'TIS a Law of the twelve Tables,Honoratorum virorum lau­des in concio­ne memoran­tur. Let the Names of Honourable Persons be celebrated in publick As­semblies, in Funeral Ora­tions; and it is most e­qual, meet, and right that they whose Works praise them in the gates, should be commended there too, where there is the greatest concourse of the People. The Roman Oratour viewing the Troubles which ensued the fall of L. Crassus takes his Death at the hands of the Gods as an Act of Grace and Favour,Sed ii tamen Remp. casus secuti sunt, ut mihi non crepta L. Crasso à Diis immortalibus vita, sed do­nata mors esse videatur. Cic. not as an expression of their wrath and indignation. When I reflect upon the distractions, and confusi­ons [Page 2] which followed the Death of Colonel Cavendish, methinks the Powers above did not snatch away his Life in anger, but rather conferred Death upon him in pure kindness, that so his eyes might not behold what his great Spirit could never brook; I mean the sight of Rebels triumphing, Usur­pers domineering. A dying Emperor in Ammianus Marcellinus tells us,Humile est coelo sideri­busque conci­liatum lugeri Principem. that it is low, mean, and effeminate to moan and bewail the Death and departure of a Princely Person, who hath exchang'd a corruptible Crown for one that fadeth not away. All this I grant, and yet with all 'tis manly enough to rehearse the brave Actions of Heroick Persons after their Death, and offer them to the present and future Ages for imitation. That's my business at this time, to represent the Glorious Exit, the Honourable Fall of the truly Noble and Valiant Charles Cavendish, this day is design'd for his Commemoration. Give me leave then to arrest your thoughts, to rouse up your Memories with this que­stion; Know ye not that there is a Prince, and a great man fallen this day in Israel?

These words were utter'd by David upon the death of Abner, one of great Name a­mong the Souldiers. I will look over the words as they lie in order with some obser­vation, and after that I shall apply them to my present purpose.

The first Observation I make is this, A Great mans Death passes not without a signal remark, and publick notice, the King talks of it, the Court does ring of it; And the King said unto his Servants, Know ye not that there is a Prince fallen, &c. Private men may steal into their graves without notice, and lie there as obscurely as they liv'd here, but Great men can't do so; thus the light of a smaller Star may be intercepted and no body heed it, but if the Sun is eclipsed all observe it: Great men are the main wheels in this Machine of the World, and if they fall off they make a great alteration; whereas meaner men are as the Dust upon these Wheels, and if that falls off who does mind it? When the Grand Signior lay a Dying, and they ask'd him about his Succes­sor, he demanded thereupon; Will there be [Page 4] any World when I am dead? He thought his Change would change the Universe. The Fall of a Great man does amuse the World, alter its Figure, and put things into another posture: but when a Poor man Falls we consider it no more then when one Atome in a Sun-beam strikes down another. When a tall Ceder, or a stately Oak does fall, 'tis with a great noise, but 'tis not so with the smaller wood, the lower shrubs. When tidings came that the Great Pan was dead, that report was eccho'd with howlings and ejulations; and the Death of a great Com­mander creates a Pannick fear, gives a whole Army terrour and amazement, whereas the death of a Common Souldier makes no hub­bub, is undiscern'd, not lamented.

The Death of a great Person can't go by us without notice; This then gives you a just account of your present meeting. A great Man is fallen, I mean the Honourable Charles Cavendish, second Son to the Right Honour­able William Earl of Devonshire deceased, and Christian his Wife my Noble Mistriss. He was slain in the Service of his Lord and So­veraign [Page 5] Charles the First of Blessed memory, before Gainsborough in the Year 1643. His Body was carried to Newark, a Garrison of the Kings, and there buried in the best manner, that is, according to the Rites of the Church of England. The Corps of this brave Person we have brought to this Place to be laid in the Sepulchre of his Ancestours. Now 'tis not fit such Dust as this should be hudled up in the dark, should be translated in silence, which deserves the fairest Epitaph, the noblest Monument, the best Encomiast. O that this Achilles had his Homer too! That the Name of Colonel Cavendish might last with Ages, might vie with Eternity! What Seneca says of the Stout Cannius let us en­grave upon the Tomb of the undaunted Cavendish, Dabimus te Aeternitati sacrum Caput. And that for the First Observ. The Second follows,

