IF it be a blessing of the vertuous to mourne, it is the rewarde of this, to be comforted; and he that pronounced the one, promised the other: I doubt not but that Spirite, whose nature is Loue, and whose name Comforter, as he knoweth the cause of your grief [...], so hath he salued it with supplies of grace, pouring into your wound no lesse oyle of mercie then wine of Iustice; yet sith cour­tesie oweth compasion as a du [...]tie to the afflicted, and nature hath ingrafted a desire to finde it, I thought it good to shew you by proofe, that you carry not your cares alone, tho [...]gh the loade that lieth on others can little lighten your burthen, her decease can not but sit neerer your heart, whom you had taken so deepe into a most tender affection. That which dieth to our loue, being alwa [...]s aliue to our sorow, you would haue b [...] louing to a l [...]sse louing sister: yet finding in her so ma­ny worths to be loued, your loue wrought more ea [...] ­n [...]stly vpon so sweete a subiect, which now being ta­ken from you, I presume your grief [...] is no lesse then your loue was, the one of these being eu [...]r the mesure of the other, the Scripture mooueth vs to bring forth our t [...]ares vpon the dead, a thing not offending grace, & aright to reason. For to be without remor [...]e in the [Page] death of friends, is neither incident nor conuenient to the nature of man, hauing too much affinitie to a sa­uage temper, and ouerthrowing the ground of all pie­tie, which is a mutuall simpathie in ech of others mi­series: but as not to feele sorrow in sorrowfull chan­ces, is to want sence, so not to beare it with modera­tion, is to want vnderstanding, the one brutish, the o­ther effeminate, and he hath cast his account best that hath brought his summe to the meane. It is no lesse fault to exceede in sorrow, then to passe the limites of competent mirth, sith excesse in either is a disorder in passion, thogh that sorow of curtesie be lesse blamed of men, because, if it be a fault, it is also a punishment, at once causing & [...]asting torments. It is no good sign in the sicke to be senslesse in his paines, as bad it is to be vnusually sensitiue▪ being both eyther harbengers or attendants of death. Let sadnes, sith it is a due to the dead testifie a feeling of pitie, not any pang of passion, and bewray rather a tender then a deiected minde. Mourue as that your friendes may finde you a liuing brother, all men a discreete mourner, making sorowe a signell, not a superior of reason: some are so obsti­nate in their owne wil, that euen time the naturall re­medie of the most violent agonies can not by any de­layes asswage their griefe, they entertaine their sorow with solitary muses, and feede with sighes and teares, they pine their bodies, and draw al pensiue considera­tion to their mindes, nursing their heauinesse with a melancholy humor, as though they had vowed them selues to sadnesse, vnwilling it should end till it had ended them, wherein their folly sometimes findeth a ready effect, [...] that being true which Salomon obserued, [Page] that as a moth the garment and a worme the wood, so doth sadnesse perswade the heart. But this impo­tent softnesse fitteth not sober mindes. W [...]e must not make a liues profe [...]sion of a seuen nights duety, nor vnder colour of ki [...]dnesse be vnnaturall to our selues, if [...]ome in their passion ioynd their thoughts into such laborinths, that neither wit knoweth, nor will careth how long or howe farre they wnder in them, it discouereth their weakenesse, but discerneth our meditation. It is for the most the fault, not of all, but of the [...]eeliest women, who next to the fu­neral of their friends, deem it a second widowhood to force their teares, and make it their [...]appinesse to seeme most vnhappy, as though they had only been left aliue to be a perpetuall map of dead folkes mis­fortunes: but this is to arme an enemie against our selues, and to yeeld Reason prisoner to Passion, put­ting the sworde in the rebelles hand when wee are least able to withstand his treason. Sorrowe once setled is not lightly remoued, easily winning, but not so easily surrendring possession, and where it is not excluded in time, it challengeth a place by pre­scription. The Scripture warneth vs not to giue our hearts to sadnes▪ yea rather to reiect it as a thing not beneficiall to the dead, yet p [...]eiudiciall to our selues, Ecclesiasti [...]us Eccles. 38. [...] ▪ alloweth but seuen dayes to mourning, iudging moderation in plaint to be a suf­ficient testimony i [...] good will, and a needeful office of wis [...]dome. Much sorrowe for the dead is eyther the childe of selfe-loue, or of rash iudgement: if wee should shead our teares for others death, as a meane to our contentment, wee shewe but our owne [Page] wound perfit louers of our selues, if we lament their decease as their hard d [...]stinie, we attach them of euil deseruing, with to peremmatory a cēsure as though their life had been a arise, and their death a leape in­to finall perdition, for otherwise a good departure craueth small condolling, being but a harbour from stormes, and an entrance vnto felicitie. But you know your sister too well to incurre any blame in these respects. And experience of her life hath sto­red your thoughts with notice of so rare vertues, as might sooner make her memorie an inforcement to ioy then any inducement to sorrow, and moue you t [...] esteeme her last dueties rather the triumph of her victorie then the farewelles of her decease. She was by birth second to none but vnto the first in the realme, yet she measured onely greatnesse by good­nesse, making nobilitie but the mirrour of vertue, as able to shew things worthy to be seene, as apte to drawe many eies to beholde it, she suted her beha­uiour to her birth, and ennobled her birth with