greater measure of punishment; because hee knewe the Law of the Lord but did not keepe it. Thirdly, the Law encreaseth sinne by forbidding sin: for the more the Law forbiddeth sin, the more doth the wicked mā co­vet sinne. Ruimus in vetitum, we runne with all might and main to that which is forbidden vs,August. in lib. de speritu & litera cap 4. Quod enim concupisci­tur fit iucundius dum vetatur; The prohibitiō of any thing to be done is as suger to sweeten the appetite thereof: as the forbidding of meats many times by the Physition needeth no further sauce to provoke appetite in the pa­tient most of all to desire those meats. And as swelling waters, the more they are barred their course and flow by flood-gates, and lockes, and wheires, the more they rage and swell and overflowe: so the more the Law doth seem to bolt and barre men from sinne, and to set them their bounds which they should not passe, the more is sinfull mans nature enraged, and the more the swelling waues of wickednesse do overflowe, and make their full tide. All which commeth to passe, not because the law is sinne, for it is holy, iust, and good: Rom. 7.12. but because the Law is as a by-occa­sion, and not any iust cause to increase sinne, and to giue vigour and strength therevnto. For the law is the strength of sinne, not of it selfe, but by accident; not directly, but in­directly; as appeareth by the three former degrees of be­ing, knowing, and forbidding: as also by the great industrie and pollicie of Sathan, who seeing God to haue made [Page 8] the Law as a barre to keepe men from sinne, doth there­fore labour the more to tempt men thereby, and to make the Law as a snare to catch men. Wherefore for conclu­sion of this point, the Law is no more in fault that man groweth more sinfull thereby, then the sune in the firma­ment is in fault, because sore and bleare eies become so­rer and blind thereby. For as the Physition is not to bee blamed, or his physicke in fault, because the sicke patient doth ill apply it, and by his distemperature in diet turneth wholsome phisicke and medicine to the increase of his maladie and disease: In like manner, God the Physition of mens soules, who gaue his law as a soveraigne medicine to preserue them from sicknesse and from sinne, is not to be blamed, or his law in fault; but sinfull man, who ma­keth that soveraigne medicine as poyson vnto his soule to increase his sinne. Thus you haue heard how the Law is the strength of sinne: I come now to the victory & cō ­quest of Christians in their head and Captaine Christ Ie­sus over sinne and death [Thankes bee vnto God, which hath given vs victory tbrough our Lord Iesus Christ.

When mankind was not able to encounter with Death that great Giant, which did overcome all people by his power, & did trample vpon Kings & Princes, tyrannizing over all at his pleasure; for indeede death was like that mighty King Prov. 39. who had his name of a compound Hebrew word [...] Alkum, Prov. 30 31. and is as much to say as none is able to stand or rise vp against him; like Iosua the Captaine of Israel: for as he shut Kings & Princes in caues of the earth,Ios. 10 18. and roaled great stoces vpon the mouthes of the caues, Ios. 10.50. So death shutteth the greatest Emperors and Kings in caues & in graves, and rowleth great stones [Page 9] vpon the mouthes thereof, & maketh great tombes ouer them:) I say, when mankind was not able to enter listes & combate with this potent tyrant, but was forced to yeeld & lie down at his feet: Then Christ Iesus that blessed sonne of God, and sonne of David, 1. Sam. 17. encountreth like his father David with this great Goliah, and with a strong maner of fight overcommeth him; not with any instrument & wea­pon of warre, or by fighting, but by dying. Hee slayeth death as David did Goliah, with his owne sword:1 Sam. 17.51. He over­commeth Death with death. Dum occiditur, occidit, Hieronym. lib. 2. Epist. 