Extraordinary Persons are not exempted from the Common Laws of Mortality, the Prince and the Great man fall too, they must go the way of all Flesh, and Death must feed upon them. Great men and Potentates of the earth are [Page 6] terrestrial Deities, I have said, Ye are Gods; and all of you are Children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the Princes. Great men have those that clear the passage, that prepare their way before them; but they can't say to Death, stand off, bear back, or if they do, that grim Sir minds not these whifflers, but goes on his equal pace, and makes not distinction be­twixt the Poor man's Hut and the Prince's Palace. The mighty man must fall just like the Mean, only his Death makes the greater noise, and Lucian fanci'd in the shades below, his Ghost too roar'd the lou­der, otherwise he could imagine no dif­ference betwixt 'em. The Favourite of a King must die as sure as he that's frown'd upon at Court, Haman as well as Mordecai. Achitophel that spoke Oracles must die as sure as Nabal that talk'd non-sense. The Rich man and the Beggar must meet in the Grave (Dives died as well as Lazarus;) the Coward and the Couragious must mingle ashes.

Now if this be so, Then you that stand High, be not high-minded but fear. Give me leave [Page 7] to say to you, what a Slave was comman­ded to a Roman Victor in the hight of his Triumph, Respice futura, & hominem te esse cogita, Consider what's to come, remember you are Mortal, It is appointed for you too once to die, and after this the Judgement. Those who are the Keepers of our Liberties, who shall set bounds to theirs? The thoughts of Death and Judgment will do it most effectually, the Roman Tribunes were not so Sacred as these, the Lacedaemonian Ephori were not so powerful. You that stand high, and live so too, and over-drop the Shrubs about you, if you (like the Prodigal) spend your Estate in Riot among Wanton Women, and mind not the Cries of the Poor, and that you are their Steward; then I must ad­vise you to read the Doom of Babylon with trembling lest it should be yours, How much she hath glorified her self, and lived delici­ously, so much torment and sorrow give her, in the Cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. Great men must die as well as others, and they have a greater account to give then Others have (for to whom God hath committed much, of him he will ask [Page 8] the more) therefore they must not be high-minded, but fear. And, that for the second Observ. The Third ensueth;

They that stand in high, stand in the most slip­pery places, and so are aptest to catch a Fall; The Text tells us there is a Prince and a Great man fallen, and 'tis no more then we might well look for. The Life of Man is short, of Kings shorter, of Popes shortest. Kings have their Tasters, and 'tis fit they should, au­ro bibitur Venenum, Poison is drunk out of the Golden Cup, whereas none has a design up­on the Poor man's Pitcher. Great men have great Estates, and these are aptest to throw them down, like persons entangl'd in their looser garments. Envy strikes at these men, and a rival Ambition undermines them; some, like Pompey, can indure no Peers, and some, like Caesar, no Superiours. A plen­teous Fortune creates crudities, and makes a fat Church-yard, and constant Felicity is a thing very hard of Digestion, if Want hath kill'd its thousands, this hath kill'd its ten thousands. They that stand high are apt to be giddy-headed, and they that are so are aptest to fall.