her pi [...]ty, leauing her house more beholding to her for hauing honoured it with the glorie of her vertues, then she was to it for the titles of her degree, she was high minded in nothing but in aspiring to perfecti­on, and in the disdaine of vice, in other things coue­ring her greatnes with hu [...]ilitie among her inferi­o [...]s, & shewing it with curtesie amongst her peeres: of the carriage of her selfe, and her sober gouerne­ment may be a sufficiēt testimony, that enuy hir self was dumbe in her dispraise, finding in her much to [...]epine at, but naught to reproue: the clearenes of hir Honor I neede not to mention, she ha [...]ing alwaies [Page] armed it with such modestie as taught the most vn­temperate tongues to be silent in her presence, and answered their eyes with scorne and contempt that did but seeme to make her an aime to passion, yea, and in this behalfe, as almost in all other, shee hath the most honourable and knowen Ladies of the land, so common and knowen witnesses, that those that least liked her religion were in loue with her demeanour, deliuering their opinions in open prai­ses. How mildely she accepted the checke of fortune fallen vpon her without desert, experience hath bin a most manifest proofe, the temper of her mind be­ing so easie that she found little difficultie in taking downe her thoughts to a meane degree, which true honour, not pride had raised to the former height, her faithfulnes and loue where she found tru frend­ship, is written with teares in many eyes, and wil be longer registred in gratefull memories diuers that haue tried her in that kinde, auowing her for secre­cie, wisedome, and constancie, to be a miracle in that sex, yea when shee found least kindnesse in others, she neuer lost it in hirselfe, more willingly suffering then offering wrong, and often weeping for their mishappes, whome though lesse louing her, shee could not but effect. Of the innocencie of her life this generall all can auerre, that as she was gratefull many wayes, and memorable for vertues, so was shee free from the blemish of any vice, vsing, to her power, the best meanes to keepe continually an vndefiled conscience: her attire was euer such as might both satisfie a curious eye, and yet beare wit­nesse of a sober minde, neyther singular nor vaine, [Page] but such as her peeres of least report vsed: her tong was very little acquainted with oathes, vnlesse ey­ther duetie or distrust did enforce them: and surelie they were needelesse to those that knewe her, to whome the trueth of her words could not iustly be suspected, much lesse was she noted of any vnfitting talke, which as it was euer hatefull to her eares, so did it neuer defile her breath: of feeding shee was very measurable, rather of too sparing then too libe­rall a diet: so religious for obseruing all fasts, that neuer in her sickenesse shee could hardly bee wonne to breake them, and if our soules be possessed in our patience, surely hir soule was truly hir owne, whose rocke thought often stricken with the rod of aduer­sitie neuer yeelded any more then to giue issue of eie streames, and though these thr [...]ugh the tendernesse of her nature & aptnes of h [...]r sex, were the customa­rie tributes that her loue paied, more to her friendes than her owne misfortunes, yet were they not ac­companied with distempered words or ill seeming actions, reason neuer forgetting distancie, though remembring pitie, her deuotions she daily obserued, offering the daily sacrifice of an innocent heart, and stinting her selfe to her times of prayer, which shee performed with so religious a care, as well shewed that shee knew howe high a Maiestie shee serued. I neede not write how duetifully shee discharged all the behoofes of a most louing wife, since that was the commonest theame of her praises, yet this may be saide without improofe to any, that whosoeuer in this behalfe may be counted her equall, none can iustly be thought her superiour, where she owed she [Page] payed dutie, where she found she turned courtesie, wheresoeuer she was knowen, she deserued a [...]itie, desirous of the best, yet disdaining none but euill company, she was readier to requite benefits thē re­uenge wrongs, more grieued then angred with vn­kindnes of friends, when either mistaking or misre­port occasioned a [...]y breaches: for if their words ca­rie credite, it entred deepest into her thoughts, they haue acquitted her from all spice of malice, not one­ly against her friends, whose dislikes were but a re­tire to steppe further into friendship, but euen her greatest enemies, to whom if she had bene a iudge as she was a suppliant, I assuredly thinke she would haue redres [...]ed, but not reuenged her iniuries. In summe, she was an honour to her predeces [...]ours, a light to her age, and a patterne [...]o her posteritie, nei­ther was her conclusion different from her premis­ses, or her death from her life, she shewed no dismay, being warned of her danger, carying in her consci­ence the safeconduct of innocencie. But hauing sent her desires before to heauen with a milde counte­naunce, and a most calme minde, in more hope then feare, she expected her owne passage, shee commen­ded both her duetie and goodwill to all her friends, and cleared her heart from all grudge towardes her enemies, wishing true happinesse to them both, as best became so soft and gentle a minde, in which anger neuer stayed, but as an vnwelcome stran­ger: Shee made open profession that shee did die true to her religion, true to her husband, true to God and the world, she enioyed her iudgement as long as she breathed, her body earnestly offering hi [...] [Page] last deuotions, supplying in thought what faintnes suffered not her tongue to vtter: in the end, when her glasse was tunne out, and death beganne to chalenge his interest, some labouring