24. as S^t Hierome speaketh; whilst Sathan and death sought to kill him, he killeth them both, & maketh his death their death: as it was prophecied of him Hos. 13. O Death, Hos. 13.14. I will be thy death! O graue I will be thy destruction! Christi enim morte mors mortua est; by Christs death, Death died: Devorauit, Hieronym. vbi. supra. & devorata est, it sought to devoure, and it selfe was de­voured; for whereas it sought to catch at mans humanity, it was devoured of his deitie. And even therefore, accor­ding to the Apostle Heb. 2. Heb. 2.14. did Christ take flesh and blood vpon him, that so hee might die in his flesh, and through death destroy Death, and him that hath the power of Death, that is, the Devill. So that Christ hath carried away the gates of death,Iudg. 16.3. Iudg. 16.30. as Samson sometimes did the gates of Az­za: and hath, like another Samson, by his death slaine the great Philistines, even sinne and death, and the Divell. But some peradventure will say, how hath Christ overcome death how hath his death taken away death; seeing death raigneth and ruleth now as much in mens bodies since Christs death as before, and men die as fast as before? For answer herevnto, you must consider that there bee two manners of death: the one of the body, the other of the [Page 10] soule; the one temporall, the other eternall. Now this e­ternal & spiritual death of the soule Christ hath alrea­dy taken away In re, indeed, actually destroying that in all the faithfull through remissiō of their sinnes in his blood: But the temporall death of the body hee hath only taken away In spe, in hope of the glorious resurrection of the body at the last day, when death shall be swallowed vp into victory, 1. Cor. 15.54. Revel 21.4. and when there shall be no more death. For this cor­porall death, which is a temporall punishment of origi­nall sinne,Alex. ab Alex. part. 4. qu 8. membr. 8. Artic. 2. Christ hath not taken away Simpliciter, simply and altogither; but quoad dominium only, as the Schoole­men speake: that is, the power and dominion of death is taken away by Christ, as appeareth, Rom. 5. where it is said that death raigned from Adam to Moses, Rom. 5.14. that is, all the time of the Law inclusiuely;Psal. 68.18. evē vntill Christ, who by his death hath destroyed the kingdome of death, and hath led capti­vitie captiue. And therefore this tyrant Death (whose kingdome is alreadie actually destroyed, though it selfe shall not be fully destroyed vntill the end of the world, for the last enimie that shall be destroyed is Death) I say,1. Cor. 15.26. this ty­rant Death, being thus depulsed and driven out of his kingdome,Origen. in c. 5. ad Rom. Nō tam regnare, quàm latrocinari videtur, doth not so much seeme to raigne and play the Tyrant, as to play the theefe and murtherer to kill men. And this pow­er of death Christ hath not taken away,August. lib 13. de Civit. Dei. Cap. 4. Ne fides enerva­retur, quae corporis immortalitatem in spe exspectat, quam in re nondum habet, as S^t. Augustine giueth the reason; name­ly for the further exercise of that part of a Christiā mans faith, whereby he constantly beleeues the immortality of the body hereafter, which in this life it cannot haue. Yea Christ may bee said in some manner already to haue ta­ken [Page 11] away even the corporall death also in the godly, in­as much as he hath taken away sinne which is the sting of death, and as it were the forme and life of death. So that as hony is not truely honie, when it hath lost its sweet­nesse; nor Vineger truely vinegar, when it hath lost its tartnesse and sharpnesse; nor Aloes and Gall truly so, when they haue lost their bitternes: no more is the death of the righteous truely death, hauing lost its bitternesse,Psal. 69.21. and fearefulnesse and terrours in the godly. The gall and vineger, which Christ dranke a little before his death, hath taken away the gall and bitternesse of the death of the faithfull, in whom death, hath lost as the greatest part of its nature, so even the very name of it too, it being in them no more but a sleepe, as it is called in diverse places of holy Scripture,1. Thess. 4.15. whereof for brevitie sake I will name but one. 1. Thess. 