You then that stand upon the flat do not Envy, rather Pitie those above you, they are ex­pos'd to those winds and storms which flie over your heads; when they are in turmoils you are at quiet. Hear one speak for all the rest and have compassion. We Great men (says no mean Statesman) are like common Pools, to which all the Beasts of the Forest resort, and they only exhaust and trouble the Waters; you think we sleep upon a Pillow of Downe, but there is a Stone in't; our nights are broken, but you may rest whole ones; there is no end of our Cares, as there is no end of our Posses­sions. The wearing a Crown gives the head-ach, O Woman, you would not stoop to take up that rag out of the dirt, did you but know how much trouble was wrapt up in it: these words were spoke by a King, and were said of a Diadem. Great men (says the famous Verulam) are like the Celestial Bodies, they have much Veneration but no Rest; but there is this difference betwixt them, those Stars are always Fix'd, these are still a falling. It is a pitiful condition which Kings and Great men are commonly [Page 10] in, so many Passions so many Masters, so many Servants so many Flatterers. Who may say unto them, What do ye? Great men seldom hear the Truth; or if they do, He that tells it becomes their Enemie, thus frantick people will fall foul upon their best Physitian. Offer to reprove Great men, and you offer them an affront, they cannot bear it; tell them what will befall them if they go on in their licentious courses and your mouth shall be stopt; Prophesie not again any more at Bethel, for it is the Kings Chappel, and it is the Kings Court; and Great men are Little Kings, and their Houses are Courts too in a smaller letter and edition. You that stand upon the le­vel, do not judge according to outward ap­pearance, but judge righteous judgment. Consider well the case and condition of them that stand highest and you will find cause to change your Envy into Pity, your Admiration into Compassion. And that for the third Observation. Now the fourth and last advances;

The holy Land is not a place priviledged a­gainst [Page 11] the arrest of Death, it seems they die too in the Land of Canaan, in the land of Israel, a Prince and a great man did, and the smaller fry cannot hope to fare better. Christ died there, and is the Disciple above his Master? it is well for him if he be as his Master. When Man's Sin first made a breach into the World, at that breach Death entered; and since that, Poor man can take sanctuary in no place but Death will find and fetch him out; If you should take the wings of the morning (set out never so early) and dwell in the uttermost parts of the Earth, yet Death would overtake you, still you are in his Dominions. If any place would secure a man against Death methinks it should be the Land of Canaan, which is a type of Heaven, the Region of Im­mortality. But this will not do it; for I observe of the Land of Canaan what the old Philosopher did of Rome, Here men die too. In this the Type (the Holy Land) falls short of its Antitype (the Kingdom of Heaven) in that King­dom Moth and Rust do not corrupt, Death [Page 12] cannot break through and steal away any, they that are there live and see God, but none here can live and see him, we must die to do it.

Now since it is so that the best place is not privi­ledged against the Arrest of Death, where ever then you are look for Death, there expect it. This ad­vice the best of Stoicks gives you, Incertum est quo te loco mors expectet; itaque tu illam omni loco expecta. Death like Lightning enters every where, any Pore in your whole Body is a passage big enough; and he that thinks in any place to fence himself against Death is just as ridiculous as that Roman Emperour who run under his Bed to shelter himself against Thunder. If you are at Sea, then there are but three inches betwixt you and Death; if at Land, that ground you tread on may be your Grave and long home, the place from whence you shall not re­turn. If you are in the City, the Bells ring out all day long; and if you retire to your Country House, Death is never the farther off though less thought on. If you are under the hardships of War, then [Page 13] Death stares you in the face every mo­ment; and if you wrap up your self in softness, you may remember that the delicacies at Capua made greater havock in an Army then the sore fight of Cannae. When you are in Durance and laid in Chains the Iron enters into your Soul, and a Prison is the perfect emblem of a Grave; and when you go abroad your Keeper (I mean Death) goes along with you, is linkt unto you, Eadem catena & custodiam & militem copulat. If you are ex­posed to Air and Wind the Candle of your Life is apt to be puffed out sud­denly, or at least to spend it self so much sooner: and if you live in the Shade, under shelter, every minute your Light grows still shorter, still nearer to the soc­ket, quotidie morimur, & tunc quoque cum cre­scimus, vita decrescit. No place, no Con­dition hath a priviledge, hath an exem­ption from Death and the Grave, in all places, in all conditions wait and expect them.

And so much for the words of my Text [Page 14] by way of Observation; now I come to apply them to the present occasion. And here I shall consider Abner 1. In his Titles and Apellations [ [...] a Prince, and a great one] 2. In the manner of his Fall [and that was by a treacherous hand] 3. The place of it [and that was in Israel] and in all these points the Noble Charles Cavendish is his Peer and Parallel.