with too late remedies to hinder the deliuery of her sweet soule, she desired them eftsoones to let her goe to God, and her hopes calling her to eternall kingdomes, as one rather fal­ling asleepe then dying, shee most happily tooke her leaue of all mortall miseries. Such was the life, such was the death of your dearest sister, both so ful of tru comfort, that this suruey of her vertues may be a suf­ficient lenatiue to your bitterest griefes. For you are not (I hope) in the number of those that reckon it a pa [...]te of their paine to heare of their best remedies, thinking the rehearsall of your dead friendes prayses an vpbraiding of their losse, but sith the obliuion of her vertues were iniurious to her, let not the menti­on of her person be offensiue vnto you, and bee not you grieued with her death, with which shee is best pleased. So blessed a death is rather to be wished of vs, than pitied in her, whose soule triumpheth with God, whose vertues stil breatheth in the mouthes of infinite praises, and liueth in the memories of all, to whom either experience made her knowen, or fame was not enuious in concealing her deserts: shee was a iewel that both God and you desired to enjoy, he to her assured benefit without selfe interest, you for allowable respectes, yet employing her restraint a­mong certaine hazards and most vncertaine hopes. Be then vmpier in your owne cause, whether your wishes or Gods will importeth more loue, the one, the adornement of her exile, the other, her returne [Page] into a most blessed countrie, and sith it pleased God in this loue to be your riuall, let your discretion de­cide the doubt, whome in due should carry the suite, the prerogatiue being but a right to the one, for na­ture & grace being the motiues of both your loues, she had the best title in them that was author of thē, and she, if worthy to be beloued of either, as she was of both, could not but prefer him to the dearest por­tion of her deepest affectiō: let him with good leaue gather the grape of his own vine, & plucke the fruit of his owne planting, and thinke so curious workes euer safest in the artificers hand, who is likeliest to loue them, and best able to preserue them, shee did therefore her duety in dying willingly: and if you will doe yours, you must be willing with her death, sith to repine at her liking is discourtesi [...], at Gods an impietie, both vnfitting for your approoued vertue, she being in place where no griefe can annoy her, she hath little neede or lesse ioy of your sorrow, neither can [...]he allow in her friends that she would loathe in her selfe, loue neuer affecting likenesse: if she had bin euill, she had not deserued our teares: being good, she cannot desire them, nothing being lesse to the like­nes of goodnesse, than to see it selfe any cause of vn­iust disquiet or trouble to the innocent.1. King. [...]. Would Saul haue thought it friendship to haue wept for his for­tunes, in hauing found a kingdome by seeking of cattel: or Dauid account it a curtesie, to haue sorow­ed at his successe, that from following sheepe came to foile a giant, and to receiue in fine a royall crowne for his victorie,1. King. 17. why then should her lot bee lamen­ted,Psal. 112. whome higher fauour hath raised from the dust [Page] to sit with princes of Gods people, if securitie had bin giuen, that a longer life shuld stil haue bin guided by vertue, and followed with good fortune, you might pretend some cause to complaine of her decease. But if different effectes shoulde haue crossed your hopes (processe of time being the parent of strange alterati­ons) then had death beene friendlier then your selfe, and sith it hung in suspense which of the two would haue hapned, let vs allowe God so much discretion, as to thinke him the fittest arbitrator in decision of the doubt:Psal. 86. her foundations of happines were in the holy hilles, and God sawe it fittest for her building to be but lowe in this vale of teares, and better it was it shoulde be soone taken downe, than by rising too high to haue oppressed her soule with the ruines▪ Thinke it no iniury that she is now taken from you, but a fauour that shee was lent you so long, and shew no vnwillingnes to restore God his owne, sith hi­therto you haue payed no vsury for it: consider not how much longer you might haue enioyed her, but how much sooner you might haue lost her: and sith she was held vpon curte [...]ie, not by any couenant, take our soueraignes right for a sufficient reason of her death, our life is but lent, a good to make thereof, du­ring the loane our best commoditie: It is due debt to a more certaine owner than our selues, and therefore so long as we haue it, we receiue a benefit, when we are depriued of it, we haue no wrong, we are te­nants at will of this clayee farme, not for tearme of yeeres, when wee are warned out, we must be ready to remooue, hauing no other title but the owners pleasure:Eccles. 10. it is but an Inne, not a home: we came but [Page] to baite, not to dwell, and the condition of our en­rance was, in fine to depart. If this departure be grie­uous, it is also common, this to day to me, to mor­row to thee, and the case equally afflicting all, leau­eth none any cause to complaine of iniurious vsage.