4. where it is said that they which liue and are remaining at the comming of the Lord, in the resurrecti­on shall not prevent those that sleepe, that is all those that are dead before. Wherefore to draw towardes a conclusion of this point, it doth appeare how the faithfull are con­querours in Christ their head and Captaine over sinne and death; for Christs victory is their victory, because all his fighting with sinne and death and the Divel, the great and capitall enimies of mankind, was only to make men his faithfull members Conquerours: so that they may say with S^t Paule in my Text, that God hath given them vi­ctorie over sinne and death through his sonne Christ Ie­sus.Numb. 21.9. Now is their death become like the brasen serpent in the wildernesse, which had indeed the shape and forme of a Serpent, but nothing else of a serpent, nec motum, nec morsum, nec venenum; neither life, nor motiō, nor tongue, [Page 12] nor sting, nor poyson of a serpent: In like manner the death of the godly in the wildernesse of this world hath the likenesse and semblance of death; but it hath no sting, it hath no venome, it hath no poyson. But, whereas it is to the wicked and vngodly the beginning of sorrow and everlasting torments, it is to the godly and righteous the end of sorrowes, but the beginning of everlasting ioyes: to the wicked it is the gate of hell; but to the godly the gate to heauen: in a word, to the wicked it is death indeed even death of body and soule, but to the righteous rather a life then a death, even the entrance and passage to ever­lasting life. So that when they lie on their death-beds, and are even at their last gaspe, when they are ready to giue vp the ghost, and death seemeth to haue gotten the vp­per hand of them, and brought them almost as low as the dust;Theod. lib. 1. Eccl. Hist. cap 20. yet even then as Iulian said to Christ Vicisti Galilaee, O Galilean, thou hast overcome me, so may death say to them Vicisti Christiane, O Christian, thou hast overcome me. No marvaile then if our blessed Apostle here in my Text, in the person of all the godly, burst forth into that ioyfull [...] and triumphant song, [O death, where is thy sting? O graue where is thy victory?] which now followeth in the last place to be considered, containing the ioyfull exultation, and triumphant insultation of the godly over Death, and Hell, and the Graue.

The Heathens and Pagans, saith S^t Origen, were wont to celebrate the day of their birth and nativitie,Orig. lib. 3. in Iob. as onely louing this, and looking for none after this: but Christi­ans must not so much celebrate and solemnize the day of their birth as of their death; because albeit they loose this life, yet they must looke for, and more loue another life. And the dying out of this world is not a death, but a [Page 13] life rather, Quia non moriuntur siqui mori videntur, Orig. vt supr be­cause they, saith the same S^t Origen, who here seeme to die, doe not die indeed; for albeit they seeme to flesh and blood to die, yet in truth and indeed they liue eternally. And as Iacob after his wrestling with the Angel was sinew shrunke, and had his thigh out of ioint, and went halting; but had his name changed, and was no more called Iacob, Gen. 32.28.31 but Israel, because hee prevailed with God and did see God: Semblably, the godly after they haue wrestled with the Angell of death on their death-beds, may haue the sinews of their bodies shrūk vp, & al the parts & mēbers thereof out of ioint (for death indeed disiointeth all) so that they are not able to go vpright, but are carried on mens shoul­ders vnto their graues; yet the Angel of death in the end cānot but cōfesse, that they haue power with God, & that God wil blesse thē, & giue thē a new name, Revel. 