First, Abner was a great Prince in respect of his Command (thus he was Captain of Saul's Host, and after that had the conduct of all Ishbosheths Forces) and in regard of his Extraction (thus he was a near kinsman to the first King of Israel;) for Abner was the Son of Ner, Saul's Uncle, 1 Sam. 14.50.

First, Abner was a great Prince in Respect of his Command, He is so, who has the Legions under him, Phavorinus says with such an one there is no disputing. They who have the Souldiery at their beck, may talk at a great rate (right or wrong) and use the lan­guage of those younkers in Livy, that they do jus in armis ferre, & omnia fortium virorum [Page 15] esse, that the Sword is the best divider of Kingdoms, that they who have most Might have most Right; Our tongues are our own we are they that ought to speak, who is Lord over us? He is a great Prince who offers to dispose of Crowns and Scepters, and does contest with and contradict too the King of Kings in the doing of it; thus did Abner, God Almighty by an express makes David King, but Abner for all that will set up Ishbosheth. This Power it is Gi­gantick, for it gives battel to Heaven it self, and my argument becomes unhappy by proving too much when thus I prove Abner a great Prince, and therefore I will leave it, and proceed to another.

Secondly, Then consider Abner in point of Extraction, and so he is a great Prince, Abner was the Son of Ner, Saul's Uncle, you may call him (if you please) a Prince of the blood, on­ly the Sceptre departing from Saul's house he must put Fuimus under his scutchin. Saul was an extraordinary man in Israel, higher then the rest of the People in Place and Stature from the Shoulders upwards, and He casts [Page 16] a great Lustre on his near relations (such as Abner) and they shine by his raies. When Saul's servants spoke to David about marry­ing their Master's Daughter, He asked them this question, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings Son in Law? And let me ask you this, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings Cousin German? that was Abner, a great Prince by virtue of his bloud, nec dicendus sine cura, and not lightly to be spoke of. Abner was a Prince and a great one, and so was Charles Cavendish, whether you respect his Command, or his Extraction.

First, If you look upon him in his Command, So He was the Souldiers Mignion, and his Ma­sters Darling, designed by him for General of the Northern Horse (and his Commission was given him) a great mark of Honour for one about five and twenty, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delights to Ho­nour. There was a time when he that did extraordinary things for his Lord and Sove­raign might hope to be rewarded by him in a manner extraordinary. Colonel Caven­dish was a Princely Person, and all his actions [Page 17] were agreeable to that Character, he had in an eminent degree that which the Greeks call [...], the semblance and appearance of a man made to govern. Methinks he gave this clear indication of a great Commander, The Kings Cause lived with him, the Kings Cause died with him; when Cromwell heard that he was Slain, he cried upon it, We have done our Business. And yet two things (I must confess) this Comman­der knew not, pardon his ignorance, He knew not how to Flie away, He knew not how to Ask quarter. This Youthful Com­mander knew not how to Flie away, though an Older did, I mean Henderson. For when this Bold Person entred Grantham on the one side, that wary Gentleman, who should have attaqued it, fled away on the other. He knew not how to Ask quarter, his Roman courage could not stoop to it. If Cato thought it Usurpation in Caesar to give him his Life, Cavendish thought it a greater for Traytors and Rebels of a common size to give him his. This brave Hero might be opprest (as he was at last by numbers,) but he could not be Conquered, The dying words [Page 18] of the great Epaminondas will suite him, Satis vixi, invictus enim morior. What wonders might have been expected from a Com­mander so Vigilant, so Valiant, so Loyal, so Constant, had he not dropt down in his blooming Age? But though he fell in his green years, he fell a Prince and a great one too, in this respect Greater then Abner. For Abner that Son of Mars deserved his Fathers epithite [...], one of both sides, first he sets up Isbosheth, and then he deserts him. Whereas Cavendish merited such a Statue as the Roman Senate decree'd L. Vitellius, and the same Inscription, Pietatis immobilis erga Principem, One whose Loyalty to his Great Master nothing could shake.