Natures debt is sooner exacted of some then of o­ther, yet is there no fault in the creditor that exact­eth but his owne, but in the greedinesse of our eger hopes, either repining that their wishes faile, or wil­lingly forgetting their mortalitie, whome they are vnwilling by experience to see mortall, yet the ge­nerall tide washeth all passengers to the same shoare, some sooner, some later, but all at the last: and wee must settle our mindes to take our course as it com­meth, neuer fearing a thing so necessarie, yet euer ex­pecting a thing so vncertaine. It seemeth that God purposely concealed the time of our death, leauing vs resolued betweene feare and hope of longer con­tinuaunce. Cut off vnripe cares, lest with the notice and pensiuenesse of our diuorce from the world, we should lose the comfort of needfull contentments, & before our dying day languish away with expectati­on of death. Some are taken in their first steppe in­to this life, receiuing in one, their welcome and fare­wel, as though they had beene borne onely to be bu­ried, and to take their pasport in this hourely middle of their course, the good to preuent change, the bad to shorten their impietie: some liue till they be wea­ry of life, to giue proofe of their good hap, that had a kindlier passage, yet though the date be diuerse, the debt is all one, equally to be answered of all as their time expireth:Psal. 88. for who is the man shall liue and not [Page] see death? sith we all die, and like water slide vppon the earth. [...] Kings 14. [...]enes. 5. In Paradice wee receiued the sentence of death, and here as prisoners we are kept in ward, ta­rying but our times till the Gaoler call vs to our ex­ecution. Whom hath any vertue eternized, or de­sert cōmended to posteritie, that hath not mourned in life, and bin mourned after death, no assurance of ioy being sealed without som teares? Euen our bles­sed Lady the mother of God was throwen down as deep in temporal miseries as she was aduanced high in spirituall honours, none amongst al mortall crea­tures finding in life more proof then she of her mor­talitie: for hauing the noblest sonne that euer wo­man was mother of, not onely aboue the condition of men, but aboue the glorie of Angels, being her sonne onely, without temporall father, and thereby the loue of both parents doubled in hir breast, being her only Sonne without other issue, and so her loue of all children finished in him. Yea, he being God, and she the nearest creature to Gods perfections, yet no prerogatiue either quitted her from mourning, or him from dying: and though they surmounted the highest Angels in all other preheminences, yet were they equall with the meanest men in the sen­tence of death And howbeit our Ladie being the patterne of christian mourners, so tempered her an­guish, that there was neither any thing vndone that might be exacted of a mother, or any thing doone that might be disliked in so perfit a matron, yet by this we may gesse with what curtesies death is like­ly to friend vs, that durst cause so bloody sunerals in so heauenly a stocke, not exempting him from the [Page] law of dying that was the authour of life, and soone after to honour his triumphs with ruines and spoile of death▪ Seeing therefore that death spareth none, let vs spare our teares for better vses, being but an i­dle sacrifice to this dease and emplacable executio­ner, and for this not long to be continued, where they can neuer profit, nature did promise vs a wee­ping life, exacting teares for custome as our first en­trance, and for suting our whole course in this dole­ful beginning: and therefore they must be vsed with mesure that must be vsed so often, and so many cau­ses of weeping, lying yet in the debt, [...]ith we cannot end our teares, let vs at the least reserue them, if so­rowe cannot bee shunned, let it bee taken in time of neede, sith otherwise beeing both troublesome and fruitlesse it is a double miserie or an open follie. We moisten not the ground with pretious waters, they were stilled for nobler endes, either by their fruites to delight our sences, or by their operations to pre­serue our healths. Our teares are water of too high a price to be prodigally powred in the dust of anie graues. If they be teares of loue, they persume our prayers, making them odour of sweetenesse, fit to be offered on the aultare before the throne of God: if teares of contrition,Apoc, [...] ▪ they are water of life to the dy­ing and corrupting soules, they may purchase fauor and repeale the sentence till it be executed as the ex­ample of Ezechias doeth testifie, but when the pu­nishment is past,3. King. 1 [...]. and the verdict performed in effect, their pleading is in vaine, as Dauid taught vs when his childe was dead,2. Kings 1 [...]. saying, that hee was likelier to go to it, than it by his weeping to returne to him. [Page] Learne therefore to giue sorrow no long dominion ouer you. Wherefore the wise should rather marke than expect an end, meete it not when it commeth, doe not inuite it when it is absent, when you feele it do not force it, sith the bruite creatures which (na­ture seldome erring in her course guideth in the meane) haue but a short though vehement sence of their losses you should burie the sharpenesse of your griefe with the course, and rest contented with a kind, yet a milde compassion, neither lesse then de­cent for you, nor more then agreeable to your na­ture and iudgement, your much heauinesse woulde renew a multitude of griefes, and your eies woulde be springs to many streames, adding to the memo­rie of the dead a new occasion of plaint by your own discomfort, the motion of your heart measureth the beating of many pulses, which in any distemper of your quiet with the like stroke will soone bewray themselues sicke of your disease: your fortune, thogh hard, yet is notorious, and though moued in mishap and set in an vnworthy lanthorne, yet your owne light shineth farre, and maketh you markeable: all will bend attentiue eye vpon you, obseruing howe you warde this blowe of temptation, and whether your patience be a shield of proofe, or easily entred with these violent strokes. It is commonly expe­cted, that so high thoughts which haue already cli­med ouer the hardest dangers shuld not now stowp to any vulgar or femal complaints: great personages whole estate draweth vpon them many eies, as they cannot but be themselues, so may not they vse the