2.17. so that they shal no more be called Iacobs, mortal mē, supplanting one ano­ther here on earth, but Israëls, prevailers with God, seers of God, and blessed Saints of God in the kingdome of hea­ven. The godly then haue great cause to reioice, and in­sult over death, saying, O Death, where is thy sting? Thou maiest indeed sting our bodies vnto death; but thou haste lost thy great string, thou canst not now any more sting our soules to death. O Tyrant, thou mayst kill our bodies for a time, but thou canst not kill our soules for ever. So that they may say with S. Bernard; O mors, Bern. serm. 26 sup. Cantic. stimulus tuus non est stimulus, sed iubilus, O Death, thy sting is no sting vnto vs, but our jubilee, and crowne of reioicing: 1. Thess. 2.19 thou thinkest to send vs quicke vnto hell,Greg. Nyssen but thou sendest vs quickly to heaven; thou art as a midwife (as Gregorie Nyssene spea­keth,) to helpe to bring vs out of the womb of this world [Page 14] into a better world,Psal. 27.13. and into the land of the living; thou art the ship, wherein we saile vnto the haven of our happy­nesse, whilst we are here almost drowned in the deluge of this miserable and wretched life.Gen. 5.29. And therefore as Lamech called his sonne Noah, because he should comfort him & make all his labour and sorrow to cease and rest: in like manner all iust and righteous men may call death their Noah, the sonne of their rest and comfort from all their labours and sorrowes and sicknesses & diseases & paines; for then all these things and all such like miseries shal bee done away, and shall never be againe. When Vrbicius Governour vnder the persecuting Emperour Aurelius Verus, Euseb. l 4 hist Eccles. cap. 16 would needs put Lucius to death for the profession of Christianitie, Lucius scorned him, saying, O wicked Ty­rant, wilt thou put me to death? thou dost me a great fa­vour, and a great kindnesse, for thou sendest me from the tyrannie of a cruell Lord and Governour ad bonum patrē & clementem Regem Deum, to a good Father & a mercifull King, even God my Christ and my Lord. So when death that Tyrant, to whom every knee must bend, and bow at his presence, threatneth Christians, they may iustly an­swer him, as Lucius there did Vrbicius; O Tyrant, dost thou threaten to kill vs? thou dost vs a great kindnesse; thou freest vs from the tyrannie of wicked men here on earth, and sendest vs to a loving father and a mercifull Lord in the heavens: thou freest vs from the stinking prison of this world, to send vs to sweet and pleasant palaces in the world to come. And that they may likewise say as S^t Basil said to Modestus Governour vnder Valens the Emperour,Greg. Naz. in orat 30 in laudem Basil. whē he threatēd his death, mors mihi beneficij loco erit, quia cito me ad Deū mittit, cui vivo, & ad quem propero; Oh wel­come [Page 15] Death, thou art a great benefit, a great advantage vnto me, for thou sends me quickly to God to whome I liue, and to whom I long to goe. And therefore O Death, where is thy sting? O Graue where is thy victory.

And now (Beloued) lest the stream of discourse should carrie me beyond the compasse of the time,Application. and I should tire out both my weake spirits and your Christian pati­ence; I come briefly to some short application, as the pre­sent occasion and your expectation requireth: that as I haue hither to spoken of death, so now I may say some­thing also of this dead subiect presēted here before your eies. And albeit it be too hard a matter for mee either by speech or action sufficiently to commend his excellent worth, all that I can say being farre too little, and no way answerable therevnto: yet because,Hermol. Bar­barus in epist ad Ioh. Picum Mirandul. as Hermolaus said of a great learned man. Quia talem non laudat, propriae existima­tioni detrahit, so may I say of him, that if J should not somewhat honour him with iust cōmendation, I should much wrong my selfe, and wrong you all; I beseech you therefore lend me your favourable patience but a while, whilst I speake briefly of his Learning, Life, and Death. That so both I may faithfully repay some part of that I owe him, (for deserved praise is tanquam aes alienum, Greg. Naz. orat. 25. in laudem Gor­goniae. as due debt, saith Greg. Nazianzen, and is to be paid even to the dead) and others also thereby may bee the more inci­ted to emulate, and follow his steppes.