Secondly, Consider the Noble Charles Ca­vendish in his Extraction, and so he is a branch of that Family of which some de­scended that were Kings of Scotland, this the word Fuimus joined to his maternal Coat does plainly point at. Not to urge at this time his descent by the Fathers side from one of the Noblest Families in England. An high Extraction to some persons is like the [Page 19] Dropsie, the greatness of the man is his disease, and renders him unwieldy: but here is a Person of great Extract free from the swelling of Greatness, as brisk and active as the lightest Horseman that fought under him. In some parts of India they tell us, That a Noble man accounts himself pol­luted if a Plebeian touch him: but here is a person of that rank, who used the same familiarity and frankness among the mean­est of his Souldiers, the poorest miner, and among his equals, and by stooping so low he rose the higher in the common account, and was valued accordingly as a Prince and a Great one, thus Abner and Cavendish run paralel in their Titles and Appellati­ons.

Secondly, Let us consider Abner in the Man­ner of his Fall, that was by a treacherous hand, and so fell Cavendish. Abner slew Asahel Joabs brother, but it was in War, it was in his own Defence, Asahel, persued him, and could not be diverted although Abner offered to put him by more then once:2 Sam. 2.22. For Abner said again to Asahel, turn thee aside from following [Page 20] me, wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? But Asahel refused and fared accordingly, for he fell by the Spear of Abner. This makes Joabs bloud boil over.2 Sam. 3.27. And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly; and smote him there under the fifth rib, that he died, for the bloud of Asahel his brother. Thus fell Abner, and thus Cavendish; The Colonels horse being mired in a bog at the Fight before Gainsborough 1643. the Rebels surround him, and take him Prisoner, and after he was so, a base rascal comes behind him and runs him through. Thus fell two great men by treacherous hands, but with this difference, Abner fell upon a private Pique, Cavendish in a National quarrel; Abner fell on the Wrong side, Cavendish on the Right, which makes his Fall of the two the more illustrious, the more glorious. And that for the Second particular, The manner of Abners Fall, that was by Treachery.

The Third and Last now follows, The Place of his Fall, that was in Israel. Israel is the Place which God chose to set up his Name [Page 21] in, to establish his own Worship, this Place is famous throughout the Scripture, it is the Glory of the whole Earth, In Judah is God known, his Name is great in Israel. In Salem also is his Tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Sion. Here fell Abner in his, and Cavendish fell in our Israel, the Church of England, a Church not only justified by her own Chil­dren, but highly applauded, wonderfully admired by Forrainers and Strangers. An­tonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato, (a man rarely versed in Antiquity,) owned our Mother for a Church truely Apostolical, and that too when he was leaving us and going to Rome. Fulgentio the Venetian (the bosom-friend of the great Father Paul, and his suc­cessour in his emploiment in that state) in his common discourse did often express the superlative value, that vast esteem which he had in his breast for this Church. And Hugo Grotius (that Prodigy of Learning) told our Embassadour in France, That if he returned safe from Sweden (which Crown he served then under the Character of Em­bassadour) he resolved to come and settle with his Wife and Children in England, as [Page 22] preferring that Church very much before all other of the Reformation. I will allege no more witnesses, the Judgement of this Tri­umvirate may suffice for the Church of Eng­land. In this Church brave Cavendish fell, and what is more then that, in this Churches quarrel. Abner troubled Israel, though he fell in it; for he made an head, and drew his Sword against a King of Gods choosing: but Cavendish sided with such a King, and fought in defence of him and the Church against a generation of men, who cursed all them bitterly that came not in to the help of the Lord against the Mighty, this was the language of their Demagogues, thus it pleased them to Christian Rebellion. O my Soul, enter not thou into their secret, unto their Assembly be not thou united!

Thus I have compared Colonel Cavendish with Abner a fighting and famous man in Israel, you see how he does equal, how he does exceed him. Peradventure what has been said may have raised a generous Am­bition. If so, you that emulate the Name of Charles Cavendish, imitate his Virtues, then [Page 23] the Enemies of my Lord the King, and those that rise up against him shall do him no harm, so long as there is a succession of men of this Spirit and Principle to maintain and support Kings and Crowns. That such a Race may never fail do thou grant, who art the King of Kings, to whom we render from the bottom of our hearts in most humble manner all Praise and Adoration both now, and ever. Amen, Amen.