li­berti [...] of meaner estates, the lawes of Nobilitie not [Page] alowing them to direct their deeds by their desires, but to limite their desires to that which is decent. Nobilitie is an ayme for lower degrees to leuell at markes of higher perfection, and like stately win­dowes in the northeast roomes of politicke and ci­uil buildings, to let in such light, and lie open to such prospects, as may affoord their inferiors both to find meanes and motiues to heroicall vertues: if you should determine to dwell euer in sorrow, it were a wrong to your wisedome, and countermaunded by your qualitie, if euer you mind to surcease it, no time sitter then the present, sith the same resons that here­after might mooue you, are now as much in force. Yeeld to Wisedom that you must yeeld to Time, be beholding to your selfe, not to time for the victory, make it a voluntarie worke of discretion that wil o­therwise be a necessary worke of delay. We thinke it not enough to haue our owne measure brimme full with euill, vnlesse we make it runne ouer with others miseries, taking their misfortunes as our pu­nishments, and executing forraine penalties vppon our selues: yea disquiet mindes being euer bellows to their owne flames mistake o [...]t times others good for ill, their follie making it a true scourge to them that how socuer it seemed was to others a benefite. Iacob out of Iosephs absence sucked such surmises, as hee made his heart a prey to his agonies, whereas that that buried him in his owne melancholies rai­sed Ioseph to his highest happinesse: if Mary Mag­dalen saide and supposed shee could haue suncke no deeper in griefe than shee had already plunged her selfe, and yet that which she imagined the vttermost [Page] of euils prooued in conclusion the very blisse of her wishes. The like may be your errour if you cumber your minde with musing vppon her death, which would neuer be discharged from cares, till death set his hand to her acquittance, nor receiue the charter of an eternall being, till her soule were presented at the fealing: I loathe to rubbe the scarre of a deeper wound, for feare of renewing a dead discomfort; yet if you will fauour your owne remedies, the maiste­rie ouer that griefe that springs from the roote, may learne you to qualifie this that buddeth from the bra [...]ch, let not her losses moue you that are acquain­ted with greater of your owne, and taught by expe­rience to knowe how vncertaine this chance is, for whome vnconstant fortune throweth the dice, if she want the woonted titles, her part is nowe in deede, and they were du but vpon the stage, her losse there­in is but a wracke of woundes, in which shee is but euen with the height of princes, surpassing both hir selfe in them, and the new honors of heauenly stile. If shee haue left her children, it was her wish they should repay her absence with vsury; yet had she sent her first fruits before her as pledges of hir own com­ming. And now may we say that the Sparrow hath found a home, and the Turtle Doue a nest, where she may lay her yongling, enioying some, and expe­cting the rest. If she be taken from her friends, shee is also deliuered from her enemies, in hope hereaf­ter to enioy the first out of feare of euer being trou­bled with the latter. If shee be cut off in her youth, no age is vnripe for a good death; and hauing ended her taske, though neuer so short, yet shee hath liued [Page] out her full time: Old age is venerable not long, to be measured by increase of vertues, not by number of yeares,Sap. 4. for heauines consisteth in wisedome, and an vnspotred life is the ripenes of the perfectest age. If she were in possibilitie of preferment, shee coulde hardly haue wanted higher then from whence shee was throwen: hauing beene bruised with the first, she had little wil to clime for a second fall: we might hitherto truely haue said,Ruth 1. this is that Noemi, shee be­ing to her ende inriched with many outward, and more inward graces. But whether heereafter shee would haue bid vs not to cal her Noemi, that is, faire, but Mara, that signifieth bitter, it is vn [...]ertaine, sith she might haue fallen into the widows felicitie, that so changed her name to the likenesse of her lot. In­somuch that she is freed from more miseries than she suffered losses, and more fortunate by not desiring, then shee would bee by enioying fortunes fauour, which if it be not counted a follie to loue, yet it is a true happinesse not to neede, we may rather thinke that death was prouident against her imminent harmes, then enuious of any future prosperities, the times being great with so many broiles, that when they once fall in labour, we shall thinke their condi­tion securest whome absence hath exempted, both from feeling the bitter throwes, and beholding the monstrous issue that they are likely to bring foorth: the more you tender her, the more temperat should be your griefe, sith seeing you vpon going, shee did but steppe before you into the next world, to which she thought you to belong more then to this, which hath already giuen you the most vngrateful congee. [Page] They that are vpon remouing, send their furniture before them; and you still standing vpon your de­parture, what ornament could you rather wish in your future abode than this that did euer please you? God thither sendeth your adamants, whither hee would draw your heart, and casteth your anchors where your thoughts should lie at rode, that seeing your loue taken out of the world, and your hopes disanchored from this stormie shoare, you might settle your desires where God seemeth to require them. If you would haue wished her life for an ex­ample to your house, assure your selfe shee hath left her friends so inherited with her vertues, and so per­fit patterns of her best parts, that who knoweth the furuiuors, may see the deceased, and