First, as touching his Learning; such was his skill in the tongues, and his multiplicitie of knowledge in all Arts & Sciences both divine and humane,Mantuan. in Epist. ad Ioh. Picum Mirandul. that as Baptista Man­tuanus spake of Picus Mirandula, in vno eodē (que) homine vi­deri Hieronymum & Augustinum revixisse; so it should [Page 16] seeme that both these learned Fathers did liue in him a­gaine.Act. 18.24. He was an Apollos, mightie in the Scriptures; hee was familiarly conversant amongst the Fathers, and as a father amongst them; and amongst the Schoolemen tanquam Se­raphicus Doctor, at whose mouth, as at an oracle, men might be resolued in matters of doubt. And therefore most worthy was he of that chiefe place of the Doctour of the Chaire in Divinitie, which hee with so great applause and approbation, I had almost said admiration, so long (even about twentie yeares) bare amongst vs: out of whose Schoole haue proceeded so manie light starres of our Church,Greg Naz. orat. 25. in laudem Gor­goniae. that as Greg. Nazianzen compared his father, so might this our Reverend Father be well compared to A­braham. For he was an Abraham indeed, Pater multorum filiorum, a father of many sonnes, by scholasticall creation of them in the highest degrees of Learning: and that I may speake the more to his honour, and to the honour of our Mother the Vniversitie, a great part of the Reve­rend Bishops of the Land were thus his sonnes; whereofThe Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London. two at this daie very worthily sit at the sterne of our Church, and are chiefe pillars thereof. But I will say no more of his learning, lest my praise should but eclipse his fame, who was so much renowned for his preaching, reading, disputing, moderating, that all mouthes commen­ded him, and strangers admired him; so that his fame was spread abroad, and that in forraine countries as well as at home: and therefore it were sore to be lamented, were it not that the good pleasure of Almightie God was such, that so much learning should goe to the graue, and bee buried in the bowels of the earth.

And so I hasten to speake of his Life; which was so an­swerable [Page 17] to his learning, that it is hard to say which was more commendable and admirable to him, the one or the other; his Learning, or his life: they did both so equal­ly meet and kisse each other in him. And surely, they are an happy couple where they meet together;Plin. lib. 2. Nat. Hist. cap. 37. Geminae salu­tares, like Castor and Pollux: when they both appeare to­gether, they portend much good, and betoken a happy arrivall in heauen. He had as well tasted of the tree of life, I meane of good liuing in the world, as of the tree of knowledge. Hee was not like those of whom Seneca speaketh,Sen. Ep. 95. ad Lucil. Qui postquam docti prodierunt, boni esse desierunt; qui (que) dis­putare norunt, non vivere, who after they became learned began then to leaue of to doe well. Neither was hee like those of whom Alvarus complaineth,Alvarus lib. 2. Artic. 74. who had rather apparentem, quam existentem scientiam; rather an apparent & seeming knowledge vnto the world, thereby to clime to riches, and promotions, and honours here on earth, then scientiam donum Spiritus sancti, true and sanctified knowledge which is the gift of the holy Ghost, whereby they might climbe vp to the kingdome of heaven. But he had otherwise and farre better learned Christ then so: & was so holy, and vpright, and sanctified in his life and con­versation, that, as Alexander de Ales (as Trithemius repor­teth) was wont to say of Bonaventure, Trithemius. quòd in eo non vide­batur Adam peccasse, that it did scarse seeme that Adam had sinned in him; so it might in some sort be said of him also in the very like manner, at least in comparison of ma­ny in this wicked generatiō: so spotlesse was he & blame­lesse from all great enormous and scandalous offences: being full of the workes of the Spirit, as loue, peace, gen­tlenesse, meekenesse temperance; full of tender mercy & [Page 18] brotherly compassion; full of almes deeds and merciful­nesse vnto the poore. So that as hee was a shining bright lamp for his learning & lightning others vnto the knowledge of the truth: so was hee a shining bright starre too in his life, enlightning others in the pathway to heavē. He was praeco veritatis, a preacher of the truth; and hee was factor veritatis, a doer of the truth, he was an earnest pro­fessour of the Orthodoxe faith, zealous of true religiō; & did hate with a perfect hatred al Idolatry, and superstitiō, & false religion.The relation of the fellows His common farewel to the Fellowes of his College, when he tooke any longer iourney was this Cōmendo vos dilectioni Dei, & odio Papatus & superstitionis, I cōmend you to the loue of God & to the hatred of all Popery and superstitiō. And as he was a great Champiō for the defence and maintenance of true Religion, so of al pietie and godlinesse,Ephes. 6. having on the whole armour of God: for as he had the shield of faith, so hee had the brestplate of righteousnesse; and as he had his loynes girt with veritie, and with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, so hath he now the helmet of salvation, which is set on his head as a Diademe and Crowne of glorie in the heavens. He was meeke and humble as Moses: Exod. 34.29. and as Moses wist not that the skinne of his face shone bright, which the children of Israël saw and admired; no more did he see and know how his knowledge and vertues did shine vnto the world, but was meeke and lowly in his owne eies.