shall finde little difference, but in the nūber, which before was grea­ter, but not better, vnlesse it were in one repetition of the same goodnesse: wherefore set your selfe at rest in the ordinance of God, whose workes are per­fit, and whose wisedome is infinite. The termes of our life are like the seasons of the yere, som for sow­ing, some for growing, and some for reaping, in this only different, that as the heauens keepe their pre­scribed periods, so the succession of times haue their appointed changes. But in the seasons of our life, which are not to the lawe of necessarie causes, some are reaped in the seed, some in the blade, some in the vnripe eare, all in the end, this haruest depending vpon the reapers wil. Death is too ordinarie a thing to seem any nouelty, being a familiar guest in euerie house; and sith his comming is expected, and his ar­rant vnknowen, neither his presence should be fea­red, [Page] nor his effects lamented. What wonder is it to see fuell burned, spice pownded, or snow melted? and as little feare it is to see those dead that were borne vpon condition once to die, she was such a cōpound as was once to be resolued vnto her simples, which is now performed: her soule being giuen to God, and her body sorted into her first elements, it could not dislike you to see your friend remoued out of a ruinous house, and the house it selfe destroyed and pulled downe, if you knewe it were to build it in a statelier forme, & to turne the inhabitant with more ioy into a fairer lodging. Let then your sisters soule depart without griefe, let hir body also be altered in­to dust, withdraw your eyes from the ruine of this cotage, & cast them vpon the maiestie of the second building, which S. Paul saith shall be incorruptible, glorious, strange, spirituall, and immortall: night and sleep are perpetuall, mirours, figuring in their dark­nes silence, shutting vp of sences, the finall end of our mortal bodies, & for this some haue entituled sleep the eldest brother of death; but with no lesse conue­niēce it might be called one of deaths tenants neare vnto him in affinity of condition, yea far inferior in right, being but tenāt for a time of that which death is the inheritance; for by vertue of the conueiance made vnto him in Paradice, that dust we were & to dust we should returne. He hath hitherto shewed his signiorie ouer all, exacting of vs, not only the yere­ly, but hourely reuenues of time, which euer by mi­nuts we defray vnto him: So that our very life is not only a memorie, but a part of our death, sith the lon­ger we haue liued, the lesse we haue to liue. What is [Page] the daily lessening of our life, but a continual dying: and therfore none is more grieued with the running out of the last sand in an houre glasse then with all the rest: so should not the end of the last houre trou­ble vs any more, of so many that went before, sith that did but finish course that all the rest were stil en­ding, not the quantity but the quality commendeth our life. The ordinarie gaine of long liuers being onely a great burthen of sinne: for as in teares, so in life the valew is not esteemed by the length, but by the fruit and goodnesse, which often is more in the least than in the longest. What your sister wanted in continuance, she supplied in speede, and as with her needle shee wrought more in a day than manie Ladies in a yeere, hauing both excellent skil, and no lesse delight in working, so with her diligence dou­bling her endeuours, shee won more vertue in halfe than others in a whole life Her death to time was her birth to eternitie, the losse of this worlde an ex­change of a better, one indowment that she had be­ing impaired, but many farre greater added to her store. Mardocheus house was too obscure a dwel­ling for so gracious an Hester, shrowding royall partes in the mantle of a meane estate, and shadow­ing immortall benefits vnder earthly vailes. It was fitter that shee being a summe of so rare perfections, and so well worthy, a spouse of our heauenly Aha­shuerus should bee carried to his court from her for­mer abode, there to be inuested in glorie, and to in­ioy both place and preheminence answerable to her worthines, her loue would haue beene lesse able to haue borne hir death, than your constancy to brooke [Page] her, and therefore God mercifully closed her eies before they were punished with so grieuous a sight, taking out to you but a newe lesson of patience out of your old booke, in which long studie hath made you perfect. Though your hearts were equally bal­lanced with a mutual and most entire affection, and the doubt insoluble which of you loued most, yet death finding her the weaker, though not the wea­ker vessell, laide his weight in her ballance to bring her soonest to her rest: let your mind therefore con­sent to that which your tongue daily craueth, that Gods will may bee done as well here in earth of her mortall body, and in that little heauen of her purest soule, sith his will is the best measure of all euents. There is in this worlde continuall enterchange of pleasing and greeting accidence, still keeping their succession of times, & ouertaking ech other in their seuerall courses: no picture can be all drawen of the brightest colours, nor a harmonie onely conforted onely of trebles: shadowes are needefull in expres­sing of proportions, and the base is a principall part in perfect musicke, the condition of our exile heere alloweth no vnmedled ioy, our whole life is tem­pered betweene sweete and sowre, and wee must all looke for a mixture of both: the wise so wish: bet­ter that they stil thinke of worse, accepting the one if it come with liking, and bearing the other with­out impatience, being so much maisters of eche o­thers fortunes, that neither shall worke them to ex­cesse. The dwarse groweth not on the highest hill, nor the tall man looseth not his height in the low­est valley, and as a base mind, though most at ease, [Page] wil be deiected, so a resolute vertue in the deepest distresse is most impregnable. They euermore most perfectly enioy their comfortes that least feare their contraries▪ for a desire to enioy, carrieth with it a fear to loose; and both desire & feare are enemies to qui­et possession making men rather owners of Gods benefits then tenants at his wil: the cause of our trobles are that our misfortunes happen either to vnwitting or vnwilling mindes; foresight preuente [...]h the one, necessitie the other: for he taketh away the smart of present euilles that attendeth their comming, and is not amated with any crosse, that is, armed against al, where necessitie worketh without our consent, the effect shoulde neuer greatly afflict vs, griefe being bootlesse, where it can not helpe, needelesse where there was no fault: God casteth the dice, and giueth vs our chance, the most wee can doe, is, to take the point that the cast will affoord vs, not grudging so much that it is no better, as comforting our selues it is no worse. If men should lay al their euilles toge­ther, to be afterwardes by equall portion diuided a­mongst them, most mē would rather take that they brought, than stand to the diuision; yet such is the partiall iudgement of selfe-loue, that euery one iud­geth his selfe-miserie too great, fearing if he can find some circumstance to increase it & making it intol­lerable by thought to induce it. When Moses threw his rod from him, it became a serpent ready to sting, and affrighted him, insomuch as it made him to flee, but being quietly taken vp, it was a rod againe ser­uiceable for his vses, no way hurtfull. The crosse of Christ, & rod of euery tribulation seeming to threa­ten [Page] stinging and terrour to those that shunne and eschew it, but they that mildely take it vp and em­brace it with patience,Psalme 12. may say with Dauid, thy rod and thy staffe haue been my comfort. In this, afflic­tion resembleth the Crokadile, flie, it pursueth and frights, followed, it flieth and feareth, a shame to the constant, a tyrant to the timorous. Soft mindes that thinke only vpon delights, admit no other conside­ration, but in soothing things becom so effeminate, as that they are apt to bleede with euery sharpe im­pression. But hee that vseth his thought [...] with ex­pectation of troubles, making their trauell through all hazards, and apposing his resolution against the sharpest incounters, findeth in the proofe facilitie of patience, and easeth the loade of most heauy cum­bers: we must haue temporall things in vse, but e­ternal in wish, that in the one neither delight exceed in that wee haue no desire in that wee want: and in the other our most delight is here in desire, and our whole desire is hereafter to enioy. They straighten too much their ioyes, that draw them into the reach and compasse of their sences, as if it were no facilitie where no sence is witnes, whereas if we exclude our passed and future contentments, pleasant pleasures haue so fickle assurance, that either as forestalled be­fore their arriuall, or interrupted before their ende, or ended before they are well begunne: the repe­tition of former comfortes, and the expectation of after hopes is euer a reliefe vnto a vertuous minde, whereas others not suffering their life to continue in the conueniences of that which was and shall be diuided, this day frō yesterday, & to morrow, & by [Page] forgetting all, and forecasting nothing, abridge their whole life into the moment of present time: enioy your sister in your former vertues, enioy her also in her future meeting, being both titles of more cer­taine delights, than her casuall life could euer haue warranted. If we will thinke of her death, let it be as a warning to prouide vs, sith that that happeneth to one may happen to an other: yea none can escape that is common to all. It may be the blowe that hit her was meant to some of vs, and this missing was but a proofe to take better aime in the next stroke: if we were diligent in thinking of our own, we shuld haue little leasure to bewaile others deaths: when the souldior in skirmish▪ seeth his next fellow slaine, he thinketh more time to looke to himselfe, than to stand mourning a haplesse mischance, knowing the head which sped so neere a neighbour, cannot be far from his own head. But we in this behalfe are much like the seely birds, that seeing one sticke in the lime bush, striuing to get away, with a kind of natiue pit­tie are drawen to goe to it, and so rush themselues into the same misfortune; euen so many for their frends decease by musing on their lot, wittingly sur­fet of too much sorrow, that sometimes they make mourning their last decease: but steppe not you in­to this roile, that hath taken none but weake affecti­ons: holde not your eies alwayes vpon your hardest happes, neither bee you still occupied in counting your losses. There are fairer partes in your bodie than scarres, better eye-markes in your fortune then a sisters losse; you might happily finde more com­forts left than you would willingly loose. But that [Page] you haue alreadie resigned the solaces of life, and shunned all comforts into the hopes of heauen, yet sith there is some difference betweene a purpose and proofe, intending and performing; a subdued enemy being euer ready to rebell when hee findeth mighty helpes to make a partie. It is good to strengthen rea­son against the violence of nature, that in this and like cases will renew her assaults, it was a forcible remedie that hee vsed to withstand the conceit of a most lamentable occurrent, who hauing in one ship lost his children and substance, and hardly escaped himselfe from drowning, went presently into an hospitall of lazars, where finding in a