I wil not presume too much of your patience to speak any further of his life, albeit I verily assure my selfe you woulde thinke nothing too much and too long which should be spoken of him: and for my selfe I could not wāt matter of discourse in so worthy a subiect. Wherefore [Page 19] considering howe much time hath beene already spent in the solemnizing of his funerals, I am willing to yeeld vn­to the time, and to mine owne and others weaknesse; and and therefore hastening to an end, I come in a word or two to speake of his end and Death, leaving the manner & circumstances of his sicknes, & the name and nature of his disease, which is vnto me altogither vnknowne, and no more then conjectural with Physitions; arte & the know­ledge of man being vnable to comprehend all that infinit variety of particuler diseases, whereby God at his good pleasure bringeth men vnto their ends. Now what ende and death can be iudged of him, but a good end, & a good death? For a good life is the forerunner of a good death, according as S. Hierome saith, I haue not read or heard, Hieronym. but that he who lived well, died well. And as the whole time of his sicknesse was accompanied with holy Praiers and de­vout meditations, so towards his end especially he did e­ven seeme to powre out his soule in praier; breathing out (as his short breath would giue him leaue) these & such like heavenly songs, a little before day the same morning that he died, Come, oh come Lord Iesus the bright morning starre; Come Lord Iesus; I desire to be dissolved, and to be with thee: as, if he had fully conquered death, and had saide in his soule, O Death, where is thy sting? O Graue? Where is thy Victory? The Lord hath given me victorie over you through his sonne Iesus Christ. And so when his voice began to faile him, that hee could pray no longer with his tongue, lifting vp his hāds vnto heaven,Psal. 121.1. and his eies vnto the hils from whence commeth salvation, Deut. 34 5. he shortly after died a most sweete and a quiet death: like vnto Moses, who died [...] by the mouth of the Lord; that is, as some of the Rabbines & Hebrew Do­ctours [Page 20] interpret it [...] with a kisse of Gods mouth: for so indeed death is to the godly sweet as a kisse:Rabbi Isaak n Deut. 34. & therfore when they are ready to commend their soules vnto God, they may say with the Spowse in the Canticles,Cant. 1.1. Osculetur me osculo oris sui, Let him kisse me with the kisses of his mouth. And thus this reverend man hath left vs, and hath left the worlde; and surely hee had little cause to loue the world, and it should seeme the world did as litle loue him: so that as it was said of Othniel, a good Iudge in Israel, that he died,Glossa in Iud. cap. 3. quia indignus erat populus habere talem iudicem, be­cause the people were not worthy to haue such a Iudge; the like may be said of him, Hollandus mortuus est, quia mū ­dus indignus erat habere talem virum; I name him for loue & honours sake, HOLLAND is dead, because the world was not worthy of him: for it did not reward him according to his worth; but the greater is his reward with the Lord to whom he is gone. Now the Lord graunt vs grace to liue all our daies in his feare, that at length we may die in his favour, and receiue the reward of everlasting life. A­men, Amen.