litle rome ma­ny examples of greater miseries, hee made the smart of others sores a lenatiue to his owne wound: for besids that, as lownesse & pouerty was common to them, they had also many cumbers priuate to them­selues, some wanting their sences, some their wits, other their limmes, but all their health, in which consideration he eased his minde, that fortune had not giuen him the greatest fall. If God had put you to Abrahams triall, commaunding you to sacrifice the hope of your posterities, and to be to your one­ly sonne an author of death, [...]s you were to him of life. If you had bin tied in the streights of Iepthaes bitter deuotion in bruing his sword in his owne daughters blood, and ending the triumphs ouer his enemies with the voluntarie funeralles of his onelie of-spring: yet sith both their liues and their labours had bin gods vndeemable debt, your vertues ought to haue obeyed maugre al incounters of carnall affe­ction. And how much more in this case should you [Page] incline your loue to Gods liking, in which hee hath receiued a lesse part of his owne, and that by the v­suall easiest course of natures lawes. Let God strippe you to the skinne, yea to the soule, so hee stay with you himselfe: let his reproch be your honour, his pouertie your riches, and he in lue of al other frends. Thinke him enough for this world, that must be all your possession for a whole eternity: let others ease their carefulnes with borrowed pleasures, not bred out of the true roote, but begged of externall helps. They shall still carry vnquiet mindes, easily altered with euery accident, sith they labor not any change in their inward distempers. But by forgetting them for a time by outward pastimes, innocencie is the only mother of true mirth, and a soule that is owner of God, will quietly bare with all other wants, no­thing beeing able to empouerish it but voluntarie losses. Beare not therefore with her losses, for shee is won for euer, but with the momentarie absence of your most happie sister, yea it can not iustly bee called an absence, many thoughts being daily in par­lee with her, onely mens eies and eares vnwoorthie to enioy so sweete an obiect, haue resigned their in­terest, and interested this treasure in their hearts, be­ing the fittest shrines for so pure a Saint, whome as none did knowe but did loue, so none can nowe re­member with deuotion. Men may behold her with shame of their former life, seeing one of the frailer sexe honour her weakenesse with such a traine of perfections. Ladies may admire her as a glorie to their degree, in whom honour was portraied in her full likenesse, grace hauing perfected natures first [Page] draught with all the due colours of an absolute ver­tue: all women accept her as a patterne to immitate her giftes, and her good partes, hauing beene so ma­nifested, that euen they that can teach the finest stit­ches may themselues take new workes out of this sampler. Who then could drinke any sorrowe out of so cleere a fountaine, or bewaile the estate of so happy a creature, to whome as to be her selfe, was her praise, so to be as shee is, was her highest blis [...]e. You still floate in a troublesome sea, and you finde it by experience a sea of dangers, how then can it pit­tie you to see your sister on shoare, and so safely lan­ded in so blissefull an harbor?Iud. 15. Sith your Iudeth hath wrought the glorious exploite against her ghostly enemies, for the accomplishing whereof shee came into the dangerous campe and warrefare of this life, you may well giue her leaue to looke home to her Bethulia to solemnize her triumph with the spoiles of her victorie: yea you should rather haue wished to haue beene Porter to let her in, than mourne to see her safe returned. For so apparant hazardes shee caried a heauenly treasure in a earthlie vessel,2. Cor. [...] which was too weake a treasurie for so high riches, sinne creeping in at the window of our sences, and often picking the lockes of the strongest hearts. And for this it was laide vp in a surer, to the which the hea­uens are walles, and the Angelles keepers. She was a pure fish, but yet swimming in muddy streames, it was now time to draw her to shoare, and to employ the inwardes of her vertues to medicionable vses, that laid on the coles of due consideration, they may draw from our thoughts the Deuilles suggestions,Tob. [...] ▪ [Page] and applied to their eyes,Tob. [...] ▪ which are blinded with the dung of flying vanities, the [...]lime of their former vanities may fall off, and leaue them able to behold the true light, the base shell of a mortall body was vnfit for so pretious a Margarite,Ma [...]th. 13. and the Ieweller that came into this world to seeke good pearles, and gaue not onely all he had, but himselfe also to buic them, thought now high time to bring her vnto his bargaine, finding her growen to a Margarites full perfection. She stoode vpon too lowe a ground to take view of her Sauiors most desired countenance,Luke 19. and forsaking the earth with Zacheus shee climed vp into the tree of life, there to giue her soule a full re­past of her beauties. Shee departed with Iepthaes daughter from her fathers house, but to passe some moneths in wandring about the mountaines of this troublesome worlde, which being now expired, she was after her pilgrimage by couenant to returne to be offered vnto God in a gratefull sacrifice, and to ascend out of this desert like a stemme of perfume out of burned spices. Let not therefore the crowne of her vertue be the foile of your constancie, nor the ende of her cumbers a renewing of yours. But sith God was well pleased to call her, shee not displeased to go, and you the third twist to make a triple cord, saying, [...] Our Lord gaue, and our Lord tooke away, as it hath pleased our Lord, so hath it fallen out: the name of our Lord be blessed.